In this bizarre part 1 of “Take Me to Your Writer”, Tim and LeeAnna take you on a wild ride through alien design, existential dread, and… dead hamsters? That’s right—what starts as a conversation about building truly terrifying extraterrestrials quickly morphs into a tangent-filled exploration of hamster deaths, claustrophobia, and the kind of fears that make you wonder if we’re really ready to meet aliens at all. Tim promises never-before-seen content, teaching you how to create aliens that will make your readers think, “What in the unholy hell is this thing?” With 13 essential parameters, the duo builds creatures so weird and terrifying, they’ll haunt your nightmares. From Xenomorphs and Triffids to the Hamster Theory—it’s a deep dive into the cosmic and the grotesque. Listen now, and find out why you’ll never look at hamsters or aliens the same way again.

Forget the usual ads about overpriced coffee or gadgets that promise to make your life 10% better—this episode comes with a special, one-of-a-kind offer: The AlienScope™! Sure, regular telescopes are great for looking at the stars, but who cares about that? The AlienScope™ is engineered to do one thing: pick out aliens from across the universe. That’s right. Point it at any star, and within seconds, it highlights the closest alien civilizations. Whether you're searching for a species that looks like a giant marshmallow or just need to spot an alien that’s as curious about you as you are about it, the AlienScope™ has you covered. But seriously, it's just us here on the podcast. No annoying ads. Just good, alien-spotting content with a side of writerly weirdness.

Read The Snark’s review of this podcast here.
Writers’ prompts for this podcast are here.
Submission page for Effigy Press here.
Effigy Press here.

Intro music: brighter days by Oliver Massa - License code: S4QNBRVN0S5MTNW4
https://uppbeat.io/t/oliver-massa/brighter-days
Outro music: nightdrive by mood-maze - License code: OGGKCMVJLUMOBW5P
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/nightdrive. Or, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NZsJWoGZ9A