Last Chance Salon Podcast

Episode 18: Mayhem, Musketeers, and Machination This week, Luke and Shiri delve in to the mystery of Mayhem by Sarah Pinborough.  Next, we mill about BBC’s The Musketeers and it’s fulfillment of our need for some summer TV fun.  Last, we talk steampunk in general and the ways in which it could, in our humble opinions, be improved upon as g-word (genre, kids, genre).  We close, as always, with the “Grrrr” and the “Argh.”

17: Redshirts, Retreads, and Reboots Luke and Shiri talk Redshirts by John Scalzi.  Next, we examine the Star Trek reboot and where it goes from here. Last, Remakes (and the fultility therof) vs Reboots (sometimes not so futile).  And of course, the good and the suck of the week.

Episode 16: Luke and Shiri feel the cold touch of the Dead Man’s Hand.  In a good way.  We go back and forth about X-Men: Days of Future Past.  Our writing topic is Short Stories.      Dead Man’s Hand Hardwired Days of Future Past (Movie) Days of Future Past (Collected Comics) Short Story Length (Word Count)

Episode 15: Corpse Brides, Horny Mermaids, and Culture Get ready to rumble, folks, it’s our first real co-host smackdown over The Undertaking of Lily Chen by Danica Novgodoroff.  Black is the Color by Julia Gforer doesn’t raise quite as many hackles.  Being bummed out by the movie version of Persepolis unites Luke and Shiri once again.  There’s a discussion of manifestations of culturein writing, followed, as always by The Good, The Bad, and the Blah.  

Episode 18: Glamour, Ghouls, and Getting There Luke and Shiri glamour up a chat about Mary Robinette Kowal’s Shades of Milk and Honey.  Next, appropriately, we swoon over the second season of Hannibal.  Last, those we wish we could be and how we strive to Get There.  Good, Bad, and Ugly.  

  Episode 13: The Gotham Epsiode! Gotham Central!  Gotham: The TV Show (essentially an extended PREDICTION!) Our writing topic: how we would work in a world someone else has built! Good Things! SUCK THINGS!  THINGS!     This is the 13th episode of the Last Chance Salon Podcast a podcast about writing, reading and consuming Science Fiction, Fantasy, Comic Books and all that is good. Hosted by Shiri Sondheimer and Luke McCullough.

In which we dissect the monstrosities that are Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheusby Mary Shelly and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson; and by dissect, we mean both get… emphatic in our analysis.  There may be some yelling.  We pick apart Agents of Shieldand make suggestions on how to put the Humpty Helicarrier back together again.  Our writing topic this week is when to give it a rest, whatever it may be.  We end, as always, with That Which Sucks and Good Things.

For the second in our … (denomination) IN SPACE series, we crawl around with the bugs in God’s War by Kameron Hurley.  Next, we bitch and moan about The Wolverine, bemoaning the sad fall of an impeccably cast but now lame-ass teenage role model.  Our writing topic is Trust in the Reader and, as always, we end with That Which Sucks and  Good Things.     The Belle Dame Apocrypha(including God’s War)   Kameron Hurley   The Wolverine

Episode 10: We search for the “super” in Adam Christopher’s Empire State in more ways than one.  Next, we take a bite out of NBC’s killer drama Hannibal (see what I did there?  Damn, I’m punny today).  Our writing topic this week is “worldbuilding,” including what the hell it means and how we do it.  We wrap up, as always, with That Which Sucks and Good Stuff.   Empire State: http://angryrobotbooks.com/books/empire-state-by-adam-christopher/   Hannibal: http://www.nbc.com/hannibal

  Episode 9: Jesuits in space!  No, we’re not being smart-asses, we’re discussing The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.     Our writing topic is Villians: best, worst, what not to, what to, how we…   As always, we wrap up with That Which Sucks and Good Stuff.  If you like the episode, and/or us, leave us a review on iTunes or drop us a line at http://lastchancepod.com.  If you don’t, let us know that too; we’re writers, we know how to take an ego beating.  

Episode 8: Shiri and Luke freak themselves out with The Shining: both the glory that is the book and the compilation of boredom and giant teeth that is Stanley Kubrik’s film.  The fact Stephen King disliked the movie stokes the boiler of the conversation about the author’s relationship to other-media translations of their work.  There is Suck and there is Goodand then we traipse off into our respective arctic wastelands.     The Shining (book): http://www.amazon.com/Shining-Stephen-King-ebook/dp/B001BANK32/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395505091&sr=8-1&keywords=the+shining   The Shining (movie):  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/?ref_=nv_sr_1   Room 237 (documentary): http://www.room237movie.com/   The Shining (miniseries): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118460/?ref_=nv_sr_2 (which we have not watched and therefore cannot recommend or bash)   Stephen King and the Shining: http://www.salon.com/2013/10/01/what_stanley_kubrick_got_wrong_about_the_shining/

Shiri and Luke get wibbly wobbley and go way over timey whimey with Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary Special and Christmas/Regeneration (?) Specials.  That’s actually pretty much it, though we do make a brief foray into Steampunk as it relates to the Doctor’s genre. Chill, kids, there’s a lot to cover.  Luke’s phone got really wet, which is both good and bad, Shiri has the crud again, but it gave her an excuse to start watching Downton Abbey, which is good, as is the having a release date for the second series of Hannibal.     Doctor Who: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0 Sherlock: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018ttws Jeeves and Wooster: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098833/ A Bit of Fry and Laurie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101049/?ref_=nv_sr_1 The Curse of Fatal Death: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212887/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Gallifrey: http://observationdeck.io9.com/theres-a-petition-to-rename-a-recently-discovered-plan-1479490223 Red Dwarf: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094535/?ref_=nv_sr_1 Steampunk:

Episode 6: Shiri and Luke pull up an Infinite improbability Drive and, armed with Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters and their towels, discuss the various incarnations of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy(listen for the embedded writing segment on asides).  Next, they delve into Broadchurchand the general superiority, though sometimes spectacular failure and or/lameosity, of genuine BBC television and its bastard stepchildren on BBC America.  Some stuff Sucks, but a lot of things are Good.  The Last Chance Salon Podcast: now with actual intros and outros!   Links: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (book): http://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Douglas-Adams/dp/0345391802 (film 2005) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371724/?ref_=nv_sr_1 (BBC radio drama): http://www.amazon.com/The-Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Complete/dp/1602834792 Douglas Adams http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/ Pangalactic Gargle Blaster: http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Pan_Galactic_Gargle_Blaster BBC : http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/ Broadchurch: htt

Shiri and Luke discuss Vicious, by V.E. Schwab and the nature of the super-hero origin story.  Next, we depart from visual media and delve into the world of social media and the tittilating communication system known as Twitter.  Writing topic is editing: how we do it and when it’s time to stop.

Shiri and Luke discuss Chuck Wendig’s Blackbirds and whether or not a character can be an independent agent if she knows the future.  Next, we try to parse out the Cornetto trilogy's… triloginess.  Also, we reveal the secrets of our writing preparation “process.”

Shiri and Luke talk sexism and robots in their discussion of Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov.  We give some love to Vin Diesel, hardest bodied of the hard core geeks, and his seminal character Riddick.  We wander, unintentionally, into the Marvel Universe for a brief stop before we let you in on why we don’t NaNoWriMo (spoilers, it is THE FEAR) and, as always, close with Good Things like powdered rosemary, Dracula, and Ichabod Crane’s discovery of internet porn.

Shiri has a thesis about Horns by Joe Hill. Luke thinks applying the word thesis to a novel is hilarious. We ponder Agents of SHIELD and let you in on the the secret of where our ideas come from. And we end with both That Which Sucks and Something Good. Shiri actually has two somethings, but she hasn't told Luke yet. Also, you get to vote on whether or not you want "What's Shiri eating this time?" to be a regular segment on the show.

In Episode One, Luke and Shiri talk Neil Gaiman's Ocean at the End of the Lane, Sleepy Hollow, the Oxford Comma, and chat about our projects. This week, we end on an up note with Something Good. Next week, we'll also end an up note with Something Good. After we rant about That Which Sucks. Apologies for the M&M's and the length. Also repeat references to Ben Edlund and Arrow.  We're learning.   Last Chance Salon Links: Shiri's Blog: http://swsondheimer.wordpress.com Shiri's Books: Shaman: Book Oneand Shaman: Book Two Follow Shiri on Twitter: @SWSondheimer Luke's Blog: http://technology-hates-you.com/lm3m/ Follow Luke on Twitter: @lm3m   Episode Links: Chuck Wendig's TerribleMinds: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/ John Scalzi's Whatever: http://whatever.scalzi.com Victoria (V.E. Schwab's) Site: http://veschwab.wordpress.com and her phenomenal book Vicious.   Bikers Against Child Abuse: http://bacaworld.org