Some writers build stories. J. Kenton Pierce seems to have stories stalking him until he writes them down.

He joins Mookie in the 49th episode of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory for a lively, sharp-edged discussion about creating an interstellar universe where frontier settlers, political schemers, orbital AI-controlled kill-satellites, engineered soldiers, traders, autocrats, and stubborn individualists all collide. Pierce breaks down the world behind his Prometheus award nominated A Kiss for Damocles, his debut novel, and An Apple for the Legion, a new prequel that follows a genetically optimized true believer slowly realizing the machine she serves is rotten at its core.

What becomes obvious is that J. Kenton has thought through his universe: politics have logic, technology has consequences, the colonies feel lived in. Power centralizes, people resist, systems decay, and survival forces ugly compromises.

The conversation also digs into Pierce’s libertarian-leaning instincts: skepticism of concentrated power, respect for local autonomy, distrust of coercive systems, and a bias toward people being left alone to build their own lives. But his characters are flawed, surprising, contradictory human beings because the story comes first. That alone separates him from many modern writers who treat fiction like a sermon with costumes.

Mookie and J. Kenton also get into the real craft of writing: why many authors obsess over worldbuilding and neglect character, why beloved franchises collapse under bad storytelling, why heroes need limitations, and why the best fiction often arrives when characters stop obeying the outline and start causing trouble.

Pierce’s writing process is its own adventure. He describes decades of compulsive daydreaming, scenes arriving out of nowhere, pacing around the room until ideas lock into place, and then unloading them in a rush. By avoiding the productivity myth and fake guru routine, J. Kenton has a mind naturally wired to create.

The Guest

I'm a retired Goth and somewhat disgruntled yet generally mild-mannered veteran of the Gulf War, with experience in molecular biology, social services, and way too much retail when younger. In a way, these stories were inevitable. I gamed excessively and often had more fun creating new characters and filling out those tiny little character bio screens than playing. My fleetmates in the Star Trek Online guild “TOS Veterans” started up some RP stories and encouraged me to beef up my main toon’s bio. A few hundred words of character background turned into 25K of story/fanfic.

Finally, I realized that I wasn’t satisfied simply consuming stories or weaving my characters into other people’s worlds. They're kind of pushy. I suppose that brings us to influences. too many to really list, from H. Ryder Haggard and Mark Twain to Andre Norton and Harlan Ellison, to James H. Schmitz and J. Michael Straczynski, Lois McMaster Bujold to Jim Butcher... And everyone in between. And now I'm sitting with my favorite authors at the Prometheus Awards table, who knew?

His Novels & Short Stories

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What happens when a LitRPG writer walks into the Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory and casually reveals that one of the fastest-growing corners of modern fantasy has also built the best ecosystem in publishing? You get this fascinating conversation with author Matthew Kent, who joins Mookie to explain why game-inspired fiction is no niche gimmick, instead a thriving movement with obsessed readers, hyper-engaged communities, massive books, booming audiobooks, and writers who help each other succeed.

Matthew breaks down "Literary Role Playing Game" genre from the ground floor: stories where characters level up, stats matter, systems speak, and narrative itself gets interrupted by prompts, rankings, alerts, and evolving character sheets. If that sounds strange, it is, but the genre is also wildly popular. Mookie presses him on what makes LitRPG work, how it differs from conventional fantasy, and why so many readers become addicted to this hybrid of storytelling, gaming logic, and progression psychology.

The conversation goes far beyond mechanics. Matthew explains the rise of Royal Road, the online platform where writers serialize chapters, gain armies of beta readers, refine their stories in public, and build audiences before publication. They discuss how community-driven feedback, Kindle Unlimited, audiobook culture, Reddit fandoms, and social media have created a self-sustaining machine that many traditional authors would give up their agents for.

They also tackle the pressures of modern publishing: AI-generated book spam, Amazon review bottlenecks, the economics of indie writing, and why authors need readers more than ever. Matthew offers blunt, practical insight on craft, marketing, consistency, and what separates books that connect from books that disappear.

Along the way, Mookie recognizes something bigger: LitRPG may look eccentric from the outside, but under the hood it has solved problems the rest of publishing still complains about. So if you are a writer searching for audience, a reader curious about new frontiers in fantasy, or someone wondering where fiction is heading in the age of games, platforms, and AI, give them a listen!

The Guest

I write my stories with one goal in mind: to help others dream. I want my readers to find worlds they can escape into, characters they can relate to, and adventures that ignite their imagination. Currently, I live in the southeastern United States, sharing a busy but fulfilling life with my wife, our son, and twin daughters. Our home is also filled with the energy of two dogs, making it all the more lively. Yet, with so many stories swirling in my head, I often find that there’s never quite enough time to put them all on paper. And as for the twins, they remind me of an old joke: “How are twins and the Spanish Inquisition alike? No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

Get His Novels & Check Out His Royal Road

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Matthew-Kent/author/B01N26PQ3H

https://www.royalroad.com/profile/79682/fictions

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What happens when two writing obsessives lock themselves in a room and start talking craft, money, madness, creativity, publishing, best (and worst) practices, and the questionable life choice known as “becoming an author”? You get this lively, funny, and honest conversation with Mike Robinson—a true Renaissance writer and editor whose career spans novels, short stories, screenplays, editing, coaching, and helping other writers turn rough ideas into compelling books.

Mike talks to Mookie about the real mechanics of writing improvement. What’s the difference between line editing and developmental editing? Why do so many beginners overwrite? Why do some science fiction stories have amazing ideas but no human pulse? How do you preserve a writer’s unique voice while still making the work better? Should writers chase the market or chase their own vision? Mike offers a sharp framework—one for me, one for them. Write one project straight from obsession, then write one with readers in mind. It’s not compromise. It’s survival with dignity.

From there, things get gloriously nerdy. Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow, James Joyce, experimental fiction, screenplay discipline, youthful creative energy, the mystery of inspiration, and why some geniuses eventually disappear into their own exhaust fumes. They explore where ideas come from, why some people have too many, why others freeze at the blank page, and how writers need to keep feeding themselves with books, history, philosophy, science, technology, culture, and real life. Mike also shares insight into his own fiction—work blending horror, speculative concepts, psychology, cryptids, metaphysics, and the unstable border between reality and nightmare.

The Guest

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Mike Robinson is the award-winning author of multiple novels and dozens of short stories, most of them speculative fiction. His work has appeared in Clarkesworld, The Strand Magazine, American Gothic Fantasy, Storyteller, ClonePod, December Tales II, Underland Arcana, Thirteen Podcast, Creepy Podcast and more, and has received honors from Writers of the Future, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Maxy Awards, The BookFest, Kindle Book Awards and others. His novel "Walking the Dusk" was a semifinalist for Book of the Year in Publishers Weekly's BookLife Prize.

He is also the editor of J.P. Barnett's bestselling "Lorestalker" series, and Dr. Zo's award-winning "TimeOuts" middle-grade series. As a book coach and senior editor with Wordsmith Writing Coaches, he co-created the New Author Plunge, a workshop for beginning writers. In addition, he's a copywriter (he worked on the Webby Award-winning podcast "Books That Make You"), an illustrator and award-winning screenwriter with two produced credits including "Blood Corral," selected as Best Horror Feature at the Skyehouse International Film Festival. Otherwise, he hikes (often with dogs), swims, draws, and tries to learn the didgeridoo.

His Website & Newsletter

Sign up for my monthly Weird / Wondrous / WriteLife newsletter on the home page: https://www.mike-robinsonauthor.com/

Pre-order Mike's Next Novel

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In this goofy and surprisingly useful roundtable episode, Mookie Spitz reunites with fellow indie author road warriors Ingrid Moon, Greg Sorber, and married co-writing duo Sherry Shimshock and Blake Shimshock to unpack their chaotic, sweaty, unexpectedly profitable adventure at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

Stuffed into a booth roughly the size of a phone booth, the group somehow managed to sell books, charm strangers, cross-promote each other, and prove that readers still exist despite years of internet propaganda claiming nobody reads anymore. Thousands of people streamed by. Many stopped. Some bought one book. Some bought stacks. Some bought books because there were cats on the cover. No further questions.

Their post-event debrief is part comedy, part field manual for indie authors trying to survive in the wild. The crew breaks down what actually works at live events: loud energy, good covers, fast pitches, zealous body language, and knowing when to stop talking after the customer is already reaching for their wallet. They also discuss the tragic spectacle of dead-eyed vendors sitting silently behind tables like depressed lemonade stand operators.

Beyond the jokes, the group talks candidly about how soul-crushing online algorithms create distance between writers and readers, while in-person events let you actually meet the humans who may buy your stuff. They explain why community beats isolation, why four authors working together outsold many loners, and why sometimes the best sales tactic is simply being fun to talk to.

If you write books, sell books, read books, or just enjoy hearing smart weirdos talk shop, this episode is for you.

Ingrid Moon

Ingrid Moon is an author, editor, and science teacher. She currently has four science fiction novels, three audiobooks, and three science reference books for worldbuilding, with more on the way. Ingrid is a Southern California native who can't surf because she spent most of her youth navigating mountains and watching sci-fi television, all of which inspired her writing career.

Author website: https://ingridmoon.com

Free fantasy novella: https://books.ingridmoon.com/gift-of-orisyne

Greg Sorber

"I’m a lifelong fan of science fiction, fantasy, and comic books. Some of my earliest memories are of Land of the Lost, Speed Racer, and The Six Million Dollar Man. Seeing Star Wars in the theater for the first time in 1977 was a life-changing experience. An avid reader from an early age, I’ve always loved books that engaged my imagination. Reading The Hobbit in 7th grade English class and writing a short story that same year set me down the path of becoming a writer. I live in Riverside, California with my family and two dogs."

www.gregerationx.com

Blake & Sherry Shimshock

Blake and Sherry Shimshock are the interstellar storytellers behind the Firebird Award winning Chronicles of Derek Fade: The Hunt for Valdune, introducing readers to Senior Agent Derek Fade, whose quest for justice spirals into a galaxy-spanning vendetta. The sequel, The Edge of the Abyss, delves deeper into Fade's turmoil, blending action with emotional depth. Together, the novels challenge readers to question the boundaries of duty and vengeance.

Their Novels & Website

Bonus: Vote on their name! "So-Cal Sci-Fi Crew" or "So-Cal Sci-Fi Nexus"?

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In this lively and surprisingly candid 45th episode of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory, Mookie Spitz sits down with fantasy author Catherine Cruzan for a deep dive into storytelling, publishing, creativity, and the realities of trying to build an audience in 2026. What starts as a conversation about conventions like WonderCon quickly turns into a masterclass on what separates compelling fiction from genre sludge.

Catherine opens up about being an introvert forced into the uncomfortable role of marketer, publicist, and salesperson. She discusses her Elfkind trilogy, the recently released Winter Forest, and the upcoming fourth book, Crown of Fire. More importantly, she explains why character always comes first, why worldbuilding often gets abused, and why readers crave emotional investment more than endless lore dumps.

The conversation ranges across the giants who shaped her imagination: J.R.R. Tolkien, Tad Williams, Raymond E. Feist, Terry Brooks, and Guillermo del Toro. Catherine shares mentorship moments that kept her from quitting, including advice to stop comparing herself to giants and simply tell her own story.

Mookie and Catherine also get brutally honest about modern publishing: the myth of being “saved” by a traditional publisher, the rise of platform-first book deals, the need for writers to build their own communities, and how millions of books including many if not most from non-human authors now flood the market every year. If you think writing the book is the hard part, think again. That may be where the real work starts.

They also tackle AI head-on. as Catherine draws a hard line: use tools if helpful, but don’t outsource your soul. She talks through her meticulous editing process for ensuring genuine dialogue, honest character voice, compelling pacing, and proven structure, making clear that authentic fiction comes from lived experience, emotional nuance, and relentless revision, not prompt shortcuts.

Catherine Cruzan brings intelligence, humility, and real craft talk to the table. Mookie brings the extraverted-introvert hand-wringing energy. Together they deliver a conversation about why stories matter, why hope matters, and why creators need to keep going even when silenced by a crowded and over-saturated media landscape.

The Guest

Catherine Cruzan grew up in Bloomington, MN, but Southern California has been her home for many years. After graduating from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, she has worked as an engineer for a number of aerospace companies in the Los Angeles area.

Catherine’s interest in books began as a child with a voracious appetite for reading. She fondly recalls piling onto her parent’s bed with her two brothers while her mother read the Chronicles of Narnia, Treasure Island or Black Beauty. She moved on to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings as a teenager, and Fantasy stories remain her favorite to this day.

Her writing career started with poetry and short stories published in the school newspaper. As an adult, she writes character driven Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction. Her writing education includes Long Beach City College and the UCLA Writers Program.

Her Books & Socials

Website: www.CatherineCruzan.com

IG: @Catherine.Cruzan

Good Reads: Catherine Cruzan (Author of Elfkind) | Goodreads

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In this 44th episode of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory, Mookie dives in deep with science fiction author James Kenwood to explore his themes and best practices for storytelling. The discussion ranges from war and political power to moral responsibility, flawed heroes, pacing, worldbuilding, and the hard truth that readers do not owe writers their attention.

James explains how military history and recurring cycles of conflict shape his fiction. His serialized, work-in-progress novel Mars Fire examines settlers on Mars trapped between rival Earth powers, while his shorter fiction delivers concentrated bursts of action, sacrifice, and moral tension.

Mookie pushes the conversation further, contrasting noble archetypes with comic antiheroes, asking whether fiction should inspire, expose hypocrisy, or simply entertain. Together they dissect why some stories grip readers for life while others evaporate in their first few pages.

Together they share several best practices for authors:

• Start with pressure, not scenery. Readers care more about a problem than your skyline, spaceship, or kingdom. Introduce tension early.
• Make every chapter cost something. If nobody risks losing status, love, safety, freedom, or identity, the chapter is filler.
• Use worldbuilding in motion. Explain the Mars rover while someone is fleeing in it. Explain the airlock while it malfunctions.
• Create moral crossroads. Force characters into decisions where every option hurts. That is where personality is exposed.
• Cut repeated explanations. Once readers understand the setting, move on. Trust them.
• Give characters competing agendas. Drama spikes when smart people want different things for valid reasons.
• Build consequences forward. Every major action should create a new problem, not restore comfort.
• Use flaws strategically. Vanity, cowardice, greed, laziness, obsession—flaws generate plot better than perfection ever will.
• Earn speeches. If a character delivers philosophy, make sure tension surrounds it. Nobody wants a TED Talk in chapter six.
• Track narrative momentum. Ask constantly: does this scene increase curiosity, dread, conflict, or desire? If not, fix it.
• Write scenes readers postpone sleep for. Aim for “one more chapter” energy. That is the gold standard.
• Know your story’s fuel source. Is it suspense, wonder, romance, revenge, mystery, satire, politics? Feed that engine consistently.
• Use action to reveal worldview. A selfish character grabs the parachute first. A noble one pushes someone else toward it.
• Don’t confuse complexity with depth. Ten factions and three timelines mean nothing without emotional stakes.
• Respect the reader’s intelligence. Suggest, imply, dramatize. Stop overexplaining everything.
• Leave residue. The best stories continue in the reader’s head after the final page.

Join two writers for over two hours as they explore what stories are for, why conflict matters, and how to write fiction that actually hits.

The Guest

James Kenwood is a part-time historian and a full-time reader at night; by day, he works as a specialist in the banking industry. He currently resides in Western Europe after a recent immigration, along with his wife. He has one cat – Raver (name was inherited, not chosen) – and spends far too much time looking at the contrails over his town and dreaming of flying.

On Substack

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Saddle up for a wild ride into one of speculative fiction’s coolest frontier mashups: the science fiction western. In this episode, Mookie stirs it up with debut novelist Rick Cutler, author of Colt Ostergaard: A Man with a Gun, to talk about laser six-shooters, frontier justice, worldbuilding grit, and how the cowboy archetype still hits hard when launched into the future.

Rick breaks down why science fiction westerns work so well. The two genres combine the raw freedom and danger of the Old West with the limitless imagination of sci-fi. That means lonely gunslingers, lawless territories, strange technology, alien landscapes, and moral showdowns where survival is never guaranteed. If you love Firefly, The Mandalorian, classic Star Trek, or pulp adventure with brains, this conversation lands squarely in your lane.

The episode also tracks Rick’s impressive rise as a debut novelist. He didn’t stumble into success. He wrote for years, sharpened his craft through trial and error, submitted boldly when opportunity appeared, and turned a short-form concept into a full-length novel that found the right publisher at the right time. His story is a reminder that “overnight success” is usually built on years of quiet persistence.

For writers, Rick delivers practical no-nonsense advice:

• Treat writing like work, not waiting for inspiration
• Write consistently, even when you don’t feel like it
• Stay true to your characters and let them behave honestly
• Know your audience and write with readers in mind
• Ignore discouraging voices that kill momentum
• Find other writers who challenge and support you
• Use rejection, luck, and setbacks as fuel instead of excuses

Rick also shares his old-school writing method: drafting longhand on legal pads, rewriting by hand, then typing later. Slow, deliberate, disciplined. No gimmicks. Just craft. Their convo is a fun, insightful conversation about creativity, persistence, publishing, and why the future still has room for a man with a gun riding into the unknown.

The Guest

Writer Rick Cutler works in both Science Fiction and Fantasy, but is most famous for his Colt Ostergaard stories in the Raconteur Press “Space Cowboys” series. He also has multiple stories in other anthologies such as ‘Glitched Grimm’ and ‘Uncanny Valet’. Rick graduated from Graceland University with a degree in Sociology, followed by a Computer Tech degree from Rockhurst University. He has been an usher and a tour guide; worked on an archeological dig; and sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door before settling down to sell advertising for 20 years in the South and Midwest. He retired, then jumped into a new career for 21 years doing tech support and data management for a major corporation. Colt Ostergaard: A Man with a Gun is his first published full-length novel. He now lives in Kansas with his wife Doris Day. No cats. No dogs. But that could change at any moment.

His Books

His Website

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In this episode of The Science Fiction and Fantasy Factory, Mookie sits down with Michael A. Clement, a former finance professional turned speculative fiction writer, to trace the unlikely path from spreadsheets to stories, and why it worked.

Clement didn’t come up through the usual writer pipeline. No MFA. No lifelong literary obsession. Just a late-life pivot sparked by a single idea: what if a machine chose not to obey? From there, things escalated into asteroid-mining AI blackmailers, homicidal appliances, buffoonish aliens, and deeply human stories about loss, memory, and moral consequence.

Mookie and Michael dig into:

• The moment creativity ignites—and why it sometimes waits decades
• How classic influences like The Twilight Zone shaped Clement’s moral, allegorical style
• Writing as a second-act reinvention, not a lifelong identity
• The power of speculative fiction to tackle real-world issues without triggering defenses
• Microfiction, AI-assisted storytelling, and the strange new tools reshaping creativity
• The uncomfortable truth about publishing: slush piles, gatekeepers, and a system begging to be disrupted by AI helping creators connect to consumers

They also dive the looming collision between human creators and AI—where convenience, creativity, and obsolescence start to blur. Is AI a tool, a collaborator, or the thing that replaces you? Michael's answer is pragmatic: create anyway, write anyway, and leave something behind.

The Guest

Michael was raised in San Diego, California. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and a Master of Business Administration from the University of San Francisco. Most of his career was spent in financial services. Since 2006, Michael has made Hong Kong his home. Now retired, he writes science fiction as a hobby. Michael has written seven books: five novellas: Khrysos, This Book Is A Murderer, Chasing Roswell, Pan-ego, and Zogtopia (which have been combined into a collection, Alien Journey Ahead); one collection of short stories, Cosmic Portal, and one novelette, Alien Daydreams (his latest book).

His Writing

https://www.facebook.com/Michael.A.Clement.Books

http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelaclement

http://www.amazon.com/author/author_khrysos_book

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