Nick Lowe’s Mutant Popcorn Extras, May 2026

Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan came on the Interzone show to talk about writing their Spec Fic for Newbies books and about how they hope the guides can help people. They also each talked about some very interesting solo projects, and about some of the things they’ve been enjoying lately. It was a pleasure to spend time chatting to them both. ● ● ● IZ Pod is the new show for Interzone, the magazine. Add IZ Pod to your RSS reader of choice, find the show on whichever podcast platform you prefer, and join the Interzone Patreon for early access to new episodes.

In this episode of the Interzone show, Nick Lowe, author of IZ’s Mutant Popcorn film review column, joined me to talk about the Odyssey and sf, about Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming adaptation of the epic, and about two other fantastic, fascinating versions of the Odyssey. Nick also recommended an amazing new Chinese film that I’m very keen to see: Per Aspera Ad Astra. It’s always hugely enjoyable to have Nick on the show, and this episode was especially fun, and one of my favourites. The episode art is a detail from a poster for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. ● ● ● IZ Pod is the new show for Interzone, the magazine. Add IZ Pod to your RSS reader of choice, find the show on whichever podcast platform you prefer, and join the Interzone Patreon for early access to new episodes.

Author Frederic S. Durbin came on the show and talked with me about having fun writing, characters that speak to you, and his fantastic new novel, The Country Under Heaven. ● ● ● IZ Pod is the new show for Interzone, the magazine. Add IZ Pod to your RSS reader of choice, find the show on whichever podcast platform you prefer, and join the Interzone Patreon for early access to new episodes.

Author Izzy Wasserstein came on the show and talked with me about community, tenacity, having fun in secondary worlds, finding joy in this world, and her novella, These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart. ● ● ● IZ Pod is the new show for Interzone, the magazine. Add IZ Pod to your RSS reader of choice, find the show on whichever podcast platform you prefer, and join the Interzone Patreon for early access to new episodes.

Author Abi Curtis came on the show and talked with me about the magic of the ordinary, the power of place, writing about early parenthood, and her novel The Headland. ● ● ● IZ Pod is the new show for Interzone, the magazine. Add IZ Pod to your RSS reader of choice, find the show on whichever podcast platform you prefer, and join the Interzone Patreon for early access to new episodes.

Author Chris Farnell came on the show and talked about about indie publishing, optimism and science fiction, and writing his stories about Fermi, a spaceship with an Alcubierre drive that vaporises entire star systems in its wake. ● ● ● IZ Pod is the new show for Interzone, the magazine. Add IZ Pod to your RSS reader of choice, find the show on whichever podcast platform you prefer, and join the Interzone Patreon for early access to new episodes.

News about who’s coming on the show and the next issue of Interzone… ● ● ● IZ Pod is the new show for Interzone, the magazine. Add IZ Pod to your RSS reader of choice, find the show on whichever podcast platform you prefer, and join the Interzone Patreon for early access to new episodes.

IZ’s Mutant Popcorn film critic Nick Lowe joined me on the show to look back at the sff films of 2024, to talk about some fantastic screenplays (including Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance), and to look ahead at some of the 2025 films we’re excited to see (including a read of some revealing IMDb tags). It’s the longest IZ show yet, full of great things, and was a lot of fun to make. Here are some of the screenplays (many unproduced) Nick talked about during the show: A Topiary, Shane Carruth | Indieground Films Avatar, James Cameron (1995 Project 880 scriptment) | Avatar Wiki Bessie, Richard Kelly | PDFCOFFEE Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Charlie Kaufman | Indieground Films Her, Spike Jonze | Indieground Films Heretic, Scott Beck & Bryan Woods | DocumentCloud I Saw the TV Glow, Jane Schoenbrun | DocumentCloud The Keys to the Street, Christopher Nolan | The Script Savant One Saliva Bubble, David Lynch | The City of Absurdity Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan | DocumentCloud Ronnie Rocket, David Lynch | The City of Absurdity, early draft & later draft Spider-Man, James Cameron (1996 scriptment) | ScriptLab Strange Days, James Cameron (original scriptment) | Screencraft The Modern Ocean, Shane Carruth | Dropbox The Substance, Coralie Fargeat | DocumentCloud Read Nick’s Mutant Popcorn in Interzone, and browse the indices of all the films Nick has reviewed and every column he has written. ● ● ● IZ Pod is the new show for Interzone, the magazine. Add IZ Pod to your RSS reader of choice, find the show on whichever podcast platform you prefer, and join the Interzone Patreon for early access to new episodes.

Author R.T. Ester came on this special episode of the show to read his fabulous story ‘The Building Across the Street’ (first published in IZ 294) and to talk about his forthcoming novel The Ganymedan. ● ● ● IZ Pod is the new show for Interzone, the magazine. Add IZ Pod to your RSS reader of choice, find the show on whichever podcast platform you prefer, and join the Interzone Patreon for early access to new episodes.

Author Deborah Tomkins, came on the show and talked about about how climate change made her a writer, the power of flash, and her new novella Aerth. ● ● ● IZ Pod is the new show for Interzone, the magazine. Add IZ Pod to your RSS reader of choice, find the show on whichever podcast platform you prefer, and join the Interzone Patreon for early access to new episodes.