Episode 154 - Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones

Triumphant griffin scream!! We’re back with Derk’s brood 8 years after the events of Dark Lord of Derkholm, and it’s his daughter Elda’s time to shine. She’s enrolled at the Wizards’ University alongside fellow oddball first years Felim, Olga, Lukin, Ruskin and Claudia, and they’re realizing there’s not much learning to be had there. When the inept chairman Corkoran, obsessed with flying to the moon and uninterested in all else, betrays their secret enrollment, the university is beset by assassins and concerned relatives. We discuss the lure of a magical pit, terrible admins, Giant Woman / Tiny Man romance, and why DWJ absolutely owns a Fantasy Romp. Join us!

Thanks to our many listeners who keep the DWJ request fires stoked.

Episode 153 - The Owl Service by Alan Garner

In lieu of a standard episode description, I will simply say: I spent the whole book expecting the “Owl Service” to be some kind of organized operation, perhaps to threaten outsiders or deliver pellets into enemies’ quarters. Only now, upon reflection, do I realize that it is a description of the set of plates. I am a fool and the owls are beyond me. They should be flowers, anyway.

This book defies description and we laughed, cried and wondered in reading it for the first time. Thank you, as always, for introducing us to magnificent books that we missed in our childhoods! This one’s for our listeners.

SIGNIFICANT pronunciation disclaimer. It would be painful to come off as disrespectful of the Welsh language and its folkore when we are actually pronunciation-challenged and (unfortunately) too American. Please know that we love learning more about the Mabinogion and can only improve from here!

EPISODE MEDIA

This was a very visual episode!

Our favorites of the many covers:

First edition

Midsommar-style

Photos from the Owl Service TV adaptation

Our family heirloom Aragorn poster

Episode 152 - Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney

Grab your blood cakes and head to Mother Malkin’s pit! It’s time to discuss Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney. As the seventh son of a seventh son, Tom is destined to become the Spook’s apprentice (at least according to his mom). He learns to trap boggarts under steel (just don’t get your fingers stuck!!) and imprison witches in barred pits - and makes friends like Alice, a girl with suspiciously pointy shoes, along the way. Grim, gross and fascinating, this is an apprenticeship like no other and we have so much to discuss. We are all witches, but are we good witches or bad witches? The Spook recommends putting us into pits just as a precaution. Join us!

EPISODE MEDIA

Season 6, episode 33 of Adventure Time - Jermaine - Hulu

Episode 151 - Terciel and Elinor by Garth Nix

We take our first step outside the Abhorsen trilogy to learn more about Terciel and Elinor, aka Papa and Mama Sabriel! Beautifully streamlined storytelling adds series background - the basics of Charter magic at Wyverly, historical Ancelstierre/Old Kingdom relations, an exceptional gender-swapped playwright named Charlotte Breakspear - while bringing Tercial and Elinor together and giving their lives true purpose. A perfect prequel!

Our other Old Kingdom episodes:

• Sabriel / Sabriel Redux

• Lirael

• Abhorsen

Episode 150 - The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

We loved this introduction to the Bartimaeus Trilogy! It’s taken us far too long to discover Jonathan Stroud’s work, and we’re now absolute Bartimaeus heads. We break down the appeal of Nathaniel and Bartimaeus’ alternating angry/gleeful perspectives, the burgeoning anticapitalist themes, and why history continues to repeat itself (spoiler humans are the worst). Grab your sassiest djinni footnotes and join us!