Fiction Fans

Your hosts once again welcome author Andrew Cartmel on to the podcast to discuss Attack and Decay, the latest book in his Vinyl Detective cozy crime series. Follow the Vinyl Detective to Sweden where he gets embroiled in a mystery involving metal bands, local charity shops, and a crime novelist. As expected, Sara once again talks about all the mouth-watering food in the novel. They also talk about research trips, meta references, and keeping characters consistent over long series.

You can find more from Andrew here:

https://twitter.com/andrewcartmel

https://www.instagram.com/vinyldetectivelondon/

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

In this episode, your hosts discuss the lyrical, lovely, looney novel Saint Death’s Daughter by C. S. E. Cooney. There’s a lot of talk about bones (understandable when the book features a necromancer as the main character). The conversation ranges from abusive family dynamics to discovering excellent found family. This week’s Words Are Weird pits two equally legitimate sources against each other – Merriam-Webster vs LiveJournal – and features a weird synonym for “to scrape” (as in “to scrape your knee”)

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Your hosts are joined by Khan Wong to talk about his novel, The Circus Infinite. There’s a certain amount of gushing over the ace representation in the book as well as the relationships in general, platonic and otherwise. They talk about Khan’s circus background, whether he’s a pantser or a plotter (spoiler: he’s both), and the ways that consent is used and misused in the wider world of The Circus Infinite.

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

In this episode, your hosts talk about Anthracite, a humorous Welsh cyberpunk (setting vs genre? You decide!) novel by Matt Thomas. They consider the pros and cons of an unreliable first person narrator, and discuss the slow-burn character arc of the main character Kevin. They also present a hybrid Pet Peeve Words Are Weird about infantile food words.

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Your hosts are joined by Andrew DeYoung to talk about his apocalyptic novel The Temps. The conversation includes “What Do You Do With A BA In English” (yes your hosts are singing this as they write this description) and cautious optimism. They cover zombie inspirations, how offices don’t need help to seem like a dystopian hellscape, and how Millennials are apparently The Worst™. They also spring a surprise Pet Peeve Corner on Andrew.

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Your hosts discuss the 14th (out of 41) Discworld novel, Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett. They both praise and criticize all of the witches, and introduce their new subpodcast, BACEd (relationship advice that is always summed up as “just fucking talk to each other”). They also wonder why Pratchett hyphenates “orang-utan” and discover the world of hyphen decay.

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

In this episode, your hosts are joined by Ben from Literature & Lofi to discuss Storm Front, the first book in the urban fantasy series Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. They compare the book to popcorn--while it might not have any nutritional value, it’s still pretty dang good. Your hosts are excited to learn more about this urban fantasy world where apparently studio apartments have a separate bedroom and place the first book somewhere on the sexism spectrum between “forward thinking and awesome” and “oh god why.” They also talk about how the word "tummy" should not be used to refer to adult bodyparts.

You can find more from Ben here:
https://twitter.com/LiteratureNLoFi
https://linktr.ee/LiteratureAndLofi

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Your hosts speak with Ada Hoffman (author of The Outside) and R.B. Lemberg (author of The Four Profound Weaves) about their work. They talk about queerness and neurodivergence in fiction, how their educational backgrounds intersects with their writing, and the books and stories that inspired their work.

R.B. also discusses translating Ukrainian war poetry in response to the ongoing war, which you can read online at Chytomo: https://chytomo.com/en/read/

Find R.B. Lemberg online at:
http://rblemberg.net/
https://twitter.com/rb_lemberg

Find Ada Hoffmann online at:
https://www.ada-hoffmann.com/home/
https://twitter.com/xasymptote 

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Your hosts are joined by Krystle Matar, author of Legacy of the Brightwash, to discuss Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. They speculate about Carey's influence on The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and talk a lot about consent issues in SFF and flipping genre tropes. As per usual, Sara and Lilly vehemently disagree on just about everything. Krystle suggests a Words Are Weird pulled from the book.

You can find more from Krystle here:
https://www.krystlematar.com/
https://twitter.com/krystlematar
https://www.instagram.com/krystlematar/




Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Your hosts talk about Small Gods, arguably the best Discworld novel. They also discuss malicious gods, fake gods, and redeemed gods. If you aren’t interested in Discworld as a series, you should still read this book.

Pratchett also suggests a great “Words Are Weird” segment about diction, and the type of boss who says “enter.”

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”
- Scott Buckley for the use of “Twilight Echo”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Lice