Rats and Gargoyles by Mary Gentle Rats and Gargoyles by Mary Gentle Show Notes Intro 00:07 // Synopsis 05:30 // Commentary 36:05 // Bleed 36:05 // Magic 39:09 // Magicians, Runequest and Mage: The Ascension 41:01 // Dialect 47:14 // … Continue reading →

Viriconium by M. John Harrison Show Notes Synopsis 03:47 // Act 1 (Viriconium Knights, The Pastel City, Lords of Misrule) 04:13 // Act 2 (Strange Great Sins, A Storm Of Wings, The Dancer and the Dance, The Luck in the … Continue reading →

Mythago Wood and Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock Show Notes Synopsis 01:10 // Mythago Wood 01:15 (plot dump 02:46) // Lavondyss 08:27 (Blavatsky 08:30) // Themes 20:07 // “British rural fantasy” 20:07 (Robin of Sherwood, Children of the Stones, Century Falls) … Continue reading →

Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis Wild Palms Vurt by Jeff Noon Burning Chrome by William Gibson Show Notes Stand on Zanzibar 00:30 // Transmetropolitan 01:55 // Wild Palms 09:50 // Vurt 14:15 // Burning Chrome … Continue reading →

The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman Show Notes Plot and Setting 01:18 (viral learning, accelerated childhood, photosynthesis, viral augmented reality, living history, communism, living history, viral empaths) // Themes 15:04 (utopia and distopia, invading thoughts in the gestalt, J G … Continue reading →

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz Show Notes Synopsis 02:19 // Themes 06:51 // activism // corporate totalitarianism // biotech // Roleplaying 19:11 // corporate dystopia // cyberprep // PbtA and Urban Shadows (storms/fronts) // the contract // dual advancement tracks // … Continue reading →

This episode I’m revisiting two charming 90s near-future films: Wim Wender’s Until the End of the World, and Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days. Show Notes Until the End of the World 01:17 // Strange Days 06:26 // Themes 10:49 // Brain … Continue reading →

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Show Notes Plot and Setting 00:55 // Themes and Images 08:12 // Retrofuturism 09:05 // Baseline 09:24 // Analog 10:14 // Cyberpunk 1984 11:10 // The Gibson Continuum 13:32 // 1.cyberspace 13:54 // 2.corporate governance … Continue reading →

Fractopia Interview with Tod Foley, leader of this is Fractopia and editor of Ubiquicity, author of Day Trippers RPG and Cyberspace. Show Notes Sample topics, in approximate order: What is Fractopia? Hierarchical vs. Anarchistic Frameworks (Day-trippers vs The Strange) Daytrippers, … Continue reading →

This is a companion to and additional content that didn’t make into Episode 60. The King In Yellow by Robert W. Chambers Show Notes Plot and Setting 01:56 // Themes and Images 07:10 (False Documents, vectors, Tommy Westphall, Dollhouse, Snow … Continue reading →