We're back with the #content plants crave. Joining us this week is special guest Max Gladstone, SF & fantasy author extraordinaire. But he's not here to talk about his own work, the Craft Sequence, oh no. Max wanted to discuss the phenomenal, long, daunting, nuanced, and mysterious Gnomon, by estemed author in his own right Nick Harkaway.
The discussion this week is spoiler-free, and acts as an introduction to the book and the ideas in it. We had a long and wide-ranging conversation with Max about Nick Harkaway's literary background (his father is also a famous author), which other books of his we've read, and other books in the SF genre that are similar to Gnomon in some way. On the thematic side, we spoke about experimental & postmodern fiction, the surveillance state and it's effect on our lives, what calling something "social construct" actually means, what the leading cause of death in America is, how our phones act as magic items, and what it means to read a videogame.
In a few weeks, we'll have our "post-read" conversation, which will feature heavy spoilers as we discuss the book in-depth. Pick up the book (amzn.to/2MszFb4) and read it with us!
Some works that we mentioned in the podcast (our website, spectology.com, has the links if they don't show up in your podcatcher):
- Malka Older's Infomacracy
- Samuel Delany's Dhalgren
- David Markson's Wittgenstein's Mistress
- Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
- The Play Report of a D&D campaign Adrian ran
- The interview with Harkaway Adrian references
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
- Our previous episode with Tobias Buckell
- The Power Broker by Robert Caro
- David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest
- Not mentioned, but Adrian meant to: The Broken Earth by NK Jemisin
As always, we post these links and more at our twitter account, @spectologypod. We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter, sending us an email at spectologypod@gmail.com, or submitting the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podcast when we talk about your comment.
And if you like the episode, subscribe at spectology.com or whever you listen to podcasts, and share it with your friends!
Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our music and art.
Interview w/ the Hugo Administrator, Will Frank, on how & why to get involved with the Hugos
Announcement: Spectology "series finale" and the future of the podcast
28.2: Do You Dream of Terra-Two? post-read: Belief, Depression, and Courage in Sociological Hard SF
Digital Book Tour: Kathleen Jennings on Flyaway: Small Towns, Fairytales, and Linguistics
Digital Book Tour: Somaiya Daud on Mirage & Court of Lions: Body doubles, court politics, and historical science fantasy.
28.1: Do You Dream of Terra-Two pre-read w/ Bee & Estelle: Alternate History, Destiny, and Space Travel
27.2: The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull post-read w/ Lydia: Colonial Power in SF and Rural & Island Culture.
Digital Book Tour: WM Akers on Westside Saints, detective novels, RPGs, and sequels
Digital Book Tour: Nick Mamatas on Move Under Ground, a novel of Beat literary figures fighting Lovecraftian monsters
27.1: The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull pre-read w/ Lydia: Alien invasion and a history of capitalism & colonialism.
Digital Book Tour: Nino Cipri on Finna, a story of parallel universes as found in low-wage furniture stores
Digital Book Tour: SA Jones on The Fortress, a book about restorative justice inside an all-women society
26.2: The True Queen post-read w/ Reading the End: Inclusion in Historical Fantasy, Comfort Reads, Sisterhood, and more
Digital Book Tour: Melissa Caruso on The Obsidian Tower, a story of a young woman on the run from her own magical power
Digital Book Tour: Veronica Roth on Chosen Ones, a story of what happens after the "chosen ones" have saved the world
In Conversation: Our Favorite Underrated SF Movies, with Seth Heasley of the Hugo's There podcast
26.1: The True Queen pre-read w/ Reading the End: Historical Fantasy, Trash Birds, and Chaotic Quarantine Brain
Digital Book Tour: Laura Lam on Goldilocks, a scifi thriller where a group of women steal a spaceship to save humanity
Announcing the Digital Book Tour, hosted by Bee
25.2: The Tea Master & The Detective post-read w/ Julia Rios: Cozy Murder Mysteries in Space!
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