Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction

This week, we return to Narnia with the first five chapters of C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian and discuss politics and persecution, fairytale and fantasy, and Edmund’s 2024 slang. How has Narnia changed, both as a place and as a story? What is the turning point between fairy tale and fantasy? Where did Peter’s sword get its name?

To see the video broadcast of this episode, click here; to see the slides, click here!

Next week, we continue our unit on Prince Caspian with chapters six through ten, live on YouTube on Thursday, December 26th at 8PM Central.

Footnotes:

• Prince Caspian (C.S. Lewis)
• Stars And Swords on YouTube
• Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis (Michael Ward)
• Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)

To join me for the live YouTube broadcast, to support the podcast, to join the conversation on Discord and to get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!

Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens. 

Copyright © 2024 Stars and Swords. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we conclude our horror unit and our discussion of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with logical fallacies and the limits of rationality, Dracula as a feminist text and Bram Stoker’s Best Joke. How does the tone change in the last act of the novel? How do we contrast Lucy and Mina? What does Van Helsing have to say to the Author’s Note?

To see the video broadcast of this episode, click here; to see the slides, click here!

Next week, we begin our unit on Prince Caspian with chapters one through five, live on YouTube on Thursday, December 19th at 8PM Central.

Footnotes:

• Dracula (Bram Stoker)
• Stars And Swords on YouTube
• True Fact: The Lack of Pirates Is Causing Global Warming (Forbes)
• Spurious Correlations
• Madamina: The Most Beautiful Word
• Vampiric Affinities: Mina Harker and the Paradox of Feminism in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• Don’t You Know Me By Now?

To join me for the live YouTube broadcast, to support the podcast, to join the conversation on Discord and to get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!

Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens. 

Copyright © 2024 Stars and Swords. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we continue our unit on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula and discuss the overlooked Van Helsing, the second death of Lucy Westenra, and the compilation of the novel by the characters in the novel. What is the significance of the gold crucifix on Lucy’s lips? What restores Jonathan Harker’s sanity? How did the reporter for the Gazette get to the word “Bloofer“?

To see the video broadcast of this episode, click here; to see the slides, click here!

Next week, we finish the book, live on YouTube on Thursday, December 12th at 8PM Central.

Footnotes:

• Dracula (Bram Stoker)
• Stars And Swords on YouTube
• A piece by Carlo Giuliano (The Met)
• The Westminster Gazette (Wikipedia)
• Van Helsing (2004)
• The Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany, Volume 88
• Natural History Museum Vienna
• Don’t You Know Me By Now?

To join me for the live YouTube broadcast, to support the podcast, to join the conversation on Discord and to get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!

Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens. 

Copyright © 2024 Stars and Swords. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we continue our unit on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula and discuss Dracula’s character sheet, how much wolves are better than dogs, and the fate of Lucy Westenra. What will it take for Seward to connect the dots? What is the spectrum from the noble-man to the commoner? Who really poisons the sherry? 

To see the video broadcast of this episode, click here; to see the slides, click here!

Next week, we cover chapters thirteen through nineteen, live on YouTube on Thursday, December 5th at 8PM Central.

Footnotes:

• Dracula (Bram Stoker)
• Stars And Swords on YouTube
• The Death-Bed (Thomas Hood)

To join me for the live YouTube broadcast, to support the podcast, to join the conversation on Discord and to get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!

Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens. 

Copyright © 2024 Stars and Swords. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we continue our unit on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula and discuss the wreck of the Demeter, the limits of Dracula’s power, and the insidious assault on Lucy Westenra. What really happens aboard the ship from Varna? How is mysticism seeping into our rational view of the world? Has our attention to the timeline finally paid off?

To see the video broadcast of this episode, click here; to see the slides, click here!

Next week, we cover chapters eleven through fourteen, live on YouTube on Tuesday November 26th at 8PM Central.

Footnotes:

• Dracula (Bram Stoker)
• Stars And Swords on YouTube
• Dracula: The Map
• Robin Hood’s Bay

To join me for the live YouTube broadcast, to support the podcast, to join the conversation on Discord and to get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!

Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens. 

Copyright © 2024 Stars and Swords. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we overcome ill fortune to continue our unit on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. How do we listen to intuition in an age of rationality? Does the supporting cast describe the boundaries of (acceptable) Victorian society? Is work the universal cure?

To see the video broadcast of this episode, click here; to see the slides, click here!

Next week, we cover chapters seven through twelve, live on YouTube on Monday November 18th, 8PM Central.

Footnotes:

• Dracula (Bram Stoker)
• Stars And Swords on YouTube
• Whitby Abbey

To join me for the live YouTube broadcast, to support the podcast, to join the conversation on Discord and to get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!

Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens. 

Copyright © 2024 Stars and Swords. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we continue our unit on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. What are we to make of a man who lays his own table? How does the Count turn the tools of the Victorian world against English society? Does a queer reading of Dracula falter on the threshold of the gender binary? 

To see the video broadcast of this episode, click here; to see the slides, click here!

Next week, we cover the first seven chapters of the book, live on YouTube on Monday November 11th, 8PM Central.

Footnotes:

• Dracula (Bram Stoker)
• Stars And Swords on YouTube
• “How Tolkien Disguised Ice-Age Europe as Middle-Earth” (The Saxon Cross)
• One Thousand And One Nights (Wikipedia)
• Junji Ito
• “Kiss Me With Those Red Lips: Gender and Inversion In Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (Christopher Craft)

To join me for the live YouTube broadcast, to support the podcast, to join the conversation on Discord and to get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!

Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens. 

Copyright © 2024 Stars and Swords. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we finally resume our seasonal horror unit with the beginning of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. How are we to understand Stoker’s introduction to the novel? Is Harker too stupid to live? What’s worse: dragons or devils?

To see the video broadcast of this episode, click here; to see the slides, click here!

Next week, we cover the first seven chapters of the book, live on YouTube on Monday November 4th, 8PM Central.

Footnotes:

• Dracula (Bram Stoker)
• Stars And Swords on YouTube

To join me for the live YouTube broadcast, to support the podcast, to join the conversation on Discord and to get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!

Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens. 

Copyright © 2024 Stars and Swords. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we begin our super-spooky horror unit with an all-time classic: Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. Is it possible for a book as well-known and influential as this one to be under-appreciated? How did Dracula enter the public domain? Do we prefer Transylvania or Ultrasylvania? 

To see the live video broadcast of this episode, click here; to see the slides, click here!

Next week, we cover the first seven chapters of the book, live on YouTube on Monday October 7th, 8PM Central.

Footnotes:

• Dracula (Bram Stoker)
• Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Dracula (David J. Skal)
• Buffy Vs. Dracula (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
• Stars And Swords on YouTube

To join me for the live YouTube broadcast, to support the podcast, to join the conversation on Discord and to get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!

Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens. 

Copyright © 2024 Stars and Swords. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we conclude our discussion of Ultimate Spider-Man, and discuss the second volume, Learning Curve. How does Peter Parker navigate the boundaries of society? How can a book stay continuity-light but bind itself to the original comic text? Is MJ or JJJ the best character in Spider-Man’s supporting cast?

To see the slides for this week’s episode, click here!

Next week: something spooky! Stay tuned, or head over to the Patreon page to cast your vote!

Footnotes:

• Ultimate Spider-Man: Learning Curve (Bendis)
• Peter Parker: Spectacular Spider-Man (Chip Zdarsky)
• Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat! (Kate Leth)

To support the podcast, join the conversation on Discord and get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!

Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens. 

Copyright © 2024 Stars and Swords. All Rights Reserved.