“This situates us right in late-Obama years and also raises key themes.” 

“I had to look up the Breaking Bad quote.” 

#dailywriting yo this must have taken so much research.

Our theme music is from “I Can’t See the Milky Way Anymore” by Alex Rudnick. We heartily encourage you to check out Alex’s music.

This chapter seemingly has little to do with being A Climate Novel, but after some classic (over)reading, your faithful hosts diagnose the overlapping political economy, millennial, cultural, and gendered landscape of Jackie’s twentysomething life in a climate-changing Midwest. Emily and John — despite not necessarily knowing what a pitch deck really is — secure the proverbial bag by discussing: how Jackie the character and Markley the writer are consciously challenging and also reproducing gendered tropes; playing a game of  “What IRL actor (but what IS real life anyway) should we compare The Actor to?”; thinking about Indiana Jones and Girls; lauding subtle climate humor; and much more. 

Dear Listener, was there psychoanalysis deep diving? Of course. Your id craves it, even if your ego says no — trust us. Look at this novel, gaze upon this chapter, and listen to this podcast episode.

Our theme music is from “I Can’t See the Milky Way Anymore” by Alex Rudnick. We heartily encourage you to check out Alex’s music.

Our first encounter with Shane Acosta (if that is even her name…) is as much about Murdock, her one-time comrade whose psyche is exposed through the WTF of the text boxes throughout the chapter. Shane tries to recruit Murdock for a mysterious mission, but can they bridge their two different standpoints on war, American nationalism, and the sources of political activism? On a related note, how does this chapter about war work in this novel about climate? 

Emily and John are here to explore these questions and much more, including the dark humor of the chapter, feeling deeply and uncomfortably seen, the culture of the War on Terror, theories of imperialism, cerebral hicks, the many genres and forms of this chapter, and getting juiced. 

Is this podcast hewed too didactically to its own absurdity? Join us and find out.

Our theme music is from “I Can’t See the Milky Way Anymore” by Alex Rudnick. We heartily encourage you to check out Alex’s music.

Emily and John go through a phase transition of their own in this first full episode of the podcast. Much like the methane hydrates that give the chapter its name and its POV character Tony dread, they are bubbling to the surface…the surface of Deluge podcasting.

Your hosts explore the contested meaning of science and the way Tony practices science, the perils of communicating climate science, how this works as the first chapter of a gigantic novel, what Gail represents for Tony, and academic malaise. They also answer the real questions on everyone’s minds: should they write about Lost? Is Tony like young Han Solo? How do you level up to the crown of the world so quickly? Join us to find out.

Our theme music is from “I Can’t See the Milky Way Anymore” by Alex Rudnick. We heartily encourage you to check out Alex’s music.

Welcome, prospective listeners, to the We Are The Deluge podcast, a spoiler-free chapter-by-chapter podcast about the climate change novel The Deluge by Stephen Markley. In this prologue episode, your hosts for our climate fiction journey, Emily Crandall and John McMahon, introduce the novel, the show, their podcasting vibes, their political theory nerd-dom, and the over-ambitious structure of this podcast that pairs perfectly with this strikingly epic (in all senses) novel. Join us, won’t you?

Our theme music is from “I Can’t See the Milky Way Anymore” by Alex Rudnick. We heartily encourage you to check out Alex’s music.

Flooding your podcast feeds starting on November 19: We Are The Deluge, a spoiler-free, chapter-by-chapter podcast about the climate change novel The Deluge by Stephen Markley. Brought to you by Emily Crandall (Stuck in Stoneybrook) and John McMahon (Not Quite Great Books: A TV Podcast).