The Incomparable Mothership #166 November 2, 2013
Separating authors from their art, and series that have disappointed us.

I Assume Everyone is Awful

Awful people can make great art. Nice people can write bad books. Can you separate the creator from the art? We struggle with Orson Scott Card and his (rightfully) classic novel “Ender’s Game” and go on to list other writers and series who we’ve hand to break up with. To make things not entirely disappointing, we also talk about authors and series that have never let us down.

Listen to this episode (1 hour, 15 minutes)

Show Notes

‘Ender’s Game,’ its controversial author, and a very personal history

Sons of Anarchy at Television Without Pity

“Red Thunder” by John Varley

John Varley’s Gaea trilogy

John Varley’s Eight Worlds

Strange Wine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wheel of Time - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Stross’s Merchant Princes series

Dragonriders of Pern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Malloreon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Bridge of Birds” by Barry Hughhart

The Incomparable #13: Harry Potter and the Picasso P.I.

In honor of the release of the seventh Harry Potter film, we convene a collection of panelists to discuss the books, the movies, the phenomenon that is J.K. Rowling’s young-wizard saga. (If you haven’t read the series, there are spoilers and also the entire podcast will make no sense. Except for the part about “Magnum P.I.” and Pablo Picasso. This episode sponsored by the word “exegesis” and the musical stylings of Tom Bombadil.)

Dumbledore’s wisdom

“Darwin’s Radio” by Greg Bear

“Blood Music” by Greg Bear

“Beggars in Spain” by Nancy Kress

“Pattern Recognition” by William Gibson

“Virtual Light” by William Gibson

“Many Colored Land” by Julian May

“The Surveillance” by Julian May

24: My Word as Vorkosigan - The Incomparable

A Million Open Doors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Travis McGee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Donald E. Westlake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

N.K. Jemisin

K.J. Parker

Topics Covered