Odyssey Podcast #150
Odyssey Podcast #150 is an excerpt from a lecture by Scott Edelman at Odyssey 1999 on choosing the best character for your story idea.
Scott has published nearly 100 short stories in magazines such as Analog, The Twilight Zone, Postscripts, Absolute Magnitude, Science Fiction Review and Fantasy Book, and in anthologies such as You, Human, The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Crossroads, MetaHorror, Once Upon a Galaxy, Moon Shots, Mars Probes, Forbidden Planets. His poetry has appeared in Asimov’s, Amazing, Dreams and Nightmares, and others.
His most recent short story collection is Things That Never Happened, published September 2020 by Cemetery Dance. Of the book, Publishers Weekly wrote: “His talent is undeniable.”
Prior to that, Tell Me What You Done Before (and Other Stories Written on the Shoulders of Giants) was released November 2018 by Lethe Press. What Will Come After, a collection of his zombie fiction, and What We Still Talk About, a collection of his science fiction stories, were both published in 2010. He has been a Stoker Award finalist eight times, in the categories of both Short Story and Long Fiction. Additionally, What Will Come After was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award.
Additionally, Edelman worked for the Syfy Channel for more than thirteen years, most recently as the Editor of Blastr. He was the founding editor of Science Fiction Age, which he edited during its entire eight-year run. He has also edited other genre magazines such as Sci-Fi Universe and Sci-Fi Flix, as well as non-genre magazines such as Satellite Orbit and Rampage. He has been a four-time Hugo Award finalist for Best Editor.
He worked as an assistant editor for Marvel Comics starting in the early ’70s, writing everything from display copy for superhero Slurpee cups to the famous Bullpens Bulletins pages. While there, he edited the Marvel-produced fan magazine FOOM (Friend of Ol’ Marvel). He also wrote trade paperbacks such as The Captain Midnight Action Book of Sports, Health and Nutrition and The Mighty Marvel Fun Book number four and five.
In 1976, he left staff to go freelance, and worked for both Marvel and DC. His scripts appeared in Captain Marvel, Master of Kung Fu, Omega the Unknown, Time Warp, House of Mystery, Weird War Tales, Welcome Back, Kotter and others.
His writing for television includes Saturday morning cartoon work for Hanna Barbera and treatments for the syndicated TV show Tales from the Darkside (the episodes “Fear of Floating,” “Baker’s Dozen” and “My Ghost Writer, the Vampire”).
His book reviews have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review.
He has at various times served on the juries for both the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards Short Fiction jury and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. He has been the Editor in Residence at the Clarion SF Workshop in 1999 and 2003, and the Guest Editor at the Odyssey Writers Workshop in 1999. He was the Toastmaster for the 2000 Nebula Awards ceremony and a Guest of Honor at the 2018 World Fantasy Convention.
The text of this recording is copyright © 1999 by Scott Edelman. The sound recording is copyright ℗ 2022 by Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust.
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