Podside Picnic

After a hectic opening to Spooky Season, at last . . . a chance to sit back, relax, and take good long swig from the sarcophagus juice!

Welcome to our first Graveside Picnic episode of the season! This time, Tai Black returns to talk about Cobweb (2023)

Multi-genre author, Matt Hughes joins us to talk about his career, his works of SFF in a Vancian groove, and his current projects. Be sure to check out his Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4687520

We watch the skies for a sign, and find it in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Do YOU want to believe?

Ashely Adams joins us again to talk Chainsaw Man. Anime, that is, not manga - mostly

We discuss Kelly Link's The Summer People, who aren't what we'd call your typical out-of-towners Read here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-86461

Hugo-nominated comic book artist, Wendy Xu joins us to talk about Tsui Hark's Green Snake (1993). Immortal snake devil sisters, sanctimonious monks, a hapless (and feckless) scholar make for an outstanding experience

As the year turns, so does our taste in reading. Join us in our read-along of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and remember: This land is all too shallow/It is painted on the sky/And trembles like wind-shook rain/When the Raven King goes by

This time, we talk about M. Rickert's Was She Wicked, Was She Good? and what the dangers of childhood innocence are, and what it costs when it's lost Read it here: https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/was-she-wicked-was-she-good/

We discuss the questionable merit and irrefutable weirdness of the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie. Finally, a film that asks: can working stiffs be heroes?

We get back together to chat what we've been enjoying over a few beers. Join us!

We bid you farewell, Fair Traveler, as we Discover at last the Great and Secret Knowledge of the House in the last parts of this Profound Book, so full of Charm!

Tripping balls, isolation tanks, asshole geniuses. No, this isn't the latest techbro cleanse, but the 1980 film, Altered States. Join us to answer, "to be, or not to be . . . monke"

We take a small detour from Piranesi to visit another labyrinth. This one was built by Jorge Luis Borges, for his own Favored Child way back in 1947. Be careful, though - Asterion's games of tag are killer

We talk about The Dungeonmaster (1984), aka Ragewar a movie that shows that we need not accept the Jock/Nerd binary, but accept that both can exist - in the form of onine warrior, X-CaliBR8

Aaron Thorpe returns for the Superman II theatrical and not the Donner cut, more's the pity.

Go Team Venture! The team gets back one last time to round out the multiple, intricate storylines in Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon's Heart Remember: this is not a good-bye, only a see you later

Welcome, Fair Traveler! We welcome you to the Majesty and Beauty of the House as we Discuss the first three parts of this Profound Book, so full of Charm!

In the grim darkness of the far future there is only one game we will be playing, and that's BOLTGUN. So, tune in, battle brother and get ready to purge chaos in the Emperor's name! Check out Jeff's WH40K webcomic, Reforged: https://www.warhammer-community.com/web-comics/

Be sure to have your favorite orange soda on hand before starting the show because this time, we discuss 1990's Joe Versus the Volcano - an modern fairy tale with parts that equal more than its sum.

As the year begins to turn, Podside does too. . . Get ready for another of our read-alongs, beginning with Susanna Clarke's Piranesi and moving on to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Join us as we explore!

There's a spectre haunting the club - a phantom, even. That's where we come in: to discuss Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974). Rock and roll, baybee! Read Chris's Blood Knife essay on Phantom of the Paradise: https://bloodknife.com/phantom-of-the-paradise/

Pete returns to talk about Matthew Hughes and his novella, The Helper and His Hero (collected in The Compleat Guth Bandar- see link below). Hughes draws on the fun of Vance's Dying Earth, but without the deep misanthropy. Check out Matthew Hughes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4687520 Read The Compleat Guth Bandar: https://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Guth-Bandar-Matthew-Hughes/dp/1927880262

Beyond 1984, beyond 2001, beyond love, beyond death: Zardoz. What else can we say about a movie bold enough to say, "the gun is good, the penis is evil"?

A rare St. Clair! We talk about one of Margaret St. Clair's short story, The Gardener, where any bureaucrat given sufficient rank will go mad with power and must be dealt with Read The Gardner (page 56): https://archive.org/details/ThrillingWonderStoriesV35N01194910/page/n55/mode/2up

Welcome to our episode. Only good vibes allowed. . . Don't harsh em, bro!

Returning champ and author of The Marigold returns, and brings horror author Nick Cutter with him to show us how to replace the seals on the hatches, and make other repairs to this old pod. Oh, they also talk about their forthcoming book, The Handyman Method. Pre-Order The Handyman Method: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-handyman-method/18899608?ean=9781982196714

It's that time again - time to unlock the next step in our journey through the Year of the New Sun. Just as you can't read a Gene Wolfe story, only re-read it, so we hope it goes with podcasts. Music by Loot the Body

The Culture War rages on as we discuss Iain M. Banks' Excession. And just like that, the Culture Peace has been declared (but may flare back up at any moment), so it pays to stay alert. Until the next Culture War breaks out, stay safe. . .

Aaron Thorpe of Everybody Loves Communism and the Trillbilly Worker's Party podcasts returns to talk about Krypton's Last Son and 1978's Superman: The Movie. You'll believe a man will podcast

Pete returns to talk a bit about the 2012 mumblecore zombie apocalypse movie, The Battery before (much like the movie) veering off to talk less about zombies and movies, and a bit more about StokerCon

Join us as we talk about Conan the Adventurer - specifically, The Serpent Riders of Set (S1E11) and Blood of My Blood (S2E21)

The Culture War rages on as we discuss Iain M. Banks' Excession. Ready for all hell to break loose - at the speed of light?

This episode we tackle Enemy Mine (1985), adapted from the award-winning 1979 novella by Barry Longyear. Find out what happens when two species stop being polite and start getting real

By Crom, it's an episode about Conan the Barbarian! In this one, we discuss the novella, The Scarlet Citadel.

Can lightning strike twice? Kind of. . .Jeremy Greathouse returns to talk about Mamoru Oshii's sequel to Ghost in the Shell, with all its murky philosophical musings and CGI

For today's episode, we talk about Puerto Rican author, Rosario Ferré's short story, The Youngest Doll. This one's got it all - if "all" means river-prawns, life-like dolls, and men acting horribly.

Sometimes they come back - hosts, that is. Pete returns to talk about the 2022's From, a program by Lost's executive producers and boy does it show. Join us for some smart commentary on dumb TV

It's that time again - time to unlock the next step in our journey through the Year of the New Sun. Just as you can't read a Gene Wolfe story, only re-read it, so we hope it goes with podcasts. Music by Loot the Body

This is it - the Platonic Ideal of a Beer Run. So, hunker down, crack a brew, and listen to us begin to talk about one thing. . . right before a voice from the past crashes the party

Stephen Mazur and Mattie Lewis return for M. Rickert's The Chambered Fruit(first printed in 2003, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction), a beautiful and tragic reimagining of the Demeter and Persephone myth. The Chambered Fruit has since been collected in M. Rickert's collection, You Have Never Been Here

The Culture War rages on as we discuss Iain M. Banks' Excession. Ready to find out how many more characters are introduced in this part?

Aaron and Carlee return to talk about Toys (1992), a very odd and at times oddly dark children's film. Permission to play, SIR!

Jeremy Greathouse drops by to talk about Mamoru Oshii's 1995 cult classic, Ghost in the Shell. What is consciousness? What if you had a smokin' hot cyborg body? What if ChatGPT heard what you call it when you think it's not listening? We try to answer these questions and more

We're joined once again by the raconteur of gaming and friend of the pod, Trevor Strunk, to talk about the LucasArts game Loom. Do you know how to beat the game? Don't worry, we'll hum a few bars so you can join in

It's that time again - time to unlock the next step in our journey through the Year of the New Sun. Just as you can't read a Gene Wolfe story, only re-read it, so we hope it goes with podcasts. Music by Loot the Body

The Culture War rages on as we discuss Iain M. Banks' Excession (Prologue and the first three parts). Ready to eavesdrop on all the Mind chatter?

Welcome back to Podside Radio! This time around, we talk about Daft Punk's visual companion to their 2001 Discovery album: Interstella 5555. Also, check out the music of Nujabes and Goblin

Speculative fiction's most dangerous woman joins us once again to talk about George Lucas' 1971 cult classic, THX 1138. Is a future where the emotional labor of jerking off is automated what the left wants?

A meeting of the Minds to gland some brews (externally, even - how barbaric!) and plan for our upcoming read-along, Excession. Eavesdrop on this M32-level chatter and await further orders!