Episode 077 of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick features an interview with author Rhiannon (R. Z.) Held.
Rhiannon Held is the author of the Silver series of urban fantasy novels published by Tor. As R. Z. Held, she writes the Amsterdam Institute series of space opera novellas. Her short fiction, also under R. Z. Held, appears in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Hybrid Fiction, and a number of other publications and anthologies.
Rhiannon lives near Seattle, where she works as an archaeologist for an environmental compliance firm. At work, she mostly uses her degree for copy-editing technical reports; in writing, she uses it for cultural world-building; in public, she’ll probably use it to check the mold seams on the wine bottle at dinner.
Our conversation goes deep on…
- cultural worldbuilding
- deep time in fiction
- touching people through our stories
- balancing writing from the heart and following genre tropes
- reaching new readers
- the benefits of walking and “buffer zones” between our working and writing life…
…and a whole lot more. This one is chock full of good stuff. Listen!
This episode was recorded on March 27th, 2023. The conversation with Rhiannon Held was recorded on January 22nd, 2023.
Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode
- My day job? I’m a creative services provider helping authors, podcasters and other creators. How can I help you?
- Rhiannon mentions LARPing. That stands for Live Action Role Playing. Here’s a little more about LARPs.
- Rhiannon also mentioned play-by-email role playing games… a modern(ish) version of play-by-mail games that started in the 1970s.
- Personal creative franchises (storyworlds) come up a lot on this show. In this episode, I mentioned Michael Moorcock‘s Eternal Champion, Stephen King’s loosely interconnected Prime Earth, and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Pellucidar.
- Rhiannon mentions Chaco Culture and Mesa Verde.
- I bring up Kevin J. Anderson’s walking / dictation routine.
- What is walking meditation?
- Rhiannon mentions NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month.
- Here is the episode where I reveal my proposal for fixing the Amazon bookstore.
- Rhiannon mentions the DARE program, which, surprisingly, is still a thing.
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- Big thanks to my Multiversalists patron community, including Amelia Bowen, Ted Leonhardt, Chuck Anderson, and J. C. Hutchins! This episode took almost nine hours to record, edit, produce, and publish, so I’m incredibly grateful for the support of my patrons. If Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick brings you joy, become a patron!
- The Multiversalists patron member community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, patrons get an additional half hour of content, including an entire side conversation on Rhiannon Held’s particular day to day life as an archaeologist, plus lots of other stuff. Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
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