The Boiled Leather Audio Hour

Tyrion II, you ask befuddled? Did I miss Tyrion I? You did not. For reasons we explain in this podast. Don’t worry, it will all become clear in a moment.  But on to the topic! This episode is not about whether Tyrion is a bully or a bad person or whether misogynistic violence really is the best outlet for your own insecurities. It’s really about ethics in mercenary companies.  Find the chapter here and Tyrion I here…or what we have of it.  Download the episode! Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour. Torrent Our iTunes page. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. Stefan’s blog. Sean on Twitter.

We’re on the home stretch! Today, in our series on the TWOW sample chapters, Sean and I look at not one but two Barristan chapters! Download the episode! Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour. Torrent Our iTunes page. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. Stefan’s blog. Sean on Twitter.

We’re taking a break from the usual light-hearted discussions like the one about atrocities and war crimes and go topical: amidst the Corona pandemic, we’re talking about plague and disease in Westeros and our own middle ages. You know, just to take your mind off things. Among the undeniable health risks, we also discuss why plagues generally don’t make for good storytelling and how GRRM employs them. Download the episode! Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour. Torrent Our iTunes page. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. Steven’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

When Tywin tried to legitimize the Red Wedding to Tyrion, he hyperbolically asked whether it was worse to kill a dozen at dinner than thousands in battle. Tyrion doesn’t have a good retort, so I turned to my trusted colleague Jim McGeehin to get a grip on this issue - and the role of atrocities and war crimes in the story in general, while we were at it. Download the episode! Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour. Torrent Our iTunes page. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. Stefan’s blog. Jim’s blog Jim on Twitter.

Is there some foreshadowing going on? Will someone die? Is this “A Song of Ice and Fire”? We can answer all of these in affirmative as we take on “Arianne II”, chewing happily through our series analyzing all the preview chapters of TWOW. Follow us through the Rainwood as we accompany Arianne and her merry band not going to their doom at all as she is only trying to find out whether her beloved brother has landed with three dragons and the Golden Company. That was her father’s plan, after all, and Doran’s conspiracies NEVER fail. Download the episode! Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour. Torrent Our iTunes page. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. Stefan’s blog. Sean on Twitter.

We delve into Arianne I, the next on our list of sample chapters. It’s “A Game of Forebodings”, a chapter choke-full of predictions, prophecies, foreboding and foreshadowing. And it’s not even a  Dany chapter! Rather, the point of reference is Sansa, as you will discover when you listen to this episode of the dynamic duo!   Download the episode! Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour. Torrent Our iTunes page. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. Steven’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

One of our beloved Patreons, going by the awe-inspiring alias of ABCD1234 (sorry, I can’t let a name like that stand without at least some sniping ;)) asked me a question about the financing of the Iron Bank and Marxist thought as an inspiration for narrative analysis. Neither of these is my field of expertise, so I happily obliged. Just kidding! Of course I got reinforcements. I asked known expert on the topic Steven Attewell to help me out in answering the questions, and then some. We discuss socialism and communism, in theory as well as in practicality, and how they help us understand Westeros and Essos. Or, more likely, fail to do so.  But the real meat of the episode is with the question of what constitutes the economic and political might of Braavos, and why they are financing wars like Stannis’. What do they gain? And what has Stannis in common with Obama? So many questions, so many answers! Download the episode! Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour. Torrent Our iTunes page. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. Steven’s blog.  Stefan’s blog.

It’s been some time since the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, one of the most important TV series of our time, ended its four-season-run. Time enough to invite back Bret Devereaux, with whom I did a great episode on historical realism in GOT half a year ago. Since he wrote about ship design in BSG on his great and recommended blog, he was the perfect guest to cover that topic.  Fittingly, we first talk about the ships in depth. As usual in this podcast, storytelling necessities play a huge role in our discussion. From there, we move on to the politics of BSG, which was - and, maybe, remains - a very topical show, and we round out the discussion with a look at religion. After that, we meet for a (figurative) beer to discuss its intellectual predecessors, Deep Space 9 and Babylon 5. Hope you have as much fun as we did!  Download the episode! Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour. Torrent Our iTunes page. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. Bret’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

Welcome back on our regular circuit, where we talk about all the published sample chapters! This time, we tackle Sansa’s first TWOW chapter, Alayne I. Tackling gives you the right idea, since it’s all about a tourney. Or is it?  We discuss the themes, the implications and the heavy plot developments in a chapter that’s as juicy as anything Martin has ever written and that sees the little bird coming into her own as a bird of prey.  Download the episode! Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour. Torrent Our iTunes page. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. Stefan’s blog. Sean on Twitter.

It’s the time of second parters! After I came back to the long promised second episode about the Elections of Ice and Fire with Marcus A. Roberts, it was time to revisit the legal system of Planetos this month. No one could be better suited than Clint Woods, aka Laws of Ice and Fire, to undertake this task.  After tackling Westeros in part 1, we’re looking into Essos this time around. From the state of the lawyerly profession in Braavos to the legal stratification of Pentos and Volantis, we move over to Slaver’s Bay and close our rountrip by discussing the rule of law on Vaes Dothrak - or whatever they do there.  But we’re not stopping yet! From here, we return to Westeros and take a look at the past, making this the mirror episode to the more election-heavy look of the Great Councils. Here, we tackle the thorny legal issues. Come for the lore, stay for the cases! Download the episode! Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour. Torrent Our iTunes page. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. Stefan’s blog. Clint Woods on Twitter