TJ Berry

This week, we’re again spoiling everything that we talk about, so don’t listen until you’re ready! We talk about “A Prayer for Mad Sweeney” from American Gods. This episode had a lot more movement than the last few. We enjoyed Essie’s story, though there were a few moments that gave us pause.

We both absolutely loved the Black Panther trailer. I’m excited about seeing the Dora Milaje and Dave is interested in T’Challa’s sister Shuri and her vibranium weapons.

Then, we discuss all six of the Hugo finalists in the Short Story category:
“The City Born Great”, by N. K. Jemisin (Tor.com, September 2016)
“A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers”, by Alyssa Wong (Tor.com, March 2016)
“Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies”, by Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Magazine, November 2016)
“Seasons of Glass and Iron”, by Amal El-Mohtar (The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press)
“That Game We Played During the War”, by Carrie Vaughn (Tor.com, March 2016)
“An Unimaginable Light”, by John C. Wright (God, Robot, Castalia House)

Next week, we’re attempting to finish and discuss the Hugo nominees for Best Novelette.

Episode #10: A Can of Worms

We’re going to Worldcon! Dave and I just booked our flights to Helsinki, with a detour to Germany for the Writing Excuses 2017 Cruise. There is a batch of new cabins that have just been released. Go to writingexcuses.com to register for the trip. This is our first WX cruise!

The shortlist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award were released today. You’ll find them up here.

We’re both a little exasperated with American Gods. It’s going really slowly and the creators have mentioned that they think the first book’s story might take years to finish. Ugh.

We both loved Wonder Woman… with the exception of three little words. We have started the visa application for Themyscira. We had a little less love for King Arthur.

The SciFi Dustup of the Day is this awful interview with N.K. Jemisin in which the article’s author spends 90% of the article (including huge block quotes and a 30-line poem) talking about herself, her struggles, and her work. Nora is kind enough to phrase her criticism as “how not to interview an author.”

Episode #9: Heavy Novice

This week, TJ and Dave try out our new equipment. We sound much better… when we’re not bickering over comic books. We had so much to talk about that we completely forgot to mention this week’s episode of American Gods. Oh well, next week.

Dave watched the season finales of Arrow, Flash, and 12 Monkeys. TJ watched Supergirl and was thrilled to see the return of Cat Grant to the show.

We also watched/listened to all six of the Hugo finalists in the category of Dramatic Presentation, Short Form:

Black Mirror, San Junipero

Doctor Who, The Return of Doctor Mysterio

The Expanse, Leviathan Wakes

GoT, Battle of the Bastards

GoT, The Door

Splendor & Misery

And TJ did the ugly cry over San Junipero.

Next week is Wonder Woman!!! Plus a chat about the Hugo finalists in the Short Story category.

And who do the nipples in question belong to? You’ll have to listen to find out!

Warp Drives Episode 8: The Wind in His Nipples

Another spoiler warning, we’re all about getting into the details of the content we’re talking about. If you haven’t watched, read, listened to any of these and you are worried about us ruining it for you…we will.

In this week’s  episode, Dave and I dive right back into American Gods Episode 4 “Git Gone”. Laura, Shadow’s wife is clearly troubled, searching for something, trying to fill a hole, but Dave and I disagree on a few of the finer points of the episode. We’ve found that  Radiotimes.com publishes a mythology guide to help viewers keep track of all the gods.

Next up, we saw Alien: Covenant. It wasn’t as scary as TJ thought, and Dave loved the evolution of the Xenomorphs from the black liquid/spores to the triple dripping mouths we know and love today. We both wondered why there’s no kill switch in stasis pods from the inside, walk-in freezers have safety levers, why not super-space-age freezer bags?

Fiction podcasts are one of our favorite ways to consume content, and this week we talked about Tessa Told Me – by Rob Kotecki on Pseudopod. This was a solid horror story, but both of us had some issues with it, specifically around the lack of agency that the main character has in the story as well as the abuse that occurs to a minor, kind of borderline exploitative. As always, Alasdair’s thoughts after the episode were just as good as the story itself. 🙂

Lastly, we didn’t have a SciFi dust up, but we introduced a new segment called “Not a Star War” where we highlight something outside of the speculative realm that we love anyway. This week, we talked about one of our favorite shows “Master of None” starring Aziz Ansari. The best episode this season (not up for debate) is “New York, I Love You.”

In this week’s episode, TJ and Dave talk about seeing Radiotopia Live–we both loved Phoebe Judge’s performance in the Criminal podcast. Then, we review this week’s episode of American Gods (Head Full of Snow). We both liked the Anubis and djinn digressions, but the Shadow Moon story still felt a little slow.

We both read up to issue #6 of World of Wakanda, spinoff of the Black Panther series. The Dora Milaje kick ass, but we’re not sure why Black Panther needs bodyguards in the first place.

Dave shares his new audiobook narration gig, Some Demon by Mel Murphy, which is available on Audible. And TJ talks about how she learned how to edit using Scrivener.

Finally, the SciFi Dustup of the Day was the pronouncement of the Arthur C. Clarke Award shadow jury that the award is sliding too far into commercial writing. We wonder if commercial success or sophistication needs to be factored into awarding quality literature at all.

Warp Drives Episode 6: The Djinn Digression

If you don’t like spoilers, this episode is NOT for you. We’re going to be talking all about Guardians 2, American Gods, Secret Empire and probably also predicting the Super Bowl and day you’re gonna die.

We talk about how I’m is going to need a book hiatus in the middle of Leviathan Wakes because the book is just that long and that now is the time to catch up on your Hugo Award reading. If you want to vote for the Hugo Awards (and you should!) join the current Worldcon at the Supporting level. Dave listened to “The Dog Pit” by Jason Fischer and narrated by Barry Haworth on Pseudopod.

Saturday was Free Comic Book Day, and we made an impromptu tour of four Seattle-area comic book shops:
– Zanadu Comics, downtown Seattle
– Phoenix Comics, Capitol Hill
– Outsider Comics and Geek Boutique, Fremont
– Comics Dungeon, Wallingford
And we got to meet comic writers G. Willow Wilson, Paul Morrissey, and Heather Nuhfer!

We also went to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and had so many Yondu feels. We talk about flawed fathers, an overabundance of Groot, nuanced villains, and new ravagers who are actually old guardians.

Then we jump into this week’s episode of American Gods, The Secret of Spoons. We both loved Mr. Nancy, intentionally hiding information from readers/viewers, and how many secondary texts should be required to enjoy a television show.

And finally, in the SciFi Dustup of the Day, we go back to Secret Empire after having read issues 0, 1, and the Free Comic Book Day special. Warning: It’s gets a bit tense, because we DO NOT AGREE on Secret Empire. While not quite an epic TJ and Dave debate (like the Ray Liotta debacle of 1991-1999), we do get a little testy with each other.

Warp Drives Episode 5: The Yondu Feels

In this episode of Warp Drives, Dave and I explain why the podcast currently features 100% less driving. Turns out there’s a reason why people don’t record podcasts in cars, and that’s because it sounds terrible. We’ll keep the name Warp Drives and maybe you’re the one driving.

We start off with a discussion of the film Sleight, which is in theaters now. It’s the story of a young man trying to support his younger sister using sleight of hand and drug dealing. Both of those worlds collide to create an awesome superhero movie. Enough with lab accidents and radioactive spiders–it’s time for a fresh take on the hero origin story.

We also talk about Seanan McGuire’s book, Every Heart a Doorway, which is a delightful-yet-difficult story set in a school for children who have returned from various fantasy lands. It’s a great tale that was short enough to leave us wanting more. Luckily, there’s a sequel/prequel coming out in June. You can preorder Down Among the Sticks and Bones now.

Dave talks about PodCastle’s recent Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam story Needle Mouth, narrated by Setsu Uzume (both of which, by the way, have fabulous names.) And I take the opportunity to plug my own PodCastle flash piece, How to Survive in Room 105.

Then, on the SF Dustup of the Day, we talk about Captain America’s Secret Empire Run and what retconning Captain America as a Hydra agent means in a year that’s shaping up to have way too many fascists in it already. Is it tone-deaf to yank away hope that arrives in the form of a Nazi-hating, Hydra-hunting hero who blushes at swears? Spoiler Alert: Yup. It is.

Warp Drives Episode 4: Galactus, Licker of Worlds