Cam has some new stories out this week - an original political satire about a moose and a spooky reimagining of an Edgar Allan Poe short story. Listen to the audiobooks here:

www.cameronfucile.bandcamp.com

And thank you for the support!

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Discussion of The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter Three

Join Maggie and Cam for a spirited discussion about this dangerous, thrilling chapter. A hissing, faceless Ringwraith stalks our hobbits through the Shire, we meet some "high elves," and Tolkien draws a dozen fascinating points of contrast between this story and The Hobbit. The adventure finally begins, and many of our long-running debates are thrown into chaos: does the Ring have direct influence over the wearer's mind? Is Gandalf secretly the narrator, pulling strings and deploying friends to save our heroes? We also get to peek into the mind of a fox, who apparently speaks English! Frodo's sale of Bag End leads us to compare him and Bilbo – who is more mature? What are their priorities and motivations? Who does Gandalf trust more? Tolkien is in full pinprick provocation throat-clearing mode here – it's incredibly fun to parse out. Maggie finds some fascinating callbacks in the chapter's songs as well, that tie these events very particularly to parts of The Hobbit and further illuminate Bilbo and Frodo's relationship.

In our Second Breakfast segment, Maggie leads a conversation about art and cultural relevance, inspired by Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7. Throughout the episode, Cam also brings in some more comparisons to horror movies – Happy Halloween! The Ringwraith – a silent and depersonalized hunter wielding only a blade – leads us right back to Michael Myers and Halloween. The seductive distractions of the Shire remind us of Midsommar. And everything reminds Cam of Winnie-the-Pooh, but you already knew that. He gets all excited about that talking fox.

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