Tag: Authorized Podcast

Come on a Magical Mystery Tour

Join me and the Authorized gang as we join the Beatles on a deep dive into the chaotic cult classic Magical Mystery Tour…

Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster ( w/ Sarah Welch-Larson ) – Authorized Novelizations Podcast

This book was requested by a listener! Request books at patreon.com/authorizedpodCheck out Sarah’s book about the Alien Franchise, Becoming Alien! : https://www.amazon.com.au/Becoming-Alien-Second-Beginning-Idiosyncratic/dp/B0GVGKFTNGThis week on Authorized, patreon member Jon paid to have us cover Alan Dean Foster’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. We recruited ADF veteran Sarah Welch-Larson to help us break down the low-budget sequel to Star Wars that never was. Follow us on instagram: ⁠⁠instagram.com/authorizedpod⁠⁠Bluesky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/authorizedpod.bsky.social⁠⁠Check out our Patreon, where you can throw us a few bucks to help us afford these books, pay us to cover a specific novelization, or send us to the Hayden Library at ASU to read Alan Dean Foster’s unpublished manuscript for a two-part episode of Maude called “Maude’s Dilemma”, in which Maude gets unexpectedly pregnant and has to decide how to proceed: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/authorizedpod⁠⁠The patreon also has a community chat where you can chat with Overbye and Hannah directly, if you desire such a thing. Follow us on letterboxd:Overbye – ⁠letterboxd.com/aoverbye⁠Hannah- ⁠letterboxd.com/hsblechman⁠
  1. Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster ( w/ Sarah Welch-Larson )
  2. Ranking the Beatles Novelizations ( w/ Mark Stay )
  3. Raiders of the Lost Ark by Campbell Black ( w/ Mike Mitchell )
  4. KPop Demon Hunters by Jessica Yoon ( w/ Jessica Yoon )
  5. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle by Mark and Cathy East Dubowski ( w/ Branson Reese )

Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu on the Authorized Podcast

I always have a good time on the Authorized Podcast, but the novel Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu by noted Libertarian SF author L Neil Smith is its own special kind of weird… and that’s not a bad thing! Step back and enjoy a time when Lucasfilm clearly wasn’t reading any of its tie-in material…

Available on all the usual podcast platforms…

E.T. gets the hots on Authorized…

I loved listening back to my first – dare we say, classic? – episode of Authorized where we dig into the wonderfully strange novelisation of E.T the Extraterrestrial by William Kotzwinkle.

We discuss telepathic cucumbers, ET getting the hots for Elliot’s mother, Lance, who tries to blackmail Elliot, and the extraordinary number of synonyms there are for an alien, and there’s a brand new game at the end. Enjoy…

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on Authorized

I had the best time discussing the classic novelisation of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by Vonda N McIntyre with the Authorized podcast gang. I discuss my relationship with the film and the book and how both have inspired me as a writer…

Aliens Cookbook (and Claire!) on Authorized

The Authorized podcast celebrates Thanksgiving with an Alien cookbook special! Using the rather baffling instructions in the Official Alien Cookbook we were challenged to cook/bake recipes from the book.

Fellow guests Patrick Willems and Sarah Welch-Larson took up the challenge with aplomb. Me? I can’t cook or bake for toffee, so I called in an expert: namely my wonderful wife Claire. She made two magnificent face-hugger recipes. The Invasion of Pot Pies and the Pear and Cardamom Upside Down Cake (photos below…) and they were very yummy indeed.

You can listen to the podcast on your favourite podcast provider, and if you want to skip ahead to Claire’s bit, it’s at around 1 hour 14 minutes. Bon appetit!

Genius at work…
Pear and Cardamom Upside Down Cake a la Facehugger
Invasion of Pot Pies Facehugger pre-oven…
And Invasion of Pot Pie Facehugger cooked!

Robot Overlords on Authorized

Long time readers of this blog will know that I’ve been a guest on the Authorized podcast quite a few times. I love Andrew, Hannah and the gang and have nothing but respect for the passion and literary rigour they bring to the podcast with their love of film novelisations. So to have an entire episode dedicated to the Robot Overlords novelisation was a real honour, especially as the film celebrates ten years since its premiere at the London Film Festival.

What’s unusual about this episode is that I’m not in it for the first couple of hours (yes, it’s nearly three hours long!). Understandably, they wanted to discuss the book without the author simpering in the corner, but they also brought on my old chum Paddy Eason, the VFX supervisor on the film to give an insider’s view to the making of the film. They say lots of very nice things about the book, which is going to make me completely unbearable for a few days at least, and they reveal connections to Psycho, Mad Max, Planet of the Apes and Pixar’s Cars. Do please enjoy…

And if you fancy reading the book, you can get signed copies of the paperback from me here…

ROBOT OVERLORDS SIGNED PAPERBACK

Alien Romulus and Newtonian Custard on the Authorized Podcast

It’s always a delight to be asked to guest on the Authorized Podcast, but this was a particular joy as we discussed the film Alien Romulus, and my fellow guest was writing chum Gavin G Smith who took umbrage to a line of description in one of my books. As well as discussing the many pros and cons of the film, we also, somehow, got on to the subject of Newtonian Custard. It’s… it’s simpler if you just have a listen…

Play Dirty on the Authorized Podcast

I’ve been lucky enough to be a guest on the Authorized Podcast a few times now, but this novelisation of the 1969 WWII movie Play Dirty has been the most fascinating. The film stars Michael Caine*, was directed by Andre de Toth, with a screenplay co-written by Melvyn Bragg. The novelisation is by the mysterious Zeno, and we do some digging to discover who he really was. I have to explain Melvyn Bragg to Americans, and we spend about ten minutes getting confused about the difference between a ‘presenter’ and a ‘host’. And it’s all fun! Enjoy…

*It’s his 91st birthday, today, 14th March. Happy birthday, Sir Michael!

The Jewel of the Nile on the Authorized Podcast

In a follow-up to last week’s Romancing the Stone podcast, I was invited back by the Authorized Podcast gang to discuss the sequel The Jewel of the Nile. The film itself was off to a bad start in that the original screenwriter and creator of these characters, Diane Thomas, was not involved. At first she was working on Spielberg’s Always, then an Indiana Jones sequel, before tragically passing away in a car crash. This meant the film was scripted by Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner who would later go on to write one of my favourite Star Trek movies, The Undiscovered Country, but they only had a couple of credits to their name on this one, and from digging into to making of this film it seems there was interference from all sides, so I guess they were hobbled from the beginning. So anyway, this is my long way of saying we weren’t fans of this one. I feel for the novelist Catherine Lanigan who did her best to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Have a listen here…

Romancing the Stone with the Authorized Podcast

I was delighted to be asked to return as a guest on the Authorized Podcast to discuss the novelisation of Romancing the Stone, which is credited to the film’s protagonist Joan Wilder (played by the incredible Kathleen Turner), but is in fact written by the romance author Catherine Lanigan. What surprised us all was just how hot and saucy this book gets! Definitely rated R for Raunchy, as is the podcast. Enjoy and I’ll be back with them next week for The Jewel of the Nile…

My well-thumbed copy of the paperback…