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.
12.2: Semiosis post-read w/ Nate Spence: Budding Utopia or Mutualist Dystopia?
Things We Like March 2019: Podcasts, TV Shows, Music, and more
12.1: Semiosis pre-read w/ Nate Spence: Alaska, Survivalism, and Ecology in Science Fiction
11.2: Brown Girl in the Ring post-read w/ Mendez Hodes: Rituals, Fear, and Community in the Apocalypse
In Conversation: 2018 In Review
11.1: Brown Girl in the Ring pre-read w/ Mendez Hodes: The History of African Religion in Diaspora
10.2: Ten Billion Days & 100 Billion Nights post-read: Meditations on Death and Entropy
In Conversation: SF Movie Adaptations w/ Seth Heasley
10.1: Ten Billion Days & 100 Billion Nights pre-read: Disaster communities & transmission of ideas between cultures.
9.2: Rupetta post-read: Academic pursuits & feminist fantasy.
9.1: Rupetta pre-read w/ Charlotte Geater: Folk tales & feminist histories.
8.2: Children of Time post-read: Evolution, Language, Consciousness, and Empathy
8.1: The Children of Time pre-read: What is "Hard" Science Fiction?
Announcements: Adrian guest hosts a podcast + our November book
7.2: The Ballad of Black Tom post-read: When is it appropriate to destroy the world?
In Conversation: Books, Ebooks, & Audio Books; or, How Aesthetics Drive Reading Choices
7.1: The Ballad of Black Tom pre-read: Race & the History of Horror Fiction
6.2: Ninefox Gambit post-read w/ Ellie Bartels: Military Games in Science Fiction
Things We Like: September 18
6.1: Ninefox Gambit pre-read w/ Ellie Bartels: Strategy War Games in Science Fiction
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