The Worldshapers | Conversations with science fiction and fantasy authors about the creative process

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Winner of the 2019 Aurora Award for Best Fan Related Work and a finalist for Best Fan Related Work in 2020, 2022, and 2023

Named to Feedspot’s list of “Top 60 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Podcasts You Must Follow in 2020“

Welcome to the home of The Worldshapers, a podcast featuring interviews with science fiction and fantasy authors about their creative process, hosted by award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Edward Willett, and winner of the 2019 Aurora Award for Best Fan Related Work.

Releasing January 23, 2024: Shapers of Worlds Volume IV, an anthology featuring stories by fourth-year guests of The Worldshapers

The fourth anthology featuring science fiction and fantasy by authors who were guests of The Worldshapers podcast features new stories by David Boop, Michaelbrent Collings, Roy M. Griffis, Sarah A. Hoyt, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Noah Lemelson, Edward M. Lerner, David Liss, Gail Z. Martin, Joshua Palmatier, Richard Paolinelli, Jean-Louis Trudel, James van Pelt, Garon Whited, and Edward Willett, plus previously published stories by James Kennedy, Mark Leslie, R.S. Mellette, and Lavie Tidhar. Each story features an illustration by Wendi Nordell.

Now available: Shapers of Worlds Volume III, an anthology featuring stories by third-year guests of The Worldshapers

The third anthology featuring science fiction and fantasy by authors who were guests of The Worldshapers podcast, this outstanding collection will include new fiction from Griffin Barber, Gerald Brandt, Miles Cameron, Sebastien de Castell, Kristi Charish, David Ebenbach, Mark Everglade and Joseph Hurtgen, Frank J. Fleming, Violette Malan, Anna Mocikat, James Morrow, Jess E. Owen, Cat Rambo, K.M. Rice, and Edward Willett and new poetry by Jane Yolen, plus stories by Cory Doctorow, K. Eason, Walter Jon Williams, and F. Paul Wilson.

Available now: Shapers of Worlds Volume II, an anthology featuring stories by second-year guests of The Worldshapers

Shapers of Worlds Volume II, a new anthology featuring writers who were guests during the second year of The Worldshapers, has been published by Shadowpaw Press and is now available in ebook, trade paperback, and hardcover.

Shapers of Worlds Volume II features new fiction from Kelley Armstrong, Marie Brennan, Helen Dale, Candas Jane Dorsey, Lisa Foiles, Susan Forest, James Alan Gardner, Matthew Hughes, Heli Kennedy, Lisa Kessler, Adria Laycraft, Ira Nayman, Garth Nix, Tim Pratt, Edward Savio, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Jeremy Szal, and Edward Willett, plus stories by Jeffrey A. Carver, Barbara Hambly, Nancy Kress, David D. Levine, S.M. Stirling, and Carrie Vaughn. Among those authors are winners and nominees for every major science fiction and fantasy literary award, plus several international bestsellers. It is, of course, a follow-up volume to…

Shapers of Worlds, an anthology featuring stories by first-year guests of The Worldshapers

Shapers of Worlds, an anthology of short stories from some of the authors who were guests on The Worldshapers podcast in its first year, was successfully Kickstarted in 2020 and is now available from these links (and many other places) in both ebook and trade paperback.

The commercial version of the trade paperback was produced with the generous support of Creative Saskatchewan.

The anthology features new fiction from Seanan McGuire, Tanya Huff, David Weber, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., D.J. Butler, Christopher Ruocchio, John C. Wright, Shelley Adina, and yours truly; plus reprints from John Scalzi, Joe Haldeman, Julie Czerneda, Fonda Lee, Gareth L. Powell, Derek Kunsken, Dr. Charles E. Gannon, and Thoraiya Dyer. In all, there are more than 350 pages of science fiction/fantasy goodness!

“One of the most wide-ranging volumes I’ve encountered in terms of sub-genre. It’s rather like a speculative fiction buffet, offering steampunk, fantasy, military fiction, magic, space opera, post-apocalyptic, hard science fiction, and others . . . Inventive and varied, the collection has a lot to offer for those seeking an interesting, entertaining, and thought-provoking read.” – Lisa Timpf, The Future Fire

About

FIVE STARS – “Great podcast! Incredible resource for writers and readers alike. Interesting and inspiring conversations about the science fiction and fantasy genres, the writing process and creative acts. My to-read list grows with every interview. Please keep going!” – E.L. Thomas, iTunes Store

All writers, when they set pen to paper or post pixel to page, are shaping a world: their own private world, created from their own thoughts and imagination, joys and sorrows, hopes and heartbreaks, triumphs and fears. It may mimic the real world, or it may be as different from the real world as, say, the world of Middle Earth is from the world of Blade Runner, but it is still a shaped world–a sub-creation, to use J.R.R. Tolkien’s formulation. It is not a real world, it does not have the depth or complexity of a real world, it is but an illusion…and yet, these fictional worlds, these illusions, though shaped by humans, not gods, can sometimes touch our minds and expand our spirits in ways nothing else can.

It is a kind of miracle, and very writer performs it in his or her own way. In The Worldshapers, Edward Willett, himself an award-winning writer of science fiction and fantasy, delves into the creative process with science fiction and fantasy writers of every kind, seeking to better understand this magical, mystical skill…the skill of worldshaping.

The Host

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Above: Guest host E.C. Blake interviews Edward Willett
in a special episode of The Worldshapers

Edward Willett is the award-winning author of more than sixty books of fantasy, science fiction, and non-fiction for all ages. A former newspaper reporter, editor, and radio and television host, he’s interviewed dozens of fascinating people over the years, from authors to actors to artists to musicians to scientists to politicians, including celebrities running the gamut from Weird Al Yankovic to Atom Egoyan.

Ed won Canada’s top science-fiction award, the Aurora Award, for Best Long-Form in English in 2009 for Marseguro (DAW Books). The sequel, Terra Insegura, was shortlisted for the same award, as have been two instalments in his five-book young-adult fantasy series The Shards of Excalibur (Coteau Books). Other work includes the Masks of Aygrima fantasy trilogy for DAW Books (written as E.C. Blake), Magebane (written as Lee Arthur Chane, also for DAW Books), The Cityborn, a stand-alone science fiction novel (DAW, again), I Tumble Through the Diamond Dust, an illustrated collection of science fiction and fantasy poetry (Your Nickel’s Worth Press), and Paths to the Stars, a collection of short stories (Shadowpaw Press). Ed’s latest novels for DAW are the three books (so far) in the Worldshapers series (from which the podcast takes its name), Worldshaper, Master of the World, and The Moonlit World, and the far-future humorous space opera The Tangled Stars.

In 2018, Ed founded Shadowpaw Press, which publishes both new work by new and established authors (including the Shapers of Worlds anthology series featuring guests of the podcast) and new editions of notable, previously published work.

Ed lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, with his wife, Margaret Anne Hodges, P.Eng. They have one daughter, Alice, and much younger black Siberian cat, Shadowpaw.

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The Book Series

The Worldshapers podcast gets its name from Worldshapers, the new book series by the host, Edward Willett.

The series takes place in the Labyrinth, an extra-dimensional space in which there are multiple worlds, each shaped by an individual from our world to be whatever he or she wishes it to be…much like the worlds shaped by the authors who are the focus of the podcast.

Book 1: Worldshaper

Long-listed for the 2019 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, in the Best YA Novel category

Amazon U.S. | Amazon Canada | Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Penguin Random House

Read the first two chapters of Worldshaper

From the Publishers Weekly starred review:

“This rollicking secondary-world contemporary fantasy opens with a bang…(the characters) grapple with the ethics of changing the world, the question of what makes people ‘real’ when the worldshapers can change everything about them with nothing more than a thought, and the need to save the universe. Willett…meticulously includes small details that make the constantly changing scenery feel solid and real…This novel sets up a fascinating, fluctuating universe with plenty of room for growth for the main characters, and readers will eagerly join their journey.”

Booklist says:

“Willett’s series starter is fun, quirky, and highly enjoyable, nicely laying the groundwork for future volumes.”

From an Aurora Award-winning author comes the first book in a new portal fantasy series in which one woman’s powers open the way to a labyrinth of new dimensions.

For Shawna Keys, the world is almost perfect. She’s just opened a pottery studio in a beautiful city. She’s in love with a wonderful man. She has good friends.

But one shattering moment of violence changes everything. Mysterious attackers kill her best friend. They’re about to kill Shawna. She can’t believe it’s happening–and just like that, it isn’t. It hasn’t. No one else remembers the attack, or her friend. To everyone else, Shawna’s friend never existed…

Everyone, that is, except the mysterious stranger who shows up in Shawna’s shop. He claims her world has been perfect because she Shaped it to be perfect; that it is only one of uncounted Shaped worlds in a great Labyrinth; and that all those worlds are under threat from the Adversary who has now invaded hers. She cannot save her world, he says, but she might be able to save others–if she will follow him from world to world, learning their secrets and carrying them to Ygrair, the mysterious Lady at the Labyrinth’s heart.

Frightened and hounded, Shawna sets off on a desperate journey, uncertain whom she can trust, how to use her newfound power, and what awaits her in the myriad worlds beyond her own.

Book 2: Master of the World

Long-listed for the 2020 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, in the Best YA Novel category

Read the first two chapters of Master of the World

Publishers Weekly says:

“This lively, action-packed follow-up sees (Shawna Keys) trapped in a world inspired by the works of Jules Verne…

“Willett takes full advantage of the fanciful premise to deliver a fun setting populated by fantastic vehicles, mysterious islands, and heroic and villainous characters, all drawn from classic literature. In this larger-than-life arena, Shawna is often out of her depth, a heroine slowly coming into her power and responsibilities who struggles with the weight and consequences of her actions…returning fans will find it contains thrills aplenty.”

Read the whole thing.

Booklist says:

“Watching Shawna navigate and understand the Verne world is highly amusing and fun for readers familiar with his oeuvre. The Verne references are not the only fun, geeky element of the book: Shawna is comfortable making numerous nods to fandom of all kinds, and the specificity of the humor will delight those who share her interests. Plus, watching Shawna and her friend and teacher, Karl, fight against the Adversary for the better of the Labyrinth—the means by which all of the worlds connect together—is great. This series is for fans of any piece or part of geek culture. With the infinite possible worlds in the Labyrinth, every book should be a new, enjoyable adventure. “

Read the whole thing.

From an Aurora Award-winning author comes the second book in a gripping portal fantasy series in which one woman’s powers open the way to a labyrinth of new dimensions.

Shawna Keys has fled the world she only recently discovered she Shaped, narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Adversary who seized control of it…and losing her only guide, Karl Yatsar, in the process.

Now she finds herself alone in some other Shaper’s world, where, in her first two hours, she’s rescued from a disintegrating island by an improbable flying machine she recognizes from Jules Verne’s Robur the Conqueror, then seized from it by raiders flying tiny personal helicopters, and finally taken to a submarine that bears a strong resemblance to Captain Nemo’s Nautilus. Oh, and accused of being both a spy and a witch.

Shawna expects–hopes!–Karl Yatsar will eventually follow her into this new steampunky realm, but exactly where and when he’ll show up, she hasn’t a clue.

In the meantime, she has to navigate a world where two factions fanatically devoted to their respective leaders are locked in perpetual combat, figure out who the Shaper of the world is, find him or her, and obtain the secret knowledge of this world’s Shaping. Then she has to somehow reconnect with Karl Yatsar, and escape to the next Shaped world in the Labyrinth…through a Portal she has no idea how to open.

Book 3: The Moonlit World

Read the prologue and first two chapters of The Moonlit World

Publishers Weekly says:

“Willett continues to use his innovative worldbuilding to play with genre tropes; there’s a tongue-in-cheek self-awareness to this desolate world that will please fans of dark fiction…entertaining.”

Fresh from their adventures in a world inspired by Jules Verne, Shawna Keys and Karl Yatsar find themselves in a world that mirrors much darker tales. Beneath a full moon that hangs motionless in the sky, they’re forced to flee terrifying creatures that can only be vampires…only to run straight into a pack of werewolves.

As the lycanthropes and undead battle, Karl is spirited away to the castle of the vampire queen. Meanwhile, Shawna finds short-lived refuge in a fortified village, where she learns that something has gone horribly wrong with the world in which she finds herself. Once, werewolves, vampires, and humans lived there harmoniously. Now every group is set against every other, and entire villages are being mysteriously emptied of people.

Somehow, Karl and Shawna must reunite, discover the mysteries of the Shaping of this strange world, and escape it for the next, without being sucked dry, devoured, or—worst of all—themselves turned into creatures of the night.

Beneath the frozen, gibbous moon, allies, enemies, surprises, adventures, and unsettling revelations await.

Contact

Interested in being a guest on The Worldshapers or advertising on the podcast, or just want to know more?

Email Edward Willett