Appendix N Book Club
Jeff Goad, Ngo Vinh-Hoi, and special guests
Jeff, Hoi, and a rotating roster of special guests discuss the adventure, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and weird fiction that inspires our gaming
James Enge's "Blood of Ambrose" with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss James Enge's "Blood of Ambrose", obscure words from classic languages, Scooby Doo episodes, slowing down for character development, The Book of the New Sun books, magic from alchemy, flying horses, world maps, DCC spell corruption, blood that catches fire, other notable works by the author, trial and error, and much more!
Jan 29, • 57:58
H. Rider Haggard's "She" with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss H. Rider Haggard's "She", the smell of the flame, Haggard's other works, "the things dudes won't do for a hottie", the city of Cambridge, the good earthy feminine logic, being torn between two ill-fated women, the lost race genre, the tombs of an ancient civilization, quaint local customs, being unalive (instead of undead), democracies and tyrants, and much more!
Dec 31, 2024 • 58:54
Charles R. Saunders's "The Quest for Cush"
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Charles R. Saunders's "The Quest for Cush", the Swahili glossary, the shame of the King County Library system, fiction as gaming supplements, inversions of traditional sword and sorcery, Burroughs's Mythic Africa, the Mary Sue problem, Greeks in Egypt, a dungeon under quicksand, responsible and dilligent city guards, Imaro as a demigod,, and much more!
Nov 25, 2024 • 59:04
Edgar Rice Burroughs's "The Gods of Mars" with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Edgar Rice Burroughs's "The Gods of Mars", John Carter in a blond wig, repetitiveness in Edgar Rice Burroughs's works, French words, female characters' screen time, the Tree of Life, fainting characters, early examples of megadungeons, helpful ghosts, constantly escalating tension and perils, authors inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs, wish-fullfillment protagonists, and much more!
Nov 4, 2024 • 1:01:51
Dan Simmons's "Hyperion” with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Dan Simmons's "Hyperion”, listening to audio books at work, Vaults of Vaarn, prescient fiction, choosing whether or not to continue on with fiction series, the Dying Earth, ambiguous endings, failed attempts at humor, the author's current politics, chase scenes, Shadowdark, roasting bestsellers, reading books outside of our comfort zone, plans for the future of the show, and much more!
Sep 30, 2024 • 1:09:45
Episode 146 – Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s "A Canticle for Leibowitz” with our Patron Book Club
This episode is dedicated to Rick Byrne. Please consider sending a gift to support Leukemia research at UCSF: UCSF Foundation, PO Box 45339, San Francisco, CA 94145 or make a gift online at makeagift.ucsf.edu. Please be sure to note that the gift is in memory of Rick Byrne to support the Leukemia research of Dr. Neil Dunivan.
Jan 29, 2024 • 1:10:40
Episode 145 – Michael Moorcock's "The Mad God's Amulet” with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Michael Moorcock's "The Mad God's Amulet, Michael Moorcock's love of arcane texts, action scenes, hyperviolence and gore, following expectations, whimsical supporting characters, battles over land and sea, reskinning monsters for science-fantasy, a device that can unlock any lock, the Devil's Rejects, our friend Rick Byrne, and much more!
Jan 14, 2024 • 59:36
Episode 144 – Gustave Flaubert's "Salammbô” with special guest Robert Poyton
Robert Poyton joins us to discuss Gustave Flaubert's "Salammbô”, October horror films, the etymology of Hygaxian words, Howardian prose, varied treasures, the French "oh là là", the literary influences of Clark Ashton Smith, the diversity of intersecting cultures in North Africa, African nations, horse nomads, cult generators, unearthly treasure hoards, and much more!
Jan 1, 2024 • 58:38
Episode 143 – Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” with special guest Tim Mendees
Tim Mendees joins us to discuss Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”, the dangers of massive hardbacks, literary rabbit holes, the Dorset dialect, cursing those who have wronged us, classist hypocrits, the couragousness that comes with conviction, interdimensional travel through reflective surfaces, interesting and flavorful spells, failing sanity rolls, faerie rewards, and much more!
Dec 18, 2023 • 58:01
Episode 142 – Robert Asprin's "Thieves' World" with special guest Brian Yaksha
Brian Yaksha joins us to discuss Robert Asprin's "Thieves' World", the give and take of what you're going to give to the audience, fantasy shared worlds, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar, Aragorn's tax plan, Machiavelli, passing off as older for added credibility, rotating GMs, bespoke stat blocks, power levels, player character points of entry, random tables, and much more!
Sep 4, 2023 • 59:38
Episode 141 – Edgar Rice Burroughs's "A Princess of Mars" with special guest Goran Gligovic
Goran Gligovic joins us to discuss Edgar Rice Burroughs's "A Princess of Mars", Asterix and Obelix, the Library of Wonder, Tarzan, being 30 for as long as you can remember, main characters as blank canvases, Robert E. Howard, the Fighting Man class in OD&D, when to embrace realism and when to eschew it, Frank Frazetta's action scenes, gargoyles taking a piss, a brightly dressed Elric, and much more!
Aug 7, 2023 • 58:32
Episode 140 – Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three" with special guest Becky Annison
Becky Annison joins us to discuss Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three", the Dungeons and Dragons movie, dwarven guides, Welsh myth, characters with firm personality hooks, spaghetti westerns, the Black Cauldron, clear linear mission paths, giving each character their moment, changing the stakes of successes, horror mechanics, destroying books or cards for art, and much more!
Jul 10, 2023 • 59:08
Episode 138 – Jack Vance's "Cugel's Saga" with special guest Brad Kerr
Brad Kerr joins us to discuss Jack Vance's "Cugel's Saga", virtual tabletops, Brom, pompous vocabulary, whimsical characters, world-class worldbuilding, being nickel-and-dimed by the boss, moving from one grift to the next, interesting mounts, making monsters more mysterious, D&D 4E, being your own boss, and much more!
Jun 12, 2023 • 58:53
Episode 138 – George MacDonald's "Phantastes" with special guest Conner Habib
Conner Habib joins us to discuss George MacDonald's "Phantastes", D&D's influence on a young person's imagination, Irish mythology, the art of Gervasio Gallardo, a focus on environment over character, main characters as blank slates, living in a perpetual state of wonder, how people are changed by their history of trauma, readers seeking the consequences of character actions, the woods as both a singular living entity and a collection of entities, the making of meaning after a story is finished,
May 14, 2023 • 59:52
Patron Book Club 137 – William Gibson's "Neuromancer" with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss William Gibson's "Neuromancer", hypnogogic images, heists with scifi crap on top, retrofuturism, slow-moving death, the Velvet Underground, Dan Brown novels, splitting the party, simstims, genetic engineering in RPGs, cyperpunk RPGs, sentient AIs, and much more!
Apr 17, 2023 • 59:04
Episode 137 – William Gibson's "Neuromancer" with special guest Nathaniel Webb
Nathaniel Webb joins us to discuss William Gibson's "Neuromancer", D&D Next playtests, self-contained cities in a building, people writing fiction written by Chat-GPT, action/heist stories, ninjas and Rastafarians, getting the heist team together, the hacker's role in a cyberpunk game, Tom Clancy novels, quick dramatic actions, player-facing tools, cozy fantasy, and much more!
Apr 3, 2023 • 59:13
Episode 136 – Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" with special guest Yochai Gal
Yochai Gal joins us to discuss Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", Ursula K. LeGuin, Cairn's influences, Book of the New Sun, the Blade Runner movie, androids and empathy, what makes a belief system valid, Philip K. Dick's less approachable works, sex as a survival strategy, current concerns about AI, cyberpunk LARPs, Jack Vance, and much more!
Mar 20, 2023 • 58:25
Episode 135 – Caroline Stevermer's "A College of Magics" with special guest Katrin Dirim
Katrin Dirim joins us to discuss Caroline Stevermer's "A College of Magics", the diverse gaming scene in Turkey, YA book covers, politically correct highwaymen, the price that magic extracts, inevitable Harry Potter comparisons, the changing experiences of college students, playing the outsider, Dungeon Crawl Classics luck checks, players who struggle stepping into the spotlight, hat bombs, and much more!
Mar 6, 2023 • 55:42
Patron Book Club 134 – Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road" with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road", miniature wargaming, doing "a Jeff" by listening to the audiobook, Robert E. Howard's Middle Eastern adventures, melancholy guys dressed in black, the role of the animals in the story, surviving in a ruined temple, dual power structures, chloroform mini-games, five-page backstories, being rewarded in-game for bringing in aspects of your character, hitting Wikipedia hard, and much more!
Feb 20, 2023 • 1:00:31
Episode 133 – Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road" with special guest Bill Gosline
Bill Gosline joins us to discuss Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road", reading books written for adults as kids, Deities & Demigods as Appendix N, elephant-related words, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay", smug afterwords, Ren faire troupes, world-building in epic fantasy, world-building around the characters, historical fiction, when magic is not a technology, the future demise of Twitter, and much more!
Feb 6, 2023 • 59:08
Episode 133 – Poul Anderson's "Operation Chaos” with special guest Andy from Breakfast in the Ruins
Andy from Breakfast in the Ruins joins us to discuss Poul Anderson's "Operation Chaos”, homemade ginger beer, Moorcock's influence on the fantasy genre, frothing latter-day conspiracy theorist wet dreams, the limitations of the word lycanthropy, main characters who suck, heroes defending the military industrial complex, Anderson's influence on Moorcock, Van Helsing the Cleric, werewolves as player characters, Gygaxian naturalism, statting up Christian mythology, and much more!
Jan 23, 2023 • 59:34
Episode 132 – Scott Oden's "A Gathering of Ravens" with special guest Rick Byrne
Rick Byrne joins us to discuss Scott Oden's "A Gathering of Ravens", demons in Norse mythology, purging darkness with creativity, faction play, the various Viking lands, grim dark, authentic Irish representation, giving monsters meaning, Orc morality, periods of transition, Conan, the number 42, and much more!
Jan 9, 2023 • 58:31
Episode 131 – P. Djèlí Clark's "A Master of Djinn" with special guest Maxwell Lander
Maxwell Lander joins us to discuss P. Djèlí Clark's "A Master of Djinn", programming VR games, conversational RPGs, Audible audiobooks, villains plotting since childhood, the steampunk literary genre, when men write women, antisocial characters, Tunnel Goons, Shadowrun, freaky angels, anti-colonial violence, and much more!
Dec 26, 2022 • 59:35
Patron Book Club 130 – Arkady & Boris Strugatsky's "Hard to Be a God" with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Arkady & Boris Strugatsky's "Hard to Be a God”, impecunious dons, Brave New World, the Soviet Union in the 1960s, de-Stalinization, going straight to feudalism to fascism, the stench of the 18th century, saving artists to advance society, the great expansion of man, the collaboration between criminals and reactionary religious clashes to create facism, the 2007 video game adaptation, The Worm Ouroboros, and much more!
Dec 12, 2022 • 1:00:18
Episode 130 – Arkady & Boris Strugatsky's "Hard to Be a God" with special guest Aaron King
Aaron King joins us to discuss Arkady & Boris Strugatsky's "Hard to Be a God”, West Marches-style gaming, fantasy bestiaries, impecunious dons, astronauts in the middle ages, the character arcs of doomed nobles, the inherent tension that exists from generation to generation, keeping each other safe in the dirt, playing with Barbies, Warhammer 40K, characters using their imagination to see their future, our patron book clubs, and much more!
Nov 28, 2022 • 59:17
Episode 129 – Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Farthest Shore" with special guest Joshua Phillip Johnson
Joshua Phillip Johnson joins us to discuss Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Farthest Shore", elves named Josh, media being smarter than us, Audible audiobooks, hanging in Hort Town, magic being leached from the world, ideas of power and kingship, the importance of mentorship, journeying from the quiet places to the places where stuff happens, adult themes in YA lit, warriors' powers being looked at as magic, the reason for the season, and much more!
Nov 14, 2022 • 1:00:00
Episode 128 – Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere” with special guest Jim Hall
Jim Hall joins us to discuss Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere”, art school, crunchy combat, time loops, manic pixie dream girls, the Tony Blair-era of the UK, addressing audience needs, ideas for the sequel, using the Floating Market in an Underdark campaign, journeying into the underworld, D&D as a combat game, his monthly zine, and much more!
Oct 30, 2022 • 59:43
Patron Book Club 127 – Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror" with our Patron Book Club (Part 2)
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror", art pull-outs in paperbacks, the de Camp vs the Karl Edward Wagner introductions, sword and sorcery tropes, Conan's Greatest Hits, Shakespearean battles, Conan in disguise as a headsman, wanting to spend more time in Stygia, the dangers on the left path, mummy tour guides, smaller villains, August Derleth's landscapes, Savage Worlds RPG, The Tower of the Elephant, and much more!
Oct 17, 2022 • 1:07:24
Patron Book Club 127 – Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror" with our Patron Book Club (Part 1)
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror", the terrible glue on Lancer paperbacks, Howard's attempts to reach the English audience, the reach of Weird Tales Magazine, Conan's anti-colonialist stance, Howard's horror writing, de Camp's editing, vampires, evil priests, killer illusions, the Hyborian Age as a living and breathing world, Call of Cthulhu RPG for sword and sorcery, and much more!
Oct 3, 2022 • 58:49
Episode 127 – Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror” with special guest Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson joins us to discuss Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror”, artists to draw visual inspiration from, de Camp's editorial choices, the rabbit hole of research involved in writing historical fiction, The People of the Black Circle, 10,000 year old hotties, Howard's attitudes toward civilization, The Whole Wide World, Mystara, A Song of Ice and Fire, evil temples packed with unspeakable horrors, Raymond Chandler, and much more!
Sep 19, 2022 • 59:29
Episode 126 – William Hope Hodgson's "Carnacki the Ghost-Finder” w/ special guest James Mendez Hodes
James Mendez Hodes joins us to discuss William Hope Hodgson's "Carnacki the Ghost-Finder”, Sonic the Hedgehog fandom, changing conversations around cultural appropriation, Harlem detectives, Greek translations, disembodied limbs, the journey down the magical hog hole, Arthur Conan Doyle stories, the Trail of Cthulhu RPG, avoiding stereotypes when playing races other than your own, GMs falling asleep at the table, offers to help with high school projects, and much more!
Sep 5, 2022 • 59:16
Episode 125 – Michael Shea's "A Quest for Simbilis” with special guest Jason Cordova
Jason Cordova joins us to discuss Michael Shea's "A Quest for Simbilis”, Powered by the Apocalypse games, the correct pronunciation of Cugel, gothic horror, the publishing world in the 1970s, Lovecraftian horror fiction, high stakes games of strip poker, moving from absurdity to horror in an instant, crunchier traditional game systems, comedic hijinks, high fantasy vs sword and sorcery, fantasy fiction in the 80s and 90s, and much more!
Aug 22, 2022 • 59:07
Episode 124 – Michael Moorcock's "The Knight of the Swords” with special guest Stefan Surratt
Stefan Surratt joins us to discuss Michael Moorcock's "The Knight of the Swords”, other aspects of worldbuilding, uncaring beings of great power, loss of innocence, fantasy genocides, the Dresden bombings, the Vadaugh as elves, Daniel J. Bishop magic items, gods with cool and specific spheres of influence, the Lords of Law, our Patreon, and much more!
Aug 8, 2022 • 55:04
Episode 123 – Fritz Leiber's "The Knight and Knave of Swords" with special guest Ahimsa Kerp
Ahimsa Kerp joins us to discuss Fritz Leiber's "The Knight and Knave of Swords", Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser in Riverside, ooh naughty sexy times, sex-obsessed adventurers, the city of Lankhmar, transgressive swords and sorcery, aging characters in fantasy RPGs, moon priestesses, pushing luck mechanics, having identifiably unique cultures, mythic Greece, and much more!
Jul 24, 2022 • 53:43
Episode 122 – E.R. Eddison's "The Worm Ouroboros” with special guest Caroline Stevermer
Caroline Stevermer joins us to discuss E.R. Eddison's "The Worm Ouroboros”, depictions of Elizabethan masculinity, characters that don't have parents, archaic language, excerpts from Western European literature, understanding characters through their deeds, a woman's virtue measured by her maidenhood, the passage of time in Tolkien's work, the taming the savages trope, the changing landscape of contemporary academia, San Francisco in 1906, and much more!
Jul 11, 2022 • 59:44
Patron Book Club 121 – N.K. Jemisin's "The Fifth Season” with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss N.K. Jemisin's "The Fifth Season”, AD&D's obsession with gem names, the tonal resonances between this book and Octavia E. Butler’s “Fledgling”, the missing moon, savior narratives, sci-fi slang traditions, a melonated future, meta vs in-text author motivations, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, using Numenera for the Broken Earth setting, being surrounded by superheroes, systemic abuse in youth institutions, and much more!
Jun 27, 2022 • 1:00:02
Episode 121 – N.K. Jemisin's "The Fifth Season” with special guest Tanya DePass
Tanya DePass joins us to discuss N.K. Jemisin's "The Fifth Season”, Black people cosplaying as White characters, the formation of mountain ranges, effective plot twists, how a Black woman reading a Black woman author might have resonances other people may not, finding new meaning in a text by returning to a piece of fiction later in life, using complex morality in worldbuilding, characters together by necessity rather than being in an adventuring party, Green Ronin RPG systems, how game design i
Jun 13, 2022 • 58:45
Episode 120 – Peter S. Beagle's "The Last Unicorn” with special guest Brian Cortijo
Brian Cortijo joins us to discuss Peter S. Beagle's "The Last Unicorn”, how wars affect settings, irredeemably evil Drow and Orcs, splitting a wizard's gizzard, the melancholy themes of the film and the books, heroics as showmanship, character agency and the consequence of choice, the abundance of printed material available about the Forgotten Realms, having a mythical creature in your adventuring party, games that are more "story forward", game systems and their reliance on dependability, weepi
May 30, 2022 • 1:00:00
Episode 119 – Octavia E. Butler’s “Fledgling” with special guest Tim Hutchings
Tim Hutchings joins us to discuss Octavia E. Butler's "Fledgling", modern D&D-insired art, the effect of slavery on language, the book's use of childhood sexuality, vampire fiction of the early 2000s, vampire society, old racist vampires, Thousand Year Old Vampire, power dynamics between vampires and their symbionts, explaining monster lore as a tool for world building, blueberry pies, being terrible at social media, and much more!
May 15, 2022 • 59:06
Episode 118 – Peter Bebergal's "Appendix N” with special guest Ian McGarty
Ian McGarty joins us to discuss Peter Bebergal's "Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons & Dragons”, games publishing, lifting magic items from fiction, the Swords Against Darkness anthologies, skeletal vampires, Tanith Lee's wild fiction, Elric and Moonglum, the old school D&D thief class, wanting to die a warrior's death, the Vivimancer class, necromancer PCs, crisp mountain air, and much more!
May 1, 2022 • 59:03
Episode 117 – Clark Ashton Smith's "The End of the Story" with special guest Matt King
Matt King joins us to discuss Clark Ashton Smith's "The End of the Story: The Collected Fantasies, Vol. 1", Italian horror films, Nightshade Press, the Lin Carter anthologies, all the things CAS wants to have sex with, lamias, pulp magazines, cultivating a sense of dread, highways becoming footpaths, Gygax's theoretical stance on CAS, Gary Con, and much more!
Apr 18, 2022 • 57:42
Episode 116 – Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Tombs of Atuan" with special guest Noora Rose
Noora Rose joins us to discuss Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Tombs of Atuan", game masters as game designers, non-white people writing fantasy and sci-fi, the trauma of forced identities, sex and intimacy, Le Guin's masterful character development, reclaiming identities, creating barriers with purple prose, cast-and-forget spellcasting, fantasy whodunits, the rising costs of paper, and much more!
Apr 4, 2022 • 59:51
Episode 115 – Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein” with special guest Karlo Yeager Rodríguez
Karlo Yeager Rodríguez joins us to discuss Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein”, Vampire LARPing, the 1818 vs 1831 texts, Victor Frankenstein as a narrator, Mary Shelley's commentary on the fate of Native Americans, Frankenstein's monster as a metaphor for queer angst, Victor Frankenstein as Lucifer falling from grace, the Bride of Frankenstein, Wraith: The Oblivion, the claim of Frankenstein as the first work of science fiction, and much more!
Mar 21, 2022 • 59:11
Episode 114 – Tim Powers's "Declare” with special guest Pete Johannsen
Pete Johannsen joins us to discuss Tim Powers's "Declare”, using amber beads as tokens, books found on your doorstep, the language and pace of spy novels, the djinn as fallen angels, power as a human motivator, Rube Goldberg occultism, the U.S. vs the Soviet Union, Torg RPG, djinn as ancient vampires, exploring Christian mythology in fiction and gaming, and much more!
Mar 7, 2022 • 57:21
Episode 113 – Michael Moorcock's "The Jewel in the Skull” with special guest Menion (AKA Rob)
Menion (AKA Rob) joins us to discuss Michael Moorcock's "The Jewel in the Skull”, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the influence of Burroughs on Moorcock, the initial emptiness and passivity of Hawkmoon, character motivation, mixing scifi and fantasy, characters being swept up in the current of world events, old-school versus new-school ways of thinking about gaming, what we lose when gaming online, runes as cosmic forces in RuneQuest, the gaming scene in Japan, and much more!
Feb 21, 2022 • 58:36
Episode 112 – William Hope Hodgson's "The House on the Borderland” with special guest Lucas Zellars
Lucas Zellars joins us to discuss William Hope Hodgson's "The House on the Borderland”, natural history as a science, out of body experiences, b-movie monsters, horse pistols, geological time, unreliability injected into the fiction, cosmic pigs, Super Mario Bros., and D&D as Capitalism: The Game or Colonialism: The Game, and much more!
Feb 7, 2022 • 58:20
Episode 111 – Glen Cook's "The Black Company” with special guest Jason Lutes
Jason Lutes joins us to discuss Glen Cook's "The Black Company”, Dungeon World, Ursula K. Le Guin, conquistador helmets, swords-for-hire, what makes a villain, grim dark's celebration of the darkest sides of the human experience, wizards as marketing and PR agents, eating tacos, fantasy metropolises, random words as proper nouns, and much more!
Jan 24, 2022 • 59:59
Episode 110 – Fred Saberhagen's "Changeling Earth” with special guest Rev. Dak Ultimak
Rev. Dak Ultimak joins us to discuss Fred Saberhagen's "Changeling Earth”, the DCC RPG zine scene, reclaiming H.P. Lovecraft, tanks and UFOs in fantasy fiction, the paperback culture of the 1970s, transcending humanity, cosmic horror, evil characters getting their comeuppance, the Luke Skywalker-type protagonist, genre crossing, throwing out the Firearms issue of Crawl, and much more!
Jan 10, 2022 • 58:28
Episode 109 – Ursula K. Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea” with special guest Ellen Kushner
Ellen Kushner joins us to discuss Ursula K. Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea”, Choose Your Own Adventure books, the explosion of Tolkien's popularity, the feminist revision of Earthsea, wizarding schools, designing magic system limitations, Larry Niven's science brain, the teenage search for identity, wizards of color, normalizing protagonists belonging to marginalized populations, the Jewish inspirations on Riverside, and much more!
Dec 27, 2021 • 59:58
Patron Book Club 107 – Ellen Kushner’s “Swordspoint” with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Ellen Kushner's "Swordspoint", typing up D&D character sheets on a typewriter, normalized gay content, the 80s crack epidemic, double- and triple-crosses, characters who think they're smarter than they are, playing a D&D game in the Riverside, gamifying Honor, staying true to social mechanism in the game, DCC Lankhmar, A Princess Bride, A Princess of Mars, and much more!
Nov 28, 2021 • 57:15
Episode 108 – Gene Wolfe's "The Shadow of the Torturer” with special guest Moss Bosch
Moss Bosch joins us to discuss Gene Wolfe's "The Shadow of the Torturer”, socially intimate games, tasty and tender world building, reading a book without realizing it is the first in a series, ridiculous ways to introduce new PCs, reading a book written for multiple audiences, cities the size of a nation, Blades in the Dark, stolen sex dolls, flowers as awkward and incredibly dangerous weapons, obvious foreshadowing, Tik Tok, and much more!
Nov 28, 2021 • 58:55
Episode 107 – Ellen Kushner's "Swordspoint” with special guest Angela Lemus-Mogrovejo
Angela Lemus-Mogrovejo joins us to discuss Ellen Kushner's "Swordspoint”, the indie tabletop roleplaying game scene, questioning why fantasy is wedded to the European medieval era, our patron polls, confusing characters with one another in political intrigue, relatable gay content, a shortage of female characters being given the spotlight, female characters as whores and laundresses, examples of noir prose, giving the generic fantasy tavern more character, making cool use of support characters,
Nov 14, 2021 • 59:36
Episode 106 – C.L. Moore's "Jirel of Joiry” with special guest Cora Buhlert
Cora Buhlert joins us to discuss C.L. Moore's "Jirel of Joiry”, used book store finds, kisses as stand-ins for sex, the appropriateness of using genre to explore our fear of sexual violence, cozy stories, writers being inspired by their peers, comparing and contrasting Conan and Jirel as characters, employing undead suckers, the influence of comics on the early pulps, her work with Henry Kuttner, fictitious France, C.L. Moore's reemerging popularity, and much more!
Nov 1, 2021 • 59:42
Episode 105 – G.K. Chesterton's "The Man Who Was Thursday” with special guest Megan Connell
Megan Connell joins us to discuss G.K. Chesterton's "The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare”, chocolate-covered raisin trees, satire we don't understand, club infiltration, anarchist elections and bylaws, issues of trust and emotional risk in therapeutic games, good versus evil, dehumanizing those who disagree with us, using XP to encourage better gaming, whether it was all a dream or not, losing cultural context in reading works from before our time, and much more!
Oct 18, 2021 • 58:58
Episode 104 – Clive Barker's "Books of Blood, Volume 1" with special guest Brendan LaSalle
Brendan LaSalle joins us to discuss Clive Barker's "Books of Blood, Volume 1", our listeners 100 years from now, ghosts taking over theaters, Barker's literary beginnings, relatable characters, "Mama, they fed me to the pig!", Kaiju as political commentary, Willpower saves, stories were everything goes wrong, giving monsters the 411, embodying delusional characters, X-Crawl Classics, and much more!
Oct 4, 2021 • 59:44
Episode 103 – Mervyn Peake's "Titus Groan” with special guest Patrick Stuart
Patrick Stuart joins us to discuss Mervyn Peake's "Titus Groan”, oral traditions, lush prose, taking pride in working as a servant, the sun as an old cake bun, Peake's popularity, Cormac McCarthy, Gormenghast as a demiplane, maintaining status quo as a party goal, the court of Melniboné, physical differences as "monstrous traits", going back in time to support expired Kickstarters, and much more!
Sep 13, 2021 • 58:49
Episode 102 – Michael Shea’s “Nifft the Lean” with special guest Sarah Doom
Sarah Doom joins us to discuss Michael Shea's "Nifft the Lean”, Vampire: The Masquerade, horror stories set in the Deep South, "big guava breasts", matching prose style to genre, which came first: humans or demons, the Pagan way of doing things, entitled brats, taking away character agency, drawing upon vocational experience for inspiration, playing characters that are smarter than we are, old school sword and sorcery, and much more!
Aug 22, 2021 • 58:42
Episode 101 – Charles R. Saunders's "Imaro” with special guest Pete Petrusha
Pete Petrusha joins us to discuss Charles R. Saunders's "Imaro”, developing management skills through game mastering, how map projections shrink Africa, flipping the script, Charles R. Saunders's legacy, acceptance through truth, depicting differing cultures without judgment, leveling up through campaigns, DCC RPG corruption, the mysterious world outside the PC's hometown, and much more!
Aug 9, 2021 • 59:08
Episode 100 – Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Land of Terror" with special guest Martian Kat
Martian Kat joins us to discuss Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Land of Terror", Star Wars, reading something you wouldn't normally read on your own, effective uses of satire, bearded women, evolving perceptions of Black Americans in the 1940s, the global war on terror, one-shot adventures in comics, escaping captivity in RPGs, the Savage Worlds Adventure Deck, humanizing the "other", Twitch streaming, and much more!
Jul 25, 2021 • 57:37
Episode 99 – Lord Dunsany's "Don Rodriguez" with special guest Alyssa Faden
Alyssa Faden joins us to discuss Lord Dunsany's "Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley", the Tegel Manor map, ancient history as gaming inspiration, the Wheel of Time series, singing blades, Dunsany's poetic and relatable prose, the frying pan as a character, how to win a castle, river travelling, staying in character, Yoon Suin crab-men, designing city maps, and much more!
Jul 11, 2021 • 58:25
Episode 98 - Andre Norton's "Three Against the Witch World" with special guest Little Red Dot
Little Red Dot joins us to discuss Andre Norton's "Three Against the Witch World", Fate RPG, reading comics in the barber shop, Mars as Australia, Mercedes Lackey, the division between science fiction and fantasy, the gender spectrum, the gendered divisions of labor, Andre Norton's bravery, the love of war history, the D&D druid class, Kobold Press, and much more!
Jun 27, 2021 • 59:11
Episode 97 - Clark Ashton Smith's "Xiccarph" with special guest Cora Buhlert
Cora Buhlert joins us to discuss Clark Ashton Smith's "Xiccarph", German science fiction, pulp magazines, morbid beauty, vampire flower women, Jirel of Joiry, the Dark Eye, foreshadowing, Gary Gygax's exclusion of Clark Ashton Smith from the Appendix N, Alphonse Mucha, doomed protagonists, the 2022 World Science Fiction Convention, and much more!
Jun 13, 2021 • 59:04
Episode 96 - August Derleth's "The Mask of Cthulhu" with special guest Oliver Brackenbury
Oliver Brackenbury joins us to discuss August Derleth's "The Mask of Cthulhu", the Lin Carter Conan stories, competing Appendix N Book Club listener complaints, writing in another author's IP, dem hillbillies who ain't talk too good, being a broke millennial while reading about haunted inheritances, the authorial voice, psychic residue, letting players continue to run their characters during PC possession, the trappings of the Cthulhu mythos, Lovecraft Country, and much more!
May 29, 2021 • 59:00
Episode 95 – Fredric Brown's "What Mad Universe” with special guest Angeline B. Adams
Angeline B. Adams joins us to discuss Fredric Brown's "What Mad Universe”, psychogeography, toxic fandom, fictionalizing the writer's process, near-future sci-fi, the Troubles conflict in Northern Ireland, the relationship between the text and the art, loose worldbuilding, environmental and knowledge hazards, having protagonists deal with a big scary world, organic plot development, what this book looks like in other mad universes, and much more!
May 16, 2021 • 58:51
Episode 94 – Stanley G. Weinbaum's "The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum" with special guest Newton Nitro
Newton Nitro joins us to discuss Stanley G. Weinbaum's "The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum", Brazilian speculative fiction, Malazan Book of the Fallen, celebrations of the heterosexual white male, coming to acceptance with death, different cultural moral frameworks, the Virgin-Whore Complex, Brazilian miscegenation, dark humor, reskinning the Keep on the Borderlands, using RPGs to subvert facism, and much more!
May 1, 2021 • 59:52
Episode 93 – Michael Moorcock's "Elric of Melniboné" with special guest Peter Bebergal
Peter Bebergal joins us to discuss Michael Moorcock's "Elric of Melniboné", gaming stores, Gygax's love of pulp, meta-levels inside of dungeons, grimoires IRL, Elric's rotating sidekicks, the limits of idealism, the tragedy of addiction, Elric in art, the Eternal Champions, Elric as anime, and much more!
Apr 18, 2021 • 59:47
Episode 92 – Roger Zelazny's "The Hand of Oberon" with special guest Shauntelle Benjamin
Shauntelle Benjamin joins us to discuss Roger Zelazny's "The Hand of Oberon", TTRPG Twitch streaming, the protagonist's internal experience, similiar sounding names, casual incest, combat mechanics in literature, cybernetic limbs, life-draining highways, getting stabbed by uncles you've just met, interior monologues in gaming, and much more!
Apr 4, 2021 • 58:04
Episode 91 - Philip José Farmer's "The Lavalite World" with special guest Kienna Shaw
Kienna Shaw joins us to discuss Philip José Farmer's "The Lavalite World", using present-day religious texts as mythology, literary info dumps, the petty egos of immortals, making moral choices when you your life is at stake, close third-person narration, the dangers of presenting racist characters without critique, Bluebeard's Bride, being a collaborative player instead of a lone wolf, constantly shifting landscapes, and much more!
Mar 20, 2021 • 57:31
Episode 90 - Fletcher Pratt's "Invaders from Rigel" with special guest Ginny Loveday
Ginny Loveday joins us to discuss Fletcher Pratt's "Invaders from Rigel", small books with even smaller fonts, colonialism, space travellers who don't understand combustibles, goofily over-capable heroes, interesting adversaries, home play vs organized play, overly replying on combat to handle challenges, separating the art from the artist, and much more!
Mar 7, 2021 • 59:48
Episode 89 - Jack Vance's "The Killing Machine" with special guest Paige Leitman
Paige Leitman joins us to discuss Jack Vance's "The Killing Machine", Alexandre Dumas, sexism, interplanetary skin tones, examples of successful worldbuilding, D&D as a western, roleplaying vs rollplaying, planet-hopping revenge games, Star Wars, the OSR community, and much more!
Feb 22, 2021 • 58:50
Episode 88 - Fritz Leiber's "The Big Time" with special guest Jason Ray Carney
Jason Ray Carney joins us to discuss Fritz Leiber's "The Big Time", urban modernism, Lovecraft's fear of the other, period slang, the time travel genre, deeply traumatized protagonists, Leiber's understanding of language, being the Black Svengali to one's Trilby, unity of time and space, Conan vs Fafhrd, chronomancy, and much more!
Feb 7, 2021 • 56:28
Episode 87 - Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Usurper" with special guest Nicole Emmelhainz-Carney
Nicole Emmelhainz-Carney joins us to discuss Robert E. Howard & L. Sprague de Camp's "Conan the Usurper", body horror, de Camp's heavy-handed editing, offensive physical descriptions of black characters, Lovecraft's contemporaries, the experience of talking about problematic elements in the fandom, Howard's creative process, audience analysis in pulps, the cliche of the dumb barbarian, unknown characters seeking revenge on PCs, and much more!
Jan 24, 2021 • 57:13
Episode 86 - Lin Carter's "The Immortal of World's End" with special guest Kira Magrann
Kira Magrann joins us to discuss Lin Carter's "The Immortal of World's End", LARPing as an awkward teenager, goth teenage years, blending sci-fi and fantasy, tonal shifts, strange metaphors, the cognitive dissonance of glorifying violence after seeing war firsthand, evolving cultural norms, positive inclusions of beasts and animals, sexualizing all or none of the characters instead of just the female-presenting characters, random charts, Trancore as a music genre, and much more!
Jan 10, 2021 • 59:45
Episode 85 - Fred Saberhagen's "The Black Mountains" with special guest Jason Vey
Jason Vey joins us to discuss Fred Saberhagen's "The Black Mountains", owlbears, waiting for the fun evil parts, the Swords trilogy, cold war themes in a post-apocalyptic world, wizards with swords, the root of the lich, making magic unique, designing for 5e vs DCC RPG, mutations tables, and much more!
Dec 27, 2020 • 59:41
Episode 84 - Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar and the Conjurer's Curse" with special guest Clio Yun-su Davis
Clio Yun-su Davis joins us to discuss Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar and the Conjurer's Curse", sexual violence, sword and sorcery LARP ideas, non-stop magical hijinx, video game boob physics, the journey in gaming, using the "rule of cool" with cultural sensitivity in mind, monsters that represent human populations, coincidences as plot devices, creative death curses, power levels for heoric gaming, and much more!
Dec 13, 2020 • 59:27
Episode 83 – Jack Williamson's "The Humanoids” with special guest Misha B
Misha B joins us to discuss Jack Williamson's "The Humanoids”, relatable yet opposing idealogies, babies kept in cribs too long, the value of degenerates, the character arch of authors within their careers, morally ambiguous antagonists, superpowered humans overtaking the galaxy, setting ground rules at the table, characters with godlike abilities, moving force down the chain of challenges, and much more!
Nov 30, 2020 • 55:42
Episode 82 – Manly Wade Wellman's "Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds" with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Manly Wade Wellman's "Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds", classic Sherlock, the Professor Challenger stories, sycophantic women, the differing moral compasses of the characters, the lens of the Vietnam War, tearing down H.G. Wells, undefeatable villains, adding mechanical wings to random encounters, proto-Lovecrafian beasties, high versus low-level gaming, and much more!
Nov 16, 2020 • 57:46
Episode 81 – H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror and Others” with our Patron Book Club
Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror and Others”, setting construction, Lovecraftian punchlines, Robert Bloch, character development, ancient castles, inescapable monsters, the Whateleys, sudden developments of secret knowledge, characters built on people we know, and much more!
Nov 1, 2020 • 55:29
Episode 80 – Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Back to the Stone Age” with special guest Vicki Lalonde
Vicki Lalonde joins us to discuss Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Back to the Stone Age”, damsels in distress, messages of empathy, shedding the bonds of the civilized world, the power of friendship, Barsoom, slavery as a plot device, large megafauna, fighters with six-shooters, foreshadowing villains, and much more!
Oct 18, 2020 • 57:48
Episode 79 - A. Merritt's "The Ship of Ishtar" with special guest Chris Wolf
Chris Wolf joins us to discuss A. Merritt's "The Ship of Ishtar", slaves in pulp fiction, magic hair-growing shrubs, film noir femme fatales, early wargaming, magic compasses, epic death as a story ender, the Mega Dumb Cast, playing on the Spaceship of Ishtar, and much more!
Oct 4, 2020 • 56:37
Episode 78 – Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Warrior" with our Patron Book Club
Members of our Patron Book Club (Jeremy Harper, Christopher Murrie, and Adam Styers) join us to discuss Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Warrior", the Conan paperback publication history, Conan's rapey inner-dialogue, the "barbarism is the natural state of mankind" quote, the roles of priests in sword and sorcery, Red Sonya and Dark Agnes, the strengths and weaknesses of Valeria, the fragile state of Whiteness, Lovecraftian racism, the immensity of the Hyborian world, giving L. Sprague de Camp the
Sep 20, 2020 • 59:06
Episode 77 - L. Sprague de Camp's "The Clocks of Iraz" with special guest Sharang Biswas
Sharang Biswas joins us to discuss L. Sprague de Camp's "The Clocks of Iraz", Indian classics, wights, internal logic, stories within stories, female characters who entirely exist as sex objects, queer bashing, unified tonal through lines, pre-skill system play styles, diversity in medieval simulationism, magic as a source of law or chaos, how to support sex-positive charities, and much more!
Sep 6, 2020 • 58:26
Episode 76 - Michael Moorcock's "The Vanishing Tower" with special guest Jerry D. Grayson
Jerry D. Grayson joins us to discuss Michael Moorcock's "The Vanishing Tower", discovering gaming as a kid, fantasy reading as a kid, comics, looking for representation, Elric as pulp, the grab-bag style of old-school gaming, morose scenery-chewing, the other Eternal Champions, Elric's childhood education, DMG relics, how you too can make hundreds of dollars in the roleplaying industry, and much more!
Aug 23, 2020 • 58:09
Episode 75 - Roger Zelazny's "Sign of the Unicorn" with special guest Becky Annison
Becky Annison joins us to discuss Roger Zelazny's "Sign of the Unicorn", female authors, murder-mysteries, audiobooks, characters with godlike powers, world-building, rooting games in a setting, one-on-one gaming, making allies out of enemies, using player imagination, gaming in the era of Critical Role, and much more!
Aug 9, 2020 • 59:41
Episode 74 – Andrew J. Offutt's "Swords Against Darkness" with special guest Brian Murphy
Brian Murphy joins us to discuss Andrew J. Offutt's "Swords Against Darkness", reading fantasy fiction as a kid, writing about swords and sorcery, second generation sword and sorcery authors, the understated prose of Poul Anderson, O. Henry's sword and sorcery, multiclass characters, the collected Ryre stories, elves and dwarves in swords and sorcery, sword and planet, and much more!
Jul 25, 2020 • 57:26
Episode 73 – Philip José Farmer's "Behind the Walls of Terra” with special guest Jamila R. Nedjadi
Jamila R. Nedjadi joins us to discuss Philip José Farmer's "Behind the Walls of Terra”, World of Darkness games, the false divide between the OSR and indie games, simulacrums, motorcycle gangs, one's own mother as a romantic love interest, hippie culture, fiction written by random tables, GMs building on what players give them, PBtA moves, describing modern items as marvelous artifacts, the perfect way to end a session, and much more!
Jul 11, 2020 • 59:45
An Interview with Tim Kask
Hoi and Jeff interview Tim Kask, the co-compiler of the Appendix N list, who gives us some interesting insight into its history!
Jun 28, 2020 • 1:13:45
Episode 72 – Leigh Brackett's "The Best of Leigh Brackett" with special guest Stacy Dellorfano
Stacy Dellorfano joins us to discuss Leigh Brackett's "The Best of Leigh Brackett", the OSR, Boris Vallejo, women writing for male audiences, early antiheros, Eric John Stark as the outsider, Pocahontas, using life experiences in monster design, the balance of crunch and fluff, underwater adventures, Lovecraftian horror, and the future of Contessa Con in the quarantine era, and much more!
Jun 14, 2020 • 59:57
Episode 71 – Clark Ashton Smith's "Poseidonis" with special guest Evey Lockhart
Evey Lockhart joins us to discuss Clark Ashton Smith's "Poseidonis", dark + quirk, Northern California as Mythic Greece, pulp colonialism, circus folk, horny 15 year olds, Irony as a rollable stat, Troika's resolution system, bug collecting magic, Pathfinder vs. Dungeon World, the joy of a well-designed wizard's tower, and much more!
May 30, 2020 • 59:16
Episode 70 – Jack Vance's "Star King" with special guest Sean McCoy
Sean McCoy joins us to discuss Jack Vance's "Star King", police violence, pulp crime, spaghetti westerns, sci-fi RPGs, Intelligence vs. Wisdom, a future controlled by corporations, off-screen sexual violence, the future of Mothership, and much more!
May 17, 2020 • 58:19
Episode 69 – Fritz Leiber's "Swords and Ice Magic" with special guest Angela Murray
Angela Murray joins us to discuss Fritz Leiber's "Swords and Ice Magic", avoiding the GM system mastery trap, unlikable protangonists, women as sex objects, learning more about characters than just their physical descriptions, Norse mythology, Death as an adversary, being upfront about campaign setting elements, the player's role in story generation, the GM's responsibility to follow the player's lead, playing a Dragonborn Cleric who worships a god who hates dragons, reading fiction when you are
May 4, 2020 • 59:49
Episode 68 - L. Sprague de Camp's "Conan the Buccaneer" with special guest Carmin Vance
Carmin Vance joins us to discuss L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter's "Conan the Buccaneer", barriers for entry into the hobby, weird descriptions of breasts, sword and sorcery as escapism, black amazon warriors, reading non-Howard Conan stories, the man-eating trees of Nubia, ritual magic, the bellybuttons of the Easter Island statues, reading with an open mind, and much more!
Apr 19, 2020 • 58:30
Episode 67 – Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Tarzan at the Earth's Core" with special guest Chris Holmes
Chris Holmes joins us to discuss Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Tarzan at the Earth's Core", contemporary fantasy fiction, the Holmes Basic set, the varying levels of dignity given to the black characters, IP crossovers, surprisingly positive depictions of Germans, "Mahars of Pellucidar", magic dirigibles, the developmental biology of reptiles, informal vs codified ways of encouraging heroism in RPGs, the incredible speed in which pulp characters learn new languages, and the future of Pellucidarian fan
Apr 5, 2020 • 59:55
Episode 66 – Lord Dunsany's "The Charwoman's Shadow” with special guest Shanna Germain
Shanna Germain joins us to discuss Lord Dunsany's "The Charwoman's Shadow", Dunsany's evocative prose, shadow magic, fairy tales, the impetuousness of youth, walking 25 miles in a day, love potions, esoteric prices, the lifelong pursuit of magic, the value of reading something you normally wouldn't, and much more!
Mar 22, 2020 • 59:38
Patron Book Club 65 - Andre Norton's "Web of the Witch World"
Thanks to Noah Green and Adam Styers for joining our Patron Book Club to discuss Andre Norton's "Web of the Witch World"!
Mar 15, 2020 • 59:41
Episode 65 – Andre Norton's "Web of the Witch World" with special guest Humza Kazmi
Humza Kazmi joins us to discuss Andre Norton's "Web of the Witch World", elven fighters, mind reading, the power of love, reclaiming lost power, the culture of Estcarp, domain game play, internal consistency, talismans, character agency, and much more!
Mar 8, 2020 • 58:22
Episode 64 - J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Return of the King" with returning guest Daniel J. Bishop
Daniel J. Bishop joins us to discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Return of the King", the fundamental misunderstandings of the Peter Jackson movies, Tolkien's Christianity, Frodo and Sam's gay love, the racist legacy of the Lord of the Rings, bringing our own life experiences to what we read, the value of gaming post-climax, "useless" characters, the appendices, and so much more!
Feb 23, 2020 • 57:30
Episode 63 - Lin Carter's "The Enchantress of World's End" with special guest Todd Bunn
Hoi and Jeff chat with Todd Bunn about Lin Carter's "The Enchantress of World's End", flipping expectations, one-shot adventures, sphinxes, and introductory RPG systems!
Feb 8, 2020 • 56:16
Episode 62 - Gardner Fox's "Kothar and the Demon Queen" with special guest Elizabeth Chaipraditkul
Hoi and Jeff chat with Elizabeth Chaipraditkul about Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar and the Demon Queen", demon summoning, cheesy erotica, sword and sorcery traditions, and much more!
Jan 24, 2020 • 57:29
Episode 61 - A. Merritt's "Dwellers in the Mirage" with special guest Jeannette Ng
Episode 61 - A. Merritt's "Dwellers in the Mirage" with special guest Jeannette Ng
Jan 12, 2020 • 58:33
Episode 60 - Fritz Leiber's "The Swords of Lankhmar" with special guest Jen Brinkman
Hoi and Jeff chat with Jen Brinkman about Fritz Leiber's "The Swords of Lankhmar" and get a behind-the-scenes look at DCC Lankhmar.
Dec 30, 2019 • 54:42
Episode 59 - Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Adventurer" with special guest Agatha Cheng
Hoi and Jeff chat with Agatha Cheng about Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Adventurer", orientalism, past life regression, and slavery in RPGs.
Dec 16, 2019 • 59:59
An Interview with Michael Moorcock
Hoi and Jeff have the supreme pleasure of interviewing Michael Moorcock, author of the Elric and Hawkmoon stories among many others, and the youngest and only living author from the Appendix N list, who is also celebrating his 80th birthday in Dec 2019!
Dec 2, 2019 • 1:12:34
Episode 58 - Michael Moorcock's "The Singing Citadel" with special guest Dirk the Dice
Hoi and Jeff chat with Dirk the Dice about the multiverse, Stormbringer RPG, Law vs Chaos, and Michael Moorcock's "The Singing Citadel"!
Nov 18, 2019 • 59:50
Episode 57 - Roger Zelazny's "The Guns of Avalon" with special guest Ethan Schoonover
Hoi and Jeff discuss PVP gaming, turning classic troupes on their head, and the act of imagination and its limits in Roger Zelazny's "The Guns of Avalon" with special guest Ethan Schoonover!
Nov 4, 2019 • 58:54
Episode 56 - Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword" with special guest Tim Deschene
Hoi and Jeff discuss nature versus nurture, invoking Satan, and skin changing in Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword" with special guest Tim Deschene!
Oct 21, 2019 • 58:21
Episode 55 - Philip José Farmer's "A Private Cosmos" with special guest Eric Daum
Hoi and Jeff discuss character morality, action scequences, and female sexuality in Philip José Farmer's "A Private Cosmos" with special guest Eric Daum!
Oct 7, 2019 • 59:29
Episode 54 - Fletcher Pratt's "The Well of the Unicorn" with special guest Strix Beltrán
Hoi and Jeff discuss liminal spaces, war, peace, and fear of masculine vulnerability in Fletcher Pratt's "The Well of the Unicorn" with special guest Strix Beltrán!
Sep 23, 2019 • 59:21
Episode 53 - H.P. Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" with special guest David Baity
Hoi and Jeff discuss multiple timelines, necromantic reincarnation, and sanity checks in H.P. Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" with special guest David Baity
Sep 9, 2019 • 59:17
Episode 52 - Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Tanar of Pellucidar" with special guest Noah Green
Hoi and Jeff discuss race coding, the laws of gravity, and monogamy in Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Tanar of Pellucidar" with special guest Noah Green.
Aug 26, 2019 • 58:58
Episode 51.5 - J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Two Towers" with returning guest Daniel Bishop
Yes, for the Two Towers, we're doing Two Episodes! For Round 2, Hoi and Jeff discuss character fame, the halfling class, and foreshadowing in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Two Towers" with returning guest Daniel J. Bishop.
Aug 12, 2019 • 59:47
Episode 51 - J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Two Towers" with special guest Anna B. Meyer
Hoi and Jeff discuss demagogues, war, elves, dwarves, and wizards in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Two Towers" with special guest Anna B. Meyer.
Jul 29, 2019 • 1:00:00
Episode 50 - Extra Credit - Clark Ashton Smith's "Hyperborea" with special guest Jeffrey Talanian
Hoi and Jeff discuss living dungeons, world building, and using evocative setting descriptions at the table in Clark Ashton Smith's "Hyperborea" with special guest Jeffrey Talanian.
Jul 15, 2019 • 58:48
Episode 49 - Margaret St. Clair's "Sign of the Labrys" with special guest Katie Shrieves
Hoi and Jeff discuss fungus, hallunications, dream logic, dungeons levels, and hippie culture in Margaret St. Clair's "Sign of the Labrys" with special guest Katie Shrieves.
Jul 1, 2019 • 59:53
Episode 48 - August Derleth's "The Lurker at the Threshold" with special guest Jon Hook
Hoi and Jeff discuss Elder Signs, Lovecraftian gaming, and summoning spells in August Derleth's "The Lurker at the Threshold" with special guest Jon Hook.
Jun 17, 2019 • 58:08
Episode 47 - Fredric Brown's "Martians, Go Home" with special guest Sean Kelley
Hoi and Jeff discuss impossible-to-kill enemies, player agency, and unsolvable puzzles in Fredric Brown's "Martians, Go Home" with special guest Sean Kelley.
Jun 3, 2019 • 59:49
Episode 46 - Stanley G. Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey" with special guest Brett Bloczynski
Hoi and Jeff discuss vampires, hunting, the beauty defense, and truly alien aliens in Stanley G. Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey" with special guest Brett Bloczynski.
May 20, 2019 • 59:24
Episode 45 - A. Merritt's "The Moon Pool" with special guest Joseph Goodman
Hoi and Jeff discuss lost worlds, adventuring parties, and Lovecraftian gaming in A. Merritt's "The Moon Pool" with special guest Joseph Goodman
May 6, 2019 • 59:19
Episode 44 – Jack Vance’s “Emphyrio” with special guest Fiona Maeve Geist
Hoi and Jeff discuss welfare states, decadent elites, and hopeless puppets in Jack Vance’s “Emphyrio” with special guest FIONA MAEVE GEIST!
Apr 22, 2019 • 55:47
Episode 43 - Fritz Leiber's "Swords Against Wizardry" with special guest Josh from the Cromcast
Hoi and Jeff discuss Fritz Leiber's "Swords Against Wizardry" with special guest Josh from the Cromcast
Apr 8, 2019 • 59:47
Episode 42 - Robert E. Howard’s “Conan the Wanderer” with special guest Jon from the Cromcast
Hoi and Jeff discuss Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, & Lin Carter’s “Conan the Wanderer” with special guest Jon from the Cromcast.
Mar 25, 2019 • 59:53
Episode 41 - L. Sprague de Camp's "The Goblin Tower" with special guest Luke from the Cromcast
Hoi and Jeff discuss L. Sprague de Camp's "The Goblin Tower" with special guest Luke from the Cromcast
Mar 11, 2019 • 59:02
Episode 40 - Lin Carter's "The Warrior of World's End" with special guest Howard Andrew Jones
Hoi and Jeff discuss Lin Carter's "The Warrior of World's End" with special guest Howard Andrew Jones.
Feb 25, 2019 • 58:41
Episode 39 - Fred Saberhagen's "The Broken Lands" with special guest Jason Hobbs
Hoi and Jeff discuss Fred Saberhagen's "The Broken Lands" with special guest Jason Hobbs.
Feb 11, 2019 • 58:48
Episode 38 - Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar of the Magic Sword!" with special guest Liz Stewart
Hoi and Jeff discuss Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar of the Magic Sword!" with special guest Liz Stewart.
Jan 28, 2019 • 56:54
Episode 37 - Jack Williamson's "Darker Than You Think" with special guest Dani Neary
Hoi and Jeff discuss Jack Williamson's "Darker Than You Think" with special guest Dani Neary.
Jan 14, 2019 • 54:00
Episode 36 - Manly Wade Wellman's "Who Fears the Devil?" with special guest Michael Curtis
Hoi and Jeff discuss Manly Wade Wellman's "Who Fears the Devil?" with special guest Michael Curtis.
Dec 31, 2018 • 59:19
Episode 35 - Michael Moorcock's "Stormbringer" with special guest Terry Olson
Hoi and Jeff discuss Michael Moorcock's "Stormbringer" with special guest Terry Olson
Dec 17, 2018 • 58:53
Episode 34 - Roger Zelazny's "Nine Princes in Amber" with special guest Marc Bruner
Hoi and Jeff discuss Roger Zelazny's "Nine Princes in Amber" with special guest Marc Bruner.
Nov 5, 2018 • 55:53
Episode 33 - Poul Anderson's "The High Crusade" with special guest Jeremy Farkas
Hoi and Jeff discuss Poul Anderson's "The High Crusade" with special guest Jeremy Farkas.
Oct 9, 2018 • 55:21
Episode 32 - Philip José Farmer's "The Gates of Creation" with special guest Christopher Paul Carey
Hoi and Jeff discuss Philip José Farmer's "The Gates of Creation" with special guest Christopher Paul Carey.
Sep 24, 2018 • 55:53
Episode 31 - Leigh Brackett's "The Halfling and Other Stories" with special guest Paolo Greco
Hoi and Jeff discuss Leigh Brackett's "The Halfling and Other Stories" with special guest Paolo Greco.
Sep 11, 2018 • 57:48
Episode 30 - A. Merritt's "Creep, Shadow Creep!" with special guest Edgar Johnson
Hoi and Jeff discuss A. Merritt's "Creep, Shadow Creep!" with special guest Edgar Johnson.
Aug 27, 2018 • 56:04
Episode 29 - Fritz Leiber's "Swords in the Mist" with special guest Joey Royale
Special guest Joey Royale of Drinking & Dragons joins us to discuss Fritz Leiber’s Swords in the Mist! (Please also see the Episode 3 and Episode 18 show notes for additional information about the saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser) Swords in the Mist (Ace Books, 1968) by Fritz Leiber was originally published in paperback as the third book in Ace Books’ complete seven volume saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. The stories is this volume are “The Cloud of Hate” (1963), “Lean Times in Lankhmar”
Jul 23, 2018 • 55:49
Episode 28 - Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Freebooter" with special guest Diogo Nogueira
Conan the Freebooter (Lancer Books, 1968) by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp, was part of the first comprehensive paperback edition of the Conan saga. Conan the Freebooter was the eighth volume published, although it is third in the internal chronology--later printings of the series numbered the books in chronological order. When Lancer went out of business in 1973, Ace Books picked up and completed the series, keeping it in print until the mid 1990s. As with the other Lancer/Ace Conan
Jun 11, 2018 • 57:56
Episode 27 - Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Pellucidar" with special guest Harley Stroh
Hoi and Jeff discuss Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Pellucidar" with special guest Harley Stroh.
May 28, 2018 • 58:19
Episode 26 - Lord Dunsany's "The King of Elfland's Daughter" with special guest Andrew Sternick
Hoi and Jeff discuss Lord Dunsany's "The King of Elfland's Daughter" with special guest Andrew Sternick.
May 7, 2018 • 59:39
Episode 25 - Andre Norton's "Witch World" with special guest Fletcher Vredenburgh
Hoi and Jeff discuss Andre Norton's "Witch World" with special guest Fletcher Vredenburgh.
Apr 2, 2018 • 56:54
Episode 24 - J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring" with special guest Daniel J. Bishop
Hoi and Jeff discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring" with special guest Daniel J. Bishop.
Mar 19, 2018 • 56:49
Episode 23 - H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" with special guest Bob Brinkman
Hoi and Jeff discuss H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness & Other Tales of Terror with special guest Bob “The Voice” Brinkman! Given H.P. Lovecraft’s omnipresence today, it’s easy to forget that he had largely faded out of reading public’s mind within a few years of his death in 1937. August Derleth and Donald Wandrei did their best to keep Lovecraft in print by founding the small press Arkham House in 1939, but the publishing house’s output for its first 20 years was mostly limited to h
Mar 5, 2018 • 56:44
Episode 22 – Extra Credit - Clark Ashton Smith's "Zothique" with special guest Andy Markham
Hoi and Jeff discuss Clark Ashton Smith's "Zothique" with special guest Andy Markham.
Feb 12, 2018 • 55:37
Episode 21 - Margaret St. Clair's "The Shadow People" with special guest Julian Bernick
Hoi and Jeff discuss Margaret St. Clair's "The Shadow People" with special guest Julian Bernick.
Jan 23, 2018 • 56:13
Episode 20 - A. Merritt's "Burn Witch, Burn!" with special guest Stephen Newton
Abraham Grace Merritt (better known by his byline A. Merritt) has the odd distinction of being perhaps second only to Edgar Rice Burroughs in popularity as a writer of fantastic fiction during the first half of the 20th century, only to be largely forgotten today. Perhaps this is because Merritt’s relatively small body of work didn’t feature recurring iconic heroes like John Carter of Mars or Conan of Cimmeria, or it may be down to his prose style’s reputation for being more baroque and densely
Jan 8, 2018 • 52:39
Episode 19 - Jack Vance's "The Eyes of the Overworld" with special guest David Hoskins
The Eyes of the Overworld (Ace Books, 1966) marks Jack Vance’s return to the Dying Earth setting after a break of 15 years. The book is a fix-up of the stories “The Overworld”, “The Mountains of Magnatz”, “The Sorceror Pharesm”, “The Pilgrims” and “The Manse of Iucounu” all of which appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction between December 1965 and August 1966. To these stories Vance added a second chapter “Cil” to expand the book to novel length. The Eyes of the Overworld is contai
Dec 25, 2017 • 59:47
Episode 18 - Fritz Leiber's "Swords Against Death" with special guest Jen Brinkman
Swords Against Death (Ace Books, 1970) by Fritz Leiber was originally published in paperback as part of Ace Books’ complete seven volume saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Although Swords Against Death is second in the series chronology, it was actually the fifth book published. The stories is this volume are “The Circle Curse” (1970), “The Jewels in the Forest” (1939), “Thieves’ House” (1943), “The Bleak Shore” (1940), “The Howling Tower” (1941), “The Sunken Land” (1942), “The Seven Black Prie
Dec 18, 2017 • 56:51
Episode 17 - Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, & Lin Carter’s “Conan of Cimmeria”
Conan of Cimmeria (Lancer Books, 1969) by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, and Lin Carter was part of first comprehensive paperback edition of the Conan saga. Conan of Cimmeria was the seventh volume published, although it is second in the internal chronology--later printings of the series numbered the books in chronological order. When Lancer when out of business in 1973, Ace Books picked up and completed the series, keeping it in print until the mid 1990s. As with Conan, series editors d
Dec 4, 2017 • 56:29
Episode 16 - L. Sprague de Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall"
L. Sprague de Camp’s Lest Darkness Fall first saw light as a short story in the December 1939 issue of Unknown magazine before being expanded into a full novel for hardcover publication by Henry Holt & Company in 1941. Unknown was the companion magazine to Astounding, both of which were edited by John W. Campbell, the godfather of the “Golden Age of Science Fiction”. Campbell had taken the reins of Astounding in 1937 and had almost immediately turned it away from its freewheeling high adventure
Nov 27, 2017 • 59:57
Episode 15 - Lin Carter's "Giant of World's End"
Lin Carter has a multi-faceted reputation in the world of fantastic fiction. As an editor and critic, he is virtually indispensable, most notably for his role in editing the landmark Ballantine Adult Fantasy series (BAFS), as well as the subsequent Flashing Swords!, The Year's Best Fantasy, and Weird Tales anthologies. Carter’s legacy as a writer is considerably more muddied by his “posthumous collaborations” with Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith, which often consisted of creating entirel
Nov 20, 2017 • 56:44
Episode 14 - Sterling E. Lanier's "Hiero's Journey"
There’s surprisingly little reliable biographical information about Sterling E. Lanier, but like many Appendix N authors he does seem to have been a man of many parts. Most accounts of Lanier’s life have him studying archaeology and anthropology at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania before working as a researcher and historian for most of the 1950s. His other interests included sculpture, natural history, and cryptozoology, all of which would bear on his creative endeavors. In 1961 Lanie
Nov 13, 2017 • 58:28
Episode 13 - Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman"
J.R.R. Tolkien and perhaps Robert E. Howard aside, no Appendix N author has had as a large a pop culture footprint as Gardner F. Fox, but not for any of the works cited by Gary Gygax. Although hardly a household name today, Gardner Fox was among other things one of the most prolific comic book writers of the 20th Century. Fox was originally a practicing attorney in New York City, but still must have found it hard to make ends meet during the heart of the Great Depression--in 1937 he began writin
Nov 6, 2017 • 53:51
Episode 12 - Michael Moorcock's "The Stealer of Souls"
Michael Moorcock’s first five Elric of Melniboné stories appeared in the British magazine Science Fantasy in 1962 and were collected in hardcover the next year as The Stealer of Souls, followed by a U.S. paperback edition from Lancer Books in 1967. Savage and sardonic, the Elric stories must have seemed like a fantasy off-shoot of Great Britain’s “Angry Young Man” movement of that era. At first glance, Elric of Melniboné appears to be the very antithesis of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian
Oct 30, 2017 • 55:00
Episode 11 - John Bellairs's "The Face in the Frost"
At first glance John Bellairs’s The Face in the Frost is a bit of an anomaly, both in his own body of work and in Appendix N. It is the only Bellairs work cited by Gary Gygax in Appendix N, and ended up being Bellairs’s first and only fantasy novel directed at adults. Bellairs began work on The Face in the Frost in the late 1960s after reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. He created his protagonist Prospero as a reaction to the might and nobility of Gandalf, rendering Prospero and his
Oct 16, 2017 • 52:36
Episode 10 - Roger Zelazny's "Jack of Shadows"
Roger Zelazny stated that he wrote Jack of Shadows as a “first draft, no rewrite”, which might account for the occasionally elliptical nature of the narrative. Any lack of cohesion in the plotting is compensated for by the dark majesty of Jack AKA Shadowjack’s world. Zelazny is clearly echoing Jack Vance’s Dying Earth stories here, at least in the weirdness of the creatures and landscapes of the darkside if not in the playful ornateness of Vance’s prose. Jack of Shadows also emphasizes the inter
Oct 2, 2017 • 55:40
Episode 9 - Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions
Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions was originally serialized in 1953 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction--eight years later a revised and expanded version of the tale would see print in hardcover from Doubleday, followed by an Avon paperback in 1962. It has remained sporadically in print ever since, largely overshadowed by Anderson’s more famous science fiction works. Although Anderson was best known during the first half of his writing career as a science fiction author, Th
Sep 25, 2017 • 55:53
Episode 8 - Philip José Farmer's "The Maker of Universes"
In retrospect, the publication of Philip José Farmer’s The Maker of Universes (Ace Books, 1965) marks the beginning of the most productive and rewarding phase of Farmer’s writing career. It can hardly have seemed that way at the time, as Farmer was toiling away as a technical writer in Scottsdale, Arizona to support himself and his family. Even though Farmer had been a published writer as of 1946 and had even won his first Hugo Award in 1953 (as “Best New SF Author or Artist”), commercial succes
Sep 18, 2017 • 54:41
Episode 7 – Fletcher Pratt's "The Blue Star"
Fletcher Pratt’s The Blue Star first saw print in the hardcover anthology Witches Three (Twayne Publishers, 1952), which also included Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife and James Blish’s “There Shall be No Darkness”. Pratt himself was the uncredited editor of the Witches Three, which ended up being the second and final volume in the short-lived “Twayne Triplets” series of themed hardcover fantastic fiction anthologies. Witches Three and The Blue Star in particular were positively reviewed at the time
Sep 4, 2017 • 47:10
Episode 6 – Edgar Rice Burroughs' "At the Earth's Core"
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first Pellucidar book At the Earth’s Core was part of the supernova period at the beginning of his writing career, wherein he managed to write 25 novels between 1911-1915! The serialization of At the Earth’s Core in All-Story Weekly magazine in 1914 represents the extraordinary feat of launching three major literary franchises in a mere three years, following on the Mars/Barsoom series and the Tarzan series. Pellucidar's Hollow Earth setting with its weird timeless eternal
Aug 21, 2017 • 53:33
Episode 5 – J.R.R. Tolkien's “The Hobbit"
The Hobbit first came to Oxford University professor J.R.R. Tolkien when he was grading papers in the early 1930s. Coming upon a blank page in an exam book, he suddenly wrote “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” Tolkien worked on The Hobbit for the next several years before submitting it for publication in 1936 as a children’s book to George Allen & Unwin, then known mainly as an academic publishing house. The publisher Stanley Unwin paid his ten-year-old son Rayner a shilling to revi
Aug 7, 2017 • 52:46
Episode 4 - Jack Vance's "The Dying Earth" with special guest Gavin Norman
Special guest Gavin Norman (author of The Complete Vivimancer and Theorems & Thaumaturgy) joins us to discuss Jack Vance‘s The Dying Earth! Jack Vance originally wrote the loosely connected stories that comprise The Dying Earth while serving in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II. Vance’s fiction had started appearing in pulp magazines as early as 1945, and The Dying Earth marked his first book publication when it was released in digest-sized paperback in 1950 by Hillman Period
Jul 31, 2017 • 59:59
Episode 3 - Fritz Leiber's "Swords and Deviltry"
Swords and Deviltry (Ace Books, 1970) by Fritz Leiber was originally published in paperback as part of Ace Books’ complete seven volume saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Although Swords and Deviltry is first in the series chronology, it was actually the fourth book published. Leiber and his lifelong friend Harry Otto Fischer created Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser in an exchange of letters in 1934, basing the pair loosely on their own friendship, with Fischer as the diminutive Mouser and Leiber as
Jul 24, 2017 • 52:24
Episode 2 – Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, & Lin Carter's "Conan"
Conan (Lancer Books, 1967) by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, and Lin Carter was part of first comprehensive paperback edition of the Conan saga. Conan was the fifth volume published, although it is first in the internal chronology--later printings of the series numbered the books in chronological order. When Lancer when out of business in 1973, Ace Books picked up and completed the series, keeping it in print until the mid 1990s. In a now controversial move, series editors de Camp and Car
Jul 14, 2017 • 55:53
Episode 1 - L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt's "The Compleat Enchanter"
The Compleat Enchanter by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt is a compilation of the first three novellas in the Harold Shea/Enchanter series, “The Roaring Trumpet” (1940), “The Mathematics of Magic” (1940), and “The Castle of Iron” (1941, revised 1950). The Compleat Enchanter was first published as a Nelson Doubleday/Science Fiction Book Club hardcover in 1975 before being released as a Del Rey paperback in 1976, featuring a charming Brothers Hildebrandt cover painting. The three adventures
Jul 4, 2017 • 52:48