The Fandom Apprentice

Step inside (your best friend's corpse), it's a fucked up ride (through the wormhole)! Amena wishes this was a normal field trip, but with SecUnit? No way! Take your second right past Mars and join us while we talk about knees, gravity, faster than light travel, anxiety, and potential future cinematic choices for the show! Covers Chapters 4-7 of The Murderbot Diaries: Network Effect by Martha Wells (2020)

Not all is well with Murderbot, but when is it ever? Ryn and Sam follow our favorite rogue SecUnit through the first three chapters of Network Effect, the first novel in the Murderbot Diaries! Topics include the gender politics of aunts, cis discomfort with trans presentation, intense feelings in platonic relationships, puppy eyes as a weapon of war, and Murderbot murdering on a murderboat.  Covers Chapters 1-3 of The Murderbot Diaries: Network Effect (2020) by Martha Wells, winner of the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the  2020 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 2021 Locus Award for Best  Science Fiction Novel

here's been a murder! And despite what you might expect, it wasn't Murderbot's fault. It promises. And we promise topics including sleeper agents, queer assimilation, translation, and things that go blorp in the night.   Covers The Murderbot Diaries: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (2021)

So, as it turns out, there are there are also some short stories in the Murderbot Universe! We get to dig into the minds of some side characters, learn more about the origins of constructs, and talk about queerplatonic relationships, coming out, and non-human personhood!  If our audio quality is a wee bit sharper on this one, it's because we had some issues with our primary recordings and were working from our backups, and Sam worked her wizardry as best she could. Bear with us.  Timestamps for potential/light Network Effect spoilers: 0:40:04-1:04:08 This can be listened to in any order with the Fugitive Telemetry episode that you will see right above this in your feed! Your fate is your own! Choose your own adventure! Although I recommend this one first.  Covers the following short stories/novelettes in the following timeline order, all of which are available for free online: 1. "Obsolescence", written for the anthology Take Us To A Better Place (2020) 2. "The Future of Work: Compulsory" written for Wired magazine (2018) 3. "Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory" released in Reactor magazine (2021) 4. "Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy" written for Reactor magazine (2025)

Murderbot has to go find some old friends! We're entirely normal about it acknowledging PresAux as friends. Other topics include consent, gender presentation/human-passing, the self and the body as separate but connected entities, and finally, as all folks hitchhiking on bot-driven transports across the galaxy must, we grapple with towels.    Covers The Murderbot Diaries Vol IV: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Ryn and Sam are wildly unfocused, probably because we are simultaneously monitoring two dozen intel drones, HubSystem, and Episode 372 of The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon! And also being slightly horny on main, giving mini-reviews of horror movies and a romance novel, discussing Murderbot's D&D class, and once again providing evidence that capitalism is the worst villain! All before we get betrayed by our mysterious augmented human security team or before the terraforming station breaks up and falls out of orbit, whichever happens first... Anyway, come join us! Covers The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 3: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

Murderbot travels to RaviHyral to investigate... well, murder. That it may or may not have been responsible for. Join us as we grapple with concepts of non-human personhood, gender, terrible bosses, queerplatonic relationships formed on threats of terrible violence, and murder! So much murder. Covers The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 2: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Welcome to season 2! We begin with everyone's favorite heartless killing machine that just wants to watch Space Netflix and unfortunately keeps having emotions! Join Ryn and Sam as we discuss aliens, why capitalism is always the problem, international law in space, and sci-fi horror!    Covers The Murderbot Diaries Book 1: All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2017)

A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not listen? Long have Ryn and Sam, the hosts of this podcast, overanalyzed the Lord of The Rings series. We come to the last of the movies today, so join us as we ride for ruin and the story's ending through discussions of gravity-defying snakes, mutilated tomatoes, the neverending road to cavalry tactics, music, and much more!  Covers The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition) (2003)

We move on to the second film in the trilogy, The Two Towers! Ryn provides more commentary on music, Sam continues to hate Gollum, and we are confused about some story choices! Join us for discussions on tragically cishet immortals, incredibly hot Numenoreans, Shakespearean actors, and Skyrim! Do you get to the Cloud District very often? Listeners of our podcast do!   Covers The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) (2002)

We finally dive into the movies with an emphasis on our special interests of soundtrack, costume design, and Aragorn! Join us as we ask the big questions: what's a leitmotif? How many hugs are in the movie? And why is Aragorn so hot? Covers The Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) (2001)

We get our appendixes out! That is, we talk about the Lord of the Rings appendices. That's right, there's still more text to read! Join us as we pour over Arwen and Aragorn's romance, family trees, and the Book of Numbers, Tolkien Edition! aka a detailed timeline history of Numenor and the Second and Third Ages of Middle Earth.   Covers Appendices A-F, published at the end of Return of the King

Having reached the end of the books, we take a minute to reflect on this journey and its stages, check in to see if our Definitely Universal Rules Of Fantasy hold up, talk about Sam Gamgee as The Everyman, and dig into our remaining lingering questions!

All good things must come to an end, a last stage, if you will. Join us as we discuss the very end of Return of the King, prison abolition, authoritarianism, Sam Gamgee's knowledge of buns, hobbit reproduction, and our feelings here at the end of this stage of our wonderful journey!    Covers Return of the King Book VI, Chapter VIII: The Scouring of the Shire (Part B) and Chapter IX: The Grey Havens   Some reading/watching/listening from our discussion this week- Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra Podcast (2023-2024) Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America by Sarah Kendzior (2020) They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent by Sarah Kendzior (2022)   No One Is Disposable: Everyday Practices of Prison Abolition video series by Reina Gossett, Dean Spade, and Hope Dector (2014)   Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis (2003) Abolition Democracy: Beyond Prisons, Torture, and Empire by Angela Y. Davis (2005)   They Can't Kill Us All by Apes of The State (2023)

The Hobbits have returned home, but it has not escaped the ravages of time- we finally come to Ryn's favorite chapter in all of Lord of the Rings, The Scouring of the Shire, which definitely has absolutely no relevance to the current political climate, none whatsoever. Anyway, for no reason at all it's a really good time to get to know your neighbors and local communities.     Covers most of Book VI, Chapter VIII: The Scouring of the Shire- We had quite a bit to say, so we'll finish the chapter next episode!

Another travel episode! Ryn and Sam talk about their book club, immortality, what Legolas and Gimli get up to in the Glittering Caves of Aglarond, and compulsory heterosexuality! Join us for the last stage of the journey (again)! Covers Return of the King Book VI Chapter VI Many Partings and Chapter VII Homeward Bound

A disclaimer- we recorded this right after the election. So we are slightly... less enthusiastic than usual. If you don't want to hear us talking politics, skip to 0:09:16, but if you want to hear about a long furby and how're we're feeling, give our intro a listen!  Anyway, we talk about the downfall of Mordor, romance, power imbalance in relationships, and surprise Gandalf!  More within! Covers Book VI Chapter IV: The Field of Cormallen, and Chapter V: The Steward and the King

Here, at the end of all things, we finish our discussion of The Quest with  who's the top in Frodo and Sam's relationship, the professor's overuse of the phrase "last stage of their journey," volcanology, and our emotional attachment to cookware!    Covers Book VI Chapter III: Mount Doom

We're back! And we're in the darkest stage of our journey and not even the Phial of Galadriel can light our way out of this. Ryn & Sam talk ring corruption, the magic of friendship, orc bureaucracy, and true gay hobbit love! Covers Book VI Chapter I: The Tower of Cirith Ungol & Chapter II: The Land of Shadow If you like what you're hearing, give us a follow wherever you're listening to this and on our socials @fanapppod, send us an email at thefandomapprentice@gmail.com, and leave us a nice review!

Happy Thanksgiving to our American listeners and happy last week of November to everyone else! As you prepare your turkeys and gear up for... *ahem* interesting family conversations, know that you have us to keep you company! Topics of discussion include: the Year Without A Summer, mermaid ass, diplomacy, and Sauron's goose getting cooked! Or turkey, depending on the season. Covers Book V Chapter IX: The Last Debate and Book V Chapter X: The Black Gate Opens We are now on Bluesky! Same handle as everywhere else @fanapppod