Fredcast

Arthur Gregory Slade is a Canadian author from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He was raised on a ranch in the Cypress Hills and began writing in high school. He attended the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and received an English Honours degree in 1989. His first short story was published that same year. Slade became a full-time writer after the publication of his first novel for middle years, Draugr, followed by others such as Dust and Tribes. His novel Dust received the Governor General's Award for Children's Literature in 2001, and The Hunchback Assignments won the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award in 2010.

Born and raised in Birmingham, England, Ben McCool was a long time fan of US comics. He first began to work with comics when he was employed by Nostalgia and Comics in his home town. There he met and became good friends with the Hitman artist John McCrea and began to learn more about the art of writing comics. Since then McCool has moved to New York City.

True Patriot is an amazing anthology, visit kitkcster.com to donate!

From Hope: I'm Hope Nicholson and my partner is Rachel Richey. We are long-time comic fans and academics currently based out of Toronto, Canada. We are the holders of the exclusive rights to reprint Nelvana of the Northern Lights. Both Rachel and I are passionate fans of the Canadian Golden Age of comics, and have been for years. We're thrilled that we finally have the opportunity to share this passion with you. Rachel expresses this through her blog Comic Syrup, and I am a producer on the documentary Lost Heroes, about Canadian comic superheroes. We organize and host comic events in Toronto and are proud to support established and up-and-coming local talent.

Dr. diCarlo is a Philosopher of Science and Ethics whose interests in cognitive evolution have taken him into the natural and social sciences. His research focuses on how and why humans reason, think, and act the way they do.

North grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, where he studied computer science (minor in film) at Carleton University before moving to Toronto for his master's degree in computer science at the University of Toronto, specializing in computational linguistics; he graduated in 2005. He is a humorist, programmer and longboarding enthusiast and also designs t-shirts as a day job.

J. Torres won the Shuster Award for Outstanding Writer for his work on Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Love as a Foreign Language and Teen Titans Go. He is also the writer of the Eisner Award nominated Alison Dare and the YALSA listed Days Like This and Lola: A Ghost Story. Other comic book credits include Avatar: The Last Airbender, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century, Ninja Scroll, Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman, and WALL-E: Recharge.

Scott Nihill (Producer/Writer) has worked in film, TV and gaming for ten years, he has a background as a fine art illustrator, made a popular series of docs on artists and an interactive doc he directed was nominated for a Webbie Award (flubandutter.nfb.ca). Learn more via scottnihill.com. Riley Adams (Editor) is a TV, film and game writer who I brought in to help me construct a character-centric journey. He's worked on the CBS/CTV hit Flashpoint, and Warner Bros' next big budget console game, Mad Max.

Tracy: As the contract assistant curator for the ROM's engagement of Mesopotamia: Inventing our World, Tracy Spurrier combines her extensive knowledge of ancient Mesopotamia with her love of sharing ancient cultures with the public. Always interested in archaeology, Tracy decided to dedicate her life to the profession following her first introductory class as a university freshman. She earned a BA in archaeology with a minor in anthropology from Boston University's esteemed Archaeology Department. Tracy pursued her interest in the Middle East through an MA in Near Eastern Archaeology from the University of Toronto where she is currently working on her PhD specializing in Mesopotamia. At U of T, she teaches a course on ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian mythology and has been involved with a number of ancient culture projects and enthusiast groups. She has extensive archaeology fieldwork experience excavating at numerous sites in Spain, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, including the dig at Tell Hamoukar in Eastern Syria directed by ROM curator Dr. Clemens Reichel... Dr. Clemens Reichel: With the ROM since 2008, Dr. Reichel was born and raised in a small town in Southern Germany's Black Forest. His interest in archaeology originated during a childhood trip to Rome and his first encounter with Near Eastern archaeology came as a student at University of Freiburg (Germany). Dr. Reichel's studies then took him to the University of London and onto the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in Mesopotamian archaeology. He has excavated and surveyed sites throughout Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. Since 2004 Dr. Reichel has directed the Hamoukar Expedition, a large Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age site in northeastern Syria, a joint project of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institu ute and the Syrian Department of Antiquities.

From Keiths website kgrachow.com: An artist since a wee lad, I have been involved with graphic arts and illustration to some degree all my life. When I was 5, my father started an advertising agency which introduced me to the world of graphics. This interest would continue into college where I earned a BFA with a focus in graphic design. All throughout college and for the next few years after, I took on various graphic and illustrative jobs, even doing the concept design for a sci-fi based dance club and bar. In the early 2000's I began working my first career job, as the in-house artist for a toy company. Play Along Toys, the creator of the Britney Spears doll and licensed toys such as Care Bears, was where I really cut my teeth and learned how to be a professional.

Rob is one of my favorite comedians in Toronto. He's a really angry guy on stage, but the weird part is, he isn't really angry at all. Just one of those guys who's gone through a myriad of political ideals and been consistently let down. This is a good one, he tells a story about a drug robbery at the end that is utterly fantastic.

Shane is awesome. I met him years ago when we started working on Mike Gorbsmith together. I need to get working on that comic again, but haven't touched it in years. David I've met at a few shows and he's super good dude. Very genuine and one of those guys who just does this stuff out of love. You gotta love a dude like him.

I met Mr Marshall at C2E2 this years and he was a really awesome guy. He edits an entire slew of comics for Dark Horse. We had a really cool discussion about how much videogames have changed over the past few years and also about how patterns of storytelling are so engrained in our minds. I have to say, for me this was a real treat, and did I mention that he edits Conan. Yeah. He edits Conan. By Crom!

Kurtis Wiebe is a Vancouver, Canada based author who's been established in the world of comic writing since 2009. For his contribution to the critically acclaimed Green Wake, Kurtis was presented with the Outstanding Comic Book Writer Shuster Award. Never satisfied with a specific style of writing, Kurtis has branched out to novels, videogames and screenplays. He spends his days at home, writing about the mad things that float around his brain, and occasionally escapes to various cities around North America to promote his projects.

Ed Brisson first became involved in comic creation in the early 1990s. He mostly works as a freelance letterer, and has worked for such companies as Image, ShadowLine, and Blackline Studios, among others. In 2005 he started New Reliable Press, a small publishing company that released eight books, including True Loves and You Ain't No Dancer, before officially ceasing publishing in May of 2011. In 2010, he wrote and self-published Murder Book Volume 1, which featured artwork by Simon Roy. Also in 2010, he wrote the story The Orchard, which was included in the crime anthology Acts of Violence. In 2011 he released Murder Book Volume 2, which featured art by Vic Malhotra and Michael Walsh. In 2012 he released the third volume of Murder Book; as well, he and Walsh began work on a comic book series called Come Back, published by Image in November of 2012. He is currently working on a short horror anthology similar to the Murder Book series.

Brian Evinou – Brian is an animator and a creator of some very cool comics. He almost punched me in the face when we were at C2E2 this year, so that's gotta count for something. Phil McClorey – Since the very first con I ever went to I've been on rad terms with my good friend Mr McClorey. He's also be kindling my love for D&D and that's just plan swell.

Joel Carriere is the president and owner of Dine Alone Records, Bedlam Music Management, and S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival. He is known for managing Canadian post-hardcore group Alexisonfire and alternative group Bedouin Soundclash.

JANEANE GAROFALO, the petite woman with the acerbic wit, had many jobs before breaking into show biz. She worked as a bike messenger, a shoe salesperson (no doubt with Al Bundy's disposition), waitress and temp secretary. Watching David Letterman on TV inspired her, and by 1985 she was doing stand up comedy. Science broadcaster and writer JAY INGRAM was co-host of Discovery Channel's science show, Daily Planet for 16 years. From 1979 to 1992, Ingram hosted CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks and earned two ACTRA Awards, including Best Host. DON COSCARELLI, in much the same way that director George A. Romero's creative output has been primarily centered around the highly successful "Dead" series of zombie films, has for over two decades seen his universe swirling around the lesser successful, but equally cult, and much loved "Phantasm" series of horror movies.

Let's start by saying Scott Hepburn is one of the nicest dudes I've ever met in the comics industry, genuine, kind and incredibly insightful. Then there's that whole "talent" thing. Look at his resume, it reads like my fantasy comics sheet! Orchid, Darkstalkers, Star Wars, Skullkickers, X-Men Age of Apocalypse and MORE! We had a really cool conversation about the importance of backgrounds and social networking and even post secondary education. This guy is on the Jim Zub level of class!

Kit Harrington - Kit has been known to UK audiences for years but made his big breakthrough to North America playing Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, and he's since been mounted on the walls of countless teenage girl's rooms. He also happens to be my favourite character on the show. Also, we both loved Sharpe … a BBC classic! Rose Leslie - Rose Leslie is the envy of many women out there. She gets to shmoogle with Jon Snow! That of course being her role of Ygritte on Game of Thrones. She's also on Dowton Abbey. But I was more impressed by her appearance on Banged abroad! Sook Yin Lee - She is one of my media idols. I'd been a fan of hers since I became obsessed with becoming a Much Music VJ when I was in high school. That never happened, but I've leaned to live with it. She came on to talk about her Jack Layton movie for CBC, but we eventually chatted about mascots!

For those who haven't played it, Drinking Quest is a fantasy setting RPG with really simple rules, uses only one dice, and the object is to have a few drinks while you play. In fact, drinking becomes PART of the game. I've played it with a group of my friends and we've always had fun in the process. Jason was an awesome guest, and while we played we even spewed about our love for Jim Zub … and then almost got drunk. Yep. He'll be at comicon this weekend, for those who wanna go meet him. Plus, you can pre-order Volume 3 of his game (you should, cause it's a blast) here:

Ricky Lima – He's a greatly bearded gent that works at Stadium Comics and also creates his own comics. Deep Sea is a fantastic indie title that will mstlikely be available at Fan Expo this summer, and he's already working on a sequel! Adam Gorham – Adam and I work on the comic Teuton together, and he's contributed to a bunch of indie compellations and the award winning Vampire Conspiracies OTPB published in 2009. You can check out his blog at http://aprincelydreadful.blogspot.ca/ Gibson Quarter – Gibson has done a good deal of work for comics overseas, including Undertow, and even here in Canada for Heroes of the North. You can check out his blog at http://gibsonquarter27art.blogspot.ca/

Conor has served in both creative and business positions for film and television companies, contributed over 1,000 stories and articles for media outlets and also provided expert analysis for Canada's Business News Network. That's all well and good, but he also comes to my house and drinks beer!

This guy is my favourite comic writer. Period. I feel lame even just calling him a comic writer. He's my favourite writer, let's put it that way. This interview was kind of weird though cause it wound up being very choppy and conversational rather than a straight ahead discussion. This a big reason why I like having people in studio. But he lives in the US so that wasn't really an option. It's OK though and for me the off the cuff nature of what he was saying was what made in enjoyable. Either way, go read 100 Bullets, you'll be glad you did!

Michael Tymczyszyn is an author and screenwriter living in Toronto, Canada. He lives with his fiance and their dog. Michael is currently finishing writing for Titan Book 2, as well as several other series that will be released by AH Comics in 2013. Follow Mike on Twitter @alphabetkid. Andy Stanleigh is an artist and designer living in Toronto, Canada. His artwork has been displayed in invitational gallery showcases across Canada, as well as licensed by reproduction houses in North America. He lives with his wife and their two cats. Andy is currently illustrating for Titan Book 2, as well as another graphic novel title to be released by AH Comics in 2013. Follow Andy on Twitter @illustratorandy

Timothy Truman is an American writer, artist and musician. He is best known for his stories and Wild West-style comic book art, and in particular, for his work on Grimjack (with John Ostrander), Scout, and the reinvention of Jonah Hex, with Joe R. Lansdale. Truman is currently writing Conan and Hawken.

Kagan McLeod has been illustrating for magazines, newspapers and design firms since 1999, after graduating from Sheridan College's illustration program. He began work as a staff artist for Canada's National Post newspaper, and has since had work published in magazines around the world. He lives in Toronto with his wife, two daughters and hound dog, Buddy.

Aaron's career in comics began in 2001 when he won a Marvel Comics talent search contest with an eight-page Wolverine back-up story script. The story, which was published in Wolverine #175 (June 2002), gave him the opportunity to pitch subsequent ideas to editors. In 2006, Aaron made a blind submission to DC/Vertigo, who published his first major work, the Vietnam War story The Other Side, which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Miniseries, and which Aaron regards as the "second time" he broke into the industry. Following this, Vertigo asked him to pitch other ideas, which led to the series Scalped, a creator-owned series set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation and published by DC/Vertigo.

Mike and Ed are great guys. They worked on a VERY cool indie series called Murder Book and are now working on a book for Image called Comeback. The first issue is out next Wednesday and I can't recommend it enough. I already read the first issue and I am really excited for number two. It's cool to talk to these guys right now as they're riding the wave of their first pro book.

Tommy Tallarico is without a doubt one of gaming's greatest luminaries. The veritable video game icon is known throughout the world as one of the most influential video game composers in history, having help guide video game music from the bleeps and bloops of the early 1980's into the rich, CD-quality soundtracks appreciated by millions of fans around the world today. And he's now taken that show on the road with Video Games Live, great guy, great chat.

In 2005 Ralph and business partner Joe Brusha, co-wrote and published Zenescope's first comic book series, Grimm Fairy Tales, which was an immediate hit with comic book fans all over the world. He went on to co-create the acclaimed Wonderland trilogy along with Brusha and writer Raven Gregory. Tedesco has co-developed and has written numerous Zenescope titles such as Se7en, Salem's Daughter and Grimm Fairy Tales' INFENRO. He is currently developing several upcoming Zenescope projects as well as executive producing the film version of The Piper, based off Zenescope's series of the same name. In his spare time Ralph trains in Japanese combat Jujitsu and is also an actor and proud member of SAG. He currently resides in the Art Museum area of Philadelphia, PA.

Joseph Torres, better known as J. Torres, is an award-winning Filipino-born Canadian comic book writer. He is perhaps best known for his run on DC Comics' Teen Titans Go!. He has also done some writing for animation and television. He's currently working on a very cool project called True Patriot. I encourage you support it by clicking here: www.indiegogo.com/truepatriot

This week we're joined by Ramon Perez, our first ever Eisner Award Winner! He actually replaced Kevin Long at Paladium Games back in the day. And Kevin Long was one of my favourite artists ever. Look at the work Kevin Long did on the Rifts books and tell me your mind isn't blown to tiny dust particles!!! Anyways, we chat about everything from childhood superhero creations to The Monkeys. Seriously. The Monkeys.

So Kalman is a comic book artist .. or dare I say ARTEESTE from right here in Toronto. He's also one of the best dressed dudes in the Western Hemisphere. Mind you, I'm not real judge of fashion, but he always makes me look like shlub. Great dude, though. We chatted about Captain Cannuck and a few other random things here. I love hearing his insight on things, and just so ya know ... he did the cover for a comic I have coming out with Frozen Beach Studios next year

This guy has done it all. And in this chat (which could have been twice as long and been just as interesting) we talk about everything from pole vaulting, brainwashing cults, icebergs and why Russia is without a doubt the scariest place on Earth. Really, if you want to be a writer listen to what he's talking about. Amazing nuggets of information on here.!

Jimmy Palmiotti is a writer of the first regard … I don't even know if that sentence makes sense. But what I'm trying to say is he's a great writer, and also a swell fella. He even bought me a drink at FanExpo! I learned that he started in advertising and went on to ink comics and that's how he got his writing career going. And he's done more that write comics, he's written TV shows, videogames, movies, you name it! If you wanna become a writer, listen closely to what he's saying! It was a cool chat, so I hope you enjoy it!

Aaron Douglas played my favorite character on Battlestar Galactica, Chief Tyrol. We chatted about a bunch of stuff including his new show for Netfilx, Hemlock Grove. It was cool having him in studio being so frank about humanity.

Tony Moore has been one of my favourite comic artists ever since I started reading The Exterminators a few years back. I loved the book. It was tragic how it ended so soon. I suppose he's most famous for being part of the creative force behind The Walking Dead, but I've always liked Fear Agent and the Exterminators. What's kind of weird is the first book I really sunk my teeth into as a writer (Mike Gorbsmith: The Only Attractive Russian Ever) was often compared to Battle Pope, another book he worked on. But sheer luck my table was next to his at Fan Expo and he was awesome. Gave me and my buddy Adam Gorham (@adamtgorham on twitter) loads of comic advice. Great dude. tT was rad to have him on the Podcast!

This week George from the Silver Snail came by the studio and continued a drunken conversation that started a few weeks ago. While at FanExpo we were stuck at a dinner table full of people crapping on Superman. I love Superman, and so does George. Hence forth we felt it was our DUTY to discuss why despite all the silliness involving the man in blue, he's still awesome.

David Evans is a Curator in Vertebrate Palaeontology and oversees dinosaur research at the ROM. He is also a cross-appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. David was born in Ontario and grew up in Kelowna, British Columbia. He first laid eyes on dinosaur skeletons in the galleries of the ROM and has been fascinated with dinosaurs and palaeontology ever since. As an undergraduate student David spent several summers working as a field technician for the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, where he studied the duck-billed dinosaur Corythosaurus for his undergraduate thesis. David's doctoral dissertation analyzed skull growth and evolutionary relationships in crested hadrosaurs, with an emphasis on the striking diversity of these animals from Alberta, Canada. Since the ROM has one of the best collections of these dinosaurs in the world, it was natural that David chose to do his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto.

Is an assistant professor at the U of T whose fields of study include: The origins of the stellar initial mass function, The kinematics of star-forming molecular cloud cores and their environments. in particular, examining their sources of support (ex. rotation and turbulence), and bulk motions linked to their evolutionary states (ex. infall and outflows), The search for and classification of young, high-mass protostellar and pre-protostellar objects, The development of an evolutionary sequence for high-mass pre-protostellar objects. I asked him as many questions about space related stuff as I could. If you enjoyed Cosmos, you're gonna love this interview.

J. Bone is an Eisner Award nominated Canadian comic book artist and writer who has worked on such titles as DC Comics' Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Super Friends. He was the inker on the Eisner Award-winning one-shot Batman/The Spirit. J.Bone's first published work was Solar Stella for Sirius Entertainment, for which he was nominated for an Eisner Award 2001 (Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition). In 2002, Oni published Alison Dare, co-created by J. Torres with art by J.Bone. He came by and we talked about everything from a Batman/Spiderman stand off to the changing role of women in comcs. Great chat with a great guy!

Jeff Leake hosts The Verge on XM and occasionally does on air shifts at 102.1 The Edge here in Toronto. He's a pretty rad guy, and was a massive influence on me and how I approach radio. He has a really laid back, off the cuff delivery and is probably one of the best interviewers around. He also gives horrible parenting advice for cool people.

What can I say about George that you don't know already? Well long before he was on CBC and Much he was on the radio. We talk about that and then delve into his love of The Wire and some of his experiences with The New Music. Pretty cool chat, maybe next time we'll be able to get him into the studio!

Francis co-writes The Flash for DC Comics as well as doing the penicls. Not only that, he's a great guy and has been a profound influence on how I approach working in comics. We talk about all kind of stuff including the introduction of Gorilla Grodd in the latest run of The Flash, to writing as a craft. And we even started discussing what it would take to get a big budget Justice League movie. I demand a big screen Booster Gold!

David Evans is an Associate Curator in Vertebrate Palaeontology and oversees dinosaur research at the ROM. He first laid eyes on dinosaur skeletons in the galleries of the ROM and has been fascinated with dinosaurs and palaeontology ever since. As an undergraduate student David spent several summers working as a field technician for the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, where he studied the duck-billed dinosaur Corythosaurus for his undergraduate thesis. David's doctoral dissertation analyzed skull growth and evolutionary relationships in crested hadrosaurs, with an emphasis on the striking diversity of these animals from Alberta, Canada.

Adam Gorham is an artist and all round handy guy. He once built a mechanical arm that operated with pneumatic levers! It's true. He completed his first major work a few years ago. It was a book called The Vampire Conspiracies, and he's currently working with me on a project called Teuton, available at bigsexycomics.com. You can follow him on Twitter at adamtgorham and be sure to check out his blog as well aprincelydreadful.blogspot.ca Phil is a true man of the people, when not educating the minds of tomorrow he's writing up a storm for Furious comics. He's quarterbacked a few compilation books like Book of Methuselah and Horror in the West, as well he's also contributed to the highly popular Fubar series, featuring zombie stories with a World War 2 backdrop. He also grows great facial hair and is one of the most supportive men you could hope to meet. You can follow him on twitter at PhilMcClorey Brian and I just started talking a few months ago, and he's a great guy to discuss comics with. Just head by his website http://brianevinou.com/ Them Sassy Mavericks, they're ever so sassy. Keep and eye on Brian and make sure to say hello to him at the cons . He's rad, and you can even follow him on twitter at Brian_Evinou

Ray Fawkes is a prolific Canadian graphic novelist born in Toronto, Ontario. Some of his novels include Spookshow (2003), Pink (2006), The Apocalipistix (2008) and the ever popular, One Soul (2011). Ray's work is, to his fans and critics, incredibly introspective, dreamlike and bombastically slapstick. One Soul, arguably Fawkes' greatest work, is being praised for its poetic and often lyrical nature. Ray is also a two time Shuster Award nominee in the "Outstanding Canadian Writer" category, as well as a YALSA Award winner for his previous, "Posessions Book One: Unclean Getaway."

Dominik Diamond is a Scottish television and radio presenter and newspaper columnist. He is best known as the original presenter of Channel 4's video gaming programme GamesMaster, as host of The Dominik Diamond Breakfast Show on Xfm Scotland and as a columnist for the Daily Star. He is currently on air at Q107 in Toronto and is a columnist for The Chronicle Herald newspaper in Nova Scotia.

Scott Chantler is the Shuster Award-winning cartoonist of the graphic novels Two Generals, Northwest Passage, and the Three Thieves series. An acclaimed graphic novelist and illustrator he has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Doug Wright Awards for Canadian cartooning excellence. He is the author of Northwest Passage, a multi-volume graphic narrative set in 1755 colonial Canada, and the artist of graphic novels including Days Like This, Scandalous, and Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen. He is also a popular commercial illustrator whose clients include McDonald's, Reebok, Macy's, the Toronto Star, the National Post, and Maclean's. When he's not doing either of those things, he teaches Writing for Graphic Novels at Max the Mutt Animation School in Toronto.