Fiction Fans: We Read Books and Other Words Too

Join two casual readers as they completely ignore their academic backgrounds and talk about the books they loved, and sometimes the ones they didn’t. Includes segments like “Journey to the Center of the Discworld,” “Words are Weird,” and “Pet Peeves.” Ever wonder why someone would read bad fanfiction? They talk about that too.

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

Your hosts read A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett. They talk about young witches, metaphors for puberty, and theoretical nostalgia. They also discuss how this Tiffany Aching YA novel fits in to the larger Discworld series. Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

05-01
37:33

Bonus: Genre Bending Part 2, with Krystle & Taylor

Your hosts are joined by author Krystle Matar and Taylor from Maed Between the Pages for a follow up conversation about genre and everyone's weird emotions about them. They wonder how much kissing makes Fantasty Romantasy, the difference between 'feel good' and 'cozy,' and what drives us to define the things we love. You can find the rest of this episode on our PatreonFind part 1 of this conversation with Krystle on the livestream from TBRcon2024Find more from Krystle and TaylorThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

04-29
36:29

Author Interview: The Redemption of Morgan Bright by Chris Panatier

Your hosts are joined by Chris Panatier to cover his latest novel, "The Redemption of Morgan Bright." They talk about maintaining mystery in a past tense 1st person POV, suspect character motives, and incredible marketing websites. They also discuss the allure of asylum stories, weaponized "healthcare," and how distressingly close to reality this horror scenario is.https://welcometohollyhock.com/Find more from Chris here:https://chrispanatier.com/Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

04-24
59:42

The Selected Works of Audre Lorde

For national poetry month, your hosts discuss the Selected Works of Audre Lorde, edited by Roxane Gay. They talk about the autobiographical nature of poetry, how the collection was organized, and Lorde's occasionally depressing ability to predict the future. This episode also features a Pet Peeve segment.Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

04-17
31:00

Author Interview: Noise Floor by Andrew Cartmel

Your hosts are joined by Andrew Cartmel to talk about "Noise Floor," the most recent addition to his Vinyl Detective series. They discuss keeping an ongoing series fresh, managing overlapping storylines, and poly relationship dynamics. They also go over the inherent (or not so much) personality traits of musical genres, and the mystery surrounding Princess Seitan.Find more from Andrew:https://venusianfrogbroth.blogspot.com/https://medwayprideradio.co.uk/show/the-vinyl-detective-show/https://twitter.com/andrewcartmel?lang=enFind us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

04-10
52:23

Sidle Creek by Jolene McIlwain

This week your hosts discuss Sidle Creek, a very good but also extremely sad collection of short stories taking place in Appalachia. They talk about content warnings (many), privilege (theirs) and heartbreak (lots). They also debate genre for a bit, and argue about whether a sense of horror makes a story Horror.Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

04-03
35:40

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

Your hosts continue their journey to center of the Discworld with Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett. They discuss performative gender, unexpected allies, and supportive camraderie. They also talk about a character's near miss with fatphobia, underexplored backstories, and overexplored hair. This episode contains a hat-centric words are weird.Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

03-27
47:59

Interview: Translations with Nevena Andrić

Your hosts had the opportunity to chat with Nevena Andrić, who works as a translator at one of the biggest Serbian publishing houses. They discuss the joys of translating beloved works like Night Watch from Discworld and The Song of Achilles. They also talk about the different challenges of translating fantasy vs scifi vs nonfiction, works with nonbinary characters and how languages incorporate gender in disparate ways, and how much wine it takes to translate Yeats.See the list of works that Nevena has translated into Serbian: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/6456299.Nevena_Andri_ Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

03-20
31:21

Author Interview: The Siege of Burning Grass and The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed

Your hosts are joined by Premee Mohamed to talk about her novella The Butcher of the Forest and her novel The Siege of Burning Grass. They discuss moral ambiguity, relatable antagonists, and the horrors of war. They also bring up how much they want to give Alefret a hug, even if it wouldn't actually solve any of his problems.Find more from Premee:https://www.premeemohamed.com/ https://bsky.app/profile/premeemohamed.comhttps://twitter.com/premeesaurusFind us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

03-13
53:41

Author Interview: Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. Gibson

Your hosts enter the Fungalverse as they speak with Adrian M. Gibson about his upcoming novel "Mushroom Blues." This episode gives a sneak peek of the fungalpunk detective novel that features an older female main character, noir inspiration, and cultural fusions. They discuss Adrian's writing process, literary influences, and most of all, mushrooms.Find more from Adrianhttps://adrianmgibson.com/https://twitter.com/adrianmgibson Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

03-06
54:33

Author Interview: The Bone Roots by Gabriela Houston

Your hosts are joined by Gabriela Houston to talk about her novel The Bone Roots. They discuss beauty bias in fantasy, older female protagonists, and portrayals of healthy relationships. They also talk about Polish mythology, and the lengths people will go to to protect the people they love.More from Gabriela:https://www.gabrielahouston.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@TheGabrielaHoustonProject/featuredhttps://twitter.com/GabrielaHouston Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

02-28
52:09

TBRCon 2024 Fiction Fans LIVE: Genre Bending with Krystle Matar

This was originally streamed live during TBRCon 2024Your hosts were joined by author Krystle Matar to talk about genre conventions, definitions, and rule breaking. They discuss genre terms used for marketing vs reviews. Lilly introduces a REVOLUTIONARY 3 Pillar Theory for categorizing works and genres. They play a quick round of Shoot, Screw, or Marry that totally makes sense trust me.Find more from Krystlehttps://twitter.com/KrystleMatarhttps://www.krystlematar.com/Watch the VOD of the original live stream:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb6a51s6C6s&t=539s

02-23
01:34:34

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

Your hosts discuss The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. They compare it and its main character to The Amazing Maurice, the first YA Discworld novel. Tiffany Aching proves to be the podcast fav. They debate what qualities a book must have to be considered "Discworld" (and in doing so they might accidentally turn "Discworld" into a genre). Witches are evaluated, the Wee Free Men are enjoyed.Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

02-21
40:32

Author Interview: Big Demon Energy by Deborah Wilde

Your hosts speak with author Deborah Wilde about her newest urban fantasy novel, Big Demon Energy. The conversation ranged from Jewish culture to vampire mythology to three dimensional hunky love interests (with some detours into knitting, fantastical places on our earth, and complex mother figures)Find more from Deborah herehttps://deborahwilde.com/https://www.instagram.com/wildeauthor/https://www.tiktok.com/@deborahwildeauthorFind us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”- Scott Buckley for the use of “Twilight Echo”- Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod

02-14
39:31

Author Interview: A Drowned Kingdom by P.L. Stuart

Your hosts are joined by P.L. Stuart to talk about A Drowned Kingdom, the first book in his epic fantasy The Drowned Kingdom series. They talk about the pace of worldbuilding, unlikeable main characters, and unreliable points of view.Find more from P.L. Stuarthttps://twitter.com/plstuartwriteshttps://www.plstuart.com/Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

02-07
48:19

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett, feat. Kat Day

Dr Kat Day joins your hosts to talk about Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. They discuss where the novel fits into The City Watch subseries and Discworld as a whole. They somehow manage to agree to disagree about Carrot. There’s conversation about anti heroes, lampshades, and sexy lamps (some more metaphorical than others). This episode features a semi-British Words are Weird.Find more from Kat:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2222860/14304335-shining-moon-episode-25-when-the-fic-is-quick-ihttps://pseudopod.org/https://twitter.com/chronicleflaskFind us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

01-31
01:20:17

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

This week your hosts discuss Poor Things by Alasdair Gray. Lilly only compares it to the movie a few times. They talk about the book's "found manuscript" framing device, satirizing gothic novels, and sex positivity in fictional victorian Glasgow. They also use the word "Frankenstein" as an adjective to what is hopefully a hilarious degree. Instead of an actual Words are Weird segment, they do some off the cuff word root research.Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

01-24
40:27

Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf

Your hosts discuss Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf. They talk about tragedy, self sabotage, and the worth of a person's life. The book doesn't actually feel that sad though, they swear. Lilly also has beef with the word quash in a mini Words are Weird segment.Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”- Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeodLicensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

01-17
48:22

Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk

Your hosts absolutely loved the film noir, lesbian novella Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk, which you can tell by how distracted they get and how much they argue over vaguely related topics. They throw out a few comparisons, some more justified than others. Your hosts also discuss how expectations can change how readers feel about an ending (and then argue over their personal emotions surrounding the ending of this book).Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

01-10
48:14

2023: Year in Review

Your hosts talk about the year including some changes to the podcast, reading metrics, and good old fashioned nostalgia. They give out some superlatives, like "best trash villain" and "best debut novel," both of which were, unfortunately, rigged.Find us on discord: https://discord.gg/dpNHTWVu6b or support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fictionfanspodThanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

01-03
01:05:08

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