070 - Tim Akers, You're Weird Enough For Us, Part 1 [Worlds Asunder]

Our guest today is Tim Akers, author of more than ten (often genre-blending) fantasy novels and more short stories and novellas than we wanted to count. Tim was born in deeply rural North Carolina and is the last in a long line of telephony princes, tourist attraction barons, and gruff Scottish bankers. He moved to Chicago for college and stayed to pursue his lifelong obsession with apocalyptic winters.  Author of series including the Spiritbinder Sag, the Burn Cycle Archives, and the Hallowed War books, Tim loves to write fantasy that blends elements of his favorite genres. Join us in learning about how to write a fantasy story in cyberpunk clothes.    In Part One, We Discuss:  Tim’s background–how he got into writing and first learned how to sell books  Approaches to tackle blended genres  Originality and creating new spins on classic tropes  Incorporating themes into storytelling  The importance of cosmology in speculative fiction  The impacts of theology and personal beliefs on writing    Resources and Guest Links:  Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/timakers.bsky.social  Twitter: https://twitter.com/TimAkers Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tim.akers/  Reign of Dragons Kickstarter, featuring Tim’s short story Of the Wyrm: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jasmineyoungauthor/reign-of-dragons-illustrated-hardcover-anthology  Neuromancer by William Gibson: https://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson/dp/0441569595  Huge thanks to Tim for joining us! He’s a great champion for writing stories you’re passionate about and bringing personal experiences and beliefs into speculative fiction. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it!    Host Links:  H.Y. Gregor: https://hygregor.com/ David Shadoin: https://www.davidshadoin.com/    Credits: (all assets licensed through the sites listed) Intro: Music- Cinematic Epic Trailer by PaulYudin on Pixabay Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user- kazim hussian; from pixabay users-davidfoxx, DavidGallie, olenchic, stefaniejockschat, AiVreaSaStii, RuneSnow, duyen-nguyen, EnchantedStudios,  Outro: Music- Good Night by FASSounds on Pixabay Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user-onlydesignz; from pixabay users-olenchic, Placidplace, Evgeniy_Z, Dantegrafico, Shayea_Kim