Spectology

A quick bonus episode this week, with Matt & Adrian discussing their favorite Aliens in science fiction and beyond. We revisit some books we've read for the pod, talk about some classics, and hit on a few under-represented gems. We hope you like it!  A bit late, sorry about that! Quarantine time is weird. I'll try to get around to listing everything we talk about later but I want to get this out first: if there's anything in particular you'd like to get a link to, let me know at @spectologypod on twitter & I'll get it to you. We'll be back next week with our post-read of The Tea Master & The Detective with Julia Rios!  --- As always, we'd love to hear from you! Chat with us on twitter at @spectologypod, send us an email at spectologypod@gmail.com, or submit the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podcast when we talk about your comment. And if you like the episode, subscribe at spectology.com or whever you listen to podcasts, and share it with your frien

This month we're joined by special guest Julia Rios! Julia is a Hugo-award winning Editor & Podcaster, host of the This Is Why We're Like This podcast (which Matt has been a guest on!), and can be found at @OMGJulia on twitter. She edited the Machina Serial Box series, and her fiction has been featured in the Mexicanx anthology A Larger Reality.  We're reading The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard (https://amzn.to/2Jqepmr), a Homesian mystery story told by a space ship. It's a lovely, warm, cozy, and short book at a time when all those things feel in short supply. And of course, it's about some big issues that we'll talk about in the post-read. This episode, we discussed what makes a mystery story, the different sub-genres of detective fiction, and how much we like ships with personalities.  We hope you enjoy the episode & pick up the book!    --- As always, we'd love to hear from you! Chat with us on twitter at @spectologypod, send us an email at spectologypod@gmail.com, or submi

This is a somewhat personal & sometimes somber episode, recorded while the world was changing rapidly around us due to the global COVID-19 outbreak. We do our best to discuss the novel, Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson, although neither of us were able to finish it due to external world circumstances. It is by far our shortest post-read ever. We forgot to do content warnings. We have really frank discussions of grief, death, isolation, and loneliness. There is a brief mention of suicide.  While this was recorded, Adrian was in quarantine due to having had extended contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case. I'm happy to report that the quarantine is up and I've been fortunate enough to suffer no symptoms, and my friend who was sick is on the mend. But it the fear and uncertainty of those circumstances color the whole episode. We hope that this episode brings some light into your life at the moment. We'll be back next month with a warm, cozy, escapist book & a guest we've been excited to feature

Last week, anticipating this week's shutdown of major US cities, Matt & Adrian sat down to talk about the ways we're working through our own social distancing boredom for a special edition of "things we like". What are some of the best movies, games, and other activities to spend doing when going outside has become difficult or even dangerous? Check out this episode to find out, and of course a list of most of what we mentioned is below. And finally, please do take this seriously! If you're not already removing yourself from public spaces and gatherings, do so. Wash your hands, wear a mask if that's recommended & available in your locality, and be aware not just of your own health, but of how you might affect the health of those around you. And if you're bored, hit us up on Twitter at @spectology, we'll likely have an increased schedule of podcasting for a while, and might even do a few live online events if enough people want to hang out and chat about science fiction books!  Things we like: * 7

This March, Spectology brings you a discussion on the little-known but largely influential novel by David Markson, Wittgenstein's Mistress (https://bookshop.org/a/1159/9781564782113). Written from the perspective of the last woman on Earth, it's a sad and clever novel about loss, the Western cannon, the meaning of art, and the importance of other people in creating our identies.  In this episode, we discuss the philosophy underlying the novel. Who is Wittgenstein, and how do his ideas about the philosophy of language underly the project of this novel? How do Bertrand Russel, Kurt Gödel, & Søren Kierkegaard fit into this puzzle? And what other novelists have been influenced by Markson? It's a discussion worthy of Adrian's 2nd annual "self-indulgent pick", and we hope you'll enjoy being along for the ride. One note: this novel isn't available on ebook or audio book. It's still in print in paperback, so if possible please try finding it at a local book store! Baring that, it's available through Amazon, or

We've finally done it! Sorry for the late episode, a few real life considerations got in the way of editing.  We're joined again by Ben Roswell (@roswellwrites on twitter & roswellian.itch.io) to discuss Catie Disabato's postmodern novel of celebrity & architectural cults, The Ghost Network (https://amzn.to/2VtAhVc).  We all had a lot of thoughts on this book, and for any given one two of us agreed and a third didn't, in various combinations, like a big fun podcast triangle! It was a lovely conversation, about a great book to discuss with others. Stuff we mentioned: * Fight Truck: https://pantamalion.itch.io/fight-truck * Trash Theory on FKA Twigs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oXADE5bzZI * Roxane Gay on Janelle Monáe: https://www.thecut.com/2020/02/janelle-monae-afrofuture.html * Lady Gaga Isn't Done Shape-Shifting Yet by Rachel Symes: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/03/magazine/lady-gaga-movie-star-is-born.html * The Wikipedia page on Selena (cw domestic violence): https://en.

Matt & Adrian sit down for a chat looking back at 2019—which books ended up being our favorites, which episodes did we like, and how did we do in terms of diversity of authors, genres, and guests? A big thanks to everyone who has stuck with us for two years now! Or who have just begun listening—we hope you'll stick around. In addition, we were asked by a listener on Twitter (@spectologypod) to talk a bit about our favorite fantasy books, so we do that at the end. Here's a list of everything we mention (amazon links are affiliates): * Bear Daughter by Judith Berman (now back in print!) * The Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein * The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie * Finna by Nino Cipri  * The Deep by Rivers Solomon * The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley * The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip * The Dying Earth (now published as Marizan the Magician) by Jack Vance  * The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolf * Lord Dunsany * Arthur Machen * The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

New month, new book, new guest! This week we welcome Ben Roswell (@roswellwrites on Twitter) to discuss The Ghost Network by Catie Disabato (https://amzn.to/2uXSeA2). The novel takes the form of a fictitious non-fiction book about the disappearance of a young pop star & her entourage who tries to find her amongst hidden underground spaces in Chicago.  In this episode, we discuss other experimental narratives, from role-playing games to postmodern novels like House of Leaves or Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Works mentioned (as always, links at spectology.com if they don't show up for you, and all Amazon links are affliates): * Ben's Itch.io, where you can find his games mentioned * Ben's new serialized fantasy novel * Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Suzanna Clarke  * House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski * Fire on the Velvet Horizon by Patrick Stuart & Scrap Princess * Hardboiled Wonderland & the End of the World by Haruki Murakami  * Rupetta by N.A. Sulway (also episodes 9.1 &a

Well, we've finally found a book we disagree on! While Matt loved A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (https://amzn.to/2GrJJzC), Adrian was more cool on it. In this episode we discuss our disagreements, which largely come down to matters of taste in the aesthetics of stories we enjoy. We also get at some of the tough questions about empire & cultural hegemony posed by the book, and discuss wether we think the book fully explored these issues. We also talk plenty about the historical worldbuilding & other elements that we both enjoyed. It's a different episode than most, in that we disagreed, it's actually the second time we recorded the post-read (we weren't happy with the way the first session came out), and we recored in person together in Adrian's NYC apartment.  There's a long list of other books / media we talk about at the end of the episode and I've tried to capture them all here. As always, links at spectology.com if they don't show up in your podcatcher, and any Amazon links are affili

Really short bonus/emergency episode today. Adrian is on his own and off-script, giving you the insider scoop on how to nominate & vote in the Hugo Awards, as well as why you might want to.  Short answer: go to https://members.conzealand.nz/memberships and sign up for the "Supporting Membership". This will allow you to vote on the 2020 Hugo Awards, and nominate works for the 2021 Hugo Awards next year. For more general information, check out the Hugos website http://www.thehugoawards.org/i-want-to-vote/ which offers evergreen information on how to sign up for a membership any given year (it changes). This is something I'm passionate about, but if it's not your scene that's OK! But I hope you'll give me the chance to make the case that voting in the Hugo Awards is worthwhile. We'll be back next week with our regular programing, in this case the Memory Called Empire post-read. --- As always, we'd love to hear from you! Chat with us on twitter at @spectologypod, send us an email at spectologypod@gmail.c

It's the future baby! 2020 arrives with a bang as we discuss Arkady Martine's Byzantine-flavored space opera political thriller, A Memory Called Empire (https://amzn.to/2RdH5Ct). The story follows a young woman from an independent mining station who must travel to the central world of the Empire which surrounds it and act as ambassador. This comes as a recommendation from several readers & friends of the podcast. In this episode, we discuss several historical figures who served analogous roles to that of the main character. The first, Grigor Magistros, is the subject of an [academic article written by Martine under the name AnnaLinden Weller. We also talk about S. W. Laden La, Tisquantum, and Kang Younghill, and Gendün Chöphel. Not sure who these fascinating historical cultural emissaries were? Listen to find out! Other works mentioned: * Byzantophilia in the Letters of Grigor Magistros? by AnnaLinden Weller (no longer paywalled thanks to the author!) * East Goes West by Younghill Kang * A Man of the

Happy New Year, Spectologists! Late in 2019, Matt sat down with Chen Qiufan / Stanley Chan, the author of Waste Tide, to discuss the book, the process of translating & editing it for an American audience, the importance of prose in genre fiction, how science fiction & startup culture interact in China, some of his favorite upcoming authors, and much much more.  The conversation took place in English, although the conversation took place while Stanley was calling from the Hong Kong airport between flights so the audio is a bit more rough than usual. However, the conversation they had should more than make up for that. If you enjoy this interview, make sure to check out our episodes on Stanley's book (18.1 & 18.2), as well as our discussion of the mentioned Ning Ken essay on the Ultra Unreal. You can find many of Stanley's stories at Clarkesworld, and follow Clarkesworld generally for many other translated Chinese SF stories.  --- As always, we'd love to hear from you! Chat with us on twitter a

For our final book in our "classics" series, we read Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, a novel by Samuel R. Delany (https://amzn.to/2tTUHL5). This episode we're joined by Bee Gabriel (@benladen on twitter & patreon.com/benladen), an old friend of the podcast & one of Adrian's favorite cultural critics.  This novel was an absolute joy to read & to talk about. Our discussion ranges the gamut, and our recording session went an hour over schedule because we all had so much we wanted to talk about! How gendered language affects the way we look at the world & self-identify. The ethics of eating meat. The ethics of cross-class romantic relationships. How fucking good a writer Delany is. And what is exactly a Cultural Fugue?  Some links to things mentioned (as always, links at spectology.com if they don't show up in you podcatcher):  * Bee's patreon cooking & cultural criticism blog  * Bee's public blog, Uninterpretative  * The Playdate pop-up gaming event  * Bee's music & yearly c

A doozy of a book, and one where we start off the episode not agreeing on how we liked it! Charlotte Geater (@tambourine on twitter and creator of wonderful bot-based poetry) joins us again after her Rupetta episodes last December to discuss the 1960s underground classic, Ice by Anna Kavan (https://amzn.to/2PRGTth). We discuss death, addiction, patriarchy, experimental fiction, and whether there are any easy allegories in this novel (answer: no). Adrian comes to terms with not having enjoyed reading the novel—but being glad he read it.  This is a very brutal book, and if you're going to read it you might want to check out our content warnings at the 12m27s mark.  Charlotte recommended a number of stories, books, and novels to go along with Ice. Links to them all are collected below. Go to Spectology.com if the links don't show up on your podcatcher. * Excerpt of Sofia Samatar's novella, Fallow * Descriptions of Jane Gaskell's unfortunately out of print novels * Ann Quin's recently republished first novel

Seth Heasley of the Hugos There podcast (https://hugospodcast.com) joins us to discuss Arthur C. Clarke's 1950s classic, Childhood's End (https://amzn.to/2srqLWa). This is a short book about big ideas, asking what would happen if aliens came to Earth and instituted a generations-long paternalistic program to get us ready for our next stage of evolution.  We discuss the book's major influence on science fiction, from Vinge, Niven, & Stephenson, to anime like Akira, to The Three-Body Problem. We dig deep into the books politics around colonialism. And we ask what it would be like to live through a society that has everything it could want, but knows that it's no longer in charge of its own destiny. Here's a short list of other things we discussed on the episode. Links at spectology.com if they don't show up in your podcatcher. * Jo Walton on Childhood's End  * Adrian on Hugos There discussing The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin  * All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace  * Tobias Buck

Welcome to a very special pre-read episode. This December, Matt, Adrian, and a series of guests are reading 3 separate works of "classic" SF and talking about them & what makes them a "classic". The works will be: * Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (https://amzn.to/35WGICa)  * Ice by Anna Kavan (https://amzn.to/33CEfes)  * Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany (https://amzn.to/2RdBTAk)  Each book (& author) has had an large influence on modern SF, and we'll talk about that in those respective episodes over the course of this month. In this episode, we dive deep into our own history of reading SF, with an eye towards the golden age. How did we get into SF, which authors did we first find that spoke to us, how did we find new authors & books, and why was so-called "classic" SF such an outsized influence on two kids growing up in the 90s and 00s? In addition, we have a discussion on the problematic nature of a lot of these books and authors. Is it still worth reading som

[A note: the content warnings at the beginning also apply to the episode as a whole. We talk about a lot of it in depth in a way that might be uncomfortable for some listeners. This episode is probably even less appropriate for younger children than normal due to that.] We're back having read An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon (https://amzn.to/2OMpWie), and here to talk about it in depth!  We have a pretty far-ranging conversation about the ideas in the book, from how to be a friend and ally, to when violent revolution is necessary, to discussing the large social structures of the ship & the real world. We don't disagree about much, but we manage to argue a lot anyway! And towards the end we get to answering some of the existential questions we asked of ourselves in the post-read. Stick around for the end to hear about what we're doing in December & early 2020 as well. Other works mentioned: * Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes  * Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (episodes)  * Semiosis by Su

Join us as we reflect on a few of the novels we've read for the podcast so far, and imagine what they might look like as on-screen adaptations. Matt & Adrian play executive producers, coming up with concepts for the adaptations & directors, writers, and actors who might work on them.  Time stamps for each: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Matt): 2m33s The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (Adrian): 13m05s Player of Games (a Culture novel) by Iain M. Banks (Matt): 25m26s Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (Adrian): 31m19s This was a fun & somewhat silly episode, we hope you enjoy! If you have your own fancasting for these or any other books we've read, let us know by tweeting @spectologypod or emailing us at spectologypod@gmail.com, we'd love to hear them.   --- If you like the episode, subscribe at spectology.com or whever you listen to podcasts, and share it with your friends! Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our music and art.

In what ends up being a surprisingly introspective episode of Spectology, we introduce our new book: An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon (https://amzn.to/2O0rXHa).  It is a very good book about life amongst the lower classes on board a generation ship. You and should buy it and read it.  Much of this episode is spent questioning whether reading fiction can actually teach us things (where "us" = readers with privilege), or whether the emotions that fiction can induce are used as a stand-in for actually doing work. Answers are not found. We also do book facts and talk about science fiction. We discuss different types of dystopian fiction & how genre tropes can be used or misused. But I'm not going to lie this one is weirdly pensive & self-reflective, even for us.  --- As always, we'd love to hear from you! Chat with us on twitter at @spectologypod, send us an email at spectologypod@gmail.com, or submit the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podcast when

Coming at you in person, Matt & Adrian sat down in the same room to record an episode about Colson Whitehead's post-apocalyptic literary novel, Zone One (https://amzn.to/2MR1hZT). We loved this book, and had in particular have a lot to say about its relationship to other apocalyptic literary fiction, the ways the novel discusses, analogizes, and interacts with depression & PTSD, and New York City in literature and reality. Other works mentioned: * Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead  * White Noise by Don DeLillo  * Cosmopolis, dir. by David Cronenberg  * 10:04 by Ben Lerner  * California by Edan Lepucki  * Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson  * Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel  * The New & Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliott  (Links in the shownotes at spectology.com if they don't show up in your podcatcher. All amazon links are affiliates.) --- As always, we'd love to hear from you! Chat with us on twitter at @spectologypod, send us an email at spectologypod@gmail.com, or