Ex Urbe Ad Astra #13 - The Florentine Renaissance with Larry Rothfield
In this episode, Ada and Jo speak with historian Larry Rothfield about the political nuances of 15th century Florence, and the shifting pers...
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Ex Urbe Ad Astra
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 whe...
Episodes
20 episodesEx 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...
Ex Urbe Ad Astra #11 - The Problem of Evil in Narrative with Alexis Shotwell
In this episode, Ada and Jo speak with Alexis Shotwell about the issues that arise from ill-intentioned characters, and the moral questions...
Ex Urbe Ad Astra #10 - Setups and Payoffs with Jon Evans
In this episode, Ada and Jo speak with Jon Evans about the remote research versus travel, short stories, beleivability, and setting up shock...
Ex Urbe Ad Astra #9 - Stopping Reading
In this episode, Jo and Ada discuss a number of reasons to put a book down without finishing.
Politics in Disability and Fiction with William Alexander
Award winning children's author William Alexander joins Jo and Ada to talk about using politics and disability in fiction for children and a...
Ex Urbe Ad Astra Ep. 7: Shakespeare And Language, With Writer Greer Gilman
Greer Gilman has been writing stories set in Cloud, her Northern mythscape, for a quarter of a century. Her books are written for the ear, a...
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...
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 hea...
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...
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...
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...
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 r...
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 lin...
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 a...
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 Lovecraftia...
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...
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 th...
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 read...
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 o...