Tar Valon Or Bust

In which Merlin realizes how bad he is at people, two times over, and we talk about pivotal moments in Arthurian lore, three generations of unacknowledged royal boys, and .... apples? Castiel (June) House of Harkness (July)  DragonCon (September) Next episode: The King: Sections 6 - 11 inclusive Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Ho...

In which Merlin is bad at people in several ways, we love Cador of Cornwall, and the atmospheric writing is off the chain. Castiel (June) House of Harkness (July)  DragonCon (September) Next episode: The King: Sections 1 - 5 inclusive Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which there are several big discussions about Herms, class and its impact on publishing, anachronisms in historical fiction, and then the actual section -- which is very funny AND very foreboding all at once. Castiel (June) House of Harkness (July)  DragonCon (September) Next episode: The Sword: Sections 5 - 9 inclusive Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heer...

In which Preeti talks about ghosts, Jenn talks about layers, and they both cannot even with Stewart's linguistic stylings. In Your Spare Time - Ursula K. LeGuin, https://inyoursparetime.libsyn.com/ Castiel (June) House of Harkness (July)  DragonCon (September) Next episode: The Sword: Sections 1-4 inclusive Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at h...

In which this very short section gives Jenn and Preeti so many feelings, especially about high fantasy and how Stewart does (and doesn't) write it. And horses! CASSIEL’S SERVANT by Jacqueline Carey Next episode: The Search: Sections 9-11 inclusive Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Get merch: tar-valon-or-bust.printify.me/products and no...

In which Jenn and Preeti love this new, fancy-free Merlin, at least until things get EXTREMELY uncomfortable with Morgause. Next episode: The Search: Sections 6-8 inclusive Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Get merch: tar-valon-or-bust.printify.me/products and northingtron.redbubble.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

In between all the descriptions of trees and Arthur lustily wailing, there's some really interesting stuff -- song callbacks, Merlin's "gap year", Mary Stewart's version of known characters ... and then some real weird descriptions of women. Next episode: The Hollow Hills, Book 2: The Search, Sections 1 - 5 Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral...

In which not that much happens actually, despite a lot of build-up, and Jenn and Preeti talk about narrative and meta-narrative, anxiety and prophecy, and lots of interesting parallels. Next episode: The Hollow Hills, Book 1: The Waiting, Sections 10 - 14 Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Get merch: tar-valon-or-bust.printify.me/product...

In which Preeti and Jenn return to the world of Mary Stewart's Arthurian Saga, can't remember very much, are gob-smacked by how it starts, and have a lot of theories and questions. Also, big love for Ralf! Next episode: The Hollow Hills, Book 1: The Waiting, Sections 5 - 9 Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Get merch: tar-valon-or-bust.p...

In which Jenn and Preeti work their way through The Green Knight by David Lowery, starring Dev Patel, with sidebars into Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by The Gawain Poet! So many colors! So many vignettes! So many choices (or lack thereof!!!) Next episode, sometime in January 2026: The Hollow Hills, Book 1: The Waiting, Sections 1-7 Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More fr...

In which Preeti and Jenn revisit Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, which is actually two different movies (one of which is actually a video game), and possibly the least "King Arthur" Arthurian movie ever created. Listen as they talk female characters, meta-narrative, folk songs in fantasy properties, and more. The Devil & The Huntsman, by Sam Lee and Daniel Pemberton: https://ww...

In which Jenn and Preeti take back any nice things they ever said about Uther, have wildly different memories of this section, are gobsmacked by the fight but less enthused about the pages and pages of descriptions of wind, and talk a lot about word choice and authorial intent. Next episodes: Movie Break! Mid-November, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Mid-December, The Green Knight Get more of Bre...

In which Preeti and Jenn discuss Merlin's (lack of) interiority, Mary Stewart's stylistic and mythological choices, and the Absolute Unit that is Ygraine. Next episode: Book V, The Coming of the Bear, Section 6 - The Legend of Merlin Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Get merch: tar-valon-or-bust.printify.me/products and northingtron.red...

In which Jenn and Preeti talk about emotional disconnection, historical infodumps, Big Feelings about Ambrosius and Merlin, and quests. Next episode: Book V, The Coming of the Bear: Sections 1-5 Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Get merch: tar-valon-or-bust.printify.me/products and northingtron.redbubble.com Read Preeti's story in the n...

In which Preeti and Jenn discuss timeline wibbly-wobbliness, Merlin's misogyny, #JusticeForNiniane, and the only moment in which they sort of liked Uther. Next episode: Book IV, The Red Dragon: Sections 6-10 Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Get merch: tar-valon-or-bust.printify.me/products and northingtron.redbubble.com Hosted on Acast...

In which the big question is, who is this scared Merlin and what happened to his assurance? Preeti and Jenn debate authorial intent vs. impact, possible theories, the Saxon perspective, and also wow what a banger of a section. Next episode: Book IV, The Red Dragon: Sections 1-5 The Shieldwall Song (via Holly B): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5uKIgSRVlg Get more of Brett Parnell's music at beari...

In which Preeti and Jenn spend an hour talking about 35 pages of text, because that's how they roll. Unreliable narrators, historical timelines, Parks and Rec comparisons, the works! But hey, at least it was only one recording session. Next section: Book III: The Wolf, Sections 7-12 inclusive Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Get merch:...

Get ready, y'all! Three recording sessions later, Preeti and Jenn dive THE DEEPEST into The Falcon. Join them for parallel characters, big revelations, druids, and all the ugh to Uther. Next section: Book III: The Wolf, Sections 1-6 inclusive Dhonielle Clayton's The Belles British officers and batmen/servants trope (Frodo & Sam): https://www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/1iuuez9/is_frodo_a...

In this extra-long episode, Preeti and Jenn dig into the language, atmosphere, and voice of The Crystal Cage: Prologue - Book I: The Dove. (We will fight you for baby Merlin!!!!!) Hild and Menewood, Nicola Griffith The story of Dinas Emrys and the two dragons (Help Jenn find the audio cassette she used to listen to! The opening lines included something like 'Storm clouds marched along the sky. Rai...

As they prepare to dive into their next reread, Preeti and Jenn talk about Mary Stewart as a writer, their personal history with her Arthurian Saga, and what they're expecting, excited for, and nervous about. Next episode: Prologue - Book 1: The Dove Nicola Griffith, Hild / Menewood Get more of Brett Parnell's music at bearinabarnnyc.com More from Heeral Chhibber at heeral.org Get merch: tar-valon...

Preeti and Jenn recorded live with Patrons for a special retrospective, WoT readalikes, and Q&A! Read-Alikes: Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu Between Earth and Sky series by Rebecca Roanhorse Inheritance Trilogy by NK Jemisin (and then everything else) The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey Dead Djinn Universe series by P. Djeli Clark Beverly Jenkins, Vivid (for Romanda) The Kushiel series (incl...

A very special bonus episode! Jenn and musician Bryan Dunn reunite to nerd out over music in fantasy adaptations, from The Hills of Tanchico and Sing of Manetheren to songs from the Witcher, Game of Thrones, and Lord of the Rings; Bryan has two very excellent theories, involving Beyoncé and Ishamael respectively; and Jenn learns a bunch of things about vowel sounds. Nikhil Koparkar - Reddit AMA ab...

It's the end?!!! Well, an end. Join Preeti and Jenn for a very extended discussion on their feelings about how things get wrapped up, what they were very wrong about just one episode ago, and for what comes next for Tar Valon or Bust. Spoiler alert: There is more! Payal Mehta's Romance Revenge Plot is out now ! Merch: tar-valon-or-bust.printify.me/products  and  northingtron.redbubble.co...

Join Preeti and Jenn as they discuss this absolute JAW-DROPPER of a finale (also can someone please let us know when Season 4 is confirmed, and can that be AS SOON AS POSSIBLE). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

FEELINGS. JUST NONSTOP FEELINGS, Y'ALL. Next episode: Chapters 38 - Epilogue, airing (probably) next week. Bryan Dunn's album Zapgun! [Bandcamp] Payal Mehta's Romance Revenge Plot is out now ! Merch: tar-valon-or-bust.printify.me/products  and  northingtron.redbubble.com [new designs available!] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.