Lez Geek Out!cast

Andi and Lise discuss and deeply appreciate multiple award-winning spec fic writer Nicola Griffith's novel Spear (current Nebula finalist!)—a queer Arthurian story that will bring you right into the era from a perspective you didn't know you absolutely needed. If, like them, you grew up on Arthurian/Camelot stories, Spear is like coming home to the people you wanted and needed to see in those tales.  Nicola Griffith's website HERE.  Info about Spear HERE.  List of this year's Nebula finalists HERE.  Shout-outs: Lise started watching the Netflix series Lockwood and Co., about teen ghosthunters/ghost battlers in a Britain overrun by spirits that can kill with a touch. Adapted from the first two books in the Lockwood and Co. series by Jonathan Stroud. Andi shouts-out the ol' skool show Forensic Files which she's watching on Hulu. The episodes are about 22 minutes long without commercials, and she's ended up learning a lot and making it a family affair.  We're still hanging in there on Twitter: @LGOPodcast, @andimarquette, @LiseMacTague.  You can also find Andi and Lise on Instagram, posting fun photos, same handles: @andimarquette, @LiseMacTague  LGO is available on tons of platforms; please like and subscribe. It helps! Thanks! 

Andi and Lise jumped into the current zeitgeist and watched the first episode of the first season of The Last of Us on HBO Max, the TV series adapted from the video game of the same name (by Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment, released in 2013). The storyline involves a post-apocalyptic U.S. in which survivors live in totalitarian walled cities while a fungus-ravaged world (Cordyceps, in case you wondered which fungus) outside the walls infects humans, who prey on the non-infected. Joel (Pedro Pascal), a survivor who engages in black market smuggling in Boston, is tasked with taking teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the U.S. Gripping, intense, brutal. But the story-telling is amazing. So…one and done? One and fun? Or One and One More? Find out!  The Last of Us trailer HERE.  Find it on HBO Max. Official website HERE.  Shout-outs: Lise is trying to avoid Twitter, which is an even worse hellscape now, so she put an app to play Sudoku on her phone, which provides a nice respite during the day and doesn't generate anxiety. Andi is finding fluffy niceness in the cozy mystery series on BritBox, Shakespeare and Hathaway, which follows a couple of mis-matched private investigators in Stratford-upon-Avon. More info HERE; watch on Acorn (DVD), BritBox, and Amazon Prime (S1).  Even on the Twitter hellscape, find us @LGOpodcast, @andimarquette, and @LiseMactague. Also find Andi and Lise on Instagram and Facebook, same handles.  Please like and subscribe so we can expand our content! Thanks! 

Lise is laid up this week and can't get the latest episode edited and uploaded. While she recovers, please enjoy this conversation with Karin Kallmaker.

Andi and Lise watched the 1986 film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the whale movie!) to determine if it holds up after all these years. Here, the Star Trek crew has to save Earth from destruction by an alien probe. To do that, they need…whales. Trust us on this! It's a great plot device! Unfortunately, whales have been extinct for centuries. So the crew devises a way to go back in time to late 20th-century Earth to find whales to save the Earth of the future. Does it hold up? Listen and find out!  Also note the tribute to the crew of the space shuttle Challenger at the beginning of the film. Challenger exploded January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew members. Star Trek IV premiered in theaters November 26, 1986. More on the tribute at THIS LINK.  Star Trek IV original trailer HERE.  Shout-outs: Lise actually  has a HALP shout-out—she's working on a project and would like recommendations for cozy mystery series, especially those that include animals. If you have some, hit LGO up on Twitter or Lise (see below for links). Andi shouts out the PS4 game Horizon Zero Dawn, which she's currently playing on “story” mode because she's decided she's actually a hoarder gamer and would much rather explore the world and collect resources.  Twitter links: @LGOpodcast, @LiseMacTague, @andimarquette  And please like and subscribe! Thank you! 

Andi and Lise rave about season 1 of the Netflix series Wednesday, which follows Wednesday Addams (a fabulous Jenna Ortega) of the iconic Addams family as she's expelled from yet another high school and ends up at Nevermore Academy, a school for paranormal misfits where her parents first met. While there, Wednesday navigates tensions with the nearby townspeople, teen angst, her relationship with her mom, and a mystery in which something is killing people and it might have ties to the town's distant past. Excellent script, tight pacing, and wonderful secondary and tertiary characters. This is full of thrills, chills, teen angst and comedy, and a mystery that will keep you guessing.  Wednesday trailer HERE  Shouts-outs: Lise just finished Season 2 of the animated series The Legend of Vox Machina (link HERE) on Prime, which is beautiful to look at but is also well-done and well-written and well worth people's time. Andi is watching Poker Face (link HERE) on  Peacock starring Natasha Lyonne in a quirky, raunchy mash up of epic road trips, odd jobs, and cat-and-mouse as Nicole's character Charlie is on the run from a Vegas casino owner in this mystery-of-the-week series.  We're still on Twitter: @LGOpodcast, @andimarquette @LiseMactague  And you can find Andi and Lise on Instagram and at Facebook, same handles.  Please like and subscribe! Thanks! 

Andi and Lise loved K.B. Wagers' A Pale Light in the Black, the first installment of Wagers' NeoG series. A fast-paced, diverse character-driven space opera meets sports story meets mystery with some of their fave elements: strong diverse characters with issues we can all relate to; space opera adventure; found family; sporting competition; creepy mystery.  Find out more and get buy links at Wager's website HERE.  Shout-outs: Lise is getting ready to get her arm sleeve completed by a specific tattoo artist. It's been five years, and she's psyched about it. Andi has been playing the game Silk Rose Murders on Nintendo Switch, a fun murder/puzzle game set in an ancient Chinese dynasty.  You can still find us on Twitter: @LGOpodcast; @LiseMacTague; @andimarquette  Also find Andi and Lise on Facebook and Twitter (andimarquette, LiseMacTague).  LGO is available on numerous platforms; please like and subscribe! THANKS!

In this episode, Andi Marquette and Lise MacTague discuss the first episode of Disney Plus' new series National Treasure: Edge of History, based on the movies but starring a different cast with interesting takes on the characters and some of the issues they're dealing with. Like the movies, this is a quest-themed movie that Andi likens to watching a quest game. Puzzle-solving, conspiracy theories, clues—episode 1 ticks all these boxes. Andi and Lise will let you know whether this is a One and Done or One and Fun!  Trailer for NT: Edge of History HERE. Available on Disney Plus.  Shout outs: Lise is very excited to be reading the second in K.B. Wagers' NeoG series—space opera meets sports drama! Book 2 is Hold Fast Through the Fire. Andi shouted out Book 1 in that series, A Pale Light in the Black. Andi also shouted out the first in John Sandford's latest thriller series starring badass/kickass Letty Davenport, The Investigator.  Find LGO and episodes at lezgeekoutcast.com as well as lots of other platforms. LGO is on Twitter: @LGOpodcast, @LiseMactague, @andimarquette.  Please like and subscribe! MUAH! 

Andi and Lise chat about the changing of the year, taking stock, calendars, and a few of the things they're looking forward to in terms of books, TV shows, and games, and also their dreams to win powerball and fund game studios.  Lise:   Tears of the Kingdom, the next Legend of Zelda game, available in May  K.B. Wagers' 2023 and 3rd installment in their NeoG sci fi series, The Ghosts of Trappist, but read the whole series!  The space exploration/epic journey game Starfield, by Bethesda, hopefully out in 2023  Andi:  Author Kalynn Bayron's latest, My Dear Henry: A Jekyll and Hyde Remix, is out in 2023. Bayron remixes fairy tales and other stories into diverse, queer awesomeness. Andi plans to read all her stuff.  The Mandalorian Season 3, slated to drop March 1  Heartstopper on Netflix, Season 2. Andi's going to give this series a try because it's supposed to be heartwarming and we could all use more of that  Lez Geek Out! is available on bunches of platforms; please like and subscribe! THANK YOU!  LGO, Andi, and Lise are still hanging out on what's left of Twitter. Find us:  @LGOpodcast, @andimarquette, @LiseMacTague 

For this, the last show of 2022, Andi and Lise watched some LGBTQ Holiday (Christmas) movies based on a list published by Cosmopolitan Magazine (we know. We were all “WHAT?” too). They chat about the movies they saw, and throw out some other recommendations (also on the list). And also, Happy Holidays to all y'all!  Cosmopolitan list of LGBTQ movies list HERE.  Lise:  A New York Christmas Wedding (2020) – Alt-timeline to show the lead what could have been. None of this should have worked, but somehow it did. Nia Fairweather as the lead and Adriana DeMeo as the love interest. Majority Black and Latinx cast. Trailer HERE. See it on Netflix.  Under the Christmas Tree (2021) – classic holiday rom-com tropes, but really cute film and the leads have great chemistry. Elise Bauman as the lead, Tattiawna Jones as the love interest, and fun supporting cast including Ricki Lake. Trailer HERE. See it on Hulu.  Let it Snow (2019) – Rom-com based on the 2008 YA novel Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances, the film follows 6 people in the same town during a snowstorm and their evolving stories. Fun. Trailer HERE. See it on Netflix.  Andi:  Christmas at the Ranch (2021) – another classic holiday rom-com trope by Tello Films: city girl returns to the ranch where she grew up to try to save it from financial trouble. Fluffy with fun characters. Laur Allen as the city girl and Amanda Righetti as the ranch hand country mouse. Supporting characters include Lindsey Wagner (The Bionic Woman, y'all!) and Archie Kao. Trailer HERE. See it on Peacock, Prime, or Apple TV.  The Bitch Who Stole Christmas (2021) – The drag show Christmas movie you've been waiting for. Hilarious, raunchy, over-the-top dragfest in which RuPaul as evil editor sends reporter to a small town to dig up dirt on its winter ball celebration, which features a cast of queens from Drag Race. Trailer HERE. Rent it on Apple TV; buy it on Prime.  You can still find us on Twitter: @LGOPodcast, @andimarquette, @LiseMacTague.  Also, Lise's latest book (paranormal werewolves!) drops just in time for Christmas! Find more info about Winter's Moons at Bella Books HERE!  Shout-out to everybody this holiday season and we hope you find time to have some fun! 

Andi and Lise loved this collection of self-curated short stories (plus one novella) by majorly award-winning spec fic writer Marjorie Liu. These stories represent a collection from roughly 2009 until more recently, and span a range of spec fic genres, including paranormal, post-apocalyptic, fairy tale, superhero, and steampunk. Liu writes multi-layered character-driven stories that will suck you right in and leave you wanting more. Do yourself a favor and definitely pick up a copy of The Tangleroot Palace: Stories.  Find out more about Liu and her work at her website HERE.  Find out more about Tangleroot Palace: Stories HERE.  Shout-outs: Lise is psyched about the game Slay the Spire (shout-out to author Meghan O'Brien, who posted about it on social media), which is a cool fusion of card games and roguelikes in a single-player deckbuilder game. Andi shouts out all the people managing to stay kind during these times, and also shouts out the late Octavia Butler, one of the high-ups in her pantheon of writers.  You can still find us on Twitter, even as it's rife with chaos under new management:  @LGOPodcast  @LiseMactague  @andimarquette  And find us on most podcast platforms. Don't forget to like and subscribe! Thanks! 

Andi and Lise spent some time trying to process the recent mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They're angry, devastated, and horrified. Sometimes, in order to find some support, you need to reach out and talk/vent and claim some space for yourself to do that. We hope that you're able to do the same—to reach out to your networks and find some support. Because it's okay to not be okay in the middle of all this horrible crap.  We encourage you, too, to reach out to local organizations in your communities that are doing the on-the-ground work for oppressed people and offer time and money to them so they can continue to provide care and resources to local communities.  There is a GoFundMe for survivors and victim of the Club Q shooting: LINK  As we recorded this episode on November 20, the day after the Club Q shooting, we'd also like to recognize that Nov. 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance. If you're so inclined and able, you might consider donating to local trans organizations that are doing the hard work of sustaining and building communities.  Find Lise on Twitter: @LiseMactague  Find Andi on Twitter: @andimarquette  And find the podcast on Twitter: @LGOpodcast  Thank you, all, for listening. 

This week, Andi and Lise are doing a new kind of segment, in which they watch one episode (generally the first) of a series and determine if it's One and Done (won't watch anymore) or One and Fun, in which case they're willing to go on and watch more episodes.  They're starting with the 2022 Marvel series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, available on Disney Plus. Tatiana Maslany is attorney Jennifer Walters, cousin of Bruce Banner. Because of an accident, she ends up with Hulk-ness like her cousin, but with some twists. The show plays for laughs but digs into issues that affect Jen on the job and that deal with operating in the world as a woman. The first episode introduces us to Jen and how she acquired Hulk-ness and how it affects her.  So is it one and fun or one and done? Listen and find out!  Trailer for She-Hulk HERE.  Shout-out to Lise and all the people doing NaNoWriMo this year! You're crushing it! YEAH!  Find us (for now) on Twitter:  LGOPodcast  andimarquette  LiseMactague  And please like and subscribe! It's a huge help. Thanks! 

This week, Andi and Lise discuss the 1993 animated Tim Burton musical film, The Nightmare before Christmas (one of Lise's faves). This film was nominated for an Oscar but lost out to Jurassic Park that year. Here, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King and linchpin of Halloween, is searching for something more and ends up trying to replicate Christmas, which does not go over well. Themes of self-discovery, finding community, and realizing your mistakes are interwoven throughout. Creep factor can be a little high, and there were a few problematic element, but overall, it's still a visually stunning film and ultimately uplifting.  Original trailer LINK HERE.  SHOUT-OUTS: Lise just got another tattoo – shout-out to Matt Terry at Sweetheart Tattoo in Fredericksburg, VA! Listen in to find out what it is. And Andi just finished reading The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science, about how science isn't always ethical. Please remember to utilize your local libraries for your reading needs.  Find Lise on Twitter: @LiseMacTague  Find Andi on Twitter: @andimarquette  Find the podcast on Twitter: @LGOpodcast  Please remember to like and subscribe; it helps other find us. AND TWEET YOUR HALLOWEEN COSTUMES AT US.  

Andi and Lise are finally back! YAY! And they wanted to rave about the series Paper Girls (2022), first season available on Amazon Prime. This is adapted from the comic series written by Brian Vaughn and illustrated by Cliff Chiang. The story is about four young teen girls who are paper delivery girls in the Midwest in 1988. One morning, after Halloween, they're out delivering papers and end up inadvertently getting sucked into a time war between two factions. As a result, they're flung into the future (2019) and have to navigate figuring out what's happening and how to get back to their own time. They also end up meeting their older selves, and negotiating those relationships is tense. This is a fabulous coming-of-age story set against time travel and a time war. What is not to love????  Sad caveat—Amazon decided not to renew this for a second season, but it is being shopped around to other platforms and we hope this happens because this definitely needs another few seasons. Great story, great writing, and great characters.  Trailer HERE.  Comic info HERE  Series on Amazon Prime HERE.  Shout-outs: Lise watched Season 1 of The Sandman on Netflix, adapted from Neil Gaiman's comic series. The Sandman is Morpheus/Dream, god of dreams, who is imprisoned in the human world for a hundred years, and as it turns out, dreams are important in the human world; without them, things go to crap. Once Morpheus is out, he gets to work trying to set things right. Andi is watching the latest Star Wars spinoff, Andor (Disney Plus) about Cassian Andor, who you met in the movie Rogue One. This is his backstory, detailing how he got into the Rebellion. Andi loved Rogue One, so getting Cassian's backstory is really cool. 

As Lise and Andi dig out from the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad couple of weeks they've had, please enjoy this rerun of one of their favorite episodes. They had a fantastic time geeking out with fabulous sci-fi author Kameron Hurley. Back next week, promise!

This week, Andi can't make it, so Lise talks to one of her friends about the British sci-fi television show Dr. Who. Nyssa (AKA Feverwood), a Dr. Who superfan, regales Lise with all the reasons why Dr. Who, in general, is a fantastic show, and why the thirteenth Doctor, in particular is so wonderful. Along the way, Nyssa recommends the podcasts Verity!, Radio Free Skaro, Two Minute Time Lord, Reality Bomb, and The Queer Archive for anyone who wants to do a real deep dive into the show. For her shoutout, Nyssa recommends the second book in Lise Gold's Resort Series: After Sunset. Lise (MacTague) talks about how much she enjoyed the second season of Only Murders in the Building on Hulu.

Lise and Andi had too much come up and weren't able to record this week. They'll be back next time, but for now, enjoy this rerun episode of Paper Girls, an awesome graphic novel series we loved, and a hint about the topic for the next episode.

Andi and Lise really enjoyed this movie starring Michelle Yeoh that explores various themes around the idea of connection and finding meaning in our lives against the backdrop of the multiverse, absurdist comedy, action adventure, and moments of poignancy. Here, Yeoh plays Evelyn Wang, who lives above the laundromat she and her husband own. They're being audited by the IRS; her husband is trying to serve her with divorce papers but she doesn't realize it because so much is going on; her father is living with them and she doesn't have great history with him; and she's practically estranged from her daughter. And then suddenly, she's brought into the multiverse as the one person who might be able to save it from a potential threat.   So many layers! This is one they'll be thinking about for a while. A few minor spoilers, but they don't detract from the impact of this movie.  Movie Trailer HERE  LA Times article with the movie writers (mild spoilers)  Rent it on Amazon Prime.  Shout-outs: Lise is jazzed about Adrian Tschaikovsky's Final Architects sci fi series. She read the first book, Shards of Earth, and the world-building is amazing. She ran right out and bought the second because she had to know what happened next. Andi is reading the second in the Dread Nation series by Justina Ireland, Deathless Divide. Alt-history zombies. What's not to love? She also started watching the TV adaptation of the comics Paper Girls on Amazon Prime and is really enjoying it. Tense and creepy! 

Andi and Lise discuss Season 1 (1997) of the iconic TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Both are Buffy fans, so re-visiting this fave was fun but also revealing, as they look back on the show through different eyes and grapple with some of the harmful tropes and recent allegations about the show's creator. Regardless, they'll be re-watching more seasons going forward, so stay tuned for those! And keep on slaying!  Info on Buffy:  IMDB link  Vox on how Buffy changed TV  Gizmodo on Buffy and bury your gays  You can find Buffy on Hulu.  Andi and Lise would both like to shout-out the end of last week, which was a crappy week for both and for other people in their lives, so #byefelicia to last week and they're looking forward to better weeks!  LGO is available on many different platforms. Please like and subscribe and thank you! We luuuuuuv you! Find Andi and Lise on Twitter: @LiseMacTague, @andimarquette, @LGOpodcast. 

Andi and Lise talk about the writing life, and a bit about what's involved if you decide to “go professional” with your writing. How does that change your creativity? What does it mean for you if you decide to go professional and get published? What do writers have to think about should they decide to go the publishing route? Andi and Lise address some of the misunderstandings about a writing life and career, and yes, some of the realities that they've dealt with in their own writing arcs.  Shout-outs: Lise has discovered the video game Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, which is based in ancient Greece and is loving it. Andi is finishing up the first season of Star Trek: Discovery and wow! Twists and turns! Available on CBS and the apps that stream CBS.  Find us on many podcast platforms and at our website, lezgeekoutcast.com. Also find us on Twitter! @andimarquette, @LiseMacTague, @LGOPodcast.  If you dig this podcast, please like and subscribe! Thanks! 

Andi and Lise really, really enjoyed author Sarah Hollowell's Locus-nominated YA fantasy, A Dark and Starless Forest (2021), which deals with a group of young women and girls, each with specific magical gifts, who are cloistered in a house near a mysterious forest, overseen by a man whose true motivations are suspect. Told from the POV of one of the young women, this is a wonderfully crafted novel that will definitely leave you thinking long after you've finished it the first time (and second…and third…). Highly recommend!  Find Sarah Hollowell:  Website link HERE  Buy links HERE  Shout-outs: Lise has been spending a lot of time with binoculars spying on her frog ponds from her back windows, watching tadpoles turn into polliwogs turn into froglets and finally, FROGS! Andi appreciates spying on nature, as she was doing the same with this year's group of Canada goose goslings inhabiting a nearby river bank. Both Andi and Lise highly recommend checking out nature as you can. 

Andi and Lise dive into the 1997 dystopic sci fi film The Fifth Element, with Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, and Chris Tucker to determine what still works (or not) 25 years after its release. They find that it holds up surprisingly well in a number of ways, but needed work in others. Still, after 25 years, it's a visually appealing film that does interesting things with cinematography, soundtrack, and gender expression.  Original trailer HERE  2017 Entertainment Weekly article about the film's making HERE  Shout-outs: Lise shouts out veterinarians; she's been dealing with a sick kitty and hopefully all will be well soon. In honor of this shout-out, Andi shout-outs and recommends the show Critter Fixers: Country Vets, available on NatGeo. 

Andi and Lise talk about Pride: its origins, media representation, commercialization, and the anti-LGBTQIA stuff we are all still facing. Celebrate, commemorate, but stay safe and take care of yourselves and each other.  Some reading!  Pride and the history of police violence against LGBTQ communities  The History of Pride: How Activists Fought to Create LGBTQ+ Pride  What is Pride Month and the History of Pride?  Shout-outs: Lise has been watching season 4 of Stranger Things on Netflix, but has mixed feelings about Netflix because the service has been stepping in it by platforming anti-trans voices and other problematic things. Andi has been watching British procedurals on Acorn and BritBox and is continually reminded how screwed up the US is because gun violence just isn't an issue in almost all of them.  Solidarity, love, and light to those affected by gun violence.  Find us on Twitter: @LGOPodcast; @andimarquette; @LiseMactague  And please like and subscribe. Thanks! 

Andi and Lise chatted with award-winning author Cathy Pegau about her writing and publishing trajectory and about writing F/F spec fic, including her latest work, The Demon Equilibrium, a historical paranormal saga in which two women have to save the world from a demonic horde.   Cathy's website HERE  Find out more about The Demon Equilibrium HERE  Shout-outs: Lise is working on figuring out how to build caterpillar cages to help protect caterpillars in her backyard ecosystem. Cathy is stoked that her son is graduating from college very soon and Andi is once again planting things. 

Lise had to spend a week driving halfway across the country and back, so she and Andi decided to flash all the way back to the beginning of Lez Geek Out! Enjoy the inaugural episode featuring the movie D.E.B.S. and they'll be back next time.

Our Flag Means Death: alt-history fanfic rom-com for pirates!  Andi and Lise really, really enjoyed the immensely popular first season of the HBO Max series Our Flag Means Death, which is a delightful take on the story of “Gentleman Pirate” Stede Bonnet and the legendary Blackbeard. Includes a slow-burn M/M romance, a nonbinary character (and romance!), wonderful dialogue, excellent storytelling, diverse characters. Includes great seafaring scenes, laughs, and interesting underlying messages about identity and the choices we make. Unfortunately, HBO Max has not announced plans for a second season. Andi and Lise find that…troublesome. Regardless, watch this season while you can!  Trailer HERE.  More info HERE.  Smithsonian article about Stede Bonnet HERE.  Shout-outs: Lise started watching another HBO Max series, Minx, set in 1970s Los Angeles in which a young white feminist teams up with a publisher to create the first erotic magazine for women. Lise finds the main character's evolution as a feminist a key part of the series, as the character has certain views that are challenged by reality. Meanwhile, Andi has started some seedlings for her vegetable planters and she's excited about that. Yay, gardening!  Find us on Twitter @LGOPodcast; @andimarquette; @LiseMactague. Please like and subscribe! It helps! 

Andi and Lise are super-stoked to have the Queen of Lesbian Romance, Karin Kallmaker, on the show to talk about the evolution and history of F/F fiction, how it's crossing over into “mainstream” publishing and what that means for representation, for publishing, and the F/F publishing industry that's been here all along. Karin is a multiple award-winning author who published her first novel in 1989 and has been going strong ever since. She has also worked as an editor in the lesfic publishing industry, so she's been on both sides of the publishing fence.  Find Karin on Twitter: @kallmaker  And at her website: kallmaker.com  Shout-outs: Lise started watching Our Flag Means Death on HBO Max and says it's a fab rom-com in pirate days with all kinds of rep and go watch it right away. Karin just got Sara Paretsky's latest release in the detective V.I. Warchawski novels, Dead Land, and she's looking forward to reading that. She also recommends the movie The Lost City, lots of belly laughs. Andi has started the gardening thing and has some tomato seedlings. Plus, she's making candles. 

Andi and Lise discuss the 2021 Marvel blockbuster film Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff and Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Natasha's sister. One of the overarching themes that Andi and Lise really enjoyed is the exploration of family – what it is, what makes it, and how it can create an infrastructure in your life whether you want it to or not. We love superhero movies fronted by women (passes the Bechdel test!) and we love them more when they explore the complicated nature of family dynamics. Great pacing and special effects, great interactions between characters.  Black Widow trailer  Shout-outs: Lise is watching Lost in Space on Netflix and enjoying the family situations going on there. Andi has started watching Star Trek: Discovery and realizes that yes it is a great show.  Find us on Twitter: @LGOpodcast; @andimarquette; @LiseMactague  And our website: lezgeekoutcast.com  Please like and subscribe! It helps spread the word and share the love. Thanks! 

Andi and Lise are finally talking about the first novella, All Systems Red, in The Murderbot Diaries series by multi-award winning author Martha Wells. Told from the point-of-view of Murderbot, an autonomous security droid who has liberated themself from the control of the overarching corporate company that manufactured them, Murderbot now goes on their assignments trying to fly under the radar and keep from being discovered as autonomous. Their latest assignment is a research team on a planet on which other research teams are being wiped out. Superb world-building, excellent characterization, and wrestling with big themes about autonomy and AI, this is a must-read.  Martha Wells' website HERE.  Info about “All Systems Red” HERE.  Shout-outs: Lise watched the movie Turning Red, a Pixar offering available on Disney Plus. Set in Toronto's Chinatown in 2002, the movie follows main character Mei Lee, a geeky 13-year-old Chinese Canadian girl who is dealing with all the issues that come with that age in addition to a family blessing/curse in which Mei Lee turns into a large red panda when she experiences intense emotions. Andi is working to broaden her mystery-reading to include more diverse authors and also shout-outs the NBC series (also streaming on Hulu) The Endgame, in which a Black female FBI agent faces off against an Eastern European female international arms dealer.  Find LGO on Twitter (@LGOPodcast) and their website. You can find the hosts on Twitter, too! @LiseMactague and @andimarquette. Please like and subscribe and review! Help other geeks find us

Andi and Lise unpack the 2005 spy/assassin romance movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith, starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and determine that it holds up in some ways but not in others, particularly with regard to gender roles. But on sheer character chemistry, Jolie and Pitt are an excellent action duo.  Original movie trailer HERE.  IMDB info HERE.  Shout-outs: Lise has been playing a lot of Mario Kart, and finds it's an excellent mindless escape from…well, everything. Andi has been watching The Gilded Age on HBO Max, and notes that things really haven't changed all the much in terms of the American racialized caste system, but following the individual characters navigating social and economic change is interesting. 

Romance, Representation, and Publishing  Andi and Lise discuss what's known as the lesbian fiction publishing industry (as distinguished from “mainstream” publishers that publish LGBTQ+ fiction) and the role of books that feature romance as a main plot in the industry. They unpack the scarcity of genre fiction in lesbian fiction that isn't romance-driven (but may include romance as a subplot) and discuss the pros and cons of being defined by a particular genre. They're excited to see more books that include asexual, trans, and non-binary characters in romance, but they'd like to see more characters like that in genre fiction that may or may not have a romantic sub-plot.  Links of interest:  About Naiad Press  Obituary/bio of Barbara Grier, one of the founders of Naiad  Lise MacTague's list of publications  Andi Marquette's list of publications  A small list of lesbian fiction publishing houses: Bold Strokes Books, Bella Books, Bedazzled Ink Publishing, Bywater Books, Dirt Road Books, Flashpoint Publications, Launch Point Press, Sapphire Books Publishing, Ylva Publishing  Shout-outs: Lise got an electric bike for her birthday, and she's super-stoked about how it makes riding uphill so much easier! Highly recommend! Andi just finished the first in Tasha Suri's Burning Kingdoms series, The Jasmine Throne, which features two female protagonists thrown together in extremely difficult circumstances. Gorgeously written, political intrigue, excellent world-building, and F/F rep.

Andi and Lise talk about Season 1 of the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building, about three different people living in one Manhattan apartment building who get drawn together as a result of a murder in the building. The three begin looking into the murder and launch a podcast. OMITB is a comedy-drama that pokes fun at true crime podcasts and podcasters, but also explores human connection. Lise and Andi HIGHLY recommend!  Season 1 trailer  Find out more at Hulu  Shout-outs: Lise's birthday is coming up and she's preparing for that! Andi is watching The Book of Boba Fett on Disney Plus, part of the Star Wars 'verse, and is having a good time with it.  

Andi and Lise were joined by book reviewer and fellow podcaster Tara Scott (she/they) to chat about things they're all looking forward to in 2022 despite the continuing pooshow that is the world.  Find Tara at The Lesbian Review, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, and Queerly Recommended. Also on Twitter, @taramdscott  On the TV:  Lise: animated series Legend of Vox Machina, Amazon Prime, based on “Critical Role,” a group of voice actors who have been playing D&D together for years.  Tara: RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Vs. the World (BBCThree) – a global spinoff. She's also looking forward to RuPaul's Drag Race in general (various platforms) and the show We're Here (HBO), which follows 3 drag queens bringing luv to small-town America.  Andi: Mandalorian season 3 (Disney Plus) and Only Murders in the Building (Hulu), season 2.  Books:  Tara: Count Your Lucky Stars (steamy F/F rom-com) by Alexandria Bellefleur and I Kissed Shara Wheeler (F/F) by Casey McQuiston.  Lise: Rebecca Roanhorse, Fevered Sun (Book 2 in the Between Earth and Sky series); Naomi Novik's third in the Scholomance series, The Golden Enclaves  Andi: John Scalzi, Kaiju Preservation Society and Tochi Onyebuchi, Goliath; also Janelle Monáe's The Memory Librarian, short speculative fiction featuring Black women writers and Black nonbinary writers and creators  Games:  Tara: Rune Factory 5 (Nintendo Switch) and Sea of Stars (Switch; other platforms)  Lise: Starfield (Xbox)  Andi: still learning Switch, plays puzzle/mystery games but looking for a FPS for noobs on the Switch  Movies/TV:  Tara: not feeling movies, but recommends Mythic Quest on AppleTV, a comedy show about a fictional video game studio working on the fictional game Mythic Quest  Andi: Everything Everywhere All at Once, starring Michelle Yeoh as a woman who just wants to get her taxes paid but keeps getting sucked into the multiverse to save it. 

Andi and Lise enthusiastically re-watched the sci fi dystopic action movie The Matrix (1999) to determine how well it holds up 21 years after its release. The movie became a sensation (still is) and they'll tell you why it still holds up in most ways and things they noticed with their 2022 perceptions (as opposed to their 1999 perceptions) that they thought were problematic.  Matrix trailer  Lilly Wachowski on BBC, 2020  Vox piece on how The Matrix universalized a trans experience  Shout-outs: Lise got a Nintendo Switch for Christmas and has been enjoying it immensely. Andi has been getting back into DIY stuff and discovered HGTV's Home Town, where there's a lot of community revitalization and restoration of historic homes going on in Laurel, Mississippi.  Link to the planner Lise and Andi talked about. 

Book 1 in the Ghost  Roads trilogy  Andi and Lise rave about this tale of paranormal urban legend with backstory and personality, in which author Seanan McGuire world-builds a context for the folklore around the hitch-hiking prom ghost/girl in the diner ghost. Here, the ghost tells her own story in a non-linear narrative: how she died, the type of ghost she is, and “living” on the ghost roads, the world of the dead, haunted by a variety of spirits. One of which is the man who killed her. Tapping into the myth and legend of U.S. road culture, McGuire provides a beautifully written gripping story about Rose Marshall, the subject of urban and road paranormal legend. Even the dead have things to fear.  Seanan McGuire's website  Sparrow Hill Road  Shout-outs: Lise really enjoyed the first season of Only Murders in the Building, available on Hulu. Here, New York Upper West Side neighbors bond over a shared love of true crime, and set out to solve the mystery of a resident's death in the same building. Andi watched the Lifetime premiere of the F/F holiday film Under the Christmas Tree, and really enjoyed its fluffy goodness (a queer holiday film where there's no angst over being queer!).  Find LGO on Twitter: @LGOPodcast  And at our website!  Happy (and safe) holidays! 

Andi and Lise revisit the 1987 cult classic The Princess Bride, a comedy/romance/ fantasy/adventure that incorporates the story-within-a-story narrative style, in which a contemporary boy (meaning 1987) is sick at home and his grandfather stops by to read him a story, which is a fairy tale that incorporates classic quest elements. Clever story, great characters, funny, and the shifting from the contemporary scene to the movie and back in parts of the film lend this film a lot of its appeal. However, there are some things that definitely don't hold up, and that's part of the discussion.  30th anniversary trailer  IMDB  Shout-outs: Lise highly recommends the animated series Arcane on Netflix, based on the game League of Legends. Discord between cities Piltover and Zaun and two sisters fight on rival sides of a war. Andi is finally reading Seanan McGuire's Ghost Road series, starting with Sparrow Hill Road, the first book in it. The main character is based on the urban legends surrounding the ghostly prom date on the side of the road; the woman in the diner; the hitchhiker. Absolutely incredible world-building.  Find LGO on Twitter  @LGOPodcast  Hosts @andimarquette and @LiseMacTague  Website 

This week Andi and Lise discuss the old writing adage of “writing what you know” and how that is or is not problematic. They delve into “writing outside your lane” and writing characters who aren't like you, and being responsible about doing that and why it's important, and why you need to think about the lens through which you view the larger society. There are no easy answers, but the conversations are important.  Writers on “writing what you know”  Mo Black on writing diverse characters  Alexander Chee at Vulture on how to unlearn everything: “When it comes to writing ‘other,' what questions are we not asking?”  Writing the Other — Resources  Shout-outs: Lise shouted out horror novel The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher in which a woman, freshly divorced ends up living in her uncle's house and discovers a portal to other worlds haunted by scary things. Andi is shouting out working on getting her stress levels under control and also, she would like to shout-out Lise for doing the editing on the audiofiles! GO, Lise!!!!! 

Andi and Lise agree that this graphic novel will make your heart fill with love and warm fuzzy-ness. Check, Please! is book 1 in Ngozi Ukazu's absolutely fabulous comic about a young southern gay man who is a figure skater who goes to college on a hockey scholarship in the Northeast. Book 1 covers his freshman and sophomore years. We absolutely LOVE this graphic novel (like gajillions of other people do) and we love all the warm fuzzies it gave us. This is how we wish the world could be.  Find Ngozi Ukazu at her website.  You can find Check, Please! as a print book all over (libraries and to buy), but you can also read it on Tumblr HERE.  It took the world by storm!  Shout-outs: Lise watched the movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, which is about two Icelandic musicians who are best friends who call their band Fire Saga. Their dream is to be in the Eurovision competition. Stars Will Ferrell and Rachel MacAdams. Andi points out the grim Reddit forum HermanCainAward, but notes that the forum is trying to get people to vaccinate against COVID and also does good works, like raising a bunch of money for vaccines. And that's really what vaxxing is trying to do—keep you safe so you'll be around a while for your friends and family. 

No new episode this time, as Lise is heading to the (hopefully not yet) frozen north for some long overdue face time with her family. Enjoy this offering of Andi and Lise's favorite Halloween movies to tide you over to the next episode!

Andi and Lise discuss the 1988 Tim Burton film Beetlejuice, which has become somewhat of a cult [Halloween-ish] classic. They both agree that watching it again in current contexts made them re-think a few things and appreciate a few others, and both think this could be a candidate for a re-boot – as long as Tim Burton does it.   Beetlejuice original trailer  Beetlejuice IMDB page  Oingo Boingo's “Dead Man's Party”  Shout-outs: Andi shouts out Lise for getting her writing projects done! YAY!  Happy early Halloween, all – Lise and Andi will not be live for the next show, but we'll load up a Halloween show from the vault and be back in November with more happy fun times! 

Andi and Lise discuss the 2021 Netflix movie Gunpowder Milkshake, a “neon noir” and cinematographically gorgeous stylized film with a great kickass female cast (including Karen Gilland, Lena Headey, Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh, Carla Gugino) in a female assassin plotline. However, it's not without a few glitches and they'll talk about those. Regardless, entertaining! Also, lots of stylized violence; we don't recommend it for kids.  Gunpowder Milkshake trailer  Shout-outs: Lise has been playing The Outer Worlds by Obsidian Games, a first-person shooter in which a colonist ship is lost in transit and then when it comes out of transit years later, facing a conspiracy that threatens to destroy the colony. Corporate apocalypse themes! Andi started reading the Lady Sherlock series, set in Victorian London and written by Sherry Thomas. In this incarnation of Holmes, Charlotte Holmes takes on the pseudonym Sherlock Holmes while navigating the social hang-ups of the Victorian classes.

Andi and Lise discuss the 1998 Disney animated film Mulan to determine whether it holds up after 23 years. They discuss its representation, gender, what it might have meant to different audiences, how it may have resonated with certain people, and the story it told.  Note: the story of Mulan is derived from a centuries-old Chinese poem/ballad created during the Wei Dynasty.  1998 trailer  Shout-outs! Lise recommends the The Vault, which she watched on Netflix. It's a heist movie (both Lise and Andi are huge fans of heist movies). In it, an engineer and his team are trying to crack an allegedly impenetrable safe beneath the Bank of Spain. Andi shouts out alcohol-free spirits! Get creative and enjoy a tasty and sober (and much lower calorie) happy hour. She's also been bingeing the true crime podcast Park Predators, which deals with murders in national parks.  In the course of the discussion, Lise mentioned Kameron Hurley's essay: “‘We Have Always Fought': Challenging the ‘Women, Cattle, and Slaves' Narrative”. The full text can be viewed at the link, and also in Hurley's book of essays Geek Feminist Revolution, which Lise also highly recommends.

Cosplay: Fanfic in 3-D  Andi and Lise are doing something a little different in this show! Here, Andi interviews Lise about her involvement in cosplay – specifically propmaking and even more specifically, cool weaponry and armaments. Here we talk about how she got into it, some of the materials she uses, and what cosplay is all about for her and others who are involved. Cosplay rocks! Lise also notes that you can find all kinds of resources for cosplay on YouTube, like Punished Props Academy, who does tutorials and TNT Cosplay Supply, which offers tutorials on using EVA foam, which Lise discussed. There are tons of other cosplay YouTube channels; start browsing!  Some links of interest:  Geeks: History of Cosplay  The abridged yet complete history of cosplay  The Nerdd: The history of cosplay  Shout-outs: Lise started watching The Owl House, an animated fantasy TV series available on Disney. It follows the adventures of Luz, a teenaged Dominican American girl who ends up going through a portal to another world where she befriends a witch and becomes her apprentice at the Owl House. Andi shouts out Sam the Sword, a gender fluid trans guy who is also a master sword fighter and artist who also works on film crews. Find Sam on Instagram and Twitter. 

Andi and Lise introduce a new feature for LGO; “Does It Hold Up?” in which they look at older media and determine if it could, basically, still hold up today. Here, in the inaugural episode of the feature, they are pleasantly surprised that the 1990 creature feature flick Tremors does hold up, and also had some interesting and cool aspects for the time in which it was made. In this flick, residents of a small, isolated Nevada town are confronted by mysterious underground creatures that are picking them off one by one. Good popcorn movie!  Two-minute clip that will tell you what you need to know without watching the trailer, which actually had some spoilers.  Shout-outs: Lise highly recommends the board game Ticket to Ride, in which players collect and play matching cards that allow them to claim railway routes that connect cities throughout North America. Fun strategy game! Andi is reading books by Carl Hiaasen, a Florida-based journalist who writes absolutely hilarious novels with pointed commentary, usually based to some extent in Florida. Nobody escapes his wit. Hiaasen is a master at capturing every day cray and how things can go totally off the rails. 

Andi and Lise simply LOVE the graphic novel Snapdragon by Kat Leyh (published 2020). The main character is Snapdragon (she goes by Snap), a young girl who ends up befriending the town's alleged witch. It's a delightful, layered story about outsiders, found family, and finding magic within yourself. POC rep, queer rep (including great butch lesbian rep FINALLY), feminist rep and storylines that blend seamlessly. Lise and Andi read it several times because the story really resonated with them. Kat Leyh is also one of the creative forces (writer and cover artist) behind the series Lumberjanes, which Andi and Lise discussed way back when in episode 6.  Snapdragon description via Macmillan  April, 2021 interview with Kat Leyh   Find Kat on Twitter: @kaymlay  Shout-outs: Lise is super-stoked about writing her very first blurb for author Cathy Pegau's forthcoming release (November!), The Demon Equilibrium, which features kick-ass women and great world-building. The two MCs are demon-hunters and romantic partners as well, but they've been separated and must find each other. Andi has started reading the first offering in the latest Star Wars 'verse project, The High Republic. One of the first books is Charles Sproul's Light of the Jedi. Fun space opera with lots of tension and it's nice to see the diversity of authors lined up for more of this. High Republic is set 200 years before the Phantom Menace. 

Andi and Lise chat about the movie Army of the Dead (2020), a zombie heist gore-fest directed by Zach Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, 2004). That's right, heist. A zombie outbreak has occurred in Las Vegas after a military convoy crashes and patient zero escapes into the city and the government has to build a wall all around it. A rich casino owner wants a team to sneak into the city to crack a vault in his casino and snag two hundred million dollars. However, all may not be as it seems, either with the casino owner, the heist plan, and the zombies themselves. Andi and Lise highly recommend that you not dig too deep into this; you'll only end up asking WTF more than once. Take it as pure adrenaline-fueled entertainment and don't scratch the surface. Also, this movie probably isn't appropriate for young folx (kids, 'tweens, some teens) because it is, as mentioned, a gore-fest.  More info and trailer can be found at IMDb; stream it on Netflix.  Shout-outs: Lise highly recommends the series “The Great Pottery Throw Down,” available on HBO Max. It's a British reality show along the lines of the “Great British Bake-off” in which the competition is to decide Britain's best home potter. Four seasons now streaming. Andi raves about the graphic novel Snapdragon (2020) by Kat Leyh, about a girl who doesn't fit in and ends up befriending the town “witch” and in doing so, finds out more about her own capabilities. Queer rep, amazing art, great story, wonderful characters. 

Andi and Lise rave the hell out of this amazing first volume of Stan Stanley's The Hazards of Love, which follows a nonbinary teen, Amparo Uribe, who ends up agreeing to a bargain with a shitty cat that allows the latter to take over the teen's life and body and sends the now exiled teen's spirit to Bright World, where they are a seriously marginalized human trying to survive in systems of debt and ever-changing rules that subject them to constant threats. But formerly Amparo (they lost their name when they agreed to the bargain) is working to find a way out. Wonderfully layered, meta-meanings, queer rep, gorgeous artwork and writing, dark humor, and fantastical beasts and Bright World denizens – Stanley explores what it means to be who we are, and what comes to define us.  The first volume collects the first 12 issues of the comic and we can barely stand waiting for the next issues…  Find more info about the volume at Indiebound.  And at Simon & Schuster  Stan Stanley's website – we've heard she's a devilishly handsome woman of science… 

Pride and Representation  This week, in recognition of Pride month, Andi and Lise talk about LGBTQ representation in media, including tokenism and how it intersects with queerbaiting and even bury your gays. When is tokenism “good”? When is it “bad”? Join them as they try to unravel some of this.  Shout outs: Lise is stoked about an 8-episode mini-campaign for the D&D show Critical Role, which just wrapped up its second campaign. It's another Exandria adventure! It features part of the regular cast, so you'll still be getting great voice acting. Give it a whirl! Meanwhile, Andi is still obsessing over Acorn TV and she's been watching a lot of the NZ mystery series Brokenwood, which features a really quirky lead detective (among a lot of other quirky characters) who loves old country music and drives a funky old car. Really cool to watch the characters gel, and there are some great mysteries. 

Andi finally managed to convince Lise to give Season 1 of the CW's Nancy Drew a watch and Lise did and she enjoyed it! So they talk about that season here. This is a re-imagining of Nancy Drew, which brings some diversity to the cast, some queer rep, and some excellent paranormal elements layered in with the mystery that consumes Nancy and her crew during this season. This version of Nancy is complicated and flawed, like her fellow characters, and it makes her, we think more relatable. Both Lise and Andi were impressed by the writing, because this show kept them guessing, and that's hard to do. Hooks and twists throughout!  You can find Season 1 on Amazon Prime, HBOMax, iTunes, and Google Play  Shout-outs: Lise highly recommends the graphic novel The Hazards of Love, by Stan Stanley, in which a young queer teen Amparo makes a deal with a talking cat – they give over their body to the cat to become a better person to date another student they don't feel quite worthy of, but the fine print means Amparo's spirit ends up in Bright World, a land of terrifying creatures and all around badness. Amparo has to escape without becoming like the awful all around them.  Andi recommends a particular episode of the true crime podcast The Fall Line, which looks into cold cases that have been underreported. The May 26 episode deals with a new database under way launched by the Trans Doe Task Force (which researches cold cases in which the victim may have been trans or gender variant). The database is LAMMP: LGBTQ+ Accountability for Missing and Murdered Persons – to track cases of the missing, murdered, and unidentified LGBTQ+ people. 

Andi and Lise discuss and express much love for the 2020 DC movie with the longest subtitle in either the DC or Marvel universe: Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. The movie, narrated in parts by Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), is a story about how she finds herself after the end of a relationship with the Joker (arguably a poster child for toxic masculinity) while also dealing with the fallout from the relationship. She manages to forge an alliance of sorts with Black Canary, Detective Renée Montoya, and Huntress as they battle another poster child of toxic masculinity, Roman Sionis. The result is a gorgeously frenetic journey through and with the mind of Harley Quinn, filled with great fight scenes, excellent character development, and snappy, snarky dialogue. Lise and Andi agree: this film is liberating, and makes us vicariously love kicking ass.  Fantabulous Trailer  IMDB info  Shout-outs: Lise highly recommends the animated miniseries Over the Garden Wall (2014), in which 2 brothers are lost in a mysterious land trying to find their way home. Vintage aesthetic and elements of fantasy, a bit of creepy horror, and other surprises. Andi implores listeners to read Sarah Rose’s 2019 D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II. Beautifully written nonfiction account of some of the women who were parachuted/boated into occupied France to support and develop Resistance networks. 

This week, Andi and Lise talk about their current fave podcasts and other digital media that keeps them engaged and gets them through these times.  Lise:  YouTube channel Punished Props Academy, which is a how-to on awesome cosplay with Bill and Brittany Doran.  Podcast Tenfold More Wicked, on Exactly Right Network. Historic true crime hosted by author and journalist Kate Winkler Dawson.  Dungeons and Dragons podcast Critical Role, which features voice actors and epic campaigns. Available as streaming video, on YouTube, and as a podcast. And so much more.  Join the Party, a collaborative storytelling and role-playing podcast, also D&D-related.  Andi:  Still a faithful listener of My Favorite Murder on the Exactly Right Network a true crime comedy podcast that has become an amazing community. (Lez Geek Out! covered MFM in show #45)  In The Thick, a podcast on the Futuro Media Network about “politics, race and culture from a POC perspective.” Hosted by Andi’s all-time fave journalist Maria Hinojosa and fellow journalist Julio Ricardo Varela.  Making Gay History, a podcast that features interviews and oral histories with people who have been involved with LGBTQ history/LGBTQ civil rights history.  TransLash podcast, Futuro Media Network. Hosted by journalist Imara Jones, the podcast deals with news, politics, culture, and stories about and by trans and nonbinary folx.  Shout-outs: Lise has been playing a board game called Eldritch Horror based on the fiction of Lovecraft and inspired by board game Arkham Horror. Complicated but instructions are easy to parse and it’s hella fun. Andi has been watching Acorn TV and really enjoys My Life Is Murder, an Australian crime drama starring LUCY LAWLESS as a retired cop who ends up consulting on investigations. Did she mention LUCY LAWLESS. Great characters, great dialogue, good stories.