All Souls Witchy Women Podcast

There are book purists and TV show purists and sometimes, let’s face it, the twain never shall meet...and that may just be a good thing. But as A Discovery of Witches fans who love Deborah Harkness’ books for some reasons and the TV adaptation of A Discovery of Witches for others, as a trio we generally do a dance in and around both.

Nikki saw a sticker in a car window recently that got us thinking. The sticker read, “The Book was Better,” which basically implied that no screen adaptation ever in the history of the world could possibly be better than the book it was based on. We don’t agree with that sentiment generally but do understand where it comes from.

Anyway with this in mind, here is our first podcast on the A Discovery of Witches Season 2 adaptation. In this one we talk about alllllll the things we loved (or at least a lot of them). In our next podcast, we’ll tackle some choices that had us less enthralled. It is not a perfect world after all. We hope you enjoy this and do let us know what you think. What were your favorite moments in Season 2?

And if you haven’t checked out our weekly minute-by-minute recap of each episode of A Discovery of Witches Season 2 adaptation, well what are you waiting for?

Housekeeping details: This podcast is labeled explicit because we sometimes swear and we’re going to talk about sex because, well, there’s sex in the books. So that’s why we gave it the explicit rating. You’ve now been officially warned.

The Discovery of Witches Season 2 trailer is out and we are so excited we decided to do a podcast breaking down what we think it shows us about the upcoming season.

We suspect you, too, heard it. We're referring to the squeals around the world when the A Discovery of Witches Season 2 trailer was released last week at New York ComicCon. Yes, we had to do the con virtually this year. But it was still amazing to listen to the panel of cast members — Teresa Palmer, Matthew Goode, Edward Bluemel, and Adelle Leonce — talk about making the second season and then see the TRAILER!!!

We hope you’ll join us as we squeal through a podcast discussing what we saw. We also hope you’ll take a listen to the podcast we did a while ago talking about scenes from Shadow of Night that we hope make it to the screen.

In case you wondered what our squealing faces look like, we recorded this episode on video. You can watch it on our newly launched YouTube channel. Spoiler alert: our resident cat, whose name is not Tabitha but whom we insist on calling Tabitha regardless, makes her routine appearance.

Finally we assume you have already marked your calendar for the release of A Discovery of Witches Season 2. Fans in the UK can see it January 8, 2021 on Sky TV and Now TV. Fans in the U.S. can see it on AMC, Sundance Now and Shudder on January 9, 2021.

Housekeeping details: This podcast is labeled explicit because we sometimes swear and we’re going to talk about sex because, well, there’s sex in the books. So that’s why we gave it the explicit rating. You’ve now been officially warned.

No doubt about it: These are challenging times. We turned to our favorite book series, the All Souls Trilogy, for the best survival strategies. We hope it helps. #WeAreAllSouls

When we recorded our last podcast episode we certainly didn’t think that our next one would be recorded in the midst of a pandemic and, yet, here we are. In a shockingly small period of time, we’ve been thrown into a world that is barely recognizable. People are working on the front lines, people aren’t working at all, or they’re trying to work from home, which brings its own set of challenges. Despite all the chaos, we have this notion that we can keep all the balls in the air. And as the lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, and self-isolation continue, the veneer of our calm is starting to crack.

In light of all the life changes we’re experiencing right now, we thought we would take a look at the survival strategies of our favorite characters in Deb Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy. With any luck a few of these will help all of us cope just a little bit better during COVID19 and the new normal that is inevitable.

A note before we start: We recently published a blog post titled “6 Crisis Management Strategies from the All Souls Trilogy.” That piece, which we hope you’ll check out, focused on leadership qualities and strategies. This isn’t about keeping your company or your family afloat. This is about keeping YOU afloat. Flight attendants always remind us to put secure our own oxygen mask first. We like to hang onto this as our life motto, too, though this time is proving a challenge to honor it. 

Wine note: In keeping with our secrets theme, our private sommelier, Bayard is focusing this episode’s wine note on white blends. As one of the owners of Crafted Brands, he knows his stuff. You can read more here.

Housekeeping details: This podcast is labeled explicit because we sometimes swear and we’re going to talk about sex because, well, there’s sex in the books. So that’s why we gave it the explicit rating. You’ve now been officially warned.

Also we reference the DoubleTree by Hilton chocolate chip recipe in the podcast. You’re going to want to make these NOW (assuming you can find flour)... and you’re welcome.

Is it ever good to keep a secret? Are secrets really lies in disguise? We discuss this and more in our Secrets in the All Souls Trilogy podcast. Come join us!

You can’t go more than about 25 pages in Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy without someone tripping over a secret—either one they kept or one they discovered or one they are being forced to maintain. The whole damn looking for Ashmole 782 is about trying to uncover the secret(s) that it holds for daemons, witches, and vampires. Keeping secrets never goes well, or at least almost never….so in this podcast, Secrets in the All Souls Trilogy, we’re taking a look at secrets and the trouble they cause, both in A Discovery of Witches and in real life. 

Other Stuff You Should Know: The All Souls Discussion Group on Facebook is currently doing a Shadow of Night real-time read-along, and we are partnering with them to do giveaways during that multi-month event. We’ll be doing our giveaways during some of the full moons that occur during the read-along because, well, we’re witches and fans of the moon goddess in general and of the power that comes around the full moon, specifically.

We did our first Full Moon Magic giveaway when the read-along kicked off in November. We’ll be doing others in April and June so stay tuned by following us on our Facebook page and, of course, the All Souls Discussion Group page. Each giveaway will get bigger…

Wine note: In keeping with our secrets theme, our private sommelier, Bayard is focusing this episode’s wine note on revealing a few of the secrets in the wine industry. As one of the owners of Crafted Brands, he knows his stuff. You can read more here. Be prepared to be surprised.

Housekeeping details: This podcast is labeled explicit because we sometimes swear and we’re going to talk about sex because, well, there’s sex in the books. So that’s why we gave it the explicit rating. You’ve now been officially warned.

Featured image photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

As we eagerly await the arrival of A Discovery of Witches Season 2, we decided to talk about the scenes we hope make it from the book to the show. Listen in to see if you agree.

This podcast episode was especially fun for us because we actually recorded it in the same room rather than from three different states in the U.S. Not only that, but we were joined by our honorary witchy friend, Denise, who is also a fan of Deb Harkness' amazing All Souls Trilogy. Yup, four witchy women in one room, libations and lots of thoughts and feelings about A Discovery of Witches Season 2. Life just doesn’t get much better than that.

Other Stuff You Should Know: As we mention in the podcast, the All Souls Discussion Group on Facebook is currently doing a Shadow of Night real-time read-along, and we are partnering with them to do giveaways during that multi-month event. We’ll be doing our giveaways during some of the full moons that occur during the read-along because, well, we’re witches and fans of the moon goddess in general and of the power that comes around the full moon, specifically.

We did our first Full Moon Magic giveaway when the read-along kicked off in November. We’ll be doing others in April and June so stay tuned by following us on our Facebook page and, of course, the All Souls Discussion Group page. Each giveaway will get bigger...

This month’s wine note: It’s wine in a box, an idea we came up with because, well, we wanted to hear Ashley sing “It’s a witch in a box” again, and what says ladies getting together more than wine in a box. If you think wine in a box is declasse, our trusty sommelier, Bayard, will change your mind on that in a heartbeat. You can view the wine note here.

Housekeeping details: This podcast episode primarily focuses on the story that takes place in Shadow of Night, the second book in the All Souls Trilogy but we may reference material from all of Deb's books, because we're flighty like that. Also this podcast is labeled explicit because we sometimes swear and we’re going to talk about sex because, well, there’s sex in the books. So that’s why we gave it the explicit rating. You’ve now been officially warned.

Weren't able to get to All Souls Con 2019 in Wales? No worries. We've got you covered in this Look Back at All Souls Con 2019 podcast.

One of us — okay, it was Nikki, and our trusty intern, Kaitlyn — took the trek over the pond and made it to All Souls Con 2019 in Cardiff, Wales. Amid the tornado doodles (explanation in podcast), Nikki took notes, lots of them, and she shares all her details about the Con and what happened. It's a virtual trip to the Con, with Janet and Ashley sharing their reactions. So grab a glass of wine (of course) and join us as we chat up all things All Souls Con 2019.

We reference Nikki's post on Deborah Harkness and her talk about how We Are All Souls at the con. If you haven't read it, here’s the link.

Housekeeping details: We’ve read the entire All Souls Trilogy and will try to stay on topic, but we may forget or digress or whatever so consider yourself warned if you’ve only read one of the books. For the record, this particular podcast is entirely focused on the TV version produced by Bad Wolf TV in Wales. So, if you haven’t watched all eight episodes yet, you might want to hold off on listening to this until you do. Also this podcast is labeled explicit because we sometimes swear and we’re going to talk about sex because, well, there’s sex in the books. So that’s why we gave it the explicit rating. You’ve now been officially warned.

Welcome to All Souls Witchy Women and our podcast on Adapting A Discovery of Witches for TV.

The material from any book takes on a different feel once it is adapted for the screen and the first season of A Discovery of Witches is no exception. In this podcast episode we’re going to dig into all those differences. We don’t want to frame this conversation in a way where we pit the book against the show because that kind of comparison isn’t fair to either medium or our favorite author, Deborah Harkness. Instead we’ll talk about some of the differences and how we feel about them.Before you jump in with us, we’ve got a few notes. Spoiler Alert: We’re talking about all eight episodes. We'll be discussing major changes, additions from the book or things that needed a visual medium to showcase, things that didn’t change much, and things that we were worried about but shouldn’t have been because #debsgotthis.

Housekeeping details: We’ve read the entire All Souls Trilogy and will try to stay on topic, but we may forget or digress or whatever so consider yourself warned if you’ve only read one of the books. For the record, this particular podcast is entirely focused on the TV version produced by Bad Wolf TV in Wales. So, if you haven’t watched all eight episodes yet, you might want to hold off on listening to this until you do. Also this podcast is labeled explicit because we sometimes swear and we’re going to talk about sex because, well, there’s sex in the books. So that’s why we gave it the explicit rating. You’ve now been officially warned.

Show notes: Each episode we bring you a note about wine because red wine is a main form of sustenance for vampires when they’re not drinking, you know, blood. Oh, and we like wine…a lot. Usually our weekly wine notes come to us compliments of our resident sommelier, Bayard, who knows what he’s talking about because he’s a founding partner at Crafted Brands. This week, Bayard discusses Sangria.

Also here's the link we mention to how the amazing production crew recreated the Bodleian Library.

Welcome to All Souls Witchy Women Podcast Episode 10: The Use of Music in A Discovery of Witches, Season 1.

Music plays a critical role in setting the scene for a TV show or movie and nowhere is that more obvious than in A Discovery of Witches. Gifted composer Rob Lane wrote the score and you’ll hear his music woven through nearly every scene. We could devote an entire podcast just to that.

For this episode though, we’re talking about the creative use of other music in the season, the music that is not official soundtrack music but rather songs chosen to help make a particular emotional point. We’ll listen to snippets of these amazing songs and artists and then break down why we think this particular song and this particular artist was the exact right choice to build the emotional tension and move along the storyline.

Let’s get listening!

Housekeeping details: We’ve read the whole All Souls Trilogy and will try to stay on topic if we say a particular show is going to only cover A Discovery of Witches, but we may forget or digress or whatever so consider yourself warned if you’ve only read one of the books. For the record, this particular podcast is entirely focused on the TV version produced by Bad Wolf TV in Wales. So, if you haven’t watched all eight episodes yet, you might want to hold off on listening to this until you do. Also this podcast is labeled explicit because we sometimes swear and we’re going to talk about sex because, well, there’s sex in the books. So that’s why we gave it the explicit rating. You’ve now been officially warned.

Show notes: Each episode we bring you a note about wine because red wine is a main form of sustenance for vampires when they’re not drinking, you know, blood. Oh, and we like wine…a lot. Usually our weekly wine notes come to us compliments of our resident sommelier, Bayard, who knows what he’s talking about because he’s a founding partner at Crafted Brands. This week, Bayard discusses syrah. That’s all we’re going to say about that other than to say Bayard sings in this wine note and channels his inner Doris Day. The text version of the wine note can be found in our latest wine note.

We note in the episode that music plays a big role in Deb Harkness' creative process. She listens to particular music and musicians while writing for both inspiration and to help her maintain a particular tone. These playlists are specific to the books and feature a ton of interesting, varied music. As promised here's a link to the playlists so you can listen yourself.

To help you enjoy the artists and songs we reference from the show, here’s the playlist with links where we can: Song of Home--Ashmole 782, sung by Klara Ketelaars; White Rabbit, sung by Haley Reinhart; Demons, by Imagine Dragons; Go Your Own Way, sung by Lissie; Por Una Cabeza, by Carlos Gardel; Tuxedo Junction, by Glenn Miller; For You, by Rae Morris; I Found by Amber Run; Slow Motion Dance, by Rob Lane and the Chamber Orchestra of London.

Welcome to All Souls Witchy Women Podcast Episode 9: The Deborah Harkness Interview. Really do we need to say anything more?

Recently we had the opportunity to spend 30 minutes with Deborah Harkness talking about A Discovery of Witches — the best-selling books and the already-super popular TV adaptation by Bad Wolf TV. (The show was the most successful show to date for both Sundance Now and Shudder, the streaming channels that made the show available to American and Canadian audiences.)

One of the awesome things about this interview is that it happened to take place on a day when we were all at Janet’s house, a house that we renamed the Bishop House because it expanded to make room for us all.

But you don't want to hear about that. You want to hear what Deb had to say in this interview that she said was the first she had done about the TV show with anyone outside of her family. We feel honored.

Welcome to All Souls Witchy Women Episode 8: The A Word, our episode about our hopes and dreams for the TV adaptation of Deborah Harkness' A Discovery of Witches.

With the TV adaptation of A Discovery of Witches about to become available on Sundance Now and Shudder for U.S. and Canadian fans (and fans-to-be), we decided we needed to go a step beyond our blog post about the eight scenes we hope to see adapted from the book and talk more fully about our hopes for the show. Among the things we discuss is how we hope the characters develop, Matthew and Diana to Sarah and Emily and Ysabeau. We also talk about the scenery — the Bishop house!! — and, of course the magic and our favorite quotes we hope get cut and pasted into the script. W

Did we mention the giveaway? Here's how to win!To celebrate this momentous occasion, we're doing an international giveaway too. We'll be giving away a signed copy of Deb Harkness' The World of All Souls AND a signed copy of her newest book, Time’s Convert. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment below on what scene you’re hoping to see (if you haven’t seen the show yet) OR if you’ve seen the show (which is okay, we forgive you), you can leave a comment about one of the favorite scenes you’ve already seen. The contest is now closed. We have notified our winner. We, of course, still hope you listen to this podcast. :) And stay tuned for more giveaways in the future!

And now, on to the show!

Housekeeping details: We’ve read the whole All Souls Trilogy and will try to stay on topic if we say a particular show is going to only cover A Discovery of Witches, but we may forget or digress or whatever so consider yourself warned if you’ve only read one of the books. For the record, this particular podcast seems to be fairly safe for those who’ve only read ADOW and haven’t seen the TV version yet from Bad Wolf TV in Wales . Also this podcast is labeled explicit because we sometimes swear and we’re going to talk about sex because, well, there’s sex in the books. So that’s why we gave it the explicit rating. You’ve now been officially warned

Show notes: Each episode we bring you a note about wine because red wine is a main form of sustenance for vampires when they’re not drinking, you know. blood. Oh, and we like wine…a lot. Usually our weekly wine notes come to us compliments of our resident sommelier, Bayard, who knows what he’s talking about because he’s a founding partner at Crafted Brands. This week Bayard discusses sparkling wine, because what better drink for a celebration? (And we already did, champagne.) Don’t know the difference between brut, dry, and sec. Not to worry — you’ll know more after you listen to Bayard. Trust us. The text version of the wine note can be found here.