After every season of Star Trek, I gather a panel of nerds and talk about the highs and lows of the season that just ended. This time we talk about the 2nd season of Star Trek Prodigy. Returning for our 11th episode breaking down a completed season of Trek.
Joining me as always are my bridge crew vocal Star Trek fan Sara Lynn Michener, and Musician/ filmmaker Issa Diao.
In this episode, we will break down the ins and out of the third season of Strange New Worlds. Strap in because all three of us were disappointed. Find out why…
Sound warning, this was recorded on my phone, of live panel held at the Speculative Fiction Across Media Conference on September 25th 2025. The sound is far from perfect but the content is great.
In this panel, we talk about the themes and meaning of the AppleTV series Severance. It is a spoiler-filled discussion about both seasons.
I am the moderator of the panel that features the Actor and academic Tom Scholte of the University of British Columbia, Dr. Sharon Sharp, who is Professor of Film, Television and Media at California State Dominguez Hills, and Sherryl Vint, who teaches Science Fiction at UC Riverside is the author of several books about Science Fiction.
In 1970, Avon Books published a landmark anthology, “Science Fiction Hall of Fame,” featuring 26 classic short stories that represent landmark tales of the genre. The stories were voted on by the members of the new (at the time, in the late 1960s) organization Science Fiction Writers of America. In this series, I will be joined by a panel of guests to break down these stories and talk about the authors in the book.
In this episode, I am joined by two amazing authors to discuss Cordwainer Smith's 1950 (written in ’45) story Scanners Live in Vain. duncan b. barlow is a musician, academic, and author of several amazing books, including his amazing new short story collection Awry. Brian Evenson is the award-winning author of one of my favorite novels, Immobility, and several amazing short story collections.
We talk about the weird and cool history of Paul Linebarger, AKA Cordwainer Smith, and the publication history of this story. We go deep into the themes of this amazing story and the author. Yes, the SF Hall of Fame is back in action. We are on track for Ray Bradbury next!
In this episode, I welcome a huge panel of talented writers to talk about the soon-to-be-released anthology Space Horrors: An Anthology of Horror Science-Fiction Stories. This project began as a conversation at Stokercon. “There needs to be more Space Horror.” The majority of the authors were sitting at that table.
The panel includes Editor E.S. Magill, Kathryn Blanche, Vincent V, Cava, Jon Cohn, Eric J. Guinard, and Mike D. McCarty.
We preview our stories in Space Horror and talk about Space Horror in General
In this episode, I welcome author Rebecca Baum, the New York City-based author of The Brood to talk about her second novel! The Brood is her first horror novel, which combines body and eco-horror.
We discuss her influences, the novel's structure, and its writing. Transitioning from Southern Gothic to straight horror.
Welcome to a new sub-series of the podcast devoted to screenplays for movies that never got made. There are tons of famous screenplays from Oliver Stone’s first draft of Conan to Del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness. For each episode in this series, we will read and review a script that never got made.
In this episode, I am joined by author Anthony Trevino and Musician/Filmmaker Issa Diao to discuss The Unproduced Shadow Company by Shane Black and Fred Dekker which was supposed to be John Carpenter’s follow-up to They Live in 1988. This cult classic script that was cross between Platoon and Night of the Living Dead is something of a legend. We break it down.
Postcards is back! I took a hiatus so I could finish a novel and a few other things. One of the other things was finishing the release of my 11th novel, Great America in Dead World. This novel is a philosophical science fiction experiment that is pretty much a homage to Philip K. Dick. In this episode, Lord Running Clam (author of Pink Beam the PKD companion) and my editor, Keith Giles interview me about the novel. More new episodes are on the way…
Buy the book here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/great-america-in-dead-world-david-agranoff/1147438405?ean=9781964252469
“Kai is a post-human woman who is technologically modified to survive the harsh realities of climate change and works as a "Janie" whose only job is to keep her wealthy clients alive in their simulation pods within Great America. Here, the blurred lines of a post-truth society threaten to destroy reality as we know it.
Great America in Dead World by David Agranoff is an experimental satire patterned after the writing formula used by the late science fiction author Philip K. Dick.
Agranoff's novel imagines a future dystopian world where, under the rule of President Supreme, global temperatures are on the rise, and the ultra-wealthy plug into a virtual Heaven while the working class keeps them alive in their pods. But when the global food supply begins to run out, what will keep Great America from devouring itself?”
So I am still in my unofficial hiatus to work on my novel-in-progress. I really had to do this episode because like many people I have tons of thoughts about Andor Season 2. I gathered some friends and colleagues that I thought would have good takes on the series.
In this panel I welcomed a diverse group of folks. Issa Diao former vocalist of Good Clean Fun and veteran of my Star Trek breakdowns is back, then we have (Fn)David Woken who is a librarian who has studied labor and revolutionary history in Latin America. Finally we have author Alma Katsu who before becoming an award winning, and bestselling horror novelist worked as an intelligence analyst at CIA.
We talk about the highs and lows of Andor, what is good spycraft and what isn’t, The film and revolutionary influences on Andor, what we want in Star Wars media and more.
•You can find my books here:
Amazon-https://www.amazon.com/David-Agranoff/e/B004FGT4ZW
•And me here:
Goodreads-http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2988332.David_Agranoff
Twitter-https://twitter.com/DAgranoffAuthor
Blog-http://davidagranoff.blogspot.com/
Returning to PFDW for the 4th time Stephen Graham Jones returns to talk about the re-release of Bram Stoker award winning novella Mapping the Interior. One reason of this book is being re-released is the book is on sale for a month at Barnes and Noble in the cafe for $5 with a drink . Just saying.
We talk about the writing of the novella, Ghost stories, writing habits, and pick-up basketball.
Certain authors gain respect and become immediate commitments from me. As in I am reading whatever the heck they put out. I have not read everything by Philip Fracassi yet, but he won me over with a short story (Fail-safe), and last year Boys in Valley did an amazing job grabbing me with one of the subgenres I am not a huge fan of - the possession novel. When I interviewed him for that book he was talking about working on this one, and I was excited that he was doing Science Fiction.
The Third Rule of Time Travel is hard SF, as in the science is taken seriously. It has horror elements but is a character-driven emotional roller coaster of a novel that gave Richard Matheson vibes. The first half of the interview is spoiler-free and a warning we get into the nuts and bolts of writing this amazing novel.
Despite being marketed on the cover as a thriller, Cynthia Pelayo’s Wheelhouse is a horror novel about haunted Chicago, a city that is haunted not just by ghosts but by the long specter of this strange history that has swirled around the Windy City. No surprise as she has Bram Stoker and Latino book awards on her shelf.
Vanishing Daughters has all the elements that she is known for while adding some subtle but meaningful Sci-fi elements. In this conversation, we go deep into the inspirations of the novel, Pelayo’s process, and the power of meditation.
In 1970, Avon Books published a landmark anthology, “Science Fiction Hall of Fame,” featuring 26 classic short stories that represent landmark tales of the genre. The stories were voted on by the members of the new (at the time, in the late 1960s) organization Science Fiction Writers of America. In this series, I will be joined by a panel of guests to break down these stories and talk about the authors in the book.
In this episode, I am joined by Patrick B. Sharp Professor of Liberal Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. He is the Faculty Director of EagleCon, SFAM conference Cal State LA's convention devoted to exploring and advocating for diversity in SF across media. He is the author of Darwinian Feminism and Early Science Fiction: Angels, Amazons, and Women (New Dimensions in Science Fiction) and co-editor of Sisters of Tomorrow (with Lisa Yaszek) and Audrey Taylor is an Assistant Professor of English at Colorado State-Pueblo. She received her PhD from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England. Her specialty is genre fiction, particularly fantasy, and science fiction. Her first book, Patricia A. McKillip and the Art of Fantasy World-Building, came out in 2017 and she is at work on a second monograph on SF author Anne McCaffrey.
We talk about Judith Merrill and her 1948 classic “Only a Mother.” We go deep into the author’s history, the origin and the meaning of the story, Did Merrill intentionally write this story to needle John W. Campbell, and more.
In 2023 my top read of the year was Ray Nayler’s debut novel The Mountain of the Sea. Not only that it is one of my favorite novels of the 21st century so far. Last year Nayler followed up that novel with the amazing novella Tusks of Extinction. Ray came on the podcast to talk about both of those books. I recommend reading both and listening to both interviews.
Ray Nayler is a great guest, his combination of SF fandom, knowledge of science, and intergovernmental experience created a literary unicorn. One unbelievable alchemy of thought and talent spit out a sophomore masterpiece Where the Axe is Buried. In this conversation, we mostly focus on Where the Axe is Buried. We get into a little PKD, Putin, and oligarchy.
In 1970, Avon Books published a landmark anthology, “Science Fiction Hall of Fame,” featuring 26 classic short stories that represent landmark tales of the genre. The stories were voted on by the members of the new (at the time, in the late 1960s) organization Science Fiction Writers of America. In this series, I will be joined by a panel of guests to break down these stories and talk about the authors in the book.
In this episode, I am joined by retired professors Brian Attebery and Steven Shaviro. Brian Attebery writer and emeritus professor of English and philosophy at Idaho State University and The author of The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin. Steven Shaviro is a retired Wayne State professor, philosopher, and cultural critic whose areas of interest include film theory and Science Fiction He is the author of Fluid Futures.
We talk about Murray Leinster and his 1945 classic First Contact. We go deep into the aythor’s history, some of his other classic stories, the issue of Astounding that came out the month of Nazi surrender. Also I get into his major impact on one of the most popular authors of all time.
Welcome to a long overdue episode of postcards. Kyle Winkler, say much in common. Hoosiers, dickheads and we could’ve talked about those things but this episode is Kyle’s amazing self-published novel Boris Says the Words. The best self-published novel I have ever read.
What genre are we talking about? That is the first problem that shouldn’t be a problem this novel has. Boris Says the Words is many genres. Science Fiction, yes, but also Horror, but also Bizarro and surreal. All those labels are fair but also on their own would sell this novel short. Don’t think for one second that the literary or artistic merit is lacking because Winkler didn’t want to wait for the right publisher to figure it out. To me this book has merit of high literature, and I can’t wait any longer for you to hear this conversation.
Stephen Graham Jones should need little introduction. He was the guest on the 13th episode of this podcast, talking about his horror masterpiece The Only Good Indian. He was also on a panel episode with Paul Tremblay and Josh Malerman talking about one of our favorite topics Basketball.
Very excited to point out that I got to be Stpehen’s first interview on this incredible vampire novel Buffalo Hunter Hunter. In this conversation we talk about Stpehen’s Vampire class that inspired this book, his process on it, some of our favorite vampire classics and of course the forthcoming novel (out 3/18/25). We stay mostly spoiler free, but I give a warning before we go deeper into the themes and the final act.
Buffalo Hunter Hunter was one of the best reads I had last year. One of the new releases I consider a masterpiece. Very excited to offer this episode.
•You can find my books here: Amazon-https://www.amazon.com/David-Agranoff/e/B004FGT4ZW •And me here: Goodreads-http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2988332.David_Agranoff Twitter-https://twitter.com/DAgranoffAuthor Blog-http://davidagranoff.blogspot.com/
In this episode, I am joined by Author, Editor, publisher, showman, and Bizarro Writers Association Pres Michael Allen Rose. We are gathered here today to talk about his amazing new anthology Fragile. A collection of stories by various authors all starting with the same prompt.
Fragile features lots of authors I love from Laura Lee Bahr, Garrett Cook, Brian Keene, Mykle Hansen, and Emma Johnson to name a few. Michael Allen Rose had a fun concept, but what is cool is how hard he is working to boost up all the authors involved. We talk about Michael’s background, his personal books, and how Fragile came together.
In this episode I am joined by Issa Diao and Anthony Trevino is discuss our favorite movies of 2024. We have Anthony’s very long list of movies he hated, then our top movies.
The 3rd annual favorite reads of the year podcast with my oldest book nerd friend Judge Marc Rothenberg. We go through our favorite Retro Reads, Non-fiction, and new releases. Featuring books from Josh Malerman, Stephen Graham Jones, Sarah Langan, and many more.
Two hours of book nerding.
•You can find my books here:
Amazon-https://www.amazon.com/David-Agranoff/e/B004FGT4ZW
•And me here:
Goodreads-http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2988332.David_Agranoff
Twitter-https://twitter.com/DAgranoffAuthor
Blog-http://davidagranoff.blogspot.com/
In 2024 I read 107 books and in this episode, I give a thumbnail review of each one. No guest, one take 48 minutes. I will go into more detail on my favorites during the Best Reads of the Year podcast coming out this Friday with Marc Rothenberg. Complete reviews can be found on my blog www.davidagranoff.blogspot.com
