Episodes

  • P. Djèlí Clark on Why He Writes

    P. Djèlí Clark on Why He Writes
    Oct 14 2024
    P. Djèlí Clark is the author of acclaimed and award-winning speculative fiction, including the much-loved Dead Djinn universe books, Ring Shout, and his most recent, The Dead Cat Tail Assassins. We speak with him about why he writes, how he sees speculative fiction as a genre, whether we can expect to see more Dead Djinn books, the origins of his acclaimed novella Ring Shout, his new book The Dead Cat Tail Assassins (Tordotcom, 2024), and much more. For our conversation about the author’s academic work in history, see our previous episode: “Dexter Gabriel: Slavery and Film, Creativity and Academia, and Is Slavery a Good Metaphor for AI?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/fantasy
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    30 mins
  • Cami D. Agan, "Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth: Essays on the Habitations of Tolkien's Legendarium" (Mythopoeic Press, 2024)

    Cami D. Agan, "Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth: Essays on the Habitations of Tolkien's Legendarium" (Mythopoeic Press, 2024)
    Oct 12 2024
    The 13 essays collected in Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth: Essays on the Habitations of Tolkien's Legendarium (Mythopoeic Press, 2024) foreground processes of making and constructing Arda -- either within the Secondary world or for readers/viewers -- and thus continually assert that the habitations form a vital part of the tales within that world. Because they assume a complex arrangement complete with social, familial, artistic, and political relations, cities and strongholds often define their inhabitants as crafting boundaries between themselves and the outside, the visitor, and the unknown. These essays reveal that all cities and strongholds of the legendarium function as makers of meaning, containers of relations, outposts of history, and evocations of the Past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/fantasy
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    39 mins
  • Premee Mohamed, "The Siege of Burning Grass" (Solaris, 2024)

    Premee Mohamed, "The Siege of Burning Grass" (Solaris, 2024)
    Aug 2 2024
    Premee Mohamed’s novel The Siege of Burning Grass (Solaris, 2024) is set during an ongoing war between two empires: Varkal and Med’ariz and follows Alefret, a founder of Varkal’s pacifist resistance who has been arrested and imprisoned by his own country. When the opportunity for freedom presents itself, Alefret must decide how willing he is to collaborate with his government’s war effort and how much he is willing to sacrifice to remain committed to his own ideals. In this interview, Mohamed describes the long history of violent responses to pacifist movements and some of the influences that went into writing a war novel. She discusses the relationship between education and war, the role of community in forming political movements, and the strengths of speculative fiction as a genre. We also chat about medical experimentation, wartime propaganda and cool science fiction technology. The Siege of Burning Grass is a grounded and empathetic novel about the cruelties of war. It was a great joy to discuss it with the author. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/fantasy
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    42 mins
  • Eric Reinders, "Reading Tolkien in Chinese: Religion, Fantasy and Translation" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

    Eric Reinders, "Reading Tolkien in Chinese: Religion, Fantasy and Translation" (Bloomsbury, 2024)
    Jul 20 2024
    Approaching translations of Tolkien's works as stories in their own right, Reading Tolkien in Chinese: Religion, Fantasy and Translation (Bloomsbury, 2024) reads multiple Chinese translations of Tolkien's writing to uncover the new and unique perspectives that enrich the meaning of the original texts. Exploring translations of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin and The Unfinished Tales, Dr. Eric Reinders reveals the mechanics of meaning by literally back-translating the Chinese into English to dig into the conceptual common grounds shared by religion, fantasy and translation, namely the suspension of disbelief, and questions of truth - literal, allegorical and existential. With coverage of themes such as gods and heathens, elves and 'Men', race, mortality and immortality, fate and doom, and language, Dr. Reinder's journey to Chinese Middle-earth and back again drastically alters views on Tolkien's work where even basic genre classification surrounding fantasy literature look different through the lens of Chinese literary expectations. Invoking scholarship in Tolkien studies, fantasy theory and religious and translations studies, this is an ambitious exercises in comparative imagination across cultures that suspends the prejudiced hierarchy of originals over translations. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/fantasy
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    57 mins
  • Dana Elmendorf, "In the Hour of Crows" (Mira Books, 2024)

    Dana Elmendorf, "In the Hour of Crows" (Mira Books, 2024)
    Jun 23 2024
    Dana Elmendorf’s novel In The Hour of Crows (Mira Books, 2024) takes place in small town Appalachia and follows Weatherly Opal Wilder, a young woman with the ability to talk death out of the dying. Our story begins shortly after the death of her cousin, Adaire, as Weatherly struggles to find justice for her cousin and to navigate small town politics in a place where her family is treated with increasing distrust. In this interview, Elmendorf describes the evolution of her novel from a romance to a murder mystery and the role that death and grief play in the story. She discusses Appalachian folk magic, abusive family structures, and shapeshifting crows. We also talk about poverty and rural healthcare systems, and the intermingling of the interpersonal and supernatural in contemporary fantasy. In the Hour of Crows is an empathetic, dream-like book and it was so much fun discussing it with the author. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/fantasy
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    36 mins
  • C. J. Spataro, "More Strange Than True" (Sagging Meniscus Press, 2024)

    C. J. Spataro, "More Strange Than True" (Sagging Meniscus Press, 2024)
    Jun 15 2024
    Award winning author and short fiction writer, C. J. Spataro's debut novel, More Strange Than True (Sagging Meniscus Press, 2024) takes us in to a world of faeries and what happens when wishes do come true. After an epically shitty day, Jewell Jamieson unknowingly eats a magic-spiked meal and happens also to make a certain wish-and that's why she awakes the next morning to discover her beloved dog Oberon has been transformed into a beautiful naked man in her bed. Conflict ensues when Titania, the impulsive Queen of the Faeries, decides she wants Oberon for herself. Is Oberon simply a man who used to be a dog, or is he somehow something more? When Jewell discovers the answer, she will be faced with a devastating choice. Will she choose to save the man she's grown to love by giving him up, or will she honor his wishes and watch him die? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/fantasy
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    42 mins
  • Eliza Chan, "Fathomfolk" (Orbit, 2024)

    Eliza Chan, "Fathomfolk" (Orbit, 2024)
    May 8 2024
    Eliza Chan’s debut novel Fathomfolk (Orbit, 2024) takes place in the semi-submerged city of Tiankawi, where humans and fathomfolk - a collection of peoples including sirens, seawitches, kelpies, and kappas - navigate an increasingly tense political situation. The novel follows half-siren Mira, the recently promoted captain of the border guard and Nami, a young exiled royal from a neighboring city as they push for political change and grapple with the city’s growing violence and social unrest. In this interview, Chan discusses setting-as-character and the depiction of pollution and climate catastrophe in fantasy. She describes her love of folklore, the importance of depicting supportive male partners, and the role of class and poverty in the book. We also chat about creating fictional diseases and the role of motherhood in the novel. Fathomfolk is a unique and imaginative story and it was a joy to discuss it with the author. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/fantasy
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    38 mins
  • Rachel Greenlaw, "Compass and Blade" (Inkyard Press, 2024)

    Rachel Greenlaw, "Compass and Blade" (Inkyard Press, 2024)
    Apr 12 2024
    Rachel Greenlaw's debut young adult romantasy, Compass and Blade (Inkyard Press, 2024) is filled with sirens and mysterious magic, swoony romance and cutthroat betrayal. This world of sea and storm runs deep with bargains and blood. On the remote isle of Rosevear, Mira, like her mother before her, is a wrecker, one of the seven on the rope who swim out to shipwrecks to plunder them. Mira's job is to rescue survivors, if there are any. After all, she never feels the cold of the frigid ocean waters and the waves seem to sing to her soul. But the people of Rosevear never admit the truth: that they set the beacons themselves to lure ships into the rocks. When the Council watch lays a trap to put an end to the wrecking, they arrest Mira's father. Desperate to save him from the noose, Mira strikes a deal with an enigmatic wreck survivor guarding layers of secrets behind his captivating eyes, and sets off to find something her mother has left her, a family secret buried deep in the sea. With just nine days to find what she needs to rescue her father, all Mira knows for certain is this: The sea gives. The sea takes. And it's up to her to do what she must to save the ones she loves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/fantasy
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    34 mins