Podcasts about to shape

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books.Please consider supporting ARB's Patreon!Credits:Guest: Roseanna PendleburyHost: Jake Casella BrookinsMusic by Giselle Gabrielle GarciaArtwork by Rob PattersonOpening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John BroughIn Memoriam:Alan Jeffrey & Cameron Estrich-WatsonReferences:Tor's The Most Iconic Speculative Fiction Books of the 21st CenturyJo Walton's commentary on putting together those listsAdam Roberts, Greg EganKatherine Addison's The Goblin EmperorJacqueline Carey's Kushiel's DartSeth Dickinson's The Traitor Baru CormorantC.J. Cherryh's RimrunnersMichael Ende's The Neverending StoryCarl Sagan's ContactWilliam Goldman's The Princess BrideMartin MacInnes' In AscensionSamantha Harvey's OrbitalWilliam Gibson's NeuromancerIndra Das's The Last Dragoners of BowbazarBruce Coville- Aliens Ate My Homework & Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon HatcherRobin Sloan- Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, Sourdough, MoonboundNerds of a FeatherWorldconCentre for Fantasy and Fantastic at the University of GlasgowChristopher Priest & Nina AllanAdrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances, House of Open Wounds, Days of Shattered FaithTerry Pratchett's DiscworldThe New WeirdReaderconEmily Tesh's acceptance speechWorld Fantasy ConventionAcademic Conference on Canadian Science Fiction and FantasyEasterconOctothorpeVajra Chandrasekera's The Saint of Bright DoorsScience Fiction Awards DatabaseMarisa Crane's I Keep My Exoskeletons to MyselfMartha Wells' Murderbot seriesPaul Lynch's Prophet SongShehan Karunatilaka's Seven Moons of Maali AlmeidaMolly Templeton's “The Joy of Reading Books You Don't Entirely Understand”Colson Whitehead, Marlon JamesEmily Tesh's Some Desperate GloryNana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Chain Gang All-StarsWole Talabi's Shigidi and the Brass Head of ObalufonCadwell Turnbull's No Gods No Monsters & We Are The CrisisS.L. Huang's The Water OutlawsMoniquill Blackgoose's To Shape a Dragon's BreathAlissa Hatman's SiftSarah Cypher's The Skin and Its GirlIsabel Waidner's Corey Fah Does Social MobilityAlaya Dawn Johnson's The Library of Broken WorldsRebecca Campbell's ArborealityVajra Chandrasekera's Rakesfallaugust clarke's Metal from HeavenJared Pechaček's The West PassageEmet North's In UniversesJohannes Anyuru's IxellesKaliane Bradley's The Ministry of TimeMadeline L'EnglePremee Mohamed- The Siege of Burning Grass, The Butcher of the Forest, & The Rider, the Ride, the Rich Man's WifeSeth Dickinson's ExordiaSofia Samatar's The Practice, the Horizon, and the ChainNeon HemlockAlex Jeffer's A Mourning CoatLuna PressLorraine Wilson's The Last to DrownGreg Egan's MorphotropicSolvej Balle's On the Calculation of VolumeAbigail Nussbaum's Track ChangesJordan S. Carroll's Speculative WhitenessCamestros Felapton's DebarklePositron 2020 ReportCleveland Review of Books, The Brooklyn Rail, TypebarIsaac Fellman's Notes from a RegicideEmily Tesh's The IncandescentAmal El-Mohtar's The River Has RootsKatherine Addison's The Tomb of DragonsR.F. Kuang's KatabasisNatalia Theodoridou's Sour CherryYoon Ha Lee's Code & CodexOliver K. Langmead & Aliya Whiteley's City of All SeasonsNew David Mitchell?Lincoln Michel's Metallic RealmsRay Nayler's Where the Axe Is BuriedTochi Onyebuchi's Harmattan SeasonLeena Krow's Sinkhole, and Other Inexplicable VoidsAmplitudes, edited by Lee MandeloScience Fiction Research AssociationPremee Mohamed, One Message RemainsStephen King writingRoseanna's “Small Press Dispatch” column at ARB

-The Locus Award shortlist is out. The fantasies are:* To Shape a Dragon's Breath, Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)* The Keeper's Six, Kate Elliott (Tordotcom)* Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Heather Fawcett (Del Rey; Orbit UK)* Dead Country, Max Gladstone (Tordotcom)* The Water Outlaws, S.L. Huang (Tordotcom; Solaris UK)* Paladin's Faith, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)* He Who Drowned the World, Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor; Mantle)* My Brother's Keeper, Tim Powers (Baen; Ad Astra)* City of Last Chances, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Ad Astra)* Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)The YA fantasies are:* The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, Garth Nix (Tegen; Gollancz)* Divine Rivals, Rebecca Ross (Wednesday; Magpie UK)* The Siren, the Song, and the Spy, Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Candlewick)-The Bookseller has announced the winners of the 2024 British Book Awards, also known as The Nibbies. Here once again we see the trending dominance of Romantasy and in particular Rebecca Yarros. The fantasies that came up were:* Iron Flame, Rebecca Yarros (Piaktus)* Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros (Piatkus) [winner in Page Turner category]* Impossible Creatures, Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury Children's) [winner in Children's fiction category]* Powerless, Lauren Roberts (Simon & Schusters Children's)* Skandar and the Phantom Rider, A.F. Steadman (Simon & Schusters Children's)For the complete list of winners, see the official website.-Not strictly book news, but you've probably heard that they're making a new Lord of the Rings film about Gollum. I'm not very hopeful after the messes that were the Hobbit films. On the other hand Andy Serkis is a genius. We'll see…Your free and discounted fantasy ebook and audiobook sales for this month:And a little Romantasy one I snuck in to see if any Romantasy readers are interested in jumping on to the story of Ryn and Nuthea… / / /What I've been reading:I like to read something similar in form to whatever I'm working on, and I started out this month editing and submitting some short stories so I thought I would read some too. One of the stories I had was comedy-fantasy (see below), so I decided to read Terry Pratchett's short stories. I've not read any Pratchett for a while, but I spent most of my teens working through the Discworld novels. I realise now just how much Pratchett affected my writing style—which I think is good and bad! Lots of these were not that memorable. On the other hand, one or two were absolute gems, but they did depend somewhat on prior knowledge of Discworld characters. Pratchett was the king of comedy-fantasy, but seemed (by his own admission) to do best with novels…What I've been listening to:To be honest I'm still listening my way through THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA since it's so massive, however in the meantime here's a hot audio tip: If you haven't discovered the free fantasy short stories podcast PODCASTLE yet (from genre stories podcast group ESCAPE POD), you should check it out! In particular I recommend their full-cast recording of IN THE STACKS, a hilarious short story about some students returning a book to a vast magical library, also written by Scott Lynch.What Jo's been reading:What I've been working on:I edited and submitted three fantasy short stories to different venues this month for something different before editing SAGA OF THE JEWELS VOL. 1 in response to the professional editorial feedback I paid for. I've got one request for a full story from a partial sub so far, so that's something! I've only aimed relatively low because it's been a while since I sold any short stories, but we'll see if anything comes of them. Then I got to editing something I wrote at Christmas—a short story about a teacher in a magic school, rather than a student, for once. I'd already written a second follow-up scene, and I had a few more ideas, so I just kept going—and now I have 16,000 words of draft of a novel. Whoops. It may be total garbage, but I just wonder if this might be the mansucript that I work and work and work on until I get it house-published… I think it has potential, but I need to know if there are any other fantasy novels out there about teachers in magical schools. I've done some research and so far found two, both indies: A DREAM OF FIRE by J. R. Rasmussen and TEACHING MAGIC by Amy Cocke. I've not read these yet, though now I'm going to have to: Does anyone know of any other fantasy novels about magic school teachers?If you do, please let me know in the comments or by email reply!In other newsThis newsletter is being scheduled from The Past because at the time it goes out we will be traveling back from Bavaria! (Knowing my luck lots of important fantasy books news will have dropped in the interim…) We were given some money by the parents of a friend to go on a holiday after Jo's cancer treatment, but she hadn't been well enough to go before now. She had carte blanche to pick anywhere she wanted to go, and this is where she chose: a retreat centre in the Bavarian Alps! If you've read or listened to Saga of the Jewels Season One, this is a bit how I imagine the Zerlanese town of Nevva in the episode ‘Rest Stop'. It's meant to be family friendly, but I'm a little wary of how it's going to be with a 6yo and 1yo… Nonetheless, we are super grateful and excited. See you on the other side!Previously on Saga of the Jewels…The life of seventeen-year-old RYN, bookish son of a wealthy landowner, changes forever when his hometown is destroyed by the EMPIRE and everyone he has ever known is killed. Ryn discovers that the Empire are seeking TWELVE PRIMEVAL JEWELS which grant the power to manipulate different elements, and that his father had been hiding the Fire Ruby. He sets out to take revenge on the Imperial General who killed his family and retrieve the Ruby, and along the way meets NUTHEA the lightning-slinging princess, SAGAR the swaggering skypirate, ELRANN the tomboy engineer, CID the wizened old healer, and VISH the poppy-seed-addicted assassin. Together the adventurers decide to find all of the Jewels in order to stop the evil EMPEROR from finding them first and taking over the world. They have thus far succeeded in retrieving the Fire Ruby, borne by Ryn, and the Lightning Crystal, borne by Nuthea. They have now come to the land of FARR where they are on their way to the ‘Earth Temple' in order to attempt to find the EARTH EMERALD under the guidance of Farrian monk HULD…Saga of the Jewels Episode 25. Huld, The MonkHuld made his way through the undergrowth of the Farrian jungle, leaning on his staff, pushing a particularly big, leafy branch out of the way and taking care not to snap it.He held it back for the foreigners to allow them to get past and continue further along the trail, which also gave him an opportunity to count them off in his head as they walked by.He was having trouble remembering their names. There was the red-brown-haired fireboy, who didn't say much. Huld liked that, though he was highly cautious of the boy's flame-projection powers. One.There was the long-golden-haired girl who talked too much. It was her fault that this whole mission was happening, really. He wasn't sure what he thought about her, though he guessed her intentions were probably noble and she was probably harmless. She hadn't shown if she really had any ‘powers' yet. Two.Then there was the boy with the silly coat and the ponytail. He talked far too much, and didn't know when to hold his tongue. Huld was sure that this one's intentions were not noble. This was definitely one to keep an eye on. He smiled at the boy as he walked past.“Stop grinning at me like that,” the ponytail-boy said as he went by. “You're giving me the creeps.”“My apologies,” said Huld, without meaning it.Three.Next there was the engineer boy with the short purple hair. No, wait, this was a girl, he had now established. Actually, he still wasn't entirely sure, to be honest. She was nice enough and had been quite friendly to him so far. She seemed as though she was simply going along with the rest of the group in order to help them out, without being especially invested in their goal. Huld could understand that. Four.Then there was the old man with the beard. The only one with any sense in the whole group, as far as Huld could tell. He spoke carefully, thoughtfully, and did not rush into things. Very sensible. Five.And lastly, bringing up the rear, was the supposedly ex-Imperial masked Shadowfinger, dressed all in black. Huld was deeply suspicious of this one. He could sense a fearsome strength sealed up in this man's body, in his tense poise and the way he carried himself so deliberately as he walked which showed that he knew how to use it. This was the one to really watch. Six.And I make seven. All present and accounted for. Huld let go of the big branch, allowing it to snap back to its original place, and followed after the group.Really, this whole mission was a bad idea. It was a bad idea for anyone to be trying to interfere with the Earth Emerald, let alone a band of filthy foreigners. It had caused enough trouble the last time it had been in possession of the Republic. The previous Governor, Lord Restra, had been very sensible to have it sealed away in the Shrine to Eto. Where it should stay.But Huld lived to serve, and his life was service. If he wasn't loyal to the Republic of Farr and to his Lord Governor, then what was he?Nothing at all.So he had received his orders cheerfully with a smile on his face, as usual, and set out obeying them cheerfully with a smile on his face, as usual.The Governor's instructions had been very clear:“Make use of the foreigners' skills in order to retrieve the Earth Emerald from the Shrine, and then take it and bring it back to me”“How much further to this place anyway, baldy?” called ponytail from up ahead in the line of walkers, derailing Huld's train of thought.“Not much further,” the monk called back. The boy was rude, but Huld didn't mind the insulting term of address, really. His head had been shaved to show his devotion to Eto and the Republic. Better a ‘baldy' than having that stupid long hair tied back like a woman's. “Just keep to the trail,” he said pleasantly, “it will not be long from here.”They hadn't been able to land any closer to the Shrine in the party's airship due to the dense jungle they were now making their way through. Still, Huld was glad to be off the airship sooner rather than later. He hated the things. They were unnatural contraptions.He much preferred being here, on solid earth. He much preferred being here, hiking through the undergrowth, feeling the grassy ground through his bare feet and with the base of his straight wooden staff, surrounded by a panoply of green life, listening to the noises of buzzing insects and croaking frogs and chirping birds, breathing in the thick, warm air, smelling the refreshing fragrance of recent rain, keeping his attention on one step at a time, because that was all you could do. This was his home. This was where he belonged.Huld bumped into the Shadowfinger in front of him.The man spun round in an instant, lifting his hand to the hilt of his blade which was sheathed on his back. When he saw that it was only Huld, he relaxed again.“Look where you are going,” said the Shadowfinger cooly.“My apologies, Master Vish,” said Huld, bowing his head slightly. He had remembered this one's name. It was the only one he had. “A careless accident.”It turned out the Shadowfinger had stopped because the rest of the group had too; Huld hadn't been paying proper attention to their progress.The obscure flattened grass trail that they had been walking through the trees had come to an abrupt end, and all of a sudden the tall, densely packed trees opened up into a massive clearing.And there, looming up in the middle of the clearing, was the Shrine to Eto.The Earth Temple.“Well, that's something, I suppose,” said ponytail.Ignorant foreigner, thought Huld. It's more than ‘something'. It's one of the great wonders of Mid.The shrine was enormous, built of bricks of baked, brown earth arranged in layers one on top of another that got narrower with each layer, much like the way that Shun Pei had been built. Except unlike Shun-Pei, the layers here were square, not round, and there were no peaks or points—instead each layer was flat, creating the effect of a series of steps on four sides that climbed to reach a single cubic grey-stone summit with a flat top. Though ‘steps' was probably not the right word. You would have to be a giant to ascend these steps.It wasn't so much that the Shrine reached up to the sky, but that it reached down from the sky into the earth, widening out and fusing with it, and yet also made of it and already part of it, a vast, monolithic monument to Earth herself. Huld approved.“Where's the entrance?” asked the fire boy.“We have approached from the east,” Huld said. “I believe that the entrance is on the western side.” He had never actually visited the Shrine before, only heard stories about the ancient abandoned Shrine to Eto. The stories were surpassed by the real thing, however. Excitement fluttered in his chest at the prospect of actually going inside, though he just wished that he wasn't visiting it for the first time under these circumstances.They walked round to the western side of the Shrine, which took them a good ten minutes, such was its size.“Here we are,” said the golden girl.In the middle of the wall of the base layer of the Shrine on this side were two gigantic doors, each twice the height of Huld, which was saying something. They were made out of the same baked brown earth the colour of fertile soil as the rest of the Shrine, but you could tell that they were doors because they were cut slightly differently from the rest of the wall, three vertical lines presumably hiding hinges and the space where the doors met, and had two huge circular bronze handles hanging from halfway up each of them. The handles had to be just for show though, because they were so big, and impossible to reach.“How are we gonna open those?” said the engineer girl.The foreigners all looked at Huld with stupid expectant stares.“I am not sure…” he said after a moment. He hadn't been briefed by the Governor about this. He genuinely didn't know what to do.He walked up to a door and placed a hand on its surface. The earth it was made from was strangely warm to the touch, like it was being fed by some inner energy.Huld pushed, but the door did not budge one inch.The old man appeared at his side. “Perhaps there is some sort of password?”“Perhaps,” grunted Huld. “Though I have never heard of such a thing.” They had never had anything like that at any of the shrines or temples where he had trained. Normally doors just...opened. Like they were supposed to.“Are there any particular words or phrases that you would associate with this place?” said the old man. “Or with the worship of Eto?”Huld thought about it. “I suppose that there are.”“Perhaps you could try saying some of them out loud?”“Alright then…” Huld felt foolish, but he tried saying some of the phrases out loud anyway in his most confident, clear voice.“Hail Eto, our Mother the Earth!”Nothing.“Strength in numbers! Freedom in service! Glory in sacrifice!”Nothing.“When we strike as one we will move mountains!”Nothing.The massive door just stood there still, unmoving as the earth.“Open Sesame!” someone shouted behind him.Huld looked round and raised an eyebrow at the purple-haired engineer girl.She shrugged. “What? I heard it in a story somewhere. It was worth a shot.”Huld sighed.“Well this is going well,” said ponytail.“There must be some way in,” said goldengirl.  “Perhaps a physical technique, instead?” the old man suggested.“Hmmm,” rumbled Huld. “Yes.” This was more his language.He laid his staff on the grass and searched in his mind for a technique.Of course. Why did I not think of it before?He dropped into chocobo stance, spreading his legs just over shoulder-width apart, bending his knees, keeping his back straight, and also bending his arms but turning his palms upwards like he was holding two eggs in line with his hips.“What are you doing?” said fireboy.“Hush, if you please,” said Huld. “A fighting technique. It is called ‘Moving the Earth,' appropriately enough.”He focused on his breathing.In.Out.In.Out.He gathered the energy inside himself on his next breath in, willed it to transfer from his chest, down his arms, and into his hands, then drew his elbows back, and as he breathed out—“HA!”Huld thrust his hands forward, twisting them round as he did so, slamming his open palms into the earthen door, putting all the energy and strength of his being behind them.His palms stung at once from the impact as they met the door's resistance. They made a dull slapping noise as they connected. Huld fancied he felt the door tremor, ever so slightly.He took a step back and looked up, rubbing his tingling hands, then frowned.Nothing had moved.Someone screamed behind him.Huld span round and back into his chocobo stance.On the grass in front of the entrance to the Shrine, figures were sprouting from the ground, composed of it, literally climbing out of it. Brown figures of soil and stone with bits of grass and tree bark and foliage on them.Figures of earth.*Nuthea screamed shrill and high on reflex.A creature made of earth and soil had just risen up out of the ground next to her. It was humanoid in shape, with no facial features, but it had crude hands bunched into fists.It took a swing at her and Nuthea jumped back out of the way, screaming again.“Bolt!” she yelled, instinctively reaching for her lightning projection, and thrust her hand out.But no bolt came. She didn't even feel the play of energy along her arm.No! Not again!The creature ran towards her, pulling back its earthen fist for another strike. She wasn't going to have time to get out of the way.Earth clanged against metal as Sagar interposed one his blades between Nuthea and the attack.The skypirate pushed the golem (now Nuthea remembered the proper name for these magical creatures) away with his sword and it stumbled back a couple of paces.“Wind!” Sagar yelled, thrusting his other hand forwards.Air rushed from Sagar's open palm at the golem, but it just dug its feet into the ground, fusing with it. The wind rippled over the golem, riffling the leaves that were stuck to some of its body, but it remained completely unmoved, unharmed.“Uh-oh…” said Sagar when his wind attack was spent.Sense returned to Nuthea and she drew her own sword from its sheath at her side--a straight Manolian blade with a golden hilt and a wicked point. If lightning and wind weren't going to work on these creatures, they would have to resort to steel.The golem ran at Sagar, its feet easily detaching from the earth when it needed them to, and this time it was Nuthea's turn to step in and block its punch with her sword.Her blade bounced off the golem's fist, each knocked away by the other, sending a shudder of vibrating pain down Nuthea's arms. Whatever combination of earth and stone it was made of was tough, tough enough even to turn away Manolian steel.The others were yelling and shouting behind her. In her peripheral vision she could see more golems moving around, but for now she had to focus on the one in front of her and Sagar.“Thanks for the save, princess,” Sagar said. Did he have to make it sound so sarcastic? The pirate lunged forward, pressing the attack against the golem, trying a thrust with his swordpoint.The golem didn't respond quickly enough and this time Sagar's sword went into its chest area, puncturing it and sticking out the other side…...and not slowing it down at all.The golem punched Sagar in the face with a clay fist and he fell backwards with a shout, losing his grip on his sword and landing in a heap on the floor. He did not get up.“Sagar!” Nuthea called in concern.There wasn't time to tend to him now. The golem kept its momentum and strode towards Nuthea, throwing more punches at her, Sagar's sword still embedded in its torso.Nuthea blocked the blows, but it was so strong, and now that she saw no way of fighting back her heart began to thump rapidly in her chest as she began to panic.“Someone! Help!” she cried.The golem forced her backwards. She lifted her sword to block a particularly vicious strike, and the golem hit it so hard that it knocked it spinning out of her hands.Nuthea stumbled from the impact and fell backwards.The golem stood over her and raised its two big earthen fists above its head, about to crush her.Nuthea raised her hands to cover her face on reflex and winced, crying out in terror.“Fire!” yelled Ryn from somewhere nearby.A blast of orange flame engulfed the upper part of the golem. It immediately started batting at itself to try to extinguish the flame, but its hands only caught fire too. It collapsed to the ground, black smoke pouring off it, burning rapidly and writhing about. In a matter of moments it was a pile of smoking ash—entirely consumed by the fire.Nuthea sighed with deep relief, then retrieved her sword and stood up.“That worked well!” she said, turning to where she thought Ryn was.But Ryn wasn't there anymore. He was ten paces away, manically throwing fire at more golems, shouting focus-words one after another but sometimes not even having the time to do that. There were so many of them, closing in in a circle around the party and, apparently seeing Ryn as a threat, now the majority of them were advancing on him. He was struggling to keep up with the onrush of earthen warriors, blasting them with fire one by one, some of them getting dangerously close to him before he sent a barrage of flickering red and orange into them. Nuthea was sure he would not be able to keep this up forever.She looked for the others. Elrann was unloading her pistols at the golems one by one, blowing chunks of earth out of their bodies, but the holes she left only reformed and the golems came on. Huld was fighting a pair of golems with his hands. Cid had his sword drawn and was desperately trying to fight his way to the fallen Sagar, whom the golems now ignored. And Vish was currently occupied with fighting four golems at the same time, slashing and cutting but unable to do any lasting damage to any of them.Ryn was the only one who seemed capable of halting the golems with his fire projection. But he couldn't fight them all on his own, and he would surely run out of mana soon.Nuthea had an idea.“Ryn!” she yelled.The young man turned his head to look at her as he continued to throw fire at the onrushing creatures.“Can you localise some flame projection around my blade?”“What?” Ryn called back.“Can you hit my sword with a fire spell so that it lights on fire?”“What?!”“Just do it!” Nuthea called impatiently. “I know you can do it!” She held out her sword to him with one hand, blade pointing up.Ryn's brow furrowed, but all the same he pointed two fingers of one hand at her. “Fire!”Flame leapt from Ryn's outstretched fingers—two pointed fingers, in this case, rather than a whole thrust-out hand, perhaps because he was holding back, or perhaps because this is how his body instinctively shaped and controlled the fire to aim it more precisely.The flames hit Nuthea's raised swordblade…...and settled on it. Her whole blade became enveloped in flame and glowed red hot. The fire stopped leaping from Ryn's fingers, but it continued to burn on her blade, red and orange, covering it in a blazing, incandescent aura.“You did it!” she called. “I knew you could!”A golem was coming for her.Nuthea sprinted towards the golem, meeting it head on, and brought her flaming blade down and then up in a deadly arc from right to left across its torso, orange trailing in its wake.The blade tore through the golem's body with barely any resistance at all and passed out the other side of it, severing it in two. At the same time, the golem caught fire.It collapsed to the ground in two halves, and both halves thrashed around uselessly while they burned.“It worked!” Nuthea cried in elation. She turned. Ryn was still desperately throwing fire at the golems, sometimes missing, sometimes hitting, while the others were struggling to fend them off. “Ryn!” she shouted. “It worked! Do the same thing for the others!”“They're a bit busy right now!” Ryn called back.Nuthea looked for them. They were losing ground to the golems, getting forced backwards and closer together. Huld was now dealing with three at once, catching their fists with his palms or blocking them with his forearms, throwing back punches and kicks of his own but with little effect. Elrann stood behind and to the side of him, still desperately trying to slow their advance with her pistols, apparently not knowing what else to do and unwilling to try her whip on them. Cid was now fighting off two together with his sword, only barely managing to defend himself, but not to retaliate. And Vish had about six on him now, dancing and weaving around them as he held them at bay.Him first.“Shadowfinger Vish!” Nuthea cried. “To me!”The Shadowfinger looked up from his combat, saw her, then bent his knees and kicked off from the ground, executing one of his astonishing leaps, soaring upwards, twisting round in midair, and landing smartly next to her.“What?” the Shadowfinger said irritably, as though he had been interrupted in the middle of doing something he enjoyed, though it may have also been from frustration at the golems.“Hold up your blade! Let Ryn season it with fire!”“What?!”Why don't people just listen to me? Nuthea thought. I'm clearly the most intelligent and knowledgeable member of this adventuring party. And I'm royalty.“It won't hurt you,” she explained hurriedly. “It's a cooperative elemental projection technique. I've seen it done with lightning back home in Manolia, though I've not learned how to do it yet. But it works with fire too. Look.” She held up her own flaming sword by way of explanation.Vish slitted his eyes at her, but then held up his black sword in front of him without saying another word.“Ryn!” Nuthea called. “Over here! Do Vish's sword too!”Ryn looked over mid-spell, then hurriedly threw a hand out to perform the same technique on Vish's sword that he had done for Nuthea's.Fire jumped from his pointed fingers to set Vish's blade alight, too.The Shadowfinger's eyes went wide as he held it up to inspect it, the fire now continually burning on his blade reflecting in his grey irises.“Try again now!” said Nuthea.“Argh!” Ryn cried out.He dropped to his knees and doubled over, putting both hands out on the ground. He must be out of mana, or almost out of it. His eyes were shut in pain or concentration.The flames coming from Nuthea's and Vish's swords died down momentarily, but then Ryn grunted with exertion and they returned to their former intensity.Of course. He needs to concentrate to keep the flames burning on our swords.“Hold on, Ryn!” Nuthea called. “We're coming!”She ran towards the golems about to plough into Ryn, even as Vish leapt into the air.The Shadowfinger came down before she reached them, setting upon them as a vicious streak of black and orange, slicing earthen arms and legs from bodies, severing their heads, cleaving them in half.Nuthea joined him, and together the two of them tore through the golems, their swords leaving trails of fiery colour in the air.In no time at all they had fought their way back to Ryn and the others, and Nuthea pierced the back of the golem that was nearest to Cid, then ripped her sword out of it by kicking it to the floor. Vish made quick work of the golems besetting Elrann and Huld.A matter of moments, and all the remaining golems lay in pieces on the ground, burning up into nothing but dust and dirt.Nuthea and Vish had defeated them easily with their flame-assisted weapons.Cid ran over to the fallen form of Sagar at once and knelt down next to him, placing both his hands on the skypirate's head. “Cure,” he said.“Urrrrrrrggghh,” said Sagar as he came back to consciousness. “What the hells happened?”“One of them got you,” Nuthea called over from where she stood. “I don't think wind attacks are going to be very effective against earth elementals.”“Rrrrr,” Sagar growled quietly.“That's a cool trick, princess-girl,” said Elrann nearby, pointing at Nuthea's sword with one of her pistols.Nuthea looked at the still flaming blade. “Wait...Ryn!”Her eyes found the flame-wielding farmboy a little way away, still kneeling on the ground with both hands on it, hunched over, his eyes scrunched shut, concentrating hard.She sprinted over to him.“Ryn, it's alright!” she said between pants. “We defeated the golems! That cooperative technique did it! You can quench the flames on my and Shadowfinger Vish's swords now!”Ryn whimpered, and the flames around Nuthea's swordblade died down. His arms trembled, then gave way completely, and he fell face down onto the earth, lying flat on his front.“Grandfather!” Nuthea called out at once. “Ryn needs your help too!”Cid was already running over. He knelt next to Ryn and put a hand on his head.“He's spent all his mana…” Cid said. “Cure.”Ryn sighed a note of relief. He opened his eyes, and shakily pushed himself up, then rearranged himself so he was sitting on the ground.“That's better,” he said, rubbing his hands. “Why did that hurt so much?”“If you keep projecting when all your mana is spent, it causes you physical damage and pain,” said Cid. “The element-magic draws its energy directly from the body's physical resources, rather from your spent mana pool. I will need to give you some of my mana too. He placed a hand on Ryn's shoulder. “Syphon.”Ryn shut his eyes again for a moment and his head rocked back. “Woah. I can feel my projection powers are back. Thanks, Cid.”“That's alright, lad. It seems that we are going to be relying on your abilities quite a lot to retrieve this particular Jewel… I have a larger mana pool than you do, as I'm more experienced and have been at this game for longer, but I still only have a finite supply.”“It feels like I have...more than before,” said Ryn. “Is that because of you?”“No,” said Cid, “that's because you just pushed your mana beyond its limit, so your capacity has grown now that you've been healed. It's a very dangerous but nonetheless, aha, very sure-fire way to increase your mana capacity. It's a bit like forcing a sustained limit break. I just topped up your newly increased reserves, but I can't increase your capacity for you.”“What's a limit break?”“...I'll explain another time.”“What are you lot waffling on about?” asked Sagar as he walked over.“Oh, nothing,” said Cid, “just some of the ins-and-outs of elemental projection.”The others came over to join them too.“That was good thinking there, princess-girl,” said Elrann. “Your little trick probably saved our lives.”“It was nothing,” Nuthea said with complete sincerity. “I've seen a similar thing done with lightning in Manolia, so I just had the idea to repeat it with fire.”“Yeah,” said Sagar, “well done and everything, I'm sure we're all glad that's over, but it doesn't actually help us get into the Shrine, does it?”“Er,” said Ryn, “actually it does.”He pointed.At some time while they had been talking, the doors to the Earth Temple had opened inwards, revealing an earthen corridor beyond which receded into darkness.“Well that's creepy,” said Elrann.“Most peculiar…” said Huld.“They must have opened when we defeated the earth elementals…” said Cid.A heartbeat.“Looks like we're going in then,” said Sagar.“Wait!” said Nuthea, not wanting them to get ahead of themselves. “We need to talk about our strategy. It would appear that wind and lightning attacks were ineffective against these golems.” No need to tell them that I didn't even get a chance to test my lightning on them. What's happening to me? I'll have to ask Grandfather Cid about it later.“Where did those things come from, anyway?” said Ryn. “Huld?”“I… I'm not sure,” said the monk slowly. “I have never encountered such creatures anywhere in Farr before…” He seemed somewhat shaken.“Cid?” said Ryn.Grandfather stroked his beard. “My best guess is that they were created by the Earth Emerald itself. The Jewels have a...habit of making themselves difficult to be found. It doesn't mean that they are impossible to obtain, as we know, but they can be very difficult to get hold of. My guess is that the Emerald quite enjoys being shut up here, surrounded by all this earth, and so raised those guardians with its magic to try us before granting us entry to the Temple. This sort of thing does happen from time to time. But we appear to have passed the test, because they have stopped appearing.”“Great,” said Sagar. “Well, thanks for the warning, old timer.”“I did not know if such things would happen here or not…” Cid said, a touch defensively. “I have only ever encountered them happening on a few other occasions before…”“Never mind,” said Ryn, “like you said, we've beaten them now. Let's go inside and get this Jewel.”“That's easy for you to say, farmboy,” said Elrann. “Your fire worked well on them. The rest of us are a bit more defenceless.”“That's a good point,” Nuthea said. “Ryn, it seems we will need to rely on you if we encounter any more...earth enemies. You should conserve your mana as much as possible.”“That's right,” said Grandfather. “I topped you up, and I have a bigger mana pool than you do due to my experience, but I don't have infinite reserves and I can feel that I'm starting to run low. Make sure you don't burn through yours too quickly, or we might really get into trouble.”“That cooperative technique you had him perform was useful,” said Vish unexpectedly. The Shadowfinger almost never spoke up in group conversations. Everyone else looked just as surprised as Nuthea felt. “Make sure you save enough ‘mana' to do that again if we need you to, boy.”“I'll do my best,” said Ryn with unforced earnestness. Nuthea decided she liked that trait of his. It was growing on her, anyway. “Come on. It's time to enter this ‘Earth Temple'.”And in they went. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sagaofthejewels.substack.com

This week we discussed Wandering Stars, written by Tommy Orange, and narrated by Shaun Taylor-Corbett, MacLeod Andrews, Alma Cuervo, Curtis Michael Holland, Calvin Joyal, Phil Ava, Emmanuel Chumaceiro, Christian Young, Charley Flyte . Wandering Stars [Libro.fm] / [OverDrive/Libby] / [Audible] There There [Libro.fm] / [OverDrive/Libby] / [Audible] Roots [Audible] The Berry Pickers [Libro.fm] To Shape a Dragon's Breath [Libro.fm] / [Overdrive/Libby] / [Audible] Between Earth and Sky (series): Black Sun [Libro.fm] / [Overdrive/Libby] / [Audible] / [Episode 82] Calling for a Blanket Dance [Libro.fm] A Council of Dolls [Libro.fm] / [OverDrive/Libby] / [Audible] Stealing [Libro.fm] / [OverDrive/Libby] / [Audible] When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky [Libro.fm] / [OverDrive/Libby] / [Audible]

On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are sharing their favorite reads of 2023. This year, we have two lists: favorite reading experiences and favorite books. With so many great reading experiences of… not so great books, we had to differentiate. We also had a few overlaps, and some reads that really surprised the other! Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  .  1:46 - Our Yearly Reading Overview 5:41 - The Novel Neighbor 6:52 - Currently Reading Patreon 8:08 - Minotaur Books 8:09 - Tor.com 8:10 - Berkeley 8:25 - William Morrow 9:32 - Flatiron Books 16:04 - @megan.is.reading on Instagram (this link goes directly to the monthly goals post!) 17:02 - Our Favorite Reading Experiences of 2023 18:47 - A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas (Meredith #5) 19:46 - Unhinged by Vera Valentine (Kaytee #4) 21:16 - The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf (Meredith #4) 22:08 - Garlic and the Vampire by Bree Paulson (Kaytee #4) 22:10 - Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulson 22:53 - Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann 23:33 - Cover Story by Susan Rigetti (Meredith #3) 24:45 - My Storied Year by Katie Proctor (Kaytee #3) 25:41 - The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (Meredith #2) 26:17 - Starter Villain by John Scalzi  27:06 - Waypoints by Sam Heughan (Kaytee #2) 28:10 - Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (Meredith #1) 29:05 - The Introduction of Popcorn in the Pages (Kaytee #1) 29:45 - Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton 29:46 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 29:47 - Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston 29:48 - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 31:00 - Our Top Ten Books of 2023 31:40 - Slewfoot by Brom (Meredith #10) CR Season 6, Episode 16 for Slewfoot setup 32:56 - The Life Council by Laura Tremaine (Kaytee #10) CR Season 5, Episode 47 for The Life Council setup 34:03 - The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Meredith #9) CR Season 6, Episode 11 for The Covenant of Water setup 34:27 - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 35:39 - To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (Kaytee #9) CR Season 6, Episode 8 for To Shape a Dragon's Breath setup 36:21 - Elliot Bay Book Company 36:32 - Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (Merdith #8) CR Season 6, Episode 13 for Starling House setup 36:37 - The Novel Neighbor 36:45 - The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow 37:47 - Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (Kaytee #8) CR Season 6, Episode 17 for Tom Lake setup 38:39 - In Light of All Darkness by Kim Cross (Meredith #7) CR Season 6, Episode 8 for In Light of All Darkness setup 40:14 - Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross (Kaytee #7) CR Season 6, Episode 19 for Divine Rivals setup 40:43 - Fairyloot 41:09 - Search by Michelle Huneven (Meredith #6) CR Season 5, Episode 32 for Search setup 42:39 - The Swifts by Beth Lincoln (Kaytee #6) CR Season 6, Episode 6 for The Swifts setup 42:46 - Capital Book on K 43:47 - North Woods by Daniel Mason (Meredith #5) (This has never been brought as a current read) 46:03 - Congratulations, The Best is Over! By R. Eric Thomas (Kaytee #5) CR Season 6, Episode 12 for Congratulations, The Best is Over! Setup 47:08 - Strange Sally Diamond Liz Nugent (Meredith #4) CR Season 6, Episode 5 for Strange Sally Diamond setup 48:22 - Happy Place by Emily Henry (Kaytee #4) CR Season 5, Episode 44 for Happy Place setup 50:07 - Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes (Meredith #3) CR Season 5, Episode 31 for Stone Blind setup 51:49 - The Adventures of Almina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (Kaytee #3) CR Season 6, Episode 1 for The Adventures of Almina Al-Sirafi setup 53:08 - Cold People by Tom Rob Smith (Meredith #2) CR Season 6, Episode 20 for Cold People setup 54:50 - Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Kaytee #2) CR Season 5: Episode 47 for Chain Gang All Stars setup 57:31 - Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati (Meredith #1) CR Season 5, Episode 45 for Clytemnestra setup 1:00:41 - Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (Kaytee #1) CR Season 5, Episode 31 for Black Cake setup Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. January's IPL is brought to you by our anchor store, Fabled Bookshop in Waco, TX. Trope Thursday with Kaytee and Bunmi - a behind the scenes peek into the publishing industry All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the special insights of an independent bookseller The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

In this episode, we get excited about two great books: One Woman Show by Christine Coulson and To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. Then Dave recites a delightful poem from British poet Brian Bilston. Links One Woman Show by Christine Coulson Video: Christine Coulson at Hudson River Museum Metropolitan Stories by Christine Coulson Podcast: Museums: A Gathering of Muses, A Clutch of Curators To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose Brian Bilston's website and Twitter And So This is Christmas: 51 Seasonally Adjusted Poems by Brian Bilston You Took the Last Bus Home by Brian Bilston Days Like These: An alternative guide to the year in 366 poems by Brian Bilston Meet the Author: Brian Bilston (Suffolk Libraries) Brian Bilston: the Poet Laureate of Twitter (The Irish Times) Transcript of this episode. The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace As always, you can find us at: Our site Instagram Twitter Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we discussed To Shape a Dragon's Breath, written by Moniquill Blackgoose and narrated by Charley Flyte. Discussion with Shachi, Lisa, and Scott. To Shape a Dragon's Breath [Libro.fm] / [Overdrive/Libby] / [Audible] The Scholomance (Series): A Deadly Education [Libro.fm] / [Overdrive/Libby]  / [Audible] Tess of the Road [Libro.fm] / [Overdrive/Libby] / [Audible] In the Serpents Wake [Libro.fm] / [Overdrive/Libby] / [Audible] Temeraire (Series) [Libro.fm] / [Overdrive/Libby] / [Audible] Legendborn [Libro.fm] VenCo [Libro.fm]  

Who wants to get in on some trivia? (12:00 to skip). Liberty invents the grindset and Marta needs a new brain. Also, who doesn’t love to get back at the mean chemistry teacher. Special thanks to VOLO for the intro and outro music.The post To Shape a Dragon's Breath: Part Three first appeared on Don't call it a book club..

Parenting strengths and weaknessesWe share areas of parenting that come easily to us (and those that don't!), our partners' parenting superpowers, and a recent parenting win.Episode about our everyday superpowersLife latelyAbby shares the sad news that the hospital where she works will be closing Labor and Delivery later this month.The renovation continues at Sarah's house... In this update, concrete stain!Reading latelyAbby read the YA fantasy novel To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose.Sarah read R.F. Kuang's Yellowface.Eating latelySarah tried two new recipes from the Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook for Neil's birthday.Abby enjoyed a buffalo chicken dip made by Andrew.If you'd like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dan gets a clone (9:00 to skip). Barbecues are out, Luncheons are in. Turns out Dan knows all the calls for square dancing (we learn a lot about Dan in this sode tbh). What do I have to do to get a dance card at my next party? Special thanks to VOLO for the intro and outro music.The post To Shape a Dragon's Breath: Part Two first appeared on Don't call it a book club..

On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: trips overseas and checking out home decor books Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: what is working for us in our reading lives The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!  We are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). The goal here is to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Bookshop affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. If you'd prefer to shop on Amazon, you can still do so here through our main storefront. Anything you buy there (even your laundry detergent, if you recently got obsessed with switching up your laundry game) kicks a small amount back to us. Thanks for your support!*   . . . . 1:53 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week 6:15 - Current Reads 6:46 - The Last One by Will Dean (Meredith) 9:41 - Distress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard 10:58 - To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (Kaytee) 11:05 - Capital Books 11:08 - Parnassus Books 14:36 - Spinning Silver by Naomi Novick (Meredith) 18:33 - A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer  19:01 - All The Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (Kaytee) 20:22 - Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby 23:08 - Down the Hill by Susan Hendricks 23:24 - In Light of All Darkness by Kim Cross (Meredith) 24:45 - I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara 28:51 - Waypoints by Sam Heughan (Kaytee) 30:16 - Wild by Cheryl Strayed   33:59 - Deep Dive: What Is Working In Our Reading Lives Switching up the format of a book (Meredith) 36:26 - Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer Freedom of reading… within constraints (Kaytee) Going in blind to books (Meredith) Putting ebooks or audiobooks on hold via the library that I already physically own and limiting myself to one stack at a time (Kaytee) 42:18 - The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny  Doing close reads of not just Three Pines, but any other book I feel the urge (Meredith) 43:01 - Ezeekat on Instagram 44:15 - Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery Finding a new time to read (Kaytee) 46:35 - Meet Us At The Fountain 47:02 - I wish more people would explore the works by Anne Perry, specifically the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. (Meredith) 47:13 - The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry 48:18 - I wish to press The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green 48:20 - The Anthroprocene Reviewed by John Green Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredithmondayschwartz on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram Roxanna is @roxannatheplanner on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcastand www.zazzle.com/store/currentlyreading

Luke gives us a solid gold business idea that I would have literally used today (8:49 to skip). First off, every book needs a pronunciation guide, thank you, Moniquill.Secondly, everyone needs a cuddle dragon. Luke takes a brave stand against imperialism and Dan wants to know the dragon school acceptance criteria. Special thanks to VOLO for the intro and outro music.The post To Shape a Dragon's Breath: Part One first appeared on Don't call it a book club..

Who needs a warmup when you’ve got a classic Brandon Sanderson finale! You miss 100% of the shots (at the Lord Ruler) you don’t take so let’s mix it up a little. We’re handing out awards and assigning roles in this one; coach, MVP, and X-factor are already set, what did we miss? Next week we’re reading To Shape a Dragons Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. Special thanks to VOLO for the intro and outro music.The post The Final Empire: Part Three first appeared on Don't call it a book club..

Who needs a warmup when you've got a classic Brandon Sanderson finale! You miss 100% of the shots (at the Lord Ruler) you don't take so let's mix it up a little. We're handing out awards and assigning roles in this one; coach, MVP, and X-factor are already set, what did we miss? Next week we're reading To Shape a Dragons Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose.Special thanks to VOLO for the intro and outro music.

It's hard to think of a more celebrated figure of the 20th century than Martin Luther King Jr.He has a national memorial in Washington, D.C. His birthday is one of just 11 federal holidays. His words and legacy are routinely evoked by politicians of both major parties. I would go as far as to say he should be considered one of America's founding fathers, which is one reason why I wanted to revisit this episode on Independence Day.But the paradox of King's legacy is that while many revere him, very few actually read him. Most of us can cite a handful of his most famous quotes, but King's actual teachings span five books, countless speeches and sermons, and years of detailed correspondence.There's perhaps no scholar working today who studies Dr. King's political philosophy as deeply as Brandon Terry. Terry is the John L. Loeb associate professor of social sciences at Harvard, where he specializes in Black political thought. He is the co-editor of “To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” the editor of “Fifty Years Since MLK,” and the author of numerous popular and academic articles on King's political thought. His work is committed to rescuing the nuances of Dr. King's philosophies and forcing a confrontation with what King actually said and believed, rather than what he's come to represent.In this conversation, taped in January, we follow the commitment that animates much of Terry's work: to take King seriously as a philosopher, rather than as purely a political actor. And it turns out that King understood a lot about politics that we've lost sight of today.We're taping an “Ask Me Anything” episode soon. If you have a question for Ezra, send it to ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com with the subject line, “AMA.”Mentioned:“Imagining the nonviolent state” by Ezra Klein“Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” by Martin Luther King Jr.From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime by Elizabeth Hinton“Rethinking the Problem of Alliance: Organized Labor and Black Political Life” by Brandon M. Terry and Jason LeeThe Truly Disadvantaged by William Julius WilsonBook recommendations:Where Do We Go From Here by Martin Luther King Jr.The Trumpet of Conscience by Martin Luther King Jr.The Sword and the Shield by Peniel E. JosephA More Beautiful and Terrible History by Jeanne TheoharisDark Ghettos by Tommie ShelbyThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Emefa Agawu, Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld, Rogé Karma and Kristin Lin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker and Rollin Hu. Original music by Isaac Jones. Mixing by Jeff Geld. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Sonia Herrero.

To Shape or to Sublimate

In the final episode of this series, Brandon Terry, political theorist and African American Studies scholar at Harvard discusses the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. Terry is the editor of Fifty Years Since MLK, published in 2018 by MIT Press and Boston Review and co-edited To Shape a New World, alongside Tommie Shelby, which was published in 2018 by Harvard University Press. These books explore the conscription of MLK's legacy to narratives not of his own politics, and how his work might be wrestled back and engaged with on its own radical merit. Produced by Sam Kelly; Mixed by Samantha Doyle; Soundtrack by Kristen Gallerneaux  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

In the final episode of this series, Brandon Terry, political theorist and African American Studies scholar at Harvard discusses the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. Terry is the editor of Fifty Years Since MLK, published in 2018 by MIT Press and Boston Review and co-edited To Shape a New World, alongside Tommie Shelby, which was published in 2018 by Harvard University Press. These books explore the conscription of MLK's legacy to narratives not of his own politics, and how his work might be wrestled back and engaged with on its own radical merit. Produced by Sam Kelly; Mixed by Samantha Doyle; Soundtrack by Kristen Gallerneaux  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

In the final episode of this series, Brandon Terry, political theorist and African American Studies scholar at Harvard discusses the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. Terry is the editor of Fifty Years Since MLK, published in 2018 by MIT Press and Boston Review and co-edited To Shape a New World, alongside Tommie Shelby, which was published in 2018 by Harvard University Press. These books explore the conscription of MLK's legacy to narratives not of his own politics, and how his work might be wrestled back and engaged with on its own radical merit. Produced by Sam Kelly; Mixed by Samantha Doyle; Soundtrack by Kristen Gallerneaux  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

In the final episode of this series, Brandon Terry, political theorist and African American Studies scholar at Harvard discusses the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. Terry is the editor of Fifty Years Since MLK, published in 2018 by MIT Press and Boston Review and co-edited To Shape a New World, alongside Tommie Shelby, which was published in 2018 by Harvard University Press. These books explore the conscription of MLK's legacy to narratives not of his own politics, and how his work might be wrestled back and engaged with on its own radical merit. Produced by Sam Kelly; Mixed by Samantha Doyle; Soundtrack by Kristen Gallerneaux  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Liberty and Jeff discuss To Shape a Dragon's Breath, Our Migrant Souls, Hope You Are Satisfied, and more. Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher and never miss a beat book. Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news. BookRiot.com co-founder Jeff O'Neal explores the wide bookish world. Interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more, featuring people who know and love books. Subscribe to First Edition on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your podcatcher of choice. For a complete list of books discussed in this episode, visit our website. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Books Discussed On the Show: To Shape a Dragon's Breath: The First Book of Nampeshiweisit by Moniquill Blackgoose Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar I'm Not Supposed to Be in the Dark by Riss M. Neilson Oh My Mother!: A Memoir in Nine Adventures by Connie Wang Hope You Are Satisfied by Tania Malik Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” by Héctor Tobar The Force of Such Beauty by Barbara Bourland (paperback) Alexandra Petri's US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up) by Alexandra Petri Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's hard to think of a more celebrated figure of the 20th century than Martin Luther King Jr.He has a national memorial in Washington, D.C. His birthday is one of just 11 federal holidays. And his words and legacy are routinely evoked by politicians of both major parties.But the paradox of King's legacy is that while many revere him, very few actually read him. Most of us can cite a handful of his most famous quotes, but King's actual teachings span five books, countless speeches and sermons, and years of detailed correspondence.There's perhaps no scholar working today who studies Dr. King's political philosophy as deeply as Brandon Terry. Terry is the John L. Loeb associate professor of social sciences at Harvard, where he specializes in Black political thought. He is the co-editor of “To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” the editor of “Fifty Years Since MLK,” and the author of numerous popular and academic articles on King's political thought. His work is committed to rescuing the nuances of Dr. King's philosophies and forcing a confrontation with what King actually said and believed, rather than what he's come to represent.In this conversation, we follow the commitment that animates much of Terry's work: to take King seriously as a philosopher, rather than as purely a political actor. And it turns out that King understood a lot about politics that we've lost sight of today. We discuss why a “romantic narrative” of the civil rights era stops us from taking King seriously as a philosopher; the true radicalism of King's nonviolent philosophy; King's complex views on the relationship between race and class; how King wrestled with the demands of “respectability politics”; King's wide-ranging economic views, including the idea that the economy should be subservient to the community (and not the other way around); King's enthusiasm for tenant unions and welfare rights unions as critical democratic inventions; whether the state should embrace the same nonviolence it often demands of protesters; the roots of King's opposition to the war in Vietnam; whether we've lost the ability to grapple with “virtue” in politics today; and more.Mentioned:“Imagining the nonviolent state” by Ezra Klein“Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” by Martin Luther King Jr.From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime by Elizabeth Hinton“Rethinking the Problem of Alliance: Organized Labor and Black Political Life” by Brandon M. Terry and Jason LeeThe Truly Disadvantaged by William Julius WilsonBook recommendations:Where Do We Go From Here by Martin Luther King Jr.The Trumpet of Conscience by Martin Luther King Jr.The Sword and the Shield by Peniel E. JosephA More Beautiful and Terrible History by Jeanne TheoharisDark Ghettos by Tommie ShelbyThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.“The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Emefa Agawu, Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld, Rogé Karma and Kristin Lin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker and Rollin Hu. Original music by Isaac Jones. Mixing by Jeff Geld. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Sonia Herrero.

My first conversation with Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen in fall 2019 was one of my all-time favorites. I didn’t expect to have Allen on again so soon, but her work is unusually relevant to our current moment. She’s written an entire book about the deeper argument of the Declaration of Independence and the way our superficial reading and folk history of the document obscures its radicalism. (It’ll make you look at July Fourth in a whole new way). Her most recent book, Cuz, is a searing indictment of the American criminal justice system, driven by watching her cousin go through it and motivated by the murder that ended his life. Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, which Allen directs, has released the most comprehensive, operational road map for mobilizing and reopening the US economy amidst the Covid-19 crisis. And to top it all off, a two-year bipartisan commission of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, which Allen co-chaired, recently released a report with more than 30 recommendations on how to reform American democracy — and they’re very, very good. This is a wide-ranging conversation for a wide-ranging moment. Allen and I discuss what “all men are created equal” really means, why the myth of Thomas Jefferson’s sole authorship of the Declaration of Independence muddies its message, the role of police brutality in the American revolution, democracy reforms such as ranked-choice voting, DC statehood, mandatory voting, how to deal with a Republican Party that opposes expanding democracy, the case for prison abolition, the various pandemic response paths before us, the failure of political leadership in this moment, and much more. References: My first conversation with Danielle Allen Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center's Covid-19 work "Our Common Purpose" report on reinventing democracy for the 21st century Book recommendations: To Shape a New World by Brandon Terry and Tommie Shelby  Solitary by Alfred Woodfox  The Torture Letters by Laurence Ralph Want to contact the show? Reach out at ezrakleinshow@vox.com Please consider making a contribution to Vox to support this show: bit.ly/givepodcasts Your support will help us keep having ambitious conversations about big ideas. New to the show? Want to check out Ezra’s favorite episodes? Check out the Ezra Klein Show beginner’s guide (http://bit.ly/EKSbeginhere) Credits: Producer/Editer/ Jack-of-all-audio-trades Jeff Geld Researcher - Roge Karma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommie Shelby and Brandon M. Terry talk about their new book, To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. King is often remembered for his soaring oratory. But the commonplace emphasis on his rhetoric in place of his ideas too often allows enemies of King's agenda to domesticate him or, worse, to weaponize his out-of-context words to bolster the very forces of racism and oppression that King struggled to defeat. Shelby and Terry talk about King's theory of nonviolence (more complicated than you might think), his debate with the Black Power movement, and his thinking on gender, hope, political economy, Beloved Community, and more. Thanks to Verso Books. Check out Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War by Hito Steyerl versobooks.com/books/2553-duty-free-art and Police: A Field Guide by David Correia and Tyler Wall versobooks.com/books/2530-police. And support this podcast with $ at patreon.com/TheDig!

In this episode we finish our series on “To Shape and Change” by Blueowl. Tricia was having computer problems, so we actually start almost immediately, there’s no pre-show. Sorry to those who like that part the best. In the story we find out how Harry’s Mom saved him, what’s happening with the Longbottoms and what […]

We are nearing the end of our coverage “To Shape and Change” by Blueowl. In this episode Tricia’s son is in trouble, Moony is lost and Scott’s in a play. Sue’s cat wants to be part of the podcast, so he lets himself in and then makes all sorts of noise. Darn cat! In the […]

We continue our coverage of “To Shape and Change” by Blueowl. In this episode we learn how to keep spiders away, that one should always keep hydrated and that PS still has her clipboard. In the story we revisit some lost chapters from last podcast, with Sue and PS. We find that the “idiot Hufflepuff” […]

It’s the third installment of “To Shape and Change” by Blueowl. In this episode, you’ll discover just how far behind we are in releasing these- Ella was still known as Olaffa then. Tangent, yes, but this episode has more tangents than classic Poufwa. In the moments where the fic is actually discussed, Harry gets a […]

Here is the second installment of “To Shape and Change” by Blueowl. In this episode we bring back PS and Scarlett, so off topic tangents and craziness abound. In the story we find that Coral could be a Mary Sue, the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs form an alliance and Dumbledore is not Joe Umbridge. There are […]

We begin a new story this week, it’s “To Shape and Change” by Blueowl. We find Snape has traveled back in time to try and shape Harry into the greatest wizard he can be. This Snape has seen what happens in the future and that Harry isn’t his father, it changes him in a good […]