The End of the World Book Club

In this book club episode (warning: more spoilers than usual!) I discuss Severance by Ling Ma with StoryGraph Founder Nadia Odunayo. We talk about the themes of work, family, routine, capitalism and as always, the end of the world.  Note from the editor (aka me): there are a few tiny audio pops in the first 5 minutes, but they disappear very quickly. 👍 Thanks to everyone who sent in their voice c...

Becky Chambers discusses what it means to be human (in space), accessible science fiction, self-publishing, and which Ursula K. Le Guin book to start with. Spoiler levels: low Becky Chambers' books Wayfarer's Series The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet A Closed and Common Orbit Record of a Spaceborn Few Monk & Robot Series A Psalm for the Wild-Built A Prayer for the Crown-Shy Find Bec...

The Hunger Games and Divergent translator Maria Postema joins me to revisit the era of the YA dystopian novel. We talk about what it’s like being at the very beginning of a YA revolution, the best and most challenging parts of translating YA dystopia, the Dutch aversion to fantasy worlds, how to escape manuscript thieves (!) and more.  Spoiler levels: low Books mentioned: The Hunger Games by Suzan...

This week Joel Rochester (Fictional Fates on YouTube) joins me to discuss the award-winning The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin (which starts with The Fifth Season). We chat about climate refugees, racism, motherhood, world-building and how best to tackle this series if you feel a bit intimidated. P.s. I am currently unable to find the PDF I mention on any of my audiobook apps, so I'm not...

The alternative title for this episode was ‘post-apocalyptic fiction for readers who don’t like sad books’. This week’s guest is middle-grade author Sarah Jean Horwitz and our mission is to find some great recommendations in the realm of apocalyptic fiction that aren’t filled with dread and disaster. We turn to the genre of Hopepunk and sample a selection to discover what’s out there! Spoiler leve...

In this episode Leena Norms and I talk about apocalyptic books that take place in the British countryside, featuring my personal favourite: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham Spoiler level: Medium (for The Day of the Triffids only) *Any book links in the description are affiliate links to Bookshop.org Books mentioned: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff Resist...

Each season I’ll be tackling an apocalyptic or dystopian classic that I’ve put off reading for some reason. And it only felt fitting to start with one of the most famous dystopian novels: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Join me and guest Ariel Bissett (YouTuber, Podcaster and Orwell Enthusiast!) as we talk about why this book is still so relevant today and discuss whether it’s an accessible...

In the very first episode of The End of the World Book Club we’re discussing Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel and what’s it like to read pandemic novels during an actual pandemic. “Sure, but in what other life would I get to perform Shakespeare?” Spoiler levels for this episode: low Books mentioned: Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (the ISBN of my hardback copy is: 9780385353304) The W...

The End of the World Book Club is a podcast about apocalyptic and dystopian literature, hosted by Sanne Vliegenthart. Join me in discovering sci-fi classics, reading climate books and diving head-first into the huge realm of speculative fiction, all with the theme of the end of the world and what might come after it. Follow the podcast on Instagram ⁠@endoftheworldbookclubpod⁠ Sanne Vliegenthart is...