Fiction writer and popular YouTuber Sam A. Miller joins co-hosts Christian Barter and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about his debut story collection, Still Lost: Tales from the Year 2080, as well as his educational and comedic videos . Miller reflects on how he got started on YouTube a decade ago, when he was an adolescent, and amassed 4.8 million followers by developing Sam O’Nella Academy, a channel with a scrappy, homemade feel and distinct illustrations. Miller discusses the genesis of the unusual aliens who set the stage for most of Still Lost’s human-centered stories by solving potentially world-ending problems like climate change right off the bat. He explains why he decided to self-publish the science fiction collection and how it found its way to a traditional publisher. He also shares his science fiction influences and talks about how his personal history with addiction shapes the book’s final story. He reads from Still Lost.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account , the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel , and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by Christian Barter, V.V. Ganeshananthan, AJ Abernathy, Grace Workman, and Sienna Hoopingarner.

Still Lost: Tales from the Year 2080 by Sam A. Miller • Sam O’Nella Academy – YouTube

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir • Blindsight by Peter Watts • Wheelers by Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen

EXCERPT FROM A CONVERSATION WITH SAM A. MILLER

Christian Barter: Your YouTube channel also covers a wide range of topics. So, why did you choose to write science fiction? You seem like a writer who could have written in any genre.

Sam A. Miller: I appreciate that. I’m not sure I’d be immensely qualified for historical fiction, if I’m being honest. I consider myself kind of a generalist, which is a nicer way of saying I don’t know shit. A broad base, but no expertise in anything, you know. And so, I think science fiction is best suited for that because I think a lot of the appeal of the genre is taking these disparate things like technology, philosophy, and merging them together, and creating something better than the sum of its parts.

V.V. Ganeshananthan: Absolutely. I just want to point our listeners also at the back of the book. You did this really cool thing where you have story notes, which is different than, I don’t know, citations. It’s a little bit more like in Best American Short Stories, they have these little squibs at the back where the writer talks about how the story came to be, and I really liked having these windows into things like “Being A Nothingness” or into the [alien] Xenos, and so these are like cool little liner notes. How did you decide to do that? It’s not the norm.