Conservative Conversation and Community
It’s been long enough, time to get back on that oar! Craig, Ryan, and Stephanie discuss chapters 1-55 of The Broken Eye, book 3 in Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer series. Lots of questions this time around: Are we spending enough time with our villains? Is “fake it ’til you make it” a real thing? What is the most touching of human gestures? Is Ryan a monster for not laughing at Craig’s best jokes? Listen and find out!
More Turns out that Utah, the home of the Legendarium, is the nerdiest place in America. To us, that just feels correct — nerdery is the water in which we fish swim here. But the real question today is why? So Craig and Kenn brought in the big guns: Krissie Holifield, from the I Am Salt Lake podcast. Together they talk religion, drugs, geography, and grasp at any other straw they can to explain why Utah is the ultimate home for nerds.
Check out the I Am Salt Lake podcast
More It’s a Dresdendum! Fear not, your pleas have not fallen on deaf ears. Todd and Kenn return to talk more Proven Guilty. After the previous episode, they (and the listeners shouting politely on Reddit) knew there was simply too much left unsaid. So they’re here to un-unsay it.
More Blue Team is back with another Dresden Files episode! Seems like they’re kicking them out faster than you can say “xenomorphic phobophage.” This time around, it’s book 8: Proven Guilty. In this installment, Harry’s dealing with happenings at SplatterCon!!!,Todd’s dealing with the weight of his own emotions (again), and the Blue Team’s dealing with the question of whether the Dresden Files has taken up too much real estate in their hearts.
More Do video game movies always suck? Maybe not. But they’re never actually good, either. Why is that? Craig and Kyle are joined by Adam Sherlock from Deep Dive Film School to spend, oh…maybe 5 minutes teasing out the answer to the question at hand, and 45 minutes just laughing about terrible video game movies.
Check out Sherlock’s show, Deep Dive Film School, in audio or video form.
More The Ladies of the Legendarium are back! And this time, Stephanie, Megan, and Kate are joined by Sara Hanks to discuss Michael Ende’s classic book, The Neverending Story. There’s laughing and crying, and a whole lot of love — old and new — for this particular book.
More Brent Weeks, bestselling author of the Lightbringer and Night Angel series, joins Craig and Ryan for another installment of the Author’s Shelf series. Brent chose The Odyssey, and actually apologizes for making the podcast look pretentious, as though Craig didn’t relish a bit of pretension. If you’re looking to learn something new about The Odyssey, you’re in luck! Because there are lots of other podcasts where you can do that. But if you’re looking for a fun, lighthearted discussion about it, then you’re in the right place.
Check out Brent’s website and purchase Brent’s latest book, The Burning White (and the other Lightbringer books too, if you haven’t)
More Two things to note about this episode: First, talking about a book like this without any spoilers has challenges, but those can be overcome. And second, turns out we’re not necessarily capable of overcoming said challenges. Oh well, it’s still fun to celebrate Weeks Week and the release of The Burning White. It’s the culmination of the Lightbringer series, which we’re in the middle of reviewing with full spoilers, but we thought we’d break in during release week of this one to give you a few thoughts and help you GET HYYYPE. Craig and Ryan discuss the book’s length, how much the author can come to the forefront before it gets distracting, and whether this was where the series should have ended.
More Weeks Week begins on Monday with the release of The Burning White, but we thought we’d get a jump on it by airing a few minutes of Brent Weeks spinning The Wheel of Tangents. Brent answers eight questions scientifically designed in a lab to help us get to know one of our favorite authors a little bit better. (Narrator: “There was, in fact, no lab.”) Enjoy!
More The book so nice, they discussed it twice! The Blue Team is back for a second conversation about Dead Beat, the seventh book in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series. Megan, Todd, and Kenn talk about what it means for Harry to have true friends; how characters have reminded each other of their value; and Craig pops in to tell the panel why he’s so thoroughly enjoying their Dresden episodes.
More Time travel, multiverse, cryosleep, wormholes, insect aliens, utopian and dystopian futures, and many more: Craig, Kenn, and Kyle shoot the breeze for a half hour about their favorite sci-fi tropes. Honestly, not much more to it than that, but it’s laying the foundation for the Blue Team to move back toward sci-fi very soon, with a series quasi-announcement that should have many listeners feeling excited.
More Blue Team is back with another discussion on The Dresden Files, this time on the seventh installment: Dead Beat. Kenn’s back with his recap, Megan somehow didn’t see the zombie dinosaur coming, and Todd wears horrifically tight pants. There’s a lot to get through in this one, so buckle up for … well, pretty much the same kind of Blue Team episode you’ve come to expect. You’ll just get another one later!
More How much can we — or should we — separate art from the artist? Which stories would end the fastest if the protagonist weren’t an idiot? What kind of music is best for reading? Craig, Kyle, and Todd take on these questions and more as they spin the Wheel of Tangents this week.
More Where do we draw the line between cynicism and credulity? Is the brand of psychopathy on display by Zymun recognizable in our lives? Are we letting our internal “Kip #2” win out over our internal “Kip#1”? Ryan, Craig, and Stephanie sit down to hash out the second half of The Blinding Knife, book 2 in the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks.
More Craig and Kyle spin the wheel! Today’s topics include the best way to consume books (audio vs e-reader vs dead trees); why Death of the Author is generally a stupid theory; and what they like to read outside of the sci-fi/fantasy genres.
More It’s a divisive entry in the Dresden Files: Blood Rites, Jim Butcher’s sixth installment in the series, apparently isn’t for everyone. So did our Blue Team enjoy it? Todd, Kenn, and Megan will get down and dirty in their discussion of the book whose plot revolves around problems on a porn set. Oh yeah, speaking of which: the plot of this book revolves around a porn set, thus the discussion during this episode revolves around a plot that revolves around a porn set. Driving in the car with your kids? Heads up. But if you’re ready to listen, it’ll be a fun discussion.
More Craig and Megan spin the Fantasy Wheel! We took several listener suggestions for topics and chose a few of them to speak about for a few minutes. Topics include: whether we can judge books objectively; fantasy speed dating; overused tropes; and our favorite antagonists.
More Which is the higher good, freedom or power? Is there any nuance to be had in a discussion of the evil of slavery? Are rich people just the worst? Today we’re talking through the first half of The Blinding Knife, the second book in Brent Weeks’s Lightbringer series. This episode is chock full of heavy stuff — and fun stuff! — to talk about, and we’ll get to … well, at least some of it.
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This episode will be best heard if you can see those works of Miranda’s that we reference, over at MirandaMeeks.com. Miranda is an artist whose work frequently graces the covers — and sometimes pages — of Brandon Sanderson’s books, as well as other novels. (Several prints adorn the walls of our studio, in fact.) Her style is at once dark, accessible, and unique, and on top of that she is a wonderful conversational partner. Listen in, I think you’ll enjoy this interview.
Get updates about Miranda’s forthcoming art book at http://nocturnebook.com
More Craig, Ryan, and Stephanie discuss the second half of Brent Weeks’s The Black Prism, book 1 in the Lightbringer series. After a long setup in the first half, we get a lot of interesting questions and moments to chew on. Why is this book titled The Black Prism? Is it actually awful that the Chromeria expects a high price from their ranks of drafters? What exactly is a turtle-bear? And Craig makes at least one bold prediction for the rest of the series.
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