First Chapters

On this very special episode of First Chapters, Engineer Mike and Nina are joined in Gray Cat Studios by a very special guest, Dr. Richard Scott Nokes (aka Professor Awesome of Pop Medieval fame)! He's here to get Nina through a classic work -- just in time for the second season of a certain elf-y show. Will Nina find dry, scholarly notes about epic high fantasy tolerable, or will she descend into the darkness and devour herself?Digressions: Doc's own eye of Sauron, Engineer Mike confusing

Engineer Mike convinces Nina to read a book by an author your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents all know. Will it swash her buckle, or walk her plank? Digressions: Weeb shit, "suck my dick, America," confusing Larry McMurtry with Louis L'amour, more weeb shit, the broad umbrella of the Western genre, Batman, everything coming back to Melville, and Engineer Mike bringing up Kushiel's Dart to Nina's annoyance. Engineer Mike is reading: Chain-Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame

Timely! Engineer Mike and Nina talk about the book on which the hit Netflix show is based. It's a "whammer" of book, but how far did Nina get?Digressions: throuples, teaching genital mutilation to our children, terrible Netflix movies, modern anti-intellectual parallels, Game of Thrones, are translators authors, and bad followups to great books Engineer Mike is reading: The Martian and Hail Mary by Andy Weir Nina is reading: A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Atlas

We're back with season two! Let's kick it off with a book by one of Engineer Mike's favorites. Do they have enough bandwidth to get through the first few chapters? TW: SA, animal abuse, and a spot on JP impression.Digressions: Female protagonists being gross, Engineer Mike's primary source, the free art movement, 70's rock singalongs, everything coming back to "Neuromancer," Neoliberal economics dovetailing into pronatalism, and moving on from past works. Engineer Mike is reading: The