WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY
Wizards Vs. Lesbians
It's magical gang warfare in Singapore, circa 1972. All the politics, history and gender you could ask for but folded into a plot that moves at breakneck speed and never lets you lose interest. We really liked this one.
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RADCLIFFE HALL and BUT NOT TOO BOLD
Wizards Vs. Lesbians
We bring you a pair of novellas, both of which are about living in a big creepy house which is haunted by an ancient woman. They go on to have very different opinions about how cool that would be, even though the underlying metaphors are largely the same. You can read Radcliffe Hall here: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/radcliffe-hall/
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BONUS: THE RAGPICKER
Wizards Vs. Lesbians
Kerstin Hall of Asunder fame joins us to discuss a book about aging and the end of the world. (It turns out aging isn't the end of the world, but the end of the world isn't the end of the world either.) There's also a lot of stuff about the internet, autism and knowing the names of plants, but more importantly it's a beautiful little book that is absolutely not afraid to get weird with it.
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THE STARVING SAINTS
Wizards Vs. Lesbians
Cannibalism season continues on Wizards vs. Lesbians, as this one's a story about how all of us would probably eat some human meat the second things get difficult, and how on a metaphorical level we definitely already have. It's not without its problems but it does a good job of capturing how we all felt during lockdown and drawing a line between that feeling and our current predicament(s).
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BUNNY
Wizards Vs. Lesbians
A novel about being in an MFA (but not necessarily an MFA novel) with all the horror that implies. What if your creative process involved doing unethical things to dumb animals, and what if you have a hard time separating your creative process from your sex life?
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METAL FROM HEAVEN
Wizards Vs. Lesbians
A book about messianic communism, and also about obsessive childhood love, and also about microplastics. Inspirations cited by the author include Disco Elysium and End of Evangelion. Hang onto your hats.
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AUNT TIGRESS
Wizards Vs. Lesbians
Life is complicated for a Chinese-Canadian lesbian college kid with PTSD who is also half tiger - complicated enough, you would think, but complication invites complication, and soon she has to ask herself like questions like "is this the apocalypse" and "am I partially responsible for it." Those are pretty standard questions these days, admittedly, and that core of relatability is what keeps a rangy, stressful, fascinating book mostly on the rails.
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BONUS: KARLA'S CHOICE
Wizards Vs. Lesbians
Arkady Martine joins us to discuss a new spy novel written by Nick Harkaway and starring a bunch of beloved characters created by his father, John le Carré. In doing this, Harkaway has set out what is essentially an impossible task for himself; how does he manage?
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SHORT FICTION ROUNDUP #7
Wizards Vs. Lesbians
Today we cover by Ursula Whitcher, by Lowry Poletti, and by Sarah Pinsker.
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BONUS: MIDDLEMARCH
Wizards Vs. Lesbians
Our classic literature correspondent Kat Weaver joins us for a look at George Eliot's masterpiece about small towns and bad marriages. We find some wizards in it.
info_outlineThis book is about whether murdering antisemites is a good idea or not, morally and strategically, and as such it's about Israel without ever discussing Israel, which as a rhetorical gambit has its advantages and disadvantages. One disadvantage is that it's therefore a New York Novel and it comes with all the problems that implies.