Around the Long Fire

Somehow this episode is in large part about Gundam? Very funny considering we didn’t even know that Niamh would be guesting on GGP this week, out on Wednesday at patreon.com/abnormalmapping for $1 a month! Also, usual saga/horse/manga/movies talk. Things Discussed: vamping, The Man Who Wasn’t There, The Golden Compass, Lessons of Darkness, Nodame Cantabile, Turn A Gundam, GGP Talk at Large, Gundam...

Totally normal episode of Around the Long Fire. Definitely not feeling weird about publishing this one. Things Discussed: birth control, Gundam, card games, Vivienne Westwood X NANA, fashion, Umamusume updates, The Princess Diaries, life updates part 3, Pondering Pootan, Cecilia Immergreen See the show schedule here! This’ll tell you which versions of books and which sections of those books we’re...

We’re back to the Saga and chatting about that and the things we’ve been up to: horses, card games, and movies! Please enjoy the episode. Things Discussed: Game Changer, Umamusume, Poker, Chicago ICE Update, ASMR Studio Visit, Hololive card game, Sonatine, Connor’s Japan Trip See the show schedule here! This’ll tell you which versions of books and which sections of those books we’re reading each w...

Em’s back from her trip and we talk a lot about Chicago, since we didn’t do a ton of other things. Next week we’ll return to the Iliad! Things Discussed: Cecilia Immergreen, Em in Chicago, Galloping Ghost, Umamusume: Beginning of a New Era,  Umamusume the game,  See the show schedule here! This’ll tell you which versions of books and which sections of those books we’re reading each week....

It’s the week before vacation and everyone’s got senioritis. Thankfully the sagas are here being very enjoyable, and we chat a lot about reading and podcasting in this breezy edition of ALF. Things Discussed: Em’s final podcast, IBO, Tehanu and Earthsea, NANA, Umamusume, Road to the Top, Gunpla, Hololive card game, podcast plans See the show schedule here! This’ll tell you which versions of books...

The sagas are pretty good this week, and we try not to let life get us down, so this all in all is a quiet, pleasant episode of chit chat. Please enjoy! Things Discussed: mid-00s fantasy epics, Hunter X Hunter, NANA, anime takes, Divey vs GGP, gacha check in, Chicago news, health check in See the show schedule here! This’ll tell you which versions of books and which sections of those books we’re r...

Sorry for the short episode again, health and mental health are pretty low right now. Hopefully things will pick up in a few weeks! Things Discussed: Straight culture, Umamusume, vtuber stuff See the show schedule here! This’ll tell you which versions of books and which sections of those books we’re reading each week. Niamh podcasts on Export Audio with Ghost Divers and Ornate Stairwells. Fae post...

A shorter episode this week as we begin the Iliad and have a bunch of podcast work to do after we record, we manage a nice solid hour on both the book and other stuff. Mostly horse girls and food. Y’know, the basic needs. Things Discussed: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Wuthering Heights, Umamusume, Vodka,  Green Yuri, Cooking Talk, See the show schedule here! This’ll tell you which vers...

We begin our largest book yet as we read the overly long introduction to The Iliad and talk a little bit about our time with this book before the podcast. Then, the usual yapping. Em has gotten increasingly horse-pilled. Niamh’s seen the heart of the cards. Things Discussed: bookmark habits, day off activities, Gundam Build Fighters, movie recommendations, Pokemon cards, mental health, book update...

A one and done for this small book of magic and esoterica, but we manage a pretty good discussion out of it anyway! This was a pleasant break of an episode before we climb the mountain for our final book this season. Things Discussed: ritual and magic/spirituality, Hololive chess, scheduling, Gundam X, robots, K-Pop Demon Hunters, A Safe Girl to Love, trans stuff and feminism, Wuthering Heights, G...

We finish the saga, reflect on some books, compare horses and mermaids, and much more on this action packed episode. Things Discussed: Nodame Cantabile, Umamusume, A Safe Girl to Love, Guinea Pig 4: Mermaid in a Manhole, Do You Know Who Jackie Is? Opening music for this book is Ferdia’s Song and Gae Bolga by Horslips See the show schedule here! This’ll tell you which versions of books and which se...

Somehow our boy Cu has managed to turn a gay story even gayer this week, but we soldier on undeterred. We’re just cool and strong like that. Things Discussed: What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Poker Face season 2; ripping CDs; Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist; music scenes; Vive L’Amour; a trip to the zoo; Guinea Pig 3: He Never...

A surprise week off due to medical stuff but we’re back with more murder, lots of books, horse girls, and vtubers! Things Discussed: Umamusume Pretty Derby: Road to the Top; Nodame Cantabile; Detransition, Baby; the ren faire; The Blue Fox, galloping ghost gaming, purses, card pack meta, Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood, Alien Autopsy, All For One, Opening music for this book is Ferdia’s So...

A long episode mostly because Em has started watching movies again. But we have a good time chatting about all sorts of stuff, including the Táin! Things Discussed: FFX metaphysics, DAPs (that’s MP3 players for normal people), Yo Gabba Gabba show, KPop Demon Hunters, The Double Life of Veronique, Red Rooms, Guinea Pig: Devil’s Experiment, Cece and Raora’s 3D debuts, manga corner, the circus! Openi...

Em survived surgery so she’s getting back in front of a microphone again and talking about anime, vtubers, and other such ALF staples. Please enjoy this short but good episode. We’ll return with sagas next week! Things Discussed: Em’s surgery update, the story of the get well present, hopes on the other side of all this, Niamh’s scheduling woes, Gigi Murin’s 3D Live, other vtuber stuff, IDW’s TMNT...

The final episode before our little break, we talk about Cú Chulainn, some books, and the vtuber news of the week. Things Discussed: death and illness, Detransition, Baby, Tehanu, the Vshojo implosion, Nimi Nightmare is getting married!, Pootan 2 and 3 Opening music for this book is Ferdia’s Song and Gae Bolga by Horslips See the show schedule here! This’ll tell you which versions of books and whi...

We pivot to Irish myth and legend this week as our hosts really struggle with exhaustion and life, but there’s st8ill plenty to talk about. Things Discussed: health and reasons for exhaustion (the FMLA paperwork did get done!), the reading of this book aloud , Tehanu, Nodame Cantabile, Niamh plays a new video game, Persona 4 and 5, Freckled1der's Persona 4 LP , the question bucket, bumper stickers...

We finish off La Vita Nuova, and have a general chat mostly about what we’ve been reading. Please enjoy! Things Discussed: the weather, Seattle part 1, Niamh's got a throat thing, upcoming time off, what to do between Seattle parts, Seattle part 2, crab boils and Reubens, Dune Messiah, Gender Outlaw, Nodame Cantabile, The Sluts, Question Bucket x2, a very important Mario ranking Opening music for...

We break format and put the Pootans in various places around the episode. You know, figured we’d get a little meta with it. Dante has a bad dream, but it’s fine. :) Things Discussed: Blue Prince, Pokémon Sleep, Hokuto and Kamiyama's Pondering Pootan, Vinyl, Researching Purchases, The Lathe of Heaven, Nodame Cantabile, Clothing Disaster, Eureka Seven, Incredible Animation, Gender Outlaws, Fountain...

We begin season five of Around the Long Fire by going back to the classics that forged Em into the weirdo she is today, as we crack open Dante and talk about pining and eating hearts, among other things. Usual ALF fun follows, in classic fashion. Things Discussed: Dante studies, Wotakoi, Nodame Cantabile, Hey Kids Watch This, The Beginning of the Slow Bucket Draining, Pokemon, Dagger: On Butch Wom...

The mighty question bucket arrives and we manage to get through about 30% of the questions we got. We’ll hold onto these and chip away at them in the future, thank you to everyone who wrote in and also thank you to Autumn for showing up this season! NOTE: Autumn’s audio is a little weird, hopefully they aren’t too quiet I did my best to adjust them. You’ll hear it on the pod. It was a mess. See th...

We watch a modern adaptation of BA reframing it as a story of the now. How does it do? Wellllllll, not great, turns out. Things Discussed: scams, King of Fighters characters and other fighting games, Wotakoi, Autumn not finishing manga, Dune Non-Autumn Zone: Faggots, armpits, haircuts, recording podcasts while sick, Switch 2, Hokuto and Kamiyama’s Pondering Pootan, Pondering Proctors See the show...

A century of excellence comes to a close and we reach the end of the tale of Franz Biberkopf for the second time, but certainly not the last. We get reflective about our time adjacent to or within games culture on this episode, and then rotate some stupid Star Trek stuff for a bit. Things Discussed: Animal Crossing, star ratings, Nerissa musical , Gigi Murin coming out as ace and demi, talking abo...

A century of excellence comes to a close and we reach the end of the tale of Franz Biberkopf for the second time, but certainly not the last. We get reflective about our time adjacent to or within games culture on this episode, and then rotate some stupid Star Trek stuff for a bit. Things Discussed: Idle Thumbs, Giant Bomb, Star Gladiator, Rival Schools, indie games, media length, Wayside Stories...

It feels in many ways like the entire season was building to this episode, though I’m sure we’ll feel the same way in two weeks. A harrowing show today, and then we enjoy talking about some manga and some books, before Em gets heated about Online and we reflect on the Autumn months (months with Autumn as co-host, not the months of fall). Things Discussed: balancing act of doing stuff, Honey and Cl...