In this week's exciting episode: Alien Brainsquids, Nanotech Cosplayers, and of course, Matt Riley (BAM!).

The Host - 00:00:00

The Color Purple 00:09:25

Contest - 00:18:54

Lord of Light - 00:27:59

We Need to Talk About Kevin - 00:30:08

The Line of Beauty - 00:50:48

Vote - 00:57:07

Following the success of last season, we return with twelve all new books.

These books are:

Lavinia, by Ursula le Guin.

the Autograph Man, by Zadie Smith.

Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny.

We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver.

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker.

The Host, by Stephanie Meyer.

The Dark Side of Love, by Rafik Shami.

Middlemarch, by George Eliot.

the Line of Beauty, by Alan Hollinghurst.

Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer.

Contest, by Matthew Riley.

Our first episode was so long we had to split it into two. In part one we are overjoyed by Cotillion, mildly bemused by Lavinia, and fail to be captivated by the Dark Side of Love despite the murders and conspiracies.

Next week! Stephanie Meyer, Roger Zelazny, and Matt Riley, Bam!

*Timings:*

Introductions and Royal Wedding - 00:00:52

Summary and First Lines - 00:03:08

Cotillion - 00:07:46

Lavinia - 00:15:01

Gaudy Night - 00:21:45

The Dark Side of Love - 00:29:42

Middlemarch - 00:40:05

The Autograph Man - 00:46:40

Part 2 of our adventures in adventures - containing many other top tips for dealing with life, including what you call a nipple tassel for the cock, how to administrate a threesome, the way vegetarian food would be better with meat, and why you can't make Hamlet relevant by putting it modern dress and occasionally referencing Facebook.

We discuss:

Hedda Gabbler

Luke Wright's Cynical Ballards

Bad Bread: TV Times

A Clockwork Orange

52-Man Pickup

Swamp Juice

Beowulf - A Thousand Years of Baggage

3D Hamlet

Vive le Cabaret

Translunar Paradise

Also: as ever sound quality and editing are terrible.

We have once again been unleashed in a strange city armed only with a MP3 recorder, and present a set of theatre reviews that will be of no relevance whatsoever because the Fringe will be finished by the time they're published. As ever, please forgive the sound quality and the lack of editing.

In Part One, we talk about:

The Hot Mikado

Murder at Warrabah House

The Girl with the Iron Claws

Morgan and West: Crime Solving Magicians

Bane 3

Pinnoachio: A fantasy of Pleasure

Lashings of Ginger Beer Time

The Forum

Title says it all really. Join us for facepalming and despair as they talk through their reactions to the final season of _The Tudors_ and the first season of _Camelot_.

In this peacast, we ramble vaguely about _Harry Potter_, inspired by the fact we've just seen the final Harry Potter movie.

Join us, as we spend about eighty five hours wandering about helplessly trying to find the fucking East Tower. Also, as a special feature, enjoy: the best posh centaur impression in the world ever (and that it is not false advertising).

Some of the Ferretbrain crew take on a Fighting Fantasy book not exactly live on the Internet, and carry out an experiment in alternative voting methods. Incidentally, despite Dan's cruel failure to introduce me, I am actually involved in this podcast.

If you wish to download this podcast, turn to page 87.

If you wish to run away screaming, turn to page 147.

(Incidentally, for any who care, Ferretcasts now talk to Itunes).

Part 2 Coming ... well ... at some point.

This is slightly embarrassing but I was tidying up my electronic files and I discovered a Peacast we recorded a year or two ago. So, err, here it is. I'm sure it'll polish up fine if we brush the dust off it, and we never talk about stuff that's actually happening now anyway.

So, in this peacast we discuss Sherlock Holmes (the movie, not the BBC series - yes, this was recorded *that* long ago, Damages and Madmen.

And now the exciting conclusion of Ferretbrain's Halloween Special. As ever the final is full of tension which is in no way marred by the fact that the exercise is entirely meaningless and nonsensical.

So it's _Glass Houses_ versus _Fallen_. The final climactic vote may or may not be punctured by inopportune toilet breaks.

Also, we present some Special Features - specifically some deleted scenes, err, deleted discussions that were simply too unwieldy to make it into the final cut. They're rambling and unedited but not utterly devoid of interest. Well. Maybe they're not utterly devoid of interest.

Pick-up Artistry and Teen Romance Heroes (/files/PUA.mp3)

Controversy: responses to the cover of Fallen (/files/covers.mp3) (reminder: it looks like this (http://www.rebloco.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Fallen_LaurenKate.jpg))