Preorder the book here (Amazon Link, no we aren't affiliates we just liked the book) Preorder the ebook here (Non-Amazon Link) A quick spoiler free review of "The Curse of King Midas" and then our chat with Colleen HERSELF about this book and a little bit about writing and writing advice in general. From Colleen's website: THE CURSE OF KING MIDAS IS REAL. In the ancient kingdom of Phrygia, tribal boy Karem Savas thirsts for revenge against King Sargon II, the man who killed his mother and kidnap...
May 24, 2024•39 min•Ep. 148
Matt and Rachel discuss the movie adaptation of Pierre Boulle's classic novel. What did they get right? What didn't they? Do we think this is a rare case of the movie being better than the book? Listen and find out! There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitting down with girl friends to chat about hot book boyfriends but in podcast format! Listen now at F...
May 17, 2024•45 min•Ep. 147
On this month's Book episode: "Planet of the Apes" by Pierre Boulle is a science fiction novel that tells the story of a group of astronauts who land on a distant planet where intelligent apes are the dominant species and humans are primitive and mute. The protagonist, Ulysse Mérou, along with two other astronauts, find themselves captured by the apes and treated as experimental subjects. As Ulysse navigates this strange society, he forms bonds with some of the apes, including the sympathetic ch...
May 03, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 146
Matt and Rachel discuss the short(ish) but awesome fantasy epic, "Godkiller" by Hanah Kaner. Refreshing change from 900 page mega-epics that are half filler with a novel that packs 900 pages of story into a third the size. With ten times as much representation as any other book we've read. Get it, read it. You'll love it. There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's ...
Mar 28, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 145
"Anguish" is a 1987 horror film directed by Bigas Luna. The movie revolves around a mentally unstable mother, who hypnotizes her son John to commit murder and harvest eyes for her collection. The mother is portrayed as a controlling and manipulative figure, and John becomes increasingly disturbed as he struggles with his mother's influence. The film explores themes of psychological manipulation, the blurred lines between reality and illusion, and the consequences of unchecked obsession. As the s...
Mar 22, 2024•48 min•Ep. 144
I absolutely adored this book. I thought the concept was interesting, the execution was flawless, and the journey that Alex goes on was heart-breaking, inspiring, and believable. The conceit of time-travel is not new but the way that James Goodhand shapes it in this novel made it feel seamlessly fresh and integral to the story rather than a plot device to make an otherwise boring world intriguing. The main character, Alex, is living his life out of order and must unpack each day to put together ...
Mar 15, 2024•39 min•Ep. 142
The 2002 film "Solaris" is a psychological science fiction drama directed by Steven Soderbergh, based on the novel of the same name by Stanisław Lem. The movie stars George Clooney as Dr. Chris Kelvin, a psychologist sent to a space station orbiting the mysterious planet Solaris. Upon arrival, Kelvin encounters strange phenomena, including the appearance of his deceased wife, Rheya, played by Natascha McElhone. As Kelvin grapples with his own guilt and grief over Rheya's death, he confronts the ...
Mar 08, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 141
We finally did it. After over a dozen episodes of Dune content, we made it to the epic release of Denis's Dune: Part 2! What did we think? Did we like it? Was it worth all the time and hype? Is one of Tim's legs shorter than the other? Trust Strange and Beautiful to ask the truly important questions around here. There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitti...
Mar 06, 2024•44 min•Ep. 143
"Solaris" is a 1972 Soviet science fiction film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, based on the novel of the same name by Stanisław Lem. The film follows psychologist Kris Kelvin, played by Donatas Banionis, who travels to a space station orbiting the mysterious planet Solaris. There, he encounters strange phenomena that seem to be manifestations of his own memories and desires. As Kelvin delves deeper into the mysteries of Solaris, he grapples with questions of identity, love, and the nature of real...
Mar 01, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 140
A book recommendation from Rachel and Matt! The Unknown Best: Book 1 by Matt Wilkening! Get it here! Do you have problems? Good. Michael Malbon doesn’t, and he hates it. His supernatural synesthesia confuses smell with normative information, so Mike always knows what to do to produce the best outcome despite not even knowing what the best outcome is. But success is a paradise, and a paradise which one cannot leave is a prison. So when Mike finds himself mysteriously thrust into a war-ravaged far...
Feb 27, 2024•25 min•Ep. 139
Rachel and Matt discuss the novel "Solaris" by Stanislaw Lem which has been adapted into film twice (episodes incoming!) was it an easier read than Star Maker? Did we think this author was also on some really good hallucinogens? You'll find out! There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitting down with girl friends to chat about hot book boyfriends but in p...
Feb 27, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 138
Rachel and Matt mostly talk about "Radius" from 2017 but also sort of talk about a lot of unrelated stuff too. From Wikipedia: Radius is a 2017 Canadian science fiction thriller film directed and written by Caroline Labrèche and Steeve Léonard. It stars Diego Klattenhoff , Charlotte Sullivan , and Brett Donahue. Klattenhoff and Sullivan play two survivors of a car accident who discover that one causes the death of anyone who comes within a certain radius of him, and the other has the ability to ...
Feb 23, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 137
"Dune - Part 1" directed by Denis Villeneuve is an epic science fiction film based on the novel of the same name by Frank Herbert. Set in a distant future where noble houses control planets and a valuable resource called "spice" is mined on the desert planet Arrakis, the story follows Paul Atreides, the young heir of House Atreides, as his family assumes control of Arrakis. As Paul learns about the political intrigue surrounding Arrakis and the indigenous people known as the Fremen, he discovers...
Feb 16, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 136
The first in our informally themed February episodes where we talk about love and monsters and how sometimes, enjoying a movie that isn't afraid to be wholly romantic (even with the zombies) is exactly what you need. We watched and loved this Zombie movie with heart, Warm Bodies, which was originally released in 2013 and stares Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer. ... There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and ever...
Feb 09, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 135
Another installment in our Dune Deep Dive series. We chat about the third episode of the 2003 Children of Dune miniseries which covers the events of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. Fanning out about Alec Newman (Truly the superior Paul Atreides from all the adaptations) and the music which is basically the soundtrack of my high school years. Find the "Dark Shadows" reboot here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETBpUCVYz_s&themeRefresh=1 Until next time friends! Rachel .... There's more fro...
Feb 02, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 133
May we all one day experience whatever chemically induced metaphysical journey Olaf went on in preparation for writing this book. Possibly while writing this book (as we surmise in the episode). Truly a unique, completely wild work of scientific speculation that must have been an absolute revolution in it's day. This is no pulp "Damsel in Space" drama like other 1930's science fiction. This is an epic journey beyond the bounds of human space, mortal consciousness, and all conceivable dimensions....
Jan 30, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 134
Another installment in our Dune Deep Dive series. We chat about the second episode of the 2003 Children of Dune miniseries which covers the events of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. Fanning out about Alec Newman (Truly the superior Paul Atreides from all the adaptations) and the music which is basically the soundtrack of my high school years. .... Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitting down with g...
Jan 26, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 132
Another installment in our Dune Deep Dive series. We chat about the first episode of the 2003 Children of Dune miniseries which covers the events of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. Fanning out about Alec Newman (Truly the superior Paul Atreides from all the adaptations) and the music which is basically the soundtrack of my high school years. .... There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in betwee...
Jan 18, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 131
The next installment in our long form Dune series. In this episode we discuss the sequel to Dune Messiah, Dune: Children of Dune. If you've heard it's no bueno and to just stop at Dune, don't listen to that noise. Frank Herbert wrote parts of Messiah and Children of Dune before he ever wrote the first book. You can't understand Dune completely unless you understand that the first three books are really a play in three acts. There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, K...
Jan 12, 2024•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 130
The last and driest movie in our vampire tour of 1979, Vlad Tepes. The Communist propaganda version of the Vlad Dracula story. Also a little red thread moment as Rachel spirals into a comparison of all the movies we've watched so far and the original Dracula story. There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitting down with girl friends to chat about hot book...
Jan 05, 2024•40 min•Ep. 129
We discuss the short story collection by Amber Sparks entitled: "The Unfinished World" Did Matt learn to love short stories? Listen to find out! There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitting down with girl friends to chat about hot book boyfriends but in podcast format! Listen now at Feast, Sheath, Shatter: A Book Chat Podcast Love Movies, TV Shows and Bo...
Jan 03, 2024•46 min•Ep. 128
We had a lovely chat with Dr. George Paxinos about his one (and only) fiction novel after a career of writing for scientific publication. Professor George Paxinos is the scientist who mapped the brain of humans and the principal experimental animals. He studied at Berkeley, McGill and Yale and was a visiting scientist at Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford and UCLA. As brain cartographers before him, he publishes his work principally in books, 57 in his case. His first, The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic Coor...
Dec 29, 2023•50 min•Ep. 127
Arguably one of the most popular vampire offerings of 1979. We discuss the Stephen King miniseries adaptation of Salem's Lot that was released in 1979. There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitting down with girl friends to chat about hot book boyfriends but in podcast format! Listen now at Feast, Sheath, Shatter: A Book Chat Podcast Love Movies, TV Shows...
Dec 23, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 126
"The descendant of Elizabeth Bathory is abducted by a cult of blood-drinking, self-proclaimed supermen who want her to join them." We review the 1979 "Ozploitation" film, Thirst . Another 1979 Vampire offering and THIS time it's not DRACULA! WHO KNEW? This movie is worth a watch even if it's just for the vampire street cred. We didn't hate it but I'm sure in 1979 we would have loved it. (See our rant about survivorship bias) There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, ...
Dec 15, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 125
Another week, another Dracula adaptation. This time with nudity! So. Much. Nudity. A descendant of the famous vampire gets a job as a photographer shooting beautiful fashion models at the family estate. Being around so much naked and semi-naked flesh has the expected effect on him." There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitting down with girl friends to c...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 124
We chat about this movie (?), Nocturna (1979) and the truly 70's nature of ubiquitous nudity and how survivorship bias affects how we view movies from decades long past. "Dracula's granddaughter falls in love with a disco guitarist and runs away to New York City with him." *** There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitting down with girl friends to chat ab...
Dec 01, 2023•58 min•Ep. 123
We have an awesome chat with Author/Biologist/Experimental Agriculturalist - Haldane B. Doyle about biology based scifi novel (Collection of 4 novellas) - "Our Vitreous Womb" Find more about him on his website here: https://haldanebdoyle.com/ Within the smallest continent a boundless world is born… Thirty thousand years ago the machine age consumed the world. The only remaining resource was biology. Now, the battle for the Earth is ongoing. Slave empires rule the largest continents -- bastions o...
Dec 01, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 122
Matt and I chat about the "High Fantasy Heist" book - "The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn" by Tyler Whitesides. Did we love it or feel underwhelmed? Did we find ourselves questioning what makes a heist book? Listen to find out! Find Storygraph here: https://www.thestorygraph.com/ Synopsis: " Master con artist Ardor Benn and his crew of intrepid thieves are hired to pull off a series of wildly complex heists, from stealing a crown to saving the world, in this daring fantasy adventure. Ardor Benn i...
Nov 29, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 121
Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of the original silent film classic, Nosferatu. Honestly, 11,000 rats. 11,000 rats were used in making this movie and I don't think any other information describes the experience quite as accurately. There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitting down with girl friends to chat about hot book boyfriends but in podcast format! Lis...
Nov 26, 2023•55 min•Ep. 120
The second of 8 vampire movies released in 1979 which I'm going to tentatively call the "year of the disco vampire". This movie was fun, punchy, packed with pop culture references and some really dated lines that we loved anyways. Well worth a watch! There's more from the Strange and Beautiful Network! Listen to Rachel, Kate, and Hannah discuss spicy books, serious books, and everything in between (but mostly spicy!). It's like sitting down with girl friends to chat about hot book boyfriends but...
Nov 17, 2023•53 min•Ep. 119
