The UMBs have ANOTHER thorough conversation about the novels sexual politics, and Mandellas low key homophobia, asking whether the protagonists biases serve some narrative purposes, or simply revea

The Forever War is widely regarded as an analogy for Americas involvement in Vietnam, and an anti-war novel, but were not so sure its firmly anti-war. Perhaps more anti-military. But that said, Hal

Rick Deckard spends much of the second half pondering Rachael Rosens girlish legs, and his growing feelings of empathy to the Androids, before deciding to go after the remaining three. Does his empat

Fill out our LISTENER SURVEY!! Dicks famous novel begins weird. And the weirdness continues. Dick orients his readers to a world in which fallout is everywhere, most animals have died, many human

Chris and Jesse are in the same meatspace in Maine, but still talking about cyberspace inspace. As the two microphone jockeys wrap up William Gibsons Neuromancer, we do TWO close readings (one for a

Our friend Lindsay Lajoie saw that we were considering William Gibsons Neuromancer on the podcast, and admitted on her Instagram that its one of the very few books she attempted and could get throug

Dukes and Bagg return to William Gibsons groundbreaking 1984 novel, that popularized the cyberpunk genre. The reviews are mixed. There are moments of brilliance, but does the young Gibsons drive to

As students, parents, and teachers happily (or wrenchingly) return to school, we invite our resident education specialist, Justin Reich, to talk about stories with teachers. We identify many examples

Whiteheads neo-noir crashes to a climax, but does it stick the landing? In the end, the Dukes and Bagg wonder if the weight of the the authors allegory overloads the elevator car laden with plot and

The lads are quite impressed with Colson Whiteheads debut novel, which packs an allegory about race, class, and futurism into a unique take on hard-boiled noir. Bagg challenges Dukes to unpack exactl