And Now, The Werd

By Lisa Fary
What’s this Werd Podcast and where did these dudes come from?

I’ve been wanting to do a podcast since we started Pink Raygun. I went as far as to design the opening sequence – in my mind – and never got further than that for a few reasons. I wasn’t confident enough in my vocal personality, didn’t have the recording equipment, didn’t want to put the effort into it only to have it turn out as a vortex of suck.

But, we still wanted a podcast on the site. So, John and I continued to keep our eyes open in the event that we came across a podcast we really liked that happened to be looking to expand to a new audience and fit in with what we do around here.

A tall order.

And what exactly do we do around here, anyway? Pink Raygun began in February 2007 as a girly place to talk science fiction. Over the years, our audience has grown to include all kinds of geeks from all backgrounds and fandoms. We don’t have a monolithic point of view, instead presenting as many different points of view as we have contributors and readers.

We’ve grown from offering a platform exclusively for women to one for anyone traditionally underrepresented in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comics.

And so, The Werd.

The Werd is a round table, self-described “urban geek” podcast based out of Philadelphia (specifically, based out of our favorite comic shop in Philadelphia). Chris, Joe, Mike, and Scott do two podcasts a week, one featuring geek shop talk, the other featuring a guest.

They also almost killed me with tortilla chips.

The first time I listened to The Werd was while snacking on chips and salsa (OK, it was less like “snacking” and more like “gorging”, “stuffing my face”, or “scarfing from a trough” – I’m enthusiastic about my snacks). I laughed so hard, I choked on a chip. And John was downstairs having a cigarette – I had to handle it myself!

Yeah, I’m my own heroine.

The Werd isn’t a black thing, just like Pink Raygun isn’t just a girl thing. It’s about hearing voices you don’t normally hear in geek/ comics podcasts and websites. Chris, Joe, Mike, and Scott are NSFW, not politically correct, but they’re honest about what they’re thinking. Just like we try to do around here.

It’s been suggested that by going this route, we should have different colored rayguns, like the different Lanterns of DC Comics. So, who wants to call dibs on the Love Rayguns?

Lisa Fary is a graduate of the creative writing program at Florida State University and holds an advanced degree in Special Education. Her earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She’s angry that it’s almost 2010 and she still doesn’t have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram.

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