Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Novel Ideas Harry Poddercast Extravaganza continues with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. (Turns out all of them are by J.K. Rowling, go figure.) In this episode, we discuss the longest (thus far) book in the series, covering some topics we’ve already visited, such as wizard racism, and some topics that you would assume we’ve covered, such as feminism. Not to mention editing errors, elaborate villain schemes, the importance of world building, and whether 700 pages is too long. And that’s before we get into Draco’s secret pain, shaving mishaps, face punching, and whether Voldemort would be even creepier with a weird mustache. We hope you enjoy!
The music bump is Mike Relm’s “Harry Potter Remix of Death,” one of many Harry Potter remixes floating around the internet.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Recommendations:
I probably don’t even have to mention that we highly recommend this book, but just in case, we highly recommend this book.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Here comes the second book of the Novel Ideas Harry Poddercast Extravaganza, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling. In this episode we discuss the invisibility cloak and how we managed to overlook it in the first episode, the right and wrong ways to deal with celebrity, wizard racial slurs, and the level of heroism one can reasonably expect from a 12 year old child. We also discuss the horrible house of dicks, what Harry Potter would look like if it was written by GRRM, feral cars, and keeping giant monsters as pets. We also take a quick break for hammer time. We hope you enjoy it!
If you want to get in on the fun, let us know as soon as possible. We haven’t recorded for book three just yet, but I (Ben) am almost 200 pages into the fourth book, so time is running short.
The music bump is “The Chamber of Secrets” from John Williams’s excellent score to the not-so-excellent movie of the same name.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – 80’s Movie Bully Evil
Recommendations:
Probably better than you remember! Read it!
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
The first of July is here; it’s time to kick off the Novel Ideas Harry Potter Extravaganza. We open, of course, with the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. In this episode we discuss child abuse, friendship, and standard juvenile/YA themes. We also cover untagonists, wizard racism, and possible benefits of having sly people on your side. Fan geeking is relatively low this week, though we do delve into reasons why Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff probably should be more competitive for the house cup and Ben’s irritation with the rule of quidditch.
The music bump is “Goin’ Back to Hogwarts” from A Very Potter Musical. The music and lyrics are by Darren Criss and A.J. Holmes.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Recommendations:
Read it! If you’ve managed to somehow avoid it this long, check it out. It will read a little kid-ish, but it’s fun and easy to read.
Harry Poddercast Extravaganza
An announcement for those of you who don’t listen to every episode because you’re avoiding spoilers, books outside your genre, us, etc… July 2013 is going to be our Harry Potter fanboy/girl extreme geekout nerdgasm theater month (still working on an official title). The plan is this: We’re going to read all seven Harry Potter books and post episodes as we finish the books, posting just over our usual one per week episode rate. We know that a lot of our friends and listeners (let’s be honest, basically the same group of people) are big fans of that series, so we’re also looking for guests for these shows.
Here’s what you DON’T have to do.
Be some kind of an expert on literature, magic, publishing, or anything in between. I mean, come one, have you actually listened to us?
Here’s what you DO have to do.
If you want to be a guest for a particular book, contact us through our website, e-mail, twitter, or phone (if you have those numbers already, I’m not posting them here). There’s not necessarily a per episode limit, but we’ve already finished the first book, so letting us know sooner rather than later is a good idea.
Also, please read (or more likely, re-read) the book you want to discuss with us. We know you’ve read them a hundred times already. Refresh your memory. We only discuss the current book in a series, not the series as a whole.
To the last point, I lied a little bit. We are going to discuss the series as a whole after we post the seventh episode. We’re going to do a bonus whole series breakdown as an eighth episode where everything is up for grabs, including movies, fandom, and any other related material. The overview episode will be a roundtable discussion with as many people as can make it.
If you want to participate in this final episode, we ask that you have either: 1) Read the whole series at least twice, or 2) Have read it for the first time recently, let’s say having finished it in the last six months. Ish.
So that’s the plan. Please join us for some Harry Potter vanity fan project fun. And please feel free to participate in recording episodes, especially the finale. We hope to hear from you soon!
Boneshaker
This week on Novel Ideas, we discuss Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, a sci-fi steampunk alternate history zombie story about the importance of family. In this episode we discuss characterization, possible racism, the motives of villains, and what about this book could use editing. We also the discuss the possibility of Disney accidentally creating zombies, moms who are also sharpshooters, steampunk naming conventions, and all the ways this book is like Peter Pan. There’s also an announcement at the end about our exciting July project extravaganza (more or that in the next day or two here if you’re avoiding the episode for spoilers).
A quick note: During the episode we wonder what the publication date was for this book, it was in 2009 and nominated for a Hugo award in 2010.
The music bump this week is “The Wall” by Kansas, though I’m pretty sure their version of the wall was not a literal wall containing poison gas and zombies.
Recommendations:
Ben: 5/10 Definitely not bad, but not memorable
Gabs: 4/10 Not my bag
The Road
Prepare for a long, cold slog through a world devoid of life, filled only with ashes. In other words, get ready for a new episode of Novel Ideas. This week, we read The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the Pulitzer Prize winning post-apocalyptic novel about… love? Join us as we discuss post-apocalyptic morality, cannibalism, isolation, and finding a purpose for living. We also talk about the potential benefits of joining a bloodcult, doomsday devices, and fonts (both apocalyptic and otherwise).
The music bump is “Lips of Ashes” by Porcupine Tree. I didn’t mean to go back to that well so quickly, but the song title was just too close to home. Also, Jackson Browne’s “The Road” didn’t quite fit the tone of novel. Additionally, there’s a little bit of Patton Oswalt at the end of the podcast. If you get that far, you’ll know why.
Ratings and Recommendations:
Ben: 7/10 miles trudged, only for what purpose?
Gabs: 5/10 on enjoyment.
Consensus is that this is a work of literature rather than entertainment. It is well written, but you may not find it very fun reading.
Speak
Novel Ideas returns with Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, a book about a traumatized high school freshman. A quick warning: if rape is a sensitive subject for you, this would be a good week not to tune in, as it is a key point in this book. We’ll also be discussing tense as a storytelling device, post-trauma emotional states, conformity, and the importance of speaking up. Additionally, we’ll also be talking about ubernerds, Ben’s idiocy, Ben’s sexy cold induced phlegm voice, and a special anti-recommendation from Gabs. There will be one or two weird moments in this episode as Ben’s disgusting wet coughs have been deleted, but not his laughter infused voice after Gabs’s disgusted reaction. So we’ll blame contextless laughter on cough deletion this week.
The music bump is “This Long Silence” by Porcupine Tree, which may or may not have anything to do with the book other than the title.
Following a suggestion from Kevin, we are also rating this book on a 1-10 scale to help out those of you who are trying to decide if they want to read the book to avoid spoilers before they listen to the episode.
Ben: 7/10
Gabs: 7 out of 10 possible seconds of silence
This book is good, not great. But it’s worth reading for a good treatment of sensitive topic.
Page count is just under 200.
Novel Ideas 