Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is a podcast hosted by science fiction author David Barr Kirtley (Save Me Plz and Other Stories). The show features conversations about fantasy & science fiction in books, movies, games, and comics, as well as related subjects such as science, history, and critical thinking. Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy has received over 1,000 five-star ratings on Apple Podcasts and racked up over 10 million total downloads. Interviews from the show have been reprinted in books such as Conversations with William Gibson, Conversations with Michael Chabon, and Conversations with Nalo Hopkinson.

Guests have included:

Novelists, such as: James Patterson (The President is Missing), David Baldacci (The Finisher), George R. R. Martin (A Game of Thrones), Neil Gaiman (American Gods), Dean Koontz (Innocence), Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale), Joyce Carol Oates (The Doll Master), Kazuo Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go), Veronica Roth (Divergent), Junot Diaz (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao), Philip Pullman (The Golden Compass), Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), Diana Gabaldon (Outlander), Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash), and Ursula K. Le Guin (The Left Hand of Darkness);

Directors, such as: David Cronenberg (The Fly), Alex Garland (Ex Machina), Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko), Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (The Endless), Teresa Sutherland (Lovely, Dark, and Deep), and Kyle Newman (Fanboys);

Showrunners, such as: Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek: Discovery), J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5), David X. Cohen (Futurama), and Naren Shankar (The Expanse);

Film and TV personalities, such as: John Cleese (Monty Python), Adam Savage (MythBusters), Bill Nye (Bill Nye Saves the World), Brent Spiner and Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), John Hodgman (The Daily Show), Felicia Day (The Guild), and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead);

Comic book writers, such as: Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Scott Adams (Dilbert), and Allie Brosh (Hyperbole and a Half);

Game designers, such as: John Romero (Doom), Warren Spector (Deus Ex), Cliff Bleszinski (Gears of War), Ron Gilbert (The Secret of Monkey Island), Roberta Williams (King’s Quest), Richard Garriott (Ultima), Ian Livingstone (Deathtrap Dungeon), and Lori Ann Cole (Quest for Glory);

Scientists, such as: Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Neil deGrasse Tyson (Death by Black Hole), Lawrence Krauss (A Universe from Nothing), Michio Kaku (Physics of the Future), Brian Greene (Fabric of the Cosmos), Katie Mack (The End of Everything, Astrophysically Speaking), and Sean Carroll (Mindscape);

Nonfiction writers, such as: Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers), Amanda Knox (Waiting to be Heard), Steven Pinker (Enlightenment Now), Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine), and Walter Isaacson (Steve Jobs);

Policy experts, such as: Richard A. Clarke (Against All Enemies), Garry Kasparov (Winter is Coming), Andrew Yang (The War on Normal People), and Daniel Ellsberg (The Doomsday Machine);

Political commentators, such as: Paul Krugman and Ross Douthat (New York Times columnists), David Ignatius (Washington Post columnist), Matthew Yglesias (Slow Boring), Bill McKibben (environmental activist), Dave Rubin (The Rubin Report), and Ana Marie Cox (Wonkette);

Documentary filmmakers, such as: Penny Lane (Hail Satan?), Patricia Marcoccia and Maziar Ghaderi (The Rise of Jordan Peterson), Alexandre Philippe (The People vs. George Lucas), and Brian Stillman (Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons);

Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy has appeared on recommended podcast lists from NPR, The Guardian, Wired, The A.V. Club, BBC America, CBC Radio, WVXU, io9, Omni, The Strand, Library Journal, and Popular Mechanics. CBC Radio writes, “You may not think a podcast about science fiction and fantasy would be the place to go for political insight, but — it is. Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy manages to be more insightful about politics than many pundits.”

The show launched in January 2010. Season One (2010) was produced for Tor.com, the website of a major science fiction book publisher. Season Two (2011) was produced for io9, a science fiction and futurism blog owned by Gawker Media. Seasons Three through Thirteen (2012-23) were produced for Wired.com, the website of the popular tech magazine Wired. Lightspeed magazine editor John Joseph Adams served as full-time co-host for the first 100 episodes. To learn more, check out The History of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Our logo was designed by artist Blake Reynolds. Disclosure: Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy receives free review copies of many of the books we discuss, and occasionally free movie tickets or screeners.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. And if you enjoy the show and want it to continue, please support us on Patreon!

David Barr Kirtley and John Joseph Adams (with Diane Turnshek)