Spectology: The Science Fiction Book Club Podcast

Through journeys and struggles, with the power of friendship, we did it! We recorded another episode, this time talking about Max Gladstone's latest solo novel, Empress of Forever (https://amzn.to/2ykpSOU). 

We both really enjoyed this book, and were really happy to get to read a novel by a previous guest. We start the episode off with Matt explaining the ways in which the book is & is not a science fictional adaptation of the Chinese epic novel Journey to the West, and then spend a lot of time discussing redemption and forgiveness and how those two things work in this novel, and how they should work in an ideal world. Also, Orn! This was a fun book to read & fun episode to record (even if Adrian was a little loopy & feverish), so we hope you enjoy it.

Some of the works mentioned in the episode (links at spectology.com if they don't show up here):

* Monkey: Folk Novel of China trans. by Arthur Whaley (Matt's recommended translation of Journey to the West) 
* Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny 
* Contact by Carl Sagan 
* Our previous episodes on Ten Billion Days & 100 Billion Nights, Semiosis, Brown Girl in the Ring, Ninefox Gambit, Binti, & "The Star" 

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We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter at @spectologypod, sending us an email at mailbox@spectology.com, or submitting 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 friends!

Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our music and art.

[This episode comes with a content warning for discussions of depression, suicide, and drug overdose. It's all relevant to the works & part of a good-natured conversation, but we wanted to mention that up front.]

This is an ongoing series we do every few months, going over some of the pop culture stuff we've liked recently. Some of it is SF adjacent, some of it isn't, but it's all good and enjoyable!

As always, if the links below don't show up in your podcatcher, they're all in the show notes spectology.com. 

Matt's things:

- Yazmin Lacey, song playing in background is "90 Degrees" from the album "When the Sun Dips 90 Degrees", buy it its so good

- Haiku by Basho, 17th Century Japanese Poet: https://oaks.nvg.org/basho.html 

- The last one is hard to explain, you'll just have to listen for the story

Adrian's things:

- Neon Genesis Evangelion, an anime from the 90s that was recently re-released on Netflix

- "Gen Z Music": artists mentioned include Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish, Lil Peep, & Wicca Phase Springs Eternal 

- Indian(-ish), a cookbook by Priya Krishna, shout out to the Saag Feta & Aloo Gobi recipes

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We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter at @spectologypod, sending us an email at mailbox@spectology.com.

And 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.

What goes around comes around on the wheel of karma, so this month Matt & Adrian talking about the new novel from past guest Max Gladstone, Empress of Forever (https://amzn.to/2Jl9X94)! 

We discuss a number of books, movies, TV shows, and RPGs in the general space opera subgenre. Here are some of the most relevant. If the links don't show up in your podcatcher, they will be available on the show notes at spectology.com. 

- Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone 
- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max 
- Journey to the West 
- Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny 
- Ten Billion Days & 100 Billion Nights by Ryu Mitsuse (see our 10.1 & 10.2 episodes) 
- Iain M Banks (see our 1.1 & 1.2 episodes on his Use of Weapons) 
- Gnomon by Nick Harkaway (see our 5.1 & 5.2 episodes w/ Max as a guest) 
- The New Space Opera & TNSO2, ed. Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan
- Sufficiently Advanced (RPG) 
- Ghibli Fest 2019 (particularly Princess Mononoke) 
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (on Netflix) 

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We'd love to hear from you (tell us your definition of space opera!), either by chatting with us on twitter at @spectologypod, sending us an email at mailbox@spectology.com, or submitting 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 friends!

Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our music and art.