Mur Lafferty

Last updated
Mur Lafferty
Mur lafferty headshot.jpg
Lafferty
Born (1973-07-25) July 25, 1973 (age 50)
OccupationAuthor
NationalityAmerican
Genre Science fiction/Fantasy
Website
www.murverse.com

Mur Lafferty (born July 25, 1973) is an American podcaster and writer based in Durham, North Carolina. [1] She was the editor and host of Escape Pod from 2010, when she took over from Steve Eley, until 2012, when she was replaced by Norm Sherman. She is also the host and creator of the podcast I Should Be Writing. Until July 2007, she was host and co-editor of Pseudopod. She was the Editor-in-Chief of the Escape Artists short fiction magazine Mothership Zeta until it went on hiatus in 2016. [2]

Contents

Education

Lafferty attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated with a degree in English. In 2014, she received her MFA from the University of Maine's Stonecoast program.

Podcasting

Lafferty performing a live episode of the Ditch Diggers podcast at the 2017 Worldcon. Mur Lafferty Worldcon 2017 1.jpg
Lafferty performing a live episode of the Ditch Diggers podcast at the 2017 Worldcon.

Early contributions

A friend introduced Lafferty to podcasting in October 2004. She immediately seized on the medium as a novel opportunity to publish her essays on geekdom. Her first podcast, Geek Fu Action Grip, launched in December 2004. [3] Early topics included her obsession with Alton Brown and her uncomfortable crushes on the hosts of her child's TV shows, and expanded to discussions of games, movies, and television shows. In later episodes she began podcasting her fiction, most notably her serialized novels Heaven and Heaven Part 2: Hell. Geek Fu Action Grip ceased production as of episode 103.

Lafferty's essays also led to her becoming an early contributor to Dragon Page Wingin' It : a sci-fi variety show podcast hosted by Michael R. Mennenga and Evo Terra. [3] While she is no longer a regular, her essay produced during their 2006 Dragon*Con show is considered one of her best.

In September 2006, Lafferty, along with Michael R. Mennenga and Tracy Hickman, founded the Parsec Awards, [3] which recognize excellence in science fiction podcasting. After a general nomination period, the Steering Committee compiles a shortlist, from which an independent panel of judges selects the winner of each category. The awards are presented yearly at Dragon*Con. [3]

I Should Be Writing

Lafferty's second podcast arose from her desire to share her experiences as a struggling fiction writer. I Should Be Writing is a self-described "podcast for wannabe fiction writers." [3] Each show covers a specific topic about the writing world, from battling self-doubt to crafting queries and cover letters, interspersed with interviews with published professionals. I Should Be Writing won the 2007 Parsec Award for Best Writing Podcast.

Escape Pod and Pseudopod

From May 2010 to December 2012, she was the editor and host of the sci-fi podcast magazine Escape Pod , [3] taking over from former editor and founder Steve Eley. [4] Under her editorship, Escape Pod began paying SFWA pro rates for the first time. [5]

Lafferty was also co-founder, along with Steve Eley and co-editor Ben Phillips, of Pseudopod , a spin-off of Escape Pod presenting "the best in audio horror." In July 2007 she stepped down as co-editor of Pseudopod.

Ditch Diggers

Mur Lafferty and Alasdair Stuart prior to the Hugo Awards ceremony in 2017. Portrait photoshoot at Worldcon 75, Helsinki, before the Hugo Awards - Mur Lafferty and Alasdair Stuart.jpg
Mur Lafferty and Alasdair Stuart prior to the Hugo Awards ceremony in 2017.

In January 2015, Lafferty started a new podcast with a recurring I Should Be Writing guest host Matt Wallace. The new show, titled Ditch Diggers, focuses on the professional and business side of writing and is intended to be honest to the point of brutality, in contrast to the more optimistic and uplifting tone of I Should Be Writing. It won the Hugo Award for Best Fancast in 2018, having been a finalist the year before.

Writing

Early career

Lafferty's early career began with her writing for White Wolf and other role-playing game companies, and she has expanded to writing about games for such publications as Scrye , Knights of the Dinner Table , Anime Insider , Games Quarterly , and The Escapist . Her podcast novel Playing For Keeps was published by Swarm Press on August 25, 2008.

She has also written essays for the online magazine Grumble, many of which have ended up on Geek Fu Action Grip and published fiction in Hub magazine. Her short story "1963: The Argument Against Louis Pasteur" (published in The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities) qualified her for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, which she won in 2013.

The Shambling Guides

In May 2013, Orbit Books released the first in Lafferty's urban fantasy series: The Shambling Guide to New York City. It received favorable reception; Kirkus Reviews stated: "The hip, knowing and sometimes hysterically funny narrative, interspersed with excerpts from the guide of the title, lurches along in splendid fashion… The result is irresistible." [6]

The second novel in the series, A Ghost Train to New Orleans, was published on March 4, 2014.

Awards and honors

Selected bibliography

Novels

The Shambling Guides

The Midsolar Murders

Novellas

Short fiction

Serial fiction

Anthologies

Non-fiction and essays

RPGs

Magazines

Related Research Articles

Kirsten Jane Bishop is an Australian writer and artist. In 2004, her first book, The Etched City, was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. She is a recipient of the Aurealis Award for best collection.

David Barr Kirtley is an American short story writer and the host of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Sigler</span> American writer

Scott Carl Sigler is an American author of science fiction and horror and a podcaster. Scott is a New York Times No. 1 bestselling author of nineteen novels, seven novellas, dozens of short stories, and thousands of podcast episodes. He is a co-founder of Empty Set Entertainment, which publishes his young adult Galactic Football League series. He lives in San Diego.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casey McKinnon</span>

Casey McKinnon is a Canadian actress and producer from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is known for her work on web series Galacticast, A Comicbook Orange and Kitkast.

L. Timmel Duchamp is an American author of science fiction. She is also an editor for Aqueduct Press.

<i>Escape Pod</i> Science fiction podcast

Escape Pod is a science fiction podcast magazine produced by Escape Artists, Inc. It proclaims itself "the world's leading science fiction podcast". The present co-editors are Mur Lafferty and S. B. Divya.

The Parsec Awards were a set of annual awards created to recognize excellence in science fiction podcasts and podcast novels. The awards were created by Mur Lafferty, Tracy Hickman and Michael R. Mennenga and awarded by FarPoint Media. They were first presented in 2006 at DragonCon. In 2009 the awards were described as "one of the most recognizable honors in science and fiction podcasting". The awards were given from 2006 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. K. Hobson</span> American novelist

M. K. Hobson is an American speculative fiction and fantasy writer. In 2003 she was a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her debut novel The Native Star was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award. She lives in Oregon City, Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann VanderMeer</span> American publisher

Ann VanderMeer is an American publisher and editor, and the second female editor of the horror magazine Weird Tales. She is the founder of Buzzcity Press.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippa Ballantine</span> New Zealand writer

Philippa Ballantine, who also used the pen name Pip Ballantine, is a contemporary New Zealand author of speculative fiction and an avid podcaster. She now lives in Manassas, Virginia, with her husband and collaborator Tee Morris.

<i>Pseudopod</i> (podcast) Horror podcast

Pseudopod is a podcast launched on 11 August 2006 which presents horror genre short stories. It is part of Escape Artists, Inc. which also produces the podcasts Escape Pod, PodCastle and Cast of Wonders. Pseudopod is co-edited by Shawn M. Garrett and Alex Hofelich and hosted by Alasdair Stuart. It was previously edited by Ben Phillips until the end of 2010. Wil Wheaton calls Pseudopod "pretty damn awesome" and cites it as an example of how new media is changing the broadcast landscape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">N. K. Jemisin</span> American science fiction and fantasy writer

Nora Keita Jemisin is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. Her fiction includes a wide range of themes, notably cultural conflict and oppression. Her debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and the subsequent books in her Inheritance Trilogy received critical acclaim. She has won several awards for her work, including the Locus Award. The three books of her Broken Earth series made her the first author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel in three consecutive years, as well as the first to win for all three novels in a trilogy. She won a fourth Hugo Award, for Best Novelette, in 2020 for Emergency Skin. Jemisin was a recipient of the MacArthur Fellows Program Genius Grant in 2020.

<i>Writing Excuses</i> Literary podcast

Writing Excuses is a podcast hosted by authors Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, and author and web cartoonist Howard Tayler.

Rachel Swirsky is an American literary, speculative fiction and fantasy writer, poet, and editor living in Oregon. She was the founding editor of the PodCastle podcast and served as editor from 2008 to 2010. She served as vice president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynne M. Thomas</span> American librarian and editor

Lynne M. Thomas is an American librarian, podcaster and editor. She has won eleven Hugo Awards for editing and podcasting in the science fiction genre. She is perhaps best known as the co-publisher and co-editor-in-chief of the Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine with her husband, Michael Damian Thomas. With her eleven Hugo Award wins, Thomas is tied with Connie Willis for most wins among women, and sixth all time for most wins amongst all Hugo Award winners.

<i>PodCastle</i> Fantasy podcast

PodCastle is a weekly audio fantasy fiction podcast. They release audio performances of fantasy short fiction, including all the subgenres of fantasy, including magical realism, urban fantasy, slipstream, high fantasy, and dark fantasy. As of 2022, Shingai Njeri Kagunda and Eleanor R. Wood share editing duties with support from Assistant Editor Sofía Barker and audio producers Devin Martin and Eric Valdes, and the show is mainly hosted by Matt Dovey, with occasional guest hosts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horror podcast</span> Podcast genre

A horror podcast is one that covers fiction, non-fiction, or reviews of the horror genre generally.

Aliza T. Greenblatt is an American mechanical engineer and author of speculative fiction who writes as A. T. Greenblatt. to avoid confusion with poet Aliza Greenblatt.

S. B. Divya is the pen name of Divya Srinivasan Breed, who writes speculative fiction. She is also an engineer and was the co-editor for Escape Pod, along with Mur Lafferty, through April 8, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Shadow War of the Night Dragons</span>

The Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City is a parody fantasy short story by John Scalzi. It was first published on Tor.com on April 1, 2011, and presented as an excerpt from a nonexistent larger work.

References

  1. G.D. Gearino (March 22, 2005). "Podcasting takes off". The News & Observer . p. E1. Archived from the original on April 5, 2005.
  2. "Mothership Zeta Hiatus After Issue 6". 19 October 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hutton, Christopher (June 19, 2015). "Hall of Famers: Meet the Men and Women Who Changed Podcasting". Paste . Archived from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2017. She discovered podcasting in 2004 after hearing shows likes like Adam Curry's Source Code and loved how it opened up new opportunities for self-expression In 2005, Lafferty started her own podcast, titled Geek Fu Action Grip, where she expressed her love of geeky things in essay form. The podcast eventually evolved into a platform for Lafferty to share her books in serial format. Lafferty also joined the geek-centric podcast "Wingin It" as a contributor. Geek Fu Action Grip ended in 2007 after 103 episodes. Lafferty went on to write more books, as well as start her current podcast "I Should Be Writing", a show dedicated to exploring and practicing the writing craft. Lafferty was also the editor of EscapePod, a speculative fiction podcast for two years, as well as a cofounder of the Parsec Awards, a DragonCon-centric award show that's focused on science fiction podcasting.
  4. "Escape Pod Metacast 5". 7 May 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  5. "News- changes at Escape Pod- blog, reviews, text, and rate increase!". 4 October 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  6. "The Shambling Guide to New York City". Kirkus Reviews . Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  7. "Top Ten Savvy Women in Podcasting for 2006 Final List". Archived from the original on November 11, 2007.
  8. Elise Ackerman (November 23, 2006). "Podcasts beginning to reach non-geeks". San Jose Mercury News . p. BU1.
  9. "2007 Parsec Awards Winners & Finalists" . Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  10. "2008 Parsec Awards Winners & Finalists" . Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  11. "2010 Parsec Awards Winners & Finalists" . Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  12. "2011 Parsec Awards Winners & Finalists" . Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  13. "2012 Hugo Awards". 7 April 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  14. "2013 Hugo Awards". 22 December 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  15. "Mur Lafferty - The Ghost Train to New Orleans cover art reveal". Upcoming4.me. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  16. 1 2 "Scribl". Scribl.
  17. "Scribl - Heaven - Season Three: Earth (#1) by Mur Lafferty". Scribl.
  18. "Scribl - Heaven Season Four: Wasteland (#1) by Mur Lafferty". Scribl.
  19. "Scribl - Heaven - Season Five: War (#1) by Mur Lafferty". Scribl.
  20. "EP061: I Look Forward To Remembering You". Escape Pod. July 6, 2006.
  21. Brazil, Nathan. "The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: A review". Sfsite . Retrieved 2012-11-15.
  22. "Daily Science Fiction :: PRODUCE 1:1-10 by Mur Lafferty". dailysciencefiction.com.
  23. "FAQ". Mothership Zeta. Retrieved 10 December 2016.