This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Tim Akers, author of The Eccentrics. About The Eccentrics: Led by the eighth incarnation of Nikola Tesla, the Society of Eccentric Geniuses protects the Mundane world from the horrors of the Gestalt, a timeline of the future that never was. Powered by SCIENCE and steam, the Eccentrics travel the world in their a…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Charlie Huston, author of CATCHPENNY. About CATCHPENNY: Sidney Catchpenny has had a bad run. Laid low by a years-long bout of debilitating depression, he’s all but squandered his reputation as one of the most uniquely talented thieves in LA. There aren’t many who can do what Sid does. He’s a sly, a special kind …

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Madeleine Roux, author of What If…Loki Was Worthy?. About What If…Loki Was Worthy?: Thor—Son of Odin, God of Thunder, Wielder of Mjolnir—is dead. And Loki is responsible. It was meant to be only a joke—tampering with the Destroyer, changing Thor’s course to Midgard—a bit of mischief with a chance of maiming. But…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Chris Radcliff, who backed the Uncanny Magazine Year 10: A Decade of Delightful Defiance Kickstarter at the THIRD NERD level! About Chris Radcliff: Software engineer, space nerd, citizen scientist, geek dad, weird kid, and Uncanny Magazine Kickstarter backer! Mentioned in this episode: Upstart Crow SpaceUp Uncon…

This week, Patrick and Tracy are chatting about a Publisher’s Weekly article on Brandon Sanderson’s Audible announcement. This leads us down the path of talking royalty splits, agents and the publishing ecosystem, as well as the difference between a guild and a union, SFWA, RWA and more. This week’s picks: Tracy: GreenLight: Debit Card for Kids and…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome James Goodhand, author of The Day Tripper. About The Day Tripper: The right guy, the right place, the wrong time. It’s 1995, and Alex Dean has it all: a spot at Cambridge University next year, the love of an amazing woman named Holly and all the time in the world ahead of him. That is until a brutal encounter wi…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Moses Ose Utomi, author of The Truth of the Aleke. About The Truth of the Aleke: The Aleke is cruel. The Aleke is clever. The Aleke is coming. 500 years after the events of The Lies of the Ajungo, the City of Truth stands as the last remaining free city of the Forever Desert. A bastion of freedom and peace, the …

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome James Enge, author of EVIL HONEY, a new Morlock Ambrosius short story. About Old Moon Quarterly: Issue 3, Winter 2023: Old Moon Quarterly is a small, independent online magazine devoted to publishing weird sword-and-sorcery fiction set in a historical paranormal setting or a secondary-world, with a focus on well…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome T.R. Napper, author of Aliens: Bishop. About Aliens: Bishop: The USCSS Patna has been found. Although the synthetic Bishop asked to be shut down forever, his creator has other plans. Michael Bishop seeks the Xenomorph knowledge stored in the android’s mind, and brings Bishop back to life—but for what reason? No …

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Amanda Jayatissa, author of ISLAND WITCH. About ISLAND WITCH: Set in 19th century Sri Lanka and inspired by local folklore, the daughter of a traditional demon-priest—relentlessly bullied by peers and accused of witchcraft herself—tries to solve the mysterious attacks that have been terrorizing her coastal villa…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Ray Nayler, author of The Tusks of Extinction. About The Tusks of Extinction: Moscow has resurrected the mammoth. But someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out again. Dr. Damira Khismatullina, an expert in elephant behavior, was brutally murdered trying to defend the world’s last …

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Wole Talabi, author of Convergence Problems. About Convergence Problems: From the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Nommo award nominated author of Shigidi and The Brass Head Of Obalufon comes a stunning new collection of stories that investigate the rapidly changing role of technology and belief in our lives as we search…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Shannon Lawrence, author of Myth Stalker: Wendigo Nights. About Myth Stalker: Wendigo Nights: When Selina Moonstone, a Myth Stalker, gets a late night call from her mentor about a Wendigo problem, she arms up and heads to Canada, only to find out the Wendigo is someone close to her. Accustomed to facing off with…

This week, Patrick and Tracy ring in the new year by chatting with J.T. Evans, author of HIVE DREAMS. About HIVE DREAMS: Aell the bladesinger is a former gladiatorial slave. Stiles the lockwhisperer is a streetwise cat burglar. Trying their best to get by but always embroiled in trouble and chaos, they form a formidable duo with a strong bond of fr…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome GennaRose Nethercott, author of Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart (and other stories). About Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart (and other stories): The stories in Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart are about the abomination that resides within us all. That churning, clawing, ravenous yearning: the hunger to be held,…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mur Lafferty, author of CHAOS TERMINAL. About CHAOS TERMINAL: Mallory Viridian would rather not be an amateur detective, thank you very much. But no matter what she does, people persist in dying around her—and only she seems to be able to solve the crime. After fleeing to an alien space station in hopes that the…

This week, Patrick and Tracy are sharing a list of holiday gifts the nerd – functional or otherwise – in your life might enjoy! And some they might not… The Great Holiday Gift List (2023 Edition): Tracy: Otamatone (Evil Santa gift) Tracy: Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker Tracy: Weighted Blanket Tracy: G-Shaft candy (Evil Santa Gift) Patrick:…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Michael Sims, editor of The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries. About The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries: For The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries, writer and anthologist Michael Sims did not summon the usual suspects. He sought the unfamiliar, the unjustly forgotten, and little-known gems by writers from outsid…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Alex Bledsoe, author of Give the People What They Want and Other Stories of Sharp Wit, Cunning Women, and Wild Magic. About Give the People What They Want and Other Stories of Sharp Wit, Cunning Women, and Wild Magic: Skyboat Media presents Give the People What They Want and Other Stories of Sharp Wit, Cunning W…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Kevin Hearne, author of A CURSE OF KRAKENS. About A CURSE OF KRAKENS: Seeker and Sower Pen Yas ben Min’s cousin was one of the legendary heroes of the wars against the giants until her untimely death. Pen has grown up in her famous cousin’s shadow, but when she’s given a quest to plant the seed of the magical Fo…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Stephen Aryan, author of THE JUDAS BLOSSOM. About THE JUDAS BLOSSOM: 1260, Persia: Due to the efforts of the great Genghis Khan, the Mongol Empire covers a vast portion of the known world. In the shadow of his grandfather, Hulagu Khan, ruler of the Ilkhanate, is determined to create a single empire that covers t…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Alice Bell, author of GRAVE EXPECTATIONS. About GRAVE EXPECTATIONS: Almost-authentic medium Claire and her best friend, Sophie, agree to take on a seemingly simple job at a crumbling old manor in the English countryside: performing a seance for the family matriarch’s 80th birthday. The pair have been friends sin…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Max Bennett, author of A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains. About A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains: In the last decade, capabilities of artificial intelligence that had long been the realm o…

This week, Patrick and Tracy are talking about many things, including but not limited to: the rise of AI, students believing AI helps them, protecting creators, elastic principles, the excuses we make to support the bad thing that makes our lives easier, the convenience of the big box seller versus the mom and pop shop, moral justifications, game a…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Dan Moren, author of ALL SOULS LOST. About ALL SOULS LOST: After two years trying to run away from his past, Mike Lucifer’s back in his office less than ten minutes when a persistent young woman shows up asking for help: her boyfriend’s been possessed by a demon. That’s exactly the kind of mess that drove him fr…

On a very special Just Us episode, we’re talking about all sorts of things, including Catholic guilt, Santiago’s breakfast burritos, television, Star Wars, video games, Ahsoka, teenagers and wet towels, the care and maintenance of still gestating microhumans, old school network tv, episodic vs serial television, streaming, connective tissue between…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Howard Andrew Jones, author of Lord of a Shattered Land. About Lord of a Shattered Land: The Dervan Empire has at last triumphed over Volanus, putting the great city to the torch, its treasures looted, temples defiled, and fields sown with salt. What little remains of Volanus is scattered across the empire, its …

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Jacqueline Carey, author of CASSIEL’S SERVANT. About CASSIEL’S SERVANT: Cassiel’s Servant is a retelling of cult favorite Kushiel’s Dart from the point of view of Joscelin, Cassiline warrior-priest and protector of Phèdre nó Delaunay. He’s sworn to celibacy and the blade as surely as she’s pledged to pleasure, b…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome James L. Sutter, author of DARKHEARTS. About DARKHEARTS: When David quit his band, he missed his shot at fame, trapped in an ordinary high school life while his ex–best friend, Chance, became the hottest teen pop star in America. Then tragedy throws David and Chance back into contact. As old wounds break open, t…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Isabel Cañas, author of Vampires of El Norte. About Vampires of El Norte: As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something t…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome John Wiswell, author of BAD DOORS and the upcoming, SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN (DAW, 2024). About BAD DOORS: Kosmo is a simple English teacher with no interest in evil magic doors. However one day they take an interest in him. A burgundy door with a shiny black knob appears in his hallway, where no door has…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Temi Oh, author of MORE PERFECT. About MORE PERFECT: When Moremi connects her brain to the Panopticon, a network which allows you to see inside the minds and dreams of others, she believes that it will save her from depression, loneliness and, eventually, death. That is until she meets Orpheus. Orpheus was broug…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Genevieve Gornichec, author of THE WEAVER AND THE WITCH QUEEN. About THE WEAVER AND THE WITCH QUEEN: Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in tenth century Norway, and they could not be more different: Oddny hopes for a quiet life, while Gunnhild burns for power and longs to escape her cruel mother. But after a vi…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome L.R. Lam, author of DRAGONFALL. About DRAGONFALL: Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the “gods” remember, and they do not forgive. Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Despe…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Rebecca Fraimow, author of THE IRON CHILDREN. About THE IRON CHILDREN: Asher has been training her entire life to become a Sor-Commander. One day, she’ll give her soul to the gilded, mechanical body of the Sor and become a commander to a battalion of Dedicates. These soldiers, encased in exoskeletons, with extra…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Fonda Lee, author of UNTETHERED SKY. About UNTETHERED SKY: Ester’s family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her father’s painful silence and a single, overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family. Ester’s path leads her to the King’s R…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome K.B. Wagers, author of THE GHOSTS OF TRAPPIST. About THE GHOSTS OF TRAPPIST: NeoG—the Near-Earth Orbital Guard, a diverse military force that patrols and protects the solar system, inspired by the real-life mission of the Coast Guard—and the crew of Zuma’s Ghost are under attack, and shocking truths are about to…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Emma Mieko Candon, author of THE ARCHIVE UNDYING. About THE ARCHIVE UNDYING: When the robotic god of Khuon Mo went mad, it destroyed everything it touched. It killed its priests, its city, and all its wondrous works. But in its final death throes, the god brought one thing back to life: its favorite child, Sunai…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Nathan Ballingrud, author of THE STRANGE. About THE STRANGE: Since Anabelle’s mother left for Earth to care for her own ailing mother, her days in New Galveston have been spent at school and her nights at her laconic father’s diner with Watson, the family Kitchen Engine and dishwasher as her only companion. When…

This week, it’s a very special Just Us clip episode from Patrick and Tracy! What’s a Just Us episode? Well, I’m glad you asked. As you know Bob, we have a Patreon over at patreon.com/functionalnerds. And one of the reward tiers is a special, patrons-only episode of the show each month. When something comes up and we don’t have a regular episode to …

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Beth Cato, author of A Thousand Recipes for Revenge. About A Thousand Recipes for Revenge: Adamantine “Ada” Garland has an empathic connection to food and wine, a magical perception of aromas, flavors, and ingredients. Invaluable property of the royal court, Ada was in service to the Five Gods and to the Gods-or…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Gail Carriger, author of DIVINITY 36. About DIVINITY 36: Phex is a barista on a forgotten moon. Which is fine – he likes being ignored and he’s good at making drinks. Until one day an alien hears him singing and recruits him to become a god. Now Phex is thrust headfirst into the galaxy’s most cutthroat entertain…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Kat Howard, author of A SLEIGHT OF SHADOWS. About A SLEIGHT OF SHADOWS: After taking down the source of the corruption of the Unseen World, Sydney is left with almost no magical ability. Feeling estranged from herself, she is determined to find a way back to her status as one of the world’s most dangerous magici…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Daniel M. Ford, author of THE WARDEN. About THE WARDEN: There was a plan. She had the money, the connections, even the brains. It was simple: become one of the only female necromancers, earn as many degrees as possible, get a post in one of the grand cities, then prove she’s capable of greatness. The funny thing…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Emily Tesh, author of SOME DESPERATE GLORY. About SOME DESPERATE GLORY: Since she was born, Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of planet Earth. Raised in the bowels of Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, she readies herself to face the Wisdom, the powerful, reality-shaping weap…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Julie Novakova and Susan Forest, two of the driving forces behind Life Beyond Us: An Original Anthology of SF Stories and Science Essays. About Life Beyond Us: An Original Anthology of SF Stories and Science Essays: How would first contact—on earth, in space, on another planet—transform our understandings of tec…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome S.B. Divya, author of MERU. About MERU: For five centuries, human life has been restricted to Earth, while posthuman descendants called alloys freely explore the galaxy. But when the Earthlike planet of Meru is discovered, two unlikely companions venture forth to test the habitability of this unoccupied new worl…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Steve Scearce and Bear Weiter from the Station 151 Podcast. About Station 151: Located on Alexander Island, Antarctica, Station 151 is the southernmost continent’s first and only astronomical radio observatory. Built by the Telders Corporation at an estimated cost of $200M USD, Station 151 is comprised of 50 rad…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Moses Ose Utomi, author of THE LIES OF THE AJUNGO. About THE LIES OF THE AJUNGO: They say there is no water in the City of Lies. They say there are no heroes in the City of Lies. They say there are no friends beyond the City of Lies. But would you believe what they say in the City of Lies? In the City of Lies, t…

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Aliette de Bodard, author of The Red Scholar’s Wake. About The Red Scholar’s Wake: Xích Si: bot maker, data analyst, mother, scavenger. But those days are over now-her ship has just been captured by the Red Banner pirate fleet, famous for their double-dealing and cruelty. Xích Si expects to be tortured to death-…