Podside Picnic

Welcome to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters XXI - XXV of The Claw of the Conciliator. Listen in as we talk about Severian's journey beyond the gates of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord. Music by Loot the Body

You've read the Jack Chick Tract, now watch the movie! We get together to discuss Dark Dungeons (2014), a film that dares to explore the dangerous, and often lethal, world of role playing games

We talk to Magic Spot (2022) creator Matt Farley about his inspirations and process for making his Motern-verse a reality.

We get back together to take accountability for our Nebula Award predictions and discuss the available stories in the novelette category.

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

Welcome to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters XVI - XX of The Claw of the Conciliator. Listen in as we talk about Severian's journey beyond the gates of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord. Music by Loot the Body

We read and discuss the novelette Pump Six (2008) by Paolo Bacigalupi, a tragicomic story about the heroism of lowly public employees

We get together to knock a few back, talk about some stuff we've been enjoying and then Pete dropped the hammer by asking us about the worst crap books we'd read. Cheers!

We discuss Ray Bradbury's The Veldt (first published in 1950 in The Saturday Evening Post) for this episode. What's a great addition to the House of Tomorrow? Why, the Nursery of Tomorrow, complete with a very realistic holodeck function! Nothing ominous about that. . .

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

Welcome to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters XI - XV of The Claw of the Conciliator. Listen in as we talk about Severian's journey beyond the gates of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord. Music by Loot the Body

Our final Ani-May-tion Month entry is enigmatic and baroque Angel's Egg (1985). Kurt crashes the episode halfway through to preach the gospel of "vibes only, egg empty"

For our last Ani-May-tion Month premium episode, we check out the suis generis hybrid real-life and cel animation Who Framed Roger Rabbit? P-p-p-please give it a listen!

Our next Ani-May-tion Month entry's Empress of Darkness (2020). What's a guy to do when his Empress is slain and the world's cursed with unending darkness? Break out of his imprisonment and try to win his enemies over with the power of HUGS

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

Welcome to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters VI - X of The Claw of the Conciliator. Listen in as we talk about Severian's journey beyond the gates of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord. Music by Loot the Body

For our next Ani-May-tion month episode, we're joined by the Directors of The Spine of Night, Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King to discuss the process of bringing their psychedelic and cosmic horror fantasy feature to the screen.

Our next entry for Ani-May-tion Month is 2021's The Spine of Night. Psychedelic, gritty, weird - and once again for Podside, a special flower becomes very important to the plot.

Ani-May-tion Month continues as we delve into 2003's Animatrix, and the vast potential of The Matrix as a frame for many stories.

To celebrate Gene Wolfe's birthday, we've decided to unlock our second episode of our read-along of The Shadow of the Torturer a day early! 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

Welcome to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters I - V of The Claw of the Conciliator. Listen in as we talk about Severian's journey beyond the gates of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord. Music by Loot the Body

May the 4th be with you on this bonus Ani-May-tion Month episode. Join us in our discussion of the Star Wars: Visions anime-inspired anthology.

For our first entry of Ani-May-tion Month, we dive into 1983's Rock & Rule. Post-apocalyptic furries and rock and roll? Absolutely. Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry and Earth, Wind and Fire? Yes, yes and again yes. Join us on our journey from Ohmtown to Nuke York and back again.

Join us as we talk about an introspective take on the zombie apocalypse film, and why it became one of Pete's comfort watches at the beginning of the pandemic.

For our The Shadow of the Torturer post-mortem, Jeremy Greathouse returns to talk about his own experiences reading Gene Wolfe.

We've followed Severian from one gate to another, and now we're unlocking our first episode of the read-along in praise to the new Autarch (whose every word is like honey dripped from his lips). 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

Welcome to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters XXVI - XXXV of Shadow of the Torturer. Listen to us talk about Severian's journey through the ancient city-state of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord. Music by Loot the Body

Jeremy Greathouse returns to talk about the Amazon Wheel of Time adaptation, and compare what the show gets right, and what's better in the book. Read Jeremy's novel: https://www.gollancz.co.uk/titles/j-t-greathouse/the-hand-of-the-sun-king/9781473232891/

We talk about the 2010 dark fantasy Norwegian film, Troll Hunter. Join us for troll folklore, bureaucratic frustrations and scenic vistas of the fjords.

Kurt, Chris and Mattie Lewis join us for the 2021 Nebula Award short fiction nominations, beverages in hand. Listen for our favorites and who we think should win (versus who will likely win)

Welcome to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters XXI - XXVI of Shadow of the Torturer. Listen to us talk about Severian's journey through the ancient city-state of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord. Music by Loot the Body

Jeremy Greathouse returns to talk about the Amazon Wheel of Time adaptation, and compare what the show gets right, and what's better in the book. Read Jeremy's novel: https://www.gollancz.co.uk/titles/j-t-greathouse/the-hand-of-the-sun-king/9781473232891/

We watched the first three episodes of the Dungeons & Dragons (1983 - 1985) animated show and chat about whether the show popularized the game or not.

Time for another Beer Run! This time, we talk a bit about the recent Critical Role show, The Legend of Vox Machina before we move onto other things we've been reading and watching that we like.

Welcome to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters XVI - XX of Shadow of the Torturer. Listen to us talk about Severian's journey through the ancient city-state of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord. Music by Loot the Body

Trevor returns to The Lands Between to talk some Elden Ring with us. Join us in comparing FromSoftware's new open world game with: Dark Souls 2, Breath of the Wild, Lord of the Rings and Weird Fiction. Check out Trevor's book: https://bookshop.org/books/story-mode-video-games-and-the-interplay-between-consoles-and-culture/9781633886803 Read Blood Knife: https://bloodknife.com/ Listen to Parents Just Don't Understand: https://soundcloud.com/parentspodcast

Pete and Chris come back to talk about the 2015 film He Never Died. We talk about Henry Rollins, and how apt he is for his role as a professional a-hole who just so happens to be immortal.

Jeremy Greathouse returns to talk about the Amazon Wheel of Time adaptation, and compare what the show gets right, and what's better in the book. Read Jeremy's novel: https://www.gollancz.co.uk/titles/j-t-greathouse/the-hand-of-the-sun-king/9781473232891/

Welcome back to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters XI - XV of Shadow of the Torturer. Listen to us talk about Severian's journey through the ancient city-state of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord. Music by Loot the Body

Pete interviews an author Podsiders might know - Karlo Yeager Rodriguez - about his new story, Vanishing. We talk about inspirations and the purpose of folklore and myth and how that ties in with this short story. (Note: Karlo mispronounced "tumbril" which isn't - not even in the original French - pronounced "turmbull" - be sure to point and laugh at him) Read the story: https://www.seizethepress.com/2022/02/07/vanishing/

We discuss the cult fantasy classic Dragonslayer, and its dubious protagonist. Check out why the kingdom of Urland is neoliberal centuries before it existed.

Sean Patrick Hazlett returns with his Weird World War IV. We discuss some of the stories in the anthology that stood out to us and much more. Order Sean's anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Weird-World-Sean-Patrick-Hazlett-ebook/dp/B09QXX2BLX/ref=sr_1_1 Check out Sean's interview series: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF_cN6S0iHTM8qEjHfjf15g

Welcome to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters VI - X of Shadow of the Torturer. Listen to us talk about Severian's journey through the ancient city-state of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord.

Jeremy Greathouse returns to talk about the Amazon Wheel of Time adaptation, and compare what the show gets right, and what's better in the book. Read Jeremy's novel: https://www.gollancz.co.uk/titles/j-t-greathouse/the-hand-of-the-sun-king/9781473232891/

The gang's all here, and we're talking anime - specifically, the 1995 anthology Memories (Magnetic Rose, Stink Bomb and Cannon Fodder). Join us as we talk about the good, the weird and . . . the stinky.

In his continuing mission to get us to read more Walter John Williams, Pete got us together to talk about 1987's Dinosaurs. Is the story political? Does Ambassador Drill have an ideology? Will there be peace between humanity and the Shar? We have thoughts. . .

Welcome to the Year of the New Sun! Join us in our read-along of chapters I - V of Shadow of the Torturer. Listen to us talk about Severian's journey through the ancient city-state of Nessus, and continue the discussion by joining our Podside Picnic discord. Music by Loot the Body (https://soundcloud.com/loot-the-body)

Mattie Lewis of The Podhand returns to talk about Ekaterina Sedia's 2008 novel, The Alchemy of Stone. Listen in as we talk about a completely different Mattie, and her struggles to be recognized as human Check out The Podhand: https://player.fm/series/the-podhand

Kurt and Chris return to talk about Equilibrium (2002), so get ready for gun katas, tetragrammaton clerics, and Christian Bale who emotes solely through his jaw. Is Equilibrium part of the Dumb Guy Canon? Listen in and find out. Check out Parents Just Don't Understand: https://soundcloud.com/parentspodcast Read Blood Knife: http://bloodknife.com/

The editors of Pseudopod visit Podside to warn us not to say their podcast's name three times in a mirror. Stories Championed From the Slush: Kavar the Rat https://pseudopod.org/2011/09/30/pseudopod-249-kavar-the-rat/ Looker https://pseudopod.org/2011/09/16/pseudopod-247-looker/ Hometown Horrible https://pseudopod.org/2009/07/24/pseudopod-152-hometown-horrible/ Stories that made us want to join the PseudoPod Exit Exam, Section III: Survival Skills, Question #7 https://pseudopod.org/2009/05/08/pseudopod-141-flash-on-the-borderlands-i/ The Jamcoi https://pseudopod.org/2017/11/23/pseudopod-570-jamcoi/ Narrator Really Elevated the Prose The Coven of Dead Girls https://pseudopod.org/2019/06/07/pseudopod-651-coven-of-dead-girls/ A Visit to the Catacombs of Via Altamonvecchi https://pseudopod.org/2018/08/17/pp-608-visit-to-the-catacombs/ Closet Dreams https://pseudopod.org/2021/11/19/pseudopod-785-closet-dreams/ Stories That Gave Us Nightmares The Screwfly Solution https://pseudopod.org/2014/08/22/pseudopod-400-the-screwfly-solution/