In this week’s episode, we’re joined by two of our most exciting writers, each of whom has a new book out in August. Charlie Jane Anders’ Lessons in Magic and Disaster offers a wonderful combination of witchcraft, academia, and generational family tensions, while Annalee Newitz’s Automatic Noodle features a team of robots trying to establish a noodle shop in a San Francisco recovering from California's devastating war of secession with the rest of the U.S.

We touch upon everything from writing in a believable 18th century voice to the challenges faced by a queer family and a trans protagonist, representing nonhuman points of view, the possibilities of a post-dystopian fiction, and balancing nonfiction and journalism with fiction writing.

As always, Annalee and Charlie Jane make for a lively and unpredictable discussion.