Undertowers Podcast

While Sam is unfortunately absent from this episode, Steven and Daniel met at Smoker’s Abbey in East Nashville to discuss Robert Downey Jr’s return to the MCU as Doctor Doom and then do a deep dive into Schuyler Hernstrom’s magnificent short story The Gift of the Ob-men, originally published in 2016 in Cirsova magazine and later collected in Hernstrom’s novel The Eye of Sounnu, being released in 2...

Episode 11: JB Jackson & Shagduk   In this episode we interview JB Jackson, the author of Shagduk and the upcoming Ursula of Ulm, the second installment in the ongoing five book De re Dordica saga. We discuss his writing style and inspiration for Shagduk. Shagduk is an epistolary novel being written as a journal or diary and we dive deep into what writing in this style entails. We discuss some...

In this episode we discuss authors that we love that we feel either aren't as respected or aren't as widely read as they should be. Steven gets us kicked off with Lloyd Alexander and especially his Chronicles of Prydain series. Steven later talks about his admiration for Glen Cook and the Chronicles of the Black Company and Christopher Buehlman with his horror fantasy Between Two Fires in sharp fo...

In this episode we interview Scott Christian Sava and delve into his history with art, design, and scifi/fantasy works, especially in comics. We talk about his affinity for Spider-man and Conan the Barbarian especially and his years spent seeking work at the early Comicons. We cover his work animating video games for the Sega Genesis and Atari arcade machines and later work in the Casper films. He...

World building is a foundational aspect of fantasy and science fiction and in truth, all fiction. We discuss our preferences in the world, especially examining Tolkien in Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, Gene Wolfe in the Book of the New Sun and Wizard Knight, Robert E Howard’s Conan series set in the Hyborian Age, Glen Cook’s The Black Company, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, John Gwynne’s Fai...

Can books be too short or long? Or is pacing more important than pages? In this episode we discuss the importance and our preference for story length and focus. Is there a right answer? Listen to find out.    Then, we draft a Lord of the Rings-style Fellowship, using a maximum of two characters from the Sword & Sorcery–Heroic Fantasy series that we are currently completing consisting of: Conan...

Fantasy and Sci-fi for the most part are a series of interlinking tropes and overtures that combine and interplay to make an unique whole. In this episode we discuss those tropes that move us and exicte us each time they present themselves. We also dive into those that have us rolling our eyes when they appear.    Thanks again to our wonderful sponsor Damsel Distressing.    The music you heard was...

What is there to say about Robert E Howard and Gene Wolfe? Well, in fact, quite a lot. In this episode we discuss the legendary Robert E Howard focusing on Conan, his most iconic creation and one of the pinnacles of fiction. Who is Conan and what does he represent?    Then we discuss our feelings on Gene Wolfe through the lens of Book of the New Sun and Wizard Knight especially. We talk about his...

In this episode we discuss our histories with anime and our recent foray into reading manga. We talk about our impressions and general love form the form and go into a bit of detail on Berserk and Fullmetal Alchemist which we’ve read as a group and Hunter x Hunter which we are reading now.    We also invite everyone to hop along for our book club which looks like this over the next two months:

Episode 3: Talking 'The Hunt for Gollum,' Adaptations, and the Forbes Best 30 Book Series List In this episode, we discuss the recently announced *The Hunt for Gollum*, sorting through both trepidation and excitement at the announcement. This leads to a broader discussion of film adaptations and the state of big media in general. We finish with a rundown of Forbes' wild list of the 30 best book se...

Talking Genre and Fantasy, Plus Our Top 10 Video Games In this episode, we discuss the concept of genre, exploring where it's helpful and where it's just marketing. Is fantasy a setting or a genre? How should books be categorized in a bookshop? Does it even matter all that much? We delve into when genre is useful and when it becomes a crutch.  Afterward, we share our personal top 10 video games.