She realized he had sat down on purpose near the door, and she knew, perhaps without quite understanding it, that if she ran away, it would mean he had to go back into the funeral again. She was his excuse for coming out of it, so she stayed.

A man who wants to craft himself a Janet, a girl who wants to make herself a hero, and the full three hours we spend working through the powerful fictions and terrible truths that result.

[NB: themes of grooming and child abuse are woven pretty inextricably through our conversation this episode. Also, it is Three Hours Long.] 

Transcript available here, and we'll be back next week for Howl's Moving Castle with another incredible guest! 

I hate Mum, I hate Dad, I hate Howard and the Goon.

Big brothers and bigger brothers, good words and bad infrastructure, the power of being a megalomaniac evil wizard, and the power of having parents that you actually trust.

Transcript available here. We'll be back in two weeks with a double-length episode for Fire and Hemlock!

"He was fairly sure it made you wicked too, to be kissed by a witch."

The horrors of the British boarding school, the things you learn about yourself in the men's locker room, and what the Chrestomanci series is really about (it's Chrestomanci.) 

Transcript available here, and we'll be back in two weeks with Archer's Goon! 

"There are no rules, only principles and natural laws."   

This week we're joined by the brilliant Adrian Tchaikovsky to discuss heroes and NPCs, gods and demons and sacrificial victory, and the worst fate that can befall anyone: endless nonconsensual cricket.

Transcript available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rq7yK8p_adhlQzjyvK3087hiQAV8NqLw/view?usp=sharing

We'll be back in two weeks with Witch Week!

"People write stories pretending you can alter the past, but it can't be done. All you can do to the past is remember it wrong or interpret it differently."

The horrors of the past, the traps of the future, and being cursed, with sisters.

[NB: this is another one that deals more directly with abuse and suicidality in several forms]

For more on Time of the Ghost, check out Em's Reactor article on Making the Metaphor Literal: Fantastic Reality in The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones. Transcript available here. We'll be back in two weeks with The Homeward Bounders, and a guest!

"Tonino wondered how he could laugh like that at something so horrible until he remembered that he had stood himself a score of times and laughed himself sick at just the same thing." 

Two households both alike in comedy, in fair Caprona where we lay our first episode for Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones, Season Two: the Eighties.

Transcript available here, and we'll be back in two weeks with Time of the Ghost! 

And as I fixed upon the down-turned face
That pointed scrutiny with which we challenge
The first-met stranger in the waning dusk
I caught the sudden look of some dead master...

Dalemark conspiracy theories, double selves, and conversations with the past: a look back at DWJ in the seventies. 

Transcript available here. We're going on hiatus for a few months as we record the next season, but expect to be returning around May of 2025, where we'll be picking up again with Magicians of Caprona! 

"The story is largely self explanatory, but certain obscurities in the text have been amended to avoid confusing the reader."

 The power of the land, the return of the king, and the magic of finding meaning in a text. 

 Transcript available here. Spellcoats was the last book of the season, so no reading for next week, but next week we'll be recording a look back at the seventies as a whole -- if you have questions or topics you'd like us to discuss, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks again for listening along with us!

"Mitt was not sure he knew what a free soul was – it never occurred to him that his mother had no idea either – but he thought it was a splendid thing to be."

Revolution, righteous anger, gods and prophecy and the most common name in Holand.  

Transcript available here. Next week we'll be finishing out our first season with Spellcoats!

"God bless her dear little sugar-coated shining soul." 

The English class system, American science fiction, and the Problem of Gwendolen. 

[please again pardon our audio this week as we dealt with travel and microphone issues]

Transcript available here, and week we'll be doing Drowned Ammet!