Terry Talks Fiction

Murder-poet extraordinaire Anthony O'Connor joins us for some bloody grouse mouth-gear about dystopias, the Aussie Spirit, why we all love a little battler, and the world he crafted in his mellifluous debut novel 'Straya'.

I did a review of the book in a previous podcast (TTF38), and you can grab your own copy of 'Straya' here or here. For more great content from Anthony, including live readings of the novel itself (once you hear the Noble and Poetic 'Strayan' language spoken, you'll never go back) you can check out his website and Facebook Page.

And once you've checked that out, you can continue the conversation over on the Talking Fiction Discord Server! I'll be on there a bit over the coming weeks as I finish pulling together the final edits for my second Short Story Collection, Tales of Magic and Miasma, and very keen to have a chat about Straya, the 22 Murders of Madison May, or anything that you're watching/reading/gaming at the moment!

Talk soon,

Terry.

The world's in tatters, so it's time to get tatted and go punch some demons! With the imminent release of Peter V Brett's new series set 15 years after the end of his best-selling Demon Cycle, it's time to take a retrospective look over the best and worst parts of the series to date!

But this is just the start of the conversation - you can reach out to me on Twitter, Facebook or Discord and get chatting about the series and what you hope to see next for Jardir, Leesha, Renna and their kids.

Intro/outro music for this episode is 'Elevators Need Rock Too' by Spence, courtesy of the YouTube Audio Library.

It's the future, and things are right bloody farked, mate. Muties and junkies roam the suburbs of New Sydney that have subsided into the downlow, and if anything happens to the NanoCorp-run drones that are shading the cits from deadly rays of ozone-free sunlight, then we're all gonna cark it. Lucky for Franga; mutie, aspiring murder-poet and all-round top bloke, that doesn't seem likely to happen. And there certainly couldn't be anything worse than that to worry about... right? 

Today we're talking about 'Straya' by Anthony O'Connor — possibly one of the most lyrical debut novels I've ever read. Certainly the one with the most creative (and frequent) use of the word 'Cunce'. Bloody grouse.

If you're looking to snatch a copy of this paperyback, you can find it in all good digital bookshops. Like this one! Or this one! And once you've read it, hop along to the Talking Fiction Discord Server and tell us what you thought.

Talk soon!

Intro/outro music for this episode is 'Elevators Need Rock Too' by Spence, courtesy of the YouTube Audio Library.

Get ready to dip your hands in molten gold and armour yourself with your own immortal blood - we're looking at Namina Forna's powerfully feminist YA novel 'The Gilded Ones'. Will this story of *literally* smashing the patriarchy be worth your time? Or should it be subjected to its Final Death? 

Once you've heard what I have to say on it, hop along to the Talking Fiction Discord server to have your say too! I'd love to continue the conversation with you :-)

And if you'd like to hear the chat I had about this book with Harper Collins (HQ) romance novelist Belinda Missen, you can find the 'Science, Sex and Sorcery' (S3) podcast here. We take it in turns each episode to recommend an SFF or Romance book to each other, then read and review it. We also tend to have some WILDLY diverging opinions on our books, so it's always a fun time! The Gilded Ones episode should be out in about a week from TTF37's release date :-)

Talk soon!

Intro/outro music for this episode is 'Elevators Need Rock Too' by Spence, courtesy of the YouTube Audio Library.

Try to keep a hold of your eyeballs (and don't take the train) while you're listening to my review of Amazon TV's comic-to-screen adaptation of Image Comics' 'Invincible!' What did you think of this dark look at the horror of having someone with unchecked—and uncheckable—power living among us?

Hop on over to the Talking Fiction Discord server and continue the conversation!

Intro/outro music for this episode is 'Elevators Need Rock Too' by Spence, courtesy of the YouTube Audio Library.

Plug yourself into the OASIS, players, and hop aboard your flying DeLorean so we can save Frodo from the Purple Rain on Prince's BattleRock Planet—we're reviewing Ernest Cline's sequel to the blockbuster novel and movie 'Ready Player One'!

Once you've heard what the podcast has to say, you can continue the conversation on the Talking Fiction Discord Server or Twitter!

Talk soon.

Intro/outro music for this episode is 'Elevators Need Rock Too' by Spence, courtesy of the YouTube Audio Library.

If you're a fan of Hollow Knight or Metroidvanias in general, then hit us up on the Discord server and we can talk about the knight, contextual exploration of a ruined kingdom, whether the Radiance could technically count as The Mummy's Curse, and we can all whinge together about the wait for Silksong. And if you've never tried one, like I hadn't, then let us know if this has excited you to try it out! (after all, it's free to play if you have XBox GamePass)

And if you get a moment to leave a rating/comment for the podcast on iTunes, then that would also be appreciated! Every little bit helps!!

Talk soon.

Intro/outro music for this episode is 'Elevators Need Rock Too' by Spence, courtesy of the YouTube Audio Library.

Why does this Aussie care so much about who hefts the red, white and blue shield? And what is it about the Disney+ Marvel series 'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' that MADE me care like never before? Grab on to your frenemies and find out in my review of the series.

If you're as rearing to talk about the series, then hit us up on the Discord server and we can talk about how EXtRA Zemo is, how unsurprising and very comic-book Sharon ended up being, and Sam's Speech (you know the one). I can't wait to chat!

And if you get a moment to rate/comment on iTunes, then that would also be appreciated! Every little bit helps!!

Talk soon.

Intro/outro music for this episode is 'Elevators Need Rock Too' by Spence, courtesy of the YouTube Audio Library.

It took a while, but we got there! Coming straight out of the gate after the school holidays (who knew having three kids in the house all day would be so exhausting *and* noisy!?) with a no-spoilers review of Brandon Sanderson's latest puppy-killer*, 'Rhythm of War'.

This is one that I REALLY want to sink into spoilers on, so if you're into that then hit us up on the Discord server and we can go into it AT LENGTH, lol. Especially that ending. Holy gee, that ending.

And if you get a moment to rate/comment on iTunes, then that would also be appreciated! Every little bit helps!!

Talk soon.

Intro/outro music for this episode is 'Elevators Need Rock Too' by Spence, courtesy of the YouTube Audio Library.

*Sanderson commonly refers to his books as 'puppy-' or 'chihuahua-killers' because he recognises his books are SO DAMN BIG** that you definitely wouldn't want to accidentally drop one on a small dog...

**In one of his podcasts, he also mentioned the only reason the Stormlight Archive book 'Oathbringer' was edited down to the final length it was, was because if it had any more pages then the machines at the printers would have been physically incapable of actually producing it, so this is definitely a pattern of behaviour, seriously, please, Brandon, I have other things I need to do.

You've heard us talking it up, now see what all the fuss was about! You can grab your copy of 'Fractured', here.

And you can find Shay and all of her relevant links at www.shaysiegel.com

And while you're in a clicking mood, head on over to Terry Talks Fiction and continue the conversation on the Discord Server and the Facebook Page!

Talk again soon :-)