Nov 27, 2024

The holidays are here once again, and that means one thing: time to stock up on books to help you get cozy and distract yourself from the cold weather (and the state of the world.) Here's our annual roundup of some of our favorite reads — both fiction and non-fiction. Happy reading!

Nov 14, 2024

Lately, it feels as though a lot of fantasy books come in two kinds: cozy, or extremely dark. During a scary time in the world, we seek either comforting sweetness, or violent catharsis. To find out more, we talked to Nghi Vo, whose recent books include The City in Glass and The Brides of High Hill. Plus we talk about...

Oct 31, 2024

We're taking a cozy, autumnal trip back in time to "peak television," when animation was truly feral and we had shows like "Over the Garden Wall." We'll talk about this otherworldly tale of singing frogs, sibling rivalry, and nice witches, as well as the ways that animation has changed since the mid-teens. Plus we...

Oct 17, 2024

Science fiction and fantasy are full of wondrous libraries containing everything from powerful artifacts to some dang good reads. How does the idealized view of libraries in speculative fiction compare with the real-life libraries, which are under attack by would-be censors and culture warriors? Also, we talk...

Oct 3, 2024

It's time for some writing advice! We talk about how to raise the stakes in a story without wrecking it. What exactly do we mean by "stakes," anyway, and does raising them always involve some kind of plot twist? Later in the episode we talk to the creators and musicians behind the blog Women of Noise to learn more about...