New Books in Literature
This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field.
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1801
Felix Gilman, “The Rise of Ransom City” (Tor, 2...
I first learned about Felix Gilman‘s work from the influential academic blog Crooked Timber. I proceeded to read Thunderer, Gears of the City, and Half-Made World and found myself impressed by Gilman’s distinctive settings, themes, and voice.
71 min
1802
Ron McCabe, “Betrayed” (Telemachus Press, 2012)
As a journalist and author I usually work in factual financial news and analysis. Recently however, I have noticed an apparent increase in books that wrap the real financial tumult of our times into a fictional novel,
58 min
1803
Dinty W. Moore, “The Rose Metal Press Guide to ...
In 1997, writer Dinty W. Moore launched a literary journal on a then-novel platform: the World Wide Web. The journal, which he called Brevity, created a forum for works of nonfiction under 750 words in length. Since it’s inaugural issue,
48 min
1804
Anthony Bale, “The Book of Marvels and Travels”...
Anthony Bale‘s new translation of Sir John Mandeville’s classic account is an exciting and engaging text that’s accessible to a wide range of readers. The Book of Marvels and Travels (Oxford University Press,
67 min
1805
Alastair Reynolds, “Blue Remembered Earth” (Gol...
Blue Remembered Earth (Gollantz, 2012) takes place roughly 150 years in the future. Climate change, as well as the political and economic rise of Africa, have transformed the planet. Humanity is colonizing the solar system. Geoffrey Akinya,
72 min
1806
Madeline Ashby, “vN: The First Machine Dynasty”...
Amy Peterson is a five-year old self-replicating android who lives with her synthetic mother and human “father.” Her struggles might be that of any super-intelligent youngster whose body and mind mark her as different than her schoolmates,
39 min
1807
Meagan Spooner, “Skylark” (Carolrhoda Books, 2012)
Lark Ainsley lives within a near-hermetically sealed city located in a world scarred and depleted my magical wars. The Architects, who oversee the City, maintain it by harvesting the non-renewable magical energy found in each of the city’s inhabitants....
45 min
1808
D.B. Jackson, “Thieftaker” (Tor Books, 2012)
“D.B. Jackson” is David B. Coe’s pen name for his new historical-fantasy series, The Thieftaker Chronicles. Thieftaker (Tor Books, 2012) centers on Ethan Kaille, a private detective and conjurer, as he investigates a murder in colonial Boston. David,
55 min
1809
Ken MacLeod, “The Night Sessions” (Pyr, 2012)
I met Ken MacLeod when we participated in a sequence of “Science Fiction and International Orders” panels at the London School of Economics in the winter of 2011. Ken is an important figure in his own right,
61 min
1810
Alison Miers, “Charlinder’s Walk” (CreateSpace,...
In our very first fiction-book interview on New Books in Secularism, we chat with Alyson Miers, author of Charlinder’s Walk (CreateSpace, 2011). In this adventure secularism-themed novel, Miers introduces us to Charlinder,
29 min
1811
Francis Spufford, “Red Plenty: Industry! Progre...
Historians are not supposed to make stuff up. If it happened, and can be proved to have happened, then it’s in; if it didn’t, or can’t be documented, then it’s out. This way of going about writing history is fine as far as it goes. It does, however,
63 min
1812
Gregory Nagy on Homer’s “Iliad”
In this installment of Faculty Insight, produced in partnership with Harvard University Extension School, ThoughtCast speaks with the esteemed Harvard classicist Gregory Nagy about one of the earliest and greatest legends of all time: Homer’s epic stor...
9 min
1813
Daniel Black, “Perfect Peace” (St. Martin’s Pre...
If a mother raises her biologically male child as a daughter instead of a son, what would be the effects on the family, the community, the church? Indeed what would be the psychosocial, psychoemotional effects on the daughter once she discovers she’s a...
59 min
1814
Nikky Finney, “Head Off and Split: Poems” (TriQ...
UPDATE: Nikky Finney’s Head Off and Split has been named a finalist for a National Book Award. Congratulations, Nikky, from the folks at New Books in African American Studies and the New Books Network!) Poet Nikky Finney’s new book Head Off & Split (Tr...
64 min