The fellas are going way back for this one, all the way back to 1912. A bad year to be a cruise ship, but maybe a good year to be a fan of science fantasy adventures? They're reviewing perhaps one of the most influential books they've ever seen on the podcast. Before Howard, before Lovecraft and C.L. Moore. Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars, the first appearance of John Carter. The fellas discuss the adventure, the very early attempt at fantasy worldbuilding, and of course.... the racism....
May 17, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Season 4Ep. 9
We're back in the Scholomance! At long last Geordie ran out of patience waiting for Duncan to choose the sequel to Naomi Novik's Deadly Education and has forced his hand with a destiny token! They pick up their school supplies and see what on earth they can remember about a book series they began two years ago. Here's a list of things they forgot: what the main character's full name was, her age and ethnicity, and what's Chloe's deal anyway? See whether the sequel lived up to the high expectatio...
May 05, 2025•1 hr 34 min•Season 4Ep. 8
In their second episode ever, the fellas reviewed Geordie's favourite book: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. Now, years later, they are finally returning to see her most famous work: Daughter of Smoke and Bone. They discuss the transition between paranormal romances and modern romantasy, whether to read this book before or after Strange the Dreamer, its fascinating wish-based magic, and Duncan stirs up a brand new contraversy with his choice for the next book. Notes for the episode: Duncan h...
Apr 19, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Hoooo boy but was this a long one. The fellas set out to read Magician's Apprentice by Raymon E. Feist, but Geordie decided to go for extra-credit and read the entire book, including the second part Magician's Master. The fellas cover as much of the epic as they can, from its various strengths and weaknesses, its variance in power fantasies, where it lies in the chronology of works inspired by both Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons, and also whether its embarressing for a male writer ...
Apr 04, 2025•1 hr 29 min•Season 4Ep. 6
After reading some pretty dark and gothic stuff at the start of the year, Geordie decided that they should take a comforting break and just read a book about nice fluffy bunnies. What could go wrong as they discuss Richard Adams' Watership Down. The fellas cover the surprising depth of language, history and culture that rabbits share, their apparent aggressiveness, and how the film scarred Duncan as a child. Look forward to them discussing amazing characters, some of the best depictions of teamw...
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Just how many times is the word 'Bone' said in this episode? Mathematicians are still trying to calculate. Bonesmith by Nicki Pau Preto might be the most YA book the two have ever read. But is it good? There's a lot of heady discussion in this one. The fellas cover: predictable plot threads, whip swords, worldbuilding, curing cancer with medical quackery, a digression on Bleach for some reason, and whether a book can be content but not art. It also features probably (and hopefully) the only actu...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Season 4Ep. 4
It's the grandfather of the Grimdark genre, where Vietnam vets meet flying carpets, the Black Company. Duncan has already enjoyed the entire series, and is understandably nervous after Geordie's round rejection of The Straight Razor Cure that Geordie will lay into this classic as well. He should have no fear. They have an excellent (mostly) spoiler-free discussion of its savage tone, the influence of Cook's military career, and the way the book mingles darkness with comradery.
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Season 4Ep. 3
For years Duncan has been biding his time. After The Gutter's Prayer threatened to tear the podcast apart from Geordie's vitriol, Duncan has once again summoned the courage to make him read a Noir Urban Fantasy Mystery novel in The Straight Razor Cure (also known as Low Town) by Daniel Polanski. Have the years mellowed Geordie's anger? Or will this episode once again threaten to destroy them both through the power of cringe?
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Season 4Ep. 2
The fellas kick off their 3rd year of the podcast with a long awaited story. The Witcher: The Last Wish, by Andrzej Sapkowski. They cover its dark take on familiar fairy tales, how it compares to its many adaptations, misogyny, and accucastions of plagarism.
Jan 25, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Season 4Ep. 1
What a year, and what a closer. The fellas gather together to celebrate the year that has been and look forward to the one coming. As with every year, they're examining the highs and lows of all the books they've covered in 2024, and awarding books the following categories: The Biggest Surprise, the Biggest Disappointment, their Favourite, the Worst, and the greatest reward of all: the Best book of 2024. Join in on the celebration and see if you can guess who will come out on top!...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 27
In their final episode of 2024, the fellas tackle their third, and perhaps final, tangentially-related Christmas book with Miye Lee's Dallergut Dream Department store. And despite the winter weather, things are heating up. With Duncan praising the book's easy, fluffy tone, and Geordie savaging the book's prose and glacial pacing. Who will triumph in the debate?
Dec 27, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 3Ep. 26
The long awaited and long delayed episode on Priory of the Orange Tree. Duncan and Geordie come together to discuss this modern fantasy classic by Samantha Shannon. But Duncan has a secret to share. This time he has fallen short on finishing this novel and Geordie is left to take him through the ending and give his opinions and insight. As Duncan is left to makes wild and inaccurate predictions on how things ended.
Dec 15, 2024•1 hr 34 min•Season 3Ep. 25
And so, as the year's end approaches, Duncan and Geordie put the wrap on Joe Abercrombie's second trilogy within his First Law series with Red Country. Its the fellas' first encounter with the Fantasy0-Western subgenre, But there are no wizards with sombreros here. Its a little Fist Full of Dollars, a little Deadwood, a lot of True Grit and The Searchers, but with some brooding, evil Northmen and the triumphant return of Nicomo Cosca. No surprise, they love it, and this episode's a good one....
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 34 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Lost in a Dublin archive for 150 years, the fellas are excited to be among the first to read, rate and review it. Geordie recounts the amazing story of its discovery, as well as some of its.... slightly overenthusiastic scholarly appraisal. Duncan gives a slightly scathing takedown of both Gibbet Hill and Dracula, whilst Geordie tries to comprehend some truly archaic xenophobia.
Nov 09, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 23
At long last, it's time for Duncan and Geordie to visit the book series from one of their favourite episodes, the sequel to The Worm and His Kings: Even the Worm Will Turn. Things gets quantum-ey and timey-wimeyesque as the fellas follow on from a book Geordie was astounded to discover has a sequel. It's certainly the most audacious sequel to any book they've read so far. Will it stick the landing? The fellas discuss the story's amazing dual-narrative, the what-ifs of life, take a digression to ...
Oct 27, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Following tradition, its time to kick off spooky season with our annual Berserk episode. Following on from The Conviction Arc the fellas head into the first part of The Millenium Falcon Arc: Holy Evil War Chapter, (vol. 22-27). Geordie introduces Duncan to new characters in what is probably the biggest change to the status quo of Berserk outside of the Eclipse, Schierke, high fantasy magic, the berserker armour and the introduction of new friends for both Guts and Griffith. They cover the hightl...
Oct 12, 2024•1 hr 38 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie was one of the fellas' all time favourite novels for the pod. Can its sequel, The Heroes, live up to its successes? Well to no one's surprise, it did. They discuss how much of the book can be enjoyed even with Geordie's limited knowledge of the series and characters. Geordie tries to deduce who exactly "The Bloody Nine" is from context clues, whilst Duncan gives Geordie a crash-course on the series up to this point, and they dive into the amazing characters an...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 40 min•Season 3Ep. 20
By the advice of our lawyers and other sensible people, we do not endorse the "Is This Just Fantasy Last Unicorn Drinking Game," wherein players take a shot every time Duncan and Geordie describe this novel as "beautiful." You have been warned. Yes, in this episode the fellas visit a classic of American fantasy, Peter S. Beagle's the Last Unicorn. A spell-binding fairy tale full of heart and humour. In addition to covering the story, they also cover Beagle's role in Ralph Bakshi's animated Lord ...
Sep 19, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Season 3Ep. 19
Robert E. Howard was a poor writer who died in tragedy; unknown. His creations, especially Conan of Cimmeria, destined to be forgotten. Until the vultures began to circle. Duncan leads Geordie on the incredible almost 100 year long story of how Conan was either stolen or rescued from obscurity by L. Sprague de Camp, and continued to be a figurehead of fantasy until today. Duncan chronicles the many, many writers who tried their hand at writing the barbarian, from books, to movies, to comics. Thi...
Sep 05, 2024•1 hr 40 min•Season 3Ep. 18
The fellas get together to discuss Brennan McClellan's cordite drenched debut, The Promise of Blood, the first book in the Powder Mage trilogy. The discuss some awesome action, fun characters and a promising beginning, as well as some... less than awesome, and even baffling parts. This episode's release was delayed, so apologies. We won't say whose fault it was, but it wasn't Duncan's.
Aug 20, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 3Ep. 17
Song of Achilles was tied for the pod's best book in the history of the podcast, so what will the fellas make of its... prequel? Sequel? Midquel? Madeline Miller's crazy collage of Greek Mythology through the hawkish eyes of Circe. It's a beautiful tale covering millennia of isolation, sadness, love, and more sadness. They compare the it against Song of Achilles, they argue over the pronunciation of Circe (Duncan wins), and for a change it's Duncan who's teaching Geordie about Greek Mythology....
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 34 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Before Geordie embarks on his trek through the wilds of Sweden, there to battle moose and attempt to order food using his very bad Swedish, the fellas settle in to wrap up their review of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. They cover Palpatine's revenge check-list, get important villain names wrong, and cloning logistics. Also how great The Last Command is.
Jul 13, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Season 3Ep. 15
The fellas cover the much anticipated finale to the Legacy of Orisha series by Tomi Adeyemi which began with the smash Children of Blood and Bone, They discuss how it measures up the the successes of the first book and the misses of the second. They cover conspicuous character absences and dropped themes, and an in-depth analysis on the author's differing approach to each book; Geordie brings up the Rise of Skywalker an unfortunate number of times, whilst Duncan schools him on Norse mythology in...
Jun 30, 2024•1 hr 48 min•Season 3Ep. 14
The fellas carry on their Star Wars Legends marathon with Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn. They discuss Leia actually being allowed to do things in this book, get annoyed at there being too many lightsaber colours, Geordie gets bent out of shape about the name: "Katana Fleet." Speaking of shapes, I hope you like nerds discussing the different alphabet themed Star Fighters, because they spend more time talking about those than Luke Skywalker.
Jun 27, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Much to Geordie's horror he has been compelled to read another Star Wars book. And worse yet... he likes it. The fellas review Timothy Zahn's continuation of the original Star Wars trilogy. They have their first encounter with iconic characters like Thrawn and Mara Jade, discuss wife-guy Han Solo, the significance of lightsaber colours, the presence of hot chocolate in the series, and Geordie vents his feelings on Star Wars fans.
Jun 13, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Season 3Ep. 12
The fellas journey across the desert to hunt a man in black and discuss the beginning of Stephen King's celebrated series: The Dark Tower. They cover their histories with King, uncover the surprising backstory behind the book's origin, discover a meta-twist neither of them saw coming, Geordie teaches Duncan about the Song of Roland, and they debate whether or not there was a goat-man in the book.
May 31, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Season 3Ep. 11
This is a fantasy novel, we promise, Duncan and Geordie gather round the northern hemisphere of Arrakis to discuss Frank Herbert's Science-Ficti,,, I mean Science-Fantasy epic, Dune. They discuss its astounding world building, its fascinating connection to real history, the intricacies of its world, spend an unusual amount of time talking about Brian Herbert, and discuss its incredible ending.
May 16, 2024•1 hr 43 min•Season 3Ep. 10
In the much anticipated follow-up to Empire of the Vampire, Geordie and Duncan get stuck into everything they love about it, and its a long book with a lot to love. They talk sincerity, big anime swords, massive retcons, twists, awesome art, difficult to pronounce Scottish names, and perhaps the funniest blunder in the podcast's history as Duncan completely misreads the ending of the book.
May 09, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Season 3Ep. 9
In a parallel world this ought to have been episode 3 of this podcast. In anticipation of reading Empire of the Damned, Geordie and Duncan,,, well, just Geordie actually, return to the dark world of Empire of the Vampire. Geordie catches Duncan back up on all the dramatic fights, the vampiric lore, the cool tattoos, and the slight overabundance of references to either Elric or the Last of Us.
Apr 18, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Over two years and (slightly over) 50 books under their belt, Duncan and Geordie revisit every fantasy novel fantasy novels they've read over the past two years, ranking them from the very lowest lows to the absolute bests of the genre. It gets contentious at times, tune in to hear Geordie call Duncan a heretic and find out what you should be reading this year. Thank you to everyone who's listened to the podcast, to the arguments and the laughs and the erroneous facts spat with a little too much...
Apr 04, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 7
