Stay ConnectedPage Break is a collection of casual conversations between epic fantasy author Brian McClellan and fellow creative professionals—like two friends sitting down over lunch to discuss career, craft, family, and hobbies. Authorhood is a quiet sort of minor fame where the person behind the words is often obscured by the works they’ve created. Brian aims to use this podcast to find out more about his friends and colleagues.
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Copyright: © Brian McClellan
My guest this week is artist, writer, and narrative designer Grace P. Fong! Grace has created art content for speculative fiction publications and promotional material for authors - including designing the weapons for my very own Powder Mage RPG - and has exhibited regularly at conventions. She’s also published short fiction in Uncanny Magazine. For her day job she’s worked as a narrative designer for Magic: the Gathering, and spent ten years as a senior technical artist on blockbuster movies and AAA video games.
Grace and I chat about her work with movie and game studios as an animation problem-solver. We go over the insane complexity of these studios and the hard work that goes into rendering as much as a single frame of animation. We also swap medical stories and discuss the difficulty of dealing with healthcare when you’re working gigs, changing companies, or self-employed. Enjoy my conversation with Grace P. Fong!
Find Grace on Twitter and her website.
Find Brian McClellan at his website, on Twitter and Instagram, or find his books on Amazon, direct from his bookstore, or wherever books are sold!
Don't forget to support the show on Patreon, or pick up some swag on Redbubble.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My guest this week is author Piper J Drake. Piper is a prolific romance author who puts the saucy into all of our favorite SFF subgenres. She’s written a pair of suspense series in True Heroes and Safeguard, the science fiction Triton Experiment series, the paranormal London Shifters series, and many standalone novels and short stories. She has a new contemporary fantasy series, Mythwoven, coming in April 2023 with the first book Wings Once Cursed and Bound. Piper is also the cohost of the 20 Minute Delay podcast with Gail Carriger.
Piper and I spend WAY too much time talking about food and tea before moving on to the tropes of the romance genre and the way she’s used them in her own writing. We also chat about Piper’s childhood love of science fiction and fantasy, the origin of her pseudonyms, and the challenges presented by moving between genres. Enjoy my conversation with Piper Drake!
You can find Piper on her website or Twitter.
Find Brian McClellan at his website, on Twitter and Instagram, or find his books on Amazon, direct from his bookstore, or wherever books are sold!
Don't forget to support the show on Patreon, or pick up some swag on Redbubble.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My guest this week is author RR Virdi. Ronnie has written the urban fantasies Grave Report and Books of Winter, LitRPG Monster Slayer Online, and space western Shepherd of Light. He’s probably best known to epic fantasy fans for his new Tales of Tremaine duology, starting with the First Binding that came out in August of 2022.
Ronnie and I chat about his time working as a mechanic and his love of cars, our authorial anxieties, and our massive lack of skills outside making up fantasy worlds. We discuss the challenges and foibles of indie publishing, and the way Ronnie jumps between writing multiple genres in the course of a single day. Enjoy my conversation with RR Virdi!
You can find Ronnie on his website or twitter.
Find Brian McClellan at his website, on Twitter and Instagram, or find his books on Amazon, direct from his bookstore, or wherever books are sold!
Don't forget to support the show on Patreon, or pick up some swag on Redbubble.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My guest this week is comedy writer and podcaster Sean “Seanbaby” Reiley. Seanbaby is an old-school Cracked alumni known for his work with fellow Page Break guest Robert Brockway on 1900hotdog.com and its podcast, Dogg Zzone 9000. Seanbaby has also written and performed for Attack of the Show, Adult Swim, Cracked.com, and numerous internet venues.
Seanbaby and I chat about the strange things he researches, trying to get the tone of a joke across in text, and the balance between creating and reviewing. We discuss good and bad faith in online discourse, as well as the need to punch down and the lines that Sean makes for himself when creating comedy around real people. We generally solve all the world’s problems, so enjoy my conversation with Seanbaby!
You can find Seanbaby on Twitter or his website.
Find Brian McClellan at his website, on Twitter and Instagram, or find his books on Amazon, direct from his bookstore, or wherever books are sold!
Don't forget to support the show on Patreon, or pick up some swag on Redbubble.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My guest this week is the prolific, award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Adrian Tchaikovsky. Adrian is known for his early epic fantasy, Shadows of the Apt, and for his lauded Children of Time series, the third book of which should be out by the time this podcast airs. He’s also got the brand-new stand-alone City of Last Chances and a whole massive backlist of novel and short stories.
Adrian and I chat about his early career in the British legal system, our experiences transitioning to full time authors, and the way external conditions affect our writing. We talk about Adrian’s interest in zoology and the role insects have played in his writing, as well as the tropes in epic fantasy that irritate us. We also touch on propaganda, tribalism, and human psychology. Enjoy my chat with Adrian Tchaikovsky!
You can find Adrian on Twitter or his website.
Find Brian McClellan at his website, on Twitter and Instagram, or find his books on Amazon, direct from his bookstore, or wherever books are sold!
Don't forget to support the show on Patreon, pick up some swag on Redbubble, or back the Montego Kickstarter!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My guest this week is New York Times bestselling author and wargame blogger Robison Wells! Rob is known for his breakout young adult suspense novel Variant and it’s sequel Feedback, as well as a number of other science fiction and fantasy novels. He also co-wrote The Warning with James Patterson, and now runs a popular wargame hobby website, the Wargame Explorer.
Rob and I chat at length about the wargaming industry and its various quirks and foibles. We touch on Rob’s struggle to maintain his writing career with schizophrenia, and how much painting miniatures has helped him maintain and regulate his creative side. Enjoy my conversation with Robison Wells!
You can find Rob on Twitter or his Wargaming Blog.
Find Brian McClellan at his website, on Twitter and Instagram, or find his books on Amazon, direct from his bookstore, or wherever books are sold!
Don't forget to support the show on Patreon, pick up some swag on Redbubble, or back the Montego Kickstarter!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My guest this week is epic fantasy author Nicholas Eames! Nick is known for his breakout King of the Wyld and its sequel, the Bloody Rose. We chat about his forthcoming third book and the themes of the series, as well as our habits as writers—getting bogged down in details, leaning into the fantastical, and the hooks that bring the reader along for the ride. We also discuss eating out, our mutual love of video games, and music and the celebrity of music. Enjoy my conversation with Nicholas Eames!
You can find Nicholas on Twitter or his website.
Find Brian McClellan at his website, on Twitter and Instagram, or find his books on Amazon, direct from his bookstore, or wherever books are sold!
Don't forget to support the show on Patreon, or pick up some swag on Redbubble.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hey everyone! Check out the Kickstarter for my new Glass Immortals novella, Montego! The Kickstarter will go from today, November 8th, through December 8th.
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My guest this week is international bestseller Amie Kaufman! An author of science fiction and fantasy for young adults, Amie is known for her Starbound Trilogy and Unearthed series, which she co-wrote with Meagan Spooner; the Illuminae Files and Aurora Cycle, which she co-wrote with Jay Kristoff, and her Elementals trilogy.
Amie and I chat about international travel, the joys of a quiet hotel room, and touring as a YA author. She tells me about her mutually-constructive relationship with her co-authors and the questions you ask yourself—and each other—when working with a creative partner. We also talk a bit about writing from a place of grief and let me tell you, listening back to this hit a little bit harder since my brother passed away last month. Enjoy my conversation with Amie Kaufman!
You can find Amie on Twitter and her website.
Find Brian McClellan at his website, on Twitter and Instagram, or find his books on Amazon, direct from his bookstore, or wherever books are sold!
Don't forget to support the show on Patreon, or pick up some swag on Redbubble.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My guest this week is Australian cosplayer Nichameleon! Nic is known for her massive presence on Twitter and Instagram, where she puts a sexy spin on favorite characters from pop culture around the globe. She also streams on Twitch and TikTok and designs her own clothing line with the Lonely Kids Club.
Nic and I chat about bring proud of what you do for a living, the variety of small skills you need to learn to run a creative business, and the disconnect between our public and personal faces. We also talk about a recent injury she had during a photo shoot, as well as the challenges of being a content creator in a hyper-competitive field and how she tries to stand out.
Find Nic on Twitter and Patreon.
Find Brian McClellan at his website, on Twitter and Instagram, or find his books on Amazon, direct from his bookstore, or wherever books are sold!
Don't forget to support the show on Patreon, or pick up some swag on Redbubble.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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