In which Lauren and Adryn grill Sarah on her apiological knowledge, and what the eff is up with bees.

In which Lauren, Adryn, Sarah, and special guest Susan Martinez of NASA create a science-fantasy world involving questionable solar mining practices, wizard cloning, a sidebar into Adryn's brain boner for Dyson spheres, and a potential foray into space piracy.

In which Lauren, Adryn, and Sarah thinly conceal their excitement at having a NASA Additive Manufacturing Engineer on the show, space radishes make a comeback, and the story of Food Safety's advent has its gut-rumbling beginnings in a shitty little story that put Pilsbury on the....F.O.D. map.

In which Lauren, Adryn, and Sarah waffle over genre, diss colonialism (again), and create a culture of displaced lightning mages living on the ocean. The writers consider writing in this world themselves...

In which Adryn finds a new way to annoy Lauren, and Sarah describes the advent of electric reefs (spoilers: it has to do with oil rigs), what makes current breakwater construction ineffective, and why municipalities are so hesitant to adopt electric reefs as protection for their coastlines. It's like no one told them electric reefs are the tits!

The Story Soil Crew and guest Dave Robison chat about Dave's awesome collaborative worldbuilding app, ARCHIVOS, then brainstorm several cities along a fictional trade route, including one with an AnCieNT cUrsE~

Sarah regales Lauren, Adryn, and Dave with her favorite trade routes that nobody talks about, plus some juicy worldbuilding tidbits like celery's slutty cousin, cocaine mummies, and why you should always bring a bird with you on long trips.

The Story Soil trio and guest host, herbalist Isaac Vars, brainstorm a science fiction world involving herby space monks. So, basically, Isaac. Listen in for the process of going from information to inspiration to full-on idea as we build the bones of a sci-fi system and religious group you can take and make your own.

Ever want to know what a trained herbalist would keep in his saddle bag, or how he might poison an evil witch king? In this episode, Lauren, Adryn, and Sarah interview their first guest--herbalist and spiritual cunning man, Isaac Vars of Deep Earth Arts and the Three of Cups Podcast.

Lauren and Adryn brainstorm a fantasy world with a wild warp magic that can only be stopped by a tree with special properties, reaffirm their love of Fire Babas, and learn a few clutch environmental details from a boozy Sarah.

A story about the American Chestnut blight, and how it led to generational trauma that still affects us today. Plus a plot-bunny about post-apocalyptic dryads.

Crop scientist Dr. Sarah Taber explains how ancient Amazonians terraformed their cities and utilized agroforestry, and what this form of land management looks like for authors who want to make unique farming systems for their worlds that aren't based on the familiar Eurocentric paradigm.

Worldbuilding with Experts for Authors of Scifi and Fantasy Adryn and Lauren create a science fiction world inspired by the discussion on how plants grow in microgravity, while Sarah goes deeper into topics like bubbles as pollinators and why ethylene causes plants to act out Shakespearean death scenes.

Crop scientist Dr. Sarah Taber answers questions about whether plants can grow in space, while fantasy author Lauren Harris and story builder Adryn Erickson interrogate her for all the details an SFF author could use for worldbuilding. Gamma-ray eating Hulk fungus is involved.

Calling all worldbuilders! My name is Lauren Harris, a fantasy author and cohost of the Story Soil Podcast. If you’re a willing victim of the Wikipedia rabbit hole like me, chances are you love the story inspo of history, science, and anything obscure or shiny. Well, on story soil, my 20-year co-author, a rogue scientist, and I interview experts on topics like The History of Beer and 3D-Printing in Space. Then we solicit their help in a second episode where we build a scifi or fantasy world t...