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Rationally Writing

Rationally Writing

Rationally Writing

Webserial authors Daystar Eld and Alexander Wales talk about the craft of writing stories that make sense, and examine writing tropes and media through the lens of the Rational and Rationalist genres.

  • 1 hour 30 seconds
    Episode 70 - Defending Alex's Characters from Alex

    Daystar has noticed a trend in Alex's writing, and the two get into what it actually means to be a "bad" vs a "good" person. It doesn't exactly start as an intervention, but it arguably gets there by the end.

    Hosted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daystar Eld⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alexander Wales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


    With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠G.A.T.O Must Be Respected

    15 May 2026, 12:14 pm
  • 58 minutes 14 seconds
    Episode 69 - Political Violence in Fiction

    Daystar and Alexander talk about the various pitfalls, contradictions, and complications in writing heroes or villains who commit political violence... or don't, as the case may be.


    Hosted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daystar Eld⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alexander Wales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


    With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠G.A.T.O Must Be Respected

    23 March 2026, 2:32 pm
  • 1 hour 21 minutes
    Episode 68 - Red Heart (Guest: Max Harms)

    Daystar and Alex invite Max back on the podcast to talk about his new novel, ⁠Red Heart⁠, a modern sci-fi thriller that follows an American spy sent to a Chinese AI lab to investigate how far ahead their capabilities are compared to the US.

    Max works at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and has been thinking about the state of AI Safety for over a decade now. He's also written the Crystal Society trilogy, which we discussed in episode 66.

    ⁠https://maxharms.com/redheart⁠

    Co-hosted by ⁠⁠Alexander Wales⁠⁠

    With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, ⁠⁠G.A.T.O Must Be Respected


    5 November 2025, 12:16 pm
  • 1 hour 21 minutes
    Episode 68 - Red Heart (Guest: Max Harms)

    Daystar and Alex invite Max back on the podcast to talk about his new novel, ⁠Red Heart⁠, a modern sci-fi thriller that follows an American spy sent to a Chinese AI lab to investigate how far ahead their capabilities are compared to the US.

    Max works at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and the trilogy is an imagining of what Artificial General Intelligence might be like, written from the perspective of one of the AI's subagents.

    ⁠https://maxharms.com/redheart⁠

    Co-hosted by ⁠⁠Alexander Wales⁠⁠

    With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, ⁠⁠G.A.T.O Must Be Respected


    5 November 2025, 12:09 pm
  • 49 minutes 6 seconds
    Episode 67 - MTG Colors, Writing Tops & Bottoms (Guest: TK17)

    Daystar and Alexander hang out with Duncan Sabien (TK17) at LessOnline, and invite him back on the show to chat about his views on the Magic the Gathering Color Wheel this time, as well as some other stuff⁠. Duncan is the writer of Animorphs: The Reckoning, as well as a variety of other great essays on culture, epistemology, and more.

    Co-hosted by ⁠⁠Alexander Wales⁠⁠

    With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, ⁠⁠G.A.T.O Must Be Respected⁠

    19 October 2025, 11:36 am
  • 43 minutes 30 seconds
    Episode 66 - The Crystal Trilogy (Guest: Max Harms)

    Daystar and Alexander hang out with Max Harms at LessOnline, and invite him to record an episode on his books Crystal Society, Crystal Mentality, and Crystal Eternity. Max works at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and the trilogy is an imagining of what Artificial General Intelligence might be like, written from the perspective of one of the AI's subagents.

    His newest book, Red Heart, will be out November 3rd and is available for pre-order. https://maxharms.com/redheart

    Co-hosted by ⁠Alexander Wales⁠

    With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, ⁠G.A.T.O Must Be Respected

    3 October 2025, 3:51 pm
  • 39 minutes 53 seconds
    Episode 65 - AI and Contemporary Fiction

    Daystar and Alexander talk about AI in writing, both for creating fiction and its impact on writing fiction set in the modern world.

    Hosted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daystar Eld⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Alexander Wales⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, ⁠⁠⁠⁠G.A.T.O Must Be Respected

    12 September 2024, 2:44 pm
  • 1 hour 3 minutes
    Episode 64 - Utopian Fiction

    Daystar and Alexander record in front of a live audience at LessOnline to talk about Utopian Fiction; what it is, why it's so rare, and what it says about us as individuals and societies.

    Hosted by ⁠⁠⁠Daystar Eld⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Alexander Wales⁠⁠⁠.

    With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, ⁠⁠⁠G.A.T.O Must Be Respected

    9 July 2024, 8:55 pm
  • 23 minutes 47 seconds
    Episode 63 - Reader Feedback II (Guest: Velorien)

    Short episode where Daystar and Alexander speak with Velorien, one of the writers of Marked for Death⁠, to discuss the impact of reader feedback in serial fiction.

    Hosted by ⁠⁠Daystar Eld⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Alexander Wales⁠⁠. With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, ⁠⁠G.A.T.O Must Be Respected

    19 January 2024, 4:14 pm
  • 39 minutes 36 seconds
    Episode 62 - Money in Fiction

    Daystar and Alexander discuss the role of money and class in fiction, and how it can affect, or fail to affect, their decisions and interactions.

    Hosted by ⁠Daystar Eld⁠ and ⁠Alexander Wales⁠ With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, ⁠G.A.T.O Must Be Respected

    27 November 2023, 2:47 am
  • 1 hour 9 minutes
    Episode 61 - Subverting Expectations (Guest: Jamie Wahls)

    Alex and I attended a writing retreat with some other authors in the rationality community, and while there decided to host an impromptu episode on subverting expectations, joined (primarily) by our Nebula nominated friend, Jamie Wahls. All I had to record with was my laptop, so apologies for the sound quality!

    Co-hosted by Alexander Wales

    With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected

    Links:

    http://jamiewahls.com/

    23 January 2023, 6:10 am
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