get comfy in your wire chairs it's a new episode
Shonalika and Adam talk about N. K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season and the rest of the books in the Broken Earth trilogy.
Strong spoilers from the very beginning, and also for the Machineries of Empire and Imperial Radch books.
we thought/talked about this series even more after the podcast was over, here are some additional notes from Shona:
Schaffa forgetting most of who he is and consequently becoming a 'better' person is a lot less interesting/compelling than the same resulting from introspection and deliberate change, making him more of a plot device than a character in the second and third books than the first
the Guardians being vampires is unnecessary imo the story doesn't benefit particularly from them being very old, very strong, or literally parasitic. orogeny-negating magic is more than enough to make them top of the social hierarchy and the parasitic relationship is obvious already. an additional vampire metaphor is putting a hat on a hat
the bit where they think there's an informant in Castrima really got me because the stone eaters can literally hide in the walls
On the line that made my brain shortcircuit ('LAY THE BOY DOWN GENTLY IN THE WIRE CHAIR'): Behaving as if the genteel manner in which structural oppression is carried out overrides the harm of the oppression itself is a major feature of oppressive systems. If Scaffa is genuinely convinced this is the only way to do things, then by doing so politely he can genuinely consider himself loving and kind without cognitive dissonance. I've witnessed/experienced real white people exerting and excusing structural power with very similar behaviours and logic. The line appears unhinged not because Shaffa's relationship to his actions is unusual, but because most of us couldn't imagine justifying this particular form of oppression in our current social context. The only differential is the exact social permissions
On further reflection I think it might be one of the most brilliant lines in the series and I'm pissed I didn't formulate these thoughts properly while we were recording
Shonalika's stuff (https://linktr.ee/shonalika) // Adam's blog
12 Oct 2025
Episode 6 - Absolution
hey at least we didn't leave it ten years
Shonalika and Adam talk about Jeff Vandermeer's Absolution
Strong spoilers from the very beginning, and also for all the previous Southern Reach books.
Shonalika's stuff (https://linktr.ee/shonalika) // Adam's blog
25 Jul 2025
CR X Memhaz: Andor S1
we have friends everywhere, and some of them are on this episode
Special crossover episode with Adam's other podcast Memetic Hazard! Shonalika and Adam (and Josef from Memhaz, and Owen from Being Our Friend) talk about Tony Gilroy et al's Andor Season 1
Strong spoilers from the very beginning.
Shonalika's stuff (https://linktr.ee/shonalika) // Adam's blog
6 May 2025
Episode 5 - Light
the book that made Shonalika angry and gave Adam depression
Shonalika and Adam talk about M. John Harrison's Light
two corrections and some final notes from Shonalika:
"1. Want to rectify ‘people identify with this character therefore he’s meant to be sympathetic’. People misinterpret media e.g Joker, Fight Club all the time as endorsements of the subject they explore. This wasn’t a fair comment on my part (however I do Kearney *is* meant to be at least partially sympathetic, based purely on the text itself).
2. Instead of ‘all the women are sex objects’ I should have said; ‘treated on a sliding scale of sexism that could be *intended* to be critique, but shows a lack of the required understanding of the subject for critique. The result is straight depiction without meaningful subversion or commentary.’
Finally, highly privileged people can write excellent science fiction. However, when alleged valuable content is so deeply buried, it’s worth remembering that you don’t *need* to waste your time on M. John Harrison or other writers like him. The notion that you *should* give a writer the benefit of the doubt, that there *must be* something of value else why the critical acclaim? - the culture of assumed competence and automatic authority - is, like many white men’s careers, the product of patriarchy; a system that science fiction, of all genres, would do better to question.
For every self-important white man there are a hundred marginalised writers of equal skill, greater insight, and a fraction of the adulation.
If you want to think outside the box, look elsewhere than the box itself."
Shonalika's stuff (https://linktr.ee/shonalika) // Adam's blog
17 Nov 2024
Episode 4 - The Space Between Worlds
what about the space between episodes? folks,
Shonalika and Adam talk about Micaiah Johnson's The Space Between Worlds
Strong spoilers from the very beginning.
Shona's stuff (https://linktr.ee/shonalika) // Adam's blog
5 Sept 2024
Episode 3 - Ancillary Justice
I'm warning you with peace, love and crab
Shonalika and Adam talk about Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice (and also the rest of the Imperial Radch trilogy)
Strong spoilers from the very beginning.
Shona's stuff (https://linktr.ee/shonalika) // Adam's blog
8 Jul 2024
Episode 2 - Blindsight
we recorded this a month ago today! all that stuff at the beginning about how it's been a weird and tricky month very much continued to be the case, but anyway we're still here, still going
Shonalika and Adam talk about Peter Watts' Blindsight.
Strong spoilers from the very beginning.
Shona's stuff (https://linktr.ee/shonalika) // Adam's blog (https://adamenglebright.com/)
30 Apr 2024
Episode 1 - Rosewater
see how coherent two people can be while incandescently tired
Shonalika and Adam talk about Tade Thompson's Rosewater.
Strong spoilers from the very beginning.
The Lost Broadcasts (podcast Adam talked about on the ep) (https://t.co/aa0tRnt1oY)
Shona's most recent book video w/Far From The Light Of Heaven review (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koSLib6PGIs)
Shona's stuff (https://linktr.ee/shonalika) // Adam's blog (https://adamenglebright.com/)
25 Mar 2024
Episode 0 - Hexarchate Stories
you can tell this is episode 0 because we don't say the name of the show
Shonalika and Adam talk about Yoon Ha Lee's Hexarchate Stories and by extension the whole Machineries of Empire series.
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Podcast Authority Score: 10 / 100
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9
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YouTube
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Engagement
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