Spoil Me

Thank you to Yama for commissioning this episode! This section is the start of the crescendo of all the crisis coming to a head finally. Nita and Kit have a kind of a blowout with Quelt, who very understandably wants to know who the fuck they think they are. Meanwhile, on planet Earth, the guests at Dairines as well as Dairine herself, head to the Sun. Thanks for listening!

Thank you to Yama for commissioning this episode! In these chapters, turns out that there's something that was left out of the Display on Alaalu and I have to admit I don't totally understand it. Why was it left out? Who engineered that? What difference does it make if the occupants of this planet know those details? Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you soon with a new episode!

Thank you to Heather for commissioning this episode! In these chapters, we finally meet Aftermath and I'm really into him as a villain. His attitude and his power make him really feel like a threat in a way that Tretyak's reserved vibe didn't quite manage until the confrontation with Jordan. However, there are some things in this section that I found puzzling and didn't quite work for me. Thank yo...

Thank you so much to Ashleigh for commissioning this episode! In this one I finish up chapter 9 because I ran out of time last episode, and I am genuinely surprised at the way things go in the following episodes. Demons are apparently real? I was SO SURE that they were going to turn out to be bullshit. I mean, damn! Thanks for listening!

Thank you to Heather for commissioning this episode! We're starting on a new arc of the story now, dealing with the fallout from the revelation of the existence of Metahumans, and I'm very interested in seeing how society copes with it all. Meanwhile, Jill is getting entangled in Dr. Spears' organization, and Jordan is moving in on an odd hostage situation that seems a little too neat and tidy for...

Thank you so much to Patricia for commissioning this episode! These chapters surprise me by going into a dangerous crisis on Earth instead of on Alaalu, which leaves me still being super nervous about Nita and Kit. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm very worried about Earth and our Sun, but there's a growing sense of dread on Alaalu that I can hardly stand anymore! I'm about to pop! Thanks for listeni...

Thank you to Ashleigh for commissioning this episode! Okay so this episode I run out of time to completely talk about chapter 9 because there is just SO MUCH GOING ON, so next episode I'm going to start off by wrapping up this section! Also, there's a discrepancy in page numbers in the paper vs kindle version, so I'm going to read around 35 pages for next episode. I am just loving this book so muc...

Thank you very much to Ashleigh for commissioning this episode! I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book, despite having heard of it here and there, because I tried not to look into it too much. But at this point I'm only 4 chapters in and I'm absolutely hooked and I can't wait to see what this writer decides to do with this compelling plot and interesting characters. I am absolutely...

Thanks to Heather for commissioning this episode! It's time for the final chapters of the book, and we get a properly epic street brawl with all the Metahumans (thanks for the word, Dr. Spears, but also I hate you) outing themselves in full view of the public, who are all armed with cellphones. The way things shake out, we've got a full-on shift in the terrain of society coming up in the next book...

Thank you to Patricia for commissioning this episode! This section is really interesting and I'm not totally sure what to make of it. Nita and Kit are taken to see a sort of memorial about ancient Alaalu people's interaction with the Lone Power, who appeared to them as a superhot woman. They seem to just tell the Lone One to fuck off, and she just....goes? That can't be right, can it? What is goin...

Thank you to Heather for commissioning this episode! So this is the departure from the main novel, in which I read a short story from the anthology! This is from Jill's perspective, and we get to see exactly how she got out from the house after being taken into custody and basically put into lockdown. In proper teenage fashion, she completely freaks the fuck out over a bullshit relationship with a...

Thank you to Patricia for commissioning this episode! So this section ends partway through chapter 7 at "I can manage", for those out there reading along! We get to meet the folks on Alaalu and it's not as foreboding as I was expecting, considering Nita's dream. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and it's just...not quite happening? WHY DOES THAT MAKE ME EVEN MORE NERVOUS?

Thank you to Heather for commissioning this episode! So for this episode, despite it being slightly under the usual number of pages, I'm just doing this one chapter that ends with Jill running away and next episode I'm covering the short story 'Jill's Run' from the companion anthology! You can find it here! https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B00UQW39E6&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_k...

Thank you so much to Yama for commissioning this episode! This chapter is the one where we get to meet the three wizards that are staying with Dairine and her dad, and wow but I don't think she was ready for this. Even though she's given some information about them, Dairine seems unprepared for the overall attitudes, not to mention eating habits, of a couple of these dudes. And then...there's Rosh...

Thank you to George for commissioning this episode! These chapters are the ones in which the crew approach the Grey Island, and Naberius is lashed to the mast in a very Ulysses-style sort of way. He's already very much in thrall to the Heart, and can sense its presence on the island. Meanwhile, Jyrine is still getting messages and weapons from her allies, and they seem to be the ones who sent the...

Thank you to Yama for commissioning this episode! This chapter is the one where Nita and Kit research the planet they're heading to, and begin their journey. I'm really unnerved by how incredibly peaceful this planet seems to be, and the portentous dream that Nita has puts me on edge. What the hell does it mean? And what's the deal with how infrequent travel is to this planet? Thanks for listening...

Thank you very much to George for commissioning this episode! "Every time Calder saw Cheska Bennet, her hat got bigger." What a completely fantastic opening line. This whole section doesn't go the way that I expected, and I thought I would be more prepared for it all because of seeing from Shera's POV but there's just so much she doesn't know. Fucking Naberius. He's just SUCH a bad choice. I don't...

Thank you so much to Yama for commissioning this episode! These chapters are the ones in which Nita agrees to take a vacation away from home, although considering the way that everything has already been put into motion by her father, I'm not really sure she had a choice when it comes right down to it. At the same time, Kits parents are in talks with Tom behind Kit's back, and while Kit feels inte...

Thank you to George for commissioning this episode! These chapters are where we get another full scene that played out in Of Shadow And Sea from Calder's perspective, and it's really interesting to see how much less organized the whole recovery attempt is than I expected. Calder is only enlightened on the actual objective at the last moment, and is not feeling too great about Naberius getting it,...

Thank you so much to Kyle for commissioning this episode! It's time to wrap on this wild horror novel, and we get to the final scene where Drachenfels indeed returns to life via some wild sorcery and human sacrifices. We knew this was coming, but I wasn't totally sure how it would go due to the people being killed apparently for their various body parts, because he also seemed to be possessing tha...

Thank you to George for commissioning this episode! In these chapters we get to meet Bliss, who is super intimidating and seems to have just enough connection to human compassion (in that she knew Calder's mom would be bummed if he was made insane) to make her somehow even more frightening. Oh also, there's a worm cloud. It's a cloud of worms. I hate it. Thanks for listening!

Thank you to Yama for commissioning this episode! Starting this new book feels like a fresh start after the fraught subject matter of A Wizard Alone and I'm very hopeful that this book is about an actual vacation. Like, as in, no crisis or threatened apocalypse or death. Can't our people just have some time to learn about cool wizard stuff? Meanwhile I'm really REALLY annoyed with Nita's father. T...

Thank you to George for commissioning this episode! In these chapters we find out who Calder's mother is, and she's pretty badass. He's disappointed that she works for the Blackwatch, but it seems as if she's trying to recruit him to one of the guilds, if not that one specifically. In the present day, we get sort of an introduction to everyone on the crew, and we also meet Naberius whom I get mixe...

Thank you very much to Yama for commissioning this episode! Wow, this was pretty fascinating. Comparing the original ending to the revision is compelling stuff, and it makes a lot of sense that people had a negative reaction to Duane's depiction of autism as an inflicted punishment to be escaped rather than an aspect of someone's personality. I'm afraid that I focus so much on the comparisons that...

Thanks so much to George for commissioning this episode! We're starting the companion book to Of Sea & Shadow and I'm really excited to see what the story looks like from Calder's perspective. We're starting off in a similar fashion to Shera's story, jumping back and forth in time between some key moments of Calder's childhood and present day. We're seeing him with his father, getting his initial...