About this episode

Scott Edelman interviews Alan Smale about his writing process and the development of his latest trilogy.

Tear into tacos with Alan Smale as we discuss the three projects he'd told me in 2019 he was going to write next (and what became of them), how what was originally intended to be a standalone novel turned into his latest trilogy, the synergy of writing an alternate history about the Apollo space program while working at NASA, how the constraints imposed by science helped improve his plot arc, the way astronaut personalities have changed across the decades, how to write alternate history to be entertaining both for those who know actual history and those who don't, the advice he wishes he could give his younger self, how we don't really dislike info dumps (only the ones which aren't done well), and much more.

People in this episode

Host: Scott Edelman

Guest: Alan Smale

Topics covered

• alternate history
• Apollo space program
• writing advice
• science fiction
• trilogy development

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NASA

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• Episode 277: Salinee Goldenberg · March 10, 2026 · 1h 33m
• Episode 276: Liz Gorinsky · February 26, 2026 · 2h 48m
• Episode 275: Chris Kalb · February 15, 2026 · 1h 59m
• Episode 274: Emily Mitchell · February 2, 2026 · 1h 58m

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