Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones

The first time round most of the catching-up you do is retrospective. The second time round you see it happening. In our final S2 bonus episode, we do a terrible job of not looking ahead to Hexwood as we work our way through a wonderful pile of letters to discuss class, adulthood, lying DWJ fathers, the many (more) layers of Fire and Hemlock, and the real meaning of "The Master."  Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HziN-TKYX9IpH2UW9r8RSC87BtYvDVMe/view?usp=sharing]. This episode wraps up our second season, but we plan to be back in November with Lives of Christopher Chant and a guest!

"She has tremendous talent, of course, or she couldn't do it at all, but I do sometimes feel that she—well—she repeats herself. Put it like this: I think maybe Carol doesn't give herself a chance to be herself any more than she gives us."   Endless questions, out-of-control characters, silly adults and weird bad dads: this week we're discussing the playground of ideas that makes up DWJ's short fiction of the seventies and eighties.  Titles discussed include  "Carruthers" (1972), "Auntie Bea's Day Out" (1978), "The Fluffy Pink Toadstool" (1979), "The Sage of Theare" (1982), "Warlock at the Wheel" (1984), "Dragon Reserve, Home Eight" (1984), "No One" (1984), "The Plague of Peacocks" (1984), "Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream" (1986), "Enna Hittims" (1987), "The Fat Wizard" (1987), "The Green Stone," (1988), and "The Master" (1989). Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/12RPK4Z7560dpSOO5sRCvA1e4svP95t5B/view?usp=sharing]. Please note: we've postponed recording our Q&A episode for the eighties until September 25th, so if you understand what's happening in 'The Master,' please write in and tell us!

The thing we must notice is frequently identified by what is not described or told or explained. In our first Season Two bonus episode, Farah Mendlesohn -- who literally wrote the book on Diana Wynne Jones -- joins us to bring a critic and historian's eye to the first two decades of DWJ's career.  Transcript available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pUoTY4vf69pSgYCj-nTVKA7DCE_gePEF/view In our next bonus episode, we'll be covering the short stories of the seventies and eighties as collected in Unexpected Magic and Mixed Magics, including: Unexpected Magic: "Carruthers" (1972), "Auntie Bea's Day Out" (1978), "The Fluffy Pink Toadstool" (1979), "Dragon Reserve, Home Eight" (1984), "No One" (1984), "The Plague of Peacocks" (1984), "Enna Hittims" (1987), "The Fat Wizard" (1987), "The Green Stone," (1988), and "The Master" (1989) Mixed Magics: "The Sage of Theare" (1982), "Warlock at the Wheel," (1984), and "Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream" (1986) And on September 17th we record our Q&A episode for the eighties, so please send us any thoughts before then!

Twenty Century refugee equipment. Case is open to show clothing and protective mask.  A tale of one or two cities, three or four Vivians, four to fourteen badly translated old women, and at least two hundred thousand dollars' worth of butter-pie. Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uPBZeQKunxu4-0JzlBbvg61ngOuHtDe3/view?usp=sharing].  This is the last official episode of our eighties season, but once again we have a few bonus episodes up our sleeve -- we'll be recording a Q&A episode September 17th, so if you have thoughts or questions for us on the 80s please send them in before then!

Her mind was such a blank that for a second, it actually seemed to her that Howl had no faults at all. How stupid!  The fantastic Freya Marske joins us for a discussion of John Donne, fairy tales, unmusical Welshmen, and Diana Wynne Jones' first truly romantic novel. Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_vxKMaZMOg0YXnMCx6l6Mv4IX7z9316h/view?usp=sharing], and we'll be back next time to close out our season with A Tale of Time City!

She realized he had sat down on purpose near the door, and she knew, perhaps without quite understanding it, that if she ran away, it would mean he had to go back into the funeral again. She was his excuse for coming out of it, so she stayed. A man who wants to craft himself a Janet, a girl who wants to make herself a hero, and the full three hours we spend working through the powerful fictions and terrible truths that result. [NB: themes of grooming and child abuse are woven pretty inextricably through our conversation this episode. Also, it is Three Hours Long.]  Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UZqppjGkpeunU25d0_trGgv3FVyWnQ42/view?usp=sharing], and we'll be back next week for Howl's Moving Castle with another incredible guest!

I hate Mum, I hate Dad, I hate Howard and the Goon. Big brothers and bigger brothers, good words and bad infrastructure, the power of being a megalomaniac evil wizard, and the power of having parents that you actually trust. Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nxkMX4HT-YNzhRVdxNQcf4xcOlpq9yFC/view?usp=sharing]. We'll be back in two weeks with a double-length episode for Fire and Hemlock!

"He was fairly sure it made you wicked too, to be kissed by a witch." The horrors of the British boarding school, the things you learn about yourself in the men's locker room, and what the Chrestomanci series is really about (it's Chrestomanci.)  Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/12DvucdcnTSkjRGeOdGwR1PUmidvq9TTo/view?usp=sharing], and we'll be back in two weeks with Archer's Goon!

"There are no rules, only principles and natural laws."    This week we're joined by the brilliant Adrian Tchaikovsky to discuss heroes and NPCs, gods and demons and sacrificial victory, and the worst fate that can befall anyone: endless nonconsensual cricket. Transcript available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rq7yK8p_adhlQzjyvK3087hiQAV8NqLw/view?usp=sharing We'll be back in two weeks with Witch Week!

"People write stories pretending you can alter the past, but it can't be done. All you can do to the past is remember it wrong or interpret it differently." The horrors of the past, the traps of the future, and being cursed, with sisters. [NB: this is another one that deals more directly with abuse and suicidality in several forms] For more on Time of the Ghost, check out Em's Reactor article on Making the Metaphor Literal: Fantastic Reality in The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones [https://reactormag.com/making-the-metaphor-literal-fantastic-reality-in-the-time-of-the-ghost-by-diana-wynne-jones/]. Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HTEyN6S5zajHhTWZnrIxem967MwrWVT-/view?usp=sharing]. We'll be back in two weeks with The Homeward Bounders, and a guest!

"Tonino wondered how he could laugh like that at something so horrible until he remembered that he had stood himself a score of times and laughed himself sick at just the same thing."  Two households both alike in comedy, in fair Caprona where we lay our first episode for Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones, Season Two: the Eighties. Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SFpe10VNYIkoChEy9CZnEUS8h6fGct2W/view?usp=sharing], and we'll be back in two weeks with Time of the Ghost!

And as I fixed upon the down-turned face That pointed scrutiny with which we challenge The first-met stranger in the waning dusk I caught the sudden look of some dead master... Dalemark conspiracy theories, double selves, and conversations with the past: a look back at DWJ in the seventies.  Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OJWz3vEl_bmYeobn1Y9Z-9SlZNI4sLfa/view]. We're going on hiatus for a few months as we record the next season, but expect to be returning around May of 2025, where we'll be picking up again with Magicians of Caprona!

"The story is largely self explanatory, but certain obscurities in the text have been amended to avoid confusing the reader."  The power of the land, the return of the king, and the magic of finding meaning in a text.   Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u-a8E5GtwFM603SDXq8Q8TMyeri5nDMT/view?usp=sharing]. Spellcoats was the last book of the season, so no reading for next week, but next week we'll be recording a look back at the seventies as a whole -- if you have questions or topics you'd like us to discuss, feel free to send them to us at eightdaysofdiana@gmail.com. Thanks again for listening along with us!

"Mitt was not sure he knew what a free soul was – it never occurred to him that his mother had no idea either – but he thought it was a splendid thing to be." Revolution, righteous anger, gods and prophecy and the most common name in Holand.   Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZPP-mRpqJN2bVLbFvgH9mbDYMzwS0Gd6/view?usp=sharing]. Next week we'll be finishing out our first season with Spellcoats!

"God bless her dear little sugar-coated shining soul."  The English class system, American science fiction, and the Problem of Gwendolen.  [please again pardon our audio this week as we dealt with travel and microphone issues] Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/192M12blXBcIJdV-9LLMpVrXaQko63Dx5/view], and week we'll be doing Drowned Ammet!

"'But why should a few people suffer a lot,' he said, 'so that a lot of people shouldn't suffer at all?'" Thwarted tragedy, the useful myth of Christianity, and sad teen trios that transcend racism.  Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LXA7BhwNeoYvX7J1mncWj1jYOGXNxOtq/view?usp=sharing], and next week we'll be doing Charmed Life!

"I sing for Osfameron, I move in more than one world."   The power of art, the divided self, and Walemark. Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O49QCtSgh5WseoB3YedkiDTy2oiQKzLo/view?usp=drive_link]. Next week will be a mid-season break, but we'll be back in two weeks with Power of Three!

"Soon only Sirius was scratching and tearing at the dark, and he only kept on because he had a dim notion that anything was better than cold nothingness."  Politics, parenting, sex and death. [NB: We had a special very small guest on this one, so if you hear the occasional kick or wail against the infinite difficulty of being alive, just remember: it's thematic!] Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/19m0thmi3LAONZnCkO7h6W300A3gjymYZ/view?usp=sharing]. Next week we will be discussing Cart and Cwidder!

'He could only think of one solution: "Should have been me to hit you, I suppose. I will if you like."'   Revenge, violence, and several attempted murders [yakety sax].  (tw: it's a DWJ but this one has more than the usual amount of discussion of child abuse) Transcript available here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XdA-Zn4CM7DI48ltVmNPOQHcMtia2FCC/view?usp=sharing]. Next week we will be discussing Dogsbody! Also, there were some technical issues resulting in somewhat messy audio for both this one and the next one, we beg your patience on these early episodes.

"Wouldn't you say it was worth it to be really happy for a while, even if you knew you were going to end up sad ever after? Loki, Brunhilde, and the archetypal Diana Wynne Jones Cricket Boy.  (Transcript available here.) [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fcbV8W7GMS_us0_UzQSUFGgh0HGRnf6r/view?usp=sharing]