Consumed Episode 5 is out today! It’s a free MP3 download
with some of the farthest-reaching discussions on any of our podcasts yet.
For me, the most interesting conversation came from Peter V.
Brett's The Warded Man. It's a rare Fantasy
novel that hits the ground running, in its case opening with a nocturnal demon
attack. It led me to ask my co-hosts why Speculative Fiction prose usually starts
out so slow, low-action and thick with exposition. We considered George R.R.
Martin, N.K. Jemisin, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and J.K. Rowling, and
explored why films and videogames in the same genres usually start off much
faster. We’d love your thoughts on this topic in the Comments over there.
We also discussed the mind-bending puzzle game, Fez, and why so many
people either adore it or walk away from it (us podcasters were split on the
love it/leave it). We wrapped up with Cabin in the Woods, the meta-Horror film which
seems destined to be overlooked this year. While the conversation eventually
devolves into self-censorship to avoid spoilers, I recommend listening just to
hear me embarrass myself trying to describe Anna Hutchinson making out with a
stuffed wolf head, and whether we can talk actor-host Nat Sylva into doing the same.
