As always, no spoilers until the end when we do our plot explainer and discussion. Join the Hugonauts book club on discord! Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video Similar books we recommend: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells Monk and Robot series by Becky Chambers…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Maia Gil′Adí Title: The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough R…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Sean McTiernan Title: Dreams of Amputation by Gary J. Shipley Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough Transcr…

That said, there are some problems with this book too, which made this a fun one to talk about - Brent liked it a lot more than Cody did. Plus, love em or hate em, Asimov thought up some very alien aliens. As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. NEW THRU 2025-05-15: Fill out our listener surve…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Christian P. Haines Titles: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein, and The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Open…

If you like gritty cyberpunk settings, a page-turning, action-driven plot, and a lot of visceral explorations of violence and sexuality, this one's for you. If you're looking for deep characters, a carefully crafted plot, or philosophical ideas, this might not be your next read. As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot ex…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Marita Arvaniti Title: Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: A…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Archita Mittra Title: Among Others by Jo Walton Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Eliza Cha…

Solid characters, amazing worldbuilding, and an epic plot that will keep you interested all the way through (and that's no mean feat in such a long book). If you've been thinking about trying out Peter F. Hamilton this is the right place to start. As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. This e…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Dan Hartland Title: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Ga…

Ann is also the author of Ancillary Sword, Ancillary Mercy, Translation State, Provenance (all set in her Imperial Radch universe), and the excellent stand-alone fantasy novel The Raven Tower. Join the Hugonauts book club on discord! Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video We talked with Ann about: 1:12 Becoming a writer later i…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Eden Kupermintz Title: The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References:…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Benjamin Rosenbaum Title: Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: B…

We also each rank our top three first contact books at the end of the episode. This episode is sponsored by The Pythagorean by Alexander Morpheigh, which is available in print or kindle edition here. Join the Hugonauts book club on discord! Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video All the books in the episode (with YT links to th…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Hilary Strang Title: Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Maroo…

The book somehow manages to be optimistic at the same time that it realistically portrays horrific climate catastrophes - the opening chapter will stick with you forever. That said, it also suffers from some of KSR's usual writing quirks: weak characters and a pretty loosely defined plot. We talk about it all, the good, the bad, and the terrifyingl…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Jared Pechaček Title: Mistress of Mistresses by E.R. Eddison Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough Referenc…

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Roseanna Pendlebury Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough In Memoriam: Alan Jeffrey & Cameron Estrich-Watso…

The book is shocking, disturbing, entertaining, and unbelievably thought provoking all at once - no wonder Stanley Kubrick decided to turn the book into a movie (which is a must-watch classic in its own right). It's also an unforgettable masterwork of language, as the narrator, Alex, and his droogs speak in slang that is somehow entirely novel and …

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Anna McFarlane Title: The This by Adam Roberts Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Anna's boo…

Neuromancer is an incredible science fiction classic, a page turner full of gripping action sequences, wild futuristic ideas, and a unique, techno-criminal world populated by wildly imaginative characters. As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. This episode is sponsored by Mythos: The Origin …

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Jon Greenaway Title: Melmoth by Sarah Perry Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Jon's latest …

More podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Garrett Bridger Gilmore Title: The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by Joh…

As always, no spoilers until the end when we clearly call it out before getting into the full plot explanation and discussion. Join the Hugonauts book club on discord! Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video This episode is sponsored by The Song of Immaru: Earth's Door by PJ Dudek, which you can get on print, audiobook, or kindl…

More podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Shinjini Dey Title: Tainaron: Mail From Another City by Leena Krohn, translated by Hildi Hawkins Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhart…

This episode is sponsored by The Dawn series by Ray N. Kuili, which you can get on print, audiobook, or kindle here. Join the Hugonauts book club on discord! Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video All the books in the episode (with YT links to those we've got full episodes on, or search for them in your podcast app): The Hunger…

More podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Sunny Moraine Title: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough Refer…

More podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Juan Martinez Title: Gilded Needles by Michael McDowell Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough Referenc…

The Mercy of Gods follows a team of research scientists trying to survive an alien invasion. The Carryx are ruthless - killing 1/8 of the population immediately as they arrive to encourage the survivors to cooperate. Our team, along with many others, are then abducted and brought to a Carryx planet, where they are set loose in an open-air prison po…

More podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Amal El-Mohtar Title: The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Rakesfall by …

A radio astronomer discovers a signal coming from Alpha Centauri - strange, beautiful alien voices, singing. While the rest of the world is transfixed by the broadcast, a catholic order, the Jesuits, take action and launch a mission to the planet of Rakhat. But from the outset we know the mission is doomed to tragedy, because a second storyline fol…

More podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Host: Jake Casella Brookins Guest: Dan Hartland Title: The Passion by Jeanette Winterson Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References…

More podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: A.V. Marraccini Title: The Employees by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: V…

In the 23rd century Johnny Rico enlists in the Mobile Infantry, the heart of the human military. As he nears completion of an intensely rigorous training program to learn how to fight and use his power armor, war breaks out between humanity and the bugs. The bugs are aliens with a hive mind, who attack and destroy Buenos Aires, and Johnny and his f…

Taylor Driggers joins us to talk about the second volume in C.S. Lewis's SPACE TRILOGY. A richly-described and philosophical science fiction story, PERELANDRA has a lot that's interesting and a lot that's pretty weird when you think about it. A Meal of Thorns is a podcast from the Ancillary Review of Books. Credits: Guest: Taylor Driggers Title: Pe…

We rank the nominees for the 2024 Hugo award, plus 6 more from last year! Join the book club on discord and read The Sparrow! https://discord.gg/fHejh3PpR2 Video version of the show on YouTube https://youtube.com/@hugonautspod The books: The Witch King - Martha Wells The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi - Shannon Chakraborty Some Desperate Glory - Emi…

Ancillary Review editors Jake Casella Brookins and Misha Grifka Wander discuss Susanna Clarke's PIRANESI: epistolary realism and the novel, numinous personhood, and glimpses of utopia in rejecting capitalist expectations. Notes, Links, and Transcript A Meal of Thorns is a podcast from the Ancillary Review of Books. Credits: Guest: Misha Grifka Wand…

Host Jake Casella Brookins talks to critic Roseanna Pendlebury about Isaac Fellman's DEAD COLLECTIONS (a novel about a trans vampire archivist) and how it addresses grief, portrayals of bodies and identities over time, fanfic and low-budget television, and the place of more experimental fiction in genre publishing. Notes, Links, and Transcript Cont…

Over the years we've built up a pretty big backlog of short novels that we really liked but hadn't had a chance to cover on the show - so today we're bursting that dam. Join the book club on discord (and vote for our next book club book!): https://discord.gg/fHejh3PpR2 Video version of the show on YouTube https://youtube.com/@hugonautspod The seven…

Host Jake Casella Brookins talks to Dan Hartland, critic and reviewer, about China Miéville's novel THE SCAR, the genre of the New Weird, and many related works and ideas. Notes, Links, and Transcript Credits: Guest: Dan Hartland Title: The Scar by China Miéville Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari,…

There is only one human settlement on the planet of Arieka. There, in Embassytown, a young woman named Avice grows up in a strange world between worlds, where all that is human and all that is alien collide without ever really coming together. That's not much of a summary, but this is a book that really benefits from going in mostly blind, so we ma…

If you want to see the complete survey results, including all the top books, favorite authors, and short stories come find them on the discord. Video version of this episode available on YouTube.By Gordon Burroughs, Brent Gaisford, Cody Troyer

The 2024 Nebula awards are coming up, so we read and ranked all the books for ya. And we've got good news, this was a great year for fantasy and sci-fi! Join the book club on discord: https://discord.gg/fHejh3PpR2 Video version of the show on YouTube https://youtube.com/@hugonautspod The short listed books: Translation State by Ann Leckie Shigidi a…

The year is 2033. The world has been reduced to rubble. Humanity is nearly extinct. The survivors live in the Moscow Metro - the biggest air-raid shelter ever built. It is humanity's last refuge. Stations have become mini-statelets, their people uniting around ideas, religions, water-filters - or the simple need to repulse an enemy incursion. VDNKh…

Six days ago astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone. But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — an…

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of the young rebels who venture illegally into the Zone, one of six areas on Earth that have been profoundly changed by the visitation of aliens to Earth. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And despite the danger, the news he gets from his girlf…

Space ships whip across the solar system, ice haulers burn in from the gas giants, stolen Martian corvettes sneak behind enemy lines, and very human characters tie it all together and make the incredible journey worth the ride. Miraculously all 9 books (plus a collection of short stories) are fun, well-done adventures that will keep you turning the…

In the One State of the great Benefactor, there are no individuals, only numbers. Life is an ongoing process of mathematical precision, a perfectly balanced equation. Primitive passions and instincts have been subdued. Even nature has been defeated, banished behind the Green Wall. But one frontier remains: outer space. Now, with the creation of the…

A starship is taking off from Mars, and just before it does one of the crewman arrives with a strange new creature. What will the Wub bring to those on board, and the headstrong captain who can't stop thinking with his stomach? Join the Hugonauts book club on discord! PS We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is still coming soon, but Brent had a family emergency,…

Rumors are swirling about a species of super-intelligent octopus living off the coast of Vietnam. As corporations and other non-state actors begin to investigate, it becomes clear that we are not alone in the universe - alien life has evolved right here on earth. DIANIMA, a giant tech company known for its machine learning prowess, buys the islands…