mystery

The Fifth Season

Posted on November 5, 2015

This month Novel Ideas discusses The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. This is a recently published fantasy novel, released this summer, so those of you who are inclined to worry about spoilers: There will be spoilers. In this episode we talk about interesting narrative structure, justifiable anger, cast diversity, and slavery parallels. We also mention that Atlantis is not a thing, pirates with ambiguous sexuality, systematic oppression (and why it is bad), and why one shouldn’t ignore a floating amethyst Washington Monument outside of their window.

The music bump is “Lava Lands” by Jeff Lorber, created by his brain, but not violent enough to sunder a continent. Kinda funky though.

99 – The Fifth Season – Brain Volcanoes

Our rating: We were in agreement that this might be the best thing we’ve read this year and not just limiting that to books read for the podcast.

Ben: 10/10. Great world building with deep and complex characters. Not to mention a heavy dose of badass.

Gabs: 9/10 Rings. Lots of unanswered mysteries, but cast diversity is greatly appreciated.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged agency, Atlantis is not a thing, cast diversity, choice, EEEEEEEEK, epic fantasy is humorless, fantastical racism, genre confusion, giant floating obelisk, interesting narrative structure, John Scalzi's Big Idea, justifiable anger, mystery, N.K. Jemisin, name changes, non-white non-male authors, oppression is bad, POV shifts, sexually ambiguous pirates, slavery parallels, spoiler alert, systematic oppression, The Fifth Season.

And Then There Were None

Posted on April 28, 2014

We’re back! We have returned from our own fake murder to finish doing justice to evildoers and to record this podcast about Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. This is a whodunnit about mystery, murder, and politically correct modifications of the title. Okay, the book isn’t actually about that last part, but there is a bit of a history there. Fair warning, before you click this first link, you may want to make sure no one will wander by and see it out of context. Borderline NSFW. Anyhoo, the book was first published as this, then this, and for the US edition, this. In the episode, we discuss the mystery genre, vigilante justice, anti-semitism, and class issues. We also talk about 1930’s futurism, bad qualities in a judge, PC modifications, and what the Stephen King version of this story might look like.

The music bump is the “Ten Little Indians” rhyme that the book uses as scaffolding for murder. Which probably should have been the title, but I didn’t think of the phrase until just now. Oh well.

And Then There Were None – People Who Only Kill Dillholes

Recommendations:

Kind of lukewarm. We may have a subtle and inherent bias against mystery novels.

Gabs: 6.5/10 Tightly plotted and readable but without the extra oomph I need for a mystery to stand out.

Ben: 6/10 Probably originated many of the obvious tropes within, so I won’t hold that against it. Too easy to read to recommend against it.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None, anti-semitism, bad legal qualities, can you force someone to suicide, class, definition of murder, Dexter, do we need resolution, everybody dies, feminism, formulas, futurism, historical perspective, mystery, notagonist, paranoia, PC modifications, regular old justice, remorse, setting the moral bar low, Stephen King version, sticking the landing, tight plotting, very British, vigilante justice.

Hyperion

Posted on May 21, 2013

This week Novel Ideas discusses Hyperion by Dan Simmons, a far future version of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. This is probably the most “pure” science fiction we’ve read so far, with various story elements not only taking place in a science fiction setting, but requiring a science fiction setting to exist at all. In this episode we’ll discuss imperialism, mystery, pain, and feminism (of course.) We’ll also discuss whether this book has a protagonist (probably not), violence induced boners, surprisingly accurate visions of the internet, and ridiculous applications of Godwin’s Law. This episode also features our less than soundproof studio and the various comings and goings of roommates, angry post-surgical cats, and Ben’s extremely creaky chair that he can’t sit still in. We hope you enjoy!

The music bump is “Mysteries and Mayhem” by Kansas because those are both common subjects in this book, plus I couldn’t quite bring myself to use “We’re Off To See the Wizard,” but Kansas feels like it’s at least close. Should I even try to justify these decisions? It comes off as feeble even to me…

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged abrupt endings, angry cat, award winners, background noise, Chaucer, Dan Simmons, feminism, gender cliches, Godwin's Law, Hyperion, imperialism, JK Rowling is rich y'all, lit nerd, mystery, pain and suffering, pure science fiction, references to mysterious sequel events, religious parallels, shrike, steel trap vaginas, time, universe building, violence induced boners, visions of the internet, where are the women?, zero agent.