Backlog Books
Episode 108: Greenwing & Dart by Victoria Goddard
- Fantasy. A delightful series full of shenanigans and deep, heartfelt love and tragedy. Plus a baby unicorn.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 107: Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel
- Fantasy. The goddess of the river deals with humanity.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 106: Fallen Gods: Sunbringer by Hannah Kaner
- Fantasy. Book 2 of the Fallen Gods trilogy. Another conversation episode.
- Same thing happened as with the Vorkosigan Saga episode 104. We’re not sorry.
Episode 105: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
- Science fiction. Clarke is “indifferent to the niceties of characterization”.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 104: Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Science fiction. Wrap-up on the final 4 books, with my Other Wheel of Time Friend.
- There’s no transcript for this one, we went off the rails, what do you want from me?
Episode 103: Gateway by Frederik Pohl
- Science fiction. There sure is something wrong with this guy.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 102: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
- Science fiction. Can you ever go home? What is “home”? What if your home has been colonized and turned into something you don’t recognize any more? Can you still go back?
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 101: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy
- Historical fiction. What if there was a really cool British guy but he pretended to be a big wimp and also was desperately in love with his wife but couldn’t tell her?
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 100: Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
- Fantasy. Sarah Rees Brennan, you can’t keep doing this to me. (Just kidding, she can and she will and I will continue to thank her!)
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 99: The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
- Fantasy. I just think returning to the long lost fantasy land of your childhood shouldn’t be so sunshine and rainbows, but this is mostly a Me Problem.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 98: The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
- Fantasy. Inheritance and infamy are complicated.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 97: The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
- Mystery/vaguely magical/science fiction. 8 chances to solve a murder before the clock runs out.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 96: Fallen Gods: Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
- Fantasy. In the aftermath of a war against the gods, what’s left for people to believe in?
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 95: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
- Science fiction. An episode mostly about my personal experience with the Murderbot books but also about the series overall.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 94: Vorkosigan Saga: Komarr and A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Science fiction. The eventful courtship of one Miles Vorkosigan and Ekaterin Nile Vorvayne Vorsoisson.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 93: The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
- Fantasy. I can’t come up with a snappy one sentence summary of this. I loved it. It played with storytelling in a really interesting way.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 92: Wheel of Time: New Spring by Robert Jordan
- Fantasy. Conversation episode with my Other Wheel of Time Friend. The Moiraine/Siuan book.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 91: Vorkosigan Saga: Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Science fiction. Welcome back from the dead! You definitely won’t make any questionable choices in reaction to your resurrection, right?
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 90: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
- Urban Fantasy. An episode about the series overall.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 89: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
- Fantasy. Sometimes you have to set yourself a quest and not wait around for someone to give it to you.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 88: Vorkosigan Saga: Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Science fiction. Did your wish to be an only child come true in the worst possible way?
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 87: Wheel of Time: The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan
- Fantasy. Conversation. 2 episodes. Nothing bad happened to Moiraine in this book.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 86: Vorkosigan Saga: Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Science fiction. Miles always wished he wasn’t an only child. Wish granted! In maybe the worst possible way!
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 85: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty
- Fantasy. Retired famous pirate is blackmailed into getting the band back together for one last job.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 84: Planetfall by Emma Newman
- Science fiction. Something has gone wrong in the promised land.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 83: Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
- Fantasy. A
gremlingirl gets cursed. Mostly a Goose Girl retelling, complete with Falada-testimony. - Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 82: In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
- Science fiction. I’m sure time traveling back to the days of the Spanish Inquisition will not be sad or tragic in any way.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 81: Lockwood & Co. by Jonathan Stroud
- Fantasy. Kids these days, always out fighting ghosts.
- Transcript|StoryGraph
Episode 80: The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo
- Fiction. An aging assassin struggles to accept the concept of retirement.
- Transcript|StoryGraph
Episode 79: Vorkosigan Saga: Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Science fiction. Miles Gets Nosy.
- Transcript|StoryGraph
Episode 78: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
- Urban fantasy (kind of). A young woman infiltrates the ranks of the reborn Knights of King Arthur, determined to discover what happened to her mother.
- Transcript|StoryGraph
Episode 77: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Fantasy. A powerful young wizard unleashes an ancient evil and must decide whether to spend his whole life running from it, or turn to face it.
- Transcript|StoryGraph
Episode 76: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
- Fantasy. Let’s talk about all those fantasy worlds that keep conscripting children from our world to be soldiers in theirs…
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 75: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
- Fantasy. 2-episodes. Finally. The Aiel.
- StoryGraph
Episode 74: Stormsong and Soulstar by C.L. Polk
- Fantasy. Books 2 & 3 of the Kingston Cycle. Let’s overthrow the monarchy <3
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 73: Vorkosigan Saga: The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Science fiction. Miles continues to be the least chill.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 72: Vorkosigan Saga: The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Science fiction. That’s my (friend Cordelia’s) son!! He’s never been chill once in his entire life.
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 71: My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
- Supernatural horror. What’s love without some vampirism thrown in?
- Transcript | StoryGraph
Episode 70: Babel by R.F. Kuang
- Historical fantasy. You know what’s cool? Linguistics. You know what’s not cool? Colonization.
- Transcript|StoryGraph
Episode 69: Eldrie the Healer by Claudia J. Edwards
- Fantasy. I kind of wish I could fight Edwards in a parking lot.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 68: The Serpent Gates by A.K. Larkwood
- Fantasy. Let’s betray the gods together. <3
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 67: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
- Fantasy. Literary supernatural horror? Let’s uncover the tomb of Dracula with papa(’s letters and mysterious disappearance).
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 66: Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott
- Contemporary fantasy. We’re going to put on the best puppet show this town has ever seen.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 65: Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
- Fantasy. Embrace motherhood and magic and save the day for your post-apocalypse town.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 64: The Kingston Cycle: Witchmark by C.L. Polk
- Fantasy. First book in the Kingston Cycle trilogy. Be gay, solve crimes.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 63: The Quick by Lauren Owens
- Supernatural horror. Vampires. Victorian England. You know the drill.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 62: Vorkosigan Saga: Shards of Honor and Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Science Fiction. Planetary survey captain enjoys a very normal romantic arc. So normal.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 61: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
- Fantasy. Talking cat and rats set up a Pied Piper scam.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 60: The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
- Science Fiction. Humans have figured out how to teleport and it goes… well?
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 59: The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
- Fantasy. The Dragon is only in 3% of this book.
- Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 58: The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Science Fiction. A story about stories.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 57: Solaris by Stanisław Lem
- Science Fiction. Man goes to alien planet and encounters the living embodiment of his regrets.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 56: From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout
- Fantasy. Young girl gets kidnapped by her awful love interest. It takes 600 pages for no reason.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 55: Persuasion by Jane Austen
- Fiction. Local woman's ex comes back to town, hotter than ever. Yearning commences.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 54: Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
- Fantasy. Local queen tells the gods to shove off. Somehow this doesn't work.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 53: The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
- Fiction. Strange things are afoot in the Paris Opera House.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 52: The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
- Fantasy. Cartographer discovers that old paper maps hold secret-secrets, decides to investigate her dad's murder; what, like it's hard?
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 51: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- Fiction. 1930s Florida Woman struggles to find a decent man anywhere.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 50: Odder Still by D.N. Bryn
- Fantasy. Local man kidnapped and shoved to the forefront of scientific discovery, and it gets worse!
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 49: The Chosen by Chaim Potok
- Fiction. Friendship and fathers collide.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 48: A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
- Fantasy. The real mystery is why there's only one instrument on this whole island.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 47: Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee
- Fantasy. Oblivious artist gets blackmailed into a job, meets their new best friend.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 46: The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
- Fantasy. Scavenger hunt ends with a duel.
- Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 45: The Odyssey by Homer (translated by Emily Wilson)
- Classic. War hero would just like to go home but can't resist causing trouble everywhere he goes.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 44: Jade City by Fonda Lee
- Fantasy. Mob family powered by jade-fueled magic powers ends up in a clan feud sort of on accident but they're certainly not going to let those other guys win.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 43: Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh
- Science fiction. Six young people leave earth behind and struggle with whether it's worth it to go.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 42: A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw
- Mystery. Hidden community in the woods shockingly manipulative.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 41: David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
- Fantasy. Demigod keeps getting called to clean up the gods' messes, would just like enough money to fix his roof please.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 40: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
- Fantasy. Young man suddenly becomes emperor, gradually makes friends.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 39: On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
- Fantasy. Please stop being so weird about women.
- Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 38: Redwall series by Brian Jacques
- YA fantasy. Woodland creatures feast, solve riddles, are friends, fight against invading hordes of evil vermin, get home in time for another feast.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 37: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
- Fantasy/romance. 300-year-old immortal woman does cool stuff off page and on page we just see her terrible romantic choices.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 36: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
- Fantasy. A group of young people are forced to flee their homes and are upset to discover they're now responsible for keeping the world safe.
- Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 35: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Fiction. Man raised by apes better than everyone else because he's white.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 34: Tea From an Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan
- Science fiction. Cyberpunk detective doesn't understand the appeal of artificial reality, especially when people keep dying in real life while plugged in.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 33: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
- YA fiction. Do you understand what Collins was saying with the Hunger Games yet?
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 32: Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
- YA fantasy. Girl makes friends, discovers she has magic, plays soccer, and defeats a serial killer.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 31: Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
- YA science fiction/fantasy. Young woman finds tiny dragons, keeps them as companions, fueling my desire to have tiny pet dragons.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 30: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Science fiction/horror. College student decides to create life and is unprepared for the responsibility; his creation reacts poorly to being abandoned.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 29: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
- YA fantasy. Oldest sister gets cursed by a witch and decides she might as well leave home and see if she can fix it by herself.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 28: Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
- Science fiction/fantasy. Woman's revenge plot derailed by dragonrider who needs her help, eventually she discovers time travel to save everyone's lives.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 27: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
- Science fiction. Proof of alien life upsets the status quo more than anticipated.
- Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 26: The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman
- Fantasy. Sleeping Beauty retelling wherein Snow White goes to investigate what's going wrong in the kingdom next door.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 25: Sabriel by Garth Nix
- YA fantasy. Young woman suddenly the only hope for magic kingdom versus their hordes of undead, spends most of her time looking for her father to give him back the responsibility.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 24: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
- YA fantasy. 12-year-old gets blamed for stealing an item from the gods; too bad he had no idea gods existed until today.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 23: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- YA fantasy. Homebody's comfortable life is interrupted by a quest dumped in his lap by a wizard who then leaves Homebody to solve all the problems.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 22: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
- Classic fiction. Local hypochondriacs decide to take a boat trip up the Thames and cause problems.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 21: Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce
- YA fantasy. Four magic kids adopted by monks learn the power of friendship and also cool lightning powers.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 20: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
- Science fiction/Fantasy. Buff jock lesbian forced to go along with schemes of tiny, schemy necromancer as she attempts to reach godhood in the midst of all these murders.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 19: Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
- Science fiction. Brainwashed and programmed soldier is implanted with the spirit of a long-dead heretic general and somehow the establishment thinks this will go well for them.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 18: Uprooted by Naomi Novik
- Fantasy. Young woman sacrificed to wizard makes it his problem and ends up more powerful than him while also dealing with a cool haunted forest.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 17: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
- YA Fantasy. Young woman is kidnapped but really likes horses so she gets over it pretty quickly and ends up saving the country with this cool magic sword.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 16: The Road to Underfall by Mike Jefferies
- Fantasy. Classic fantasy, including battling against literal darkness, and no named women until at least page 100.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 15: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
- Science fiction/fantasy. Utter, hilarious nonsense.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 14: Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
- Fantasy. Local deadbeat drunk cop somehow only one remotely interested in investigating random dragon attacks, accidentally becomes competent at his job.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 13: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
- Fantasy. The assassin main character decides she will only kill people "who deserve it" making me wonder if she understands just what an assassin is?
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 12: Neuromancer by William Gibson
- Science fiction. A formative cyberpunk book which remains confusing no matter how many times you read it.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 11: Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Horror. These people sure are taking a long time to kill Dracula but honestly I'm enjoying the ride.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 10: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
- Classic fiction. A leisurely, introspective stroll through early 1900s London.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 9: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
- YA fantasy. Delightful brat thief, unfortunately for everyone else, really does live up to his reputation for being able to steal anything.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 8: East by Edith Pattou
- YA fantasy. Retelling of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon"; young woman unknowingly dooms young man to life as a troll husband, goes to great lengths to save him.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 7: The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
- YA fantasy. A princess decides the best way to react to feeling out of place is to become a dragon hunter.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 6: The Faceless Old Woman by Jeffrey Cranor & Joseph Fink
- Horror/adventure. Woman's quest for revenge gradually destroys her in a delightfully creepy way.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 5: Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers
- Science fiction. Character-driven, found family in space, very heartwarming.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 4: School of Light by Jody Lynn Nye
- Fantasy. Cool concept of following dreamed-into-existence world and people but unfortunately my favorite part was finding $1 in the book.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 3: Twilight's Kingdoms trilogy by Nancy Asire
- Fantasy. Classic light vs. dark story with long-lived characters, spanning several centuries and being bad at foreshadowing.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 2: The Princess Bride by William Goldman
- Fiction. A fun and funny adventure with fairy tale roots and a jaded narrator.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Episode 1: The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
- YA fiction. A lonely children's book about surviving when everyone you know has left behind you and your way of life.
- Transcript | Episode | StoryGraph
Version: 20241125