We read the interesting yet undersauced Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia!

Next month we'll be reading The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson. Episode airs, November 12th.

James Acaster's Repertoire is available from Netflix.

References

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel by Susanna Clarke

Content warnings for this episode: abandonment, ableism, addiction, betrayal, bleeding, bullying, censorship, child abuse, child endangerment, classism, colonialism, conspiracies, cults, death, existentialism, fame, fatphobia, foster homes, Harry Potter, human sacrifice, imprisonment, insanity, J.K. Rowling, lying, mental illness, mind control, murder, neglect, oligarchy, prisons, racism, royalty, self harm, self hatred, settler colonialism, stabbing, suicide/suicidal ideation, transphobia, trials, undeath, wounds

Sorry for the late upload y'all, I ended up doing the last third of this episode behind the bar at work.

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We discuss the broader Cosmere, as well as some of the finer points of the ending of Warbreaker.

Come back next week for Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystalia.

This conversation is less professional, we can only hope it's entertaining.

Content warnings for this episode: colonization, death, discussion of sexuality, settler colonialism

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We read the bright, colorful, and most importantly - good Warbreaker in its entirety.

Next month we'll be reading all of Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia, Episode Airs: October 15th

https://x.com/headfallsoff/status/1051484419251425280

Message I sent to Jack during the pod, potential spoilers for Word of Brandon and Stormlight. https://imgur.com/HeaTJ6v.jpg

I highly recommend this Library of Congress National Book Fair Talk with James SA Corey https://youtu.be/OWSo3qSKAuM?si=aKm4yKIRcgabOsO4

All those lectures and talks were quite good, if one sticks out to you give it a listen.

There was an audio issue in the original version of this episode that has since been remedied, shout out to our listeners who got back to us so quickly.

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones, child abuse, child death, child sacrifice (non lethal), classism, colonization, death, decapitation, discussion of rape, discussion of sexuality, disembowelment, domestic violence, enemies to lovers, fatphobia, fridging, gaslighting, genocide, human sacrifice, insanity, J.K. Rowling, knives, maiming, marital rape, mind control, misogyny, murder, mutation, mutilation, non-traditional use of the word "rape", puppets, racism, rape, rape culture, religious conversion, religious extremism, self harm, settler colonialism, sexual content, sexual assault, sexual violence, skeletons, slavery, stabbing, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, terminal illness, undeath, wounds and infection

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

Join us for our shortest episode yet! We delve into Sanderson's first works of science fiction, two interesting short stories about space and failure.

Next month we'll be reading all of Warbreaker.

Content warnings for this episode: abandonment, ableism, betrayal, bleeding, blindness, broken bones, bullying, child abuse, classism, conspiracies, cults, death, empire, existentialism, failure, fascism, gifted kid syndrome, gulags, homophobia, human sacrifice, human supremacy, imprisonment, insanity, imperialism, JK Rowling, maiming, mental illness, mind control, murder, Nazi Germany, Orson Scott Card, prisons, self harm, self hatred, stabbing, suicide/suicidal ideation, torture, transphobia, wounds and infection

Defending Elysium: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/defending-elysium/

Firstborn: https://reactormag.com/firstborn/

Opening Scene to Cowboy Bebop: https://youtu.be/Z-4ImAf6qYk
I totally blanked and missed the opportunity to talk about Jet as a disabled character in the episode, but alas, we record these in the morning and sometimes the brain misses the connection.

Darko Suvin's Estrangement and Cognition: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/estrangement-and-cognition/ - I did an embarassingly bad job talking about one of the foundational texts of science fiction studies. If it's relevant again I'll do a better job talking about it, but for now I highly recommend reading it only to better understand some of the reasons a text feels like "science fiction".

If you're intersted in Star Wars or Grand Admiral Thrawn, I highly recommend A More Civilized Age, where Waypoint Radio Veterans Ali, Austin, Natalie, and Rob are going through Star Wars Rebels where he makes an appearance.

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We're confronted with our first sleeper hit, Alcatraz vs The Scrivener's Bones!

Next month we'll be reading the short stories Defending Elysium (2008) and Firstborn (2008), Episode Airs: August 13th

Content warnings for this episode: abandonment, ableism, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, broken bones, bullying, child abuse, child death, child endangerment, classism, conspiracies, cults, death, existentialism, fighter jets, foster homes, gulags, Harry Potter, human sacrifice, imprisonment, insanity, maiming, mental illness, mind control, murder, prisons, religious extremism, self harm, self hatred, stabbing, suicide/suicidal ideation, time loops, torture, transphobia, undeath, US Military, wounds and infection

So in the episode I mentioned that I would put a primer to disability studies in the show notes. I'd recommend starting with Beginning with Disability by Lennard Davis, and then if you're interested in the politics of care I can recommend Sunaura Taylor's Beasts of Burden and if you like disability as a product of environment, try Stacy Alaimo's Bodily Natures. There's a million more places you can go from those three books, so enjoy and happy reading.

Castleman, M. D. (2011). Alcatraz and Iser: Applying Wolfgang Iser’s concepts of implied reader and implied author and reality to the metafictive Alcatraz Smedry series. Children's Literature in Education, 42, 19-32.

Sorry for the late upload y'all, lost a bunch of editing in the export last night so I redid some work.

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

Spoilers for Hero of Ages (the book and our episode)

This conversation is much less professional, we can only hope it's entertaining.

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones, child death, classism, death, decapitation, discussion of rape, discussion of sexuality, disembowelment, domestic violence, enemies to lovers, eugenic breeding, eugenics, fatphobia, gaslighting, genocide, hallucinations, human sacrifice, insanity, J.K. Rowling, maiming, mind control, misogyny, murder, mutation, mutilation, racism, rape, references to Nazis, religious conversion, religious extremism, self harm, sexual assault, sexual violence, slavery, stabbing, sterilization, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, terminal illness, transphobia, undeath, wounds and infection

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We rage and cry over The Hero of Ages, a book that is surprisingly hard to talk about because it's doing so much at once.

Next month we'll be reading all of Alcatraz vs The Scrivener's Bones, Episode Airs: July 9th

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones, child death, classism, death, decapitation, discussion of rape, discussion of sexuality, disembowelment, domestic violence, enemies to lovers, eugenic breeding, eugenics, fatphobia, gaslighting, genocide, hallucinations, human sacrifice, insanity, J.K. Rowling, maiming, mind control, misogyny, murder, mutation, mutilation, racism, rape, references to Nazis, religious conversion, religious extremism, self harm, sexual assault, sexual violence, slavery, stabbing, sterilization, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, terminal illness, transphobia, undeath, wounds and infection

Meme from the episode: https://imgur.com/TSHo1tS.jpg

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We read the middle grade heist fantasy card battler Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians and talk about it for our shortest episode yet!

Next month we'll be reading all of Mistborn: The Hero of Ages, Episode Airs: June 11th

Content warnings for this episode: abandonment, ableism, betrayal, bleeding, broken bones, bullying, child abuse, child death, child endangerment, classism, conspiracies, death, foster homes, Elon Musk, gulags, Harry Potter, human sacrifice, imprisonment, insanity, maiming, mental illness, mind control, murder, prisons, religious extremism, self harm, self hatred, stabbing, suicide/suicidal ideation, torture, transphobia, wounds and infection

Correction: After the break I make a claim that the Bastille wasn't a prison for very long, I am very wrong! I am confusing it with a completely different French fortress which is embarrassing. The Bastille was made into a prison specifically for political prisoners and anyone the state deemed to be imprisoned, which is part of the reason it was stormed and was such a symbol during the revolution. I should know this better.

The People's Joker Showtimes: https://www.alteredinnocence.net/thepeoplesjoker
Really go see this one, it's all time banger of a film.

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)