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HistoryFiction

Ex Urbe Ad Astra

Ada Palmer

Historian and novelist Ada Palmer and author and vocateur reader Jo Walton interview other fiction authors, historians, scientists, editors, and friends, interspersed with bonus episodes where they discuss topics such as history, gelato, and the craft of writing.

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  • 20 episodes
  • Avg 1 hr 22 min
  • English

Episodes 20

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  • #12
    Jan 9, 2024 · 1 hr 52 min

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra #12 - Pacing with Ken Liu

    In this episode, Ada and Jo discuss the merits of good pacing across a range of story lengths with Hugo and Nebula award-winning author, Ken Liu.

  • S1 · E13
    Aug 3, 2022 · 1 hr 9 min

    How Writing Is Like Fencing, With Writer Max Gladstone - Part 2

    Note to Patreon backers: You received this episode on January 12, 2022, but due to an oversight, it was never posted here. Normally you hear episodes a week in advance, but this one you received seven months in advance! Thank you to everyone for your patience. This is conclusion of the interview. Anything you can call "writing" (science fiction, fantasy, screenwriting, comics, games) Max Gladstone does. He's also a fencer and martial artist. This episode explores connections between these two types of things. This interview ran long, so this is part one of two. Numerous topics covered include: the similarities shared by the crafts of writing and fencing; struggles when writing descriptions of physical spaces; why we don't see cluttered spaceships in science fiction movies; when to include potatoes in your medieval fantasy setting; designing the layout of museum exhibits, video game spaces, and Walt Disney World; and more! Max Gladstone website Substack newsletter Twitter

  • S1 · E12
    Jul 13, 2022 · 1 hr 14 min

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra Ep. 5: Writing The Near Future, With SF Writer Naomi Kritzer

    Note to Patreon backers: You received this episode on November 10, 2021, but due to an oversight, it was never posted here. Normally you hear episodes a week in advance, but this one you received eight months in advance! Thank you to everyone for your patience. This episode is brought to you by Perhaps The Stars, the fourth and final novel in the Terra Ignota series, available now from (referrer links) Amazon, Barnes And Noble, Books-A-Million, Apple Books, and Indiebound. Naomi Kritzer has been publishing her science fiction and fantasy for the last twenty years. She lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, US, and likes to think about ways to describe the future both near and far. Her new book is Chaos on CatNet, the sequel to Catfishing on CatNet published by Tor Teen. Naomi Kritzer's homepage Naomi Kritzer's Twitter

  • S1 · E11
    Jun 1, 2022 · 52 min

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra Bonus Ep. 4, Part 2: Chapters

    This is the second half of a conversation between Ada Palmer and Jo Walton, about writing chapters. This was a two-hour conversation, so our previous episode had the first hour, and this episode has the second hour.

  • S1 · E10
    May 21, 2022 · 1 hr

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra Bonus Ep. 4, Part 1: Chapters

    This is the first half of a conversation between Ada Palmer and Jo Walton, about writing chapters. This was a two-hour conversation, so this episode has the first hour, and the next episode will have the second hour.

  • S1 · E9
    Mar 2, 2022 · 48 min

    Bonus Ep. 3, Part 2: The Author-Reader Contract

    This is the final half of a conversation between Ada Palmer and Jo Walton, about how an author can craft the early part of a novel to set up the reader's expectations about what kind of a book to expect. This was a two-hour conversation, so our previous episode had the first hour, and this episode has the second hour.

  • S1 · E8
    Feb 9, 2022 · 56 min

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra Bonus Ep. 3, Part 1: The Author-Reader Contract

    This is part one of a conversation between Ada Palmer and Jo Walton, about how an author can craft the early part of a novel to set up the reader's expectations about what kind of a book to expect. This was a two-hour conversation, so this episode has the first hour, and the next episode will be part two.

  • S1 · E7
    Jan 3, 2022 · 1 hr 5 min

    How Writing Is Like Fencing, With Writer Max Gladstone - Part 1

    This episode is brought to you by Perhaps The Stars, the fourth and final novel in the Terra Ignota series, available now from (referrer links) Amazon, Barnes And Noble, Books-A-Million, Apple Books, and Indiebound. Anything you can call "writing" (science fiction, fantasy, screenwriting, comics, games) Max Gladstone does. He's also a fencer and martial artist. This episode explores connections between these two types of things. This interview ran long, so this is part one of two. Numerous topics covered include: the similarities shared by the crafts of writing and fencing; struggles when writing descriptions of physical spaces; why we don't see cluttered spaceships in science fiction movies; when to include potatoes in your medieval fantasy setting; designing the layout of museum exhibits, video game spaces, and Walt Disney World; and more! Max Gladstone website Substack newsletter Twitter

  • S1 · E6
    Oct 27, 2021 · 1 hr 24 min

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra Ep. 4: Bright and Dark Ages with historian and journalist David Perry

    David Perry is a freelance journalist covering politics, history, education, and disability rights. He was a professor of Medieval History at Dominican University from 2006-2017, and now works as an academic advisor in the history department of the University of Minnesota. His scholarly work focuses on Venice, the Crusades, and the Mediterranean World. Numerous topics covered include: Reasons to study history; how historical figures and institutions claimed legitimacy; calling an Age "Dark" or "Golden" in order to get legitimacy; patronage of the arts to prop up legitimacy; fake innovation and fake continuity; bastardy; parrots and coconuts in medieval Europe; and more! David Perry website David Perry Patreon "The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe" by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry

  • S1 · E5
    Oct 13, 2021 · 1 hr 15 min

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra Ep. 3: Hopepunk and positive futures with writer Ruthanna Emrys

    Ruthanna Emrys is an author of science fiction and fantasy such as The Innsmouth Legacy series and Deep Roots, which are hopeful Lovecraftian fantasy, and the forthcoming A Half-Built Garden, a hopeful science fiction novel of first contact. Ruthanna Emrys Patreon "Reading The Weird" column on Tor.com Ruthanna Emrys homepage

  • S1 · E4
    Sep 15, 2021 · 1 hr 23 min

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra Bonus Ep. 2: Manga for non-manga readers

    This will probably become a series of occasional bonus episodes in which Ada Palmer and Jo Walton discuss manga and anime with an eye to its innovations, cultural norms, and wider implications for the media landscape. - Gender and age marketing categories in manga. - Translation of Japanese onomatopoeia (sound-effect words). - The influence of organized communities of fandom on a medium. - A story-formula and set of character archetypes called "moe" (MO-ay). - Moe's reliable merchandising profit, resulting in more moe. - Availability of manga on devices both broadening and narrowing market categories. And more!

  • S1 · E3
    Aug 26, 2021 · 1 hr 19 min

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra Ep. 2: Mars & How To Help Science Fiction Writers With Science, With Astrogeologist Jonathan Sneed

    Jonathan Sneed is an astrogeologist and expert in Mars wind and erosional science. He also consults with science fiction authors, and has the skill of giving the sort of answers to science questions that are useful when writing fiction. Numerous topics covered include - open questions in Mars science; panspermia; wind tunnels; and how entertainment technology is often ahead of technology made for any other industry. Also weird ideas for novels such as: an alien animal species that incorporates knowledge from brains through digestion; why a savannah planet can't work and how to make it work anyway; and a ninja in Florence! All this and much more. As mentioned in the episode, he has a guest post on Ex Urbe, "What Color Is Pluto?"

  • S1 · E2
    Aug 19, 2021 · 1 hr 18 min

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra Bonus Episode 1: Complicity

    In this bonus episode, Ada Palmer and Jo Walton have a craft of writing discussion of complicity, i.e. when and how the author gets the reader or audience on the side of characters they would not expect to root for, and how that can be used in fiction.

  • S1 · E1
    Aug 5, 2021 · 1 hr 34 min

    Ex Urbe Ad Astra Ep. 1: Speculative Resistance With Writer Malka Older

    Novelist and political scientist Malka Older, author of Infomocracy and its sequels, shares an interest with Ada Palmer in the development of political systems. With Jo Walton providing examples from her broad knowledge of the history of F&SF, they discuss speculative political systems, historical disaster response, and forms of organization with which populations can respond to their needs. Malka Older on Twitter: @m_older https://malkaolder.wordpress.com Read the first five chapters of Infomocracy: https://www.tor.com/2016/02/22/excerpts-malka-older-infomocracy-chapter-1/

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