Broadly Speaking: Humorous July

Welcome to the July episode of Broadly Speaking, a podcast about the adventures of women writing science fiction, fantasy, horror - and everything in between.

The Broad Pod is sponsored by Broad Universe, an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, honoring, and celebrating women writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.  To find out more about our organization, including new fiction released by women, more podcasts, and information about writing and publishing for women, visit our website at www.broaduniverse.org.

This month three guests (well, sort of...) joined host Julia Rios to discuss the ins and outs of writing humor.

C.S.E. Cooney is the author of Jack o' the Hills, The Big Bah-Ha, and numerous short stories and poems. Claire mentioned Tom Lehrer's song, "The Masochism Tango" as an example of funny rhyme. You can see Tom Lehrer playing it here, and hear the way he rhymes mahogany with agony for yourself.  And then Claire's poem, "The Sea King's Second Bride" won the Rhysling award for long form poetry on the very day this interview was recorded! Congratulations, Claire! You can listen to and read "The Sea King's Second Bride" in the Spring 2010 issue of Goblin Fruit.

Gwynne Garfinkle writes short stories, poems, and novels, some of which you can read online. "In Lieu of a Thank You" is one of those, which came up in the interview. You can visit Strange Horizons to read this tale of a woman who gets captured by a mad scientist and doesn't do what one might expect.

Mary Robinette Kowal won the Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2008, and is the author of the Jane Austen inspired fantasy novel, Shades of Milk and Honey. She's also a puppeteer (Here is the book trailer for Shades of Milk and Honey, and here's Mary performing "The Broken Bridge"), and the Vice President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Her short story, "For Want of a Nail" is up for the Hugo award this year. Unfortunately Mary was unable to make it to the interview, so Claire presented her own left hand as "Mary-in-effigy". Stay tuned for a special message at the end of the podcast from Mary's Real Person!

And here's a picture of the three lovely interview guests: