Novel Ideas

The portion of the Harry Poddercast Extravaganza that involves specific volumes of the series draws to a close with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. In this episode, we discuss why anyone listening would need a spoiler alert, love, redemption, hubris, character flaws, and realism within a fantastical world. We also discuss Neville’s giant brass balls, love again, the Ron-Hermione shiptease, the stupidity of Death Eaters, and name issues. We’re not quite through yet, there will be one more massive episode where we sit around a table with some friends and break down the entire series. It has been recorded already, and it is exactly what we thought it was going to be. Long, mostly.

The music bump is a departure from the Potter related music of the previous six episodes, but is thematically appropriate. It is “Love Has the Power” by Toto, though I’m reasonably certain they weren’t referring to magic.

Recommendations:

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The Harry Poddercast Extravaganza continues with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. I keep expecting someone else to pop in and write a guest novel, but so far, I have been wrong. Very, very wrong. However, Novel Ideas did have a special guest this week. Jessica joined us to talk about Dumbledore as a criminal profiler and Harry as Spiderman. We also talked about war politics, horcruxes, spoilers, and fandom’s misunderstanding of the word “slut.” Not to mention Slytherins who aren’t dicks, how to say “fuck you” politely, Dubledore and Gandalf’s budding friendship, and Draco… not being a dick? Next week, the Harry Poddercast Extravaganza comes to a close, but there’s still time to squeeze yourself into our roundtable wrap up discussion if you contact us immediately.

The music bump is the Potter Puppet Pals in “The Mysterious Ticking Noise.”

Recommendations:

Possibly the best book in the series! Though I can’t imagine that you would be listening to this episode without having read/listened to the previous five…

The Harry Poddercast Extravaganza is back with an extra long episode for the longest book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. Holy cow, everything happens in this book. We talk about abuse of authority, thoroughly hateable characters, bullying, feminism, education, and standing up for the truth. We also discuss awkward teenage dating, the wizarding constitution, Neville’s transformation from bumbler into badass, and WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ARCH!? And many, many other things. I feel like I’ve edited two episodes, I can’t even remember how this one started. Our guest star for this episode was recorded over Skype, so there are occasional echoes in the audio, but I think I managed to get enough of it out to not be distracting.

The music bump is Umbridge’s theme from the movie, composed by Nicholas Hooper.

Recommendations:

On a scale of “treacle tart” to “puking pastile,” we give this book a canary cream.

Novel Ideas Harry Poddercast Extravaganza continues with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. (Turns out all of them are by J.K. Rowling, go figure.) In this episode, we discuss the longest (thus far) book in the series, covering some topics we’ve already visited, such as wizard racism, and some topics that you would assume we’ve covered, such as feminism. Not to mention editing errors, elaborate villain schemes, the importance of world building, and whether 700 pages is too long. And that’s before we get into Draco’s secret pain, shaving mishaps, face punching, and whether Voldemort would be even creepier with a weird mustache. We hope you enjoy!

The music bump is Mike Relm’s “Harry Potter Remix of Death,” one of many Harry Potter remixes floating around the internet.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Recommendations:

I probably don’t even have to mention that we highly recommend this book, but just in case, we highly recommend this book.

Welcome back to Draco Malfoy Talk, a podcast devoted to analyzing Draco Malfoy and his hilarious antics. Or maybe it’s just starting to feel that way. This week on Novel Ideas, we discuss Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling, the third book in the Harry Potter series. In this episode we don’t just talk a whole bunch about Draco and his continued status as a dick, we also talk about good teachers, possible metaphors for discrimination, overcoming fear, and holy crap plot twists. We also discuss the logic of divination, alternate universe Snape, ideas for improving the Hogwarts curriculum, and the plight of those poor flobberworms.

The music bump this week is “Seven Potters” by the Remus Lupins, a Harry Potter tribute band. They are nerdy as hell and probably more enthusiastic than talented, but I can appreciate the principle behind them.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Recommendations:

Best of the series so far! Also, if you’ve gotten this far and you’re still not convinced that you like this series, it probably isn’t for you…

Here comes the second book of the Novel Ideas Harry Poddercast Extravaganza, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling. In this episode we discuss the invisibility cloak and how we managed to overlook it in the first episode, the right and wrong ways to deal with celebrity, wizard racial slurs, and the level of heroism one can reasonably expect from a 12 year old child. We also discuss the horrible house of dicks, what Harry Potter would look like if it was written by GRRM, feral cars, and keeping giant monsters as pets. We also take a quick break for hammer time. We hope you enjoy it!

If you want to get in on the fun, let us know as soon as possible. We haven’t recorded for book three just yet, but I (Ben) am almost 200 pages into the fourth book, so time is running short.

The music bump is “The Chamber of Secrets” from John Williams’s excellent score to the not-so-excellent movie of the same name.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – 80’s Movie Bully Evil

Recommendations:

Probably better than you remember! Read it!

The first of July is here; it’s time to kick off the Novel Ideas Harry Potter Extravaganza. We open, of course, with the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. In this episode we discuss child abuse, friendship, and standard juvenile/YA themes. We also cover untagonists, wizard racism, and possible benefits of having sly people on your side. Fan geeking is relatively low this week, though we do delve into reasons why Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff probably should be more competitive for the house cup and Ben’s irritation with the rule of quidditch.

The music bump is “Goin’ Back to Hogwarts” from A Very Potter Musical. The music and lyrics are by Darren Criss and A.J. Holmes.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Recommendations:

Read it! If you’ve managed to somehow avoid it this long, check it out. It will read a little kid-ish, but it’s fun and easy to read.

This week on Novel Ideas, we discuss Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, a sci-fi steampunk alternate history zombie story about the importance of family. In this episode we discuss characterization, possible racism, the motives of villains, and what about this book could use editing. We also the discuss the possibility of Disney accidentally creating zombies, moms who are also sharpshooters, steampunk naming conventions, and all the ways this book is like Peter Pan. There’s also an announcement at the end about our exciting July project extravaganza (more or that in the next day or two here if you’re avoiding the episode for spoilers).

A quick note: During the episode we wonder what the publication date was for this book, it was in 2009 and nominated for a Hugo award in 2010.

The music bump this week is “The Wall” by Kansas, though I’m pretty sure their version of the wall was not a literal wall containing poison gas and zombies.

Boneshaker

Recommendations:

Ben: 5/10 Definitely not bad, but not memorable

Gabs: 4/10 Not my bag