The Boiled Leather Audio Hour

We’re analyzing the new sample chapter from The Winds of Winter available at GeorgeRRMartin.com this week, and it’s all about Arianne Martell! In this episode of BLAH, Sean & Stefan investigate the latest sneak preview of the next volume of A Song of Ice and Fire, which Martin has previously read aloud at live appearances, as it takes us further into the future adventures of the Princess of Dorne. What do her discoveries tell us about Aegon and Jon Connington’s invasion? What do they portend for the South now that it’s torn between so many rival forces: Lannister, Tyrell, Faith Militant, Martell, the Golden Company, potential Targaryen loyalists, and who knows what else? And what do they teach us about Arianne herself? In just under half an hour we tackle everything from the likely condition of the Seven Kingdoms when the Others invade to whether or not releasing this chapter was a subtweet of the show’s handling of Dorne and more. Enjoy! Download Episode 48 Additional links: The Arianne sample chapter at GeorgeRRMartin.com. Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour Our PayPal donation page (also accessible via boiledleather.com) Mirror. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

What impact did the Blackfyre Rebellion have on the characters of A Song of Ice and Fire’s view of bastards? What impact might the Blackfyre Rebellion have had on our understanding of those views, had these civil wars of succession been introduced earlier in the series? What role will they play now that they’ve entered the story in a relatively big way, via “Young Griff” and Varys, The World of Ice and Fire, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms? They’re good questions – so good, in fact, that we didn’t think them up ourselves at all. This episode, we’re tackling a topic specifically chosen for us by Rosie Gleeson of Dublin, Ireland, our first Patreon subscriber to donate at the $50 a month level. This earns her an episode of her own choosing, and so at her request we’ll be delving into the Blackfyres, bastardry, and both the in-story and meta reasons for Martin’s treatment of both. Thank you so much for your generosity, Rosie! And if any of you other listeners would like that kind of clout – or would care to pitch it at any level at all – our Patreon page is still accepting donations to make this a better podcast. Thanks for listening, and for supporting us any way you choose! (Moral support counts.) Download Episode 47 Additional links: Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour Our PayPal donation page (also accessible via boiledleather.com) Mirror. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

We’re going back to the future with part two of our all-predictions podcast series on The Winds of Winter! This time around we’re traveling to Essos to speculate as to what Volume Six of A Song of Ice and Fire has in store for our old friends, from Braavos to Meereen. What fate will befall the five POV characters currently located east of Westeros—Arya, Barristan, Victarion, Tyrion, and Daenerys? What about supporting players like Jorah Mormont, Moqorro, and Marwyn the Mage? (Forgot about him, didn’t you?) Then, of course, there’s the matter of the dragons to consider, and consider them we do. It winds up being a wide-ranging discussion of lands near and far, futures immediate and distant. Guess along with us! This episode also features an update on our fundraisers, both our emergency PayPal fund to help fix Sean’s broken laptop and our Patreon drive, where your monthly subscription/donation can help guarantee more episodes, better sound quality, topics of your choosing, and more. We greatly appreciate all our donors and patrons so far, and if you think the podcast’s worth a few bucks a month, we’d be so grateful for you to join their ranks! Download Episode 46 Additional links: Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour Our PayPal donation page (also accessible via boiledleather.com) Mirror. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

If fools rush in where angels fear to tread, then we’re about to pull a Patchface: We’re foolishly forecasting the events of The Winds of Winter in our new episode! The start of a series, this installment sees us attempting to predict what’s in store for the North in volume six of A Song of Ice and Fire. What fate awaits our POV characters—Bran, Davos, Melisandre, Asha, Theon, and of course Jon Snow? How will things shake out for supporting characters like Rickon, Osha, Hodor, Tormund Giantsbane, Wyman Manderly, the Reeds, and the Boltons? What will happen at Hardhome, Winterfell, the Wall? Like everyone who isn’t George R.R. Martin, we have no freaking idea, but it’s fun to guess, and our best guesses await! (NOTE: We do refer on occasion to the TWoW preview chapters Martin has published or read aloud, so be warned!) But wait, there’s more! This episode also includes the formal announcement of two new fundraising drives for the podcast. The first is our new Patreon page, where you can pledge to pitch in a few dollars a month to help keep the podcast running. The podcast will always be free, but even a little money per month will make it easier for us to record more frequently and with better equipment. There are also some cool goals and rewards, so please check it out! Our second fundraiser involves a more urgent concern: Sean’s laptop screen was recently shattered in a mishap involving his kids’ Wii controllers, and replacing it is an expensive proposition on a fulltime-freelancer’s salary. So we’re opening the coffers at our PayPal donation page. A one-time donation of any amount will help Sean revive the computer he uses to work and record—a real necessity. Again, any amount helps. Thank you so much for your generosity, and enjoy the episode! Download Episode 45 Additional links: Our Patreon page at patreon.com/boiledleatheraudiohour Our PayPal donation page (also accessible via boiledleather.com) Mirror. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

Prepare for a guided tour of The World of Ice and Fire! The co-authors of George R.R. Martin’s ambitious sourcebook for A Song of Ice and Fire — and longtime friends of the podcast — Elio M. García, Jr. and Linda Antonsson join us to talk about the book, which hit stores in time for the holiday season one year ago. Beginning with a look back over TWoIaF’s reception over the past year, our chat ranges from a discussion of fanfiction to the influence of Lovecraft and Howard; the way using in-world maesters as narrators shaped the writing; the material left on the cutting room floor to avoid spoiling future stories—and the stuff inserted to lay the groundwork for them; and, of course, what’s up with the Deep Ones. And we close with the big question: Are there future collaborations on the history of the setting in store? Download Episode 44 Additional links: Mirror. Our first episode on the book. Our roundtable discussion of it with Steven Attewell and Amin Javadi. Sean’s Rolling Stone piece on the book. Sean’s essay on the Deep Ones. Stefan’s Tower of the Hand piece on the book. George, Elio, and Linda’s promotional appearance in Stockholm. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Sean and Stefan discuss the new Star Wars movie! Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Jedi mind tricked us into dedicating this episode of our A Song of Ice and Fire podcast to an entirely different fantasy franchise. How did the film fit in with larger saga? How did J.J. Abrams’s direction differ from George Lucas’s? Is Rey a Mary Sue, and if so, how does that impact the film? What the hell was up with Starkiller Base? We answer all these questions and more, including a discussion of the film’s cinematography, the performances of its actors, the pros and cons of the characters, and even a few connections to the world of Westeros. I’ve got a good feeling about this… Download Episode 43 Additional links: Mirror. Stefan’s review of the movie. Tasha Robinson’s essay on Rey. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

We’re traveling from Westeros to Nazi Germany in this unusual—and, to us, urgent—episode of the Boiled Leather Audio Hour. Why are we venturing so far afield from our usual topics of discussion and debate? Because we’ve always believed that A Song of Ice and Fire, like life itself, is best viewed through an unsparing ethical and historical lens. Lately, however, that lens has been clouded. In recent weeks, numerous right-wing politicians—most notably Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson and his supporters in the United States—have distorted and repurposed the rise of Adolf Hitler and the roots of the Holocaust to suit their preexisting positions. Astonishingly, in the day since this podcast was recorded, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed suit. We believe this to be an act of tremendous disrespect for the dead, one that also does a grave disservice to the living. Given our personal and professional interests in this pivotal epoch in history, which have shaped our interaction with ASoIaF in ways large and small, we decided to explore the era’s real lessons as best we could. What role did privately held weaponry and paramilitary organizations actually play both in the Nazi Party’s ascent to power and the resistance against it? How should we view Europe’s failure to act in the face of Hitler’s belligerence, and Germany’s failure to capitulate in the face of certain defeat? What parallels can be drawn between the forces that fueled the war Hitler ignited and those at play in Westeros and Essos? What makes World War II different enough from other conflicts for the likes of Vietnam-era conscientious objector George R.R. Martin to say it was worth fighting? Is there such a thing as a “good war” at all? In this experiment of an episode, we try to answer those questions. Two notes before we proceed: 1) We are deeply indebted to the work of the historians Ian Kershaw and Richard J. Evans, particularly Kershaw’s two-volume Hitler biography and Evans’s Third Reich trilogy.  2) On a much lighter note, this episode (hopefully—with iTunes, god only knows) marks the debut of our brand new logo, created by Sean’s partner, Julia Gfrörer. We are in her debt. Download Episode 42 Additional links: Mirror. The work of Ian Kershaw. The work of Richard J. Evans. All Leather Must Be Boiled’s Ian Kershaw tag. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History series on the Eastern Front. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

We’re comparing two of the biggest shows on television in this episode of the Boiled Leather Audio Hour. One of them is an adaptation of a popular staple of nerd culture—a genre work that had only appeared in print before—which has translated its bleak themes, wide scope, and controversial use of violence into a modern-day ratings blockbuster. The other is Game of Thrones. That’s right—the BLAH Boys are taking on The Walking Dead, and its current spinoff Fear the Walking Dead, by contrasting the shows and their source material to Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire. How does their treatment of violence in an unforgiving world of real and supernatural menace differ? What do the relationships between the original works by George R.R. Martin, Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard and their adaptations by David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and AMC’s land of a thousand showrunners reveal about their respective ideas, ideals, aesthetics, and ethics? Which shows really deserve our moral outrage, and why? We’ll be examining all these questions and more. And one of us, at least, will be getting really freaking worked up. Enjoy! Download Episode 41 Mirror. Sean on the Fear the Walking Dead pilot. Sean on the most recent Fear the Walking Dead episode. Sean on The Walking Dead. Stefan on The Walking Dead. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

It’s ladies’ night once again for the Boiled Leather Audio Hour! We’re resuming our irregular series on the women of Westeros after over two years for an episode on a bunch of characters who break the world of Ice and Fire’s gender mold: Arya Stark, Lyanna Stark, the Sand Snakes, Arianne Martell, and Ygritte. Our topics of discussion are as diverse and varied as the women themselves: why Arya is too complex for the hero, victim, or monster labels; how Lyanna’s larger-than-life reputation suits her potential prophetic destiny; the Sand Snakes as Dorne’s answer to the #CarefreeBlackGirls movement-cum-meme; what Arianne has in common with another rebellious scion of a dynasty, Jaime Lannister; how seeing Ygritte exclusively through the eyes of the man who loves her shapes our experience; the true meaning of “strong female character”; and much more. Drop your Needle on that mp3 and tune in!  Download Episode 40 Additional links: Mirror. The “Women of Westeros” series. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.

Discussing “The Dance of Dragons” and Other Elements of Late Season Five “Game of Thrones"  We’re back, and we’ve got a burning desire to discuss Stannis, Shireen, and the controversial scene that dominated the conversation around "The Dance of Dragons,” Game of Thrones Season Five’s penultimate episode! This time out, Stefan and I tackle what the Mannis’s heel turn really means for the character, the adaptation, the fandom and more. We also take a quick tour of the disappointments of Dorne, gaze into the fires and give you our predictions for the season finale (including a theory from Sean that’s either bold or batshit), and address the very nature of criticism itself. All in a tight 32 minutes and 32 seconds! Download Episode 39 Additional links: Mirror. Sean’s review of the episode. Stefan’s review of the episode. George R.R. Martin recommends Boiled Leather for your fighting about GoT needs. Sean’s piece on the four worst types of TV critics. James Poniewozik’s essay on tapping out of extreme art. “Bells for Her” by Tori Amos. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.