Back in 2003, at the WorldCon held in Toronto, Canada – known as Torcon 3 – Joe Mahoney met Mark Rayner for the first time. Joe also had an opportunity to meet and interview John Scalzi for a radio documentary that later aired on CBC Radio's The Current.

The interview (the entirety of which is included in this episode) is a fascinating slice of history. It was John’s first WorldCon and he took an anthropological approach to understanding what was going on all around him. “It’s like a convention of misfit toys,” he says. “It’s its own self-contained things.”

As a fan and a writer of science fiction he has great observations of the whole process.

The interview prompts Mark and Joe to reminisce about the early years of the 2000s and how some authors managed to break through with new media such as blogs and podcasts.

They also reflect on their own first experiences with WorldCon. “For me it was pretty mind blowing,” Mark says, including experiencing his first panel with Robert Silverberg and David Brin, as they discussed the work of Kurt Vonnegut.

Plus – a bonus clip with Larry Niven! Not to be missed by fans of science fiction and fantasy!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at contact@donovanstreetpress.com

Joe and Mark are joined by the super successful and super-fun science fiction writer, John Scalzi.

It's an entertaining conversation about science fiction, the egotistical nature of writing, and John's hobby, which is music.

In addition to having a terrible case of G.A.S. (guitar acquisition syndrome), John loves creating "weird ambient electronic music."

Mark and Joe learn all about John's amazing career in science fiction, his deadline-driven process, and the economics of that trade. But the conversation doesn't end there, as the three examine the value of creating art, just for the joy of it.

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Drop us a line at contact@donovanstreetpress.com to tell us what you think of this episode... or any other.

Mark and Joe chat with the Canadian poet and science fiction doyenne, Candas Jane Dorsey.

Candas is well-known in Canadian science fiction circles for her work as a novelist (Black Wine, A Paradigm of Earth) and editor-in-chief of The Books Collective, which included River, Slipstream and Tesseract Books.

The conversation begins around one of Candas's favourite childhood fantasy books, Crab Village by Julia Clark. (We all have one of those, right?). "I reread this book about every decade, and it holds up really well," she says.

What follows is a fascinating conversation about how we discover books, how children engage with literature, and the incredible effects that can have on the unfolding of a creative life.

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Drop us a line at contact@donovanstreetpress.com to tell us what you think of this episode... or any other.

Ben Fox is founder of the amazing book discovery site Shepherd.

Joe and Mark talk to Ben about a book that had a huge impact on him.

Native Son, by Richard Wright, was assigned to Ben as a senior in high school.

"I hated it from the depths of my soul, but now this book is strongly in my DNA," Ben says.

He doesn't hate the story now, though it does haunt him. It's one of the top fifteen books he would recommend.

Don't miss this great conversation about systematic racism, reading and Ben's pet project, the book discovery site Shepherd!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Drop us a line at contact@donovanstreetpress.com to tell us what you think of this episode... or any other.

Joe and Mark reflect on the Re-Creative journey so far, after two complete seasons, and over forty episodes. 

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode. 

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press. 

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

"If you could write – and consume – only one of these genres of science fiction, what would you pick? Space opera. Post-Apocalyptic. Or Cyberpunk?" This is the diabolical question that Mark poses to Joe and their guest, renowned Canadian science fiction writer, Robert J. Sawyer. 

Everyone has an answer and it connects with the piece of art that Rob has chosen to talk about – the 1968 science fiction classic, Planet of the Apes.

For Rob, the film (and book it was based upon) shows how science fiction can tackle the most pressing and important issues of the day. In the case of Planet of the Apes: race relations and nuclear war.

Mark, Joe and Rob have an engaged and engaging conversation about Planet of the Apes, science fiction in general, and Rob's career in particular.

 Fans won't want to miss this conversation!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode. 

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press. 

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Joe and Mark are joined by a veritable Swiss Army Knife of writers, Mark Leiren-Young.

Mark has written in multiple genres and formats, including television, animation, journalism, comedy, theater, and film. And he loves him some Spider-Man.

Oh, and Kurt Vonnegut too, so you know that Mark LY gets along with both the lads like a house on fire!

They NERD OUT in this podcast, talking about how Vonnegut influenced Mark LY in his writing. The three discuss Mark LY’s career, which has included stints writing for television, animation, and they even get into how he became the media’s go-to guy for discussions of how to save the Orca.

Lately, Mark has been teaching at the University of Victoria, doing courses on the storytelling in Pixar, DC and Marvel universes, which gives the three an opportunity to talk about the Batman too.

Listen in on this fun and rollicking conversation!

For more info, check out the show notes for this episode. 

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press. 

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

The lads are joined by Noah Chinn, a Canadian writer of SFF, contemporary fiction and retro mysteries. (The latter two under the pen-name Noah J.D. Chinn.)

Mark kicks off the podcast by asking Joe and Noah if there was anything weird happening to their hair in the 90s, which is also when the groundbreaking science fiction series, Babylon 5 ran.

Noah loved that the series treated each episode as a chapter in a longer story, which was unusual in television at the time. And yes, there was a character with big hair in the show.  

Noah tries to convince Mark, who never saw the show in the 90s, why he should check it out now. They talk about where it's similar to The Expanse, and where it differs, and how it had an impact on Noah's own writing.

In the end, Noah makes a strong case!

For more info, check out the show notes for this episode. 

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

 Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com