Just In Time for January - A Time Travel Discussion

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Welcome to the January 2012 edition of Broadly Speaking. According to the Mayan Calender, this year is the year that we run out of time. (Or, more probably, a new cycle begins quite uneventfully.) But if we can't go Back to the Future in our own version of The Time Machine, we can at least talk about it.

Join your host, Tracy S. Morris, for a timely discussion about the adventures of women writing science fiction, fantasy, horror -- and everything in between.

Up first, Tracy and Melanie Fletcher discuss the rules that one must decide on before writing about time travel.

Then, listen to a round-table discussion on the various conflicts that are inherent in time travel fiction with Pauline Baird Jones, author of Steamrolled, Kathryn Sullivan, author of Talking to Trees, S.A. Bolich, author of Firedancer and Lynda Williams, author of the Okal Rei Saga.

We hope that you can make time to listen to this podcast. If not, save it in your player for sometime when you have time on your hands.

Mentors and Teachers in the Heroine's Journey

Come along with Tracy S. Morris and Broaduniverse this month in examining the roles of teachers in fiction.

In traditional fiction, the hero is removed from the classroom to take a journey. From Athena to Obi wan, the hero’s guide along this journey differs from the traditional teacher who stands in front of a class to deliver a lesson. For this episode of Broadly speaking, we are taking a closer look at the role of the teacher, or the mentor figure in the heroine’s journey, and how that figure is different from the mentor in the hero’s journey. The differences may surprise you.

First up, K.A. Laity, author of Pelzmantel and other tales of Medieval Magic discusses the definition of the mentor in fiction.

Then MeiLin Miranda, author of the serial An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom talks about mentors when they take on the teacher role in a classroom setting.

Finally, Valarie Estell Frankel, author of From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine's Journey through Myth and Legend explores the differences between the mentor in the hero's journey and the heroine's journey.

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Join us for an enlightening episode of Broadly Speaking, where we hope that, just like your teachers and mentors, we can impart wisdom to you.

Vampires Broadly Speaking Snowed Out

Sadly, this is the first episode that we had to miss for either The Broad Pod or Broadly Speaking. You'd think weather wouldn't affect the online realm that covers the globe... but, alas, it does.

In addition to problematic scheduling, most of the guests we had slated to talk Vampires for Broadly Speaking were affected by the freak Halloween snow storm that took out the Northeast in the US and left without power. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Stay tuned for next month, though! Tracy S. Morris will be hosting a teacher-based Broadly Speaking. And before then, we'll have our usual Broad Pod, also on teaching available at broadpod.posterous.com

Thank you for listening and being part of The Broad Pod and Broadly Speaking!

Best,

Trish Wooldridge

2010-2011 Broad Universe Podcast Producer

There's Still Magic for Grown-Ups in Faery Tales

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Welcome to the September 2011 episode of Broadly Speaking, a podcast about the adventures of women writing science fiction, fantasy, horror - and everything in between.This month's podcast is devoted to women writers and feminism in Fairy Tales for Grown Ups. This month's edition of Broadly Speaking is hosted by Karen Meng, current treasurer and DataQueen for Broad Universe.

Karen interviews Cindy Speer, Vikki Ciaffone, and Trisha Wooldridge about the importance of Fairy Tales and retellings to culture, how the gender of the storyteller may or may not affect the message, and why writers should take some time exploring Faery Tales.

Cindy Lynn Speer jokingly refers to herself as a swashbuckler and author, but it is not far from the truth. A historical fencer who writes fantasy, murder mysteries and retold fairy tales, she divides her time between proving that the pen and the sword can be equally mighty. Find out more about her at www.apenandfire.com.

Vikki Ciaffone has been involved in SF/Fantasy for many years. She is personally responsible for the destruction of Sodom and Gommorha (she apologises, but all the hype was lies, and the populace was obsessed with Pictionary and Charades, two games Vikki finds highly evil). She then turned her attention to Troy, and once again, engineered its downfall in her quest to burn out the Pictionary Plague. She claims no responsibility for Pompeii or the Fall of Rome, though she might possibly have had something to do with the sun setting on the British Empire. In her spare time, Vikki has been known to shoot craps with the Fates and the Valkyries for shiny trinkets. Find out more about Vikki on the people page for Spencer Hill Press.

Trisha J. Wooldridge is the current president of Broad Universe, an international, non-profit supporting women in speculative fiction. She's published in the EPIC award-winning anthologies (2010) Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad and Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In all Their Glory from DarkQuest books, several poetry and non-fiction venues, and is an editor of the UnCONventional anthology from Spencer Hill Press, being released at Arisia 2012. www.anovelfriend.com

The Broad Pod is sponsored by Broad Universe, an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, honoring, and celebrating women writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. To find out more about our organization, including new fiction released by women, more podcasts, and information about writing and publishing for women, visit our website at www.broaduniverse.org.

August Broadly Speaking: Steaming Up Your August

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Welcome to the August 2011 episode of Broadly Speaking, a podcast about the adventures of women writing science fiction, fantasy, horror - and everything in between.This month's podcast is devoted to women writers and feminism in steampunk fiction. This month's edition of Broadly Speaking is hosted by Tracy S. Morris (http://tracysmorris.com).

Up first, Emilie P. Bush (http://www.site.coalcitysteam.com/) defines steampunk for us. Emilie is the author of Chenda and the Airship Broffman and The Gospel According to Verdu.

Then Joselle Vanderhooft (http://www.joselle-vanderhooft.com/) and Pauline Baird Jones (http://paulinebjones.server101.com/). Both discuss their favorite steampunk books. Joselle is the editor of Steam Powered, Steampunk Lesbian Stories and Steam Powered II. Pauline is the author of Steamrolled.

The Broad Pod is sponsored by Broad Universe, an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, honoring, and celebrating women writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. To find out more about our organization, including new fiction released by women, more podcasts, and information about writing and publishing for women, visit our website at www.broaduniverse.org.

Broadly Speaking: Humorous July

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Welcome to the July episode of Broadly Speaking, a podcast about the adventures of women writing science fiction, fantasy, horror - and everything in between.

The Broad Pod is sponsored by Broad Universe, an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, honoring, and celebrating women writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. To find out more about our organization, including new fiction released by women, more podcasts, and information about writing and publishing for women, visit our website at www.broaduniverse.org.

This month three guests (well, sort of...) joined host Julia Rios to discuss the ins and outs of writing humor.

C.S.E. Cooney is the author of Jack o' the Hills, The Big Bah-Ha, and numerous short stories and poems. Claire mentioned Tom Lehrer's song, "The Masochism Tango" as an example of funny rhyme. You can see Tom Lehrer playing it here, and hear the way he rhymes mahogany with agony for yourself. And then Claire's poem, "The Sea King's Second Bride" won the Rhysling award for long form poetry on the very day this interview was recorded! Congratulations, Claire! You can listen to and read "The Sea King's Second Bride" in the Spring 2010 issue of Goblin Fruit.

Gwynne Garfinkle writes short stories, poems, and novels, some of which you can read online. "In Lieu of a Thank You" is one of those, which came up in the interview. You can visit Strange Horizons to read this tale of a woman who gets captured by a mad scientist and doesn't do what one might expect.

Mary Robinette Kowal won the Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2008, and is the author of the Jane Austen inspired fantasy novel, Shades of Milk and Honey. She's also a puppeteer (Here is the book trailer for Shades of Milk and Honey, and here's Mary performing "The Broken Bridge"), and the Vice President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Her short story, "For Want of a Nail" is up for the Hugo award this year. Unfortunately Mary was unable to make it to the interview, so Claire presented her own left hand as "Mary-in-effigy". Stay tuned for a special message at the end of the podcast from Mary's Real Person!

And here's a picture of the three lovely interview guests:

The Pride of June

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Welcome to the June episode of Broadly Speaking, a podcast about the adventures of women writing science fiction, fantasy, horror - and everything in between.

The Broad Pod is sponsored by Broad Universe, an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, honoring, and celebrating women writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. To find out more about our organization, including new fiction released by women, more podcasts, and information about writing and publishing for women, visit our website at www.broaduniverse.org

Trisha J. Wooldridge hosts this month's episode of Broadly Speaking. In the United States, June is celebrated as Pride Month, a time to show support of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer members of our society. Broad Universe is happy to wave our rainbow flag for members who identify, write, and publish in the GLBTQ communities. Our earlier June podcast, the Broad Pod, was dedicated to fiction featuring GLBTQ characters, and now, Broadly Speaking is happy to interview five of our members on GLBTQ fiction, publishing, and activism.

Catherine Lundoff and JoSelle Vanderhooft recently edited a Hellebore & Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic. Both have written and edited numerous excellent stories and collections. Elissa Malcohn, member of the Broad Universe motherboard, is author of the Deviations series as well as a prolific poet and activist. Cecilia Tan is owner and founder of Circlet Press and author of the popular online serial - now available in paperback - The Prince's Boy. Racheline Maltese focuses a lot on non-fiction and academic prose related to queer topics and activism.

Join us for a spell or two while we wax with Pride on multiple topics related to writing, reading, and publishing!

May Broadly Speaking: Honoring the Mother of All Science Fiction

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Mothers Day falls in the month of May. In honor of this, our May edition of Broadly Speaking focuses on Mary Shelley and her first novel, Frankenstein.

Hostess Tracy S. Morris (http://tracysmorris.com) speaks with Trisha Woolridge (http://www.anovelfriend.com/) and Melanie Fletcher (http://www.melaniefletcher.com/) about Shelley’s influences, the history of Frankenstein and current interpretations of the work.

First up, Tracy talks to Trisha about Shelley’s influences, including her scientific readings, her grounding in feminism, and the year there was no summer.

Then Tracy interviews Melanie about one of her works in progress, a retelling of Frankenstein from the point of view of Frankenstein’s wife. They also talk about Shelley’s portrayal of the women in Frankenstein and Shelley’s own conflicting views of childbirth and motherhood.

Broadly Speaking is brought to you by Broad Universe, an international organization dedicated to promoting, celebrating, and honoring women in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and everything in between. Find out more about Broad Universe at www.broaduniverse.org Broad Universe is a registered 501c3 organization. If you'd like to support our mission to promote, celebrate, and honor women, your donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

We hope you enjoy this electrifying episode.

Showering some April Humor

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Welcome to another episode of Broadly Speaking! This April brings you reflections on humor from women who write it well.

Hostess Trisha J. Wooldridge speaks with Jaleta Clegg, Tracy S. Morris, and Justine Graykin about the ins and outs of writing humorous speculative fiction.

In the first interview, Jaleta shares with us how humor makes things less scary, how writing keeps her sane, and how absolutely important chocolate is to the writing process.

The second interview teams up Tracy and Justine to talk about how funnier they feel on paper, how writing humor is like cooking, and how to keep an interview going when life - and dogs - want a piece of the action.

Broadly Speaking is brought to you by Broad Universe, an international organization dedicated to promoting, celebrating, and honoring women in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and everything in between. Find out more about Broad Universe at www.broaduniverse.org Broad Universe is a registered 501c3 organization. If you'd like to support our mission to promote, celebrate, and honor women, your donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

We hope we brought a little more humor into your life with this episode. Thank you for joining us on Broadly Speaking.

Broadly Speaking: Strong Female Characters

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Welcome to the third Broadly Speaking edition of the Broad Pod. Broadly Speaking brings you interviews and insights from women writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror - and all the realms in between. Julia Rios hosts this month's episode, which is all about strong female characters.

Our guests this month are:

*Joyce Chng, whose novel about Singaporean werewolves, Wolf at the Door (written under the name J. Damask), is coming out in April through Lyrical Press.

*Kate Kaynak, author of the Ganzfield series of books about a teenage telepath, and co-editor of the upcoming Spencer Hill Press anthology, UnCONventional.

*Phoebe Wray, author of Jemma 7729, and current president of Broad Universe.