Workshop Episode 76 (Guest Host: Jilly Dreadful)

Antonio del Drago – Doctor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, swordsman, author and evil genius behind the fabulous MythicScribes.com online writing community – return to the Roundtable to workshop a tale of vigilante vengeance offered up by Marc Vale. The conversation starts of tentatively, but as we explore deeper, each of us discovers some truly intriguing threads to the story that end up creating a golden weave of awesomeness.

Matthew Wayne Selznick has been making marvelous things for a long time… and he’s gotten quite good at it. Whether it’s music, podcasts, texts, or novels, his creative innovation and authenticity shines through in each endeavor. We invited Matt to join us and discuss his latest project (a Kickstarter campaign for “Pilgrimage” , the sequel to his amazing novel “Brave Men Run”) but you know us… we can’t just talk about one thing. We delve into Matt’s creative process, his perspective on super-hero culture, and the greatest asset a writer can cultivate. It’s a great discussion and it’s just a mouse-click away!

I love this. I really do. The opportunity to showcase the talent and vision of creative people is a blast,…

Peter Orullian – author of the Vault of Heaven series, including “The Unremembered” and the recently released “Trial of Intentions”…

Adam Christopher – author of “Empire State” and “Seven Wonders” – is one of the few debut authors whose work already has “fan fiction”. Granted, that’s because of the visionary “WorldBuilder” initiative greenlighted by Angry Robot Books and produced by Mighty Mur Lafferty but still… you gotta respect the fact that Adam crafted a story world that has the scope and nuance to support a robust and active collaborative community.

Our 20(ish) minutes with Adam was a delight and fraught with talk of shared worlds, superhero literature (what a shock) and an exploration into Adam’s writing process. Writerly goodness dressed in spandex awaits!

I have a love/hate relationship with contests. Welcome to my conflicted, over-thought life. On the one hand, it’s a proving…

Recently, Warner Brothers announced the official synopsis for the upcoming “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” movie: Fearing the actions…

Hugh Howey is the author of many tales, long and short, set in diverse environments and genres. But it is his dystopian scifi tale “Wool” that has captured the imaginations of not only of thousands of fans, but also most publishing and media industries in the free world (including Hollywood). It’s all too easy to narrow your focus of an individual when one work commands such attention… and in the case of Hugh, that would be an egregious error. His life experience as well as his persistence and dedication to his craft has given Hugh a unique perspective that distinguishes his writing and the path he’s chosen to pursue it.

Lauren Harris (of the Pendragon Variety Podcast) and myself took full advantage of our 20(ish) minutes with Hugh as we explore his insights and strategies on worldbuilding, his own strengths and assets, expanding a novelette into a full series, and so much more!

Many episodes ago we started making a promise to all our Guest Writers: Write the story… put it out in the world and we will make you a Knight of the Roundtable Podcast. We knew it would happen. It had to… with all this Literary Gold being flung about, somebody was going to write their story. And then it did. John Walker, who workshopped his story back in Episode 15 with the articulate and insightful Myke Cole, took the ideas from the workshop, applied them to his story and has released it as an e-book!

Mur Lafferty – podcaster and award-winning author “Six Wakes”, “The Shambling Guide to New York City”, and so much more – returns to the Big Chair in the Archivos Virtual Studios to brainstorm a tale of the death and apparent resurrection of a superhero by David “Doc Blue” Wendt.

Alethea Kontis – author of the award-winning “Enchanted”, “The Wonderland Alphabet”, The “Alpha-Oops” series, and so much more – returns to the Big Chair to help workshop a rich luxurious story idea offered up by podcaster, voice actor, authoress (and so much more), Lauren “Scribe” Harris.

With Justin Macumber as guest co-host (founder and co-host of the Dead Robots’s Society podcast, and co-host on the Hollywood Outsiders podcast), we dive in to a delightful frothy discussion, inspirations bouncing around like pixies on egg nog, taking Lauren’s already fabulous idea and festooning it liberally in Literary Gold.

Hugh Howey – a storyteller who’s pen has scribed many marvelous tales, including the astonishing dystopian scifi tale “Wool” that continues to impact the literary world in the most delightful ways – returns to the big chair at the Roundtable to workshop a very cool mid-grade scifi story idea offered up by the inventive and inspired Holli Mintzer.

Holli’s tale of deep space generational ships and alien first contact (and first abduction) is fraught with intriguements that set us to exploring all the nooks and crannies of Holli’s universe. Along the way, we scarf up a metric ton of Literary Gold!

Jilly Dreadful – with a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California, Associate Editor of NonBinary Review and Unbound…

Seanan McGuire – award-winning author, graphic novelist, podcaster, and storytelling badass – returns to the Big Chair in the APN virtual studios (along with co-host Michael R. Underwood) to workshop a tale of superheroes, romance, and the dark side of adulation offered up by creageous Guest Writer Arthur De Leon.

The challenge was made: come up with a better “Hero vs. Hero” superhero movie. The gauntlet was thrown… and NINE…