Smiley's Podcast

Hey, we got Steve back! With both hosts this time!  Hello & welcome to our discussion about a whole host of things with Steven Erikson. From writing & worldbuilding advice, to his new rumoured book on writing and its mysterious editor, to mythology in the Malazan mythos (see what I did there?) centered chiefly on the Book of the Fallen & Kharkanas. This is the first in our set of...

[No Spoilers] After a run of 25 episodes which included an entire series, lots of guests and even a couple of character deep dives, we felt it's time to introduce ourselves. As mentioned, we are starting the next phase of the podcast with Path to Ascendancy books by Esslemont and The Kharkhanas books by Erikson. If you haven't noticed, we have a YouTube channel too: https://youtube.com/@smileyspod...

[Spoilers NotME] Well, friends, this is it. We got the man himself. Ian Esslemont agreed to lend us some of his time to have a chat about all sorts of things. From the Novels, to writing styles, to influences on writing - the man is wicked smart & it shows.  We did face a couple technical problems that we have fixed by now, & so if some questions or parts of the audio are repeated, we humbly apolo...

[Spoilers MBOTF and Spoilers NotME] Well, what do you know. We made it to the end. And Mora isn't... extremely impressed. Lee's love & appreciation of the book remains - could have to do with the fact that unlike the last book, it actually feels familiar - and we embark on a quest to convince Mora that the book is good, damn it.  Listen in to find out about the fate of the Guard, Kyle, Fisher & Je...

[Spoilers MBOTF and Spoilers NotME upto first 7 chapters of Assail] Welcome back to our discussion on the final book of the Novels of the Malazan Empire, Assail. We see some old faces again - the Whiteblade, Fisher kel Tath, the Guard lads and lasses, Silverfox - and certain new faces, like Orman, Bregin's son & the rest of the northerners. We explore the continent of Assail together, while Lee tr...

[Spoilers MBOTF and the NOTME upto Blood & Bone] Welcome to our final (sober, this time) discussion of Blood & Bone, the fifth book of the Malazan Empire. We discuss Mael being buff, K'azz & Skinner's capabilities as leaders, and why Kallor truly did nothing wrong. I will die on this hill. Wanna say 'Hi!' or give us feedback or have any questions for us, why not reach out? We are on Twitter - http...

[Spoilers MBOTF] Tonight we're joined by Wes ( u/Suxbois_420 ), Boronian ( u/Boronian1 ) and Trai ( u/TRAIANVS ), of "the r/Malazan subreddit mod team" fame. Lee feels like a fish out of water, but I'm sure the beers helped!  We geek out about our favourite books, most wholesome scenes, favourite duos, and - as is often the case in Malazan - though we try to keep the episode light-hearted (ag...

[Spoilers MBOTF, first 4 books of the NOTME and upto Chapter 7 of Blood & Bone]  Welcome to our (ever so) slightly intoxicated discussion of the first seven chapters of Blood & Bone, the fifth novel of the Novels of the Malazan Empire. We dance about topics ever gracefully, always seeming to land on Master Golan. Curious, that. Regardless, we hope you enjoy our (slightly) drunk rambli...

[Spoilers MBOTF and TGINW] Check out Ro's amazing Malazan book reviews on the subreddit! (u/MaestRo6279) Welcome to Part Two of our discussion on the God is Not Willing, whence we chiefly tackle the Malazan Marines and related storylines. From Gruff & his darlings to Stillwater and her antics, to Oams and Spindle and Benger. Bonus for Lee getting triggered over thermodynamics violations becaus...

[Spoilers MBOTF and TGINW] Check out Ro's amazing Malazan book reviews on the subreddit! (u/MaestRo6279) Two Tamils & a Greek walk into Smiley's. Sounds like the start of a bad joke.  Welcome to Part One of our discussion on the God is Not Willing, whence we chiefly tackle the Teblor storylines. Which is awfully difficult when one of us hasn't been paying much attention to the Teblor stor...

[Spoilers OST and the first 8 books from MBOTF] "Almost now, almost" is finally here. Our second episode on Orb, Sceptre, Throne, continuing the theme of "masks and tyrants and Kruppe, oh my!" Listen in to learn which characters comprise the best couple in the city of Blue Fire, the fate of beloved characters & most importantly, the fate of Darujhistan itself! To the tune of Fisher's Frail Age...

[Spoilers upto and including Chapter 12 of OST and first 8 books of MBOTF] Come along for a long awaited visit to the City of Blue Fire, filled with familiar faces- some masked and some unmasked.  Listen in as one of us is frustrated/impatient about all the cryptic setups while the other one is gleeful/smug about the same. And since we can't have a description of OST without the magic words,...

[Spoilers Gardens of the Moon and Chapter 1 of Deadhouse Gates, plus Wheel of Time upto Dragon Reborn] [NSFW/Explicit Language Warning] Join Lee and Mora as they sit down for a tavern style chat with Derek and Justin from D&J's Epic Quest. They have been reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen at the rate of 1 chapter per week with detailed and insightful discussions.  And by "tavern style...

[Spoilers upto Stonewielder] Mora & Lee embark on an adventure discussing the medical aspects of "the bends," that scene with Ussu, and a few fake out deaths. Faith, worship, idols, colonialism, culture clash, and HOLY SHIT GREYMANE! Please join our solemn vigil held out for Lord Protector Hiam tonight. We'll pour one out for the poor bastard. See you there. Wanna say 'Hi!' or give us feedback...

[Spoilers All, even the 1963 movie The Raven. Seriously!] Join me (minus my regular co-host) in this special episode with Steven Erikson where we had a casual, wide ranging conversation that covered everything from the Necromancer Novellas, updates on his upcoming books, the premise of Rejoice (2019), the origins of Lake Agassiz, and plenty, plenty more.   Here are links to some of the b...

[Spoilers All, except OST, BaB and ASL] The idea was to discuss the Novels of the Malazan Empire & Esslemont's writing. The idea went haywire as it is often wont to do on this podcast & we ended up touching on quite a few subjects. Philosophy, writing styles, RPG hijinks, Nif's experience with E&E, and the "Saviour of the Realm," among many other things. Stick around; it'll be worth your while. Ch...

[Spoilers MBOTF and Stonewielder upto Chapter 7] Welcome to Part One of what will ideally prove to be a two-part episode on Stonewielder. We were supposed to not touch upon the Book of the Fallen at all, but a couple subtle things (mostly up to the Bonehunters, no more than that) do escape us.  Mora's first read is going swimmingly, and when Lee catches up, the second part will come up. Ideally. E...

[Spoilers Toll the Hounds] Welcome to an episode where "Bah, cry me a river!" was genuinely a part of our episode notes.  As you may imagine, we don't agree about a whole lot of things here. The discussion - as it often does - circles back to "Did X character have a choice" in the matter? Maybe Lee is just not quite cynical enough (vastly more likely, particularly in this case). Maybe Mora is just...

[Spoilers Toll the Hounds]  Redeemer? I barely know her. But hey, that's the whole point! Join us as we discuss the cult of the Redeemer and its place in the wider setting of faith in the Malazan Universe. Warning: May contain overlong quotes from the book because we can't stop admiring this masterpiece of a novel - and also because the novel states so well what we can only describe in rather leng...

Join us as Mora begins an uphill task of convincing Lee why he should read this 2019 sci fi novel by Steven Erikson. And for the first time ever, we have an actual Spoiler-free discussion.  Wanna say 'Hi!' or give us feedback or have any questions for us, why not reach out? We are on Twitter - https://twitter.com/podcast_smiley and on Reddit- Lee (u/Loleeeee), Mora (u/kashmora). Music from Uppbeat...

[Spoilers MoI] "But Brukhalian is just so cool!" "Yeah, but have you considered..." "HE'S SO COOL!" Hello & welcome to our discussion of the Grey Swords - or, more colloquially, the "Fener Boys" - and their arc through Memories of Ice. Unequivocal thirsting over Brukhalian ensues from Mora, while Lee promotes the view that maybe - just maybe - worshipping an animalistic god of war isn't the greate...

[Spoilers RotCG and upto Reapers Gale] As we return to the Return of the Crimson Guard, we find we have a lot more to talk about in the second half of this book. Join us as we discuss characters who have their heart in the right place and one character who doesn't, what constitutes a Malazan identity and most importantly, how exactly does one say "Ullen"? Wanna say 'Hi!' or give us feedback or hav...

[Spoilers GotM] Come in and join us as we tackle the woman Lorn, that became the thing that is the Adjunct. Reviewing her journey, how she ended up becoming the Adjunct, and discussing self-consciousness and agency - all the while trying not to plagiarize too much from all the other excellent individuals that have tackled Lorn. We leave below just a few that we used in this episode: Philip's video...

[Spoilers HoC] Come join us as we discuss the House of Themes, I mean, the Theme of Chains, no, I mean, the Themes of House of Chains. Which turns out to be, surprise, surprise, more Chains- both literal and figurative ones If you have any feedback for us, you can find us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/podcast_smiley and on Reddit- Lee (u/Loleeeee), Mora (u/kashmora). Music from Uppbeat (free fo...

When you pit Lee & Mora up against a book as massive & dense as Return of the Crimson Guard, you're bound to get some crazy shit. This episode is - of course - not an exception to that rule, and this is just the half-way point! I tried, I really tried, to steer the conversation away from Laseen. Alas, it's not quite possible, given this book. So this episode includes a 15 minute rant on Laseen's p...