Viewing: kate elliott

SO MUCH AWESOME I DON’T EVEN HAVE TIME TO GREET YOU, FOLKS.

No, seriously, the newest episode of the Ditch Diggers podcast is so jam-packed with amazing things I scarcely know where to begin. It was recorded two weeks ago LIVE at Worldcon, the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention in Spokane, Washington. Mur and I had a packed, absolutely fucking fabulous theater audience who were overwhelmingly into the show. It was widely tweeted about as one of many, many folks’ favorite things they attended at the con. We are debuting our brand new smashingly good official THEME SONG which was written, performed, and recorded by comedy/nerdcore rap sensation Devo Spice (thank you so much, Tom!).

Probably the best and most memorable Ditch Diggers segment thus far in our short history happened during this episode as we welcomed authors Linda NagataAliette de BodardKate Elliott, and Fonda Lee on stage to roll for initiative and take part in an adventure in the dreaded Forest of Publishing. Mur and I co-GM’ed a very special improvised version of a very popular fantasy roleplaying game, but this one was all about adventures and perils in the publishing industry.

Finally, we had the absolute privilege of welcoming Tor.com Publishing senior editor Lee Harris on stage to face the firing squad and answer Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Editors But Were Afraid To Ask.

I absolutely love how this episode and the live event turned out. It was everything I want Ditch Diggers to be; entertaining and damn fun while remaining on-topic and bringing you brutally honest information about writing as a job from the pros who do it.

I hope you folks love this one, too.

Our sincere thanks to all of our special guests and especially the fantastic audience who made it out to Ditch Diggers Live, and to Devo Spice for our kick-ass new theme.

To listen to Ditch Diggers Live! click here.

As always, I sincerely request you folks do three things.

Please do subscribe to the Ditch Diggers podcast on iTunes.

Please do consider supporting our Patreon and helping us do more and better episodes featuring bigger and better guests.

Please do talk about Ditch Diggers on all your social media platforms, or just tell your friends. In person. In real-life.

Thanks, folks.

I’m currently at a fever pitch trying to get myself squared away to leave for Worldcon, but so much amazing is happening I had to make sure all of you were updated on it lest you miss the podcasting, convention, and freelance writing event of the year.

Hyperbole?

Nay.

We all know the Hugo Awards are the hot SFF ticket this week. HOWEVER, Sasquan/Worldcon is also the site of the first ever Ditch Diggers Live, where Mur Lafferty and I will be recording an episode of our blockbuster (BLOCKBUSTER, I SAY) podcast about writing as a job in front of an utterly fervent, raucous crowd for the first time.

Mur and I are excited to be part of the programming at the con, and we’re determined to be the most talked about part of it.

To that end we decided to shake things way the hell up and rather than just talk at folks for an hour, we’re going interactive and featuring several special segments we’ve cooked up and a plethora of truly bad-ass special guests for those segments.

You’re not ready.

You’re purely not.

Let’s break it down.

WHAT WOULD THE PROS DO?

When Mur and I came up with the idea for this segment we knew we needed authors of the purest steel. We needed authors who could handle deep pressure. We needed authors who would be at the con first thing on Thursday when we’re scheduled.

None of these were easy requirements to meet.

I am immensely proud and pleased to announce SFF titans and true ditch diggers Linda NagataAliette de Bodard, Kate Elliott, and Fonda Lee have answered the challenge.

Fearsome Foursome DD 1

How about that for a line-up? We may bag the whole “podcast segment” malarky and invade Canada. I mean, Fonda is from there, she can totally be our inside player.

Anyway.

This fearsome foursome of SFF authors will face a speed challenge all about facing adversity and the unexpected in the publishing industry. Because you will and we all do.

We’re calling it “What Would The Pros Do?”

With thirty seconds on the clock apiece Mur and I will present each of them with a sticky, perilous scenario one would and does face in the world of professional publishing. They’ll then have that time to construct an answer to how they’d handle said scenario and why.

Why add the element of a ticking clock? Because in this business you have to think on your feet. Because authors above all others tend to pontificate endlessly. Because Sasquan has only given us 45 minutes to record.

I am supremely excited about this segment. I was already a fan of all of these authors except for Fonda, and that changed as soon as I became aware of her and her debut novel Zeroboxer. This is going to be a fun-as-hell segment in the true spirit and mission of the Ditch Diggers podcast.

But wait, folks! There’s more!

THINGS YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT EDITORS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK!

Lee_yellow_sm-255x300Lee Harris is a transatlantic editorial cyborg built to function at the highest levels of the publishing industry. Lee was formerly the publisher of Hub magazine and the senior editor of Angry Robot Books, and is currently the senior editor of Tor.com Publishing’s new line of novella books (he’s also, in the sake of full disclosure, my editor).

We’ve managed to trap Lee in a reinforced crate, not unlike King Kong, and we will be smuggling him to Spokane where, at Ditch Diggers Live, we will prod him with electrified sticks and force him to answer questions that normally you’d be too afraid to ask a big fancy New York City publishing editor and they’d be too irresolute to answer.

In truth, Lee is an immensely cool dude, a very talented and experienced editor, a veteran of SFF publishing, and it will be a fantastic opportunity for our listeners to get an inside look at editors’ perception, process, and point of view.

And that’s going to be our show, folks. I hope you’ll agree this is not one you’ll want to miss.

If you’re planning to be at Sasquan/Worldcon or hell, even if you’re just in the Spokane area, get your posterior to Ditch Diggers Live and make sure the rest of you is attached to it for maximum enjoyment.

It’s all happening at Sasquan in Spokane, WA this Thursday, the 20th, at 12:00 noon in Conference Center 110 (CC).

BE THERE.