432: Robot Bechdel Test

Martha Wells is a science fiction and fantasy author. She spoke with us about her books (including Murderbot Diaries!), writing, and creating fantastical worlds.

Marth (@marthawells1) has won Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards for her work. We mostly talked about the Murderbot Diaries and the Books of the Raksura. Oh, and the Star Wars tie-in about Leia, Razor's Edge. And The Witch King is coming out next year, a brand new world. Heck, just look at her full catalog. Martha also has a blog and a website.

As often happens when book dragons get together, we talked about our hoards. Some books and authors that came up:

• Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard 

• The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal 

• Ian Halle

• Ancillary Justice trilogy by Ann Leckie

• Phyllis Gotlieb (Wikipedia)

• Andre Norton (Wikipedia)

• Zenna Henderson (Wikipedia)

• The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold (we didn't like the new covers as much as the old but the books are great either way)

Tor.com is a fantastic site with lots of free fiction. Murderbot started there and has a few short stories that are otherwise hard to find.

There is a rare and sold out Subterranean Press edition of the Murderbot Diaries with illustrations from Tommy Arnold. See some of the illustrations.

Transcript