Tag Archives: Comedy

27Jun/25

Michael G. Williams

June 27, 2025

It gives us great pleasure to present Season 10, Episode 24: Michael G. Williams!

Michael G. Williams returns to share his collected novellas: Servant Sovereign AND his latest novel, Children of Solitude. We talk about real estate demons being thwarted by witches dipping through time, and then about supernatural horror as a genre that truly peels back the human experience and forces characters (and us) to find joy and love through the dark times!

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Bio:
MICHAEL G WILLIAMS writes queer-themed speculative fiction celebrating the unexpected ways we outsiders find ourselves and our people at the heart of the mysterious and the macabre. He’s a member of HWA and SFWA and is on the NC Writers Network Board of Trustees.

He also co-hosts Arcane Carolinas, an award-winning podcast about the myths and legends of his native region. Michael studied Performance Studies at UNC Chapel Hill and Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State, and is a brother in both Mu Beta Psi and St. Anthony Hall.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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September 23, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to present Season 7, Episode 38: Michael G. Williams + Our Review of Wildhood!

Michael G. Williams returns to discuss queer futures and queer joy as seen in his SERVANT/SOVEREIGN and Autumn noir detective novels. We then review Wildhood and share who won our week.

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Bio:
Michael G. Williams writes queer-themed science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror celebrating monsters, macabre humor, and subverted expectations. He’s the author of three series for Falstaff Books: the award-winning vampire/urban fantasy series The Withrow Chronicles; a new urban fantasy series featuring real estate, time travel, and San Francisco’s most beloved historical figures, SERVANT/SOVEREIGN; and the science fiction noir Autumn detective novels. Michael also co-hosts Arcane Carolinas, hosts and produces Social Distancing Radio, and contributes to tabletop RPG development. He strives to present the humor and humanity at the heart of horror and mystery with stories of outcasts and loners finding their people. He lives in Durham, NC, with his husband, a variety of animals, and more and better friends than he will admit to deserving.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m_liW3jU3Y[/embedyt]


July 2, 2021

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Michael G. Williams as the guest on Season 6, Episode 26 – Probably Selectively True!

Michael G. Williams joins us to discuss relating the queer experience through horror, science fiction, and urban fantasy. We dive into empowering queer voices rather than exploiting queer identities, and laugh about some of the joys of writing queer stories.

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Bio:

Michael G. Williams writes queer-themed science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror celebrating monsters, macabre humor, and subverted expectations.

Michael is an avid podcaster, activist, and gaymer, and is a brother in St. Anthony Hall and Mu Beta Psi. He cohosts Arcane Carolinas, a podcast about the strange and unexplained found on the backroads of North & South Carolina, and Data at Rest, an information security podcast. He also hosts Social Distancing Radio, a podcast intended to recreate the experience of author readings at science fiction and fantasy conventions. Michael lives in Durham, NC, with his husband, a variety of animals, and more and better friends than he will admit he deserves.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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13Jun/25

Mo Fanning

June 13, 2025

It gives us great pleasure to present Season 10, Episode 21: Mo Fanning!

Mo Fanning returns to share his new novel: Rainbows and Lollipops. We discuss setting a story close to home – Birmingham in this case, healing from loss, and friends growing into found family!

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Bio:
Mo Fanning is a Birmingham-based novelist whose character-driven fiction explores the complexities of love, identity, and human connection through the lens of LGBTQ+ experiences. With his signature blend of humour, heartbreak, and hope, Fanning creates deeply relatable characters whose journeys reflect the universal search for belonging in an often-challenging world. Drawing inspiration from his Midlands roots, Fanning infuses his writing with authentic voices and settings that resonate with readers seeking stories that celebrate the beauty of imperfection and the transformative power of resilience. His innovative narrative approaches and genuine emotional depth have earned him a dedicated following among readers who appreciate contemporary fiction that balances entertainment with meaningful exploration of human relationships.

When not writing, Mo lives with his husband Mark and their beloved Labrador Ernie, continuing to find inspiration in the streets, stories, and people of his beloved Birmingham.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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August 30, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 34 Interview – Mo Fanning!

Mo Fanning joins us to share his latest novel Husbands! We discuss the dark side of Hollywood, telling stories while protecting identities, and finding happiness in the end.

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Bio:

Mo Fanning is a part-time novelist, part-time stand-up comic and full-time ageing homosexual. He currently lives in the Black Country backwater town of Stourbridge but aspires to something more rural without neighbours.
With a unique talent for blending romance and comedy in intriguing settings, Mo is an emerging voice in the contemporary fiction scene and aims to be the best-known writer of LGBTQ romance.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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27Dec/24

Davis Summers

December 27, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present Season 9, Episode 50: Davis Summers!

Davis Summers joins us to share his debut novel: Eating & Praying. Our discussion covers seeing the world through a millennial lens, growth and grief, being young and queer trying making sense of the narcissistic internet age, and all the biting comedy that ensues.

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Davis Summers is an author and artist living in Los Angeles, California. He was born and raised in Poplar Bluff, Missouri (the homeland of both Gone Girl and Designing Women, fittingly). Davis pursued acting and journalism at New York University where he obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2019. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry, Davis made the pivot to the tech industry where he still works to this day in addition to his writing. Eating & Praying is his debut novel which has been described as “endlessly relatable” by New York Times Bestselling Author Casey Wilson as well as “a beautiful debut novel” by Emmy-nominated actor Michael Urie.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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22Nov/24

Christian Baines

November 22, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present Season 9, Episode 45: Christian Baines!

Christian baines returns to share his latest releases: Geist Fleisch and Arcadia Trust 4 – Tears in Time. We discuss the rise of horror in Hollywood thanks to queer directors, ghosts in 1930s Berlin, and coming home to find your dimension has cracked a bit!

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Bio:
Christian Baines is an awkward nerd turned slightly less awkward author. Raised on dark humour and powered by New Zealand wine, he is the author of six novels including gay paranormal series The Arcadia Trust and My Cat’s Guide to Online Dating. Born in Australia, he now travels the world whenever possible, living and writing in Toronto, Canada between trips.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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May 26, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present Season 8, Episode 22: Christian Baines + Our Review of Desert Fury!

Christian Baines delights us with his latest novel, My Cat’s Guide to Online Dating. It’s dark, it’s sexy, and it plays in the shadows of mythology. Then Baz and Vance rate and review a Hollywood classic, Desert Fury, and close by sharing who won their weeks!

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Bio:
Christian Baines is an awkward nerd turned slightly less awkward author. Raised on dark humour and powered by New Zealand wine, he is the author of six novels including gay paranormal series The Arcadia Trust and My Cat’s Guide to Online Dating. Born in Australia, he now travels the world whenever possible, living and writing in Toronto, Canada between trips.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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[Re-Edited and Re-Uploaded to YouTube due to copyright claim issue]
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fJG0C68Xo4[/embedyt]


August 2, 2019

Sins of the Son book cover
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Christian Baines back as the guest on Episode 227 – Pollyannas Are Horrible!

Christian Baines returns for a great conversation about Urban Fantasy and his latest release, Sins of the Son, the third book of the Arcadia Trust series.

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Bio:

Christian Baines is an awkward nerd turned slightly less awkward author of weird and dark fiction. His work includes the gay paranormal series The Arcadia Trust, e-novella Skin, and Puppet Boy, a finalist for the 2016 Saints and Sinners Emerging Writer Award. Born in Australia, he now travels the world whenever possible, living, writing, and shivering in Toronto, Canada on those odd occasions he can’t find his passport.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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December 1, 2017


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Christian Baines as the guest on Episode 140: A Kiss Kill Love Fight Relationship!

This week Christian Baines joins us to talk about his latest novel, Skin, writing the paranormal and the world-building behind it, dark heroes and LGBTQ antiheroes!

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Bio:

Christian Baines is an awkward nerd turned slightly less awkward author of weird and dark fiction. His work includes the gay paranormal series The Arcadia Trust, e-novella Skin, and Puppet Boy, a finalist for the 2016 Saints and Sinners Emerging Writer Award. Born in Australia, he now travels the world whenever possible, living, writing, and shivering in Toronto, Canada on those odd occasions he can’t find his passport.

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22Mar/24

Rob Rosen

March 22, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 12 Interview – Rob Rosen

Rob Rosen returns to share his novel, D.B. and Me, sparking conversation about the growth of queer literature, and fictionalizing the later life of a real person!

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Multi-award-winning and best-selling author/editor/anthologist Rob Rosen is the author of Sparkle: The Queerest Book You’ll Ever Love, Divas Las Vegas, Hot Lava, Southern Fried, Queerwolf, Vamp, Queens of the Apocalypse, Creature Comfort, Fate, Midlife Crisis, Fierce, And God Belched, Mary, Queen of Scotch, Ted of the d’Urbervilles, Sort of Dead, Genie in a Vodka Bottle, Bobby Ray Breaks the Universe, and D.B. and Me. His short stories have appeared in more than 200 anthologies. You can read some of his best ones in Short Spurts, Short Spurts 2, and Short Spurts 3. He is also the editor of Lust in Time: Erotic Romance Through the Ages, Men of the Manor, Best Gay Erotica 2015 and Best Gay Erotica of the Year, Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oau8XkX0rFY[/embedyt]


July 14, 2017


It gives us great pleasure to announce Rob Rosen as the guest on Episode 120: Utopian Society of Drag Queens!

This week Rob Rosen joins us to discuss his latest novel, the changes and growth of gay writing and erotica over time, why he writes in many genres, and his love of working to get other writers published.

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Bio:

A native New Yorker, transplanted to the South, Rob has a B.S. in Biology from Emory University in Atlanta, where he worked for eight long years as a clinical biochemist. When he turned thirty, he packed it all in, sold his car, broke his lease and moved to the land of his dreams, San Francisco – where he plans on staying until he retires to Palm Springs, hopefully sooner rather than later.

He lives with his incredible husband, Kenny, who he loves more than anything in the world. On average, he writes two novels a year, and has also had short stories published in over 200 anthologies. He also contributed erotica to MEN and Freshmen magazines for over five years.

 

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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15Mar/24

Gary Pedler

March 15, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 11 Interview – Gary Pedler

Gary Pedler returns to share the journey of his novel, Gaydonia, from post-travel idea, to screenplay, to stage play, to publication!

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Gary Pedler was raised in the Napa Valley when it produced as many plums as grapes; studied at UC Santa Cruz when it was still small and kooky; and made his home in San Francisco before it was annexed by Silicon Valley.

Gary’s publishing credits include the Middle Grade novel Amy McDougall, Master Matchmaker); the comic novella Gaydonia; and the travel memoir Couchsurfing: the Musical. His shorter works have appeared in The Missouri Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, The Smart Set, the anthology Outer Voices, Inner Lives, and other publications.

Gary is currently single and has no children, though he did once have a cat he was very fond of and still dreams about with intense feeling.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FztvI-guM4[/embedyt]


June 30, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present Season 8, Episode 28: Gary Pedler + our “The Stroll” review!

Gary Pedler joins us to share his middle-grade novel: Amy McDougall, Master Matchmaker. We talk about being a queer parent, adopting, dating, and libraries. Then we review the documentary The Stroll, and share what’s won our weeks!

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Bio:
Gary was raised in the Napa Valley when it produced as many plums as grapes; studied at UC Santa Cruz when it was still small and kooky; and made his home in San Francisco before it was annexed by Silicon Valley.

Gary’s publishing credits include the middle-grade novel Amy McDougall, Master Matchmaker; the comic novella Gaydonia; and the travel memoir Couchsurfing: the Musical. His shorter works have appeared in The Missouri Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, The Smart Set, the anthology Outer Voices, Inner Lives, and other publications.

Gary is currently single and has no children, though he did once have a cat he was very fond of and still dreams about with intense feeling.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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Or Listen Right Here:

OR Watch on YouTube:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Bw-Y4-WXs[/embedyt]


 

 

22Dec/23

Ryan States

December 22, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 53 Interview – Ryan States

Ryan States introduces us to his latest novel Someone Else’s Story. We discuss what happens when an immortal secondary character from a previous book gets his own book and meets a monster of literary legend, as well as feeling like a supporting character in real life.

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Ryan States was born in Calgary Alberta, but spent his childhood in Saskatoon, then returned to Alberta as adult. He lives with his platonic life partner, another writer, Gayleen Froese, and a great many animals. In addition to his writing, he is an actor and occasional standup comedian, and is employed as a corporate trainer. He self published two books, Souria, and Silver Bullets, and then published two others with The Seventh Terrace press: Sleeping Underwater, and Somebody Else’s Story.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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Or Watch on YouTube:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z46lcsubSzY[/embedyt]

13Oct/23

JC Calciano

October 13, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 43 Interview – JC Calciano

JC Calciano shares his Steam Room brand with us – youtube shorts, novels, podcast, and motion picture. He shares how it all began, how it pivoted when we were all at home, and where it’s headed!

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Over his 35-year career, JC has worked in nearly all corners of the entertainment business: from major studio blockbusters, independent features, and reality television to documentaries, music videos, webisodes, and theater.

In 2010, JC founded Cinema175, an entertainment production company under which he produces, writes and directs projects that predominantly focus on comedy and romance genres.

His first feature film as writer/director was the groundbreaking gay romantic comedy Is It Just Me? An official selection of over 50 international film festivals, it won several awards and honors, including audience choice and best picture. This was followed by eCupid—an instant best seller in the LGBTQ genre, screening at over 60 film festivals and winning four best picture and audience choice awards.

JC’s third feature film, The 10 Year Plan, played at over 51 international film festivals, winning 10 awards for writing and filmmaking before being adapted into a male/male romance novel.

He is also the creator, director and producer of the world’s most popular and longest running YouTube LGBTQ web series, Steam Room Stories. The Steam Room Stories brand has inspired several spin-off projects, including an award-winning motion picture, a series of novels, and the Steamy Stories podcast.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A41BaxxWo8[/embedyt]

29Sep/23

Rick Herrick

September 29, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 41 Interview – Rick Herrick

Rick Herrick joins us to talk about his passion for New Testament scholarship and how he took a critical, comedic look at Christ taking on a gay messenger in his novel A Second Chance!

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Rick Herrick, PhD, a former tenured university professor and magazine editor, is the author of six published novels and three works of nonfiction. His musical play, Lighthouse Point, was performed as a fundraiser for the Martha’s Vineyard Museum in 2013. Dr. Herrick is currently retired, living in Bluffton, SC. He is married with three children and seven grandchildren.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StlVhUk5o5A[/embedyt]

13Sep/23

Lust in the Dust Review

September 13, 2023

Vance Bastian and SA “Baz” Collins give their thoughts and reviews of the film Lust in the Dust. They explore how it relates to queer life and discuss its strengths and flaws.

Media Presented: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089523/

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn436MpThLQ[/embedyt]