Aaron Thorpe of The Trillbillies and Everybody Loves Communism joins us to chat about William Gibson's first published story, Fragments of a Hologram Rose. Find out with us if a simulation would smell as sweet

It's that time again - time to unlock the next step in our journey through the Year of the New Sun.

Just as you can't read a Gene Wolfe story, only re-read it, so we hope it goes with podcasts.

Music by Loot the Body

The Culture War is underway. Join Jernau Gurgeh - professional gamer and amateur asshole - on his journey to play a game with an Empire at stake. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Music is "A Guilty System Recognizes No Innocents" by Terminal Khaos Builders

https://terminalkhaosbuilders.bandcamp.com/track/a-guilty-system-recognizes-no-innocents

Tai returns to talk about the original My Bloody Valentine (1981) and the flawed remake (2009). One thing's certain in this mining town - they <3 unions (and you should, too).

Some books aspire to greatness with merely one or two world-shaking twists. Margaret St. Clair's The Shadow People scoffs at such limitations and squeezes FIVE such twists into her slim novel

We're joined by the creators of indie RPG games Fail Marines, Hell, Inc. and the forthcoming BURGERPunk to talk about Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988) - a touching story about government-mandated horniness.

Get reminded to support BURGERPunk:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeffmartin/burgerpunk-the-rpg

We discuss Octavia Butler's Speech Sounds, a harrowing pandemic scenario so plausible it speaks to Butler's writing skills.

We discuss Johnny Mnemonic (1995), a man who got a brain modification so he can smuggle the hottest takes to the highest bidder

You ready for a revolution? Well, listen up as we talk about our next read-alongs, Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, Player of Games and Excession

We discuss The Venus Effect by Violet Allen, where the Black protagonist's adventures get cut short due to "an officer-involved shooting"

Read it at Lightspeed Magazine:

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-venus-effect/