David Barr Kirtley
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** Ad-free episodes are available to our paid supporters over at patreon.com/geeks ** Host David Barr Kirtley, author of the book Save Me Plz and Other Stories, talks geek culture with guests such as Neil Gaiman, George R. R. Martin, Margaret Atwood, Richard Dawkins, Simon Pegg, Amanda Knox, Andrew Yang, Joyce Carol Oates, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Ursula K. Le Guin. Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy has appeared on recommended podcast lists from NPR, The Guardian, Wired, The A.V. Club, BBC America, CBC Radio, WVXU, io9, Omni, The Strand, Library Journal, and Popular Mechanics. CBC Radio writes, "You ma...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Close, candid discussion makes the machinery of science fiction stories and screen adaptations easier to see.
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy turns reviews into searching conversations about how science fiction works on the page and screen. David Barr Kirtley leads discussions with returning guests, moving from story collections by Harlan Ellison, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Greg Egan to…
A Yiddish-speaking alien gets a word-count critique, and you get the reading group you've always wanted.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Elden Ring's undead world comes into focus through dangerous geography, visible destinations, and the pull of Stormveil Castle.
David Barr Kirtley and Matt London frame Elden Ring as a place where death has come loose, leaving humanoid figures undead, groaning, and half-lost among crypts, churches, graveyards, fortresses, ruins, deep crevasses, and giant swords driven into the ground.
A childhood Heinlein discovery opens into unpublishable ambition and science fiction's travel problems.
Megan McArdle traces her path into golden age science fiction to two birthday books from her father on January 29, 1981: Andre Norton's Sargasso of Space and Robert Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky.
A focused conversation on science fiction ethics, anchored by publishing lore and a vivid Clarion memory.
The Business of Science Fiction works best as a study of how genre writers talk when money, deadlines, and reputation all press on the same nerve.
A spoiler-heavy Andor conversation about character endings, missing time, and the Empire's dangerous polish.
Season two of Andor gives Geeks Guide to the Galaxy a clear question to work through: what happens when a rebellion story spends some of its own momentum before the finish.
A clear, candid episode on atheism, science fiction, and the messy craft of building Darkshiner with AI.
David P. Silverman brings a distinctive mix of vantage points to this PlayNext episode: atheist activist, former president of American Atheists, and science fiction fan shaped by Doctor Who and Star Trek.
A grounded conversation about a New York reading series with major speculative and literary names.
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy treats Fantastic Fiction at KGB as a lively anchor for New York City speculative fiction culture, with a guest list that includes Joyce Carol Oates, China Mieville, Peter Straub, and Samuel R. Delaney.
A measured Dune Prophecy discussion that praises the craft while keeping the storytelling under scrutiny.
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy takes a measured look at season one of Dune Prophecy, treating it as a show with real strengths and real limits. The panel makes a point of praising the sets and the acting, and it gives credit to several scenes that are well executed, even as it keeps…
A close look at Niven's late-book range, strongest when it tracks the odd logic of his worlds.
This episode spends its time on the last nine stories in The Best of Larry Niven, moving from hard sf favorites like Flatlander and The Borderland of Saul to the fantasy turn of The Magic Goes Away.
Henry Eliot walks Paris, Lisbon, and Cambridge to unlock classic novels with expert guests.
Kevin Young and a guest poet close-read one archival New Yorker poem per episode.
David Bart Kirtley opens the show with a spoiler warning and a simple frame for the discussion.
David Bart Kirtley and Anthony Ha keep going through *The Best of Greg Egan* by tackling the book’s last six stories.
Spoilers are on the table.
David Barr Kirtley opens episode 590 by noting that the show will cover *The Best of Larry Niven* and review the book's first nine stories.
David Bar-Kirtley and Mercurio D.
David Bark-Hurtley opens by laying out six Greg Egan stories and warning that the discussion will spoil all of them.
Geeks Guide to the Galaxy turns its attention to Fantastic Fiction at KGB, a monthly reading series in New York City that has featured authors such as Joyce Carol Oates, China Mieville, Peter Straub, and Samuel R.
David Barr Kirtley and Anthony Ha work through the first eleven stories in *The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson*.
David Barr Kirtley marks episode 600 with a behind-the-scenes interview.
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy episode 598 centers on Elden Ring’s story and lore, with David Barr Kirtley and Matt London comparing notes after David finished George Truscott’s 500-page Grace Given: The Mythology of Elden Ring.
David Barr Kirtley opens episode 606 with a spoiler-heavy look at season one of FX's Alien Earth, the prequel to Alien and Aliens.
David Barr Kirtley hosts James Wynn and Craig Brewer from Rereading Wolf for episode 588 of Geek's Guide to the Galaxy, a spoiler-heavy discussion of Gene Wolfe's The Urth of the New Sun.
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy episode 593 centers on Warren Lapine's book On Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy by Roger Zelazny, which collects 20 articles Zelazny wrote between 1964 and 1994.
Matthew Kressel discusses Histories Within Us, a 16-story collection that ranges from "Mortar" in 2004 to work from 2021–22 and includes science fiction, fantasy, horror, and Terra Diaspora stories.
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy episode 595 centers on The Business of Science Fiction, a book of 26 articles by Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg written between 1999 and 2010.
David P.
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy episode 599 centers on Clarion Writers' Workshop, with David Barr Kirtley and Tom Gerencer comparing the workshop’s 1999 Michigan State setup, its later move to UC San Diego, and the six-week structure with 15 to 20 writers.
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy episode 603 centers on sword and sorcery, with David Bar-Kirtley, Philip Gillette, and Morgan Galen King comparing childhood touchstones like He-Man, Conan the Barbarian, Thundarr, HeroQuest, and Dungeons & Dragons novels.
Geeks Guide to the Galaxy episode 594 covers Andor season 2 with David Barr Kirtley, Andrea Kael, Erin Lindsay, and Matt London.
Host David Barr Kirtley and guest Tom Gorencer discuss the second half of Harlan Ellison's Greatest Hits, analyzing stories like On the Downhill Side, Paladin of the Lost Hour, and The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World.
Host David Barr Kirtley and guests Andrea Kael, Matthew Kressel, and Tom Gerentzer discuss five science fiction noir movies: Dark City, Strange Days, The 13th Floor, Looker, and Alphaville.
Megan McArdle traces her science-fiction obsession to a January 29, 1981 birthday gift of Sargasso of Space and Tunnel in the Sky, then explains how Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C.
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy episode 596 examines Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune with David Barr Kirtley, Andrea Kael, Matthew Kressel, and Rajan Khanna.
David Barr Kirtley opens with a spoiler warning.
David Barr Kirtley, Tom Gorencer, and Rajan Khanna talk through Roger Zelazny's *Roadmarks*, a classic novel built around a magical highway that runs through time and space.
Host David Barr Kirtley and guests discuss Roger Zelazny's classic science fiction novel 'Creatures of Light and Darkness', including spoilers.
Host David Barr Kirtley interviews filmmaker Philip Gillette about his work on science fiction and horror films, and his childhood movie experiences.
Host David Barr Kirtley interviews writer and director J.T.
Host David Barr Kirtley and guest Tom Gorencer discuss the first nine short stories in Harlan Ellison's Greatest Hits, including spoilers.
Host David Barr Kirtley interviews James Wynn and Craig Brewer about Gene Wolfe's novel The Fifth Head of Cerberus, discussing its themes and narrative style.
Host David Barr Kirtley interviews publisher and author Warren Lapine about his tribute anthology to Roger Zelazny and a collection of Zelazny's letters.
David Barr Kirtley interviews Michael Livingston about his book exploring the mythologies that inspired Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
David Barr Kirtley interviews author Melinda Snodgrass about her novel Lucifer's War and her career in science fiction.
Host David Barr Kirtley interviews author Veronica Roth about her new novel Poster Girl and her upcoming novella Arch Conspirator.
Host David Barr Kirtley and guests discuss the classic 1959 post-apocalyptic novel A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M.