A Meal of Thorns

The Ancillary Review of Books
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A critical book club from the Ancillary Review of Books. Host Jake Casella Brookins invites writers, scholars, and critics to discuss thorny works of science fiction, fantasy, and other speculative genres.

  1. Aug 24

    A Meal of Thorns 57- THE WATER STATUES with Langdon Hickman

    A deeply strange and arresting short novel, The Water Statues defies easy categorization but has a powerful and cerebral atmosphere, putting us in mind of a lot of other works—including Clarke’s Piranesi. Langdon Hickman, last unshriven host of Death // Sentence, joins to discuss. Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Langdon Hickman Title: The Water Statues by Fleur Jaeggy, translated by Gini Alhedeff  Host:Jake Casella Brookins Music byGiselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork byRob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Recent episodes with other Death // Sentence hosts (Sisyphean with Gareth Watkins & Diaspora with Eden Kupermintz) Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume Roberto Bolaño W.G. Sebald'sAusterlitz & The Rings of Saturn Hugo Nominees, UKLG Nominees Frank Herbert’s Dune Holism vs reductivist materialism Object oriented ontology & speculative realists Nick Land, Graham Harman, Timothy Morton Set theory Jacques Derrida on “logos” Greg Egan's Incandescence & related stories Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen Kim Stanley Robin’s Aurora (AMOT episode w/ Hilary Strang) Jayaprakash Satyamurthy of Djinn and Miskatonic M.R. James Eugene Thacker’s An Ideal For Living Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi(AMOT episode w/Misha Grifka Wander) & Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Hemingway’s “Iceberg theory” Lydia Davis, Samuel Beckett Decadent & Aesthetic movements Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner Negative Capability Keats’ letter to Richard Woodhouse, October 1818 Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin, Sofia Samatar David Michell’s Cloud Atlas (AMOT episode with Abigail Nussbaum) William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming” Jorge Luis Borges’ “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote” Hilary Putnam The Caretaker by Doon Arbus Death // Sentence Treble Zine Consequence of Sound Langdon's newsletter

  2. Aug 10

    A Meal of Thorns 56- KILLER, COME BACK TO ME with Aigner Loren Wilson

    More famous for his science fiction and dark fantasy, Ray Bradbury also tried his hand at crime fiction, with often-fascinating results. Writer, critic, and editor Aigner Loren Wilson talks us through the strange flourishes and tonal experiments of Killer, Come Back To Me! Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Aigner Loren Wilson Title: Killer, Come Back To Me by Ray Bradbury Host:Jake Casella Brookins Music byGiselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork byRob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: The Possession of Alba Díaz & Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues The Ship of Death by Kyle Winkler Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shroud Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction by Jonathan R. Eller & William F. Touponce Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett Dandelion Wine, Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man, The Martian Chronicles Damon Knight "The Smallest Assassin" Leigh Brackett The Chucky franchise Frank Miller’s Sin City, Shane Black’s The Nice Guys Yestermorrow: Obvious Answers to Impossible Futures "Dead Men Rise Up never" "Where Everything Ends" "The Town Where No One Got Off" "The Utterly Perfect Murder" The Bradbury Chronicles by Sam Weller "Punishment Without Crime" "The Whole Town’s Sleeping" & "At Midnight in the Month of June" "The Women" from I Sing the Body Electric "And So Died Riabouchinska" "The Smiling People" "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" "Some Live Like Lazarus" Octavia E. Butler Darker Times Writing Skins, Aigner’s newsletter Aigner's website Scene Builder

  3. Jul 29

    A Meal of Thorns 55- Readercon & the PSRB

    In this con-coverage episode, Casella talks to folks at Readercon in Boston, including Lisa from Narrated, author Sara S. Messenger, and editor Carl Engle-Laird. We also visit Porter Square Books, an indie bookstore that has recently launched their own book review. Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Host:Jake Casella Brookins Music byGiselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork byRob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Readercon Porter Square Books Lisa from the Narrated podcast The Hugo Awards Elizabeth Bear’s White Space series C.J. Cherryh & Lois McMaster Bujold Sara S. Messenger “Jennifer’s Daughter” in Nightmare Magazine “When We Loved Giants” in Lightspeed Karel Čapek Hope Mirrlees’ Lud-in-the-Mist (good AMOT episode on that!) AMOT episode on Ready Player One Clark Seanor’s “Recycled Air: Wayfarers and the Tyranny of the Everyday” in Strange Horizons Lovestruck Books in last year’s Readercon episode Katherine @ Porter Square Books K.A. Applegate’s Animorphsseries Chuck Tingle Ann Patchett’s Whistler Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou Roseanna Pendlebury’s review of Sour Cherry Sunny Moraine (from our Pattern Recognition episode) Will McMahon Scott Edelman’s Eating the Fantastic podcast Benjamin Rosenbaum (from our Fire Logic episode) Carl Engle-Laird, editor at Tor Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction Jon Bois’ 17776 Cambridge Porchfest & the Good Trouble Brass Band Gracenote & Broadsheet coffee Thomas Wensma has an interview with Australian barista champ Jack Simpson & coffee farmer Juan Pablo Campos about the Ombligon cultivar at Perfect Daily Grind, if that caught your ear Bujold’s Vorkosigan series & Barrayar Josh Cook of Porter Square Books & the Porter Square Review of Books PSB’s Bluesky Josh’s articles at LitHub Poly Barton’s What Am I, A Deer? Grace Krilanovich’s The Orange Eats Creeps & Acid Green Velvet

  4. Jul 13

    A Meal of Thorns 54- SUNSHINE with Laura Zats

    Literary agent and Print Run podcaster extraordinaire Laura Zats is on to talk about a novel that is the most urban fantasy you can imagine, and yet seems to run towards different traditions and ideas the closer you examine it—Robin McKinley’s award-winning but under-discussed Sunshine.   Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books.   Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Laura Zats Title: Sunshine by Robin McKinley Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Christopher Buehlman’s Blacktongue Thief & Between Two Fires Peter Rock's Makeshift Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven Totally not the heist film Oceans 11 Newberry Honor & Mythopoeic Award Charlaine Harris’s The Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series Kim Harrison Bram Stoker's Dracula Twilight & Buffy the Vampire Slayer Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series Dunning-Kruger effect McKinley's Deerskin Editor Sharyn November & the Firebird imprint Charles De Lint, Anne Rice, Anita Blake "Contemporary Fantasy" Stephen Graham Jones Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires & Horrorstör Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla Matt Kirkland’s “Dracula Daily” RS Benedict’s “Everyone is Beautiful and No One is Horny” Lee Mandelo's The Woods All Black Indra Das's The Devourers John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids The Print Run podcast Erik Hane's “The Fandom Strain”

  5. Jun 29

    A Meal of Thorns 53- TINY DEATHS with Ian Mond

    Critic & reviewer Ian Mond talks us through Tiny Deaths, a very funny and frequently morbid collection. We also think bigger: about the place and status of humor and seriousness in genre literature, and why non-genre imprints and translated literature might be places to look for this energy. Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Ian Mond Title: Tiny Deaths by Robert Shearman Host:Jake Casella Brookins Music byGiselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork byRob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: The Writer and The Critic Tayari Jones’ Kin Boyhood by David Keenan Centreouropa by Vicente Luis Mora, translated by Rahul Bery Edward Royston’s Transgressing Time Christopher Priest's The Recollections Priest & Allan’s The Illuminated Man Sturgeon's Law (“90% of everything is crap”) Dr. Who & Stephen King Gallifrey One convention Donald Barthelme, Ishmael Reed, T.C. Boyle, Kelly Link Lisa Heschong’s Thermal Delight in Architecture Rachel Khong’s My Dear You The Simpsons Blindness by José Saramago, Julio Cortázar Shearman’s Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical, Everyone’s Just So So Special, and We All Hear Stories in the Dark “Chimes At Midnight” and “The Holy Terror” Douglas Adams Machine of Death, edited by Ryan North Jon Stone’s The Monster At The End Of This Book Sofia Samatar’s A Stranger in Olondria Groundhog Day, directed by Harold Ramis James Morrow's Towing Jehovah & Only Begotten Daughter Robert Heinlein’s “All You Zombies” Leyna Krow's Sinkhole and Other Stories Ed Park's An Oral History of Atlantis Michael Swanwick & Jeffrey Ford collections "Gate 9" in Pandemonium Waltz Hilary Leichter, Sayaka Murata, Liliana Colanzi Translated Hugo Initiative Words Without Borders Locus Award for Best Translated Novel Isaac Fellman's Notes From A Regicide Incandescent by Emily Tesh Sean McTiernan's SFUltra Locus Magazine Ian's Substack & Facebook & Goodreads

  6. Jun 15

    A Meal of Thorns 52- STAND ON ZANZIBAR with Dan Hartland

    Brunner’s prescient classic about overpopulation: is it about overpopulation? Was it prescient? And, for that matter: what does it mean to be a classic? Reviewer and editor Dan Hartland joins to discuss these questions and more. Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Dan Hartland Title: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner Host:Jake Casella Brookins Music byGiselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork byRob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Strange Horizon’s 2026 fund-drive Strange Horizons’ Critical Friends podcast The Illuminated Man: Life, Death and the Worlds of J.G. Ballard by Christopher Priest and Nina Allan Prism, Plastic, Void by Violet Allen This Is How You Lose The Time War by Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir We The Parasites by A.V. Marraccini  Robert Jackson Bennett’s A Trade of Blood, Mr. Shivers, and Divine Cities trilogy Orion’s “SF Masterworks” series Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War The Club Of Rome’s report “The Limits to Growth” Brunner’s “Club or Rome Quartet”: Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up, Shockwave Rider, Jagged Orbit John Dos Passos’s U.S.A. trilogy New Worlds magazine "New Wave" science fiction Timothy Leary The Beatles’ Please Please Me versus Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Jad Smith’s John Brunner Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s The Sirens of Titan & Cat's Cradle William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson Thomas Disch's 334 & Camp Concentration The Population Bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich & Anne Howland Ehrlich Soylent Green, dir. Richard Fleischer Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison Gibson’s “Johnny Mnemonic” Vajra Chandrasekera China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Network, dir. Sidney Lumet Marshall McLuhan Taylor Sheridan & John Linson’s Yellowstone series Transmetropolitan comic series by Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson et al. Going Rogue podcast Warren Ellis sexual coercion allegations; lots more but here’s an early overview from the Guardian “FogHorn Barge” from Daniel Simon @ SoundBible, CC BY 3.0 James Ellroy's The Cold Six Thousand David Runciman’s “Are we doomed?” for LRB Degrowth KSR’s The Ministry for the Future E.J. Swift’s When There Are Wolves Again Strange Horizons’ “Ageing in Science Fiction” special issue Shintaro Kago’s Dementia 21 Julia Armfield’s Private Rites Jacqueline Nyathi’s Harare Review of Books David Brin's Earth Jerry Pournelle Dan's Bluesky The Clarke shortlist discussion will appear on Nerds of a Feather Tenacious D The Long Winters The Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA)

  7. Jun 1

    A Meal of Thorns 51- THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS with Premee Mohamed

    Science fiction readers love a mechanism, they love a bit of world-building and mystery-solving. Premee Mohamed joins us to discuss Gene Wolfe's The Fifth Head of Cerberus, a book that asks: what if a science fiction book intentionally avoided all of that?  Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Premee Mohamed Title: The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe Host:Jake Casella Brookins Music byGiselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork byRob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake Moby-Dick by Herman Melville Mercutio by Kate Heartfield Pretenders to the Throne of God by Adrian Tchaikovsky Orbit 10 anthology edited by Damon Knight William Carlos Williams’ “This Is Just To Say” and its many responses Premee’s And What Can We Offer You Tonight Meander, Spiral, Explode by Jane Alison Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon Heart of Darkness by Josef Conrad The Vorrh by B. Catling The face dancers from Frank Herbert’s Dune series Mystique and the Kree from the Marvel/X-Men comics Michael Swanwick's Stations of the Tide Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire Premee’s The Butcher of the Forest & Wickhills "sentients" & "sapients" “The Great Chain of Being” Star Wars series The Bad Batch and The Clone Wars Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead Octavia Butler's Dawn Tolkien's On Fairy Stories Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? & Ridley Scott's Bladerunner Premee’s The Siege of Burning Grass Hilary Putnam's “Twin Earth” Premee's Patreon, Website, Bluesky Wickhills & From the Library of Jurgen Leitner The Carl Brandon Society

  8. May 18

    A Meal of Thorns 50- SISYPHEAN with Gareth Watkins

    A rain of corpses is falling from the sky, insectoid femme fatales are setting their compound eyes on our tender thoraxes, and our cattle drive across an expanse of nanotech goo is starting to go off the rails. So we ask ourselves: do we still have to go to work tomorrow? Critic, author, & podcaster Gareth Watkins joins to discuss Dempow Torishima’s delightfully strange Sisyphean. Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Gareth Watkins Title: Sisyphean by Dempow Torishima, translated by Daniel Huddleston Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Death // Sentence Muskism by Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff  Peter Thiel One Piece by Eiichiro Oda Slavoj Žižek René Girard Carl Schmitt Thiel/Douthat NYT interview Jeff VanderMeer Haikosoru Viz Comics Battle Royale by Koushun Takami Finnegans Wake by James Joyce The Doloriad by Missouri Williams M. John Harrison’s essay on worldbuilding Marmite/Vegemite Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel "Professor Jiang" Isaac Asimov's Foundation New Chronology Tartarianism Franz Kafka & Philip K. Dick A Scanner Darkly H.R. Giger Phil Tippet’s Mad God Kameron Hurley's The Stars are Legion Antoine Volodine's Radiant Terminus Manuela Draeger's Kree Mike Judge’s Office Space David Cronenberg Raymond Chandler Antonio Gramsci Nick Land Friedrich Nietzsche's eternal recurrence Yoss's Planet for Rent Deleuze & Guitarri The Sex Pistols & Avril Lavigne H.P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu" Ayn Rand Jeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts Torishima's Kanadete no Nufuretsun Gareth's bluesky Just Plain Evil: Cruelty, Extinction, and the Authoritarian Mind  Gareth's appearances on Blood Work

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About

A critical book club from the Ancillary Review of Books. Host Jake Casella Brookins invites writers, scholars, and critics to discuss thorny works of science fiction, fantasy, and other speculative genres.

Information

  • Creator
    The Ancillary Review of Books
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    57
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © CC BY-NC
  • Show Website
    A Meal of Thorns

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