Our shortest episode yet!

We read two short stories this month, The Eleventh Metal is pretty good, and HARRE (Heuristic Algorithm and Reasoning Response Engine) is pretty interesting from production standpoint.

Next month we'll be reading The Emperor's Soul and Legion, Episode Airs: Third Week of June.

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

Things Mentioned:

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

A Small Place by Jamaica Kinkaid

Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher

Blood Over Bright Haven M. L. Wang

How Long Until Black Future Month

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Ones Who Stay and Fight by N.K. Jemisin

Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole by Isabel J. Kim

Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir

Absolute Wonder Woman

Absolute Martian Manhunter

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 talk about the highs and lows of The Alloy of Law, our first foray into Mistborn Era 2.

Next month we'll be reading The Eleventh Metal and H.A.R.R.E, Episode Airs: May 31st

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

Corrections: Grant Morrison's pronouns are They/Them, many apologies for misgendering them.

Correction 2: Folks on the autism spectrum are moving away from the term "Asperger's Syndrome" for a multitude of reasons, one of which being the originator of the term was a nazi scientist.

Things Mentioned:

Grant Morrison's X-Men

A Game of Thrones

Grant Morrison's The Invisibles (Sympathy for the Henchman)

Necropolitics - Achille Mbembe https://muse.jhu.edu/article/39984

Society Must be Defended - Michelle Foucault (Biopolitics)

Dicipline and Punish - Michel Foucault

Rykers Island https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/nyregion/kalief-browder-held-at-rikers-island-for-3-years-without-trial-commits-suicide.html

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 two not very good stories and have 2 fantastic conversations about them with special guest Sophie Abromowitz!

Sophie Short Story: https://joylandpublishing.com/fiction/jan-is-important/
Sophie Substack: https://abromowitz.substack.com/
Sophie Website: https://sophie-abromowitz.com/


Next month we'll be reading Alloy of Law. Episode airs, end of April.

Content warnings for this episode: auditory hallucinations, betrayal, bleeding, bullying, child endangerment, conspiracies, death, duels, gender dysphoria, god kings, human sacrifice, mprisonment, insanity, lying, mental illness, mind control, murder, neglect, oligarchy, prisons, religion, royalty, self harm, self hatred, stabbing, undeath, wounds, xenophobia

Infinity Blade Screenshots https://www.epicgames.com/infinityblade/en-US/game-info/infinity-blade-i

Infinity Blade II Screenshots: https://kotaku.com/games/infinity-blade-ii/gallery

Infinity Blade II Opening Cutscene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSywlxTpqBA

Words of Brandon: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/169/#e8839

Books
Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Piranesi
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Movies
Inception dir by Christopher Nolan
Paprika dir by Satoshi Kon

TV
Star Wars Andor

Other
Boss Baby Tweet https://x.com/afraidofwasps/status/1177301482464526337?lang=en

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 back in the era of normal length books with Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lens!

Next month we'll be reading Infinity Blade Awakening & I Hate Dragons. Episode airs, March 25th.

Around 59 Minutes in, we ask if ADX actually does the math correctly, she does not.

References

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickett
Percy Jackson and The Olympians by Rick Riordan

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Content warnings for this episode: abandonment, ableism, 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, religion, royalty, self harm, self hatred, settler colonialism, stabbing, transphobia, undeath, wounds

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 Towers of Midnight, Book 13 of The Wheel of Time.

Next month we'll be reading all of Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lens, Episode Airs: Feb 18th.

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, amputation, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones , classism, colonization, death, domestic violence, fetishization, gaslighting, gender roles, hallucinations, insanity, J.K. Rowling, kink, knives, maiming, misogyny, murder, mutilation, rape, real world violence, religious extremism, self harm, sexual content, sexual violence, slavery, stabbing, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, terminal illness, transphobia, trauma, undeath, Vietnam War, wounds and infection

Jordan Quote About Language: https://www.reddit.com/r/WoT/comments/1mv9wv/language_in_the_world_of_wot/

Interviews Jack Cited

https://aidanmoher.com/blog/2010/11/interviews/interview-brandon-sanderson-author-of-towers-of-midnight-and-the-way-of-kings/

https://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=547

Jack's Rankings

The Way of Kings
Warbreaker
Mistborn
Alcatraz vs. the Scrivener's Bones
The Hero of Ages
Elantris
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
Alcatraz vs. the Knights of Crystallia (Book 3)
The Well of Ascension

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/)

On this part two we finish The Way of Kings, making this comfortably our longest episode yet. Apologies for getting this out a day later than I said I would, the flu took me out.

New Discord!

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones, caste systems, child abuse, child death, christian imagery, classism, colonization, death, decapitation, discussion of sexuality, disembowelment, domestic violence, exsanguination, gaslighting, genocide, human sacrifice, insanity, knives, maiming, mind control, misogyny, mormonism, murder, mutation, mutilation, racism, rape culture, religious conversion, religious extremism, self harm, settler colonialism, sexual content, sex work, slavery, slave races, stabbing, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, surgery, terminal illness, undeath, wounds and infection

Works Mentioned

A Wizard of Earthsea

The Grace of Kings

Don Quixote

Exhalation

Stories of Your Life

Arrival

Le Mort de Arthur

David Graeber The Dawn of Everything

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/)

On this episode we read The Way of Kings, a book so massive we really only talk about the plot of the book in the last third of the episode.

We split this episode in half because of how big this book is. It's slow, methodical, and we talked about it for 8 and a half hours.

Happy New Year folks, I wish you a wonderful and safe start to 2025.

Next Month: We read the entirety of Towers of Midnight, Episode Airs: January 28th.

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones, caste systems, child abuse, child death, christian imagery, classism, colonization, death, decapitation, discussion of sexuality, disembowelment, domestic violence, exsanguination, gaslighting, genocide, human sacrifice, insanity, knives, maiming, marital rape, mind control, misogyny, mormonism, murder, mutation, mutilation, racism, rape, rape culture, religious conversion, religious extremism, self harm, settler colonialism, sexual content, sex work, slavery, slave races, stabbing, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, surgery, terminal illness, undeath, wounds and infection

Correction: Graham does not have the most liked 1 star review of Tress of the Emerald Sea anymore, there are several other reviews that have dethroned them.

Correction: about 34 minutes in, Graham says 4,000 years but means 1,000.

Correction 1:36:50 It is the Stormfather speaking to Kaladin who says this, not a Dalinar vision.

The Mormon Church’s tax exempt status in 1978 came under threat because of their views on race and excluding black men from the priesthood. The president of the church received a divine revelation.

MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING FOR BOOKS 1-4 OF THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE: The Most Mormon Magic System: How Brandon Sanderson Turned Agency into Fantasy by Liz Busby

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - Normally we'd link this on our bookshop, but it second hand or get it from the library.

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/)