Three Hoarsemen

John E. O. Stevens, Fred Kiesche and Jeff Patterson decided to get away from the Dog Days of August in the northeast United States and amble down to Australia* for some winter weather. While there they met up with Alisa Krasnostein, wearer of many hats (Ph.D. candidate, publisher with Twelfth Planet Press, podcaster with Galactic Suburbia). They discuss education, the doctoral process, publishing, podcasting, and (through a lucky coincidence) get into an extended discussion of James Tiptree, Jr. and the upcoming 100th birthday tribute book. By the end of the episode everybody has spent money and changed their reading plans going forward. More Tiptree! Why aren’t we celebrating the anniversary with more events?

*No Hoarsemen actually went to Australia.

Hosts Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens, and Jeff Patterson with Alisa Krasnostein.

Show Notes Turned Upside Down

Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories, edited by Alisa Kransostein and Julia Rios

Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, by James Tiptree, Jr.

James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of ALice B. Sheldon, by Julie Phillips

Brightness Falls from the Air, by James Tiptree, Jr.

Meet Me at Infinity, by James Tiptree, Jr.

A Borrowed Man, by Gene Wolfe

Absolute Transmetropolitan Volume 1, by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson

Puss in D.C. and Ohter Stories, by Pamela Sargent

A, B, C: Three Short Novels, by Samuel R. Delany

And Yes, More Show Notes:

2015: The Year in Books

2015: The Year in Shorts

John on the Readercon Dhalgren panel

Letters to Tiptree

Galactic Suburbia

Galactic Suburbia on James Tiptree, Jr.

Cracklescape, by Margo Lanagan

As the New Horizons probe hurtles past Pluto in the dark beyond, a con-crud-stricken John E. O. Stevens regales Fred Kiesche and Jeff Patterson with his adventures at Readercon. Then attentions turn to special guest Hoarsewoman Stina Leicht (on book release day, no less) to talk about her new novel Cold Iron.

The discussion includes forty years of Dhalgren, writing protocols, book budgets, historical baggage, the bookstore landscape, eels, and our relationship with violence.

As always, The Hoarsemen recount the books, comics, podcasts, and television that have occupied their free time.

Hosts Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens, and Jeff Patterson with Stina Leicht.

Show Notes:

Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany

How to Travel with a Salmon & Other Essays, by Umberto Eco

Cunning Plans, by Warren Ellis

Swords of Sorrow: Dejah horis & Irene Adler, by Leah Moore & Francesco Manna

Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome, by Patrick Faas

Alien Child, by Pamela Sargent

The Humanoids, by Jack Williamson

Lagoon, by Nnedi Okorafor

Three Moments of an Explosion, by China Mieville

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois

Lando, by Charles Soule and Alex Maleev

Yet More Show Notes:

2015: The Year in Books

2015: The Year in Shorts

Laura Kiesche: Night Vale Intern!

John at Readercon: The Dhalgren at 40 Panel

Jo Walton: Samuel Delany’s SF Reading Protocols

Swords of Sorrow

Hellboy/B.P.R.D.

Schlock Mercenary

It’s hard to believe it has been nearly a year since The Three Hoarsemen met in meatspace in a hidden sanitarium in upstate New York shortly after John Stevens received his cybernetic upgrades. For this episode, your hosts battle the gremlins of scheduling and meet in cyberspace along the same line of longitude but at differing latitudes. With Jeff Patterson melting from the insides in the south, Fred Kiesche battling conga line dancing viruses in the middle and John Stevens working his way through the stacks in the north we take pause…

…and bring you our nearly most epic episode to date (at least in terms of sheer running time or time that it took John to pause to take a breath). You want rambling? You got rambling! From a breakdown of the works nominated in nearly all the categories of this year’s Hugo’s covered by John Stevens we segue to a discussion about reading and self-education by Fred Kiesche. Jeff Patterson attempts to unravel the tangled mysteries of Marvel’s Secret Wars. We conclude with our usual (snicker) brief look at what culture we have consumed since our last episode (as usual, The Hoarsemen are not to be held responsible for any damage to your wallet!).

Imagine how long the episode would have been if we had had our scheduled guest! Not to worry, she or he will be on in the future and we’re lining up many more folks to browbeatóerrróconverse with into next year!

Hosts Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens, and Jeff Patterson.

Show Notes!

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Bryson

Searchers After Horror: New Tales of the Weird and Fantastic, edited by S.T. Joshi

Vast: Book 3 of the Nanotech Succession

Where the Bodies Were Buried: Whitey Bulger and the World That Made Him, by T.J. English

The History of African Cities South of the Sahara, by Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch (Mary Baker, Translator)

Valor in Vietnam: Chronicles of Honor, Courgae and Sacrifice, 1963-1977, by Allen B. Clark

Wasteland: The Apocalyptic Edition (Volume 1), by Antony Johnston, Christopher J. Mitten and Ben Templesmith

Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men: Black Vortex, by Divers Hands (Marvel)

Imperial Racch 2: Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie

And Even More Show Notes!

2015: The Year in Books

2015: The Year in Shorts

Marvel’s Secret Wars (2015)

Nonplayer, by Nate Simpson

Nameless, by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham

Chronoauts 1, Mark Millar, Sean Gordon Murphy and Matt Hollingsworth

Deep State Volume 1, by Justin Jordan

The Fuse Volume 1: The Russian Shift, by Antony Johnston and Justin Greenwood

The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast

Trailer for “The Martian”

Goodbye to Earth Video (from “The Martian)

SFF Reviews

Sam Weller’s Listen to the Echoes

As the heat builds, and clouds of pollen choke the skies, John E. O. Stevens, Fred Kiesche and Jeff Patterson find themselves of a mood to stare at the pretty pictures gracing the jackets and e-files of books and ponder how they came to be. To that end they have hobbled across the simmering landscape to seek out Irene Gallo, art director at Tor Books and Tor.com, to enlighten them on the process.

The discussion encompasses the relationship between book and cover, deadlines, fan feedback, and the aesthetics of different decades. Will we ever see embossed covers come back? And what does it take for a cover to impress John?

Irene also talks about her participation in the Illustration Master Class, and everyone recounts the culture they have recently consumed.

Hosts Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens, and Jeff Patterson with Irene Gallo.

Show Notes (Hang On To Your Wallets…):

The Complete Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan

The Complete Mazalan Book of the Fallen, by Steven Erikson

Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear

The Water Knife, by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison

The Scarlet Gospels, by Clive Barker

Space is Just a Starry Night, by Tanith Lee

Nemesis Games, by James S.A. Corey

Fire with Fire, by Charles Gannon

Sisters of the Revolution, edited by Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer

Ray Bradbury (Modern Masters of Science Fiction), by David Seed

B.P.R.D.: A Plague of Frots, by Mike Mignola & Guy Davis

And the Usual Suspects:

2015: The Year in Books

2015: The Year in Shorts

Irene Gallo at Tor Dot Com

Irene Gallo’s “AMA” at Reddit

Illustration Master Class

Galactic Patrol

The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series

Rick Sternbach’s Known Space Covers

Silver Surfer, by Dann Slott, Mike and Laura Allred

Zen Mind, Beginniner’s Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

Eating Vietnam, by Graham Holliday

Injection, by Warren Ellis & Declan Shalvey

Sword of Sorrows, by Gail Simone & Sergio Davila

“The Garden Beyond Her Infinite Skies”, by Matthew Kressel (read by Kate Baker)

“Drink to Me Only with Labyrinthine Eyes”, by Thomas Ligotti

As the cruelest month of April toys with us, John E. O. Stevens, Fred Kiesche and Jeff Patterson huddle in their fortress made of long boxes to talk about COMICS! With Summer approaching, superhero movies are ramping up, DC and Marvel roll out their massive crossovers, and the wind smells of reboots.

The Hoarsemen discuss their experiences with reading comics digitally, the rise of SF/F indie books, and the titles currently delivering the goods. Fred continues his deep dive into generations-worth of continuity and encounters the conundrum of Jean Grey! Duplicitous rogue women appear in long-lived SF properties! And will there ever be a DRM-free collection in our lifetime?

As always, there is an accounting of Culture Consumed.

Hosts Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens, and Jeff Patterson.

All In Color and All for a Dime Show Notes:

All New X-Men Volume 1, by Brian Michael Bendis & Stuart Immonen

Darth Vader, by Kierson Gillen & Salvador Larroca

The Fuse, Volume 2, by Antony Johnston, Justin Greenwood & Shari Chankhamma

Ms. Marvel Volume 2: Generation Why, by G. Willow Wilson, Jacob Wyatt & Adrian Alphona

Convergence, by Dan Jurgens & Ethan Van Sciver

Uber Volume 1, by Kieron Gillen & Caanan White

Saga Volume 4, by Brian K. Vaughan & iona Staples

Wayward Volume 1: String Theory, by Jim Zubkavich & Steven Cummings

Astro City: Through Open Doors, by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson

Cyclops Volume 1: Starstruck, by Greg Rucka & Russell Dauterman

Fairest Volume 4: Cinderella—Of Men and Mice, by Marc Andreyko & Shawn McManus

The Unwritten Volume 10: War Stories, by Mike Carey & Peter Gross

Additional Show Notes:

2015: The Year in Books

2015: The Year in Shorts

Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Comixology

The Cambridge Companion to AMerican Science Fiction

As spring emerges, John E. O. Stevens, Fred Kiesche and Jeff Patterson shed their well-worn thermals and discuss the vast and treacherous landscape of anthologies.

It is a subject that encompasses themed volumes, shared worlds, and literary approaches, from the experimental volumes of the 1970s, through the subject-specific collections of Ace and Daw, to the copious riches that have become available readers in the past decade. What makes an anthology work? Which ones hold special places? And have they stood the test of time?

The discussion then turns, as always, to culture consumed.

Hosts Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens, and Jeff Patterson.

Not Quite All the Anthologies, But We Tried:

Thieves’ World: First Blood, edited by Lynn Abbey & Robert Lynn Asprin

Extreme Fiction: Faculists and Formalists, edited by Robin Hemley & Michael Martone

Carbide Tippd Pens, edited by Ben Bova & Eric Choi

Wild Cards Volume 1, edited by George R.R. Martin

So Long Benn Dreaming, edited by Nalo Hopkinson & Uppinder Mehan

Vanishing Acts, edited by Ellen Datlow

Brave New Worlds, edited by John Joseph Adams

Is Anybody Out There?, edited by Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern

Reach for Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan

Additional Show Notes:

2015: The Year in Books

2015: The Year in Shorts

Edges: 13 New Tales from the Borderlands of Imagination, edited by Ursula K. Le Guin & Virginia Kidd

Epoch, edited by Roger Elwood & Robert Silverberg

Space Opera, edited by Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Anne Scarborough

Millennial Women, edited by Virginia Kidd

Weird Heroes: New American Pulp, edited by Byron Preiss

Flashing Swords!, edited by Lin Carter

Medea: Harlan’s World, edited by Harlan Ellison

Murasaki, edited by Robert Silverberg

The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, edited by Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer

John’s reivew of “Lambshead”

John’s discussion of Brave New Worlds

Star Wars, by Keiron Gillen & Salvador Larroca

Darth Vader:

Princess Leia, by Mark Waid & Terry Dodson

Namless, by Grant Morrison & Chris Burnham

Memetic, by James Tynion IV & Ery, Donovan-)

Universe!, by Albert Monteys

Invisible Republic, by Gabriel Hardman & Corinn Beckho

Red One, by Xavier Dorison & Terry Dodscon

As the bleak winter pummels us with ice and illness, John E. O. Stevens, Fred Kiesche and Jeff Patterson muster the strength and lucidity to write February off as a loss and trudge forward in search of the mythical Springtime.

First, they discuss the death of Leonard Nimoy, and his impact on SF and Fandom.

Then they turn to the subject of Thomas M. Disch, whose works broke genre conventions on an almost industrial scale. The gentlemen recall their introductions to the author’s work (including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry), and his legacy in SF.

There follows a litany of culture consumed, and some talk about whooshing doors, online shrieking, and myopic definitions of “fan.”

Hosts Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens, and Jeff Patterson.

Main Show Notes:

334, by Thomas M. Disch

The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of, by Thomas M. Disch

Camp Concentration, by Thomas M. Disch

The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu

Finding My Elegy, by Ursula K. Le Guin

There & Back Again, by Pat Murphy

The Inheritence and Other Stories, by Robin Hobb & Megan Lindholm

Conversations With William Gibson, edited by Patrick A. Smith

Omega Exile, by Stephen Arseneault

Additional Show Notes:

2015: The Year in Books

2015: The Year in Shorts

John’s SF Signal Column on Disch’s ON WINGS OF SONG

Scott Edelman’s 1984 Interview with Thomas M. Disch

Samuel R. Delany: The American Shore—Mediations on a Tale of Science Fiction by Thomas M. Disch (“Angouleme”)

Black Mirror

Red Sonja Volume 1: Queen of Plagues, by Gail Simone & Walter Geovani

Ivar, Timewalked, by Fred Van Lente & Clayton Henry

The Ghost Fleet, by Donny Cates & Daniel Warren Johnson

Fables: The Wolf Among Us

Schlock Mercenary, by Howard Tayler

As January’s icy grip tightens, John E. O. Stevens, Fred Kiesche and Jeff Patterson find sanctuary in the thrilling days of yesteryear. This time out they have procured the services of Jamie Todd Rubin to act as their guide for their voyage back in time to the Golden Age!

Generally defined as the period between 1939 and 1950, the Golden Age was dominated by John W. Campbell’s editorship at Astounding. It was when Science Fiction acquired a degree of depth and characterization through the works of Isaac Asimov, Lester Del Rey, C.L. Moore, L. Sprague De Camp, Leigh Brackett, A. E. Van Vogt, Robert Heinlein, Jack Vance, and Clifford Simak. Jamie talks about reading those issues of Astounding and what he learned about SF and fandom, then and now.

Also discussed are Jamie’s latest Analog column, plotting-vs-pantsing, and pre-internet flame wars.

And the Hoarsemen start the year with a MASSIVE list of books, comics, and TV consumed.

Hosts Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens, and Jeff Patterson with Jamie Todd Rubin.

City, by Clifford D. Simak

Ray Bradbury Unbound, by Jonathan Eller

Carbide Tipped Pens, edited by Ben Bova and Eric Choi

All Those Vanished Engines, by Paul Park

The Kick-Ass Writer, by Chuck Wendig

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Volume 1, by Robbie Morrison & Dave Taylor

Additional Show Notes:

2015: The Year in Books

2015: The Year in Shorts

About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters and Five Interviews, by Samuel R. Delany

Finding My Elegy: New and Selected Poems, by Ursula K. Le Guin

Love, Volume 1: The Tiger, by Federico Bertolucci

Farrago’s Wainscot (Issue 13, January 2015)

Strong Female Protagonist, by Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag

Star Trek/Planet of the Apes 1

Conan/Red Sonja 1

Star Wars 1

Amazon — Clifford D. Simak

The Samurai Trilogy

Throne of Blood

As the year’s end approaches, John E. O. Stevens, Fred Kiesche and Jeff Patterson tempt the fates by doing a THIRD episode for the month. Joining them is the man who was the unintentional catalyst for this podcast, Patrick Hester. They pause in their assorted biscotti, chili, and laundry activities to take on the topic of wish lists, their usefulness, and what is currently on them.

Then the discussion turns to all things comics. It’s really nerdy.

Hosts Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens, and Jeff Patterson with Patrick Hester.

Show Notes!

Utopias: A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Virtual Communities, by Howard P. Segal

Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files: War Cry, by Jim Butcher, Mark Powers & Carlos Gomes

Substrata: Open World Dark Fantasy, by Paul Richards

Additional Show Notes (Longer Than the Main Notes, For Once!):

2014: The Year in Books

2014: The Year in Shorts

Beautiful Darkness, by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoet

Beowulf: A Translation and COmmentary, by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien

All Those Vanished Engines, by Paul park

Batman Omnibus, by Neal Adams

Announcement of Stepan Sejic as new artist for Rat Queens

The Zero Theorem, Terry Gilliam

Jodorowsky’s Dune

The Thanos Revelation, by Jim Starlin

Ragnarok, by Walt Simonson

Flash Gordon, by Jeff Parker & Evan Shaner

Morlock 2001

John E. O. Stevens, Fred Kiesche and Jeff Patterson gather for the SECOND episode of December! This time out they are joined by Karen Burnham to talk about William Hope Hodgson’s classic The House on the Borderland. Topics include the novel’s unique storytelling, possible interpretations, and where it falls in the spectrum of SF/F.

Fred has posted a companion piece to this episode on his blog as an introduction to both Hodgson and the book.

And even though we discussed our recent genre culture consumed in last week’s episode, we still manage to have more to talk about.

Hosts Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens, and Jeff Patterson with Karen Burnham.

Show Notes!

Fred’s Piece on “The House on the Borderland”

The House on the Borderland, by William Hope Hodgson (paperback)

The House on the Borderland (Dover)

The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson: The House on the Borderland & Other Mysterious Places (Volume 2)

The Winter Boy, by Sally Wiener Grotta

The Sandman, Volume 2: The Doll’s House, by Neil Gaiman and Mark Dringenberg

Supplemental Notes:

2014: The Year in Books

2014: The Year in Shorts

The House on the Borderland (audiobook)

The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast (see episodes 216, 217 and 218 for coverage of The House on the Borderland)

X-Files Season 1

Great Crusades, by Jack Vance

The Winter Boy, by Sally Wiener Grotta

Schlock Mercenary 2: The Teraport Wars, by Howard Tayler

Battlestar Galactica: The Death of Apollo, by Dan Abnett and Dietrich Smith

Escape from New York, by Christopher Sebela, Diego Baretto and Jordie Bellaire

The Autumnlands: Tooth and Claw, by Kurt Busiek and Benjamin Dewey