Coffee in Space started out as a ten episode COVID-19 project. Despite being a relative newbie to the interviewing world, I was amazed at the people who agreed to come on my little project. Names like Michael Mammay, Derek Kunsken, Taylor Anderson, and David Brin all contributed to those early episodes. Publishers also quickly came on board, with Harper Voyager and Solaris sending books and guests my way. I was introduced to the likes of Weston Ochse and William H. Keith Jr. After that, I was able to expand to wonderful new writers like Premee Mohamed, Jordan Ifueko, and Ryan Van Loan, among others.
What started as a little project became a wonderful thrill ride. And I’m so grateful.
So I thought…well, I’ll do it until I move to Virginia, as I had a military deployment coming up. Despite thinking I was going to have to shut the project down, authors kept coming on board (some for repeat performances) and publishers kept sending books. And you all kept listening! A great symbiosis formed and, nearly at 2000 downloads now, I’m even more grateful.
Now it’s time to turn my attention to the next 50 episodes, but as I do, I want to recognize some of the many people who made this work. Bear with me.
- My wife, Alicia, who gave me permission and kept giving me permission as the numbers of guests and hours of editing piled up (and continue to do so).
- Derek Kunsken, who came on the show early and kept coming on. Derek has joined me three times now and each time has been wonderful. Derek has also brought several authors to my purview, introducing me to the likes of Premee Mohamed and Jordan Ifueko in the process.
- Michael Mammay, also a repeat guest, who not only came on and helped with his own audience, but recommended authors for me to interview.
- Taylor Anderson and David Brin, who not only gave great interviews, but also brought their audiences with them.
- Great publicists like Hanna Waigh at Solaris, Caroline Lambe at Angry Robot, and a whole army of great people over at Harper Voyager made their authors available to me and often worked everything from schedules to scripts. I’m in their debt. Hanna, in particular, gave me a lot of assistance as I got started, picking exactly the right guests and handing me a happy plethora of books to read and review.
There’s so much more I want to do with this podcast in the next 50 episodes and beyond. I hope you’ll stick around and see what it becomes.
Oh, and one last thank you…To Andy Weir, author of The Martian, who agreed to be the guest for my 50th episode. I can’t think of anyone better to help celebrate such an important milestone. Thank you, Andy! Listen to his episode below: