Escape Pod Live From WorldCon 2018
We’re pleased to bring you a recording of Escape Pod’s live panel at WorldCon 2018 in San Jose earlier this year. The panel featured a variety of our staff and a live reading by Laura Pearlman, which will be run later this month as a standalone episode.
We had a great time at the panel and only regret that we can’t also share with you the delicious cake we enjoyed afterward!
About the Authors
S.B. Divya
S.B. Divya (she/any) is a lover of science, math, fiction, and the Oxford comma. She is the Hugo and Nebula nominated author of Meru and Machinehood. Her short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, and she is a former editor of Escape Pod, the weekly science fiction podcast. Divya holds degrees in Computational Neuroscience and Signal Processing. She worked for twenty years as an electrical engineer before becoming an author. Born in Pondicherry, India, Divya now resides in Southern California with her spouse, child, and two fur babies. She enjoys subverting expectations and breaking stereotypes whenever she can. Find out more about her at www.sbdivya.com.
Benjamin C. Kinney
Benjamin C. Kinney served as Assistant Editor of Escape Pod from 2017-2023. He’s speculative fiction author, neuroscientist, and Hugo and Ignyte Award finalist. His stories have appeared in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Sunday Morning Transport, Lightspeed, and more. He lives in St. Louis with three cats, one son, and a spacefaring wife. You can find him online at benjaminckinney.com, follow him on twitter, bluesky, or instagram as @BenCKinney, or on Mastodon as @BenCKinney@wandering.shop. He is represented by Marisa Cleveland of the Seymour Agency.
Mur Lafferty
An inaugural inductee of the Podcast Academy’s Hall of Fame, Mur Lafferty began podcasting in 2004 and later built her writing career from her work as a science fiction podcaster.
As of 2026, Mur has written ten novels, eight novellas, and one nonfiction book. Her work has ranged from Star Wars to superhero fiction to afterlife fiction to paranormal fantasy to space murder–plus one book supporting writers based on her award winning podcast.
After winning the 2013 Astounding Award for Best New Writer, her work has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Parsec, Philip K. Dick, Manly Wade Wellman, and Podcast Peer Awards. Her podcast Ditch Diggers, with Matt Wallace, won the 2018 Best Fancast Hugo Award.
As an editor, Mur was the first editor of Pseudopod and Mothership Zeta, and is currently the co-editor of Escape Pod (with Valerie Valdes), eight-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine.
Her nonfiction work has appeared in Knights of the Dinner Table, and on the podcast The Dragon Page. In 2014, she received an MFA in popular fiction from the Stonecoast program at the University of Southern Maine.
She lives in Durham, NC, with her husband. She likes video games, tabletop games, murder mysteries, and dogs.
Norm Sherman
Norm Sherman is the multi-talented master of all things weird and wonderful. In addition to founding, hosting, and producing the Drabblecast, being the former editor and host of Escape Pod, and creating his own original music, he also runs a non-profit organization.
