Appendix N Book Club

Latest Episodes:

Episode 95 – Fredric Brown's "What Mad Universe” with special guest Angeline B. Adams May 16, 2021

Show notes

Angeline B. Adams joins us to discuss Fredric Brown's "What Mad Universe”, psychogeography, toxic fandom, fictionalizing the writer's process, near-future sci-fi, the Troubles conflict in Northern Ireland, the relationship between the text and the art, loose worldbuilding, environmental and knowledge hazards, having protagonists deal with a big scary world, organic plot development, what this book looks like in other mad universes, and much more!

Episode 94 – Stanley G. Weinbaum's "The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum" with special guest Newton Nitro May 01, 2021

Show notes

Newton Nitro joins us to discuss Stanley G. Weinbaum's "The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum", Brazilian speculative fiction, Malazan Book of the Fallen, celebrations of the heterosexual white male, coming to acceptance with death, different cultural moral frameworks, the Virgin-Whore Complex, Brazilian miscegenation, dark humor, reskinning the Keep on the Borderlands, using RPGs to subvert facism, and much more!

Episode 93 – Michael Moorcock's "Elric of Melniboné" with special guest Peter Bebergal Apr 18, 2021

Show notes

Peter Bebergal joins us to discuss Michael Moorcock's "Elric of Melniboné", gaming stores, Gygax's love of pulp, meta-levels inside of dungeons, grimoires IRL, Elric's rotating sidekicks, the limits of idealism, the tragedy of addiction, Elric in art, the Eternal Champions, Elric as anime, and much more!

Episode 92 – Roger Zelazny's "The Hand of Oberon" with special guest Shauntelle Benjamin Apr 04, 2021

Show notes

Shauntelle Benjamin joins us to discuss Roger Zelazny's "The Hand of Oberon", TTRPG Twitch streaming, the protagonist's internal experience, similiar sounding names, casual incest, combat mechanics in literature, cybernetic limbs, life-draining highways, getting stabbed by uncles you've just met, interior monologues in gaming, and much more!

Episode 91 - Philip José Farmer's "The Lavalite World" with special guest Kienna Shaw Mar 20, 2021

Show notes

Kienna Shaw joins us to discuss Philip José Farmer's "The Lavalite World", using present-day religious texts as mythology, literary info dumps, the petty egos of immortals, making moral choices when you your life is at stake, close third-person narration, the dangers of presenting racist characters without critique, Bluebeard's Bride, being a collaborative player instead of a lone wolf, constantly shifting landscapes, and much more!

Episode 90 - Fletcher Pratt's "Invaders from Rigel" with special guest Ginny Loveday Mar 07, 2021

Show notes

Ginny Loveday joins us to discuss Fletcher Pratt's "Invaders from Rigel", small books with even smaller fonts, colonialism, space travellers who don't understand combustibles, goofily over-capable heroes, interesting adversaries, home play vs organized play, overly replying on combat to handle challenges, separating the art from the artist, and much more!

Episode 89 - Jack Vance's "The Killing Machine" with special guest Paige Leitman Feb 22, 2021

Show notes

Paige Leitman joins us to discuss Jack Vance's "The Killing Machine", Alexandre Dumas, sexism, interplanetary skin tones, examples of successful worldbuilding, D&D as a western, roleplaying vs rollplaying, planet-hopping revenge games, Star Wars, the OSR community, and much more!

Episode 88 - Fritz Leiber's "The Big Time" with special guest Jason Ray Carney Feb 07, 2021

Show notes

Jason Ray Carney joins us to discuss Fritz Leiber's "The Big Time", urban modernism, Lovecraft's fear of the other, period slang, the time travel genre, deeply traumatized protagonists, Leiber's understanding of language, being the Black Svengali to one's Trilby, unity of time and space, Conan vs Fafhrd, chronomancy, and much more!

Episode 87 - Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Usurper" with special guest Nicole Emmelhainz-Carney Jan 24, 2021

Show notes

Nicole Emmelhainz-Carney joins us to discuss Robert E. Howard & L. Sprague de Camp's "Conan the Usurper", body horror, de Camp's heavy-handed editing, offensive physical descriptions of black characters, Lovecraft's contemporaries, the experience of talking about problematic elements in the fandom, Howard's creative process, audience analysis in pulps, the cliche of the dumb barbarian, unknown characters seeking revenge on PCs, and much more!

Episode 86 - Lin Carter's "The Immortal of World's End" with special guest Kira Magrann Jan 10, 2021

Show notes

Kira Magrann joins us to discuss Lin Carter's "The Immortal of World's End", LARPing as an awkward teenager, goth teenage years, blending sci-fi and fantasy, tonal shifts, strange metaphors, the cognitive dissonance of glorifying violence after seeing war firsthand, evolving cultural norms, positive inclusions of beasts and animals, sexualizing all or none of the characters instead of just the female-presenting characters, random charts, Trancore as a music genre, and much more!

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected