If you’ve been following the podcast, you know that we haven’t released a new one for quite some time. The truth is (and this is Rajan speaking), the editing work became too laborious for me. We would often record hours of content and I would spend further hours, listening and editing and as time went on, it got harder and harder. I have ADHD, and it seemed like a task I wasn’t suited for, and in all honesty, it began to kill my enthusiasm for doing the podcast. I love the discussion part, but the behind the scenes work, the uploading and listing and publishing in addition to the editing, became my nemesis for a time.

At the same time, I missed the idea of talking to writers and other creative types, of having a drink together, especially in the COVID era, when many of us were stuck at home and when in-person gatherings were few and far between. I considered possibilities over the gap, but nothing really changed until I was the guest co-host for the KGB Fantastic Fiction reading series, normally based out of the KGB Bar in New York City, but which had been streaming during the height of the pandemic. I won’t go into the details, but they recorded the readings and easily posted them to the web where they could be viewed, and I realized that we could do that. We could meet with other people, and share a drink, while seeing one another. And with video conferencing being more commonplace these days, we could also reach people we might not have before. Plus, we could record more regularly without the need to find a space to do it in (something we struggled with before).

So, the podcast is back, but as a video stream. We will be recording with guests for roughly about an hour and putting the videos online with little to no editing involved. As we get things established, we may even start livestreaming the actual discussions and taking questions from the public. But for now, the recordings will be available on Youtube.

And I’m excited to say that our first guest of the new era is none other than Mercurio D. Rivera, one of my favorite science fiction writers, and a friend. But he deserves his own post, so let me take care of that…

In the 2nd episode of the season, Rajan and Devin sit down with Trevor Quachri, Editor of Analog Science Fiction & Fact, to discuss Avengers: Endgame and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

GUEST

Before taking the reigns of ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION AND FACT as editor in 2012, Trevor Quachri started off as an editorial assistant in 1999 and worked his way up the ladder at ANALOG and ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION, under Stanley Schmidt, Sheila Williams, and Gardner Dozois, respectively. On top of that, he’s also been a Broadway stagehand, collected data for museums, and executive produced a science fiction pilot for a basic cable channel. He lives in New Jersey with his fiancee, daughter, and way, way too many comic books.

DRINK(s) OF CHOICE

Paradox Beer Company Zangria Bianca — Wild Sour Ale brewed with White Grapes, Tangerines, and Pineapples aged in Oak Barrels.

Other Half Do You Want More ?!!? — Imperial sour IPA brewed with lemon, blackberries, marcona almonds, vanilla and milk sugars

Other Half Enhance Your Mind — Triple IPA packed with Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe, Motueka, Citra Cryo and Simcoe Cryo.

iTUNES LINK

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-2002-avengers-endgame-with-trevor-quachri/id1316587908?i=1000439110547

STITCHER LINK

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/spirited-discourse?refid=stpr

As mentioned on Episode 2 of the podcast (coming later today), we have started a Patreon for the podcast. While we enjoy doing the podcast, there are several costs that come with it, including hosting and distribution and costs associated with buying the drinks and occasionally reserving space. We will continue to offer the podcast for free, but if you’d like to support us, please become one of our patrons.

Doing so is not without its rewards. For the low price of $1 a month, you can join the Inner Circle and get updates on guests and behind the scenes stories and posts. Or join the VIP tier for $3 a month and get access to outtakes from the podcasts going back to Season 1. We always end up with more material than we can use and you will get monthly outtakes as well as potentially bonus mini-episodes and other content (including everything the Inner Circle tier gets).

There’s no pressure to sign up and anyone who does so is free to leave or change their tier at any time with no questions asked. But if you’d like to support the podcast and get some additional content, it’s there for you to do so.

Hope you’ll check it out.

Spirited Discourse Patreon