Lasers Dragons And Keyboards

In the second part, we have a rare moment of lucidity and discuss the differences between plotters and pantsers, and why all four of us are hybrid writers. Ben then gave some details on his unique outlining/writing method. Thankfully, the lucid moment passed, and we got kinda off-track again when talking about snacks, and why Ben is now sadly caffeine-free :(  (on that note, I've just run out of Skittles while typing these notes - Aaron) We then shift into familiar rabbit trial territory and Ben talks about making bets with his future fiancee (Aaron, Josh, and Liberty are all married, and caution Ben never to mention this in public... oops...) Next, we, ah, well, it's probably a good thing Ben's not on with us on every episode, or we'd never make any sense... Ben talks about his experiences using Kickstarter to fund IPAL, and what he's learned from that. And, to wrap things up, we talk about why authors should never do their own book covers. (Well, unless you're a graphic designer or something...) Things we t

This week we interview Ben Wolf (who is, sadly, not an actual wolf). Ben doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up, as he has authored vampire novels, children's novels, and, of course, westerns. He's also a flash-fiction magazine publisher, and a freelance editor. We got off on a rabbit trail faster then ever before (but hey, you interview a Wolf, you gotta expect them to chase rabbits.) After that, we did eventually get around to discussing I'd Punch a Lion in His Eye for You (or, for short, IPAL (not to be confused with an Apple product.)) We also discuss his Christian Horror book, Blood for Blood. This naturally lead to a discussion of the differences between writing children books and novels. We also learn that Ben is terrified of sharks (makes sense, Wolves are land animals, and sharks live in the water...) and how that ties into IPAL (see pages 17 and 18.) At some point here, Ben calls Aaron fabulously immature. (What? So I like kids books...) ... and then you'll never guess who Ben's favorite

This week we welcome novelist, publisher, and editor; the one and only Jeff Gerke. In part one, we make a LOT of Star Wars references (is Jeff or Aaron the bigger fan?) We also come really close to getting Liberty to enter a giggle feedback loop. (Remember: breath in, giggle out. Without this advice, Liberty might have passed out!) We even discuss some matters of actual importance, such as the frustrating and contradictory "Rules of Writing", and more importantly, how, when, and why to ignore them. There's even neuroscience behind it, not kidding! Yes, you too can use this technique to make your books as addictive as crack for the low monthly price of... free?? Yes, FREE! Check out the giveaway farther down on this post... And Jeff continues our trend for authors who love Batman as their favorite superhero. Will we find someone who prefers another hero? You'll have to come back for future episodes to find out... In part the second, Jeff talks about writers that are either plot first (typically plotting writer

This week we welcome novelist, publisher, and editor; the one and only Jeff Gerke. In part one, we make a LOT of Star Wars references (is Jeff or Aaron the bigger fan?) We also come really close to getting Liberty to enter a giggle feedback loop. (Remember: breath in, giggle out. Without this advice, Liberty might have passed out!) We even discuss some matters of actual importance, such as the frustrating and contradictory "Rules of Writing", and more importantly, how, when, and why to ignore them. There's even neuroscience behind it, not kidding! Yes, you too can use this technique to make your books as addictive as crack for the low monthly price of... free?? Yes, FREE! Check out the giveaway farther down on this post... And Jeff continues our trend for authors who love Batman as their favorite superhero. Will we find someone who prefers another hero? You'll have to come back for future episodes to find out... In part the second, Jeff talks about writers that are either plot first (typically plotting writer

So we decided that we couldn't ignore Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens, (Read: "Liberty FINALLY saw it...") and it deserved its own episode. Ironically--and we didn't plan this--it coincided as our 7th episode! We got off to a rip-roaring start, launching immediately into what we didn't like about the movie, but that quickly shifted into analysis of the story, what we loved, and what we hope to see in Episodes 8 & 9. But beware of the rants! Each of us launch into at least a couple, although I'm pretty sure Aaron is the rant-master as he occupied the floor much of the time. But he made a lot of good points, and I think you'll find his insight into the movies valuable. He's our resident Star Wars expert, having read much more in the expanded universe than Josh and I combined. I mean, look at how he made an impression on both Josh and I when we met in August 2015:    If you aren't laughing uproariously with us by the end of both of the episodes, you may want to check if you have a pulse. We sure enjoyed doing

So we decided that we couldn't ignore Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens, (Read: "Liberty FINALLY saw it...") and it deserved its own episode. Ironically--and we didn't plan this--it coincided as our 7th episode! We got off to a rip-roaring start, launching immediately into what we didn't like about the movie, but that quickly shifted into analysis of the story, what we loved, and what we hope to see in Episodes 8 & 9. But beware of the rants! Each of us launch into at least a couple, although I'm pretty sure Aaron is the rant-master as he occupied the floor much of the time. But he made a lot of good points, and I think you'll find his insight into the movies valuable. He's our resident Star Wars expert, having read much more in the expanded universe than Josh and I combined. I mean, look at how he made an impression on both Josh and I when we met in August 2015:    If you aren't laughing uproariously with us by the end of both of the episodes, you may want to check if you have a pulse. We sure enjoyed doing

This week on the podcast we're thrilled to have historical/speculative author and all-around writing guru, K.M. Weiland. We covered a lot of ground in both episodes, so it's well worth a listen! A good deal of our first podcast revolves around Katie's new book, Storming, which I (Liberty) highly recommend. It's a great introduction to the dieselpunk subgenre, and besides that, a very enjoyable read. Katie discusses why she set the story in her hometown, and how fun it was to dig into her town's history. She also talks about some of her story research, which revolves heavily around barnstorming and the absolutely insane stunts people pulled back in the day when barnstorming was popular. She gives some examples, which I think stunned all three of us. Perhaps it will surprise you as well. In the second podcast, we discuss Katie's extensive outlining and editing processes. If you've never had a chance to read Outlining Your Novel or Structuring Your Novel, you're in for an eye-opening interview. When we say it's

This week on the podcast we're thrilled to have historical/speculative author and all-around writing guru, K.M. Weiland. We covered a lot of ground in both episodes, so it's well worth a listen! A good deal of our first podcast revolves around Katie's new book, Storming, which I (Liberty) highly recommend. It's a great introduction to the dieselpunk subgenre, and besides that, a very enjoyable read. Katie discusses why she set the story in her hometown, and how fun it was to dig into her town's history. She also talks about some of her story research, which revolves heavily around barnstorming and the absolutely insane stunts people pulled back in the day when barnstorming was popular. She gives some examples, which I think stunned all three of us. Perhaps it will surprise you as well. In the second podcast, we discuss Katie's extensive outlining and editing processes. If you've never had a chance to read Outlining Your Novel or Structuring Your Novel, you're in for an eye-opening interview. When we say it's

After quite a bit of technical difficulties, we were thrilled to finally have H.A. "Heather" Titus on with us! She's the Celtic Urban Fantasy Author of Forged Steel, which came out in summer 2015. In addition to talking about her book and her writing process, Aaron gave Heather a hard time about being from "da U.P." (Upper Peninsula of Michigan). DC's Arrow came up, as did Aaron's theory that the rebooted Star Trek movies aren't "true" Star Trek. The idea of "plotsing" comes up, and you'll have to listen to hear how that word came into being. Heather also discusses some of the weird facts she had to Google, and one of them has to do with werewolves and the Mark of Cain. Kinda interesting stuff! Oh, and Aaron's trying to get us our first hate mail. ;)

After quite a bit of technical difficulties, we were thrilled to finally have H.A. "Heather" Titus on with us! She's the Celtic Urban Fantasy Author of Forged Steel, which came out in summer 2015. In addition to talking about her book and her writing process, Aaron gave Heather a hard time about being from "da U.P." (Upper Peninsula of Michigan). DC's Arrow came up, as did Aaron's theory that the rebooted Star Trek movies aren't "true" Star Trek. The idea of "plotsing" comes up, and you'll have to listen to hear how that word came into being. Heather also discusses some of the weird facts she had to Google, and one of them has to do with werewolves and the Mark of Cain. Kinda interesting stuff! Oh, and Aaron's trying to get us our first hate mail. ;)

Our first ever guest for the Podcast was the fabulous Lindsay Franklin. After the inevitable technical difficulties we took time out to discuss the merits of homeschooling. We got to learn the awesome origins of the name of her current work-in-progress, The Story Peddler. Believe us – it’s worth the listen just for that! We got to hear some interesting facts about farming near salt water, cocaine addiction, and more in our ‘Weird Google-Fu’ segment. Lindsay shared a bit about how Real Life stuff caused this book to take longer than her typical process…and why that’s not a bad thing. We also had the chance to hear Lindsay wax eloquent on the plotter/pantser debate. Her editing process was also discussed. Aaron couldn’t resist teasing our guest. A trend that we are all sure will continue for years to come. We also all geeked out over Scrivener, the world's most awesome writing software. You'd have thought we were sponsored by them or something.

Our first ever guest for the Podcast was the fabulous Lindsay Franklin. After the inevitable technical difficulties we took time out to discuss the merits of homeschooling. We got to learn the awesome origins of the name of her current work-in-progress, The Story Peddler. Believe us – it’s worth the listen just for that! We got to hear some interesting facts about farming near salt water, cocaine addiction, and more in our ‘Weird Google-Fu’ segment. Lindsay shared a bit about how Real Life stuff caused this book to take longer than her typical process…and why that’s not a bad thing. We also had the chance to hear Lindsay wax eloquent on the plotter/pantser debate. Her editing process was also discussed. Aaron couldn’t resist teasing our guest. A trend that we are all sure will continue for years to come. We also all geeked out over Scrivener, the world's most awesome writing software. You'd have thought we were sponsored by them or something.

You don't know us yet, but we hope you'll like what you hear. Aaron DeMott, Joshua Hardt, and Liberty Speidel are the masterminds behind the brand new Lasers, Dragons, and Keyboards Podcast. We'll be talking to up-and-coming and established speculative, science fiction, and fantasy authors every couple of weeks. We're taking a unique approach to our podcast. Each interview is typically broken into two parts: a reader-centric part, where we talk to an author about their books. The second part of the interview, we'll be talking to them about their process, and writing in general. So whether you're a reader or a writer, we think you'll get something out of our podcast. If you're into science fiction & fantasy, there's a strong possibility that we're into the same fandoms you are. We're nerds just like you. Where you can find us: Lasers, Dragons, & KeyboardsAaron DeMottLiberty SpeidelJoshua Hardt