Episodi
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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 -
Episodi mancanti?
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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 -
Episode 14: Novellas
In This Episode The Book Evangelists discuss All Systems Red by Martha Wells and Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
Morning Chatter
Staying safer at home hasn’t led us to more frequent reading or more frequent podcasting. We are glad to be podcasting together today. Marian and Lissa are looking at the popularity of the novella as a form and a length. As longtime NaNoWriMo writers, we are both familiar with what a 50,000 word story can do.
The description of All Systems Red by Martha Wells from goodreads.com:
Murderbot Book #1
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.
But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.
On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.
But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth
The description of Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey from goodreads.com:
In Upright Women Wanted, award-winning author Sarah Gailey reinvents the pulp Western with an explicitly antifascist, near-future story of queer identity.
Are you a coward or are you a librarian?
“That girl’s got more wrong notions than a barn owl’s got mean looks.”
Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her–a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda.
The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.
This blog post is spoiler-free. On the podcast, we discuss and compare, All Systems Red by Martha Wells and Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey and our discussion in the podcast is filled with minor spoilers, so please read the books before you listen if you are into that kind of experience. We’ll be here for you when you finish!
Discussion
Marian’s Crackpot theory about novellas includes the cover price and size, magazine publishing trends, ebook publishing trends, and the shortening of attention spans.
Other recent novellas we recommend include:
Finna by Nino Cipri
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
“I need my dismemberment to be toward social justice and community change.” – Lissa, describing why the violence in both of these books is somehow palatable to her otherwise suspense and gore averse preferences.
Novellas leave room for other characters to have their own stories told in other novellas. Or sometimes they leave room for characters who are a huge presence on the page to continue to take up space in the reader’s imagination.
Upright Women Wanted followup book idea: “Cye and Esther’s Guide to Living on the Road” with lots of chapters about fighting fascism and also recipes. Lissa wants to read this. Someone please write it.
Coming Up
Next episode: Marian and Lissa will pitch their re-write or update or adaptation proposals of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells and discuss whether we would truly ever want to rewrite/adapt a public domain book into a new story.
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
https://thebookevangelists.com/ -
Episode 13
The Book Evangelists discuss Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Morning Chatter
We haven't talked about books as recently as we had hoped we would. We are very glad to be talking about books with each other now. Camp NaNoWriMo is happening, and writing is hard right now.
Book News! The Hugo finalists are announced and we are very pleased to have read so many of the nominees!
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . . the only way to survive is to open your heart.
This blog post is spoiler-free. On the podcast, we discuss Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman in detail and our discussion in the podcast is filled with minor and major spoilers, so please read the book before you listen if you are into that kind of experience. We'll be here for you when you finish!
More Discussion
Book Marketing: Who is this book for? How much do we trust genres or cover blurbs? How does our expectation match the reality of the book? Should readers be warned about issues books? How do readers react to books when they get into the story and find that they aren't ready for this particular book?
Writing “Unlikeable” characters
Is Eleanor relatable?
Is she realistic?
Did your feelings about her change over the course of the book?
Who does it seem like Eleanor is modeled on?
How are characters informed and inspired? How much does the reader bring to their unique interpretation?
How unreliable is Eleanor as a narrator?
"I liked the sad parts. They helped me have my feelings. That's what books do."
Lissa describing .... pretty much the entire book
Coming Up
Next episode: Marian and Lissa are looking at the popularity of the novella as a form and a length. As longtime NaNoWriMo writers, we both familiar with what a 50,000 word story can do. We will read and discuss All Systems Red by Martha Wells and Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey.
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 Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Morning Chatter: Marian participated in the recent #revpit event about query letters/ Revise & Resub (#RevPit) is a Twitter writing community co-founded in 2017 by a group of editors. It supports authors by offering editing-focused chats and mini-events throughout the year as well as an annual contest wherein querying authors can win feedback and edits on their full manuscripts from professional editors, ensuring their works are polished and ready for agent inboxes.
We discuss techniques to try when you feel like you are in a reading slump.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by
Alix E. Harrow is described at goodreads.com:
In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.
Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories awaits in Alix E. Harrow’s spellbinding debut–step inside and discover its magic.
This blog post is spoiler-free. On the podcast, we discuss The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow in detail and our discussion in the podcast is filled with minor and major spoilers, so please read the book before you listen if you are into that kind of experience. We'll be here for you when you finish!
Quotes
“The will to be polite, to maintain civility and normalcy, is fearfully strong. I wonder sometimes how much evil is permitted to run unchecked simply because it would be rude to interrupt it.”
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
More Discussion
Book Marketing: If you have a book like this with complicated secrets that you can't give away in the jacket copy - how do you convince other people to read it? How much do we trust cover blurbs? Do we need cover blurbs or can author twitter substitute for that in helping us find books we would love from other author's recommendations? Where is reader twitter and how do we decide which recommendations to trust? How does "word of mouth" work?
Learning: How does learning work outside of academia? Is learning by doing enough? Is learning in the evaluation and reflection even when it seems intuitive?
Theme: This book has a clear one, but it doesn't beat us over the head with it.
Re-Reading: Lissa says yes. Because reasons that would be spoilers. And spoilers are in the podcast, not here.
Coming Up
Next episode: Marian and Lissa are trying Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman which comes highly recommended from a podcast listener! (Thank you!)
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 11: Best Books of 2019 and Reading Reflections
In This Episode The Book Evangelists discuss their Best Books of 2019 and reflect on their reading habits.
Best Books of 2019 - Marian
• The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson - non-fiction "I just love this book!"
• All Systems Red by Martha Wells
• Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
• The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Additional mentions:
• Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
• Fire and Heist by Sarah Beth Durst
• Fawkes by Nadine Brandes
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Best Books of 2019 - Lissa
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Books by Leah Price
• The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
• Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
• Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
• The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
• This is How We Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Things Lissa read in 2019 that she wouldn't normally have tried:
• Even Tree Nymphs Get the Blues by Molly Harper
• Picnic by William Inge
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi (the first 80% of it)
Marian: I'm very surprised to see that of my five favorite books of 2019, three of them are science fiction books.
Lissa: I know, right?!? What is happening to us?
Best Books of 2019 that I didn't get around to reading. Yet. (Lissa's list at work)
These books are coming out in 2020! We are excited!
• Keep Moving by Maggie Smith
• Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
• The Last Emperox by John Scalzi
• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
• All Systems Red by Martha Wells
2020 Reading Resolutions
Lissa's resolution: Buy and Read More Print Books and Read Them Intentionally (Not in my Bed!) and Write in the Margins.
Marian's resolution: Read More and Better Poetry. Join a Book Group.
Marian's resolution FOR LISSA: You should read the Murderbot novellas. And listen to Lockwood and Co.
Lissa's resolution FOR MARIAN: Reflect on what you read more. The learning is in the reflection. And I think you should try a John Scalzi novel. You can pick which one.
Cover blurbs are the print version of author twitter. -Lissa
Coming Up
Next episode: The Book Evangelists will discuss The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
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 their NaNoWriMo 2019 experiences along with the books This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone and The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
NaNoWriMo 2019 Wrap Up
#NaNoWriMo2019 has concluded and it is now December. And here we are.
Doing is good, but the learning is in the reflection.
How did it go?
Did you write what you said you were going to write?
What did you learn? How was this year unique?
Plansting means I think I am writing one thing and then it turns into something else partway through the month. - Lissa
Marian wrote the first 50,000 words of a British historical mystery novel with Egyptology and various levels of success in the advanced plotting. Lissa wrote 51,000 words of a story that started out writing about a woman who creates "Book Club for One" and then another reader joins, 15 years later. And then I added the "Narrator" of both of their stories, as a social worker type of influence in their stories/lives, manipulating them from outside, and then their Narrator got harried with additional workload and sent an ancient copper dragon straight from the D&D 5e Monster Manual to Topeka and the story got….a little bit different and a little bit better. And in the end, most of my novel was about how being in a book club is very very good and also how we all deserve agency in our own lives and our own stories.
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
This blog post is spoiler-free. On the podcast, we discuss This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone in detail and our discussion in the podcast is filled with minor and major spoilers, so please read the book before you listen if you are into that kind of experience. We'll be here for you when you finish!
Marian perfectly captured why it was so hard for Lissa to talk about why she loves This is How You Lose the Time War when she shared the idea of "Meals and Snacks" from the Malcolm Gladwell MasterClass. People don’t talk about things (movies, books etc) the same way they think about them. In conversation we cling to the little “snack” moments that are easy to transmit to others, but that is different than the bits that we mull and savor over a longer period of time. As writers, we include both snacks and meals so that consumers can use what we write on multiple levels. Lissa wants to annotate a copy of the book with her friends so we can all share the jokes, but also mull over and savor the book on her own, for a long time.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
We agree that this book gives us SO MANY well developed characters:
Ashby - captain
Sissix - pilot
Kizzy - tech
Jenks - tech
Lovey - AI
Dr Chef - doctor and chef
Rosemary - clerk
Corbin - algaeist
Ohan - navigator
Pei - Ashby’s secret partner
“She was exactly where she was supposed to be.”
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
What spinoff projects did we propose during this podcast?
The cookbook/craft book based on The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. Marian will work on the recipe for smokey buns and Lissa will knit a hat for fix bots. Maybe.
This book is the first in a series! We have more stories to read!
Coming Up
Next episode: The Book Evangelists will discussing 2019 in reading and our plans, hopes, and dreams for 2020.
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 National Novel Writing Month — NaNoWriMo and why YOU should write a novel this November.
Morning Chatter
Note: In the last episode we promised we were going to discuss nonfiction. Clearly, that has changed. This is what happens when you let two NaNoWriMo fanatics have a podcast. Because we are well into #NaNoPrep.
National Novel Writing Month
To participate, you write 50,000 words of fiction in the 30 days of November. Sign up at nanowrimo.org.
Lissa and Marian both think NaNoWriMo is the best thing ever.
Lissa has been writing November novels every year since 2003.
Marian has won every year since 2012.
Tips and Techniques for Winning NaNoWriMo
• “Let me give you the tricks I know of, in hopes that you give me the tricks you know of, in hopes that we both can trick ourselves into writing novels.” – Lissa
• “I think the big thing is just never never never never quit.” – Marian
• “Put your butt in your chair. Try to have a big word count day.” – Marian
Coming Up
Next episode: We will discuss The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers and This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone and
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 Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Morning Chatter
#NaNoPrep has begun. We discuss the new NaNoWriMo stuff, which Lissa already has!
"These are the traditions in my house, you order it the first day it's announced, and you use it all as soon as it comes. It's like a kid on Christmas but it happens right after Labor Day every year and it's beautiful." -Lissa
"Every year before NaNoWriMo starts, I pre-order the winners tshirt because notoriously I won't wear it unless I win and make 50,000 words because I'm ethical, but I'm also cheap, and I don't want to have spent the money on something I can never wear. So this causes me to succeed every year, just for the tshirt." Marian explaining "The Marian Rakestraw challenge"
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie is described at goodreads.com:
What more can a mystery addict desire than a much-loathed murder victim found aboard the luxurious Orient Express with multiple stab wounds, thirteen likely suspects, an incomparably brilliant detective in Hercule Poirot, and the most ingenious crime ever conceived?
This blog post is spoiler-free. On the podcast, we discuss Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie in detail and our discussion in the podcast is filled with minor and major spoilers.
This book is famous enough to have been made into at least 3 movies and has more than 19,000 Goodreads ratings.
If you are listening to the audiobook, you should know THERE IS A MAP OF THE TRAIN CAR in the print book.
Also, you can easily find many online resources about the real train The Orient Express now and historically.
What cheats are allowed in detective novels?
• We aren't sure yet. But we enjoy discussing it. Also, spoilers.
• Which elements are the clues?
• What does the author gift herself?
• What does the author gift the reader?
To further study cozy mystery novels for comparison, Marian is rereading Dorothy L. Sayers' Whose Body?
Old Book Problems
"I'm from a hometown that has something called the "Italian Fest" and stabbing with knives has never been part of that culture that they celebrated...and I've never heard that Italians might stab people with knives. So I was glad that if that was going to be part of how the detectives were making their decisions that they explained the stereotypes to me." - Lissa
"Everybody in this book is described by racial characteristics, or religious ones, or class ones." -Marian
More Books We Discussed
Lissa's knowledge of Agatha Christie mostly has come from repeatedly reading To Say Nothing of the Dog; or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump At Last by Connie Willis, and we both highly recommend it. Although you should read Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome first.
Marian is looking for a good beat sheet for outlining a mystery novel. She has tried Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel by Hallie Ephron and the "Whydunit" section of Save the Cat.
Coming Up
Next episode: Marian is reading Packing for Mars by Mary Roach and Lissa is reading Heartland by Sarah Smarsh and A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. How can reading non-fiction make us better fiction writers? Would we ever consider writing non-fiction books ourselves? Listen in to find out!
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 City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders as part of reading and listening to the 5-star SF/FF audiobooks and books that we have recommended to each other recently. Lissa has been talking up this book constantly for six months and claims it is a climate change tidally-locked planet #hopepunk found family snuggling book.
"If you control our sleep, then you can own our dreams... And from there, it's easy to control our entire lives."
Set on a planet that has fully definitive, never-changing zones of day and night, with ensuing extreme climates of endless, frigid darkness and blinding, relentless light, humankind has somehow continued apace -- though the perils outside the built cities are rife with danger as much as the streets below.
But in a world where time means only what the ruling government proclaims, and the levels of light available are artificially imposed to great consequence, lost souls and disappeared bodies are shadow-bound and savage, and as common as grains of sand. And one such pariah, sacrificed to the night, but borne up by time and a mysterious bond with an enigmatic beast, will rise to take on the entire planet--before it can crumble beneath the weight of human existence.
description from the publisher
This blog post is spoiler-free. On the podcast, we discuss The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders in detail and our discussion in the podcast is filled with minor and major spoilers, so please read the book before you listen if you are into that kind of experience. We'll be here for you when you finish!
Quotes from The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/64654648-the-city-in-the-middle-of-the-night
"I like that the quotes that you read -- they're all conflictual -- this is not a book where you can rally around one particular quote. One particular quote is not going to be enough for us to rally around. We're going to have to re-examine our thinking over and over and over." - Lissa
Characters and Places
How does the world-building work? How are these places described? January, Xiophante, Argelo, The City in the Middle of the Night
Which characters do we like? Who scares us? Who is our favorite character? Who are we shipping together? Who do we worry about? Who surprised us? Sophie, Mouth, Bianca, Alyssa, Hernan, Barney, Crocodiles/Gelet
Science Fiction as Self-Help
This is a good self-help book for learning more about: Friendships, Love, Betrayal, Boundaries, Trust, and people using each other for good or using each other for bad. This book illustrates all of those things really, truly.
"People don't hurt each other enough in traditional romance novels to have the level of depth that this book has." - Lissa's endorsement for why reading The City in the Middle of the Night is better, post-divorce, than reading her typical stack of escapist romance novels
Subscribing to Their Newsletters
As all good readers know, when you really like the author's book, sometimes you might check out their website, their twitter, their podcast, their agent.....because those are all source of additional book news and recommendations!
Lissa's subscribed to DongWon Song's newsletter Publishing is Hard (and loves it!)
Lissa starting listening to Charlie Jane Anders podcast Our Opinions are Correct at least 10 days before it won the Hugo for Best Fancast and Marian had it queued up. #earlyadopters
Next episode: Marian is preparing to possibly write a cozy mystery. So, for next time, we will read an Agatha Christie novel, specifically Murder on the Orient Express.
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 Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
Morning Chatter: In which we briefly discuss the joys and potential perils of recommending books to friends or potential friends. How do you choose which books to recommend to others? What if they don't like the recommendation? What if you don't like someone else's recommendation? What are Marian's favorite books to recommend to others? What will Lissa say honestly if she doesn't like your book recommendation?
The publisher description of Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett:
Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.
But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic--the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience--have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.
Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.
To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.
This description is spoiler-free. On the podcast, we discuss Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett in detail and our discussion in the podcast is filled with minor and major spoilers, so please read the book before you listen if you are into that kind of experience.
Characters
Which characters do we like? Who scares us? Who is our favorite character? Who are we shipping together? Who do we worry about? Who do we hope appears in the second book in this trilogy? You think you know what people's motivations are, but then you find out more or it changes. Who surprised us?
• Sancia Grado
• Gregor Dandolo
• Ofelia Dandolo
• Orso
• Berenice
• Claudia and Giovanni
• Estelle Candiano
• Tomas Candiano
• Clef!
World Building
What do we learn about the magic in this very scientific world? What do we learn about politics from a world without laws?
• Themes
o Unfettered capitalism
o How marginalizing people causes the loss of talent
o PTSD and the lasting effects of trauma
This is the first book in a trilogy. Will you read book 2? Book 3? Do you think authors owe readers the ending they are hoping for?
Writing and Reading Experiments
WHY aren't more people talking about how great this book is? Where is the hidden corner of the Internet where people are fangirling over Foundryside and should we join those social media platforms so that we can connect with the other readers who loved this book?
What are we learning from this book? How do I grow up to be that good of a writer? Could you write the middle of a book and then show the build up in flash backs to write a cape/heist novel that way?
Next episode: We are reading and listening to the 5-star SF/FF audiobooks and books that we have recommended to each other recently, possibly including the climate change tidally-locked planet #hopepunk found family snuggling book The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders.
Our Show Notes include mentions and recommendations, all linked for your convenience. http://thebookevangelists.com
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 Dodger by Terry Pratchett
Morning Chatter: In which we briefly discuss the disruptions of tornado warnings and completely fail to warn the listener that Lissa has banana bread baking in her oven.
Dodger by Terry Pratchett at Goodreads: A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he's...Dodger.
Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl--not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England.
From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.
Beloved and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett combines high comedy with deep wisdom in this tale of an unexpected coming-of-age and one remarkable boy's rise in a complex and fascinating world.
description from the publisher
This blog post is spoiler-free. On the podcast, we discuss Dodger by Terry Pratchett and our discussion is filled with minor spoilers, so please read the book before you listen if you are into that kind of experience. We'll be here for you when you finish!
• How do you decide to write about real historical people? Or to reuse other writer's fictional characters?
• Why was Marian so excited to see Joseph Bazalgette show up as a character in this story?
• As a reader, how do you decide whether to still read or like a book if you disagree with the author's twitter or media reports about their life?
• How much does an editor affect the author's work?
• What kind of legacy of notes and unfinished manuscripts will you leave behind at the end of your long and prosperous writer's life? How do those additional materials affect reader experience?
• What now-long-dead authors would you follow on twitter if you could, to see their day to day thoughts?
• How do book recommendations from authors work and why?
• And for all of these things - how do we do these things better as writers for our own potential readers?
Writing and Reading Experiments: Marian recommends: MasterClass, starting with Neil Gaiman Teaches The Art of Storytelling and has branched out to the Dan Brown and Billy Collins writing classes
Lissa panics about the question "What are you Reading?" and will be reading Out Stealing Horses for a book club she leads. She admits she keeps going back to re-read The City in the Middle of the Night instead of reading new books because it is a book "about snuggling" and "about how you figure yourself out."
Marian recommends All Systems Red by Martha Wells which has a self-aware murder robot.
Next episode: We are reading and listening to the 5-star SF/FF audiobooks and books that we have recommended to each other recently, possibly including The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders and Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett. - Mostra di più
