Join host M.J. Kuhn, guest artist Chris McGrath and guest authors Gregory Kontaxis and Michael Vadney for an Indie Appreciation Month panel on Self-Publishing in the Age of AI. During the panel, Chris, Gregory and Michael discuss the ethics of AI use, whether or not we can avoid it, the deluge of AI slop, risking your reputation, prejudices against self-publishing, filtering AI vs. human-made content, cover art and working with human artists, originality and the value of human-created art, audience (dis)trust and fan backlash to AI, the performative pressures of social media, losing the struggles (and romance) of art, how AI impacts marketing/marketplaces and more.
Masterclass
SFF Addicts Ep. 210: Cover Art & Book Design with Jeff Brown, Rachel St Clair, Philip C. Quaintrell & Scott Palmer (Indie Appreciation Month)
Join host Adrian M. Gibson and guest authors/artists Jeff Brown, Rachel St Clair, Philip C. Quaintrell and Scott Palmer for an Indie Appreciation Month panel on Cover Art & Book Design. During the panel, Jeff, Rachel, Philip and Scott discuss what cover and book design are, creating a visual brand, the importance of typography and fonts, interior formatting and design, what makes a good vs. bad piece of art, due diligence and art/design no-nos, cover legibility and visual impact, evolving cover trends, setting reader expectations, commissioning artists, book titles, costs/budgeting, communication, timelines and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 209: Portal Fantasies with Seanan McGuire & Micaiah Johnson (Masterclass Panel)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly for a masterclass panel on Portal Fantasies, featuring guest authors Seanan McGuire and Micaiah Johnson. During the panel, they open the door to portal fantasies, discussing what a portal fantasy is, the appeal of this subgenre, fundamental elements of portal fantasies, age markets and genre fatigue, portal sci-fi and secondary worlds, who has access to portals, establishing the rules of your portal, differentiating the “real” world and the “other” world(s), revealing the “new” of the portal world to readers, reflecting our own world through alternate worlds and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 208: Incorporating Music into SFF with Peter Orullian (Writing Masterclass)
Join host Adrian M. Gibson as he delves into a writing masterclass on Incorporating Music into SFF with author/musician Peter Orullian. During the episode, Peter strikes a narrative chord, discussing the intersection of music and storytelling, novelizing concept albums for bands, lyricism and the musicality of prose, copyright and including songs or lyrics in a story, adding music/songs to audiobooks, writing characters who ARE musicians, music in our world vs. secondary worlds, musical magic systems and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 206: The Art of the Short Story with Isabel J. Kim (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson & Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on The Art of the Short Story with award-winning author Isabel J. Kim. During the episode, Isabel gets to the short of it, discussing what a short story is, examples of masterful short stories, short fiction as a testing ground, comparing short-form vs. long-form fiction, approaching theme, plot and structure in short stories, characterization/worldbuilding in a condensed word count, conciseness and pacing, editing and trimming stories down, selling your short stories on the professional market, the role of short story collections and anthologies and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 204: Drawing from Global History with Shannon Chakraborty (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson & Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Drawing from Global History with bestselling author Shannon Chakraborty. During the episode, Shannon traverses the world, discussing global interconnectedness across time, using SFF to shine a light on history, deciding on a historical time/place for your story, knowing when to deviate from history, author responsibility and intentions, accessible approaches for research, historical authenticity, academics/historians and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 202: Writing for the Reader Experience with Sunyi Dean (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson, M.J. Kuhn & Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Writing for the Reader Experience with bestselling author Sunyi Dean. During the episode, Sunyi caters to the reader, discussing why authors should consider the reader experience, putting yourself in the “beginner’s mindset,” offering value to the reader, promises and hooking them from the outset, delivering information at the right time, simple vs. complex prose, writing for yourself vs. the reader, author voice, revision and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 199: Publishing in Different Genres with Ai Jiang (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson & Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Publishing in Different Genres with award-winning author Ai Jiang. During the episode, Ai breaks down the fundamentals of genre, including genre trends in publishing, building a career across multiple genres, genre expectations and targeting audiences, chasing genre trends, self-publishing and short stories as genre testing grounds, the viability of specific genres with agents and editors, the benefits and challenges of genre-blending and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 197: How to Query Agents with Laura Crockett, John Baker & Jennifer Chevais (Masterclass Panel)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson & Greta Kelly for a masterclass panel on How to Query Agents, featuring literary agents Laura Crockett, John Baker and Jennifer Chevais. During the panel, they lay out the fundamentals of query letters and agents, discussing what literary agents do, what a query letter is, the anatomy of a query letter, comp titles, blurbs and author bios, whether or not social media presence is important, how authors can seek out agents (and how to find the right one for you), agents picking up self-published authors, query letter mistakes and no-nos, managing expectations, professional transparency and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 196: Memory & Time with Mark Lawrence (Writing Masterclass)
Join host Adrian M. Gibson as he delves into a writing masterclass on Memory & Time with bestselling author Mark Lawrence. During the episode, Mark unlocks the secrets of the mind, including how memory and time play into the human experience, the relationship between memory and identity, forgetting and how memories change across time, the role of emotions in forming memories, collective stories and history, unreliable narrators and narratives, flashbacks and non-linear story structures, revealing the passage of time and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 194: Writing Romantasy with Carissa Broadbent (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson &Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Writing Romantasy with bestselling author Carissa Broadbent. During the episode, Carissa opens the door to the heart of romantasy, including what the subgenre is and why it’s so immensely popular, romantasy’s target audience, organically interweaving romance and fantasy, the importance of characterization in romantasy, sex and the spectrum of spice levels, representations of sexual violence in romantasy and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 192: What is an Antihero? with Jeremy Szal (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson & M.J. Kuhn as they delve into a writing masterclass on What is an Antihero? with author Jeremy Szal. During the episode, Jeremy delves into the dark core of the antihero, including how we can define antiheroes, the antihero as antithesis to the “heroic ideal”, moral ambiguity and cynicism, flawed motivations and selfishness, why audiences root for antiheroes, how an antihero is a product of their world, using an antihero to play with expectations, good/bad antihero tropes and more.