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PODCAST

What Mad Universe?!?

Adam Prosser and Philip Rice

Action! Excitement! Horror! Romance! Thrills and Chills! Swords and Sorcery! Rockets and Rayguns! Hosts Adam Prosser and Philip Rice take a journey through the history of SF, Fantasy, horror, and pulp fiction. Every 2 weeks one of us, alternating back and forth, selects a book or book series from the late 18th century up to the present to look back on, discuss, and examine. Some of them have left an indelible mark on pop culture; some of them are forgotten echoes of what might have been...all

arts literature

All Episodes

00:44:47

S4E116 -Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen: Where...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2024/06/05

Sometimes you just want to take a break from it all and find solace in some booze...and more importantly, good company. Of course, it doesn't help if your watering hole is constantly being invaded by aliens, vampires, talking dogs, and fairies...or does it? It certainly keeps things interesting. Spider Robinson's long-running Callahan's Place series, starting with Callahan's Crosstime Saloon in 1977, posits such a bar, and turns it into the kind of place you'd probably love to visit, even if you're

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01:09:50

S4E115 -Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen: Whot's All...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2024/05/08

We're back for another look at Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, this time focusing on The Watch series. It's a social satire and police procedural in a fantasy setting, which means it has dragons, dwarves, trolls, and police who actually serve the public trust...you know, a fantasy.Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's

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00:51:16

S4E114 -Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen: A Fool And...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2024/04/24

It's interesting to consider which characters fall into obscurity and which remain relevant. Johnston McCulley's most famous creation, Zorro, is of course still a household word. His other creations, Thubway Tham and The Crimson Clown, have been completely forgotten, even though they were nearly as popular in their day. Both thieves, albeit of two very different sorts, the two even met in the crossover novel Thubway Tham Meets the Crimson Clown, and it's that we're looking at today!Support us on

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01:02:05

S4E113 -Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen: Get a Life!

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2024/04/03

Fandom! The word sends chills up the spine of anyone who's spent any time in Fantasy and Science Fiction spaces...for a pretty wide variety of reasons. But what if fandom turns...to murder? Actually, that seems pretty plausible. Sharyn McCrumb explored this very idea in the murder mystery Bimbos of the Death Sun (published by TSR!) and we're joined in this episode by our pal Filbi to talk about it!Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's

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00:47:21

S4E112 -Chapter One Hundred and Twelve: Sharna Pax...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2024/03/13

Langwitch, its syurly a confuzement! Whut wud Inlish luk liek inna thousand yeers? These are the questions asked by Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, a post-apocalyptic meditation on culture, storytelling, religion, and language. It's a tricky read but a fulfilling one. Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's

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00:44:22

S4E111 -Chapter One Hundred and Eleven: In Cold Blood!

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2024/02/21

This is the story of Edwardian-era European explorers traveling to the north pole in an airship, only to find a strange land unknown to mankind, and populated by an alien yet advanced race of intelligent non-human beings. The encounter holds up a mirror to western society, colonialism, and the dark side of human nature, and things go badly for the protagonists. It's such a perfect encapsulation of this "Vernean" subgenre, so self-aware about its tropes, and so much in sync with modern day

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01:01:41

S4E110 -Chapter One Hundred and Ten: Culture War!

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2024/02/10

In the best of all possible worlds, this podcast would always be on time...but we're not there yet, are we. You know what comes close, though? The Culture, the star-spanning utopia depicted in Iain M. Banks's novels such as Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games. In this episode, Philip and I take a dive into the possibilities of benevolent godlike AI, post-scarcity economies, stellar-level constructs and utopian societies, and ask...can we truly conceive of a better world? Support us on Patreon

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00:54:13

S4E109 -Chapter One Hundred and Nine: Such Stuff As...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2024/01/24

This week, wayfarers, we go WAY back, to 1666, and the first European work of feminist Science Fiction--in fact, one of the first works of Science Fiction as we know it--Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World, a travelogue, pontification, and philosophical potboiler. Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on

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00:58:24

S4E108 -Chapter One Hundred and Eight: The Maiden,...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2024/01/17

We aten't dead! In fact we're back in 2024 for a new chapter in a series...a series within a series, you might say...on Terry Pratchett's Discworld! In this one we're joined by pal Ing to talk about the Granny Weatherwax books and witchcraft vs. wizardry. (Update: I'm really sorry, the wrong audio was uploaded for this. It should be fixed now.) Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad

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00:57:50

Chapter One Hundred and Seven: The Harrowing of Hell!

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/12/22

'Tis darkening days, fair ones, and as we approach the end of the year of our lord 2023, What Mad Universe?!? has been, we confess, erratic of late. But take heed! We return with a look at an obscure but excellent fantasy series from the early 20th century, the Neustrian Cycle by Leslile Barringer. Is it a lost tome, or the wellspring for much later fantasy stories? Harken unto us and all shall be revealed! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's

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00:01:23

Chapter 107 Promo

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/12/21

Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a

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00:52:15

S4E106 -Chapter One Hundred and Six: The Soldier of...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/12/06

As we all know by now, the WWII period saw the blossoming of ASTOUNDING magazine, which set the pace for the so-called "Golden Age" of Science Fiction, launching the careers of storied names such as Asimov and Heinlein. They also hosted a short series of satirical space westerns about a near-immortal doctor and his staunch companion, the Ole Doc Methuselah stories, penned by an obscure writer named L. Ron Hubbard. I wonder what happened to that guy. Support us on Patreon and listen to the

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00:57:10

S4E105 -Episode One Hundred and Five: The Cyclone...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/11/09

Swashbuckling adventures in far-flung lands to the east! Geopolitical intrigue! The manly code of the warrior! Dan Tyler Moore's The Terrible Game taps into several veins of pulp action that span several eras...as well as being the source material for one later, hilariously bad movie. Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's

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00:58:00

S4E104 -Chapter One Hundred and Four: Knower of the...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/10/25

As Philip points out, if we had a nickel for every time we talked about a book where Buddha fights Jesus in a Sci-Fi setting, we'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right? The subject this time is Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny, and the subject is actually Hinduism more than those other religions, as far-future space colonists use technology to turn themselves into gods. Then Jack Kirby helps them free hostages from Iran, or something? Just listen to the

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01:00:10

S4E103 -Chapter One Hundred and Three: Life on Mars!

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/10/11

Sorry about the long delay there, folks, some real world chaos combined with a LOT of pages that had to be read for this episode led to an unplanned couple of week's break. We're back now, looking at Kim Stanley Robinsons' seminal trilogy, Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars, one of the most in-depth hard SF stories of the past few decades. But it's not just a dry scientific hypothetical, it's also an exploration of cultural evolution and political upheaval, in ways that the tech-heads who claim they're

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01:00:58

S4E102 -Chapter One Hundred and Two: One Thing After...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/09/13

We've talked about John W Campbell as an editor on this show a few times, which isn't surprising since he oversaw an entire era of 20th century SF. Now we dive in directly to his own best known writing, the novella Who Goes There?, the basis for John Carpenter's The Thing (as well as the 50s movie The Thing From Another World), and talk more about how Campbell really did have a massive impact on our culture, in ways we're still recovering from... Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week

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00:58:52

S4E101 -Chapter One Hundred and One: Second Star To...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/08/30

The newest What Mad Universe?!? looks at one of the earliest progenitors of the space opera, a 19th century French obscurity that delves deeply into world-building, poetry, and, unfortunately, racism. It's STAR, OR, PSI CASSOPEIA by C. I. DeFontenay. We read it before it was cool! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Phil's Twitter Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What

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01:33:23

S4E100 -Chapter One Hundred: Empire of Bronze!

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/08/16

One hundred episodes! I'm not sure we ever believed it would happen, but it has, thanks to you, acolytes of adventure! A heartfelt tip of our space helmets to all of you, and we hope you enjoy this special 100th episode spectacular! And what better subject for this illustrious episode than a book that touches on both one of the most archetypal and influential pulp characters, AND the later mythological addition that created the basis for decades of nerdy recontextualizations! Yes, it's Doc Savage:

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01:00:52

S4E99 -Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Boy Who Bought Old...

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/08/02

Cordwainer Smith isn't one of the more well-known names in Science Fiction, but his influence seems to have extended pretty far into the works of better known writers. In this episode we take a look at his Instrumentality series, one of the first examples of a SF writer crafting a recurring universe for his stories, and his bizarre novel Norstrilia. It tackles the true gravest threat facing Earth in the future: rich Australians! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early

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00:59:45

S4E98 -Chapter Ninety-EIght: To Catch a Thief!

What Mad Universe?!? ·

2023/07/12

Apologies for the week delay (due to vacation). We're just a couple of no-goodniks, I guess, like the subject of this episode, about the galaxy's greatest criminal, Slippery Jim DeGriz, a guy so good at crime they put him in charge of catching all the other criminals. We explore the satirical (and long-running) romp that is the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison. Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on

en-US

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