The Book Evangelists - Reading and Writing Will Save Us All

Episode 24: NaNoWriMo 2021

The Book Evangelists discuss NaNoWriMo 2021 plus their own novel plans, preparations and community building.

Morning Chatter

What else have you been reading lately? Often, not what I’m supposed to be reading!

Lissa is reading Mickey7 by Edward Ashton (forthcoming, Feb 2022)

Marian is reading Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa

Discussion

Personal preparations for NaNoWriMo

How many years have you started NaNoWriMo? How many years have you won?

How is November NaNo different than Camp NaNo?

How do you approach NaNo differently now than you did when you first started doing it?

How do you approach NaNoPrep traditionally vs this year?

What are we doing this year compared to other years and why might it work or not?

Community building preparations for NaNoWriMo

What are all the things you have done as an ML?

What are the things you have done for other writers?

What are all the things you have done for yourself?

Coming Up

Next episode: Marian and Lissa will be busy writing their novels in November. Obviously. But coming in December, we will report back on our NaNoWriMo adventures. Plus, Marian and Lissa are probably maybe joining and/or starting a new book discussion group which is reading The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells. And also discussing the book here. Because discussing books with friends is AMAZING.

Pssst! Want to See Something Cool?

Marian's first book A Little Touch of Magic is now available! There are fairies. Someone has a tail. Must be a fairytale. Buy it wherever books are sold, especially for the middle grade fantasy readers in your life.

Our Show Notes include mentions and recommendations, all linked for your convenience. What else would you like to see here?

Music Credit: The music used during transitions in our podcast is adapted from: Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/58382 Ft: geoffpeters

In This Episode

The Book Evangelists discuss A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin and The Book of Three: The Chronicles of Prydain, Book 1 by Lloyd Alexander.

Morning Chatter

We discuss book monogamy, DNF (did not finish), and also mention many of the books we have each read since we last chatted about books here.

Lissa’s reads:

The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey

You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P! By Alex Gino

Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers

Marian’s reads:

The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaranovich

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

The Library of the Dead by TL Huchu

The Anthropocene Review by John Green

Children of Ash and Elm

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin

Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth. Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death’s threshold to restore the balance.

The Book of Three: The Chronicles of Prydain #1 by Lloyd Alexander

Taran wanted to be a hero, and looking after a pig wasn’t exactly heroic, even though Hen Wen was an oracular pig. But the day that Hen Wen vanished, Taran was led into an enchanting and perilous world. With his band of followers, he confronted the Horned King and his terrible Cauldron-Born. These were the forces of evil, and only Hen Wen knew the secret of keeping the kingdom of Prydain safe from them. But who would find her first?

Discussion

Both of these are classic books, the first in series, and bildugsromans. Which did you prefer?

Do you think they are similar in form?

Favorite characters? Least favorite character?

Did you use audio or paper?

Is it different to read fantasy as a kid versus only discovering it as an adult? How?

Do you think stories like this transcend the kid/ya/adult labels? Why or why not?

Did you get impatient with either book? Why?

Coming Up

Next episode: Marian and Lissa are joining and/or starting a new book discussion group which is reading The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells. And also discussing the book here. Because discussing books with friends is AMAZING.

Pssst! Want to See Something Cool?

Marian’s first book A Little Touch of Magic is now available! There are fairies. Someone has a tail. Must be a fairytale. Buy it wherever books are sold, especially for the middle grade fantasy readers in your life.

Our Show Notes include mentions and recommendations, all linked for your convenience. What else would you like to see here?

Music Credit: The music used during transitions in our podcast is adapted from: Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/58382 Ft: geoffpeters

In This Episode

The Book Evangelists discuss The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey and a new Masterclass N. K. Jemisin Teaches Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing.

Morning Chatter

• We are not yet discussing Ursula LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea and The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander. But we will.

• Lissa is enjoying Delicious in Dungeon manga with her kid.

• Marian is enjoying Hannah Swensen cozy mystery audiobooks by Joanna Fluke with her kid.

• Marian is reading the graphic novels for Comic Book Club from Roxanne Coble.

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

From goodreads.com

Discussion

James S. A. Corey is the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank. The story started as an RPG.

Worldbuilding in The Expanse series is excellent.

The audiobook versions are excellent.

Because we are at very different parts in the series, the discussion attempts to be completely spoiler-free!

Will we watch the television series? Will we keep reading the series? Will the things we hope will happen for the characters come to fruition?

Other readers who we talk to about science fiction books like and recommend this series - being in a community of readers is pretty awesome.

Here are two options for what I think will happen. Option A and Option B.

Marian

You know how there are all the other letters of the alphabet, C through Z. I feel like that is a spoiler way free to tell you that you are really going to like reading this book to see what happens.

Lissa

N. K. Jemisin Teaches Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing is an amazing Masterclass and also N. K. Jemisin is an amazing writer. We are slightly more eloquent or at least more verbose when we discuss it on the podcast.

Coming Up

Next episode: Marian and Lissa will really, truly, probably, read and discuss two fantasy books written for youth, which Marian read in her youth and Lissa has not read. Yet.

• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin

• The Book of Three The Chronicles of Prydain, Book 1 by Lloyd Alexander

Pssst! Want to See Something Cool?

Marian's first book A Little Touch of Magic is now available! There are fairies. Someone has a tail. Must be a fairytale. Buy it wherever books are sold, especially for the middle grade fantasy readers in your life.

Music Credit: The music used during transitions in our podcast is adapted from: Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/58382 Ft: geoffpeters

The Book Evangelists discuss The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Morning Chatter

We are finally discussing The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz.

Our region of the country is experiencing all of the seasons this week: several inches of late April snow, lovely spring plants flourishing, an upcoming afternoon forecast in the 80s. Cover the tomatoes at night, that’s the plan.

The Splendid and the Vile

On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally–and willing to fight to the end.

In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports–some released only recently–Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.

Discussion Questions

How real is real, even when exhaustively researched?

Does this make you want to keep a detailed diary? How will personal text messages or emails be treated in future memoirs and historical record?

What can we learn as writers from this book? How does this story turn reality into an exciting/interesting narrative that follows the “rules” of fiction?

Why did it take each of us so long to read this book?

Bonus Book in Progress

We are both currently reading The Power of Ritual: How to Create Meaning and Connection in Everything You Do by Casper ter Kuile and bringing some of the sacred reading suggestions into our discussion here.

Reading about other people improves our ability to understand and cooperate with others and ultimately to understand ourselves

Could this book, The Splendid and the Vile, or the original speeches by Churchill, or some of the letters or diaries– be something for a sacred reading/discussion? What would we each want to choose as a sacred text?

Coming Up

Next episode: Marian and Lissa will read and discuss two fantasy books written for youth, which Marian read in her youth and Lissa has not read. Yet.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin

The Book of Three The Chronicles of Prydain, Book 1 by Lloyd Alexander

Pssst! Want to See Something Cool?

Marian’s first book A Little Touch of Magic is now available! There are fairies. Someone has a tail. Must be a fairytale. Buy it wherever books are sold, especially for the middle grade fantasy readers in your life.

Our Show Notes include mentions and recommendations, all linked for your convenience. What else would you like to see here?

Music Credit: The music used during transitions in our podcast is adapted from: Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/58382 Ft: geoffpeters

Episode 20: Why Fish Don’t Exist

In This Episode

The Book Evangelists discuss Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

Morning Chatter

Why aren’t we discussing The Splendid and the Vile yet?

What else have we been reading lately when we were supposed to be reading The Splendid and the Vile?

Reading: Uncharted Territory by Connie Willis, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Why Fish Don’t Exist

A wondrous debut from an extraordinary new voice in nonfiction, Why Fish Don’t Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and—possibly—even murder.

David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake—which sent more than a thousand of his discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life’s work was shattered.

Many might have given up, given in to despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world.

When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a fool—a cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps instead he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet.

Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, Why Fish Don’t Exist reads like a fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.

Quotes

“While other people don’t matter, either, treat them like they do.”

― Lulu Miller, Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

“Slowly, it came into focus. This small web of people keeping one another afloat. All these minuscule interactions- a friendly wave, a pencil sketch, some plastic beads strung up a nylon cord- they might not look like much from the outside, but for the people caught inside that web? They might be everything, the very tethers that keep one bound to this planet.”

― Lulu Miller, Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

Little known fact: If Lissa really loves you, she probably texts you screenshots from this app: Fish: a tap essay by Robin Sloan but if you don’t know her well enough for that yet, download it for yourself!

Cheesecake, from the small web of people keeping one another afloat in Lissa’s life. This podcast is another obviously delicious example.

Coming Up

Next episode: Marian and Lissa read and discuss Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz. For real this time. Not like the previous TWO episodes when we discussed other books after advertising that we would discuss the Erik Larson.

Pssst! Want to See Something Cool?

Marian’s first book A Little Touch of Magic is now available! There are fairies. Someone has a tail. Must be a fairytale. Buy it wherever books are sold, especially for the middle grade fantasy readers in your life.

Our Show Notes include mentions and recommendations, all linked for your convenience.

Music Credit: The music used during transitions in our podcast is adapted from: Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/58382 Ft: geoffpeters

Episode 19: Cozy Mysteries: Reading and Writing

In This Episode: The Book Evangelists discuss reading and writing cozy mysteries.

Morning Chatter

Why aren’t we discussing “The Splendid and the Vile” yet?

What are our hot caffeinated beverages of choice?

Lissa’s Reading Slump is OVER! So MUCH READING! She recently finished

The Roommate by Rosie Danan

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman

Miss Buncle’s Book by D.L. Stevenson

Cozy Mysteries and Writing Craft books

Marian read:

The Christmas Egg by Mary Kelly

Fundraising the Dead by Sheila Connolly

The Art of the English Murder by Lucy Worsley

The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries by Emily Brightwell

Lissa read:

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn

The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn

Murder on the Flying Scotsman by Carola Dunn (past the murder, not to the solving bit yet)

Pies and Prejudice by Ellery Adams (just the opening setup, stopped before a murder)

“How to Outline a Cozy Mystery” workbook by Sara Rosett

Tvtropes.com article on Cozy mysteries

What we discussed:

Could you, would you, write a mystery?

Does the “cozy” aspect make murder more palatable?

Did you notice that cozies predominantly feature female protagonists?

How does one plan and plot and outline a more complicated story when one usually is not a planner?

Free Cat Content

This episode ends with some free cat content, coinciding with our very first SURPRISE PODCAST GUEST. If you like purring, you’ll like this last bit quite a lot!

Coming Up

Next episode: Marian and Lissa read and discuss Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz.

Our Show Notes include mentions and recommendations, all linked for your convenience. What else would you like to see here?

Music Credit: The music used during transitions in our podcast is adapted from: Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/58382 Ft: geoffpeters

Episode 18 In This Episode

The Book Evangelists discuss the NPR’s Best Books of 2020 Book Concierge selections, particularly Books We Wish We Read in 2020

Morning Chatter

Why are we so tired after NaNoWriMo?

Holiday Baking Traditions: candied orange peels, caramels, carrot cookies, briecelets.

Reflecting on our NaNoWriMo2020 experiences: finishing our 50,000 words, story structure, missing writing at in person events, word crawls, what we learned.

What is the NPR Book Concierge?

The Book Concierge is NPR’s annual, interactive, year-end reading guide. Mix and match tags to filter results and find the book that’s perfect for you or someone you love. It's been a year of reading slump. Marian thought this would be a good idea because we could take a look at what we would have read, if we had a good reading year.

Lissa's Books We Wish We Read in 2020

Books Lissa Bought, Read, Loved

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

The Last Emperox by John Scalzi

Every Reason We Shouldn't by Sara Fujimura

Books Lissa Started but Didn’t Finish, Yet

Loathe At First Sight: A Novel Suzanne Park

The Roommate by Rosie Danan

The Glass Hotel: A Novel by Emily St. John Mandel

The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk

Me And White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change The World, And Become A Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad

Books Lissa Has Bought But Not Read, Yet

The City We Became: A Novel by N.K. Jemisin

Harrow The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Weather by Jenny Offill

Books that Look Interesting to Lissa

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Slippery Creatures by KJ Charles

Heart Of Junk: A Novel by Luke Geddes

Interior Chinatown: A Novel by Charles Yu

The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

The Once And Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman

The Journeys Of Trees: A Story About Forests, People, And The Future by Zach St. George

Marian's Book We Wish We Read in 2020

Books Marian Has Bought But Not Read, Yet

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson

The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel

Books that Look Interesting to Marian

A Castle in the Clouds by Kerstin Gier, Translated by Romy Fursland

Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley

Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

A Game of Fox and Squirrels by Jenn Reese

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

The Human Cosmos: Civilization and the Stars by Jo Marchant

Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontes by Isabel Greenberg

The Daughters of Ys by M.T. Anderson Illustrated by Jo Rioux

Coming Up

Next episode: Marian and Lissa read and discuss Erik Larson's The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

Pssst! Want to See Something Cool?

Marian's first book is launching in February 2021 and the preorder link for the ebook is available on Amazon “ A Little Touch of Magic”

Our Show Notes include mentions and recommendations, all linked for your convenience. What else would you like to see here?

Music Credit: The music used during transitions in our podcast is adapted from: Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/58382 Ft: geoffpeters

In This Episode

The Book Evangelists discuss A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.

Morning Chatter

• How can Marian invent a way to keep her new planner cover closed?

• Should everyone buy a comfy gaming chair for their office?

• What is hate reading and were we successful at it with this book?

The description of A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway from goodreads.com:

Hemingway's memories of his life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the twenties are deeply personal, warmly affectionate, and full of wit. Looking back not only at his own much younger self, but also at the other writers who shared Paris with him - James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald - he recalls the time when, poor, happy, and writing in cafes, he discovered his vocation. Written during the last years of Hemingway's life, his memoir is a lively and powerful reflection of his genius that scintillates with the romance of the city.

Discussion

Hemingway accidentally forgot to include that he was living in Paris because of Hadley's inheritance money.

“He liked the works of his friends, which is beautiful as loyalty but can be disastrous as judgement” Hemingway, writing about Ezra Pound

“Forgive you for what? Always talk about it or about anything. Don’t you know all writers ever talk about is their troubles?” Hemingway, describing encouragement from Sylvia Beach

It paints a really good picture of what it is like to be someone who is struggling to find their own voice and grow in their craft.

“I wrote it and left it out.” - the end of his first marriage is not part of this book.

“...my new theory that you could omit anything if you knew that you omitted it and the omitted part would strengthen the story and make people feel something more than they understood.” Hemingway on leaving out a man's death from the end of a story

Hemingway and Fitzgerald - WOW, so much gossip in this book! We share our best theories on the scene between Hemingway and Fitzgerald comparing personal body parts and studying the statues at the Louvre. Does Hemingway find Fitzgerald attractive? Is Hemingway mentoring Fitzgerald? Why did Hemingway hate Zelda so much?

NaNoWriMo 2020

As we move through #nanoprep season, we start thinking about our potential November projects. We are both posting on Instagram as part of #instawrimo. Lissa recently filled out several of the plot outline worksheets from NaNo Prep101 while her kid set timers and made her finish each one in 10 minutes. Highly recommended technique for exploring your ideas, quickly!

Marian was considering writing literary fiction based on A Moveable Feast but tabled that story because it isn't the book she wants to write right now. Marian is preparing to write historical fantasy. She is preparing by creating a notebook of interesting ephemera and inspiration.

Lissa is preparing to write something like "librarian-ish on a spaceship-ish on a journey-ish" and is now pondering writing the story in the episodic memoir style of A Moveable Feast, just like Hemingway (only nothing like Hemingway.)

"Okay, but now I just thought of a new idea for my novel."

Lissa

How do you get your main character's voice in your head? How do you get to know that person? What will our stories become? Will we write the stories we are planning? Will we write 50,000 words in 30 days?

Did we mention? You should write a novel this November: https://nanowrimo.org/

Coming Up

Next episode: Marian and Lissa reveal the amazing and interesting stories behind the stories of how their writing projects and experiences with NaNoWriMo 2020 progressed toward victory! Maybe. Probably. We hope.

Music Credit: The music used during transitions in our podcast is adapted from: Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/58382 Ft: geoffpeters

The Book Evangelists discuss Old Man’s War and Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi.

Morning Chatter

Marian is reviewing possible cover designs for her forthcoming book! February 2021. She's reading many many books about hygge and evaluating everything around her for its hygge qualities. Hygge is a quality of coziness and contentment, from merriam-webster.com.

Lissa is thinking about possibilities for her recent Leadership Coach Intensive for fiction writing. She's reading The Monsters Know What They're Doingg: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters by Keith Ammann which is informing her fiction writing character development, as well as improving her ability to roleplay a half dozen kobolds simultaneously while gaming with her kids.

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi

Discussion

Old Man's War was Marian's first John Scalzi book. The Goodreads blurb is the setup for the story, but it can't tell you more without ruining it.

• Would you sign up and leave earth forever?

• What makes us who we are? Bodies? Feelings? Experiences? Memories? Relationships?

Everything else we talked about was spoilers!

• What does sci fi let us talk about, themes or situations, that contemporary fiction doesn’t let us talk about quite as easily or with as much page-turning entertaining fun?

• Agent to the Stars was Scalzi’s “practice book”. Do you think practice books are a thing?

• Is Agent to the Stars like other books he has written or is Old Man’s War more typical?

• What are the big themes in John Scalzi books? How does he put several big societal themes and puts them in popular genre science fiction and make it so fun but leave you thinking?

• What John Scalzi books are the best? (All of them.)

• How does John Scalzi present himself on twitter or his blog versus his fiction?

NaNoWriMo 2020

As we move into #nanoprep season, we start thinking about our potential November projects, reflect on how different and also the same all-virtual NaNoWriMo could be, and look forward to #instawrimo beginning on Instagram in September 2020.

Coming Up

Next episode: Marian and Lissa attempt to "Hate Read" A Moveable Feast (the 2009 edition) by Ernest Hemingway, which is to take pleasure in laughing at or criticizing according to merriam-webster.com. We will read and discuss Hemingway's life in Paris in the 1920s, discussing him personally and also learn from his writing. We remain somewhat open to being wrong about choosing this book for hate-reading, but we look forward to this experiment in how to hate-read and why you should try it.

Our Show Notes include mentions and recommendations, all linked for your convenience. What else would you like to see here?

Music Credit: The music used during transitions in our podcast is adapted from: Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/58382 Ft: geoffpeters

In This Episode

The Book Evangelists discuss The Time Machine by H. G. Wells and share our attempts to adapt a public domain work into a new story.

Morning Chatter

Lissa left her house on the same summer vacation she planned months ago. Marian is finishing edits on her book! (And her reward will be even more edits on another project!)

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

Discussion

The Time Machine: Problems and Pleasures of reading Classic Literature

• What do we think about the Eloi and the Morlocks and Weena?

• If you were imagining a utopia, what would it look like? Can there even be a utopia?

• Using a frame story, two first person narrators, a narrator who is removed from the action

• What’s with that ending? What do we think happened to The Time Traveler?

Challenge: Reimagining Classic Works

How did we decide to do this again? Lissa was trying to fulfill a writing dare to write fanfiction. And wondered if reimagining classic works is a kind of fanfiction. Ultimately she wrote a short story imagining Kirsten Cohen (the mom from the early 2000's television drama The O.C.) in 2020 awaiting the birth of her first grandchild during the pandemic and racial justice protests.

Is reimagining a story more fun to write? Easier? More challenging?

What makes it more fun for the reader? Do readers like the puzzle to see what they recognize from the original? To see what the author has changed? The familiarity with the original concept?

Reimagining of classic public domain stories can be published, unlike fanfiction based on current characters.

New Podcast Segment: Bad Idea Corner and/or Slush Pile

It's amazing to think about and imagine stories we don't ever have to write.

Lissa's reimagining of Treasure Island as a Modern Middle Grades Coming of Age story.

Jemma Hawkins lives with her mom in a struggling Bed and Breakfast, and across town her father runs a pirate themed miniature golf and go-cart destination. Jemma rarely sees her father, but after a mysterious visitor arrives, her mother encourages her to spend the summer at mini golf. As Jemma gets to know her father better, she uncovers a mystery based in her parents' past, including the slightly creepy place they met, a large amusement park called Treasure Island.

Marian's reimagining of The Great Gatsby in Space.

The glittering city of Agorith has long been a playground both for the established aristocracy of the galaxy and those who seek to join them.

Kase, the ambitious son of prosperous but provincial merchants, has arrived in the city looking to make his fortune. Using his family connections, he has managed to secure small quarters that overlook the truly fabulous homes of the rich. His neighbors fascinate him, especially one who seems to exist more in rumor than in flesh, Harlin.

Coming Up

Next episode: Marian and Lissa read Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. Lissa discovered John Scalzi by way of Wil Wheaton narrating the audiobook of Ready Player One almost a decade ago. This led her to Redshirts, which turned into reading (listening to) almost all of Scalzi's fiction.

Our Show Notes include mentions and recommendations, all linked for your convenience. What else would you like to see here?

Music Credit: The music used during transitions in our podcast is adapted from: Jazzy Sax, Guitar, and Organ at the club by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/58382 Ft: geoffpeters