Episode 110: The Future of Pizza! And Other Listener Questions

Some truly bodacious Dungeons & Dragons cover art (Matthew Koder Collection via New York Times)

In this special episode, we answer questions from our wondrous Patreon supporters. We discuss how to write convincing non-human characters, where people will live in 10,000 years, and why Dungeons & Dragons has become so popular. Plus why we love Canada!

Questions Answered:

Mike asks, “What are some pitfalls to writing about near-future scenarios involving decreased bodily autonomy when the present is telling so many dystopic visions to ‘hold my beer’?

David asks, "As writers, you sometimes imagine the thought process of non-humans. I'm reading a lot of Martha Wells, for instance, and she shows us the thoughts in non-humans like the Raksura and Murderbot. When you write these stories in English, what kind of constraints does that put on your presentation of an "alien" mind? Would it be necessarily different if you wrote about the same mind's thoughts presented in Mandarin, or Farsi?"

Marsh asks, "What's the fresh new non-Earth habitation that corporeal beings will be scrambling to live on in 1000, 5000, then 10,000 years?”

Alicia Goranson asks, "what do we find comfortable in our representations of fictional aliens? What do we like to see in the sorts of critters who we either run into in the stars or who seek us out? What strengths and flaws do we like to see represented?"

Barrett asks, "Why do you think D&D has seen such a surge in popularity in the last several years and how do you see that affecting popular culture in the future?"

Sheeri asks, "What is the pizza of the future? Does it ever homogenize or are there wars fought over deep dish vs. thin crust, pineapple vs none?" 

A heroic listener asks, "What currently inaccessible place would you like to be able to travel to and safely explore?"

A valiant listener asks, "Is there anything either of you can’t write without? (Like pizza?)"

Jaqcat asks, "is there a story behind the relatively high percentage of Canadian content (aka can-con) in Annalee's fiction?"

Eric H asks, "I would like to know how you first got published."

Andreas asks, "What’s your process for making an episode? What work goes into research, recording, post production?"