Book Club for Masochists: a Readers' Advisory Podcast

Our "genre" this month (Zines!) is one that is close to our hearts. We discuss our extensive and not so extensive backgrounds in zine reading and creation, what distinguishes zines from other self-publishing efforts, how Matthew is a big cheater, whether the motivations behind writing zines is different from reading zines, when Amanda and Meghan used to be twins, the best time of day to make a zine, perzines, artzines, wordless zines, and Kirk/Spock fan fiction.

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Zines Read (in order of appearance):

• Never Finish Grad School
• Skillshot
• Taking the Lane #1, #2, #9 by Elly Blue
• Culinary Cyclist (zine?!)
• Fix your clothes by Raleigh Briggs
• Fashion (We couldn't find it in the catalogue!)
• Great Chicken Escape by Nikki McClure
• Eggheads by Rick Quemado
• Puddles of Cute by Leda Zawacki
• Samurai Dreams #6
• Velo Vixen #1, #2 by Rachel Krause
• Long Distance #1 by Sassy Fran Circus
• Dropping out for Students by Cavegirl
• He/Her/Him Free/Frer/Frim by Adrian Prawns Sinclair, Sylvie LS, Jewels Generic
• The Jaded Review
• Astronaut and Alien by Jen Deberux
• Fluffah by Kelsey Smith
• A Field Guide to the Aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation #1, #3, #6 by Joshua Chapman (aka Zachary)
• Peach Melba

Links:

• "Fa[n]zines by Teal Triggs and why you should not buy the book"
• The Copy Scams (music about making zines)
• Best Game Over (a card game about zines!)
• Meghan's youtube video about making a zine
• Xtra Tuff (zine about fishing in Alaska)
• Zine Librarian Facebook Group
• Digitizing zines debate
• Kirk/Spock
• Interview with the creator of A Field Guide to the Aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Software tools

• Scribus
• Gimp

Places and Events

• The Anchor Archive Zine Library
• The Independent Publishing Resource Center
• Vancouver Public Library's Zine Collection
• Vancouver Comics Arts Festival
• Olympia Zine Fest
• The Zine Pavilion at ALA

Matthew's zine things

• 365 Zines a Year
• Article about the VPL Zine collection
• Poster about creating zine collections in libraries
• Episode of the SS Librarianship podcast about zines

Questions

• What is more important in reading Zines: community or creation?
• What do you think of the 'fake' Star Trek Zine - does it ruin it to know it wasn't a true story?
• What is a photocopier? "In this dramatization of transcripts from a legal deposition, a lawyer becomes embroiled in an absurd argument about the definition of a photocopier."
• What is QUILTBAG? It stands for Queer/Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Trans*, Bisexual, Asexual, Gay/Genderqueer.

Our Zines

• The On-Call Waltz, a zine by Anna and Meghan, can be obtained by tweeting at us or emailing [email protected].
• Two-Fisted Library Stories (Previously Two-Fisted Librarians)
• Call for submissions for Two-Fisted Library Stories #6
• Call for Submissions for Spicy Library Stories

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Zines people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Join us again on Tuesday, September 20th, when we discuss books about Spies and Espionage!

Our “genre” this month (Zines!) is one that is close to our hearts. We discuss our extensive and not so extensive backgrounds in zine reading and creation, what distinguishes zines from other self-publishing efforts, how Matthew is a big cheater, whether the motivations behind writing zines is different from reading zines, when Amanda and Meghan used to be twins, the best time of day to make a zine, perzines, artzines, wordless zines, and Kirk/Spock fan fiction.

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Zines Read (in order of appearance):

• Never Finish Grad School
• Skillshot
• Taking the Lane #1, #2, #9 by Elly Blue
• Culinary Cyclist (zine?!)
• Fix your clothes by Raleigh Briggs
• Fashion (We couldn’t find it in the catalogue!)
• Great Chicken Escape by Nikki McClure
• Eggheads by Rick Quemado
• Puddles of Cute by Leda Zawacki
• Samurai Dreams #6
• Velo Vixen #1, #2 by Rachel Krause
• Long Distance #1 by Sassy Fran Circus
• Dropping out for Students by Cavegirl
• He/Her/Him Free/Frer/Frim by Adrian Prawns Sinclair, Sylvie LS, Jewels Generic
• The Jaded Review
• Astronaut and Alien by Jen Deberux
• Fluffah by Kelsey Smith
• A Field Guide to the Aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation #1, #3, #6 by Joshua Chapman (aka Zachary)
• Peach Melba

Links:

• “Fa[n]zines by Teal Triggs and why you should not buy the book” 
• The Copy Scams (music about making zines)
• Best Game Over (a card game about zines!) 
• Meghan’s youtube video about making a zine
• Xtra Tuff (zine about fishing in Alaska) 
• Zine Librarian Facebook Group 
• Digitizing zines debate
• Kirk/Spock
• Interview with the creator of  A Field Guide to the Aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Software tools

• Scribus
• Gimp

Places and Events

• The Anchor Archive Zine Library
• The Independent Publishing Resource Center
• Vancouver Public Library's Zine Collection
• Vancouver Comics Arts Festival
• Olympia Zine Fest
• The Zine Pavilion at ALA

Matthew’s zine things

• 365 Zines a Year
• Article about the VPL Zine collection 
• Poster about creating zine collections in libraries 
• Episode of the SS Librarianship podcast about zines 

Questions

• What is more important in reading Zines: community or creation?
• What do you think of the ‘fake’ Star Trek Zine - does it ruin it to know it wasn’t a true story?
• What is a photocopier? “In this dramatization of transcripts from a legal deposition, a lawyer becomes embroiled in an absurd argument about the definition of a photocopier.”
• What is QUILTBAG? It stands for Queer/Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Trans*, Bisexual, Asexual, Gay/Genderqueer.

Our Zines

• The On-Call Waltz, a zine by Anna and Meghan, can be obtained by tweeting at us or emailing [email protected].
• Two-Fisted Library Stories (Previously Two-Fisted Librarians)
• Call for submissions for Two-Fisted Library Stories #6 
• Call for Submissions for Spicy Library Stories 

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Zines people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Join us again on Tuesday, September 20th, when we discuss books about Spies and Espionage!

Our genre this month (Religious Fiction) demands we take a look at what makes a book count as "religious fiction" (instead of just fiction about religion). Plus in our one hour and 48 minute episode, Meghan reads too many books (as usual), Amanda explains Sex Magicks, Matthew makes terrible jokes, and Anna fails to finish anything. BIG spoiler for the graphic novel Therefore, Repent! by Jim Munroe and Salgood Sam.

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended:

• The Harem by Safia Fazlul (Muslim)
• Godless but Loyal to Heaven by Richard Van Camp (Dogrib [Tlicho] Dene)
• Les vacances de Jésus et Bouddha/Saint Young Men (Christian/Buddhist) (Manga/Comic not available in English due to weird reasons - see paragraph 2)
• Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (Christian)
• A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick (Philip K. Dickianism)
• Creature Tech by Doug TenNapel (Christian) (Comic/Graphic Novel)

Read:

• Therefore, Repent! by Jim Munroe, illustrated by Salgood Sam (Christian) (Comic/Graphic Novel)
• The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor (Christian)
• Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven by Mark Twain (Christian) (Short Story)
• Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (Christian)
• The Special Dead (Rhona MacLeod #10) by Lin Anderson (Wiccan)
• God in Pink by Hasan Namir (Muslim)
• Smile as They Bow by Nu Nu Yi (Burma/Myanmar Buddhism) Go check out the cover to help resolve our debate.
• Playing With Matches by Suri Rosen (Jewish) (YA)
• The Hebrew Tutor of Bel Air by Allan Appel (Jewish)
• The Negotiator by Dee Henderson (Christian)
• Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke (Christian) (Canadian content)
• Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed (Muslim) (YA)
• Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor (Christian)

Did Not Finish:

• The Heiress of Winterwood by Sarah E. Ladd (Christian - Regency Era Romance)
• Redemption by Karen Kingsbury (Christian)
• Indelible by Kristen Heitzmann (Christian)
• The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel (Christian)
• Gold of Kings by Davis Bunn (Christian)
• The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America's Future by Jonathan Cahn (Christian)
• Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, trans: Ivan Morris (Buddhist)

Other Titles We Mentioned

• Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling (Wiccan)
  • Interview with S.M. Stirling about Wiccanism. Key quote: "The really startling thing was having a number of people tell me that they became Wiccans because they read the books. Which was flattering, but left me rather bemused. When people first accused me of being a Wiccan missionary, I just thought it was a complete hoot until I realized that to a minor degree I evidently was."
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Christian)
• Angry Young Spaceman by Jim Munroe (Science fictionalizing his experience teaching English in South Korea)
• The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight, plus a Guardian article about the documentary movie and the interesting pseudo-reality of it all
• If you're intrigued by the phenomenon of Amish Romance, you might try reading Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Romance Novels by Valerie Weaver-Zercher
• Anatomy of a Girl Gang by Ashley Little (which struck Amanda as similar to The Harem by Safia Fazlul)
• Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America by Amy Frykholm (in my vague memory this was super interesting, but it's been a long time)
• The Diaries of Adam and Eve and Other Stories by Mark Twain (Christian)
• The Pawn by Steven James (Christian)
• We talked about Don't Cry for Me, Hot Pastrami by Sharon Kahn in Episode 7 - Cozy Mysteries.
• Armageddon Films FAQ: All That's Left to Know about Zombies, Contagions, Aliens, and the End of the World as We Know by Dale Sherman which has a chapter called Onward Christian Soldiers which, amongst other things, looks at the multiple film adaptations of Left Behind (and yes, Nicholas Cage is the star of one of them).

Links:

• It had a Red Cover - The Facebook group for librarians with readers' advisory questions
• The Wikipedia article on Inspirational Fiction is pretty good at getting into the Christian vs. Inspirational issue
• Rewinding the DVD in the reprint of Left Behind
• Left Behind, for kids!
• The Christy Awards - a great resource for RA questions about Christian Fiction
• The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick a comic by R. Crumb from Weirdo #17
• The Worst Bestsellers podcast did an episode on Christian Romance, specifically the novel Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. A good listen.
• The Satanic Children's Big Book of Activities
• Father Ted, a TV show about priests in Ireland
• A list of Non-Christian religious YA on YA Interrobang
• A diverse religious fiction list by Pima County Public Library on Bibliocommons
• A list of religious fiction suggestions from the New York Times

Questions

• Do Amish write Amish Romance novels?
• Is Wiccansploitation a thing?
• Doesn't Matthew make just the worst jokes ever!?! (Okay, the Belieber one was pretty good.)
• What makes a book "religious" fiction?
• What is your favourite Satanist book?

The On-Call Waltz, a zine by Anna and Meghan, can be obtained by tweeting at us or emailing [email protected].

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Religious Fiction people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Join us again on Tuesday, September 6th, when we discuss Zines!

Our genre this month (Religious Fiction) demands we take a look at what makes a book count as "religious fiction" (instead of just fiction about religion). Plus in our one hour and 48 minute episode, Meghan reads too many books (as usual), Amanda explains Sex Magicks, Matthew makes terrible jokes, and Anna fails to finish anything. BIG spoiler for the graphic novel Therefore, Repent! by Jim Munroe and Salgood Sam.

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended:

• The Harem by Safia Fazlul (Muslim)
• Godless but Loyal to Heaven by Richard Van Camp (Dogrib [Tlicho] Dene)
• Les vacances de Jésus et Bouddha/Saint Young Men (Christian/Buddhist) (Manga/Comic not available in English due to weird reasons - see paragraph 2)
• Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (Christian)
• A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick (Philip K. Dickianism)
• Creature Tech by Doug TenNapel (Christian) (Comic/Graphic Novel)

Read:

• Therefore, Repent! by Jim Munroe, illustrated by Salgood Sam (Christian) (Comic/Graphic Novel)
• The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor (Christian)
• Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven by Mark Twain (Christian) (Short Story)
• Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (Christian)
• The Special Dead (Rhona MacLeod #10) by Lin Anderson (Wiccan)
• God in Pink by Hasan Namir (Muslim)
• Smile as They Bow by Nu Nu Yi (Burma/Myanmar Buddhism) Go check out the cover to help resolve our debate.
• Playing With Matches by Suri Rosen (Jewish) (YA)
• The Hebrew Tutor of Bel Air by Allan Appel (Jewish)
• The Negotiator by Dee Henderson (Christian)
• Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke (Christian) (Canadian content)
• Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed (Muslim) (YA)
• Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor (Christian)

Did Not Finish:

• The Heiress of Winterwood by Sarah E. Ladd (Christian - Regency Era Romance)
• Redemption by Karen Kingsbury (Christian)
• Indelible by Kristen Heitzmann (Christian)
• The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel (Christian)
• Gold of Kings by Davis Bunn (Christian)
• The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America's Future by Jonathan Cahn (Christian)
• Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, trans: Ivan Morris (Buddhist)

Other Titles We Mentioned

• Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling (Wiccan)
  • Interview with S.M. Stirling about Wiccanism. Key quote: “The really startling thing was having a number of people tell me that they became Wiccans because they read the books. Which was flattering, but left me rather bemused.  When people first accused me of being a Wiccan missionary, I just thought it was a complete hoot until I realized that to a minor degree I evidently was.”
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Christian)
• Angry Young Spaceman by Jim Munroe (Science fictionalizing his experience teaching English in South Korea)
• The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight, plus a Guardian article about the documentary movie and the interesting pseudo-reality of it all
• If you’re intrigued by the phenomenon of Amish Romance, you might try reading Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Romance Novels by Valerie Weaver-Zercher
• Anatomy of a Girl Gang by Ashley Little (which struck Amanda as similar to The Harem by Safia Fazlul)
• Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America by Amy Frykholm (in my vague memory this was super interesting, but it’s been a long time)
• The Diaries of Adam and Eve and Other Stories by Mark Twain (Christian)
• The Pawn by Steven James (Christian)
• We talked about Don’t Cry for Me, Hot Pastrami by Sharon Kahn in Episode 7 - Cozy Mysteries.
• Armageddon Films FAQ: All That's Left to Know about Zombies, Contagions, Aliens, and the End of the World as We Know by Dale Sherman which has a chapter called Onward Christian Soldiers which, amongst other things, looks at the multiple film adaptations of Left Behind (and yes, Nicholas Cage is the star of one of them).

Links:

• It had a Red Cover - The Facebook group for librarians with readers’ advisory questions
• The Wikipedia article on Inspirational Fiction is pretty good at getting into the Christian vs. Inspirational issue
• Rewinding the DVD in the reprint of Left Behind
• Left Behind, for kids!
• The Christy Awards - a great resource for RA questions about Christian Fiction
• The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick a comic by R. Crumb from Weirdo #17
• The Worst Bestsellers podcast did an episode on Christian Romance, specifically the novel Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. A good listen.
• The Satanic Children’s Big Book of Activities
• Father Ted, a TV show about priests in Ireland
• A list of Non-Christian religious YA on YA Interrobang
• A diverse religious fiction list by Pima County Public Library on Bibliocommons
• A list of religious fiction suggestions from the New York Times

Questions

• Do Amish write Amish Romance novels?
• Is Wiccansploitation a thing?
• Doesn’t Matthew make just the worst jokes ever!?! (Okay, the Belieber one was pretty good.)
• What makes a book “religious” fiction?
• What is your favourite Satanist book?

The On-Call Waltz, a zine by Anna and Meghan, can be obtained by tweeting at us or emailing [email protected].

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Religious Fiction people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Join us again on Tuesday, September 6th, when we discuss Zines!

In this episode we discuss Space Opera and all the endless tangents. This is a LONG conversation (we almost split it in two, but we're trying to catch up episodes to our current reading topic). We talk about losing our solid footing on genre definitions, defining the term "worldbuilding", when re-reading books from your youth goes horribly wrong, wondering just what is up with those TV and movie tie-ins, misogyny infecting Sci-Fi classics (Oh, hello there Sad Puppies), the delight of scientists reading Sci-Fi, and so much more.

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Space Opera We Read (or kinda):

Recommended

• Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding (lukewarm recommendation by a reader who is deeply ambivalent about anything speculative, Sci-Fi, or Fantasy in nature)
• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (not spectacular but a slow-burn, exploratory read)
• Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (difficult to like narrator warning)
• Ancillary Mercy (and the entire Ancillary Justice series) (HIGHLY recommended series)
• Accessing the Future: A Disability-Themed Anthology of Speculative Fiction edited by Kathryn Allan
• Lightless by C.A. Higgins

Read

• Sassinak by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon
• Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 1 by Tsutomu Nihei, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian
• Space Opera edited by Brian W. Aldiss (Features stories from 1900 (!) - 1972. Most are from the 1950s)
• More Adventures on Other Planets edited by Donald A. Wollheim
• Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis (Not so much Space Opera and not enough girl mechanic)
• The Year's Best Military SF & Space Opera 2015 edited by David Afsharirad

Did Not Finish

• Armada by Ernest Cline (read this Wikipedia article about a video game urban legend instead)
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks (would try another one by this author)
• The Star Dancers by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson
• The Sheriff of Yrnameer by Michael Rubens
• A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge (so long - for 900+ pages, would prefer to try the better known A Fire Upon the Deep, which was recommended by another group member)
• The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold (recommended to us - ran out of time this month; try it as an audiobook?)
• Koko the Mighty by Kieran Shea (really enjoyed Koko Takes a Holiday)

Other titles and media mentioned

• Mass Effect video games are totally Space Opera, especially if you read all the internal game encyclopedia entries like Matthew.
• The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (not exactly Space Opera but totally recommended)
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein - Military Sci-Fi or Space Opera??
• Space Opera by Jack Vance - An opera troupe in Space
• Red Spider White Web by Misha Nogha
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Have you not read this yet? It's short - go read it!)
• District 9 movie
• Firefly TV series & Serenity movie & the Firefly comics (pretty much all recommended highly)
• Please skip Sassinak and read Elizabeth Moon's excellent connected series set in the world of Paksenarrion (Fantasy not Sci-Fi), or at least read the three books of The Deed of Paksenarrion.
• All those zillion Pern books (Science Fantasy series) by Anne McCaffrey
• Dune by Frank Herbert (hefty but worth a read - recommended)
• The Martian by Andy Weir (about space but not Space Opera and definitely recommended)
• Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, Vol. 1 (comic book series) (recommended even if you don't care about Transformers. Really! )
• Ascension (Tangled Axon, #1) by Jacqueline Koyanagi (Meghan mis-spoke and called this book "Ascendent")
• After Man by Dougal Dixon (so cool!)
• Octavia's Brood edited by Walidah Imarisha, and Adrienne Maree Brown
• Samuel Delaney - We discuss Dhalgren which is not space focused, but Delaney has a few space books to try.
• Illuminae by Amie Kaufman, and Jay Kristoff (YA Space Opera - read before the month, recommended)
• A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix (read after the episode, recommended)

Links etc.

• OK Go Upside Down & Inside Out (music video shot in zero gravity)
• The review of Ancillary Justice Anna tried to read without being spoiled for the book
• The Wikipedia article on Space Opera bring up many aspects of the definition we discussed and is worth a skim, at least.
• Scientists read sci-fi and have opinions about it
• Read some stuff (here, here, and here are a few to start with) about Sad Puppies if you care about issues of diversity in publishing, book awards, and media more generally.
• Check it out: Afro futurism
• Book Riot sympathises with Sci-Fi fans
• Xenoanthropology

Questions

• What (the heck) is space opera? (We thought we knew! We were so naive.)
• What is Worldbuilding?
• • Any suggestions of your favourite instances of worldbuilding?
• Is bug punk real?
• Who else wants a "Ten Rules to Break When Dating a Space Pirate" from Sarah MacLean?
• Are Star Trek tie-in novels Space Opera?
• What's the relationship between Space Opera/space-based Sci-Fi and the history of Colonialism?

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Space Opera people in our club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

In this episode we discuss Space Opera and all the endless tangents. This is a LONG conversation (we almost split it in two, but we’re trying to catch up episodes to our current reading topic). We talk about losing our solid footing on genre definitions, defining the term “worldbuilding”, when re-reading books from your youth goes horribly wrong, wondering just what is up with those TV and movie tie-ins, misogyny infecting Sci-Fi classics (Oh, hello there Sad Puppies), the delight of scientists reading Sci-Fi, and so much more.

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Space Opera We Read (or kinda):

Recommended

• Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding (lukewarm recommendation by a reader who is deeply ambivalent about anything speculative, Sci-Fi, or Fantasy in nature)
• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (not spectacular but a slow-burn, exploratory read)
• Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (difficult to like narrator warning)
• Ancillary Mercy (and the entire Ancillary Justice series) (HIGHLY recommended series)
• Accessing the Future: A Disability-Themed Anthology of Speculative Fiction edited by Kathryn Allan
• Lightless by C.A. Higgins

Read

• Sassinak by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon
• Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 1 by Tsutomu Nihei, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian
• Space Opera edited by Brian W. Aldiss (Features stories from 1900 (!) - 1972. Most are from the 1950s)
• More Adventures on Other Planets edited by Donald A. Wollheim
• Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis (Not so much Space Opera and not enough girl mechanic)
• The Year’s Best Military SF & Space Opera 2015 edited by David Afsharirad

Did Not Finish

• Armada by Ernest Cline (read this Wikipedia article about a video game urban legend instead)
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks (would try another one by this author)
• The Star Dancers by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson
• The Sheriff of Yrnameer by Michael Rubens 
• A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge (so long - for 900+ pages, would prefer to try the better known A Fire Upon the Deep, which was recommended by another group member)
• The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold (recommended to us - ran out of time this month; try it as an audiobook?)
• Koko the Mighty by Kieran Shea (really enjoyed Koko Takes a Holiday)

Other titles and media mentioned

• Mass Effect video games are totally Space Opera, especially if you read all the internal game encyclopedia entries like Matthew.
• The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (not exactly Space Opera but totally recommended)
• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
• Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein - Military Sci-Fi or Space Opera??
• Space Opera by Jack Vance - An opera troupe in Space
• Red Spider White Web by Misha Nogha
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Have you not read this yet? It’s short - go read it!)
• District 9 movie
• Firefly TV series & Serenity movie & the Firefly comics (pretty much all recommended highly)
• Please skip Sassinak and read Elizabeth Moon’s excellent connected series set in the world of Paksenarrion (Fantasy not Sci-Fi), or at least read the three books of The Deed of Paksenarrion.
• All those zillion Pern books (Science Fantasy series) by Anne McCaffrey
• Dune by Frank Herbert (hefty but worth a read - recommended)
• The Martian by Andy Weir (about space but not Space Opera and definitely recommended)
• Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, Vol. 1 (comic book series) (recommended even if you don't care about Transformers. Really! )
• Ascension (Tangled Axon, #1) by Jacqueline Koyanagi (Meghan mis-spoke and called this book “Ascendent”)
• After Man by Dougal Dixon (so cool!)
• Octavia’s Brood edited by Walidah Imarisha, and Adrienne Maree Brown
• Samuel Delaney  - We discuss Dhalgren which is not space focused, but Delaney has a few space books to try.
• Illuminae by Amie Kaufman, and Jay Kristoff (YA Space Opera - read before the month, recommended)
• A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix (read after the episode, recommended)

Links etc.

• OK Go Upside Down & Inside Out (music video shot in zero gravity)
• The review of Ancillary Justice Anna tried to read without being spoiled for the book
• The Wikipedia article on Space Opera bring up many aspects of the definition we discussed and is worth a skim, at least.
• Scientists read sci-fi and have opinions about it
• Read some stuff (here, here, and here are a few to start with) about Sad Puppies if you care about issues of diversity in publishing, book awards, and media more generally.
• Check it out: Afro futurism
• Book Riot sympathises with Sci-Fi fans
• Xenoanthropology

Questions

• What (the heck) is space opera? (We thought we knew! We were so naive.)
• What is Worldbuilding?
• • Any suggestions of your favourite instances of worldbuilding?
• Is bug punk real?
• Who else wants a “Ten Rules to Break When Dating a Space Pirate” from Sarah MacLean?
• Are Star Trek tie-in novels Space Opera?
• What’s the relationship between Space Opera/space-based Sci-Fi and the history of Colonialism?

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Space Opera people in our club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

In our ongoing quest to become better librarians by reading every genre (regardless of our actual interest) we tackle Aboriginal, Indigenous, and First Nations Books.

This episode we're looking at another thematic genre/non-genre, so join us as we discuss the problems of reading aboriginal or indigenous characters written by non-indigenous authors, how we really didn't get enough education in First Nations/Native Americans in school, and why it's hard to find Australian Aboriginal or Sami books in Vancouver libraries.

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended

• A Short History of Indians in Canada: Stories by Thomas King (Cherokee)
• The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene)
• Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis (Gwich'in Athabascan)

Read

• The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (The Tribe #1) by Ambelin Kwaymullina (Aboriginal Australian - Palyku)
• Sweat by Lesley Belleau (Anishinaabe)
• Three Feathers by Richard Van Camp (Dogrib [Tlicho] Dene) (Comic)
• Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction edited by Grace L. Dillon (contributors include Native American, First Nations, Aboriginal Australian, and Maori)
• War Dances by Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene)

Children's Picture Books

• The Giant Bear: An Inuit Folktale by Jose Angutingunrik, illustrated by Eva Widermann (Inuit folktale - not certain how the author identifies)
• Missing Nimama by Melanie Florence (Cree), illustrated by François Thisdale (Québécois)
• The Son of the Sun and the Daughter of the Moon by Holly Young Huth, Illustrated by Anna Vojtech (Sami folktale by non-Sami author & illustrator)
• The Reindeer People by Ted Lewin (American writing about Lapland)

Did Not Finish

• Forty Days Without Shadow by Olivier Truc (French author writing about Sami)
• Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles by Gerald Vizenor (Anishinaabe)
• Born with a Tooth by Joseph Boyden (Métis) (worth returning to)

Other titles mentioned

• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (our youthful memories recommend this one)
• • Recently featured on the Overdue podcast
• Morning Girl by Michael Dorris
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (totally recommended)
• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
• Talking Earth by Jean Craighead George
• Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson (highly recommended by a non-podcasting group member)
• Servant of the Underworld (Obsidian and Blood, #1) by Aliette de Bodard (French-American of French-Vietnamese descent writing historical fantasy about Aztecs) (recommended)
• I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchú, edited by Elisabeth Burgos-Debray
• Tilly, a Story of Hope and Resilience by Monique Gray Smith (recommended)
• My Name Is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling
• Red Spider White Web by Misha Nogha
• • Neither Hero nor Anti-hero: Misha's Red Spider White Web
  • Review of Red Spider, White Web
  • Interview: Misha Nogha and the Weird
• The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America and Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
• Skin Room by Sara Tilley
• The Orenda and Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

Comics

• The Ballad of Nancy April: Shawnadithit by David Alexander Robertson and Scott B. Henderson
• Little Plum, a problematic old UK comic strip
• Scalped by Jason Aaron, R.M. Guera, and others (recommended)
• Tintin in America shows First Nations people being kicked off their land

Links/Other

• American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)
• Canadian First Nations and Inuit reads from The 49th Shelf
• The Sixties scoop is vastly more complicated than described in our podcast so PLEASE take the time to get better facts on this subject from more knowledgeable sources. Maybe start with:
• • This article by Indigenous Foundations - an information resource on Aboriginal peoples in Canada from the University of British Columbia
  • This article on the legacy of the child welfare system on Canadian Aboriginal Communities from the First Nations newspaper, First Nations Drum
  • The plain ol' Wikipedia entry on the Sixties Scoop
• Remaining Aztec Codices
• JK Rowling under fire via CBC and The Guardian
• El Supremo Dictador, who forced racially integrated marriage in Paraguay
• • "In order to destroy the colonial racial hierarchy which had also discriminated against him because of his mixed blood, Francia forbade Europeans from marrying other Europeans, thus forcing the élite to choose spouses from among the local population."
  • Originally discovered via this comic
• The Super Shamou comic and a rather scrambled safety video!
• Matthew Henson, the first African-American explorer in the arctic, and the review of the (problematic) comic recently written about him
• That moon landing was sooooooooo fake!

Podcasts

• Métis in Space podcast from Indian and Cowboy podcasting
• Ryan McMahon (who pretty much is Indian and Cowboy podcasting) is also doing some amazing podcasting on Truth and Reconciliation in Canada in the Red Man Laughing podcast and just generally has a lot of stuff to say that's worth hearing
• SS Librarianship and guest Michael Wynne on cataloguing First Nations and Aboriginal materials

Questions

• Are there any First Nations mysteries?
• Are there Indigenous/Aboriginal specific genres?
• Does your library have an Aboriginal/Indigenous/First Nations section, sticker, or other method of bringing attention to these titles?
• Is there anything that we missed, misunderstood, or misspoke on?

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Aboriginal, Indigenous, and First Nations Books people in our club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

In our ongoing quest to become better librarians by reading every genre (regardless of our actual interest) we tackle Aboriginal, Indigenous, and First Nations Books.  

This episode we're looking at another thematic genre/non-genre, so join us as we discuss the problems of reading aboriginal or indigenous characters written by non-indigenous authors, how we really didn’t get enough education in First Nations/Native Americans in school, and why it’s hard to find Australian Aboriginal or Sami books in Vancouver libraries.

Your Hosts This Episode

 Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

 Recommended

• A Short History of Indians in Canada: Stories by Thomas King (Cherokee)
• The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene)
• Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis (Gwich'in Athabascan)

Read

• The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (The Tribe #1) by Ambelin Kwaymullina (Aboriginal Australian - Palyku)
• Sweat by Lesley Belleau (Anishinaabe)
• Three Feathers by Richard Van Camp (Dogrib [Tlicho] Dene) (Comic)
• Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction edited by Grace L. Dillon (contributors include Native American, First Nations, Aboriginal Australian, and Maori)
• War Dances by Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene)

Children's Picture Books 

• The Giant Bear: An Inuit Folktale by Jose Angutingunrik, illustrated by Eva Widermann (Inuit folktale - not certain how the author identifies)
• Missing Nimama by Melanie Florence (Cree), illustrated by François Thisdale (Québécois)
• The Son of the Sun and the Daughter of the Moon by Holly Young Huth, Illustrated by Anna Vojtech (Sami folktale by non-Sami author & illustrator)
• The Reindeer People by Ted Lewin (American writing about Lapland)

Did Not Finish

• Forty Days Without Shadow by Olivier Truc (French author writing about Sami)
• Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles by Gerald Vizenor (Anishinaabe)
• Born with a Tooth by Joseph Boyden (Métis) (worth returning to)

Other titles mentioned

• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (our youthful memories recommend this one)
• • Recently featured on the Overdue podcast
• Morning Girl by Michael Dorris
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (totally recommended)
• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
• Talking Earth by Jean Craighead George
• Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson (highly recommended by a non-podcasting group member)
• Servant of the Underworld (Obsidian and Blood, #1) by Aliette de Bodard (French-American of French-Vietnamese descent writing historical fantasy about Aztecs) (recommended)
• I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchú, edited by Elisabeth Burgos-Debray
• Tilly, a Story of Hope and Resilience by Monique Gray Smith (recommended)
• My Name Is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling
• Red Spider White Web by Misha Nogha
• • Neither Hero nor Anti-hero: Misha’s Red Spider White Web
  • Review of Red Spider, White Web
  • Interview: Misha Nogha and the Weird
• The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America and Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
• Skin Room by Sara Tilley
• The Orenda and Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

Comics

• The Ballad of Nancy April: Shawnadithit by David Alexander Robertson and Scott B. Henderson
• Little Plum, a problematic old UK comic strip
• Scalped by Jason Aaron, R.M. Guera, and others (recommended)
• Tintin in America shows First Nations people being kicked off their land

Links/Other

• American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)
• Canadian First Nations and Inuit reads from The 49th Shelf
• The Sixties scoop is vastly more complicated than described in our podcast so PLEASE take the time to get better facts on this subject from more knowledgeable sources. Maybe start with:
• • This article by Indigenous Foundations - an information resource on Aboriginal peoples in Canada from the University of British Columbia
  • This article on the legacy of the child welfare system on Canadian Aboriginal Communities from the First Nations newspaper, First Nations Drum
  • The plain ol’ Wikipedia entry on the Sixties Scoop
• Remaining Aztec Codices
• JK Rowling under fire via CBC and The Guardian
• El Supremo Dictador, who forced racially integrated marriage in Paraguay
• • “In order to destroy the colonial racial hierarchy which had also discriminated against him because of his mixed blood, Francia forbade Europeans from marrying other Europeans, thus forcing the élite to choose spouses from among the local population.”
  • Originally discovered via this comic
• The Super Shamou comic and a rather scrambled safety video!
• Matthew Henson, the first African-American explorer in the arctic, and the review of the (problematic) comic recently written about him
• That moon landing was sooooooooo fake!

Podcasts

• Métis in Space podcast from Indian and Cowboy podcasting
• Ryan McMahon (who pretty much is Indian and Cowboy podcasting) is also doing some amazing podcasting on Truth and Reconciliation in Canada in the Red Man Laughing podcast and just generally has a lot of stuff to say that’s worth hearing
• SS Librarianship and guest Michael Wynne on cataloguing First Nations and Aboriginal materials

Questions

• Are there any First Nations mysteries?
• Are there Indigenous/Aboriginal specific genres?
• Does your library have an Aboriginal/Indigenous/First Nations section, sticker, or other method of bringing attention to these titles?
• Is there anything that we missed, misunderstood, or misspoke on?

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Aboriginal, Indigenous, and First Nations Books people in our club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

In our ongoing quest to become better librarians by reading every genre (regardless of our actual interest) we tackle Christmas and Holiday Reads.

It's Christmas in July as we talk about library displays, book stickers, the wonders of Terry Pratchett and Edward Gorey, Christmas and holiday series', finding Christmas books in every genre, nostalgia, and coziness.

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended

• The Great Christmas Knit Off by Alexandra Brown
• Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
• Greetings from Christmas Past by Bevis Hillier

Other Books Read

• The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas by Edward Gorey
• Undead and Unreturnable (Undead, #4) by MaryJanice Davidson
• The Christmas Escape (Christmas Stories #13) by Anne Perry
• Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
• Auggie Wren's Christmas Story by Paul Auster
• Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies
• The Red Satin Collection by Giselle Renarde (recommended if lesbian transgender erotica is of interest to you. Won a Rainbow Award, which it turns out are given out each year by blogger Elisa Rolle - older site )

Did Not Finish

• Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
• Holiday in Death by J. D. Robb

More "books" we mentioned

• The Fat Man: A Tale of North Pole Noir by Ken Harmon.
• A Very Klingon Khristmas by Paul Ruditis
• The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey by Roger Highfield
• Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

Links/Other

• The Great Automatic Grammatizator by Roald Dahl
• Books lists: Alternative Christmas, not so Christmas Christmas, the horror of Christmas and Christmas Askew

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Christmas and Holiday Reads people in our club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

In our ongoing quest to become better librarians by reading every genre (regardless of our actual interest) we tackle Christmas and Holiday Reads.  

It's Christmas in July as we talk about library displays, book stickers, the wonders of Terry Pratchett and Edward Gorey, Christmas and holiday series’, finding Christmas books in every genre, nostalgia, and coziness.

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended

• The Great Christmas Knit Off by Alexandra Brown
• Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
• Greetings from Christmas Past by Bevis Hillier

Other Books Read

• The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas by Edward Gorey
• Undead and Unreturnable (Undead, #4) by MaryJanice Davidson
• The Christmas Escape (Christmas Stories #13) by Anne Perry
• Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
• Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story by Paul Auster
• Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies
• The Red Satin Collection by Giselle Renarde (recommended if lesbian transgender erotica is of interest to you. Won a Rainbow Award, which it turns out are given out each year by blogger Elisa Rolle - older site )

Did Not Finish

• Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
• Holiday in Death by J. D. Robb

More “books” we mentioned

• The Fat Man: A Tale of North Pole Noir by Ken Harmon.
• A Very Klingon Khristmas by Paul Ruditis
• The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey by Roger Highfield
• Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

Links/Other

• The Great Automatic Grammatizator by Roald Dahl
• Books lists: Alternative Christmas, not so Christmas Christmas, the horror of Christmas and Christmas Askew

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Christmas and Holiday Reads people in our club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!