Fiction Fans

We put 3 book lovers in a (virtual) room and told them to talk about books they enjoyed reading in 2021 with absolutely zero parameters. What could possibly go wrong? This episode was recorded directly after our "What We’re Excited to Read in 2022" collab in December, so things are a little out of date and a lot wacky.

Sara would like to add “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers to her list, which she read after the episode was recorded but before 2022 so it still counts.

You can find Adrian and the SFF Addicts Podcast on Twitter
 https://twitter.com/SFFAddictsPod

Listen to our guest appearance on SFF Addicts:  "What We're Excited to Read in 2022" https://anchor.fm/sff-addicts/episodes/Ep--11-What-Were-Excited-to-Read-in-2022-with-Fiction-Fans-e1ae4db

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 ostensibly Christmas episode, your hosts talk about The Muppet Christmas Carol. Unsurprisingly, Lilly is the big muppet fan and Sara is more…not. For some reason, they bring up Christmas a hell of a lot. There’s also a short Wheel of Time TV Show Check-In and a discussion about how portmanteaus are weird words.

Listen to our discussion with OWWR Pod about the Wheel of Time TV Series.

We're matching your donations to the Imagination Library through 12/29. More details are on our website: https://www.fictionfanspodcast.com/fundraiser
 

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 welcome back Andrew Cartmel to talk about Low Action, the fifth book in his Vinyl Detective series. They ask hard-hitting questions like “in the recipe on pg 292, do you cook the mushrooms before adding them to the pasta?” They also discuss some of his mystery novel inspirations and other things more relevant to the plot than mushrooms. Sara gets very excited by the possibility of a spin-off series focused on book collecting. 

Andrew also shares about his new play, Glacier Lake, which opens on Tuesday 3rd of May 2022 at the OSO Arts Centre in London.

Performances at 7:30pm from Tuesday 3rd to Saturday 7th of May, with matinees at 2:30pm on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th of May (no evening performance on Sunday). You can find out more about the venue at https://www.osoarts.org.uk/ 

You can find Andrew online at https://twitter.com/andrewcartmel

Fiction Fans is running a fundraiser! Send in proof of your donations to the Imagination Library before December 29th, 2021 and the podcast will match all contributions up to a total of $2k. You can find more information here: https://www.fictionfanspodcast.com/fundraiser

Your hosts discuss the collaboration between humanity and AI in “The Salvage Crew” by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne. Lilly complains about first person point of view, although she realizes that that’s a “her” problem. They also read “Reaper Man” by Terry Pratchett, and theorize that “Mort” wishes it was as good. Finally, in the Words Are Weird segment, they complain about phrases that have gained cultural baggage.

Fiction Fans is running a fundraiser! Send in proof of your donations to the Imagination Library before December 29th, 2021 and the podcast will match all contributions up to a total of $2k. You can find more information here: https://www.fictionfanspodcast.com/fundraiser

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 wax poetic about nostalgic memories of the Old Kingdom series (even if Lilly doesn’t like that name). They give an overview of the series including the original trilogy Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen and the recent installations Clariel, Goldenhand, and Terciel & Elinor. It’s a rare pleasure to reread a book that was so influential to our youth that is still enjoyable as adults. They also explore purposeful mispronunciations of words (like Abhorsen) and the general foibles that follow.

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 agree that Michael Crichton is The Worst, although Lilly thinks Sphere could have been great and Sara says she’d never have liked it because the genre isn’t for her. They also talk about their latest stop in their Journey to the Center of the Discworld, Moving Pictures, and how it introduces familiar Unseen University characters and have female characters who actually feel like people (unlike Sphere). Also, Lilly issues a public apology for being a huge dingus and assuming identical words would be pronounced the same in a combination Words are Weird and Pet Peeve segment.

Real Shit & Book Shit with Dan Fitzgerald: https://www.danfitzwrites.com/blog/fiction-fans



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”

This entire episode contains spoilers!

Your hosts are joined by Connor Caplan to discuss the various adaptations of Dune through the years, including the 1984 movie, 2000 mini-series, and 2021 movie (one of two). They compare main characters, or more specifically, if there even is one, as well as the depiction of Bene Gesserits and whether they are evil, scheming, conniving witches (hint: they shouldn’t be). This episode also includes a Words are Weird segment courtesy of Herbert. “Sphincter” might be a real word, but we all know it means butts.

Find Connor online:
https://twitter.com/thecmcaplan
https://www.cmcaplan.net/

Listen to our interview with him about his novel, The Sword in the Street:
https://www.fictionfanspodcast.com/episodes/episode/49378e3e/author-interview-the-sword-in-the-street-by-connor-caplan 

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 Spooky Finale Sara has to deal with Lilly ranting about Zombies for about 45 minutes (most of which was cut) in their conversation about “A Ritual of Bone” by Lee C. Conley. They also discuss “Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder” by William Hope Hodgson and to what degree it is Sherlock Holmes fanfiction (more than zero).They also attempt to pronounce all of the weird, weird words Hodgson made up for his supernatural investigator. ‘Raaaee’ needs more consonants. 

Other Weird Words in this episode: "Aeiirii" and "Saiitii," the "Saaamaaa Ritual," the "Incantation of Raaaee"

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:
Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Your hosts continue their spooky season reading in this episode of Fiction Fans! This time they are joined by Benjamin from Literature & Lofi to talk about trashy vampires in Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (you might know it better as the first book in the True Blood series). For a book that contains so much sex, it’s weirdly prudish.

They also visit the Pet Peeve Corner to talk about lending books, and how frustrating it is to never get them back. 

You can find Benjamin on YouTube and Twitter:
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6FF4EEX9WRNPvGJd48qnjA
https://twitter.com/literaturenlofi 

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:
Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Before your hosts dive into spooky season, they talk about some book recommendations. They discuss The Apple-Tree Throne by Premee Mohamed but it was almost all spoilers, so you should just go read it. They also read The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers. They agree-- vampires are cool. Byron is byronic. But are the other characters real people? The answer may surprise you. This episode includes a visit to the Pet Peeve Corner: Are typos a stylistic choice? That answer won’t surprise you.

The Fiction Fans Discord Server: https://discord.gg/zB6vyqC59c

Our (soft launch) Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspod 

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:
Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License