Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction

In this episode, we discuss Part One of V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, discuss its genre and its style, defend the flexibility of third-person present-tense narration, and start to follow breadcrumbs into the past. 

Next week, we continue our reading with Part Two.

Unanswered Questions:

• Who or what is the darkness with whom Addie makes her pact?
• If ideas and art and belief are the same — or at least similar — then what are memories?
• What’s so special about Henry, anyway?

Footnotes:

• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
• V.E. Schwab
• Will Staehle
• Julia Whelan
• François Villon
• Charles Perrault
• The Sword of Shannara
• The Many-Colored Land
• Daggerspell
• The Eye of the World

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.

In this episode, we discuss the last three chapters of Terry Miles’ Rabbits, discuss how it sticks the landing, question authority, and finally figure out what happened with K. 

Next week, we begin our reading of VE Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and discuss part one. 

Unanswered Questions:

• Is Scarpio trustworthy?
• Is Worricker’s AI real? If so, how does it manipulate the players of the game?
• Are we glad K and Chloe end up together, or would we have preferred K and Emily?

Footnotes:

• Rabbits: A Novel (Terry Miles)
• Rabbits Podcast
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
• The Quiet Room

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.

In this episode, we discuss chapters thirty to forty-one of Terry Miles’ Rabbits, consider the fin de siècle pastiche of American culture, muse on the nature of the hollow protagonist, and touch on the genius of Italo Calvino. 

Next week, we end the book with chapters forty-two to forty-five.

Unanswered Questions:

• Is Rabbits a second-generation pastiche on pre-Millennial American culture?
• To what degree is K unreliable as a narrator?
• What happened to Chloe?

Footnotes:

• Rabbits: A Novel (Terry Miles)
• Rabbits Podcast
• The Death of Elisa Lam
• A Theory of Parody (Linda Hutcheon)
• “Why more women identify as sexually fluid than men” (BBC)
• Invisible Cities (Italo Calvino)
• I Fought In A War (Belle and Sebastian)
• Entry #26 (Marble Hornets)
• Zork
• Games By Infocom
• Counterfeit Monkey (Emily Short)
• Gran Parsons
• David Bowie
• The Last Star In Hollywood

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.

In this episode, we discuss chapters seventeen to twenty-nine of Terry Miles’ Rabbits.

This week, we consider K’s role as a narrator and as a protagonist, discuss not one but two possible explanations of what is (metaphysically) going on with Rabbits, flip the script with Chloe, lament the loss of a cinematic classic, and close out the second act. 

Next week, we continue with chapters thirty to forty-one.

Unanswered Questions:

• Does the book sufficiently reassure the reader that the events of the game are not just in K’s head?
• Does the rhythmic, episodic structure of the middle of the novel detract from its impact?
• What are the echoes or reflections between Baron and Sydney? Neil and the Magician? Crow and Scarpio?

Footnotes:

• Rabbits: A Novel (Terry Miles)
• Rabbits Podcast
• Serial
• Richard Linklater
• Space Ace
• Simulation Theory
• Quantum Field Theory
• Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon

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.

In this episode, we discuss chapters four to sixteen of Terry Miles’ Rabbits.

This week, we dive into the murky waters of creepypasta, break down the brilliant narrative trick that makes Rabbits work, remember Frodo atop Amon Hen, make a list of everything that is not everything that is not Rabbits, figure out the surprising timeline and K’s age, and celebrate the ancient, arcane magnificence of computers in the 1980s. 

Next week, we continue with chapters seventeen to twenty-nine.

Unanswered Questions:

• Is there a difference between Rabbits and Connections?
• How is retribution enacted against those players who talk publicly about the game?
• What happened to Baron Corduroy?

Footnotes:

• Rabbits: A Novel (Terry Miles)
• Rabbits Podcast
• Richard Linklater
• Tanis Podcast
• Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence (Adrienne Rich)
• Space Ace
• A Night For Dying Tigers
• Kingfisher Cafe
• Steve Wozniak
• Commodore VIC-20
• Terry Miles’ Rabbits Playlist on Spotify
• The Last Star In Hollywood

Creepypasta Footnotes:

These links should be approached with caution. Content warnings for shocking and upsetting images and descriptions of violence, including violence against children, depression and suicide.

• Jeff the Killer
• The Rake
• The Slender Man
• Candle Cove
• Dead Bart
• SuicideMouse.avi
• Herobrine
• BEN Drowned
• Lavender Town
• Zalgo
• The Backrooms

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.

In this episode, we discuss chapters one to three of Terry Miles’ Rabbits.

This week, we begin our discussion of Rabbits by discussing second-person storytelling, the interaction of games and stories, truth and meaning, and how to navigate our mysterious narrator. 

Next week, we continue with chapters four to sixteen.

Unanswered Questions:

• What is Rabbits? How is the game is played and the purpose does it serve?
• Is there anything to be made of the English idiomatic framework associating descent with movement toward truth?
• Is Alan Scarpio also known as Californiac?

Footnotes:

• Rabbits: A Novel (Terry Miles)
• Rabbits Podcast
• This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming
• Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature
• Hamlet on the Holodeck
• The Digital Antiquarian
• The Portal Alternate Reality Game

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.

In this episode, we discuss C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, chapters fifteen to seventeen.

This week, we end our discussion of the first Narnia book with thoughts on the deep magic, the influence of Jupiter, and the power of things which aren’t real.

Next week, we begin our second unit with everything up to the beginning of chapter four of Terry Miles’ Rabbits.

Unanswered Questions:

Footnotes:

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 & Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a part of Next Word. It is written and produced by Alastair Stephens.

Copyright © 2023 Stars & Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode, we discuss C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, chapters eleven to fourteen.

This week, we approach the end of the novel with thoughts on essentialism, on Aslan’s role within and without the text, and the very masculine nature of Lucy’s healing cordial.

Unanswered Questions:

Footnotes:

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 & Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a part of Next Word. It is written and produced by Alastair Stephens.

Copyright © 2023 Stars & Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode, we discuss C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, chapters six to ten.

This week, we continue our journey through Narnia — albeit more slowly than we had intended! How do we feel about Lumps of Delight? When I say “we”, am I invoking the majestic plural? How do the Pevensie children match up with the X-Men?

Unanswered Questions:

Footnotes:

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 & Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a part of Next Word. It is written and produced by Alastair Stephens.

Copyright © 2023 Stars & Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode, we discuss C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, chapters one to five.

Welcome to Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction! In this episode, we delve into the history of C.S. Lewis’ masterpiece, introduce Foucault’s author-function, and contrast Tumnus and the White Witch, the classic and the modern, three kinds of toast and Turkish delight.

Unanswered Questions:

Footnotes:

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 & Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a part of Next Word. It is written and produced by Alastair Stephens.

Copyright © 2023 Stars & Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction. All Rights Reserved.