Episodes
The Golden Compass
Welcome back to Novel Ideas, where banned book week lasts a month. This week’s episode is The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, a book frequently challenged for having/being “religious content, violence, and age inappropriate” according to the American Library Association. We certainly have some opinions on whether this book is religious (sort of), violent (yes), and age inappropriate (if you’re a prude). Check out the podcast for the more in depth version of those opinions, in addition to discussions about daemons, witches, bears, and the country of Texas. Special appearance this week by Callie the cat, who had many opinions about this book and whether it should prevent podcast hosts from paying attention to her. (Hint: no.)
This week’s music bump is “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas, because I LOVE IT. Oh, also because there’s a lot of discussion about Dust in this book. So look for that. Enjoy!
25 – The Golden Compass – Bears and Witches and Texans, Oh My!
To Kill a Mockingbird
After a two week hiatus, Novel Ideas is back with To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book is another one of those that most of you probably had to read in school. For us, this was one of the assigned readings that we actually enjoyed, and we were reminded of that on the re-read. We discuss the big issues, like feminism and racism, mostly without embarrassing ourselves. Mostly. We also discuss the smaller issues, like who makes the best cakes in Maycomb, why everybody loves tomboys, and whether Atticus Finch gets to claim the title of “Literary Father of the Year.”
The music bump is “Fables of Faubus” by Charles Mingus, written to poke fun at Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas when he called out the National Guard to prevent Little Rock Central High School from being integrated in 1957.
24 – To Kill a Mockingbird – All Racism, All the Time
Note: We neglected to mention it on the podcast this week, but banned book week is coming up at the end of the month. Our next few books have all been banned or challenged in various places for various reasons. Celebrate with us by reading something controversial!
The Fault in Our Stars
This week on Novel Ideas we are talking about The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, a YA bestseller about romance, living life to its fullest, and cancer. Oh boy, cancer. This episode is a tad more subdued than usual as we wrestle with the tragedy of the story and our love for this book. There are surprisingly few inappropriate jokes. But more than zero, have no fear. We cover some of the big issues, like metaphor, and oblivion, and metaphors for oblivion. But mostly we gush about how omgamazing this book is.
The music is a possibly recognizable tune that was excerpted from “Consider the Uncommon Man” by David Holsinger. If you make it to the end, you’ll notice it’s been reharmonized in a way that’s a little unsettling. The piece was written as a memorial and seemed appropriate for this episode.
22 – The Fault in Our Stars – The Universe is Not a Wish Factory
Update: A couple quick notes. To give credit where credit is due, the header art this week was drawn by Simini Blocker, rather than pulled from a commercial book cover. Here’s the full image: 
Also, I referenced The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe, which is not a thing, and Death Masks, which is a thing, but has nothing to do with necromancers. I’m actually reading Dead Beat, still by Jim Butcher, still part of the Dresden Files. And if you’re here, you’ve probably already figured it out, but the website is actually novelideaspodcast.com, not just novelideas.com. Phew.
Game of Thrones
This week on Novel Ideas, a rather exhausted pair of book loving siblings cover Game of Thrones by George RR Martin. As everyone who isn’t currently living under a rock is aware, this bestselling book is also a rather well regarded show on HBO. We make some comparisons between the two, though we mainly focus on the book. All in all, it’s a slightly unfocused episode this week as fatigue leads us strange noises, an inability to focus on a topic, and pointless repetition. We also talk about ridiculous podcast ideas, GRRM’s version of a cliffhanger, the motivations of villains, and strong female characters. Also, sigh, incest.
The music this week is Ramin Dwajadi’s title theme to the “Game of Thrones” series on HBO, but I probably don’t have to tell you that unless you’re still hanging out under that rock.
Love in the Time of Cholera
After a week off, your favorite intrepid, book-loving, podcasting siblings have returned. This time to examine Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This book is an examination of love, Colombian style. Probably. The author won’t really tell anyone for certain. In our discussion we cover the difficulties of translating literature, magical realism, love, honor, sex, and strong women. And cholera, though not nearly as much as you would expect from the title. Not to mention the fact that every character in this novel is crazy.
We also made a major update to our schedule yesterday, filling it up through the end of August. We’re going on a bestsellers kick, so most of what is on the schedule has been on the NY Times bestseller list for several weeks. Be sure to check it out if you want to read along with us.
This week’s music bump is Toto’s “Hold the Line,” because… Toto. Oh yeah, and it kind of describes Florentino Ariza to an almost uncanny degree.
Foundation
Welcome back to Novel Ideas! This week’s episode features Foundation by Isaac Asimov. This is one of the gigglier episodes we’ve recorded thus far and we hope that you’ll enjoy it as much as we do. Have your research materials, by which I mean Wikipedia, handy because this one is reference heavy. In fact, we almost have enough references to start our own encyclopedia. We cover science, religion, science as religion, the nature of fandom, the lack of women in classic science fiction, and every historical reference we know. Prepare to enter our sphere of influence as we nonviolently project our power across the internet.
The music bump is “Space Fanfare” by Joe Spaniola, performed by the Air Force Band of the Rockies. Because this story is in space and stuff. Also, this piece features one or two recognizable themes because we needed more references.
Novel Ideas 
Redshirts
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This week’s episode is Redshirts by John Scalzi, a science fiction/comedy novel with more than a touch of meta to it. It’s also a fairly short novel, and you’ll notice that our episode is a few minutes shorter than usual to match, only minus the three codas. In our conversation we touch on science fiction tropes, author commentary, some of the qualities of bad writing, and violating the fourth wall. We also touch on the meta-ness of meta-ful meta-tude, hilarious misspoken phrases, and, of course, ice sharks. The mystery of what exactly an ice shark is may not get solved, but I think you’ll agree that Ben should not be allowed to title books.
The music for this week’s episode is “Redshirt” by Jonathan Coulton, which was commissioned by John Scalzi for the release of the novel.
The header is Troy Zimmerman’s (winning) entry in the fan art contest for Redshirts held on John Scalzi’s blog.
23 – Redshirts – Yo Dawg I Heard You Like Star Trek
This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged alternate podcasts, bad writing, Galactic Positioning System, gender politics, ice sharks, John Scalzi, meta, Old Man's War, possible commentary, redshirt trope, Redshirts, Tequila Mockingbird, The Fart in Our Stalls, yawning.