The SpecFicNZ Podcast

We were really lucky to spend an evening talking with Aaron Compton co-editor of Te Korero Ahi Ka

As well as talking about his experience as a mentee editor, we also talked about being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, cryptozoological porn, and whether vikings were the first New Zealanders (hint - no they weren't!).

You can visit Aaron's website here - https://www.compton.ink/

And you can find him on Twitter and Instagram - aaron.compton 

As ever your co-hosts are:

Kura Carpenter 

Nix Whittaker

Mathew Danaher

If you are a New Zealand based or originating creator of speculative fiction you should join SpecFicNZ you can do that here - https://specfic.nz/join 

In this episode your regular co-hosts talked about plot and structure... 

They talked a lot about the hero's journey and their opinions of it, as well as saggy middles, sub plots, and more. Also Nix sets some homework. 

You can read more here: 

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

Why I seldom teach the hero's journey any more

The hero's journey is no longer serving us

Structure and Beats

Your co-hosts:

Nix Whittaker

Kura Carpenter

Mat Danaher (Editor/Producer/Engineer). 

NB: This episode was recorded with different software to usual, but that shouldn't impact on the sound too much. 

As ever please send any feedback, comments, or questions to: podcast@specfic.nz 

 

In this episode your hosts were lucky enough to spend an enjoyable half an hour or so in the company of Australian born, Dunedin resident author Mark McCabe who talked about Kindle Direct Publishing, going wide, making sure you have the right cover, and creating fantasy maps. 

If you want to do some further reading - 

You can find Mark online here. 

You find his artist Jeff Brown here.

Generate your own fantasy city maps here. 

Other fantasy maps here. 

As ever you can find your hosts online - 

Nix Whittiker

Kura Carpenter

Mat Danaher

This episode was produced, edited, and mixed by the hopefully ever improving, Mat.

 

You can find SpecFicNZ here. 

In this episode Christchurch author Kevin Berry talks about writing interactive fiction for a middle grade audience, as well as speculative fiction, YA, and crime fiction. 

You can find Kevin and his books here.

In this episode our three hosts talk about different aspects of writing from the point of view of an indie novelist, a traditionally published novelist, and a short story writer. As always this is with a focus on New Zealand. 

As always our hosts are:

Kura Carpenter

Mat Danaher

Nix Whittaker

If you have any comments or questions, or would like to get involved in our podcast, or be interviewed, flick us an email: podcast@specfic.nz 

This episode features an enjoyable chat with Darian Smith, author of the 'Agents of Kalanon Sequence', as well as the extremely useful 'Psychology Workbook for Writers'. 

You can like Darian's Facebook page here -  https://www.facebook.com/DarianSmithAuthor/

You can find his books on Goodreads here - https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/7370521.Darian_Smith and you can buy them at all good bookshops both online and off. 

In this episode we had a chat with Deb E Howell, Dunedin based author of Warrior's Touch, Healer's Touch and the soon to be published Magician's Touch among other works. 

You can find her website here - https://deberelene.com/

And you can find her on Facebook here - https://facebook.com/deberelene

As you can tell we had a good laugh recording this one, and it was the second episode we actually recorded, so you can tell we were still getting used to the flow of the interview, and using the technology. 

In this episode we talked with Dunedin based author Daniel Stride. We talked about his work in the SpecFicNZ anthology which you can find out more about here. We also talked about Daniel's novel Wise Phuul which you can buy here. 

We also talked about TV Tropes and the Society for Creative Anachronism. 

You can find Daniel's website here. 

Award winning New Zealand Writers Lee Murray and Piper Mejia talk about New Zealand's premier event for science and fantasy creators - Geysercon, as well as the import work that New Zealand Young Writers, and their Young Writers Fest do. 

You can find out more about Lee here, and more about Piper here. 

Geysercon

Young NZ Writers

Podcast hosted by:

Kura Carpenter

Mathew Danaher 

Nix Whittaker