Bionic Bug Podcast

Hey everyone, welcome back to Bionic Bug podcast, episode 4. This is your host Natasha Bajema, fiction author, national security expert and "insecto-phobe". First off, a personal update. I just finished my second draft of Project Gecko, Book Two of the Lara Kingsley Series. I’ll be sending it to my editor on May 1. I’m thrilled to finally reach this next step in my writer journey. If you’re a writer, you know the constant struggle against the voices in your head. Even though I’ve successfully published Bionic Bug, sometimes I worry about whether that was just a fluke. Well, I’ve about to prove to myself and you all that I can do it again. I’m really excited about the story in Project Gecko which delves deeper into Lara’s backstory and follows her journey through her grief over the loss of her best friend Sully. Over the next few months, I’ll be rewriting the book several times to finalize the manuscript in August. I expect to release it on Kobo in September so stay tuned for further updates. Let’s talk tec

Welcome to episode number 3 of the Bionic Bug podcast. Before we get started, a quick reminder. The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. First off, I have a personal update. This past week, I hosted my first-ever book launch party and book signing for Bionic Bug at Wicked Bloom, a cool bar in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington D.C. Thanks so much to everyone who made it out on a weekday evening. I also want to say a special thanks to Amber, the owner of Wicked Bloom, John, the manager, Chris, one of Wicked Bloom’s fabulous bartenders and everyone else who helped make it such a special event. There were awesome drink specials and cool drink names—the Buzz Kill, Beetle Juice and Black Death. You might also note that the first episode of this podcast was called Wicked Bloom. That’s because the first chapter of Bionic Bug takes place at the Wicked Bloom, which i

Welcome back to the Bionic Bug podcast. This is episode number 2. My name is Natasha Bajema. I’m a fiction author, national security expert and your host for this podcast. First off, I want to share a personal reflection. Last week, after I proudly posted my first-ever podcast, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts and realized that I made an amateur mistake in the closing segment. FYI, the slashes in website addresses are not back slashes, they are actually called forward slashes. #facepalm I re-recorded the closing segment this week with the correction. I had a good laugh about it. The truth is that I’ve been making a lot of amateur mistakes lately… and I realized it’s because I’m doing many things for the very first time. Again. Since I’m in my forties and have built up a nearly two-decade career in national security, it’s been a long time since I’ve been new at anything. It feels so exciting and adventurous. In some ways, I feel like I’m 20 again. If you take anything away from this at all, yo

Welcome to the first episode of the Bionic Bug podcast! My name is Natasha Bajema. I’m a fiction author, national security expert and your host for this podcast. I’m so thrilled that you’re tuning in. I started this podcast in part to get my first novel into audio format, but I also wanted to share some of my insights behind the book as well as my perspective on where we’re headed in the future. Each week, I’ll kick the episode off with a technology news headline or two that has caught my attention that week. Then I’ll read a chapter from my book. Each episode will conclude with behind-the-scenes technical information. So, if you’re interested in technology, in reading fiction or want to write fiction based on future technology, you’re in the right place. Before we get started, I need to offer two caveats: The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. I am not a pro