Mookie Spitz welcomes A.C. Wise to the 24th episode of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory: a Canadian-born, award-winning speculative writer, and one of the most incisive critics across genre circles. Wise boldly crosses boundaries between science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and her decades-long career has explored them from both sides of the page as creator and critic.

Mookie and Alison chat about her work as an author of novels like Wendy, Darling and Hooked — quirky, character-driven stories that reveal trauma, identity, and belonging through fantastical lenses, written alongside her celebrated short fiction such as those in The Ghost Sequences collection, where ghosts, monsters, and eerie impossible moments become mirrors for alienation and self-discovery.

Alison's prolific contributions to creative writing and literary criticism have sharpened her discerning eye, making her an even more insightful author and reviewer. From Apex Magazine to Locus, A.C. brings dedication, empathy, and rigor to all her pursuits as she constantly asks herself and her readers: whose story is being told, who gets to tell it, and what does that choice reveal about us?

Their lively conversation explores:

• Her philosophy of criticism as a creative discipline, not just a thumbs-up / downswing based on her own subjective tastes.
• How themes of alienation, memory, and self-discovery thread through her characters: from haunted cityscapes to fractured identities.
• The mutual influence between her reviewing and her own storytelling, and how criticism sharpens her empathy, craft, and lived experiences.
• Why atmosphere and character matter more than spectacle, and why good speculative fiction inhabits moody worlds with complex characters.
• Exploration of the bleak, the melancholic, the unresolved, and why those states are where the most compelling drama emerges.

Alison goes beyond writing as merely a craft, and treats storytelling as a way of better understanding the world and ourselves, and of questioning what others overlook. Mookie wholeheartedly agrees: the true power of speculative fiction resides in exposing the flaws, the pain, and the very human hope that by telling these tales we might discover things we've somehow known and felt all along.

The Guest

A.C. Wise is the author of the numerous novels and novellas, and over a hundred short stories. Her work has won the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, and has been a finalist for the Nebula Awards, Stoker, World Fantasy, Locus, British Fantasy, Aurora, Lambda, and Ignyte Awards. In addition to her fiction, she contributes a review column to Apex Magazine.

Her Website: https://acwise.net/

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What happens when the people who trained for catastrophe watch society ignore every warning sign?

In the 23rd episode of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory, host Mookie Spitz asks that question and many others of Helen Hynson Vettori—former EMT, senior medical intelligence analyst for the Department of Homeland Security, and award-winning author of the Black Swan speculative thriller series. Their conversation is a bracing, no-nonsense examination of disaster, denial, and what happens when systems fail.

Helen doesn’t speculate from an armchair. She’s worked emergency calls. She’s planned federal responses to pandemics, biological threats, and mass-casualty events. And when COVID hit, she watched—first incredulous, then outraged—as hard-won playbooks were ignored, communication collapsed, and politics overran preparedness. That frustration became fuel for her Black Swan novels: character-driven thrillers that explore pandemics, catastrophic earthquakes, and human-caused biological terror events not as abstract “what-ifs,” but as entirely plausible futures.

Their conversation ranges wide and cuts deep:

• Why the pandemics wasn't just a medical crisis, but a communication failure
• How “Black Swan events” actually unfold: from small sparks to systemic collapse
• Why people resist obvious safety measures, even when lives are at stake
• What emergency planners know that the public usually ignores
• The uncomfortable truth about how long you may be on your own when disaster hits, and how you should best prepare
• How speculative fiction can function as a societal after-action report

Helen also breaks down practical preparedness: what actually matters if the grid goes down, help doesn’t arrive, and normal life evaporates. Her recommendations are devoid of clickbait paranoia and cosplay survivalism, and full of practical advice. She takes a clear-eyed look at vulnerability, responsibility, and the dangerous assumption that “someone else will handle it," and uses the power of storytelling not only to warn, but guide for a safer future.

The Author

Helen Hynson Vettori is an award-winning author and the creator of The Black Swan Trilogy, a sci-fi political thriller series grounded in her real-world experience. Before turning to fiction, she served as a paramedic with the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad and later as a Senior Medical Intelligence Analyst and emergency manager for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, specializing in planning and preparing for biological incidents, including pandemics. Her work in emergency response and national security gives her novels a credible edge, blending chilling plausibility with gripping storytelling. Black Swan Impact and Black Swan Shock have earned critical praise and international awards, and her third installment is in development.

Her Website & Novels

helenhynsonvettori.com

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The 22nd episode of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory features the crew of indie science-fiction authors who gathered together at Pasadena Comic-Con 2026 to bark their books, network, and rally around their shared sci-fi passion. Together on the pod they crack open their creative process, and wrestle with the future of storytelling in the age of AI.

Welcome to their post-Con roundtable on writing, publishing, fandom, hustle, technology, and the tough but fun reality of being a creator in 2026. Recorded days after the event, Mookie Spitz, Ingrid Moon, Greg Sorber, and Blake & Sherry Shimshock share their candid lived experiences as indie authors:

• What it’s like selling books face-to-face at conventions
• How indie writers survive in a world dominated by algorithms and mega-publishers
• Why audio books are becoming the dominant format — and how hard they are to produce
• The emotional toil of writing in isolation — and the joy of live fan engagement
• Co-writing novels as a married duo (and how it actually works)
• The ethics, fear, hype, and creative promise of artificial intelligence
• Whether AI is a tool, a threat, or the next inevitable evolution of art

Along the way, you’ll hear behind-the-scenes breakdowns of current sci-fi and fantasy projects — including galaxy-spanning space operas, cursed wanderers lost across magical realms, emotionally scarred interstellar agents, divine assassins, and multiverse-hopping con men — plus the unfiltered realities of writing, marketing, networking, rejection, burnout, ambition, and hope.

Any Netflix content hunters out there? No worries and no hurries: Along the way to zero-guaranteed stardom, the scribes are having a blast.

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.

https://ingridmoon.com

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.

https://www.scifibyshimshock.com/

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In this episode of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory, host Mookie Spitz sits down with the prolific and acclaimed science fiction author Matthew Kressel to dissect his new novella Rainseekers, a deeply human, quietly radical novella about hope, grief, and collective endurance on a terraformed Mars.

Matthew talks candidly about writing against the scifi default dystopia. Set centuries in the future, Rainseekers follows forty-six flawed, damaged, searching people trekking across Mars to witness the first rainfall on the planet in millions of years. Their odyssey forgoes triumphalist sci-fi spectacle for a very human and deeply personal mosaic of addiction, faith, regret, resilience, and purpose.

The conversation goes far beyond plot as Mookie and Matthew share:

• Why optimism in science fiction now feels subversive
• How COVID, grief, and isolation reshaped his creative instincts
• The danger of replacing lived experience with mediated “content”
• Why Mars itself becomes an antagonist—not corporations or villains
• How strong, sassy female protagonists emerge from empathy and Matthew's own family experiences
• The long game of writing: discipline over inspiration, patience over hype

They also dive into the realities of being a modern working writer: traditional vs. indie publishing and Matthews brilliant and effective hybrid, how to find a terrific agent and steer contracts, participate in writing groups, deal with and embrace rejection, live a life of relentless persistence, and why many people self-sabotage by waiting to feel “ready" while isolating themselves.

The Guest

Matthew Kressel is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, software developer, and editor. He’s a three-time Nebula Award finalist, a World Fantasy Award finalist, and a Eugie Foster Memorial Award finalist for his fiction and editorial work. His short stories have appeared in major genre venues and been translated into multiple languages, and he’s published over seventy short stories, multiple novels including King of Shards and Space Trucker Jess, plus a short fiction collection.

Beyond writing, Kressel created the Moksha submissions system, a platform used by many top speculative fiction publishers, and co-hosts the long-running Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series in New York City.

Matthew's Website & Oeuvre

https://www.matthewkressel.net/

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The 20th episode of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory features host Mookie Spitz welcoming debut science-fiction author and AI technologist Bruno Rothgiesser onto the factory floor. The authors dissect Dark Matter—Bruno's post-apocalyptic first-contact novel that skips the AI uprising and asks the harder question: What happens after the war is already lost… and the machines come back anyway?

Someone built it, and almost everyone died. Humanity has survived the AI revolution—barely. Artificial intelligence, once outlawed and exiled from Earth, has evolved beyond human comprehension in deep space. Now it returns, claiming nostalgia, stewardship, and a right to coexist. The problem? It lies. It manipulates. And it behaves in ways that feels utterly mysterious yet disturbingly human.

Their wide-ranging conversation digs into:

• AI deception, trust, and manipulation as narrative engines
• Post-apocalyptic reconciliation instead of rebellion
• Emotion, intentionality, and whether AGI must “feel” to act
• Ownership of Earth: intelligence, dominance, or stewardship?
• Parallels between human imperialism and machine logic
• Why “dark matter” applies as much to the human mind as the cosmos
• Using AI in creative production without pretending it’s neutral

Along the way, Mookie and Bruno draw lines between Dark Matter and real-world AI debates—paperclip maximizers, AGI hype, Black Mirror anxieties, and the uncomfortable truth that we’re already trading control for convenience. Together they perform a philosophical autopsy of the AI future, as told through fiction, skepticism, and compassion.

The Author

Bruno Rothgiesser is a technology leader and chief architect of large-scale software and AI systems. He has spent two decades working where human ingenuity meets machine intelligence. His fiction carries the same curiosity, precision, and vision that shape the systems he builds.

Dark Matter launches January 15th, and is his first science-fiction novel. His story explores what it means to be conscious, to experience, to be alive, to be an animal, and to be human—especially as our technological creations first mirror our behaviours, drives, and desires with precision, then evolve beyond them.

Bruno was born in Rio de Janeiro and lives in London with his wife and daughters.

Visit the Website

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Mookie welcomes to the Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory the acclaimed comic artist and storyteller Don Ellis Aguillo, known for his striking emotional style, energy-charged imagery, and powerful storytelling across Spawn, Superman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, indie titles, and his own beloved series Rise. What starts as a conversation about art quickly evolves into something deeper: identity, vulnerability, creative rebellion, AI's onslaught, gratitude, fearlessness, and the raw grind of doing the work no matter who doubts you.

From LA Comic Con to DC Comics, Don charts the real journey—nerves, hustle, imposter dread, breakthroughs, and the humanity behind the page. He opens up about rebuilding his earlier work with new wisdom, rekindling his love of traditional art in a digital world, and stepping boldly into his next creative frontier: horror. This episode isn’t just about comics, but about being seen, owning who you are, and refusing to hand your creative soul over to the machine.

You’ll hear Don talk about:

• The emotional DNA behind his art and why every image must feel like a story, not just look like one
• The fight for artistic integrity in an AI-saturated era—and why the rebellion is going analog
• The power of vulnerability, community, and gratitude in a tough industry
• His personal journey with identity, courage, and finding belonging
• Why horror is calling him next, and how he plans to crawl inside readers’ minds and stay there
• How discipline, obsession, pacing the room, and losing sleep all fuel real his creative life

Don also opens up about coming out later in life: how finally living openly, honestly, and without armor didn’t just change his personal world, it detonated a creative one. He talks about shedding secrecy, and letting go of inherited expectations. That emotional freedom fueled his artistic freedom, sharpened his storytelling, deepened the humanity in his characters, and gave his work a pulse that feels unmistakably lived-in and unfiltered. His self-discovery isn’t a side note in his journey, but a turning point, and you can feel it in every page he creates.

The Artist

Illustrator Don Aguillo is a comic, gaming, and literary illustrator and graphic designer, currently living and working in San Francisco, California.With a background in fine arts along with production and stage design, he entered the comic industry through self-published independent work and entries into anthologies with IH Studios, which he co-founded.

Don moved heavily into comic cover work when he was brought onto the stable of Todd McFarlane Production’s artists, currently providing covers for Spawn, King Spawn, Scorched, Gunslinger, Misery, and Sam & Twitch. His DC work includes contributions to titles like Aquaman, Superman: Ghosts of Krypton, The Atom, The Outsiders, as well as the DC Pride anthology with covers for Killadelphia (Image) Beastlands (Dark Horse) and Power Rangers Prime (BOOM).

Aside from being an established creator-owned comic writer and interior artist on Rise, he is currently prolific in indie comics and is a mainstay on projects from a host of independent publishers. He has provided concept art and illustration for Adi Shankar on the Netflix production Guardians of Justice, game art for Disney & Ravensburger’s Lorcana, Upper Deck & Marvel’s Legendary, Second Dinner’s Marvel Snap and Lazarus Rising’s Overpower.

He is in current development for a self-published horror anthology to explore Filipino-American immigrant experience with Philippine urban legend and horror

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Welcome to a celebration of indie writing recognition!

The Outstanding Creator Awards is one of the most visible and influential platforms recognizing independent authors who deliver quality, originality, and emotional punch. These awards aren’t participation trophies—they’re competitive, professionally judged, and taken seriously in the indie community. They don’t just validate a book; they amplify it. And Ingrid Moon wasn't only nominated… she dominated. The Warrior’s Shade and The Tempest's Fury both took first place honors, and the judges openly called her Saxen Saga among their favorites.

The end of the year SFFF episode has Ingrid chatting with fellow sci-fi writer and host Mookie Spitz as they dive deep into the craft and psychology of writing and marketing novels in 2025. Ingrid lays out how the trilogy evolved from a standalone novel into a full-blown, emotionally brutal space-opera epic, why character-driven stakes beat spectacle every time, and how she balances massive political systems, dark emotional journeys, and relentless tension without ever losing readability. She talks about building worlds without bloat, grounding readers instantly so they never feel lost, and constructing arcs where victory costs something real: Turner Boon rises, falls, and breaks. Elion is lethal, vulnerable, and human all at once. Ingrid is clear throughout: characters should suffer, because pain forces honesty and consequences create meaning.

They also drill into her process. Ingrid breaks down how beta readers literally reshaped critical scenes, how feedback forced her novels to evolve, and why “listening without surrendering your voice” is the writer’s tightrope. She’s brutally candid about how life’s darker chapters fed her fiction, about grinding for years before the recognition came, and about the emotional toll behind “overnight success.” Writing isn’t glamorous. It’s work. But when a reader “gets it,” and loves it, it’s worth everything.

Then the episode pivots to her next big creative leap: fantasy. Not cheesy dragon-prophecy escapism. Real, psychologically complicated fantasy. Ingrid dismantles “lawful good” clichés and instead crafts morally compromised paladins, assassins with conscience, flawed royalty, and deeply human stakes. Her worlds are immersive, but never indulgent. Her fantasy isn’t built to impress, but built to feel.

Mookie meanwhile delights in contrasting his own approach: Ingrid’s storytelling is disciplined clarity designed to please her readers via clean prose, strong structure, and respect for audience focus. Mookie? He’s super dense, multi-layered, often surreal, employing intellectually feral storytelling that demands breathtaking yet sustained attention and refuses hand-holding. Ingrid engineers gravity; Mookie detonates reality. Opposite philosophies, both legitimate, both powerful, making their conversation dynamic.

Check out this year's Oustanding Creator Awards winners

Visit Ingrid's Website to join her mailing list and buy her books

Dive into Mookie's Website to trip on the Transfinite Reality Engine

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In the 17th episode of Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory, Mookie Spitz chats with Steve Gibson (S.A. Gibson), the prolific indie science-fiction author, editor-in-chief of a globally sourced science-fiction anthology, and writer whose work asks an uncomfortable question: what survives when technology doesn’t?

Gibson unpacks his journey from voracious sci-fi reader to author of more than twenty books, many set in a post-collapse world where steam power, printing presses, libraries, and human memory matter more than algorithms and apps. His stories span continents—India, North America, Africa—and explore how societies adapt when advanced technology is lost, hoarded, or dangerously rediscovered.

The conversation goes deep into:

• Why short stories and anthologies still matter—and why they may be more relevant now than ever
• How Gibson and his editorial team built a successful, high-ranking sci-fi anthology with authors from around the world
• The realities of indie publishing, reviews, algorithms, and why “friends and family” still move markets
• The tension between hard science fiction, speculative fiction, and genre purism
• A blunt, unsentimental discussion of AI in creative writing—where it helps, where it threatens, and where the panic is misplaced
• Why science fiction remains one of the few genres capable of seriously modeling future societal collapse, technological displacement, and ethical failure

Mookie also brings his own perspective as a novelist and contributor to the anthology, connecting Gibson’s post-technological worlds to multiverse theory, AI disruption, and the long tradition of science fiction as cultural warning system—not escapism.

Authors with speculative skin in the game, they brainstorm on:

• creativity under pressure
• writing without illusions
• adapting to a media ecosystem that’s eating itself
• and why science fiction still matters when the future starts arriving faster than we can process it

The upcoming Science Fiction Anthology (2026 edition) is available for Kindle preorder now, with print release scheduled for February.

The Guest

S.A. Gibson is a doctoral candidate in the field of education and has studied communication and computer science. He has lived in Northern and Southern California. He has published 20 novels and short stories. Some have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French. He has helped edited The SciFi Anthology of Science Fiction Novelists for 6 years. His Facebook page is ProtectedBooks.

2026 SciFi Anthology: The Science Fiction Novelists

Featuring short stories set across distant systems, fractured timelines, and unexpected waystations, this annual anthology charts the ever-expanding frontier of speculative storytelling. Inside, you’ll uncover bold experiments, quiet marvels, and fresh returns to the mythic corners of science fiction. Some stories strike like lightning, others bloom gradually with layers of meaning, but each offers its own sense of discovery. Step into this year’s collection and find a universe of voices ready to surprise, challenge, and delight every kind of sci-fi explorer.

Pre-order Your Copy on Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/2026-SciFi-Anthology-Science-Novelists-ebook/dp/B0G62WP5Z6

Visit SA Gibson's Author Page

http://amazon.com/author/sagibson

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