fictoplasm

Advent calendar day 2: space travel in the universe of Cordwainer Smith’s Instrumentality of Mankind space travel // sacrifice // journeys // closed environments Music Music is by Chris Zabriskie: chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // instagram // youtube

On day 1 of the advent calendar I ramble about The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie magical realism // hooks // nested stories // metamorphosis // Nephilim RPG Music Music is by Chris Zabriskie: chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // instagram // … Continue reading →

This is the Fictoplasm Advent Calendar. I’ll update this post with links to each new episode! Mmm, jingle bells. Episodes None yet… Music Music is by Chris Zabriskie: chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // instagram // youtube

Breakers — Saving Harper Ross (dir. Chason Laing) TV Tropes: Time Loops image credit Introduction 00:07 // Synopsis 01:00 (book and film) // Other media and time loops 08:45 (Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, Palm Springs, Before I Fall, Russian … Continue reading →

The Running Man by Richard Bachman (Stephen King) The Running Man (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, directed by Paul Michael Glaser) Introduction 00:07 // Synopsis 01:40 (book and film) // Remarks 13:11 (scope, legality, arena, timeframe, higher authority; games commission, hunters, runners, … Continue reading →

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jannson The Map! Intro 00.07 // Synopsis 01.33 // Remarks 13.33 (OSR modules; OSR branding vs. mainstream RPGs; sandboxes, internal consistency, ecology, liminal spaces) // Media 33.11 (Fear of a Black Dragon Gardens of Ynn, … Continue reading →

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert Children of Dune (TV Miniseries) (Image is of the Gerry Grace cover for Children of Dune) Intro 00:07 // Synopsis 01:15 // Remarks 26:51 (narrative transformation of Fremen and House Atreides, Pharaonic Imperium, The … Continue reading →

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert Children of Dune (TV Miniseries) (image source: isfdb.org) Intro 00:07 // Synopsis 01:39 // Remarks 13:21 (humans as special weapons, Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilax, shapers and mechanists, law and chaos, changing face of Arrakis, … Continue reading →

Dune by Frank Herbert Dune (1984 film) directed by David Lynch Frank Herbert’s Dune (TV miniseries) Dune (2021 film) directed by Denis Villeneuve Intro 00:07 // Synopsis 01:47 // Extra 20:17 // Remarks 26:06 (transhumanism, worms as dragons, ecological mysteries) … Continue reading →

I’m interviewing Frances Hardinge! We talk about her novels including The Lie Tree and A Face Like Glass, her ideas and characters, unreliable landscapes, closed communities and islands, literary influences, and ghost stories. 00:06 preamble 01:02 Frances’ fiction (The Lie … Continue reading →

Verdigris Deep by Frances Hardinge Intro 00:06 // Synopsis 01:00 // Remarks 10:21 (small communities, NPCs’ desires, surprise powers and downsides, the spirit world) // Media 19:58 (Amelie, Wonderfalls, Touch, Joan of Arcadia) Patreon Support this podcast on The Fictoplasm … Continue reading →

A Nomad of the Time Streams by Michael Moorcock (Millenium edition 1993, ISBN 1-85798-033-6) Intro 00:06 // Cover by Mark Reeve 01:20 // Foreword 02:12 // Synopsis 05:09 (The Warlord of the Air 06:37, The Land Leviathan 12:45, The Steel … Continue reading →

The Adventures of Luther Arkwright by Brian Talbot (including Heart of Empire) Big Finish audio adaption with David Tennant, Siri O’Neal, Paul Darrow Luther Arkwright RPG by the Design Mechanism (see Reviews from R’lyeh take here) Imagine Magazine issue 14 … Continue reading →

The Invisibles (volume 1) by Grant Morrison Intro 00:06 // Synopsis of volume 1 01:48 // Remarks 20:13 (Mage: the Ascension and Department V) // Media 32:21 (The Matrix, Over the Edge, Nephilim, Sorcerer, Unknown Armies, Continuum, The Mega City … Continue reading →

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Intro 00:06 // Synopsis 01:16 // Remarks 08:39 (unreliable narrators, how to host a murder mystery, closed worlds, the dead) // Media 25:19 (The Sunken Land Begins To Rise Again, plus games, video games) Patreon Support … Continue reading →

Marvel 1602 With special guest Paul Baldowski of Just Crunch games, author of the Dee Sanction, The Cthulhu Hack and more! Intro 00:07 // Synopsis 02:53 (spotting Marvel characters, Strange=Dee and Fury=Walsingham, pocket universes, three act structure, hating on bards) … Continue reading →

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky With special guest Andy from the Breakfast in the Ruins podcast! Intro 00:07 // Premise 05:25 // Characters 08:56 // Prologue & part 1 24:14 // Part 3 (Andy’s favourite bit) 44:43 // … Continue reading →

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir Intro 00:07 // Synopsis 02:25 // Remarks 12:12 (paired characters 12:16, locked room mysteries and LARP 20:38, magic and Thanergy 26:52) // Media 32:01 (Sabriel) Patreon Support this podcast on The Fictoplasm Patreon! Music … Continue reading →

Sailing to Utopia by Michael Moorcock (Millenium 1993 ISBN 1-85798-032-8) comprising The Ice Schooner, The Black Corridor, The Distant Suns, Flux Intro 00:07 // The cover 01:26 // The foreword 03:21 // Synopsis 05:31 (The Ice Schooner 05:34, The Black … Continue reading →

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers Intro 00:07 // Synopsis 02:00 // Remarks 13:08 (magic, history, time travel, fate and determinism) // Other Media 31:08 (Time and Again, Bid Time Return, TimeCop, Continuum) Links The Fictoplasm Patreon The Anubis Gates … Continue reading →

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell Intro 00:07 // Synopsis 01:28 // Themes 12:46 (hard and soft SF, exploration, survival, skills, celebrating discovery and forming relationships) // Media 28:30 (The Expanse, Form Grows Rampant, The Forever War, Gateway, Diaspora) Links … Continue reading →

With Dirk the Dice from The Grognard Files The first book of Corum (volume 4 of the Eternal Champion) by Michael Moorcock. Intro 00:07 // Introducing Dirk 00:45 // Dirk and Corum 1:55 // The book, and this edition 11:02 … Continue reading →

High time I did an episode zero! This episode is timed to coincide with the Patreon launch for Fictoplasm, where you can support the show (and get some perks as well). Music Credits Music is by Chris Zabriskie: chriszabriskie.com // … Continue reading →

The Princess Bride by William Goldman Intro 00:06 // Synopsis 01:32 // Themes 09:59 (Ruritania, Inigo Montoya) // RPG combat systems 28:50 (Lace & Steel, The Riddle of Steel, Burning Wheel, Three Rivers) // Media 41:50 (Le Bossu, The Duellists, … Continue reading →