not a visual medium

Fledgling

Posted on December 30, 2013

After a lengthy, mostly unplanned, holiday hiatus, Novel Ideas returns with Fledgling by Octavia Butler. This is a book about vampires that offers a slightly different spin on what has arguably become its own genre. Not to mention a science fiction/fantasy book not written by a neckbearded white man. In the episode, we discuss various subgenres at play, direct writing styles, what is at the core of a person, and racism. Lots of racism. We also talk about vatigue, podcasting as a visual medium, trope subversion, and Canada.

The music bump is “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, mostly because Ben has an abhorrent sense of humor.

Fledgling – Chemically Bonded Group Marriage

Recommendations:

Ben: 8/10 Excellent world building and interesting relationship building. Definitely read it.

Gabs: 6.5/10 An interesting new approach to vampires, but not really my thing.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged 500 year old conservatives, amnesia subgenre, Canada, chemically bonded group marriage, closeness, consent, directness, drama subversion, ethics, family, fast attachments, feminism, Fledgling, is vampires a genre?, not a visual medium, Octavia Butler, opposite vampires, primary sources, racism, sequel set up?, sexuality, unfimable books, vatigue, votagonist, what is the core of a person?.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Posted on September 18, 2012

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!

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged Atticus Finch is a badass, coming of age, educational trends, Faulkner haters, feminism, Great American Novel, Harper Lee, How'd she write the book? Harperly (Harper Lee), John Kingdon, not a visual medium, racism, Things You MIssed in History Class, To Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, tomboys!.

Schedule Update

Posted on September 4, 2012

This isn’t much of an update, our next three books will be the same. But we’ll be airing the episodes one week later than we originally planned, which means there will be no episode this week. We’re just going to go ahead and blame that on schedule chaos that definitely has nothing to do with either of us being lazy. Yep. Definitely none of that. Anyhoo, we’ll look forward to seeing you next week, at least to the the degree that we ever see you.

This entry was posted in Admin and tagged definitely not lazy, not a visual medium, scheduling.