A Meal of Thorns

I'm trying to set up short interviews for a series we're doing on @mealofthorns.bsky.social, and the reply rate has been weirdly, disappointingly low based on my prior experience & the request; starting to suspect AI spam is to blame.

Very cool 3% episode on Godzilla & Mothra moving across language, lots on obscured/revealed history & politics & gender

Critical Friends Episode 21: On Style Paul Kincaid and Dawn Macdonald join Dan Hartland to discuss style.

🚨 SOUND THE PODCAST KLAXON!

A new episode of Critical Friends has just arrived, fresh-faced, in your feeds. Paul Kincaid and @yukondawn.bsky.social talk to me about style: what is it, what place has it taken up in SFF, and why is it so fraught?

Come for Le Guin and Vonnegut, stay for police raids.

SFULTRA #39 - His Master's Voice - Stanislaw Lem | SFULTRA Get more from SFULTRA on Patreon

www.patreon.com/posts/151985... Today is the three year anniversary of SFULTRA. I appreciate all the support. Between the patreon and the public episodes, I've put out 300+ hours of show. Today I discuss a truly great work of SF: His Master's Voice by Stanisław Lem. Listen here now (pod places soon)

It's really quite something.

Writing my stupid little bullshit while a death cult sets the world on fire

After the dramatic destruction of the @horrorvanguard.bsky.social crypt, me and @rosegardenofeyes.bsky.social are taking to the road to find a new home for HV, join us for a special kind of horror movie road trip: on.soundcloud.com/Dbp5Q91aMAdP...

Tree-Based Horror: Nicholas Russell on Algernon Blackwood’s The Wendigo and Other Stories | Reading Writers

This episode of Reading Writers was fantastic, and reminded me that I need to read more of Lisa Tuttle's work. shows.acast.com/reading-writ...

It's time.

Colin, the comrade running the shelter-in-place food program I'm working at, told me that this week he's had to turn down asks from schools to supply food directly to their sheltering families. The reason? There's not enough money coming in for that amount of food.

Let's change that.

LGBT History Month is February in the UK, and I’m thrilled to see We The Parasites featured by its British publisher, @bhousepress.bsky.social!

I typically save A Meal of Thorns episodes to listen to--not b/c they're not a priority but for savoring. When one of my favorite novels & one of my favorite critics are matched on an episode, though?

I couldn't wait to listen. It's great. As Liz notes, it's a book that deserves an entire seminar.

A Meal of Thorns 44- PALADIN OF SOULS with Liz Bourke Reviewer and historian Liz Bourke joins to discuss religion, historical overlaps, and examinations of gender in Paladin of Souls and fantasy more generally. Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, a…

Look, I was on a podcast! ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/02/23/a...

@casella.bsky.social was kind enough to invite me on @mealofthorns.bsky.social to witter about Lois McMaster Bujold's Paladin of Souls with him. (Well, he was incisive: I may have wittered.)

Religion, character, gender roles, power: by taking them seriously, Bujold's PALADIN OF SOULS winds up doing something quite different from a lot of fantasy. @hawkwinglb.bsky.social joins to discuss for our latest episode, available wherever you get your podcasts!

Image of graffiti that reads "sous les podcasts, le tableur

prepping some exciting stuff

Laser accuracy here bsky.app/profile/bart...

Victorian Egyptomania! Gender-fluid bugs! Cults! And… lots and lots of transportation.

More Eden podcasting you say? OK! I love this film and I loved applying Agamben to it.

Also listen to Blood Work

I had the privilege of writing this tribute to Ricardo for Public Books. It’s hard to put into words the immense loss I feel as a scholar, friend, & someone whose thinking & life were shaped by his brilliance & generosity. This essay is my small offering of gratitude and love. XOXO, always. 💔

I'm fascinated by how that pairing affected the reading. Listening to Meal of Thorns has me thinking much more about reading things alongside each other or against the grain for a new experience, even with a familiar book. Looking at books less in isolation, more in contemplation & context.

I’m really looking forward to attending the inaugural TriCon in Halifax this year, & hope folk come out to it!

Michael Silverblatt, 'genius' host of KCRW literary show 'Bookworm,' dies at 73 Silverblatt’s 30-minute show, which ran from 1989 to 2022, included interviews with celebrated authors including Gore Vidal, Kazuo Ishiguro, David Foster Wallace, Susan Orlean, Joan Didion and Zadie Smith.

Michael Silverblatt, 'genius' host of KCRW literary show 'Bookworm,' dies at 73

The @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcast devoted a full episode to my new book FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISING, which will be published by @uminnpress.bsky.social very soon now! newbooksnetwork.com/fast-and-fur...

Help! I've lost my Arkenstone amid the space encompassed by the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image!

For new followers: re-upping this thread of AMOT's 2025 episodes!

Had a lot of fun chatting to @casella.bsky.social for the @mealofthorns.bsky.social podcast. Watch out in April for an episode on Ready Player One!

Like every week, but this week it's more obvious: it's a good time to read Greg Egan

Oh boy, Diaspora is a masterpiece of worldbuilding.

Listen to @mealofthorns.bsky.social

A picture of Alison with white hair, wearing a white dressing gown, and wielding a staff with a moose head. John and Liz flank her. She says “Behold! I am reborn as Alison the White!” John says “That’s a bit dramatic… it’s only a haircut” and Liz says “Pretty sure that’s a dressing gown… and are you standing on a box?” The words Octothorpe 153 are at the top.

Octothorpe 153 arrives! We discuss the best board games to play at school, and then we cover important topics such as whether yellow is “Pokémon-coloured” before discussing @smofcon43.bsky.social, Nuremberg 2028, and @dublin2029.bsky.social. Listen here! octothorpe.podbean.com/e/153-bowlin...

Paperback book on a desk. The cover of the book is a collage featuring a dark-skinned man wearing a reflective visor over his eyes and butterfly wings where his hair would be. Title of the book is Audiofuturism: Science Fiction Radio Drama and the Black Fantastic Imagination, author's name is andré m. carrington

Make a place for me on the Ark of Bones.
@fordhampress.bsky.social