The Podcast Pedant

Thanks to the ineffable¹ Mur Lafferty for letting me know that she, I, and several other great SF and literary podcasters are in the current issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction, in James Patrick Kelly’s column “On the Net.” Here’s the article online.

Jim Kelly’s a podcaster himself, reading his own fiction, so the article’s a lot more grounded in reality than many podcasting articles. He does find time to be snarky, however:

It’s been my personal experience, alas, that it’s a hell of a lot easier for me to say something stupid than it is to write something stupid; rarely can I listen to an interview I’ve given without cringing. On some podcasts I’ve listened to, the quantity of chatter seems to matter more than the quality of thought. Oftentimes these shows will consist of two or more speakers who seem to be modeling themselves on drivetime shockjocks. They interrupt and insult one another, often in the process losing their train of thought. They crack wise about sex and beer and skiffy flicks and reward each other with guffaws in a kind of grotesque comedic codependency.

Then follows a slightly overURLed summary of the Blogger-to-podcast process, and a list of Jim’s favorite podcasts. Mur, Michael & Evo, Paul Jenkins and Andy Doan get well-deserved props. And he echoes my opinion on Michael Stackpole: a great insider’s view, but sometimes you just want to say “Yes, but…“

Oh, and:

Escape Pod <http://escapepod.org> is one of the most ambitious SF podcasts and probably my current favorite. Produced by Steve Ely, it bills itself as “The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine” and features regular readings of short and flash fiction. Much of what you can hear on Escape Pod are “reprints” previously published in print venues and performed by Steve’s talented stable of readers.

It may be overproud to admit this,² but this is the second time recently I’ve been mentioned in Asimov’s. Jim had a column on online audio fiction in January that also shouted out Escape Pod. He was so nice both times that I don’t think I’ll ever bring myself to tell him how my name is spelled. And does it really matter? He got the URL right. That’s what we should want to tell the world: not who we are, but what we’re creating.

1. You don’t want to eff with her. ‘Cause she’ll eff you up. ↩
2. I.e., “It may be typical of Steve to admit this…” ↩