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This week on our little show of shows, a battle between Rain and Shine. Up first: Ian Aber is an Atlanta-based stand-up comedian. His album “Night Sugar” is available in places where you get albums and he hosts the podcast Str8 Ppl which is available where you get podcasts. Ian ran for his life with his take on RAIN. Next up, Chris Alonzo. If you’ve been listening to Tender Bloodsport, you may remember Chris from episode 10—and if you’re new to Tender Bloodsport: Hi! You can hear more of Chris in episode 10. He is a freelance writer, designer, and musician whose solo works have been produced by the Atlanta Fringe Festival, the Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival, and the New York Theatre Workshop. He lives in Alabama with a perfect child. Chris paid his respects with his take on SHINE. Pack an umbrella y’all, because it is pouring. Also this week: another installment of co-producer Dani Herd's Ultimate Nerd Feelings YouTube Jamz.

From the desolate and forlorn wasteland of Pandemerica, Tender Bloodsport returns with season two because, well, what the hell else are we going to do? And we are kicking it off with a bout of BLEAK versus HOPEFUL. Austin Ray (@austinlouisray) has contributed to Good Beer Hunting, Rolling Stone, the Oxford American, and one terrible gas station periodical. He misses Creative Loafing. He faces off against Steven Williams, an Atlanta native who has written for gutwrench., Naked City, and many other live lit shows. He also plays bass if anyone's interested in starting a band. This episode also features a pep talk from co-producer Dani Herd, because we could all use that right about now. Keep up with us: tenderbloodsport.com

Our show in March of 2020 was (hopefully) our cleanest, in that we hope everyone washed their hands. As a major threat to public health looms over the land, we offer here our entire show, unedited, for those who wished to attend but did not lest they endanger themselves or their loved ones or strangers alike. Our writers this episode are: Lucas Ryan Jen Bates Yves Jeffcoat Jordyn King Lynne Tanzer Rita Nicole Leslie Dani Herd

As we gear up for season 2 of Tender Bloodsport, we present a bout from our vast and cavernous archives, this word fight dating all the way back to the heady days of 2013. Young adult author of "Ellie, Engineer," Jackson Pearce tries her hand at erm, another genre, and Atlanta Magazine contributor and zine publisher Brooke Hatfield goes in search of answers. Follow us on Twitter: @tbloodsport

For our season closer, we're presenting among the most memorable bouts to cross our stage. Chris Alonzo (@Chris_Alonzo) is a freelance writer, designer, and musician whose solo works have most recently been produced by the Atlanta Fringe Festival, the Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival, and the New York Theatre Workshop. Chris tracked a shooting star of sorts with his take on FALL. Topher Payne (@topherpayne) is an Atlanta-based screenwriter, playwright, and director. His plays include Perfect Arrangement, Morningside, and Angry Fags. Topher’s fourth film for the Hallmark Channel, Rome in Love, premieres this summer. He was the 2018 inductee into the Georgia Theatre Hall of Fame. Topher measured the meaning of a life with his take on RISE.

THIS EPISODE: Ride versus Die. We head up to the headquarters of the original WRITE CLUB, the Hideout in Chicago. SAMANTHA IRBY is the New York Times Bestselling author of "Meaty" and "We Are Never Meeting In Real Life," as well as being a writer on Hulu's series "Shrill." Irby got romantic on public transportation with her take on RIDE. And CARLY OISHI is the co-founder of live lit shows Miss Spoken and Solo in the 2nd City (R.I.P.). During the day she's the director of financial capability services at nonprofit Ladder Up, an online grad student, and a C+ mom. You can read her musings at Oh Is She dot com.

Bundle up kids, winter is here in this week's episode—a word battle of Fire versus Ice. Dani Herd is a Shakespearean actor and the open-hearted nerd behind the blog Hope Is The Thing With Lightsabers. Dani brought some kindling and earned her Wholesome Sapphic merit badge with her take on Fire. Kevin Gillese is a comedy writer and performer from Canada, as well as the Artistic Director of Dad's Garage Theatre. Kevin bundled up for his take on Ice. Keep up at tenderbloodsport.com

You wanna be where you can see the troubles are all the same. You wanna go where everybody knows Tender Bloodsport. This episode: Cheers versus Jeers. And we’re headed out West to the Make-Out Room in San Francisco, California. First up: Casey Childers was co-producer of Write Club SF and is co-creator of the Shipwreck erotic fanfic series. You can follow him at @cachilders on Twitter. Casey divulged the price of greatness with his take on CHEERS. Lauren Traetto runs a trauma-informed creative writing program for students in the Oakland Unified School District, and has held positions on the board of directors at Small Press Traffic, as SF Director of Vouched Books, and contributing editor for FANZINE. Together with Writ Large Press, she organized THE REJECTED, a series of alternative offsite panels at AWP Los Angeles. Lauren responded to a particular family complaint with her take on JEERS. Our music is by Mice in Cars and Meaning of Everything.

The heart is forever making the head its fool. Doubly so in Tender Bloodsport. This week's bout comes from the lower cockle region of our sad, tired hearts. Actor, director and fight choreographer Kevin Stillwell steps up first with his take on Heart. We'd link you to Kev's social media accounts, but as you will hear, he has none. BUT if you'd like to hear more of his soothing voice, he does work extensively as an audio book narrator. Seriously, search for him on Audible. Olive Lynch is a stand-up comedian and producer of The 1AM Secret Show, 50 First Jokes ATL, and Halloweenies. Olive, much like Jesus, delivered a parable with her take on HEAD. http://olivelynch.com/

We are getting our full fix in this week's episode with a little switch up: contranyms. We have Fix (as in to repair) versus Fix (as in to castrate, ain't the English language grand?) Rykie Elizabeth (@withaYKIE) is a musician and writer who performs at renaissance faires across the southeast with The Voices of Virtue, The Long and Short of It, and SERFS Inc. This go-round, Rykie gave us the most classified of the Classifieds. Adjoa Danso (@joadanso) does social media for CARE USA and produces the About South Podcast. A woman has a name...it’s just taken her a while to come to terms with it.

Kisses, y'all! This week we have a bout recorded around Valentine's Day that proved, if nothing else, that humor can be wrung from AA meetings and (holy crap) children's cancer wards (deep breath. Okay, okay I'm fine just give me a second. Okay). First up, Chris Ledford is a writer, comedian, and former host of the dearly departed live variety show “Song Missing". Chris poured one out for his take on "Bite." And his opponent, Fray Forde—screenwriter and star of the films “Good Hair” and “Pop Pop Is Dead.” Fray found love in a hopeless place with his take on "Kiss."

Do you arm your troops, or do you feed your people? This week, a wayward exploration of the relationship between a nation's investment in defense and civilian goods, only not really that at all. Rita Nicole Leslie is a copywriter, comedian, and co-producer of the feminist reading series Bleux Stockings Society. Rita came out shootin’ with her take on Guns. And spreading it thick, we have playwright Johnny Drago, a queer, Brooklyn-based Southern playwright and performer, who makes comedies and tragedies about sex, death, and the occult, including "Trash," and the 80’s-era human sacrifice teen sex comedy "Hot Pink." He makes experimental performance essays as half of Dismantle Theatre.

We’ve got a super right-brain/left-brain bout this episode! Joan 'Lyric' Leslie is the author of the poetry collection "My Blackness Rhymes with Joy," and has been in competition as a member of the Java Monkey and Art Amok poetry slam teams. She co-hosts the podcast "Famous Enough" with Alex Ondraya. Here, she details the roles of a friendship with her piece on “Magic.” In the other corner, we have adventurer, improviser, yogi, creative, woodworker, outdoor enthusiast, and lover of lists Sarah Ackerman. Her grandma thinks she can wrestle bears. Sarah gave her diagnosis with her take on “Science.” This bout was recorded in front of a raucous crowd in Atlanta, Georgia.

And we're off! Tender Bloodsport pits playwright and son of travelling Christian clowns, Jon Carr against storyteller Maddie Fay in a literary battle of Fly versus Fall Jon Carr is winner of the 2018 Gene-Gabriel Moore Playwriting Award for his play "Black Nerd," which had its world premiere at Dad’s Garage Theatre Company in Atlanta. He works in Audience Development at the Alliance Theatre. He's on Twitter at @compaq10123 Maddie Fay (@heymaddiefay) is an Atlanta-based storyteller/poet/playwright and is the host of “Then What” an open mic storytelling and live lit series.