The Functional Nerds Podcast
The weekly podcast from author/blogger Patrick Hester and author/teacher Tracy Townsend
Episodes
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Sam Kelly, author of Human History on Drugs. About Human History on Drugs: Did you know that Alexander the Great was a sloppy drunk and William Shakespeare was a stoner? Or how about the fact that Steve Jobs believed taking LSD helped him create the Apple […]
The post Episode 674-With Sam Kelly appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Margaret Stohl, Jeanine Schaefer, and Judith Stephens to talk about their new book, Super Visible: The Story of the Women of Marvel Comics. About Super Visible: The Story of the Women of Marvel Comics: Inspired by the hit podcast The Women of Marvel and cowritten by […]
The post Episode 673-With Margaret, Stohl Jeanine Schaefer and Judith Stephens appeared first on The Functional ...
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Paul Bradley Carr, author of THE CONFESSIONS. About THE CONFESSIONS: LLIAM is the world’s most powerful supercomputer, built to make the toughest decisions for its users. Where to work, who to marry, and even who should live or die. But when LLIAM suddenly goes offline with […]
The post Episode 672-With Paul Bradley Carr appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Joan Slonczewski, author of Minds in Transit. About Minds in Transit: In the hundred-level city of Iridis, human lords recycle diamonds and emeralds down to the Underworld while sentient machines pilot lightcraft and perform surgeries. Microbial minds expand the brains of scientists and artists. The artist […]
The post Episode 671-With Joan Slonczewski appeared first on The Functi...
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Morgan Ryan, author of A RESISTANCE OF WITCHES. About A RESISTANCE OF WITCHES: Stubborn, plain-spoken and from an unimpressive family, Lydia Polk never expected to be accepted into the Royal Academy of Witches. Now, with Hitler’s army rampaging across Europe, the witches of Britain have joined […]
The post Episode 670-With Morgan Ryan appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Michael Damian Thomas, to talk about Uncanny Magazine Year 12: Fly Forever, Space Unicorns!. About Uncanny Magazine Year 12: Fly Forever, Space Unicorns!: Editor-in-Chief/Publisher Michael Damian Thomas and Team Uncanny Magazine have run successful Kickstarters for the seven-time Hugo Award-winning, 2024 World Fantasy Award-winning, and 2024 […]
The post Episode 669-With Uncanny M...
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Matthew Kressel, author of SPACE TRUCKER JESS. About SPACE TRUCKER JESS: Jessian Urania Darger is a kick-ass take-no-shit foul-mouthed too-smart-for-her-own-good sixteen-year-old girl with a chip on her shoulder. She and her daddy have been grifting their way across the verse for years. But when her daddy […]
The post Episode 668-With Matthew Kressel appeared first on The Function...
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Antony Johnston, author of Can You Solve the Murder? About Can You Solve the Murder?: One murder. Six suspects. One truth for YOU to uncover. YOU are the lead detective and it’s your job to investigate the most mysterious crime of your career. There’s been a […]
The post Episode 667-With Antony Johnston appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Auston Habershaw, author of If Wishes Were Retail. About If Wishes Were Retail: Alex Delmore needs a miracle. She wants out of her dead-end suburban town, but her parents are broke and NYU seems like a distant dream. Good thing there’s a genie in town?and he’s […]
The post Episode 666-With Auston Habershaw appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome back Randee Dawn, author of The Only Song Worth Singing. About The Only Song Worth Singing: Childhood friends Patrick, Ciaran, and Malachi would’ve been happy to play music for coins on the streets of Dublin, but when their sound – a blend of traditional tunes and […]
The post Episode 665-With Randee Dawn appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mark Stevens, author of No Lie Lasts Forever. About No Lie Lasts Forever: When a reporter dies in a shockingly familiar way, the media rushes to announce the return of the PDQ Killer. The city of Denver reels, but no one more than Harry Kugel. After […]
The post Episode 664-With Mark Stevens appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Victoria Helen Stone, author of Bald-Faced Liar. About Bald-Faced Liar: Traveling nurse Elizabeth May has a promising new home in Santa Cruz. And another new identity. It’s a pattern of reinvention for a woman escaping her traumatic childhood?and hiding from the decades of notoriety and destruction […]
The post Episode 663-With Victoria Helen Stone appeared first on The Functional...
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome S.A. Barnes, author of Cold Eternity. About Cold Eternity: Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads for what seems like the perfect place to lay low: a gigantic space barge storing the […]
The post Episode 662-With S.A. Barnes appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Maura Jortner, author of Keepers of the Marsh. About Keepers of the Marsh: Twelve-year-old Lana isn’t looking for trouble when she ventures into the swampy marsh behind her family’s home in Galveston Bay. She’s just sweaty and bored and lonely, sick of sitting around doing nothing. […]
The post Episode 661-With Maura Jortner appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Chuck Wendig, author of The Staircase in the Woods. About The Staircase in the Woods: Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what. Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: […]
The post Episode 660-With Chuck Wendig appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mary Robinette Kowal, author of The Martian Contingency. About The Martian Contingency: Years after a meteorite strike obliterated Washington, D.C.?triggering an extinction-level global warming event?Earth’s survivors have started an international effort to establish homes on space stations and the Moon. The next step – Mars. Elma […]
The post Episode 659-With Mary Robinette Kowal...
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Brandon Crilly, author of Serpentine Scenarios: Five New Adventures for B.O.A.. About Serpentine Scenarios: Five New Adventures for B.O.A.: The Bureau of Agents (B.O.A.) follows a simple mandate: Priority One: Remain unseen. Or, at minimum, don’t get caught. Priority Two: Accomplish the mission. Priority Three: Promote […]
The post Episode 658-With Brandon Crilly appeared first on...
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Jim C. Hines, author of Kitemaster. About Kitemaster: Nial Sarnin is twenty-one years old, far too young to have lost her beloved husband Jika. One year after Jika’s death, Nial is preparing to fly a kite sewn from the shirt Jika wore at their wedding, to […]
The post Episode 657-With Jim C. Hines appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome James J. Butcher, author of Cold Iron Task. About Cold Iron Task: Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby may have one case under his belt, but he’s still a novice Auditor in Boston’s Department of Unorthodox Affairs. And he’s already made mistakes. Desperate to repair his fraying friendships, he […]
The post Episode 656-With James J. Butcher appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Tochi Onyebuchi, author of Harmattan Season. About Harmattan Season: Veteran and private eye Boubacar doesn’t need much?least of all trouble?but trouble always seems to find him. Work has dried up, and he’d rather be left alone to deal with his bills as the Harmattan rolls in […]
The post Episode 655-With Tochi Onyebuchi appeared first on The Functional Nerds.
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