Books Without Pictures

Wendee and Dan end Dan's minor freakout at having confused different portions of the DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince catalog by remembering to thank Patreon subscriber Rick with a discussion of Octavia E. Butler's remarkable novelette Bloodchild. Visit www.patreon.com/bookswp to learn more about making the hosts into your trained seals!

Wendee and Dan finish their discussion of Hyperion, squeezing this in, naturally, between mentions of award slates, convention experiences, and possible new horizons for the podcast itself. Please consider subscribing to the BWP Patreon campaign at patreon.com/bookswp.

In this special episode of Books Without Pictures, while taking a look at the 2015 nominees for Best Short Story, Wendee and Dan have strong words about slate organizers, some of the works they were successful in forcing onto this year's ballot, sandwiches, and their cat. This particular episode is being submitted for consideration for the 2016 award for "Most Repeated Uses of the Phrase 'Steaming Pile.'" Please consider subscribing to the BWP Patreon campaign at patreon.com/bookswp.

Books Without Pictures returns with the first half of Dan Simmons' Hyperion, and also the story of that time Dan saw boobs with his mom sitting next to him. Attaboy, Luther! Please consider subscribing to the BWP Patreon campaign at patreon.com/bookswp.

The cosmos did everything in its power to delay the return of Books Without Pictures, but nothing could hold Wendee back from venting her rage against John Carter of Mars, the hero of Edgar Rice Burroughs' hugely influential 1912 science fantasy classic A Princess of Mars. How long does it take for the phrase "filth bucket" to enter the conversation? The answer may surprise you! Please consider subscribing to the BWP Patreon campaign at patreon.com/bookswp, because you can almost hear the BWP Home Office fall down around our hosts as they record.

HG Wells' The Time Machine holds the distinction of meriting the briefest synopsis in the podcast's history. While deciding if historical importance always equals artistic merit, Wendee and Dan wander off topic towards Dan's hatred of Dickens and all his dark works, Eric Cartman's adventures in suspended animation, and all the good times that yurts have to offer.

When he was 14, Brave New World opened Dan's horizons to include philosophical arguments about the cruelty of dehumanization. Also, the book had boobs in it. With that in mind, he and Wendee discuss the themes behind this book, occasionally lapsing into Foghorn Leghorn impressions. (It was late. They were tired.)

Wendee's groove thing, and the shaking of same, ties directly into a con report and her involvement in the NOH8 campaign. From there, she and Dan break down the plot of Aldous Huxley's groundbreaking 1932 dystopic vision of dehumanization, Brave New World. They also wonder what accessories would come with a Herbert Hoover action figure.

They discuss Alan Moore, they discuss the Mickey Mouse copyright shenanigans, they even discuss whether this story's author's wife is a firestorm of two-fisted awesome or perhaps not, but will Wendee and Dan ever discuss "A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman? Tune in to find out!

Dan's new job selling cheap crap to terrible people and Wendee's success in not dying horribly on Boston's terrifyingly antiquated public transit system are some of the excuses given for the epic lateness of this episode. Eventually they get around to actually discussing Arthur C. Clarke's avowed classic Childhood's End.

Luxurious Victorian mustaches! Wandering Raisinets! And does Dan know the difference between Tanzania and Tasmania? All this and more as the hosts discuss HG Wells' The War of the Worlds, arguably the most influential novel in the genre's history!

Sometimes life conspires to keep us from sitting at a computer to talk about HG Wells' The War of the Worlds. To hold you over, here is the famous 1938 radio drama that sent a not-zero number of people screaming into the night. Think of it as homework.

One host loves CM Kornbluth's story "The Little Black Bag." The other most decidedly does not. Words are exchanged. Also, remember Night Gallery? That show was awesome.

After welcoming new sponsor Audible to the podcast, Dan and Wendee manage to stop speculating about an alternate reality where Hulk Hogan endorsed the George Foreman Grill long enough to discuss Joe Haldeman's Vietnam War allegory The Forever War. But seriously, Burgermania? Steakamania? How would that work?

Is The Handmaid's Tale inherently anti-Christian? Is it an easy read? Is it actually science fiction? These are just some of the many questions Wendee and Dan tackle in this episode. (Warning: Politics ahead.)

Unappetizing European chocolate, terrifying Victorian pornography, and the wholesale destruction of Western civilization brought about by New Coke are some of the ways Wendee and Dan veer off topic while summarizing Margaret Atwood's bleak, 1985 dystopia The Handmaid's Tale in this very, very late episode.

In between talk of how inherently terrible the state of Rhode Island really is and whether or not Tim Curry is an adequately scary clown, the hosts find time to discuss (and argue over) HP Lovecraft's novella The Whisperer in Darkness. Want to find out if Dan had to sleep on the couch that night? Tune in to find out.

After battling through 50 pages that neither Dan nor Wendee thought they would survive, they bat around Robert A. Heinlein's 1966 Hugo winner The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. In this book, things get political; a computer decides not to enslave and destroy; the hosts see how enjoyable a book can be and still give them serious reservations; and a strong, independent woman would like to know how you take your coffee.

Can a short story collection be a novel? Will eReaders destroy us all? Are 1970s TV miniseries adaptations by their very nature inherently terrible? And what exactly did Dan and Wendee think about The Martian Chronicles? The answer to these questions, and many, many more, await!

Books Without Pictures is here at last, and Dan and Wendee introduce themselves with Ray Bradbury's classic 1950 novel... story collection... thing: The Martian Chronicles.