Ink & Quill
Ink and Quill is a podcast that discusses works of fiction from various authors. Your hosts Fizz and Dr. Hot-Fizz will delve into various plots, subtexts, and uses of language within the text as well as personal opinion about the author and their work. To join the Ink and Quill fan community, visit http://spookylogistics.com.
Ink & Quill Episode 52: "American Gods"

The Gods of the mythology are angry! America is more interested in worshiping icons of the modern world like the media, Internet or television and those "real" Gods are all but forgotten. So what can they do about it? They can go to war! New Gods versus Old Gods, for the soul of America, a clash of titans.

And in their quest to regain power and recognition, they enlist the help of Shadow, and ex-con just out of prison who is down on his luck now that his only reason to live, his wife Laura, has died in a car crash in the middle of an affair with Shadow's boss. What better time for Mr Wednesday, an enigmatic figure who seems to know way too much about Shadow's past, to come into his life and force him to join him in a quest to rally the Gods and rage war on all those modern icons.

Peopled with strange creatures coming from the mythology of countries ranging from Norse to Hindu, from Irish to Egyptian, dark, humorous, sad and extremely sobering at times, American Gods is an interesting study of what the modern world has become and what needs to be done about it. Oscillating between reality and a fantasy-like dream world in which Shadow jumps at will, the novel will entice readers from all walks of life.

And it won the 2002 Hugo Award!! What better reason to give it a try :)

Visit the show website!

Direct download: inq_ep52.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 7:34pm EDT

Ink & Quill Episode 51: "1Q84"

The day is going as usual, nothing particular has changed but in the sky, there are two moons side by side, one big and yellow, one smaller and green. This shows that you have entered 1Q84, a universe slightly off. You are not in the year 1984 anymore; you have veered into a different universe with Q as “question mark”. Once in this world, there is no going back.

This is what happened to Aomame and to Tengo, two people whose fate is more intertwined than they could ever imagine. In order for Aomame and Tengo to meet and fulfill their purpose, 1Q84 will put in the two main characters’ path the young Fukaeri, author of the Air Chrysalis, a novel whose sole existence will unleash the fury of the Little People. In 1Q84, they also encounter Leader, the head of a powerful yet extremely secret sect whose relation with those mysterious Little People seems to be more than a mere acquaintance.

As the two separate stories of Aomame and of Tengo slowly come together, the reader’s conception of reality gets more and more tempered with. Deeply philosophical and metaphysical, dealing with predetermination and the illusion of reality among other themes, 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami is one of those novels that leave its audience pondering about life and the universe. It will even appeal to those in dire need of a beautiful love story. An interesting mix between Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Lewis Carroll’s Through the looking glass and George Orwell’s 1984 to name just a few, this novel cannot leave the reader unmoved.

Visit the show website!

Direct download: inq_ep51.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 10:16pm EDT