Unseen Academicals: A Discworld and Terry Pratchett Podcast

Sep 17 2024 50 ep. 87 mins 190

Unseen Academicals: A Discworld and Terry Pratchett Podcast artwork

An intermittent examination of Terry Pratchett's Discworld book series from an academic perspective, hosted by Joshua Bulleid. Contact: [email protected] Support: patreon.com/unseenacademicals

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15B - Small Gods, Part 2 - Books and New Sons

Sep 17 2024 110 mins

The second episode examining Terry Pratchett's 1992's Discworld novel, Small Gods, examining the role of books and memory in fantasy fiction, comparisons to Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun sequence, contemplations of genre and what it means to be a "comedy", and seriously considering whether I even want to do the show anymore.

15A - Small Gods, Part 1: Consider the Tortoise

May 26 2024 137 mins

The first episode on Terry Pratchett's thirteenth (and best) Discworld novel Small Gods (1992), looking at religious and folkloric depictions of tortoises, the idea that gods need belief to survive as a trope of fantasy literature through influential works like those of Fritz Leiber and the Epic of Gilgamesh, as well as the early Dungeons and Dragons handbooks, the use of expli

14C – Pyramids, Part 2b: Egyptian Representations

Apr 04 2024 105 mins

The third and final episode tangentially related to Terry Pratchett's 1989 Discworld novel Pyramids, providing a crash course in Egyptian fantasy and science fiction—as in written by Egyptians, rather than simply about them. We go all the way back to the beginning, talking about traditional fantasy precursors and the origins of the modern Egyptian science fiction tradition, t

14B – Pyramids, Part 2a: Mummy Madness

Mar 07 2024 62 mins

Tangential mini(ish) episode, inspired by Pyramids (1989), examining mummy fiction and Western representations of Egypt from their nineteenth-century literary origins through twentieth-century film renditions and ultimate assimilation by stupid sexy vampires.

14A – Pyramids, Part 1: Progress and Prejudice

Feb 17 2024 85 mins

We push the pop-filter to the limit this week, ptalking about Pterry Pratchett's seventh, unaffiliated, Discworld novel, Pyramids (1989), discussing the novel's critical reception along with its portrayals of plumbing, progress, pupils, personal identity, pyramids and polders, among other pthings.

Best Books in 2023

Jan 11 2024 63 mins

Josh counts down the best books he read for the first time in 2023.

Best Albums of 2023

Jan 11 2024 143 mins

Josh, Eden and Karlo from Heavy Blog is Heavy count down their favourite albums of 2023.

13C – Good Omens, Part 3: Faithful Adaptations

Jan 02 2024 105 mins

A somewhat off-the-cuff conclusion to our Good Omens coverage, loosely discussing canonicity, adaptation theory and adaptations themselves, including the 2014 BBC radio adaptation and 2019 adaptation of Good Omens, along with its recent second season continuation.

13B – Good Omens, Part 2: Apocalyptic Revelations

Dec 13 2023 189 mins

Apologies for the delay, I would have recorded a shorter podcast, but I didn't have time... The second episode about Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's 1990 novel Good Omens, wherein Josh spends a lot of time talking about academic definitions of things like the apocalypse, apocalyptic literature, post-apocalyptic literature, anti-apocalyptic literature, catastrophe, eucata

Arthur C. Clarke and Vegetarian Space Exploration

Nov 02 2023 63 mins

Josh reads a section about Arthur C. Clarke from his book Vegetarianism and Science Fiction: A History of Utopian Animal Ethics, which is finally out as part of Palgrave Macmillan's Animals and Literature Series. Topics covered include: alternative/synthetic meats, space exploration, environmentalism, Buddhism, the Space Odyssey Series, evolutionary theories and the Hunting Hy