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

Jemisin weaves three major threads into one in the second half of The Fifth Season, but the lads take issue with some of the convenient plot wrapping. Dukes + Bagg remained blown away by the power of

The Fifth Season is a lot. Fantasy? Sure. Sci-fi? Maybe. Allegory? Definitely. The first half introduces us to three apparently different protagonists, with action in an uncertain number of timeline

We hear from you! We share listener summer read recommendations in the form of voicemails and texts. Dukes + Bagg each share a summer reading recommendation, and somehow, the conversations keeps getti

Were joined by two journalists and avid readers, Susie An and Arionne Nettles, both former colleagues of Jesses from WBEZ in Chicago. Susie and Ari both like the IDEA of a beach read, and both say t

Were joined by two veteran high school English teachers, each with a summer reading recommendation for a teenager. We talk about about how speculative fiction (including sci-fi, fantasy, horror, alt.

Lauren Olamina leaves her ruined home in the second half of Octavia E. Butler's 1993 novel/theology document/allegory/philosophical text, heading for the mysterious utopia of Branscombe first and then

Parable of the Sower purports to be a work of speculative fiction, but Bagg points out that speculative is in the eye of the speculator. Dukes calls it the founding document of a theology that both

Dukes and Baggs challenge each other to recap the second half in three and a half sentences before diving into what makes Weirs hard sci-fi novel about interstellar friendship so satisfying. Bagg un

Many many many many writers take on hard science fiction, and get lost in the science, leaving behind such niceties as plot, character development, human insight, or deep emotional stakes. Somehow,