Through The Wind Door

"Complexity isn't a vice."

Part 1 of Episode 9, hot off the presses. Today we start covering Chapters 10-12 of Secret Rooms, where we uncover some of those secrets from past and present. We talk about propaganda, the importance of always questioning, and what it means to have a father that is willing to treat you like you're an adult.

We end up going deep on these subjects, so a bunch of the other interesting things are saved for part 2. Also you may notice that we left out chapter 13... it's not because of superstition. Chapter 13 gets its own episode all to itself, and given we talked close to two hours about that, you'll get to see why in due course.

#BlackLivesMatter

#ProtestEverywhere

No Such Thing As An Alpha Male:

https://www.businessinsider.com/no-such-thing-alpha-male-2016-10

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Believer" by Imagine Dragons

"A well crafted chapter title can prepare the reader for what comes next, while not giving too much away, instead inspiring curiosity."

The second half of our diving into chapters 6-9 of Secret Rooms. Discussion includes further exploration of our primary subjects, the introduction of Tabitha Chorley to our narrative and what that entails, as well  as a deeper discussion about some more of the themes of New Century touched on in these early chapters. And there's a hell of a collection of bloopers and outtakes at the end.

#BlackLivesMatter

#PortlandProtest

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Set Me In Motion" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range

"It's the facial expression equivalent of kicking someone's leg from underneath the dinner table."

Now we finally take our first steps into the new world of these Reunified States, and meet some more of our growing cast of characters in New Century. Today's podcast is the first half of Episode 8, where we start to cover chapters 6-9 of Secret Rooms: The Definitive Edition. (as well as a brief dip back into Chapter 5)

While a full analysis on the differences between the first and second publication of this novel is going to be saved till our final episode on this book, it's here that we start to see how the story originally began, before the flashback chapters were added. We talk about the alternate history genre, and influences both historical and fictional. We try to keep it light on real world correlations, but it's hard not to look at our collection of protagonnists and wish we were there, in a world of heroes.

#BlackLivesMatter

#TrumpHasNoPlan

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Hazy Shade of Winter" by The Bangles

"Oh, it gon' be gay."

More fun times with Theo, the Mighty Magician. We just completely go off the rails this go around. Sure, we keep talking about New Century, but we also get into America Chavez, Miss Congeniality, She-Ra... look, we're geeks. This is what we do. And you're geeks too, so stop judging us. (Also, even more clips from other media. Blame Alex.)

We also get into hopes and speculation for the future of New Century, reflections on what it means to us (particularly now), and how LGBTQ works behind the scenes and the role it will play in the future (We're Queer and we're here.)

This bonus episode contains spoilers for all of New Century, including Uncivil Outlaw (sort of).

Etinu Sevracsetihw!

#BlackLivesMatter

The New Century Multiverse books and audio dramas can be found on:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

Intro is "The Avengers" by Alan Sylvestri

Outro is "Cuckoo" by Lissie

"You named your fucking wizard Taco?" - us getting off topic and discussing The Adventure Zone

Here's another first for the podcast. Because apparently our little fan teamup has done so well, someone who is an ascended fan and a member of the New Century cast has answered the call to speak on all things fannish.

Best known for playing Princess Gwendolyne in The Princess Thieves, we also start delving into her feelings about some of her other roles, including Truth Arlington, Amanda Culver, and Lucy Weatherfield. We learn about her humble origins, where she pulls inspiration for her various voices, and gab garralously regarding the infamous Gibbet goof.

This bonus episode contains spoilers for all of New Century, including Uncivil Outlaw (sort of).

Etinu Sevracsetihw!

#BlackLivesMatter

#WrathMonth

Oh Long Johnson cat:

The full QI bit with John Sessions:

The New Century Multiverse books and audio dramas can be found on:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

Intro is "The Avengers" by Alan Sylvestri

Outro is "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles

"... and what Lucy says in response to this isn't a solution. She doesn't say it is. But... it is something small. Achievable, and helpful. And it's that little glimpse of hope in the darkness that I not only like to hold onto... I need it."

The second half of Episode 7 ended up being much shorter than expected. Once more I used my editing shears liberally, and Toby contributed in a major way to say things more concisely, emotionally, honestly. But I think this one ends on the hope that Alex invests in his works, and moreover, we've got another batch of outtakes at the end for some laughs.

We talk about Doris Cooper, Katherine Holloway, and Joanna Grey. We've got some more surprise Elton John, discussion about why combining elements to create new stories is always helpful when done well, and narrative voice. Most of all, we talk about why a hat can be so important and hard hitting. As always, we bring the feels.

#BlackLivesMatter

#WrathMonth

"World on Fire" - Sarah McLahlan

https://youtu.be/FDmPcSWE0WU

"My Father's Gun - Elton John

https://youtu.be/wb2B966IOfM

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Satellite Call" by Sara Bareilles

"They want to keep us chasing/their money and greed/but happiness/oh, I know is free/don't curse the darkness/just be a light/let it shine for the heartless/let it shine through the night." - Tash Neal

Welcome to a brand new episode for a brand new story! The next two episodes cover chapters 1 through 5 of Secret Rooms: Definitive Edition. Like Episode 6, I cut this one into two halves because of length, and also due to additional editing time. Between changing things due to sound issues, cleaning up some wordy asides or removing parts due to feeling like they were insensitive, this is likely the most editing I have done thus far. I hope you'll agree the end product is worth it.

Today we get into some of the fundamental themes that show up in both this book and New Century as a whole: the importance of names, familial relationships both good and bad, and the metaphor of how flawed systems crack more readily when faced with something it's not able to fight easily. We also talk about the role of distaster fiction as a form of escapism during a time of very real disaster.

Be prepared: there's more politics in the pipeline. It's hard not to talk about the real world stuff that comes up when discussing New Century. The topic is baked in, especially because of the way things were getting worse around us due to the election of Trump, and what has come about as a result. But we'll try to keep it light.

#BlackLivesMatter

Recommended links for fun and profit learning:

Ian Danskin - "The Artist is Absent:Davey Wreden and The Beginners Guide"

"Where Once Poe Walked" - by H.P. Lovecraft

Lindsey Ellis - "Death of the Author"

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Can't Hold Me Down" by GriZ feat. Tash Neal

"I have faced my ghosts like Rebecca has faced hers, and I am no longer afraid of this story and the emotions it brings out for me."

Part 2 of our final discussion on Let Them Go focuses on the mythological, where were come back to the Maiden, Mother, Crone archetype, but also delve into ancient Fertile Crescent myths that have a special significance to one of our show hosts. 

Our story has monsters and ghosts, but what happens if we consider the story as an allegory for apotheosis? Is Rebecca regaining her life and agency not unlike a goddess coming into her own? One thing is for certain: even after the conversation is done and recorded, sometimes new insights can be found afterwards, while editing a podcast all pretty for others to enjoy.

Make sure to listen to the end, as I included some hilarious outtakes that I decided didn't fit in with the conversation, but were too much fun to throw away! (I also apologize for any background noise that sounds like I keep bumping my microphone, I don't know what the noise comes from since it's a headset, and I haven't yet figured out if there is a way to remove it, since it doesn't show up as background noise.)

#BlackLivesMatter

#WrathMonth

Recommended links for fun and profit learning:

Dan Olsen - "Annihilation and Decoding Metaphor" 

https://youtu.be/URo66iLNEZw

The courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi

http://jewishchristianlit.com/Texts/ANEmrg/Inanna&Dumuzi.html

The Mesopotamian Underworld

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Mesopotamian_underworld

Inanna's Descent

https://www.ancient.eu/article/215/inannas-descent-a-sumerian-tale-of-injustice/

Lindsey Ellis - "Is Titanic Good, Actually?"

https://youtu.be/hW4U_lfgPac

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

Intro is "Moonrise" by Chad Crouch of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" by Sarah Mclahlan

"It's a 21st century take on an era hundreds of years removed that isn't afraid of holding gothic up to the light."

Welcome to part one of our final episode on the New Century Multiverse story, Let Them Go. Even with thorough editing, this episode ended up very long, and after the experience with our introductory episode that covered chapters 1-5, I decided not to do that to you, or myself. So our final discussion is divided into two episodes, the next to be released the following Monday.

This go around, we reflect on the story through the lens of the gothic genre, which Toby and I boned up on prior to tackling this episode. We talk about the components of said genre, and where the story plays it straight, and where it necessarily, wonderfully diverges. We learn about the subgenre of the Female Gothic, and we have a lot of laughs along the way. One of the great things about finally talking about the story as a whole is nothing is held back, but we don't have to dive too deeply into heavy subjects: we already did most of that heavy lifting.

#BlackLivesMatter

#PrideMonth

Recommended links for fun and profit learning:

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

Intro is "Moonrise" by Chad Crouch of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Bird Set Free" by Sia

"It is one part staggered flashback, one part semi-Kuleshov effect, and one part vivid memory."

Welcome to the episode where we finally hit our stride. We've got a whole five chapters to cover, two of which are flashbacks, and the answers to questions the readers might not have known to ask are revealed. Agency, the head versus the heart, and overcoming deep trauma, it's all on the table. Be warned, the feels are strong with this episode, and there is so much to talk about that there will be an entire extra episode covering them and the book as a whole. 

More than just taking about a book we love, we also take a moment to start unpacking what it means to be a fan of something in the age of author access, and how we do our best to review and analyze something in light of that.

Spoilers for chapters 13-17.

#BlackLivesMatter

#PrideMonth

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

Intro is "Moonrise" by Chad Crouch

Outro is "Outro" by Evgeny Teilor

Used under Creative Commons Licence