Fiction Fans

Your hosts indulge in some serious escapism with Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. They talk about how terribly Basgaith War Academy is run, ask themselves why anyone would want to attend it, and yet defend to the death their right to enjoy this book. Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs: - Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris” - Josh Woodward for the use of “...

Your hosts read Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav Barsukov (and get a little distracted argreeing [that's arguing and agreeing at the same time] over how it's different from Kushiel's Dart). They discuss political plotlines in SFF, both relatable and antagonistic characters, and assign an exact genre-percentage-breakout between Fantasy, SciFi, and Horror. Find us on Discord...

Your hosts spend 17 minutes talking about some tropes they didn't love in Snuff by Terry Pratchett, and then roughly two hours (cut down to a reasonable time) gushing about the rest of the book in the spoiler section so we can't talk about it. Vimes kind of has magic powers, his wife Sybil actually does things in the plot, and there's a character named Stinky (that's really all...

Your hosts discuss witchcraft and religion in their conversation about The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson. They talk about familiar conflicts in fantasy settings, surprising (and not so surprising) character arcs, and whether rivers of blood or rivers of bones would be scarier. Find us on Discord / Support us on Patreon Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs: - Scot...

Your hosts were thoroughly unimpressed by the selection of works they read from Great Tales of Horror by H.P. Lovecraft. They talk about trying to avoid bias going into a work, and racist mthrfckrs. They also discuss cosmic horror, Cthulhu's tentacles, and Lovecraft's reputation. Did they read the wrong works? Maybe. In this episode, they discuss: The Call of Cthulhu The Color From Out o...

Your hosts talk about skeletons, mythology, and what makes a horror story in Lyndsie Mansusos’ debut novella, From These Dark Abodes. Yes, Lilly made them watch Spooky Scary Skeletons before they started recording. Find us on Discord / Support us on Patreon Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs: - Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution...

Your hosts are joined by Xueting Ni to talk about her experience translating and editing Sinophagia, a collection of Chinese horror short stories. They discuss both cultural and personal horror. At the end, Sara and Lilly go over their favorite stories in the collection. You can find Xueting on twitter here: https://twitter.com/xuetingni   And more from her here: http://snowpavilion.co.uk/   Find...

Lilly drags Sara into hell with their first Spooky Month book -- Books of Blood volume 1, by Clive Barker. They discuss the collection of short stories as a whole, and some of the appeal (and repulsion) of horror as a genre. They also talk about each story, going over the ones that freaked them out the most (Lilly's favorite, Sara's least favorite) and the ones that freaked them out the...

Your hosts take another step on their Journey to the Ends of the Discworld with "I Shall Wear Midnight," by Terry Pratchett, the YA novel to define all YA novels. They talk about quintessential genre examples, relatable teenage angst, and unfortunate Deus ex Machinas. They also discuss realistic romance arcs, unrealistic romantic interests, and what makes a villain scary. There's a...

Your hosts are joined by Suzan Palumbo to talk about food, colonialism, and more in her new novella, Countess. They also talk about the unique experiences of queer characters and classic lit inspirations by way of The Count of Monte Cristo. Find more from Suzan: https://bsky.app/profile/sillysyntax.bsky.social https://x.com/sillysyntax https://www.instagram.com/gothicsyntax/ Find us on Discord / S...

Your hosts discuss Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. They talk about how eerie it is to read a dystopian future set in… pretty much indistinguishable modern day (although with a little extra cannibalism sprinkled in). They also talk about religious themes, relatable characters, and the importance of kindness. Lilly sneaks in an unplanned Pet Peeve corner. Find us on Discord / Support us on P...

Your hosts pretend to know things about football in their discussion about Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. They talk about character arcs, well developed (and well developed ) female characters, and sweet little precious baby goblins. Find us on Discord / Support us on Patreon Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs: - Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Par...

Your hosts discuss City of Spores by Austin Shirey. They talk about detective/noir tropes and avoiding common pitfalls, as well as subtle worldbuilding in novellas. Mushrooms do come up once or twice. Find us on Discord / Support us on Patreon Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs: - Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris” - Josh Woodward for the use of “Elect...

Your hosts discuss Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike. They talk about fantasy maps, RPG tropes, and the genre that is “adventuring but make it a bureaucratic capitalist hellscape.” There’s also charming goblins, less charming halflings, and a new take on elves. Find us on Discord / Support us on Patreon Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs: - Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à N...

Your hosts read “Making Money” by Terry Pratchett. They discuss consistent love interests and disappointing villains. Sara tries not to be too down on the book. Find us on Discord / Support us on Patreon Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs: - Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris” - Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise” Licensed under Creative Com...

Your hosts read Ninth Life by Stark Holborn, the third book in what may or may not be a trilogy, they actually have no idea. They talk about the difficulties of year-long gaps before reading a sequel, debate what an epistolary novel is, and look up the definition for 2nd person POV. Lilly also spills the tea about a gossip-themed Pet Peeve. Find us on Discord / Support us on Patreon Thanks to the...

Your hosts are joined by Krystle Matar and Adrian M. Gibson for a spoiler-filled follow-up conversation about his debut novel, Mushroom Blues. They talk about dark themes, cultural influences on the Hopponese, and the character development of Koji and Henrietta. This whole episode contains spoilers for Mushroom Blues. Find more from Adrian: https://x.com/adrianmgibson   Find more from Krystle: htt...

Your hosts are joined by Krystle Matar to talk about Cassiel's Servant by Jacqueline Carey, a book that covers the same events as Kushiel's Dart but from another character's perspective. Lilly can't even bring herself to describe it as "the love interest's perspective" due to how there is neither love nor interest in Kushiel's Dart (although Sara disagrees),...

After our interview with Bryan about his Shattered Gates universe, we reconvened to talk about his short story Gods of Dust, and also bring up some of our thoughts that were, as they say, "more of a comment than a question." Check out our Patreon for the rest of the conversation. Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs: - Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame...

Your hosts bring some cousin related chaos to their conversation about Learn to Howl by Jennifer R. Donohue. They talk about cousin main characters, werewolf origin stories, dog mannerisms, and more cousin stuff. They also bring up religious metaphors and oh, also the fact that they are cousins. Content Warning: discussion of fictional sexual assault Find us on Discord / Support us on Patreon Than...

Your hosts take a quick detour to discuss ebook formats (including footnotes) before diving in to Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett. They also talk about the empire of Nanny Ogg, Annagramma’s Mean Girls character arc, and ask themselves: What Makes a Discworld book a Witch book? Find us on Discord / Support us on Patreon Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs: - Amarià for the u...

Your hosts are once again joined by Andrew Cartmel, this time to discuss his novel Ashram Assassin, the second book in his Paperback Sleuth series. They talk about crime novel tropes, yoga, and curry. More information about Dressing Gown: https://tabard.org.uk/whats-on/dressing-gown/ Find more from Andrew: https://venusianfrogbroth.blogspot.com/ https://medwayprideradio.co.uk/show/the-vinyl-detect...

Your hosts are joined by Ciel Pierlot to talk about her latest novel, The Hunter's Gambit. They discuss vampire lore, equality in fantasy settings, and hot threeways. They also ask the ultimate question: do vampires count as monsterfcking? Find more from Ciel: https://x.com/CielPierlot   https://www.instagram.com/cielpierlot/   https://cielpierlot.com/   Find us on discord / Support us on Pat...

Your hosts read Thud! a City Watch book in Discworld that is probably not the best book in Discworld, but they genuinely liked it despite their complaining. Your hosts talk about fantasy racial tension, the Bechdel test, and lolrandom chickens. They also discuss Carrot's character development, the helpfulness of strippers, and poor, poor Sybil. This episode also features a Words are Weird dre...

Your hosts try not to make anyone too mad with their opinions about The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson's first Mistborn novel. Credit where credit's due, it's got a really cool magic system. They spend some time comparing it to Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey, and also talk about the YA to Grimdark pipeline, sex workers, and fun takes on the Chosen One trope. Find us on Dis...