126 Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir — The Author-Reader Contract
Julia and Victoria marvel over the masterful point of view shifts and scream about the ending of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Victoria buys some lemonade.
125 Index, A History of the by Dennis Duncan — The Post Office of Words
This discussion of Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan is a big day for Victoria because it’s an episode all about her favorite thing ever: sorting things into categories. Julia is there to help translate the Middle English quotes.
124 One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston — Spec-Fic-Rom WooLaWoo
“Excuse me, sir, there’s some magic in this romance”: Julia and Victoria unpack Casey McQuiston’s sophomore novel, One Last Stop.
V&O: Fledgling by Octavia Butler – Ethical Vampirism
Julia and Victoria discuss the last vampire book of The Vampire & the Octopus series and then get very excited about two questions: Are there any ethical choices under vampirism? And, if so, are ethical vampires even interesting?
V&O: The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Naylor — Octopus Novels of the Future
Julia and Victoria read The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Naylor, a book about an island that is possibly mountainous and may be either in or on the sea, TBD. There are also incredible octopuses and monk robots and workers revolts and lots of long, cynical speeches about the supposed nature of humanity.
V&O: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Julia makes her case of why the creature in Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is NOT really a vampire, and Victoria makes a counterargument that it is actually the MOST vampire. They are both generally infuriated with everyone in this novel except Mrs. Green.
V&O: The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller — The Octopus in Captivity
Julia and Victoria read a pandemic book called The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller where the octopus is not the focus of the story, but is at the heart of the book’s major themes of captivity and embodiment. Victoria makes the ill-advised choice to revisit some of her early-pandemic journals.
V&O: Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda — Parenting Your Inner Baba Yaga
Julia and Victoria get very hungry talking about the trope-flipping, contemporary vampire novel Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda.
V&O: Sea Change by Gina Chung — Loneliness & Adaptation
Julia and Victoria discuss Sea Change by Gina Chung and how authors use the octopus to contemplate loneliness and change. They discover that life really is about the friends we made along the way in this first book of The Vampire & the Octopus series.
V&O: The Vampire in Storytelling, a Bite-Sized History
Victoria teaches Julia all about the origins, tropes, and metaphors of vampire lore. They discuss the origins of vampire stories in Slavic folklore, the Great Vampire Epidemic of the 18th century, the blood-sucking breakup novel Lord Byron’s “travel companion” wrote about him, and lament the loss of a key source for Victoria’s vampire-as-justice analysis that she lost when she closed all her tabs.
V&O: The Octopus in Literature, an Equal, Intelligent Other
Julia takes Victoria on a deep dive of octopus stories throughout time and space in this first episode of The Vampire & the Octopus series. We tackle questions like “Are octopus stories a form of colonizer horror?” and “What’s with all the octopus books coming out recently?” and “Why did the 19th century French think the octopus was the physical embodiment of hell?”
Bonus: Disability Humor & Creating in Community with Steven Verdile
Julia discusses disability, comedy, creativity, and treating people like people with Steven Verdile, the founder of the disability satire publication The Squeaky Wheel.
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