In this episode, Beth and Stuart laugh about: The stories from his family that helped inspire him to write “hard sci-fi”  Why going to the moon was really expensive and incredible How writing allows you to learn about people and about yourself    Key Takeaways: Becoming an award-winning sci-fi writer didn’t happen overnight, but when it happened… wow!  Science can’t answer everything, but reality is the standard “All stories are about people. I look for what fits my technical knowledge, but mostly I look for characters.” “Anybody who can’t take rejection, should not be in a creative field.”       “As a science fiction author, my primary goal in a story is to reveal the reader, and learn something about yourself.”      About C. Stuart Hardwick:   Stuart Hardwick is a winner of the prestigious Writers of the Future contest and the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award. His work regularly appears in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, as well as Galaxy's Edge, Forbes.com and Mental Floss, among others. A southerner from South Dakota, Stuart grew up creating radio dramas and animated shorts before moving on to robots and ill-conceived flying machines. He's worked with the creators of the video game Doom, married an aquanaut, and trained his dog to pull a sled. Stuart studied writing at U.C. Berkeley, lives in Houston, and has been known to wear a cape. For more information and a free signed e-sampler, visit www.cStuartHardwick.com.