This episode Ralph talks about C.L. Moore’s hero Jirel of Joiry, and Liz talks about the anthology Dragons and Warrior Daughters.
Show Notes
Black God’s Kiss and other stories by C.L. Moore
Dragons and Warrior Daughters by Jessica Yates (ed)
Elizabeth Lovegrove, Ralph Lovegrove
- Part One Black God’s Kiss 00:10
- Part Two Dragons and Warrior Daughters 15:55
- Further reading: Frances Hardinge, Tamora Pierce, Tanith Lee, Diana Wynne Jones, Jo Walton, Rosemary Kirsten
Music Credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
“Cylinder Three” and “Cylinder Nine” from Cylinders by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
Josh, Ralph and special guest Paul Mitchener voyage across Usula Le Guin’s classic fantasy Earthsea.
Show Notes
A Wizard Of Earthsea // The Tombs of Atuan // The Farthest Shore // Tehanu // plus other short fiction set in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea
Josh Fox, Ralph Lovegrove, Paul Mitchener
Synopsis (the original trilogy) 00:40 // Tehanu 05:45 // Themes 09:25 // The RPG Bit — Josh’s Game 26:00 // Paul’s Game (Everway) 27:25 // Ralph’s Game (Beyond the Wall by Flatland Games) 30:05 // Archipelago 34:30 // Last Words 36:55
Shameless Plug
Ralph’s Beyond the Waves idea for Beyond the Wall (halfway between Earthsea and Zelda: The Windwaker)
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
Mo, Liz, Ralph and special guest Paul Mitchener discuss Ursula Le Guin’s magnificent The Dispossessed.
Show Notes
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Paul Mitchener, Mo Holkar, Elizabeth Lovegrove, Ralph Lovegrove
Synopsis 01:40 // “The Hobbit, basically” 05:50 // Remarks 09:35 // Paul’s game (Hot War) 15:00 // Mo’s game (hacking Rise and Fall) 18:10 // Liz’s game (inc. Bite Me) 20:50 // Ralph’s game 25:00 // The Hainish Cycle 29:30
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
In this short solo episode Ralph talks about millennial fears and isolation in Jan Mark’s Eclipse of the Century.
Music credits
“Cylinder Four“ from Cylinders by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
Ralph and special guest Mathew Downward discuss consensus reality in Angela Carter’s The Inferal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman.
Show Notes
The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter.
Synopsis 01:05 // Comments begin 13:05 // Mage: The Ascension 18:30 // Psychosis RPG 26:35 // Social Contracts 29:55 // Everway 30:50 // RuneQuest III 39:05 // Crypts and Things 40:00 // Black Dog Derive (for the Stalker RPG) 43:25 // PbtA moaning 48:10 // What we like about OSR (Sine Nomine, LotFP) 50:20
Extra!
We recorded the podcast last year but it so happens that just yesterday, the 25th anniversary of Carter’s death, Mathew released Infernal Desire Machines, the hack of the Psychosis RPG mentioned around halfway into the episode. Read it, absorb it, play!
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
In this episode Becky, Liz and Ralph split off and explore the many lives of The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper.
Show Notes
The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
Becky Annison, Elizabeth Lovegrove and Ralph Lovegrove
Synopsis 00:33 // Comments 05:30 // RPGs, shared characters and concluding the game 11:30 // Becky’s RPG 20:30 // Liz’s RPG 25:30 // Ralph’s RPG and Blake’s 7 29:00 // Non-simultaneous travel and communication (and Ursula Le Guin) 38:00 // Other Tepper recommendations 40:10
(we namecheck Beyond the Wall and Traveller in this episode)
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
In this episode Liz, Mo and Ralph dive into Grass by Sheri S. Tepper.
This is the first of two episodes on Tepper, whose death in 2016 was pretty much overshadowed by more prominent celebs and/or politics.
Show Notes
Grass by Sheri S. Tepper
Mo Holkar, Elizabeth Lovegrove and Ralph Lovegrove
Synopsis 00:30 // Comment starts 08:00 // “Puzzle Planets” 13:30 // The History Problem 18:00 // Liz’s game 19:45 // Mo’s game 22:00 // Ralph’s game 25:20
Other “Puzzle Planet” Books
- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
- Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle
- Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
- Dune by Frank Herbert
For another treatment of Grass and its literary and historical roots, see this article (infinityplus)
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
We pitch 7 books for future consideration.
Show Notes
Mo Holkar, Josh Fox, Elizabeth Lovegrove, Ralph Lovegrove
The books:
- Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
- No Good Men Among The Living by Anand Gopal
- Factoring Humanity by Robert Sawyer
- The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
- The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker
Mo’s bit (Vonnegut) 00:40 // Josh’s bit (Gopal, Sawyer) 08:10 // Liz’ bit (Chambers, Austen) 17:50 // Ralph’s bit (Stapledon, Barker) 25:30
Other Stuff
The Chaucer Twitter Feed
M. John Harrison’s essay on the Great Clomping Foot of Nerdism from Warren Ellis’ blog (original can be found via Wayback Machine)
Music credits
“I can’t imagine where I’d be without it” and “Another version of you” both from Thoughtless by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
It’s National World Short Story Novel Mustache Reading Writing Knitting Month, so we’re doing more short stories — this time from Octavia Butler, Ray Bradbury and Cory Doctorow. Also, Rod Steiger, Charlie Brooker and the Sandman!
Show Notes
The Evening, The Morning and The Night by Octavia Butler, curated in the Sisters of the Revolution anthology by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer
When Sysadmins Ruled The Earth by Cory Doctorow
Fever Dream (from The Day It Rained Forever) and The Veldt (from The Illustrated Man) by Ray Bradbury
Elizabeth and Ralph Lovegrove, with Rowan on percussion
Octavia Butler 00:40 // Cory Doctorow 06:33 // Ray Bradbury 09:22 // Themes 10:55 // Games 17:27 // Microbes, HP Blavatsky, Nazis 18:49 // Modified Werewolf Game 26:12 // The Veldt 27:22 // Rod Steiger 29:17 // Charlie Brooker 31:27 // Framing Devices 31:57 // World’s End 32:12
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
This episode Liz and Ralph recommend short stories to each other: The Matter of Seggri by Ursula Le Guin, and Coppola’s Dracula by Kim Newman.
Show Notes
The Matter of Seggri from The Birthday of the World by Ursula Le Guin
Coppola’s Dracula by Kim Newman which you can read online here.
Elizabeth Lovegrove and Ralph Lovegrove
The Matter of Seggri 00:45 // Game ideas 08:40 // Coppola’s Dracula 12:30 // Game ideas 19:05 // The Quiet Year 24:55 // Dream Park 25:40
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
A near-future Johannesburg where the urban sprawl mixes with Southern African legend in a post-cyberpunk detective novel.
Show Notes
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
Elizabeth Lovegrove and Ralph Lovegrove
00:39 Synopsis // 04:35 Fake academic papers and His Dark Materials // 06:00 Penny Miller’s Myths and Legends of Southern Africa // 11:15 Games here // 17:00 Ralph gushes about WaRP // 19:05 PbtA all the way down // 22:56 Malandros (again) // 24:10 (off topic) our book lists
Ralph and Liz’s book lists
We set each other a challenge of reading ten books the other had read. These is my list from Liz:
- Behind the Scenes at the Museum / Kate Atkinson
- The Robber Bride / Margaret Atwood
- The Sparrow / Mary Dora Russell
- Parable of the Sower / Octavia Butler
- To Kill A Mockingbird / Harper Lee
- The Color Purple / Alice Walker
- Gaudy Night / Dorothy L. Sayers
- Among Others / Jo Walton
- Zoo City / Lauren Beukes
- Tipping the Velvet / Sarah Waters
(Note: Parable of the Sower was originally Fledgeling but changed for reasons)
And this is Liz’s list from me:
- Behold the Man / Michael Moorcock
- The Pastel City / M. John Harrison
- Cocaine Nights / J. G. Ballard
- The Forever War / Joe Haldeman
- The Land of Laughs / Jonathan Carroll
- The Demolished Man / Alfred Bester
- Norstrilia / Cordwainer Smith
- Ubik / Philip K. Dick
- The Western Lands / William Burroughs
- Neuromancer / William Gibson
Scores so far are 3.5 (for me) to 1.5 (for Liz)
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
(chriszabriskie.com bandcamp free music archive)
This episode Liz and Becky discuss Kelly Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld and talk about pack mentality
Show Notes
The Women of the Otherworld (series) by Kelly Armstrong
Elizabeth Lovegrove and Becky Annison with Ralph Lovegrove
Synopsis starts at 00:40, RPGs at 16:05
Games
Bite Me! by Becky Annison is a Powered by the Apocalypse Game debuting at the Revelation convention in Sheffield on 25th and 26th February 2017
Other games Ralph mentioned in a desperate attempt to be relevant to the conversation: Werewolf (White Wolf publishing) // Buffy and Angel (now OOP, Eden Studios) // Ghosts of Albion (Eden Studios)
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
(chriszabriskie.com bandcamp free music archive)
Zeitgeisty! The team read the 2016 Hugo-winning novella Binti by Nnedi Okorafor.
Show Notes
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
exerpt
Ralph Lovegrove with Elizabeth Lovegrove and Mo Holkar
00:26 Synopsis // 02:47 Comments // 10:10 Liz’s Game // 14:28 Mo’s Game // 19:31 Ralph’s Game
Games
Dog Eat Dog by Liam Liwanag Burke // De Profundis by Michal Oracz
Music
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie (chriszabriskie.com bandcamp free music archive)
“Gone” from Music for Podcasts 2 by Lee Rosevere (happy puppy records bandcamp free music archive)
In our first episode we talk about the utopian post-scarcity, post-gender space opera of Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice.
Show Notes
Fictoplasm episode 1: Ancilliary Justice by Ann Leckie, part of the Imperial Radch Trilogy
Ralph Lovegrove, Elizabeth Lovegrove, Becky Annison
01:00 Synopsis // 05:00 Comments // 12:20 Start of the RPG bit // 12:30 Liz’s game idea // 19:00 Becky’s game idea // 24:30 Ralph’s game idea
Games
Mellan Himmel och Hav (Between Heaven and Sea) by Eliot Wieslander and Katarina Björk // Livsgald by Simon Svensson, Kajsa Seinegaard, Carl Nordblom and Jennie Nyberg // Dream Askew by Avery McDaldno // Microscope by Ben Robbins // Archipelago by Matthijs Holter // Lovecraftesque by Becky Annison and Josh Fox // Rise and Fall by Elizabeth Lovegrove is part of the Seven Wonders anthology.
Music
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie (chriszabriskie.com bandcamp free music archive)
“Content” from Music For Podcasts by Lee Rosevere (happy puppy records bandcamp free music archive)
