''StarShipSofa'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

audio magazine and

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

from the United Kingdom hosted by Tony C. Smith. It publishes audio short fiction, commentary, essays, and anthologies of transcribed material. StarShipSofa was the first ever podcast to be both nominated for and to win a

Hugo Award for Best Fanzine The Hugo Award for Best Fanzine is given each year for non professionally edited magazines, or "fanzines", related to science fiction or fantasy which has published four or more issues with at least one issue appearing in the previous calendar y ...

. It was also nominated for Best Fan Podcast in the 2007

Parsec Awards The Parsec Awards were a set of annual awards created to recognize excellence in science fiction podcasts and podcast novels. The awards were created by Mur Lafferty, Tracy Hickman and Michael R. Mennenga and awarded by FarPoint Media. They were ...

. StarShipSofa is free directly from the web site and is available for subscription and automatic download through

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

History

The audio magazine is hosted weekly by Tony C. Smith in the UK. It was first broadcast in July 2006 by Smith and Ciaran O'Carrol with an episode focusing on

Alfred Bester Alfred Bester (December 18, 1913 – September 30, 1987) was an American science fiction author, TV and radio screenwriter, magazine Editing, editor and scriptwriter for comics. He is best remembered for his science fiction, including ''Th ...

. The next 70 episodes ran weekly and featured commentary on such subjects as

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...

Samuel R. Delany Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ; born April 1, 1942) is an American writer and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays on science fiction, literature, sexual orientation, sexuality, and ...

Charles Stross Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy. Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazine ' ...

, and other well-known science fiction authors. StarShipSofa also covered subjects such as films and specific themes such as religion in science fiction. In 2010 many of these original podcasts were transcribed and published in book form as ''StarShipSofa: The Captain's Logs''. At the end of this initial run O'Carrol left StarShipSofa and the podcast began to transition to an audio fiction magazine, with narrated fiction mixed with commentary and essays. Now calling itself ''StarShipSofa - The Audio Science Fiction Magazine,'' in October 2007 StarShipSofa began podcasting

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

winning audio stories for free. In March 2008, for the first time ever, all five of the short stories that had been shortlisted for the

BSFA The British Science Fiction Association Limited is an organisation founded in 1958 by a group of British academics, science fiction fans, authors, publishers and booksellers in order to promote the writing, criticism, and study of science fiction ...

Award for Best Short Story were made available on the StarShipSofa in audio narrated format. Adam Pracht was the assistant editor up until September 2014, when he left to pursue other activities. He was replaced with Jeremy Szal, which was announced i
Episode 361
Szal is the fiction editor and producer, Gary Dowell the co-producer and Ralph M. Ambrose the assistant editor.

Hugo Award

On 4 April 2010, StarShipSofa became the first podcast to ever be included on the

s ballot. It was nominated in the category Best Fanzine. On 5 September 2010 StarShipSofa went on to become the first podcast to win a Hugo Award. The award was presented at Aussiecon 4 in Melbourne, Australia. As a result, the 2011 business meeting of the

Worldcon Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...

voted to create a new category for "Best Fancast", so that podcasts would no longer be deemed a

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

or be eligible for a fanzine Hugo.

District of Wonders

In January 2012 StarShipSofa launched its first spin-off, a horror podcast hosted by Lawrence Santoro called Tales to Terrify. This was followed in July 2012 by two more spin-offs - the crime-themed Crime City Central hosted by Jack Calverley, and the pulp-themed Protecting Project Pulp hosted by Dave Robison. The four were under the District of Wonders banner. However, The District of Wonders closed both Crime City Central and Protecting Project Pulp after two years. Instead in April 2014 they started fantasy podcast Far Fetched Fables, leaving the District of Wonders with three podcasts, respectively. Far Fetched Fables was suspended in 2018 after 188 episodes because the presenter was unable to continue. Tales to Terrify was transferred to new owners, leaving StarShipSofa as the only ongoing podcast under the District of Wonders banner.

''StarShipSofa Stories''

To celebrate the 100th episode of StarShipSofa's audio fiction magazine, an anthology of stories titled ''StarShipSofa Stories, Volume 1'' was published, featuring fiction by

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has wo ...

Gene Wolfe Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and no ...

, Peter Watts,

Elizabeth Bear Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky (born September 22, 1971) is an American author who works primarily in speculative fiction genres, writing under the name Elizabeth Bear. She won the 2005 Astounding Award for Best New Writer, John W. Campbell Awar ...

, and others. The second volume of stories was published in October 2010 and contains fiction by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

China Miéville China Tom Miéville ( , born 6 September 1972) is a British speculative fiction writer and Literary criticism, literary critic. He often describes his work as "weird fiction", and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called ...

Mary Rosenblum Mary Rosenblum (born Mary Freeman; June 27, 1952 – March 11, 2018) was an American science fiction and mystery author. Biography Rosenblum was born in Levittown, New York and grew up in Allison Park, Pennsylvania. She earned a biology deg ...

, and others. Two subsequent volumes, and a collection of stories from the Tales To Terrify horror show were later published.

Special episodes

In June 2015 fo
Episode 389
StarShipSofa produced and adapted in audio the story "The Men of Greywater Station" co-written by

George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948) also known by the initials G.R.R.M. is an American author, television writer, and television producer. He is best known as the author of the unfinished series of Hi ...

and

Howard Waldrop Howard Waldrop (September 15, 1946 – January 14, 2024) was an American science fiction author who worked primarily in short fiction. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2021. Early life Born in Houston, Mississippi, ...

. The story was published in the anthology '' Songs of Stars and Shadows'', published in 1977 and now out of print with no electronic copies existing and the story never previously appearing online. The story was narrated by English actor Nicholas Camm. StarShipSofa produced a YouTube video discussing the story to promote the episode. In an interview with Boing Boing, assistant editor Jeremy Szal revealed that the author offered to post a copy of the anthology by snail mail. Shortly after the episode's launch the author himself publicly approved of the story's production and narration on his blog. YouTuber prestonjacobs created an analysis of the podcast's adaptation and the story, highlighting the similarities to the ''

A Song of Ice and Fire ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of high fantasy novels by the American author George R. R. Martin. Martin began writing the first volume, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and published it in 1996. Martin, who originally envisioned the ser ...

'' canon and theorizing that all stories written by George R. R. Martin are contained in one singular universe.

Notable Authors

Notable authors published in the magazine include: * Harry Harrison *

Kevin J. Anderson Kevin James Anderson (born March 27, 1962) is an American science fiction author. He has written spin-off novels for ''Star Wars'', '' StarCraft'', ''Titan A.E.'' and ''The X-Files'', and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the ''Dune'' pr ...

Neal Asher Neal Asher (born 4 February 1961) is an English science fiction writer. He lives near Chelmsford. Career Both of Asher's parents are educators and science fiction fans. Although he began writing speculative fiction in secondary school, he di ...

Paolo Bacigalupi Paolo Tadini Bacigalupi (born August 6, 1972) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, John W. Campbell Memorial, Compton Crook, Theodore Sturgeon, and Michael L. Printz awards, and has been nominated ...

Kage Baker Kage Baker (June 10, 1952 – January 31, 2010Obituary: Kage Baker
", SF Site, Januar ...

Terry Bisson Terry Ballantine Bisson (February 12, 1942 – January 10, 2024) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was best known for his short stories, including " Bears Discover Fire", which won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, and " T ...

Aliette de Bodard Aliette de Bodard (born November 10, 1982) is a French-American speculative fiction writer. She has received accolades including the British Fantasy Award, BSFA Award, Ignyte Award, Locus Award, and Nebula Award. Writing De Bodard published he ...

David Brin Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is an American science fiction author. He has won the Hugo Award, Hugo,

Ben Bova Benjamin William Bova (November 8, 1932November 29, 2020) was an American writer and editor. During a writing career of 60 years, he was the author of more than 120 works of science fact and fiction, an editor of ''Analog Science Fiction and Fac ...

Pat Cadigan Patricia Oren Kearney Cadigan (born September 10, 1953) is a British-American science fiction author, whose work is most often identified with the cyberpunk movement. Her novels and short stories often explore the relationship between the human ...

Ted Chiang Ted Chiang (; pinyin: ''Jiāng Fēngnán''; born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula Award, Nebula awards, four Hugo Award, Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus Award, ...

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born 17 July 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of th ...

* Stephen Donaldson * Paul Di Filippo *

Jeffrey Ford Jeffrey Ford (born November 8, 1955) is an American writer in the Fantastique, fantastic genre tradition, although his works have spanned genres including fantasy, science fiction and mystery. His work is characterized by a sweeping imaginati ...

Eugie Foster Eugie Foster (December 30, 1971 – September 27, 2014) was an American short story writer, columnist, and editor. Her stories were published in a number of magazines and book anthologies, including ''Fantasy Magazine (2005), Fantasy Magazine'', ...

Karen Joy Fowler Karen Joy Fowler is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Her work often centers on the 19th century, nineteenth century, the Woman, lives of women, and social alienation. She is best known as the author of the b ...

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

Joe Haldeman Joe William Haldeman (born June 9, 1943) is an American people, American science fiction author and former college professor. He is best known for his novel ''The Forever War'' (1974), which was inspired by his experiences as a combat soldier ...

Peter F. Hamilton Peter F. Hamilton (born 1960) is a British author. He is known for writing science fiction space opera. Biography Peter F. Hamilton was born in Rutland, England in 1960. He did not attend university. He said in an interview, "I did science ...

Robin Hobb Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden (; born March 5, 1952), known by her pen names Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, is an American writer of speculative fiction. As Hobb, she is best known for her fantasy novels set in the ''Realm of the Elderlings'', ...

Hugh Howey Hugh C. Howey (born 1975) is an American writer, known best for the science fiction series ''Silo'', part of which he published independently through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing system. Although he has since signed distribution deals w ...

Kij Johnson Kij Johnson (; born Katherine Irenae Johnson January 20, 1960 in Harlan, Iowa) is an American writer of fantasy. She is a faculty member at the University of Kansas. Life and career Kij Johnson was born in Harlan, Iowa. She received her BA ...

James Patrick Kelly James Patrick Kelly (born April 11, 1951) is an American science fiction author who has won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. Biography Kelly made his first fiction sale in 1975. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of N ...

* Caitlín R. Kiernan *

Ted Kosmatka Ted Kosmatka is an American writer. His short stories have been reprinted in ten Years Best anthologies, and he is co-winner of the 2010 Asimov's Readers' Choice Award. His 2012 novel The Games was nominated for a Locus Award for Best First Novel. ...

Nancy Kress Nancy Anne Kress (born January 20, 1948) is an American science fiction writer. She began writing in 1976 but has achieved her greatest notice since the publication of her Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella '' Beggars in Spain'' (1991), which becam ...

Jay Lake Joseph Edward "Jay" Lake, Jr. (June 6, 1964 – June 1, 2014) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. In 2003 he was a quarterly first-place winner in the Writers of the Future contest. In 2004 he won the John W. Campbell Award for B ...

* Mark Lawrence * David D. Levine *

Karen Lord Karen Lord (born 22 May 1968) is a Barbadian writer of speculative fiction. Her first novel, ''Redemption in Indigo'' (2010), retells the story "Ansige Karamba the Glutton" from Senegalese folklore and her second novel, ''The Best of All Possi ...

Jack McDevitt Jack McDevitt (born April 14, 1935) is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology. Most of his books follow either superluminal pilot ...

* Ian McDonald * Will McIntosh *

Ken MacLeod Kenneth Macrae MacLeod (born 2 August 1954) is a Scottish science fiction writer. His novels ''The Sky Road'' and '' The Night Sessions'' won the BSFA Award. MacLeod's novels have been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo, Nebula, Locus ...

Cat Rambo Cat Rambo (born November 14, 1963) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and editor. Rambo uses they/them pronouns. Rambo is winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novelette for "Carpe Glitter". They were co-editor of ''Fantasy Magazine ...

Robert Reed Robert Reed (born John Robert Rietz Jr.; October 19, 1932 – May 12, 1992) was an American actor. He played Kenneth Preston on the legal drama '' The Defenders'' from 1961 to 1965 alongside E. G. Marshall, and is best known for his role as pa ...

Mike Resnick Michael Diamond Resnick (; March 5, 1942 – January 9, 2020) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He won five Hugo awards and a Nebula award, and was the guest of honor at Chicon 7. He was the executive editor of the defunct mag ...

Alastair Reynolds Alastair Preston Reynolds (born 13 March 1966) is a Welsh science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Early life Reynolds was born in Wales and spent his early years in Cornwall before moving back to Wales, ...

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has ...

Spider Robinson Spider Robinson (born November 24, 1948) is an American-Canadian science fiction author. He has won a number of awards for his hard science fiction and humorous stories, including the Hugo Award 1977 and 1983, and another Hugo with his co-author ...

* R. Scott Bakker *

Jason Sanford Jason Sanford is an American science fiction author whose 2022 novel ''Plague Birds'' was a finalist for the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards.

John Scalzi John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his ''Old Man's War'' series, three novels of which have been n ...

Norman Spinrad Norman Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American science fiction author, essayist, and critic. His fiction has won the Prix Apollo Award, Prix Apollo and been nominated for numerous awards, including the Hugo Award and multiple N ...

Allen Steele Allen Mulherin Steele, Jr. (born January 19, 1958) is an American journalist and science fiction author. Background Steele was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 19, 1958. He was introduced to science fiction fandom attending meetings o ...

Bruce Sterling Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author known for his novels and short fiction and editorship of the ''Mirrorshades'' anthology. In particular, he is linked to the cyberpunk subgenre. Sterling's first ...

Eric James Stone Eric James Stone (born 1967) is an American science fiction, Fantasy fiction, fantasy, and Horror fiction, horror author. He won the 2004 Writers of the Future contest, and has published in ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'', ''InterGalactic Med ...

Lavie Tidhar Lavie Tidhar (; born 16 November 1976) is an Israeli-born writer, working across multiple genres. He has lived in the United Kingdom and South Africa for long periods of time, as well as Laos and Vanuatu. As of 2013, Tidhar has lived in London ...

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his ...

Lisa Tuttle Lisa Gracia Tuttle (born September 16, 1952) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror author. She has published more than a dozen novels, seven short story collections, and several non-fiction titles, including a reference book on fem ...

Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. He also wrote several mystery novels under pen names, including Ellery Queen. Vance won the World Fantasy Award for Life Ach ...

Carrie Vaughn Carrie Vaughn (born January 28, 1973) is an American writer, the author of the urban fantasy '' Kitty Norville'' series. She has published more than 60 short stories in science fiction and fantasy magazines as well as short story anthologies and ...

* Peter Watts *

Tad Williams Robert Paul "Tad" Williams (born March 13, 1957) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer. He is the author of the multivolume ''Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn'' series, ''Otherland'' series, '' Shadowmarch'' series, and ''The Bobby Dollar'' ...

References

External links

StarShipSofa website

Tales to Terrify website

District of Wonders website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starshipsofa Audio podcasts Science fiction podcasts Science fiction websites 2006 podcast debuts 2006 establishments in the United Kingdom Hugo Award–winning works