The Moon Under Water: A Pubcast with Kel Daniels and Steve Jones

Today’s Story That Matters is more a genre of story retold than any particular story. You can start with Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humans, who naturally made a mess of things. Frankenstein’s subtitle is “the Modern Prometheus,” and we know all about the dangers of “playing God” from that constantly retold story. Nowadays, stories of AIs gone rogue abound, and have been fo...

The fellas are down to clown in this can’t-miss episode about a kick ass story. Read the story then listen to some world class bloviation. https://sandjournal.com/clown-school-by-rachel-swearingen/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keldaniels.substack.com

Today’s Story That Matters takes us way back to ancient Greece. By comparing the older Iliad to the later Odyssey, we see how stories evolve along with the societies they represent. What it took to survive in the world of the Iliad is not the same as that of the Odyssey. In short, the Iliad is a story where might makes right, where martial skills rule the day. In the Odyssey, a world run by trade...

Today’s Story That Matter is High Fidelity, a novel by Nick Hornby. It’s a story about a music snob who works in a record store dealing with his live-in girlfriend dumping him for another guy—and an annoying guy at that. What kind of survival information can a story like this contain? It reminds us that we are not alone, that our troubles are small and common. It invites us to laugh at ourselves,...

Before they get to the stories, Daniels melts down over an obscure science fiction magazine’s submission policy. Jones eggs on the unhinged diatribe with red faced laughter. A good time was had…but at what cost? Tune in to find out! https://www.riversidelocalschools.com/downloads/pedestrian%20short%20story.pdf https://reactormag.com/the-plague/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discus...

Today’s Story That Matter is a classic, or even the classic survival tale, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London. Most of us know the story, either from reading it in high school or just absorbing it through culture. It’s about a man who embarks upon a long walk in very cold weather in Alaska. He makes some mistakes, starting with being there in the first place, and freezes to death. The climactic mist...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keldaniels.substack.com

Trippy story that sadly predicts our disconnected, disembodied world. While the story is a little depressing, the discussion, as always, is pure sunshine. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keldaniels.substack.com

Usually I write these recommendations out and then improve the talk from memory. This time I just pushed record and riffed. It was easy since the points I make are fairly simple, and the book is also not overly complex, but it’s fun! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keldaniels.substack.com

“The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal,” starts the story. What could possibly go wrong? Tune in to find out. Here’s the story: https://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keldaniels.substack.com

Today’s Story That Matters is big and familiar: Don Quixote. First published in 1605, it has certainly lasted. And though most of the stories we consider important are serious, tragedies rather than comedies, this one is practically slapstick. To call the entire novel a “story” isn’t quite correct. It’s a collection of hundreds of stories. The form is called “picaresque,” which is a novel shaped l...

Today’s Story that Matters is “Bloodchild” by Octavia Butler. This short story originally appeared in Asimov’s Sci Fi Mag in 1984 but its main message is probably even more relevant today than it was then. In the version I read, Butler provided an afterward, telling us two things she was going for. The first is that this is her “pregnant man story.” I’m not going to say anything about that except...

Jones is into skiing and also into fatherhood. Daniels is a longtime fan of MFA student fave "Toby" Wolff. These interests overlap in a couple of realist stories about bad guys you reluctantly grow to like. A good time was had by all. The stories are short and fun to read. Here they are: https://rwwsoundings.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Three-Stories-by-Tobias-Wolff.pdf This is a public episode....

The plot of Lord of Light would have seemed a lot more outlandish when it was published in 1967, but these days it feels all to plausible, if not creepily familiar. The novel drops us right into a strange situation. On a planet that might not be Earth, a bunch of powerful entities are up to all kinds of mysterious business. They are all named after Hindu gods, like Krishna, Ganesh, Shiva, and so o...

Fresh off the ten episode streaming series, the fellows were ready for some written text. Daniels brought in a classic sci fi story about a cadre of humans who generations before found themselves on a planet already dominated by a superior alpha species. To survive, the humans had to make some disquieting compromises. Content warning: majorium creepatorium. https://www.are.na/block/23328715 https:...

This is the first video in a series of story recommendations that contain crucial survival information, the sorts of stories that are passed down generation after generation, not because they are merely entertaining, but because they tell us how to live, and how not to live. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ke...

Station Eleven wraps it all up in most satisfying fashion, leaving the guys to wonder, what's next? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keldaniels.substack.com

In this penultimate episode of the series, harken back to "Leavin' Jeevan"'s storyline. Pre-nostalgia sets in as the hosts approach the finish line. What will they talk about once Kirsten, Jeevan, and co are gone? All existence is a lesson in impermanence, and The Moon Under Water is no exception. We watch, we listen, we read, we set up our gear, we drink our beer, we push record...

Spoiler: Kirsten wakes up from her poison dream. Whew! That was close. This is the episode where Tyler returns to the Museum of Civilization, with a bone to pick with various parental units and the whole scheme in general. Kirsten's not so into being locked up, but the rest of the troupe are kind of cool with it, as long as they get warm water. Old bearded dudes make out, which proves that gay...

Welcome to the 69th episode! Flashback warning: this one is about Kirsten hallucinating-remembering the bad old days while she's dying of poison in worse new days. (Don't worry, she survives.) If you were missing the whole thing about the months in Frank's apartment and why they left, well, here's the makeup exam. Tune in for Jones just kind of killing it in his textual analysis wh...

The *hit's really hitting the fa* in this creepy, culty, dystopian, fiery episode. But no Shakespeare references, or are there? Kirsten joins "The Undersea" while the rest of the troupe get frog marched into the airport. The conversation swings wildly in his unpredictable episode of the podcast, so don't miss it! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with ot...

Jones is, like, really into airplanes, which means he was happy as a pig in s*it for this airport-set episode. The Museum of Civilization is also Daniels' favorite storyline. This episode's got it all: Shakespeare, dystopia, pandemic quarantine, angry pre-teen, fake identities...and more! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bo...

Daniels gets to talk about one of his favorite subjects: Rozencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead, the Tom Stoppard meta-drama about two bit players in Hamlet, here referenced in one of the best S.E. episodes yet. A huge bounce-back for the podcast after the last episode. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keldaniel...

This is a catch-all plot episode where much is revealed but it's all pretty rushed and montage-ey. Daniels finds the author of the Station Eleven comic book the weakest storyline. Perhaps it's better developed in the novel. Also, someone (we aren't saying who) forgot to push "record" at the start and so we're using the phone's crappy audio. All in all, pretty much the...

Daniels gets to pontificate on Shakespeare in this Hamlet- heavy episode. A lot of plot decoding this time. All pretty entertaining and essential for fully supplemented enjoyment of the show. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keldaniels.substack.com