A Meal of Thorns
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Recent Episodes
A Meal of Thorns 51- THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS with Premee Mohamed
Science fiction readers love a mechanism, they love a bit of world-building and mystery-solving. Premee Mohamed joins us to discuss Gene Wolfe's The Fifth Head of Cerberus, a book that asks: what if…
A Meal of Thorns 50- SISYPHEAN with Gareth Watkins
A rain of corpses is falling from the sky, insectoid femme fatales are setting their compound eyes on our tender thoraxes, and our cattle drive across an expanse of nanotech goo is starting to go off…
A Meal of Thorns 49- MOONGATHER with Molly Templeton
Stop explaining and start exploring: critic & reviewer Molly Templeton walks us through this gem of 1980s mass market fantasy, with many asides and theories on shifting patterns of publishing and…
A Meal of Thorns 48- READY PLAYER ONE with Matthew Leggatt
The pleasures and perils of nostalgia & reference, the importance of identifying real play versus gamified labor, and whether the internet used to be fun: Matthew Leggat of the Utopian &…
A Meal of Thorns 47- CLOUD ATLAS with Abigail Nussbaum
A nested novel that very pointedly bridges the litfic/specfic divide, David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas takes some big swings at tricky topics. Abigail Nussbaum returns to the podcast with some thoughts…
A Meal of Thorns 46- THE BIG SLEEP with Max Gladstone
We’re leaving speculative genres for just a moment! Author Max Gladstone joins to discuss style & structure in Raymond Chandler’s hardboiled classic The Big Sleep, a work that’s been massively…
A Meal of Thorns 45- THE DEEP SEA DIVER’S SYNDROME with Alexander Dickow
In this science fiction novel, translated from the French, dreamers “dive” into their own subconscious and return with mysterious & valuable objects. Translator, author, & scholar Alexander…
A Meal of Thorns 44- PALADIN OF SOULS with Liz Bourke
Reviewer and historian Liz Bourke joins to discuss religion, historical overlaps, and examinations of gender in Paladin of Souls and fantasy more generally. Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and…
A Meal of Thorns 43- DIASPORA with Eden Kupermintz
Greg Egan’s work exemplifies a certain kind of “hard” science fiction: not that it’s obsessed with big manly space battles, but rather that it’s using science to really dig into some complicated…
A Meal of Thorns 42- IMARO with Jon Tattrie
Charles Saunders’ sword and soul narratives, pulp-fantasy-inspired tales of Black and African heroes, helped blaze a trail for the genre—but, like Saunders himself, they have a complicated and…
A Meal of Thorns 41- THE BEETLE with Marisa Mercurio
If you read Dracula and thought: “I like the ancient shapeshifting nemesis and the homoerotic subtext, but I don’t like how subtle the sexual and national anxieties are,” you’re in luck! Editor,…
A Meal of Thorns 40- 2025 Wrap-Up with Dan Hartland
We’re closing out this strange year with a “big-picture” episode: editor & critic Dan Hartland is on to talk about trends and directions—or lack thereof—in recent speculative fiction. We talk…
A Meal of Thorns 40- 2025 Wrap-Up with Dan Hartland
We’re closing out this strange year with a “big-picture” episode: editor & critic Dan Hartland is on to talk about trends and directions—or lack thereof—in recent speculative fiction. We talk…
A Meal of Thorns 39- THE SECRET HISTORY with Roseanna Pendlebury
We’re tracking down the wellspring of “dark academia” in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, and plucking on threads that stretch out to current fantasy and science fiction literature, with reviewer…
A Meal of Thorns 39- THE SECRET HISTORY with Roseanna Pendlebury
We’re tracking down the wellspring of “dark academia” in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, and plucking on threads that stretch out to current fantasy and science fiction literature, with reviewer…
A Meal of Thorns 38- VENOMOUS LUMPSUCKER with Cameron Kunzelman
Academic, critic, and prolific podcaster Cameron Kunzelman joins for a far-ranging discussion about how climate fiction, science fiction, and personal and political connections to the environment…
A Meal of Thorns 38- VENOMOUS LUMPSUCKER with Cameron Kunzelman
Academic, critic, and prolific podcaster Cameron Kunzelman joins for a far-ranging discussion about how climate fiction, science fiction, and personal and political connections to the environment…
A Meal of Thorns 37 – THE HISTORIAN with Sean Guynes
Vampire scholar, science fiction studies editor, and ARB co-founder Sean Guynes joins to discuss Kostova’s 2005 historical vampire thriller. We both have fairly negative opinions of the book, but it…
A Meal of Thorns 37 – THE HISTORIAN with Sean Guynes
Vampire scholar, science fiction studies editor, and ARB co-founder Sean Guynes joins to discuss Kostova’s 2005 historical vampire thriller. We both have fairly negative opinions of the book, but it…
A Meal of Thorns 36 – UNDER THE EYE OF THE BIG BIRD with Eleanor McAdam
Writer, scholar, and academic organizer E.F. McAdam joins to talk about human evolution & extinction, AI, pseudo-science, and much more in Kawakami’s very strange and really quite funny…
Frequently Asked Questions
A Meal of Thorns has published 51 episodes since July 2024, covering topics in Arts, Books.
A Meal of Thorns is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 1h 12m.
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