Podcasts and Authors

In the same week I listened to podcast interviews with two of my favorite authors.  Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist interviewed Scott Sigler, while Matt and Shannon of Seattle-Geekly interviewed Marjorie Liu.

If you are a fan of geek culture at all, or the process of stand-up comedy in particular, you should be listening to The Nerdist podcast.  Add Seattle-Geekly if you live in Western Washington.

The problem with the interviews is that they barely talked about the books I read.  The Sigler interview was fantastic, covering both culture and process. Sure, Sigler was there to promote Ancestor, but I wish they would have spoken more about Infected and Contagious.  I suppose spoilers could make it problematic, for new listeners, but I still wanted to hear more.

The Liu interview seemed to be more of a missed opportunity.  I'm guessing that Matt and Shannon were not too familiar with the Hunter Kiss series. The books take place predominantly in Seattle, and Liu lived in Seattle for many years.  Rather than just exploring Liu's geek nature (which is still awesome), and her new video game adaptation, I wish they would have spoken more specifically about Seattle and the influence the city has had on Liu's writing.  The strength of the Seattle-Geekly cast is the local tie.  Instead, the interview (while still good) could have been done by a podcast in most any other city.

Despite those concerns, these were both good shows. Ancestor is the next book I need to read, and now I need to add Feed to my list (thanks to the podcast).  Plus, the latest Seattle-Geekly episode just introduced me to some awesome geek musicians. The shows are worth subscribing to.