Pagenerd

Wild Dark Shore is the kind of book that makes you openly weep on the subway. Charlotte McConaghy drops us onto a remote, storm-battered island filled with seals, secrets, and a family holding on a little too tightly to both. In this episode the Pagenerds attempt to unpack it and emotionally survive it, as the story unfolds into something about grief, survival, and what we owe each other at the end of the world. Sarah sobbed into the book. Full, page-wrecking sobs. She also sobbed in the episode, and at one point almost fought Rick, which feels on theme. It’s haunting, tense, and deeply tender. You might finish it and call someone you love. Or start a fight. Honestly, both feel right. Pagenerd is Sarah Stockdale, Tommy Guy, Richard Vieweg and Andrew Corway. Jay Cockburn is the producer. New episodes launch every two weeks.  You can reach the nerds at Pagenerdhq@gmail.com — tell us about your local library or favourite indie book store!

Murderbot is the patron saint of “please stop talking to me”, and we love that for it. The pagenerds dive into All Systems Red by Martha Wells and the deeply relatable life of Murderbot— an anxious, rogue security android that saves humans mostly so it can get back to watching its shows. They talk about corporate dystopias, introversion, androgynous (hot) Alexander Skarsgard, and why this novella punches way above its weight.  Tommy, Rick, and Andrew are holding down the fort this week while Sarah is in France, likely overconsuming funky cheese. She’ll be back in two weeks, as will the rest of us. We love you, nerds, thank you so much for listening! Pagenerd is Sarah Stockdale, Tommy Guy, Richard Vieweg and Andrew Corway. Jay Cockburn is the producer. New episodes launch every two weeks.  You can reach the nerds at Pagenerdhq@gmail.com — tell us about your local library or favourite indie book store!

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is often called the first science fiction novel for good reason. The problematic goth queen was only 18 when she wrote this novel at a gloomy lakehouse in Switzerland in 1816, but its lessons about scientific hubris and themes of parental abandonment and guilt are forever relevant. Shelley’s prose remains haunting and gorgeous, and her social circle is one of history’s greatest blunt rotations. The Pagenerds take us back to the early 19th Century and look at how Frankenstein and his monster emerged from cutting edge science of the time and look at the real Victor Frankenstein — an actual scientist who actually pumped electricity through severed limbs and heads to make them move.  Pagenerd is Sarah Stockdale, Tommy Guy, Richard Vieweg and Andrew Corway. Jay Cockburn is the producer. New episodes launch every two weeks.  You can reach the nerds at Pagenerdhq@gmail.com — tell us about your local library or favourite indie book store!

Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility is an elegantly told time travel mystery that takes us from the dark and beautiful woods of Vancouver Island to a dilapidated old city on the Moon — a lunar Toledo, according to Pagenerd Tommy. The Pagenerds follow some less-than-competent time detectives across eras and try to explain how time travel actually works using dinosaurs, toilets and movies Tommy’s grandma wouldn’t let him watch because of nipples.  Pagenerd is Sarah Stockdale, Tommy Guy, Richard Vieweg and Andrew Corway. Jay Cockburn is the producer. New episodes launch every two weeks.  You can reach the nerds at Pagenerdhq@gmail.com — tell us about your local library or favourite indie book store!

Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter is like a sci-fi thriller version of Sliding Doors if you needed a basic understanding of quantum mechanics to watch Sliding Doors. The novel asks “what if in a different timeline there’s a version of you that didn’t have a kid, and instead became a famous scientist?”, and “what if you got in a big fight with all the other versions of you?”   Pagenerd Sarah read this book when she was deciding whether to have a kid, but she won’t tell us how many other Sarahs she defeated in single combat. Read along with us and see if you end up as a parent, or whether you decide to try fighting your evil twin from another universe!   Pagenerd is Sarah Stockdale, Tommy Guy, Richard Vieweg and Andrew Corway. Jay Cockburn is the producer. New episodes launch every two weeks.  You can reach the nerds at Pagenerdhq@gmail.com — tell us about your local library or favourite indie book store!

If you like movies with hot basic boys doing science magic then you’ll love Andy Weir. The Martian had Matt Damon as Mark Watney and now his next novel, Project Hail Mary is coming out as a movie starring Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace. Join the Pagenerds on our spoiler heavy adventure into stinky spaceships with dog-sized spiders (crabs?) as we figure out whether Ryland Grace could actually save Earth, or whether he would have just accidentally boiled the oceans instead.   Pagenerd is Sarah Stockdale, Tommy Guy, Richard Vieweg and Andrew Corway. Jay Cockburn is the producer. New episodes launch every two weeks.  You can reach the nerds at Pagenerdhq@gmail.com — tell us about your local library or favourite indie book store!

Pagenerd is a sci-fi book club for people who suck at book clubs. You can read along if you want, but we’ll tell you what happens and have some fun figuring out the science, plot and characters along the way. In each episode we pick a sci-fi novel — current or classic — and explore its world and characters, discussing what it would be like to exist in that novel and how well it's realised on the page. Pagenerd is Sarah Stockdale, Tommy Guy, Richard Vieweg and Andrew Corway. Jay Cockburn is the producer. Pagenerd is Sarah Stockdale, Tommy Guy, Richard Vieweg and Andrew Corway. Jay Cockburn is the producer. New episodes launch every two weeks.    You can reach the nerds at Pagenerdhq@gmail.com — tell us about your local library or favourite indie book store!