PodSearch

The Incomparable

128: Bureaucracy Is Her Superpower

 

00:00:03   the incomparable number 120 a februari [TS]

00:00:11   welcome back to be uncomfortable my cast [TS]

00:00:14   I'm your host Jason Snelling i'm joined [TS]

00:00:15   by two members of our book club the [TS]

00:00:18   esteemed dan more'n joins us hi dan I [TS]

00:00:22   chase and it's it's nice to be esteemed [TS]

00:00:24   and thank you for sitting in for me on [TS]

00:00:27   our special LIVE macworld expo episode [TS]

00:00:29   about Aaron Sorkin I didn't get to say [TS]

00:00:30   any of my things that I wanted to say [TS]

00:00:32   about how I thought that he was a you [TS]

00:00:35   know kind of losing it in in his last [TS]

00:00:37   season of The West Wing before they [TS]

00:00:38   removed him probably because of the [TS]

00:00:40   mushrooms but we're just gonna let that [TS]

00:00:41   go by godspeed blufgan to save her for [TS]

00:00:43   the aryan circle part to see exactly [TS]

00:00:45   when John siracusa will list all of the [TS]

00:00:48   things that he wishes he could have said [TS]

00:00:50   if he had been in San Francisco but he [TS]

00:00:52   doesn't travel [TS]

00:00:53   he's a hermits true it's true yeah so [TS]

00:00:56   but thank you for taking a short battle [TS]

00:00:58   for that I appreciate that very much [TS]

00:00:59   it's nice one we pick a topic and I'm [TS]

00:01:01   I've got a whole plan and then I say can [TS]

00:01:03   you do it instead and I say sure the [TS]

00:01:07   sucker [TS]

00:01:08   also joining me for this book club is [TS]

00:01:10   Scott McNulty of course because Scott [TS]

00:01:13   read every book I am contractually [TS]

00:01:15   obligated to read every book in [TS]

00:01:16   existence it's that's the rule [TS]

00:01:18   I'm enough of that so this book this [TS]

00:01:22   book had the we're going to be talking [TS]

00:01:24   about the brook by Daniel O'Malley and [TS]

00:01:28   double whammy of recommendations in our [TS]

00:01:30   year ending episode that we did for 2012 [TS]

00:01:35   we talked about things we like during [TS]

00:01:37   the year and one of the books that that [TS]

00:01:39   Scott you singled out was the rook [TS]

00:01:43   I don't remember that but I'm glad I did [TS]

00:01:45   I I assure you you said you said that it [TS]

00:01:47   was good and what fascinates me about [TS]

00:01:50   this is that my wife in trying to find [TS]

00:01:54   books to buy me for Christmas ended up [TS]

00:01:56   buying me two books one of which we may [TS]

00:01:58   talk about later in what are you reading [TS]

00:02:00   and the other one who has the rock and [TS]

00:02:04   so when she got my God look Scott [TS]

00:02:06   mobility recommended the rook it's [TS]

00:02:08   perfect it's it's a double whammy [TS]

00:02:09   because she talked to her friends who [TS]

00:02:12   are librarians like she is and they said [TS]

00:02:13   they recommended those those two books [TS]

00:02:15   including the brook and so we're going [TS]

00:02:18   to talk about the rook and upfront i [TS]

00:02:21   want to say i really liked it i thought [TS]

00:02:24   this was [TS]

00:02:24   a lot of fun i've been searching for [TS]

00:02:26   books to read that we're gonna make me [TS]

00:02:29   make me happy and make me excited and [TS]

00:02:31   make me really want to pay i haven't had [TS]

00:02:33   a good page turner for a while where I [TS]

00:02:35   really wanted to get through it as fast [TS]

00:02:36   as I could I was really enjoying it and [TS]

00:02:38   the rook fit the bill the trip was right [TS]

00:02:41   was just I was smiling the whole way [TS]

00:02:43   through and it wasn't what i expect i [TS]

00:02:45   had no expectations at all really about [TS]

00:02:47   what it was even going to be about and I [TS]

00:02:49   was delighted by so that's my short I i [TS]

00:02:53   would agree with that assessment i mean [TS]

00:02:55   i got it from Scotts recognition as well [TS]

00:02:57   good job to get kudos and I so I didn't [TS]

00:03:01   really know and I was her between books [TS]

00:03:02   and a couple things I was looking at [TS]

00:03:04   reading what kind of this is kind of fun [TS]

00:03:05   after I read the synopsis on amazon and [TS]

00:03:07   i bought it for my kindle read it and [TS]

00:03:10   found it delightful know what I mean [TS]

00:03:12   it's one of the few books there aren't a [TS]

00:03:14   lot of authors i find who can make me [TS]

00:03:16   actually laugh out loud and this book [TS]

00:03:18   manage to pull that off at multiple [TS]

00:03:20   locations which I was very impressed [TS]

00:03:22   with especially from a first-time rider [TS]

00:03:23   who I had never heard of [TS]

00:03:25   yeah so that was you know that was that [TS]

00:03:28   was kind of kind of fun it's a good plot [TS]

00:03:30   like you said it's a page-turner there's [TS]

00:03:32   there's some mystery there are some [TS]

00:03:33   supernatural stuff going on [TS]

00:03:35   it's got also sort of that whole like [TS]

00:03:38   British strange not-quite comedy of [TS]

00:03:41   manners but there's there is an element [TS]

00:03:42   of this bizarre British like very [TS]

00:03:45   Britishness of this whole secret service [TS]

00:03:47   thing that their organization that [TS]

00:03:49   exists there and I you know it's sort of [TS]

00:03:53   hit all the right spots for me [TS]

00:03:55   yeah it's funny that this book is is a [TS]

00:03:57   very British book it's about a secret [TS]

00:03:59   organization in the British government [TS]

00:04:01   called the shack a or is it the show k [TS]

00:04:04   but there is that he is not is not the [TS]

00:04:06   check e it's not the Cherokee I always [TS]

00:04:09   the check I thought that too old you [TS]

00:04:11   like in the producers right oh you gotta [TS]

00:04:13   have your check e but it's not it's the [TS]

00:04:15   shaky it actually says in the book that [TS]

00:04:17   it's pronounced ok because nobody would [TS]

00:04:19   not have orders and otherwise and it was [TS]

00:04:23   funny about it is that this is an [TS]

00:04:24   American educated Australian who wrote [TS]

00:04:26   this book he has no connection england [TS]

00:04:28   at all as far as i can tell except he [TS]

00:04:31   loves England and so he's created like [TS]

00:04:33   the mi5 for Supernatural affairs and [TS]

00:04:36   populated by [TS]

00:04:38   or at least managed by people with [TS]

00:04:40   magical supernatural powers [TS]

00:04:43   although there are also some non-powered [TS]

00:04:44   people who work at the at the show k & [TS]

00:04:47   and Scott does this ring a bell [TS]

00:04:50   do you remember now something about this [TS]

00:04:51   book i do i've been trying to remember [TS]

00:04:53   why [TS]

00:04:54   so I did not read this based on my own [TS]

00:04:56   recommendations so I'm trying to figure [TS]

00:04:58   your own grandfather try to recall how I [TS]

00:05:03   even came across i think it's just so I [TS]

00:05:04   read a bunch of book blog so i'm sure it [TS]

00:05:06   came across there and I just think they [TS]

00:05:08   remember reading the synopsis and [TS]

00:05:10   thinking this sounds incredibly stupid [TS]

00:05:12   and but then it kept showing up and all [TS]

00:05:16   these different blogs and then I went to [TS]

00:05:18   the library and it was sitting there on [TS]

00:05:20   like the new book things so I was like [TS]

00:05:22   well i can add a label on it that said [TS]

00:05:23   for Scott it said please read these got [TS]

00:05:26   and so I said well you know I I don't [TS]

00:05:28   have any better do so i read it and i [TS]

00:05:30   was delightfully surprised I mean it's a [TS]

00:05:33   lot of fun [TS]

00:05:34   this is certainly not a book that you [TS]

00:05:38   are like if you're looking for deep [TS]

00:05:40   literary criticism and thinking about [TS]

00:05:42   the world and what what is the meaning [TS]

00:05:44   of existence [TS]

00:05:45   you probably should pass on the rock but [TS]

00:05:48   whoever a fun read that you know you you [TS]

00:05:51   want to get to the end as quickly as [TS]

00:05:52   possible because it is good but you also [TS]

00:05:54   don't want to get to the end because [TS]

00:05:55   you're enjoyed the characters are no [TS]

00:05:58   more books in the series it's just the [TS]

00:06:00   one book was yet yet yet yet yet I know [TS]

00:06:03   but you're so used to reading a book and [TS]

00:06:05   saying oh there's 17 more of these [TS]

00:06:07   that's true there's no there will be [TS]

00:06:09   those of this but it's you gotta get on [TS]

00:06:11   board right now fun read is exactly what [TS]

00:06:13   you said in our in our year-end episode [TS]

00:06:15   by the way you said it's a fun read [TS]

00:06:18   I'm glad I agree with myself that's yes [TS]

00:06:20   so yeah and he at least this author [TS]

00:06:22   unlike george RR martin who I am afraid [TS]

00:06:24   will die before he finishes his series [TS]

00:06:28   this offer is very young he seems he's [TS]

00:06:29   like he's healthy and surprise so [TS]

00:06:31   vigorous hopefully he will have a large [TS]

00:06:34   output that we can enjoy one of the [TS]

00:06:36   years to come he's an Australian too so [TS]

00:06:38   he is nothing can kill Australians if I [TS]

00:06:40   don't know anything [TS]

00:06:41   now they're they're so powerful that [TS]

00:06:42   they can do Scott McNulty supercuts [TS]

00:06:44   their taxes triple or that board [TS]

00:06:48   and that I enjoy the fact that the [TS]

00:06:50   author makes his living working for like [TS]

00:06:53   the Australian we rode it all though [TS]

00:06:55   it's the equivalent of the disease [TS]

00:06:57   equivalent of the NTSB basically yeah [TS]

00:06:59   exactly yeah [TS]

00:07:00   such as easy it's hilarious accidents [TS]

00:07:03   plane crashes and the heat which just [TS]

00:07:06   delights me yeah and he was educated [TS]

00:07:07   like ohio state or something he say yes [TS]

00:07:10   american-educated Australian who were is [TS]

00:07:12   a civil servant and in his spare time [TS]

00:07:13   has written this novel that everybody [TS]

00:07:16   seems to hike and it's cool lot of fun [TS]

00:07:19   so yay good job good on ya [TS]

00:07:22   Daniel O'Malley put another shrimp on [TS]

00:07:24   the barbie [TS]

00:07:25   sure sure so we should say so that the [TS]

00:07:28   main character of the rook is missing [TS]

00:07:31   any rhymes with Tiffany they say that [TS]

00:07:34   even though it's spelled my FA and wy [TS]

00:07:37   it's Welsh spelling she pronounces it [TS]

00:07:39   mythity Tiffany Thomas which is looking [TS]

00:07:43   name which is which is great and what's [TS]

00:07:46   what's funny about this book is it's a [TS]

00:07:48   wee-wee open the story with her [TS]

00:07:53   Rick waking up having no memory she's an [TS]

00:07:56   amnesiac basically her entire mind has [TS]

00:07:59   been wiped so she's got skills and [TS]

00:08:02   language and knowledge of of like how to [TS]

00:08:04   behave as a person but she has no no [TS]

00:08:07   memory of her previous life she's [TS]

00:08:09   essentially a new person waking up in [TS]

00:08:11   the body of somebody else in psychology [TS]

00:08:14   terms she has no episodic memory so [TS]

00:08:16   nothing that's like ever happened to her [TS]

00:08:18   but she has all her procedural memory [TS]

00:08:19   which means it's not like she has to [TS]

00:08:20   learn how to be a walk again [TS]

00:08:22   so thanks for the psychology there Dan [TS]

00:08:25   that's AI that's that was some AP [TS]

00:08:27   psychology from high school [TS]

00:08:28   good job fancy and then also she wakes [TS]

00:08:31   up not having these at not having her [TS]

00:08:32   episodic memory and oh but she also [TS]

00:08:35   makes up surrounded by corpses dead [TS]

00:08:38   people and they're wearing latex gloves [TS]

00:08:40   which you must be surprising in the [TS]

00:08:42   radio that's okay i gotta say as far as [TS]

00:08:44   the openings go you know despite the [TS]

00:08:47   idea and needed kind of being you know [TS]

00:08:48   an overused cliché it's really [TS]

00:08:50   effective in this book because I think [TS]

00:08:52   exactly because we're in the person's [TS]

00:08:53   head and so we're trying to figure out [TS]

00:08:56   along with her exactly what's going on [TS]

00:08:58   here and I really enjoy the fact that [TS]

00:09:02   as the book progresses she's we sort of [TS]

00:09:05   learned you know get acquainted with the [TS]

00:09:07   character of me as she has to adapt to [TS]

00:09:10   all these circumstances they keep [TS]

00:09:11   getting thrown her way and she does so [TS]

00:09:13   most times with aplomb or manage to at [TS]

00:09:16   least make it look like she knows what [TS]

00:09:18   she's doing and so it is kind of an [TS]

00:09:21   interesting take on the old you know em [TS]

00:09:24   easy act rope [TS]

00:09:25   I think she does sarah O'Malley does a [TS]

00:09:27   really good job with it it's also [TS]

00:09:29   interesting something he uses this plot [TS]

00:09:30   device we're missing any ah knows ahead [TS]

00:09:34   of time that something is going to [TS]

00:09:35   happen to her and so we find out through [TS]

00:09:37   the course of the books that method [TS]

00:09:39   before her episodic memory was wiped [TS]

00:09:42   I was very good at organizing things and [TS]

00:09:45   very regimented and she had a plan for [TS]

00:09:46   everything and so she you know logically [TS]

00:09:50   planned for what would happen if her [TS]

00:09:51   memory was wiped and left herself a [TS]

00:09:54   series of notes so that she could a [TS]

00:09:57   guide herself through her own life which [TS]

00:10:00   leads us to two very different [TS]

00:10:01   characters that are in fact the same [TS]

00:10:03   character we have can't past listen II [TS]

00:10:05   and then the current metheny who has a [TS]

00:10:06   very different personality that the [TS]

00:10:08   older one that's writing to herself [TS]

00:10:10   yeah and I like to that the the [TS]

00:10:14   character that we meet the new Metheny [TS]

00:10:16   is is not the old one and that is never [TS]

00:10:19   it's never suggested that she's going to [TS]

00:10:23   find a way to bring the old one back at [TS]

00:10:27   the old one is gone that they that they [TS]

00:10:29   set it up very early on this is a new [TS]

00:10:32   person waking up in in this body with [TS]

00:10:35   these eyes the old person is gone and [TS]

00:10:38   the old person has communicated with [TS]

00:10:40   letters detailing because she got this [TS]

00:10:43   prophecy that she was going to lose her [TS]

00:10:44   memory but at several points is the new [TS]

00:10:48   person behaves quite differently the [TS]

00:10:49   middle person as much bolder is is is [TS]

00:10:51   actually kind of freed from a lot of the [TS]

00:10:54   baggage that the old person had that was [TS]

00:10:56   holding her back that the old the the [TS]

00:10:58   old Metheny her power is basically be [TS]

00:11:01   able to tie into other people central [TS]

00:11:03   nervous systems and control what they do [TS]

00:11:05   and the old one was very limited in what [TS]

00:11:08   she would do with it and so was sort of [TS]

00:11:10   the people with powers are in the in the [TS]

00:11:13   che kar are given [TS]

00:11:15   the power positions but she was [TS]

00:11:17   reluctant to use her power so even [TS]

00:11:19   though she technically had them she [TS]

00:11:21   wasn't expected to use them and what we [TS]

00:11:24   learn is this new person who is the new [TS]

00:11:26   Metheny it has none of these hang-ups [TS]

00:11:28   and so they all Lester they all [TS]

00:11:31   underestimate her and that's delightful [TS]

00:11:33   but I never felt like I was going to get [TS]

00:11:35   the rug pulled out from under me and she [TS]

00:11:36   was going to recover her memories or [TS]

00:11:39   anything like that [TS]

00:11:40   and despite what you get to learn of the [TS]

00:11:42   old myth me and she is quite resourceful [TS]

00:11:43   so we learned that she is you know like [TS]

00:11:45   an expert bureaucratically like she [TS]

00:11:47   keeps everything running that's her aqua [TS]

00:11:49   see is one of her superpowers and that [TS]

00:11:51   but it's you know despite that despite [TS]

00:11:54   the fact i think you sort of get maybe [TS]

00:11:56   exactly fond of the old version the new [TS]

00:11:59   one is actually just something so much [TS]

00:12:01   better character right lucky the old one [TS]

00:12:02   is kind she's kinda boring right she's [TS]

00:12:04   very mousy yeah she's very she's very [TS]

00:12:07   non-confrontational she's always like [TS]

00:12:09   doing it's really crippled from her [TS]

00:12:11   childhood where she's taken in this [TS]

00:12:13   society the people with powers are [TS]

00:12:14   basically ripped away from their family [TS]

00:12:16   and put in this kind of awful home where [TS]

00:12:19   they learn how to how to use their [TS]

00:12:21   powers and she's the old Matheny was [TS]

00:12:23   basically crippled by that it was just [TS]

00:12:25   such an emotional emotionally [TS]

00:12:27   destructive act and she never recovered [TS]

00:12:30   and the new method he has no baggage and [TS]

00:12:32   she never actually learned how to master [TS]

00:12:34   her powers to the full extent that she [TS]

00:12:36   could have right so she always kind of [TS]

00:12:38   self-limited herself by second-guessing [TS]

00:12:41   yourself thinking she should use your [TS]

00:12:42   power associate ever she avoided using [TS]

00:12:44   your powers at all which then led her to [TS]

00:12:46   become kind of a desk jockey as if you [TS]

00:12:49   will at the supernatural mi5 yes the [TS]

00:12:54   Sheikh a shape which is the supernatural [TS]

00:12:57   mi5 yeah it's so that's a great because [TS]

00:12:59   you're right Dan the the amnesiac main [TS]

00:13:03   character could have been a really kind [TS]

00:13:04   of I rolling trope and yet for whatever [TS]

00:13:07   reason I never really felt that it was [TS]

00:13:09   because i always felt from the beginning [TS]

00:13:10   I was wary that there was gonna be a [TS]

00:13:12   twist where her memory was actually in [TS]

00:13:14   somebody else and this was all part of a [TS]

00:13:16   plot no yeah I i thought the same thing [TS]

00:13:18   I was keeping my eyes open for that but [TS]

00:13:20   it was very clear from the beginning [TS]

00:13:22   that that this was a new character and [TS]

00:13:25   and she was going to learn about her [TS]

00:13:27   world just as we did which is really a [TS]

00:13:28   great [TS]

00:13:29   way into it and the fact that she's [TS]

00:13:31   continually underestimated because they [TS]

00:13:32   think she's the old myth me and she's [TS]

00:13:34   not [TS]

00:13:35   that's a that's a great bit and so you [TS]

00:13:37   get on her side really quickly because [TS]

00:13:39   she's like us [TS]

00:13:40   she doesn't know what's going on and yet [TS]

00:13:42   she doesn't have any of these old these [TS]

00:13:44   hang-ups of her predecessor and I never [TS]

00:13:46   felt like you know i was i was wearing [TS]

00:13:48   for the plot twist but it doesn't come [TS]

00:13:50   the it's not a ripoff [TS]

00:13:52   it's not a the the you know the amnesia [TS]

00:13:55   doesn't get cured magically it will and [TS]

00:13:57   they do a good job they do a good job [TS]

00:13:59   with the overall plot the sort of the [TS]

00:14:01   hooks of the plot in the end and the [TS]

00:14:03   twists and turns of the plot in that [TS]

00:14:05   they don't try to outsmart you I think [TS]

00:14:07   there's a lot of this is kind of a [TS]

00:14:09   thriller and in some ways sure and in a [TS]

00:14:12   lot of thrillers I think they they try [TS]

00:14:14   so hard to do something that you won't [TS]

00:14:16   see coming that they double back on [TS]

00:14:18   themselves and just make it like not [TS]

00:14:20   make any sense i'm thinking particularly [TS]

00:14:21   of the the end of the british version of [TS]

00:14:25   state of play which just goes like five [TS]

00:14:29   episodes setting up this like oh yeah we [TS]

00:14:30   think it's this this person is behind [TS]

00:14:32   everything and then in the last episode [TS]

00:14:34   they sort of pull the entire rug out [TS]

00:14:35   from under you like oh you never saw [TS]

00:14:37   this coming and you're like yes because [TS]

00:14:38   that makes no sense [TS]

00:14:39   and so in that in that way like I think [TS]

00:14:42   I i thought this might be trying to pull [TS]

00:14:45   something off like that later on in that [TS]

00:14:47   you get this sort of conspiracy that [TS]

00:14:50   she's investigating and she knows that [TS]

00:14:51   someone inside her own organization is [TS]

00:14:53   trying to kill her and so of course i'm [TS]

00:14:55   thinking trying to like think through [TS]

00:14:56   thoughts ahead and and figure out if [TS]

00:14:58   it's well what if what if pastor is [TS]

00:15:00   actually just setup future her to take [TS]

00:15:02   the fall right out and I'm like.he kind [TS]

00:15:05   of satisfying way but it but in the end [TS]

00:15:07   of place fair right exactly and it's [TS]

00:15:10   it's not like oh that totally that [TS]

00:15:12   totally came out of left field right [TS]

00:15:14   like the the villain doesn't totally [TS]

00:15:15   come out of left field you're not like [TS]

00:15:16   super surprised by it but at the same [TS]

00:15:18   time you know but it makes sense and i [TS]

00:15:19   think that's that's the larger virtue [TS]

00:15:21   here is a plot that logically hangs [TS]

00:15:24   together better rather than something [TS]

00:15:25   where it's like we're gonna do something [TS]

00:15:27   totally crazy just so we can catch you [TS]

00:15:29   by surprise [TS]

00:15:30   right right yeah it's it's a place fair [TS]

00:15:34   and it's got these really nicely drawn [TS]

00:15:38   characters where you you meet I kept [TS]

00:15:42   thinking it was it was [TS]

00:15:43   little bit less x-men a little more [TS]

00:15:44   Hellfire Club where it's you know your [TS]

00:15:46   meeting these in these in these rooms [TS]

00:15:48   with dark wood and lots of you know a a [TS]

00:15:51   personal assistants and it's very very [TS]

00:15:53   wealthy upper echelon of the of the [TS]

00:15:56   British government but you meet these [TS]

00:15:58   characters who are the the top tier of [TS]

00:16:00   super-powered you know defenders of [TS]

00:16:03   England from super-powered attacks and [TS]

00:16:05   and they all have these weird different [TS]

00:16:08   powers that are interesting i think the [TS]

00:16:09   most interesting of all of them is 0 [TS]

00:16:13   gestalt don't know what you assassinated [TS]

00:16:16   care which is three siblings 4444 [TS]

00:16:21   siblings for the four siblings two of [TS]

00:16:24   them are twins there's two twins and [TS]

00:16:25   there's a girl and another guy [TS]

00:16:27   Yeah Yeah right that's for four siblings [TS]

00:16:29   that have the same consciousness there [TS]

00:16:31   one individual that they have four [TS]

00:16:33   bodies and but they've also got the band [TS]

00:16:35   with the brainpower the processing [TS]

00:16:37   course of four brains and their one [TS]

00:16:40   consciousness and that leads that leads [TS]

00:16:44   to lots and if you think well that's [TS]

00:16:46   kinda cool but you know what about this [TS]

00:16:48   but what about this there are so many [TS]

00:16:50   aspects of that you think you want to [TS]

00:16:53   start to wonder if the if the book's [TS]

00:16:54   gonna get into the details of what what [TS]

00:16:56   that means [TS]

00:16:57   and the answer is yes the book actually [TS]

00:16:58   does there are their plot twists were [TS]

00:17:00   revolving around gestalt and how gestalt [TS]

00:17:04   works and how they use the different [TS]

00:17:06   bodies that is I was fulfilled i was [TS]

00:17:09   like I yes i literally laughed out loud [TS]

00:17:11   at one point there's a scene that [TS]

00:17:12   reveals a trick that gestalt is [TS]

00:17:15   performing by having these multiple [TS]

00:17:17   bodies that made me laugh out loud my ex [TS]

00:17:19   kind of expected it to happen but when [TS]

00:17:21   it happened it was a you know it was [TS]

00:17:24   hilarious to see so they're not these [TS]

00:17:27   powers are not unexplored and you know [TS]

00:17:29   in there there's a vampire character who [TS]

00:17:32   is very funny because he's got you know [TS]

00:17:34   he's he's he he [TS]

00:17:36   there she runs into him at a dance card [TS]

00:17:38   yeah accidentally and you know he's [TS]

00:17:42   there to have a good time too but he's [TS]

00:17:44   this you know ages old vampire and in [TS]

00:17:47   all these other characters and there's [TS]

00:17:49   that there is a major American [TS]

00:17:49   equivalent of the shaky who comes and [TS]

00:17:52   and we meet some of those characters and [TS]

00:17:55   one in particular because a friend of [TS]

00:17:57   minis and so I really like the world to [TS]

00:17:59   that we were we were meeting these like [TS]

00:18:00   with comic book superheroes or something [TS]

00:18:02   we're meeting these people and their [TS]

00:18:04   pets learning their powers and that the [TS]

00:18:06   ones who are the most interesting we're [TS]

00:18:07   the ones where we did actually explore [TS]

00:18:09   their power some which wich i really [TS]

00:18:12   liked like I felt that this world was [TS]

00:18:13   incredibly rich that you know every new [TS]

00:18:16   powered character that comes along [TS]

00:18:17   you're like oh tell me what this person [TS]

00:18:19   can do write one up the powers are so [TS]

00:18:21   unusual right like they're not just your [TS]

00:18:24   standard run-of-the-mill like this is [TS]

00:18:26   really strong yeah this first control [TS]

00:18:28   fire you know like they do these bizarre [TS]

00:18:30   things and some things that don't even [TS]

00:18:32   seem like they'd be that useful right [TS]

00:18:34   like there's the guy who can contort [TS]

00:18:36   himself into like virtually any shape [TS]

00:18:38   you know which seems handy for some [TS]

00:18:40   things but like a lot of the time just [TS]

00:18:42   to spend like grossing people out [TS]

00:18:43   because it's like the companies like his [TS]

00:18:45   legs wrapped around his head or [TS]

00:18:47   something crazy you know and there's [TS]

00:18:49   things like that where you can clearly [TS]

00:18:51   see I think there's a couple other [TS]

00:18:52   examples they give it a few points where [TS]

00:18:53   there's characters who just seem to have [TS]

00:18:54   powers that are not really useful and [TS]

00:18:58   it's interesting to put that in there [TS]

00:19:00   because there they are kind of very [TS]

00:19:02   diverse in terms of what what these [TS]

00:19:05   powers ideas can be in and then [TS]

00:19:06   sometimes there's a lot of throwaway [TS]

00:19:07   characters that will get mentioned [TS]

00:19:09   there's also there's some line about [TS]

00:19:11   like how when she's at school she never [TS]

00:19:13   drank it all Metheny weekend but like [TS]

00:19:15   there's that one kid who you would like [TS]

00:19:17   if you let them lick your eyeballs or [TS]

00:19:18   something yeah I just like what a weird [TS]

00:19:22   idea to come up with [TS]

00:19:23   yeah there's a lot of there's a lot of [TS]

00:19:25   humor and in this in this book there [TS]

00:19:27   there's a one so one of the characters [TS]

00:19:29   is a vampire and you think that it's [TS]

00:19:31   going to be alright [TS]

00:19:33   the vampire is gonna is gonna you know [TS]

00:19:36   hehe obviously they found him and made [TS]

00:19:38   him part of the of the group and that's [TS]

00:19:41   not true [TS]

00:19:42   he like was part of this horrible they [TS]

00:19:46   emerge from nowhere and they kill these [TS]

00:19:48   people and and it's not at all what you [TS]

00:19:52   expected in fact I of this is one of [TS]

00:19:54   things i highlighted in the book is is [TS]

00:19:56   after the after he kills over 33 days [TS]

00:19:58   they kill 72 people who work for the [TS]

00:20:01   show k [TS]

00:20:02   and then they appear to the the people [TS]

00:20:06   who run it and say actually while we've [TS]

00:20:09   been killing all your people we've [TS]

00:20:10   learned about your organization and we [TS]

00:20:12   find it interesting [TS]

00:20:13   would you like to have our young [TS]

00:20:14   vampires work for you for a while you're [TS]

00:20:18   like okay and the line in the book is [TS]

00:20:19   are you startled by this abrupt rate [TS]

00:20:21   change in direction it's what what is [TS]

00:20:25   happening because it's just it you know [TS]

00:20:27   so where the Lord and Lady there a it's [TS]

00:20:29   you know there's this whole bloody story [TS]

00:20:31   and it's not what you expect and it's [TS]

00:20:33   funny and there's a lot of that these [TS]

00:20:36   left turns that happen that i really [TS]

00:20:39   like the sense of humor of it i found [TS]

00:20:41   myself amused incredibly by the scene [TS]

00:20:43   where she gets dragged out of the club [TS]

00:20:46   to be interrogated by the one of the [TS]

00:20:49   villains who is like this like basically [TS]

00:20:52   lives in like a tank is sort of like pot [TS]

00:20:54   you know in part regrowing himself right [TS]

00:20:57   in your body right in actually she's [TS]

00:20:59   brought into a limo [TS]

00:21:00   it's got a floating tank of this [TS]

00:21:02   partially grown guy in it right but he [TS]

00:21:04   keeps like yelling at her and sloshing [TS]

00:21:06   stuff and she's like this is really [TS]

00:21:07   gross you know and I don't know and he's [TS]

00:21:10   all insistent and indignant that she [TS]

00:21:12   doesn't know who he is because she has [TS]

00:21:14   no idea who are you [TS]

00:21:15   it's right she has amnesia and even then [TS]

00:21:17   I didn't really know what was going on [TS]

00:21:19   and there's all sorts of nice touches [TS]

00:21:22   like that words you get these characters [TS]

00:21:24   into situations where even this should [TS]

00:21:27   seem really ponderous and over-the-top [TS]

00:21:29   but at the same time they they have this [TS]

00:21:31   very down-to-earth sort of casual nature [TS]

00:21:33   of conversation that makes it seem very [TS]

00:21:35   real wear yellow okay if I was [TS]

00:21:38   confronted with a giant with a person [TS]

00:21:39   have that it was believed to be growing [TS]

00:21:41   themselves this is probably how I react [TS]

00:21:43   lots of lots of funny asides to that I'm [TS]

00:21:46   like there's a Brigadoon reference i [TS]

00:21:48   don't know if you caught that the yes [TS]

00:21:50   Brooks who led the four prongs assault [TS]

00:21:52   on Brigadoon and burned every structure [TS]

00:21:53   and put its citizens to death and all [TS]

00:21:56   remaining survivors perished in [TS]

00:21:58   captivity [TS]

00:21:59   it's like well while they destroyed [TS]

00:22:01   Brigadoon that's why we didn't see it [TS]

00:22:02   again I guess the the legend a tap and [TS]

00:22:06   there's a lot of that it's like in [TS]

00:22:07   English history [TS]

00:22:08   oh this fable it turns out it's true and [TS]

00:22:11   horribly true in a in a really awful way [TS]

00:22:13   because the cheeky is there too [TS]

00:22:16   scare me like buffy the vampire slayer [TS]

00:22:18   or something like that right there the [TS]

00:22:19   x-files they're the ones which would [TS]

00:22:21   yeah they're tortured tortured vs you [TS]

00:22:24   Torchwood meets the expansion is [TS]

00:22:25   actually a really great way to describe [TS]

00:22:27   this book lots of lots of fun we haven't [TS]

00:22:31   really spoiled anything yet but i mean [TS]

00:22:33   it's it's a it's you know it i think i [TS]

00:22:36   think it's really great good characters [TS]

00:22:38   lots of fun really good read [TS]

00:22:42   I and never I I never really got a sense [TS]

00:22:44   of where you know so some you read so [TS]

00:22:48   many books that you you right Scott you [TS]

00:22:50   read so many books I've read to me that [TS]

00:22:53   that it's really kind of delightful when [TS]

00:22:55   you read something you think i have no [TS]

00:22:56   idea where this is going but there's [TS]

00:22:58   just this is crazy and interesting and [TS]

00:23:01   creative and i'm just going to take the [TS]

00:23:04   ride because I I don't you know you're [TS]

00:23:06   you're making me laugh you're surprising [TS]

00:23:08   me and I'm happy to be on that on that [TS]

00:23:10   journey with the rock III felt like like [TS]

00:23:13   I just I didn't know where it was going [TS]

00:23:14   and I just surprised the whole way [TS]

00:23:16   through and I like the book i read there [TS]

00:23:19   are lots of books that I've read that [TS]

00:23:20   are written just to be crazy so they [TS]

00:23:23   have no real coheres cohesive plot and [TS]

00:23:25   they just are kind of a an exercise in [TS]

00:23:27   language which is fun but it is a good [TS]

00:23:31   thing of the rock is that it is crazy [TS]

00:23:33   but you don't know where it's going but [TS]

00:23:34   it actually has a plot and it does go [TS]

00:23:36   somewhere which is satisfying because [TS]

00:23:38   you know after reading kind of a [TS]

00:23:41   experimental literature book the payoff [TS]

00:23:44   generally isn't all that great for you [TS]

00:23:48   know for the narrative but in this book [TS]

00:23:50   at least you have a story has a [TS]

00:23:52   beginning a middle and an end and it's [TS]

00:23:55   enjoyable the entire way through right [TS]

00:23:57   we should say it's not one of those [TS]

00:23:58   ripoffs where you get to the end and you [TS]

00:23:59   need to read another book either to be [TS]

00:24:01   continued yeah yeah just that I've got [TS]

00:24:04   i'm looking at my kindle highlights here [TS]

00:24:06   in the edges that the the casual kind of [TS]

00:24:08   humor that happens throughout there's a [TS]

00:24:10   there's an incident where they go to [TS]

00:24:11   investigate a house that seems to be [TS]

00:24:13   distributed like doing terrible things [TS]

00:24:14   and this is what I highlighted after [TS]

00:24:17   flickering of the violent lights and [TS]

00:24:19   many subsequent screams a torrent of [TS]

00:24:20   viscous medium fluid streamed out one of [TS]

00:24:22   the windows the fluid was currently [TS]

00:24:24   being analyzed to see if it contained [TS]

00:24:26   any of the personnel [TS]

00:24:27   because this house is eating people and [TS]

00:24:30   that and it's just it's it's it's got [TS]

00:24:32   there really life light i would say [TS]

00:24:34   English humor touch accept these [TS]

00:24:35   Australian but it's just really just [TS]

00:24:40   funny and clever and yeah i mean again [TS]

00:24:43   it it he sometimes you just want to read [TS]

00:24:47   books like this right where it's just [TS]

00:24:49   you can you can you can just lean back [TS]

00:24:50   and say look this is gonna be fun [TS]

00:24:52   it's pushing all the right buttons of [TS]

00:24:53   something like a like a superhero story [TS]

00:24:56   or an x-files kind of story [TS]

00:24:59   supernatural thriller with humor and [TS]

00:25:02   some surprises and boy you know there [TS]

00:25:05   aren't enough of those i think now I [TS]

00:25:06   wish I'd bookmark something because [TS]

00:25:08   there is a really long passage was it [TS]

00:25:11   there's like two pages where she goes on [TS]

00:25:12   about our when the writer goes on about [TS]

00:25:15   the like whole catalog of supernatural [TS]

00:25:18   creatures that they're responsible for [TS]

00:25:20   dealing with this particular town [TS]

00:25:22   oh yeah I remember that like it's like a [TS]

00:25:23   three-page catalog comment list words [TS]

00:25:25   like every supernatural creature [TS]

00:25:28   folktale creature and some random other [TS]

00:25:31   things and some very mundane normal [TS]

00:25:33   things all straight like in this one [TS]

00:25:35   huge list and keeps calling that's right [TS]

00:25:37   like I'm putting the kindle pages like [TS]

00:25:38   wow he's really really going with its [TS]

00:25:40   yeah that was just as soon see if i can [TS]

00:25:43   find that I remember that very much that [TS]

00:25:46   it was that it was literally up like a [TS]

00:25:48   page long list of every monster possible [TS]

00:25:52   so that you are so that you could you [TS]

00:25:55   get the sense that the shaky is is out [TS]

00:25:57   for big they've been around they they've [TS]

00:25:59   been around for hundreds of years right [TS]

00:26:00   right and then we have the whole issue [TS]

00:26:03   so we have their antagonists to that the [TS]

00:26:05   Belgians the body as evil Belgians the [TS]

00:26:08   grafters yes as they're called the [TS]

00:26:11   grafters and again I I kept waiting for [TS]

00:26:15   a fake-out know the the Americans are in [TS]

00:26:18   league with no right that it plays it [TS]

00:26:20   straight the grafters are bad [TS]

00:26:23   the grafters are a historically evil [TS]

00:26:26   figure that the chick a hasn't worried [TS]

00:26:28   about 400 years and they're back and [TS]

00:26:31   they are back [TS]

00:26:32   it's not a fake out you know it's not [TS]

00:26:34   again without getting into deep spoilers [TS]

00:26:35   for the book it's not a fake-out it [TS]

00:26:37   plays fair the grafters they say they're [TS]

00:26:39   bad they're bad [TS]

00:26:41   nobody expects a Belgian Inquisition and [TS]

00:26:44   it's and it's their Belgians and they [TS]

00:26:46   like to change people's bodies and do [TS]

00:26:47   weird stuff to the the bodies and and [TS]

00:26:50   now i'm gonna i think i think maybe i'll [TS]

00:26:52   fire off the spoiler horn here [TS]

00:26:58   so I one of the the great things about [TS]

00:27:01   this at the end we discover throughout [TS]

00:27:06   the book there's this whole little [TS]

00:27:07   thread that keeps coming back which is [TS]

00:27:09   that you know the the Belgian angry [TS]

00:27:11   Belgian with the floating floating in [TS]

00:27:13   the tank is like where have you put them [TS]

00:27:15   I want my guy back and and she's like I [TS]

00:27:18   have no idea what you're talking about [TS]

00:27:19   well he sent you a package i have no [TS]

00:27:21   idea what you're talking about and it [TS]

00:27:23   turns out that before she lost her [TS]

00:27:25   memory there was a human heart that was [TS]

00:27:28   sent to her in a package and she [TS]

00:27:30   basically opened it and with who and [TS]

00:27:33   send it down to the lab and right by [TS]

00:27:35   wright at the end like like ninety [TS]

00:27:38   percent plus through the book for kindle [TS]

00:27:40   listeners out there kindle readers in a [TS]

00:27:43   got a naked guy is in her office and [TS]

00:27:46   this is the thing that made me laugh out [TS]

00:27:47   loud he says I'm sorry i don't think [TS]

00:27:50   i've explained well enough i have grown [TS]

00:27:51   myself from the heart in your scientist [TS]

00:27:53   laboratory freezer so this guy in order [TS]

00:27:55   to get out of the grafters in order to [TS]

00:27:57   come and talk to the chick a has has [TS]

00:27:59   literally like taking his heart and mail [TS]

00:28:02   and like FedEx it to England knowing [TS]

00:28:06   that they'll just put it on ice [TS]

00:28:07   somewhere and he'll grow out of his [TS]

00:28:10   heart it's crazy and funny and i love [TS]

00:28:13   that I love that the Belgians are you [TS]

00:28:16   know are cutting out there are options [TS]

00:28:17   include the Belgian since it's a [TS]

00:28:19   traditional village there that's what [TS]

00:28:21   they do they cut their heart out and [TS]

00:28:22   then grow out of it like being invaded [TS]

00:28:24   by liechtenstein nobody sees it coming [TS]

00:28:27   better chocolate [TS]

00:28:29   yes yeah and then and then I guess the [TS]

00:28:32   other thing that I'll say now that I [TS]

00:28:34   found out the spoiler horn that made me [TS]

00:28:35   laugh out loud ism is when it's the [TS]

00:28:38   reveal that there's an extra gestalt [TS]

00:28:42   which I kept thinking I kept thinking [TS]

00:28:45   it's possible you know if they've got [TS]

00:28:47   four gestalt bodies that there could [TS]

00:28:49   easily be another one because they're [TS]

00:28:51   like they they captured two of them and [TS]

00:28:52   they've got them in in Chains and she [TS]

00:28:54   touches one of the gestalt and and [TS]

00:28:56   suddenly can see out of not just one but [TS]

00:28:58   all of their their their neural networks [TS]

00:29:01   they're there they're all their senses [TS]

00:29:03   and and there's a it's great because [TS]

00:29:06   it's like this person's and chains and [TS]

00:29:08   this persons on the run and this [TS]

00:29:10   person's in Chains and this persons on [TS]

00:29:12   the run and there's this other person [TS]

00:29:13   looking at somebody like what what what [TS]

00:29:15   the fifth it's so great [TS]

00:29:18   also it's so it's also really really [TS]

00:29:20   creepy it's like to kiss if really [TS]

00:29:22   creepy when you find out who the fifth [TS]

00:29:24   person is it's so great just a fun and I [TS]

00:29:29   i laughed out loud i laughed out loud [TS]

00:29:31   for minutes I had to explain to my [TS]

00:29:33   family why I was laughing out loud [TS]

00:29:34   because it was so clever and perfect [TS]

00:29:37   right it wasn't it didn't feel like a [TS]

00:29:38   ripoff and I again I keep saying that [TS]

00:29:40   this is a book that could so easily have [TS]

00:29:43   have taken these like ridiculous kind of [TS]

00:29:45   twist twist for no reason other than to [TS]

00:29:47   be a twist and instead it plays fair [TS]

00:29:50   throughout and and earned it [TS]

00:29:52   yeah I also liked like you said the the [TS]

00:29:55   fake out the Americans right that didn't [TS]

00:29:56   end up being a fake-out I think that's [TS]

00:29:58   nice what's tricky about the amnesia [TS]

00:30:00   thing especially in a case where she [TS]

00:30:02   thinks like you know she's paranoid that [TS]

00:30:05   everybody let's get her because someone [TS]

00:30:06   clearly was out to get her and effect [TS]

00:30:08   you know to a certain extent got her was [TS]

00:30:11   well who do you trust right how do you [TS]

00:30:13   have this character have meaningful [TS]

00:30:14   relationships with people when anybody [TS]

00:30:16   could be betraying her and I think he [TS]

00:30:19   doesn't you know he started handles that [TS]

00:30:21   fairly well which is you know at a [TS]

00:30:22   certain point she realizes if I don't [TS]

00:30:24   trust anybody i'm not going to get [TS]

00:30:26   anything done so i have to you know just [TS]

00:30:29   sort of make a judgment at some point as [TS]

00:30:31   to whether or not I'm going to trust [TS]

00:30:32   certain people and and there are some [TS]

00:30:35   nice secondary characters coming and i [TS]

00:30:37   absolutely loved her assistant Ingrid [TS]

00:30:39   right because she's another sort of a [TS]

00:30:42   minor character who I kind of picture [TS]

00:30:43   looking like a like Leo secretary market [TS]

00:30:45   from Margaret thats why i think but like [TS]

00:30:48   was utterly unflappable and then [TS]

00:30:50   undesirable right and then but then [TS]

00:30:53   become sort of her confidant and also [TS]

00:30:55   you know knows pretty early rate realize [TS]

00:30:58   is pretty early on that it's not [TS]

00:30:59   actually her but I sort of roles with it [TS]

00:31:01   and just to see what's going to happen [TS]

00:31:04   and so I like to their relationship a [TS]

00:31:07   lot and it was nice to have a you know [TS]

00:31:08   something where did you know she needs [TS]

00:31:11   to have the ability to talk to other [TS]

00:31:13   characters without being guarded and [TS]

00:31:15   completely by call what are they trying [TS]

00:31:17   to get information out of me too i need [TS]

00:31:19   to be trying to get information on them [TS]

00:31:20   so we get that nice rapport with her [TS]

00:31:21   assistant we get a nice one with her and [TS]

00:31:23   the American [TS]

00:31:24   a bishop right right so the two of them [TS]

00:31:28   you know who end up making kind of a [TS]

00:31:30   kick-ass team i really enjoyed their [TS]

00:31:34   relationship the one note that I thought [TS]

00:31:37   struck kind of weird but i think looking [TS]

00:31:42   back was probably one of those things [TS]

00:31:44   where it's like this is great i wonder [TS]

00:31:45   how we can spin it into more books was [TS]

00:31:48   that they have her they have our sister [TS]

00:31:49   come in right like she doesn't know her [TS]

00:31:51   family she's not only just because she's [TS]

00:31:53   amnesiac but because she was taken from [TS]

00:31:55   her family from a very young age and [TS]

00:31:57   raised by the UK and so we have her [TS]

00:32:01   sister pop up out of nowhere and of [TS]

00:32:02   course your initial thought is well this [TS]

00:32:04   is going to be like a trap right [TS]

00:32:06   president clearly but in fact that ends [TS]

00:32:08   up being your sister and they start like [TS]

00:32:09   oh I'm gonna reconnect with my sister [TS]

00:32:11   and I'm gonna learn a lot about you know [TS]

00:32:13   like all the family that I left behind [TS]

00:32:14   everything and it felt kind of weird at [TS]

00:32:16   the moment it came up especially because [TS]

00:32:18   it come up like like like half of [TS]

00:32:21   chapter after she's like oh it turns out [TS]

00:32:23   i have a family or yeah like that [TS]

00:32:25   yeah that's pretty quick yeah so that [TS]

00:32:27   was the one that was the the only [TS]

00:32:28   misstep I really got annoyed with in the [TS]

00:32:30   book was like it seems a bit [TS]

00:32:32   it seems a bit convenient for that plot [TS]

00:32:34   point to come in there and also that [TS]

00:32:36   plot point well it does intertwined a [TS]

00:32:38   little bit like towards the end of the [TS]

00:32:40   book is to a certain extent superfluous [TS]

00:32:43   but it comes in two color out her [TS]

00:32:45   character a little bit so i think i [TS]

00:32:46   think one of the biggest potential flaws [TS]

00:32:48   of this book is that throughout the book [TS]

00:32:50   we alternate between the action and the [TS]

00:32:52   letters that the original Matheny has [TS]

00:32:54   written to her successor and at the [TS]

00:32:58   beginning you sort of read them and you [TS]

00:33:00   realize you're reading them as she's [TS]

00:33:02   reading them right she writes a letter [TS]

00:33:03   in their inner its energy jacket pocket [TS]

00:33:05   that says you should go to the bank and [TS]

00:33:07   she goes to the bank and people trying [TS]

00:33:09   to kill her and she stops them and then [TS]

00:33:11   she opens up the safe-deposit box and [TS]

00:33:13   get another letter and she goes back to [TS]

00:33:15   her flat and there are there are more [TS]

00:33:17   letters there and more more [TS]

00:33:19   documentation and that's fine but what [TS]

00:33:21   happens as you go is should end and [TS]

00:33:25   though the writer doesn't deal with this [TS]

00:33:27   and actually i think in the end that's [TS]

00:33:28   why it works is I kept thinking you know [TS]

00:33:31   you're not seriously saying that she's [TS]

00:33:34   reading these letters in the intervening [TS]

00:33:36   time [TS]

00:33:37   because that would be kind of ridiculous [TS]

00:33:39   presumably she read all the letters at [TS]

00:33:41   the beginning and I think that's what [TS]

00:33:42   happens is that is that we're seeing the [TS]

00:33:45   rest of the material that she left as [TS]

00:33:47   the story goes on sort of when it's [TS]

00:33:49   relevant because because that could have [TS]

00:33:52   been a real I i was i was worried again [TS]

00:33:54   that this was gonna be kind of a rip off [TS]

00:33:56   where we were going to see the plot [TS]

00:33:58   twists in a letter and that was going to [TS]

00:34:01   be the moment where she realized that [TS]

00:34:04   the letter was trying to tell her [TS]

00:34:05   something when in reality if you were in [TS]

00:34:07   this situation as we all are at some [TS]

00:34:09   point when you're in md she act with [TS]

00:34:11   superpowers who's put into a secret [TS]

00:34:13   organization in England it happens or as [TS]

00:34:16   i call it thursday [TS]

00:34:17   yeah you read all the documentation [TS]

00:34:18   right you'd read all the letters [TS]

00:34:20   immediately and I i assume that she did [TS]

00:34:23   that and then it just sort of plays out [TS]

00:34:25   over time because they're a couple [TS]

00:34:26   places where there's like a secret [TS]

00:34:27   that's revealed that she discovers that [TS]

00:34:29   there's this this conspiracy happening [TS]

00:34:31   and there's this other school where [TS]

00:34:33   their training super-powered kids and I [TS]

00:34:35   kept thinking you know you really ought [TS]

00:34:38   not to make this that the suit that this [TS]

00:34:40   is a revelation and they didn't i'm [TS]

00:34:41   actually again an example where he plays [TS]

00:34:44   fair it it I was worried that the [TS]

00:34:46   letters aspect of this was going to [TS]

00:34:48   become kind of a rip off where we were [TS]

00:34:50   where facts withheld from us and the way [TS]

00:34:53   Metheny behaves she knows about what the [TS]

00:34:56   letters say even though we don't and so [TS]

00:34:58   in the end it it it ends up plan fair i [TS]

00:35:01   think even there because that was that [TS]

00:35:03   was where I was really worried it was [TS]

00:35:04   going to go off the rails as the letters [TS]

00:35:06   were going to be withholding information [TS]

00:35:07   not just from us but from the main [TS]

00:35:09   character and that didn't happen only [TS]

00:35:12   read this letter after you read letter [TS]

00:35:15   yeah that's right choose your own letter [TS]

00:35:17   adventure read only when your book goes [TS]

00:35:20   to eighty-five percent then open the [TS]

00:35:22   land only then dan I found that set that [TS]

00:35:25   passage that you liked by the way [TS]

00:35:26   according to according to Thomas the [TS]

00:35:29   city and once been this is bath once [TS]

00:35:31   been a veritable hotbed of [TS]

00:35:32   manifestations with every sorcerer [TS]

00:35:34   Bunyip column goblin picked pixie demon [TS]

00:35:37   thylacine Gorgon more on colts come [TS]

00:35:40   mummy run me broke Sphinx minx muse [TS]

00:35:43   flatulent diva reefer Weaver Reaper [TS]

00:35:46   scatter scab mendler dwarf midget little [TS]

00:35:49   person leprechaun marsh-wiggle toad [TS]

00:35:51   soothsayer Truthsayer hatter happy fat [TS]

00:35:54   nur in pan where Mothman shamon lucban [TS]

00:35:58   warlock Morlock poltergeist zeitgeist [TS]

00:36:01   elemental Banshee Banshee lycanthrope [TS]

00:36:04   lycanthrope li CH and haha its upon [TS]

00:36:07   sprite white off waiter harpy silky [TS]

00:36:10   kelpie klepto Specter mutant cyborg [TS]

00:36:13   Balrog troll ogre cat and shoes dog in a [TS]

00:36:17   hat psychic and psychotic seemingly [TS]

00:36:19   having decided that this was the hot [TS]

00:36:21   spot to visit that I i just i love the [TS]

00:36:23   idea that you know that someday got to [TS]

00:36:25   sit down and just go [TS]

00:36:26   I'm just gonna free associate with [TS]

00:36:27   everyone could pick up that that fits [TS]

00:36:30   under this category so like a [TS]

00:36:31   lycanthrope this the moon comes out and [TS]

00:36:33   you turn into something a lycanthrope [TS]

00:36:34   you hi hike on a mountain and you see [TS]

00:36:37   some lichen and then you turn into a [TS]

00:36:38   something to into mosques you think [TS]

00:36:40   Tomas Tomas where moss lomas yeah anyway [TS]

00:36:45   so so presumably there's going to be a [TS]

00:36:47   sequel i think that the author talked at [TS]

00:36:49   some point that there's going to be a [TS]

00:36:50   sequel isn't this just have the sense of [TS]

00:36:51   a series to it but it's a new series so [TS]

00:36:54   if you want to get on board now you know [TS]

00:36:56   I you know we all we all liked it's it's [TS]

00:36:59   a lot it's a lot of fun if you like a [TS]

00:37:01   it's kind of a you know I guess it's [TS]

00:37:03   fantasy it's fantasy in the way that [TS]

00:37:05   superheroes or fantasy it's the [TS]

00:37:06   supernatural superhero kind of thing I [TS]

00:37:09   mean if false morel little bit of [TS]

00:37:11   trouble with what we call them out urban [TS]

00:37:12   fantasy sort of but it's also it does [TS]

00:37:14   viewer more into the yeah it's not quite [TS]

00:37:17   superhero but it's close it's great [TS]

00:37:19   because it's got that supernatural [TS]

00:37:21   yeah I want to it just has a little [TS]

00:37:22   touch like you you know Torchwood meets [TS]

00:37:25   the x-men is what kind of I felt because [TS]

00:37:27   the x-men is that whole you know they [TS]

00:37:28   find the people with powers they put [TS]

00:37:30   them in the Academy and they learn how [TS]

00:37:31   to use their powers and it's and then [TS]

00:37:33   they put them in service to this [TS]

00:37:35   organization so let ya little bit harry [TS]

00:37:37   potter like when you put it like that [TS]

00:37:39   little bit accept all grown up [TS]

00:37:42   yeah I remind me of another one of the [TS]

00:37:44   series i think i recommended on earlier [TS]

00:37:45   podcast the Felix caster series by Mike [TS]

00:37:47   Carey which is also set in London and is [TS]

00:37:50   also sort of supernatural fantasy though [TS]

00:37:51   that one is a little more like it's more [TS]

00:37:54   of a new are where its there's a [TS]

00:37:55   character who is a freelance exorcist [TS]

00:37:57   and it's it's doesn't have the big [TS]

00:37:58   organization but not everything whether [TS]

00:38:01   there's a [TS]

00:38:01   another series that i have read by Simon [TS]

00:38:05   are green who is one of the authors that [TS]

00:38:07   i read even though he is not a good [TS]

00:38:09   writer [TS]

00:38:10   I and that's a ringing endorsement when [TS]

00:38:13   he is very good at writing really fun [TS]

00:38:16   stories but his writing does not live up [TS]

00:38:19   to his imagination it is the secret [TS]

00:38:23   histories series follows this character [TS]

00:38:26   called Eddie drood who is a member of a [TS]

00:38:29   family called the Druids who have this [TS]

00:38:31   magical torque that makes that they can [TS]

00:38:34   make armor cum all over them and they [TS]

00:38:37   are basically invisible and they are [TS]

00:38:39   Earth's protectors against all [TS]

00:38:42   supernatural yes so this was this was [TS]

00:38:44   this was great i'm glad you recommended [TS]

00:38:46   Scott I think Dan's glad you recommended [TS]

00:38:48   to yes i do I i get off wholehearted [TS]

00:38:51   thumbs up [TS]

00:38:52   all right get it a heart stickers of [TS]

00:38:55   thumb top are cut off from melee to [TS]

00:39:00   somebody melted me don't mail it to [TS]

00:39:02   anybody [TS]

00:39:03   don't male body parts is I've learned [TS]

00:39:05   this scott will put it in the freezer [TS]

00:39:07   his wife will put it in a kid our age [TS]

00:39:09   are true and then your body clone will [TS]

00:39:12   grow from it true little sugar amazing a [TS]

00:39:15   Pew [TS]

00:39:17   that's how it works here in magic land [TS]

00:39:19   tuned check a land [TS]

00:39:21   well I'm glad that you both enjoyed it [TS]

00:39:24   yeah a little don't let us down with [TS]

00:39:25   your next recommendations on something a [TS]

00:39:27   scholar thin ice here the pressure is on [TS]

00:39:30   yeah the way the pressure should be off [TS]

00:39:32   because you just successfully [TS]

00:39:34   recommended a thing [TS]

00:39:35   well I have to live up to that [TS]

00:39:36   recommendation I guess we're not poor [TS]

00:39:40   force that I so I think it's time for me [TS]

00:39:44   to ask that other famous question that i [TS]

00:39:46   like to ask the book club which is what [TS]

00:39:48   doctor who already know that's a [TS]

00:39:50   different question entirely doctor who [TS]

00:39:52   know what are you reading reading scott [TS]

00:39:57   what are you would what books about [TS]

00:39:58   something like seven books right now [TS]

00:40:00   right [TS]

00:40:00   i I'm only reading one book right now or [TS]

00:40:04   what have you read recently I suppose [TS]

00:40:06   that I would like to talk about and [TS]

00:40:07   recommend if you want to be all specific [TS]

00:40:10   about it I know Scott that you just [TS]

00:40:12   wrote a blog post about your [TS]

00:40:14   best book you read in January it's true [TS]

00:40:17   and it's all good i just read too so [TS]

00:40:19   it's also what i am reading I was going [TS]

00:40:21   to suggest perhaps it could be a future [TS]

00:40:23   episode because i know a Lexington right [TS]

00:40:26   exactly [TS]

00:40:27   Lex Lex has read it so i guess we [TS]

00:40:29   shouldn't talk about Peter Heller's the [TS]

00:40:30   dark the dogstars other than to [TS]

00:40:32   recommend that people read it I liked it [TS]

00:40:34   I liked to this but I didn't like it as [TS]

00:40:36   much as the rook [TS]

00:40:38   oh and and and your your blog post about [TS]

00:40:42   it i thought was telling too because it [TS]

00:40:43   is a post-apocalyptic story and it [TS]

00:40:46   reminded me a little bit of the road and [TS]

00:40:48   it's like the sunny lite version of the [TS]

00:40:50   road and read it it sort of pales in [TS]

00:40:52   comparison it's unfair in some ways to [TS]

00:40:55   compare to the road but but it is as [TS]

00:40:58   opposed to apocalyptic story with a [TS]

00:40:59   little bit more kind of humanity and [TS]

00:41:01   slight optimism about what would happen [TS]

00:41:03   in an apocalypse than the road which is [TS]

00:41:05   everybody will die and that will be the [TS]

00:41:07   end but unfortunately for the dogstars [TS]

00:41:11   the road is just spectacular even though [TS]

00:41:14   it is completely depressing [TS]

00:41:15   yes where's the dog star is kind of [TS]

00:41:18   depressing but it's not like soul [TS]

00:41:19   crushingly depressing there's a little [TS]

00:41:21   hope but it's also not as well written [TS]

00:41:23   so when you compare it to the road it [TS]

00:41:26   just kind of falls flat but uh if you [TS]

00:41:28   don't compare to the road it's pretty [TS]

00:41:30   good i agree it's that it'sit's if that [TS]

00:41:34   was the road this is like the runway [TS]

00:41:36   haha sidewalk because nobody the runway [TS]

00:41:39   because he's a private piece of pilot he [TS]

00:41:41   has a little air land and flies around [TS]

00:41:43   ya doing stuff [TS]

00:41:45   yeah and it starts out very much more [TS]

00:41:47   like the road that sort of sad and [TS]

00:41:48   depressing and then he has a little [TS]

00:41:50   journey and learns things and grows as a [TS]

00:41:53   person and yes and other people grow [TS]

00:41:56   yeah well also shooting people who get [TS]

00:41:58   2,000 that's that sounds really good [TS]

00:42:00   it is the post pilot yeah ah let's see [TS]

00:42:02   what else i read i read a bunch of books [TS]

00:42:04   in january i read a leaf the unseen [TS]

00:42:07   which is a good book probably the second [TS]

00:42:11   best book I read that month i've read [TS]

00:42:15   what else am i right [TS]

00:42:16   I i read so here's another kind of Books [TS]

00:42:19   series of books that aren't really well [TS]

00:42:21   written but they're fun [TS]

00:42:23   the iron druid series which is another [TS]

00:42:25   urban fantasy it follows this the last [TS]

00:42:27   druid who lives in tempe arizona and he [TS]

00:42:31   does all kinds of wacky stuff and is [TS]

00:42:34   goes around killing gods and making [TS]

00:42:37   trouble and the hijinks ensue [TS]

00:42:41   I got to be that wager it right now so I [TS]

00:42:43   really help with those books and this [TS]

00:42:45   month i read a PDF Hamilton's latest 950 [TS]

00:42:50   page book the great north road which [TS]

00:42:54   starts off with the murder mystery and [TS]

00:42:57   ends up really kind of not well you kind [TS]

00:43:01   of expect what's going to happen but [TS]

00:43:03   it's very complicated and if I if you [TS]

00:43:05   read any of Peter F Hamilton books he [TS]

00:43:08   used he has like 200 characters and [TS]

00:43:11   they're all kind of important and he's [TS]

00:43:14   obsessed with portals that go to [TS]

00:43:16   different planets [TS]

00:43:17   so there are like five different planet [TS]

00:43:19   certain are involved in this is really [TS]

00:43:21   weird alien species and this [TS]

00:43:24   organization has been designed to [TS]

00:43:26   protect Earth against the species it's [TS]

00:43:28   it's a very complicated but a good right [TS]

00:43:31   dan what are you reading well I've been [TS]

00:43:34   I haven't finished nearly as much as [TS]

00:43:36   Scott has come no one has i know i'm on [TS]

00:43:39   CW know what I used to read really fast [TS]

00:43:41   and I think my problem is I probably [TS]

00:43:42   said before is I just don't feel like I [TS]

00:43:44   have as much time to read so I need that [TS]

00:43:45   I need to make more time to read is what [TS]

00:43:47   i need to do this year will be faster or [TS]

00:43:49   read faster maybe I should diagonally [TS]

00:43:51   gotta go [TS]

00:43:53   yeah I finished earlier in january i [TS]

00:43:56   finished the wind through the keyhole [TS]

00:43:57   which is the new Stephen King darktower [TS]

00:44:00   book which i like that was pretty good [TS]

00:44:02   maybe not my favorite of all the dark [TS]

00:44:05   tower books but I put it squarely in the [TS]

00:44:07   middle it's got some it's also a story [TS]

00:44:08   inside a story inside a story which he i [TS]

00:44:12   think he likes to do now [TS]

00:44:14   and so there's you know a couple [TS]

00:44:15   different layers and serve at the heart [TS]

00:44:17   of the nub of the story in the middle is [TS]

00:44:18   a fairy tale which is actually kind of [TS]

00:44:20   cool because it's set in this universe [TS]

00:44:22   so I like that a lot night I do like the [TS]

00:44:25   dark tower series overall it's one of my [TS]

00:44:27   favorite series of books and someday [TS]

00:44:29   we'll have a comfortable discussing [TS]

00:44:30   extended today we're really likes it [TS]

00:44:33   in addition to that over the brook which [TS]

00:44:36   maybe you guys heard of drama [TS]

00:44:38   it was pretty good lately [TS]

00:44:40   no I i'm currently in two things one is [TS]

00:44:42   I think Jason you agree mr. but I mean [TS]

00:44:44   the human division by slc yes is [TS]

00:44:46   episodic version he's episodically [TS]

00:44:48   releasing parts of his book set in the [TS]

00:44:51   old man's war universe you're calling [TS]

00:44:53   every everything episodic tonight's all [TS]

00:44:55   absolutely everything just everything is [TS]

00:44:57   coming up as I don't you buy episode is [TS]

00:44:59   the word of the day but its weekly [TS]

00:45:01   installments for ninety-nine cents and [TS]

00:45:03   there like 15 of them are 14 of them and [TS]

00:45:05   it's us it's essentially just took a [TS]

00:45:07   sci-fi novel and every chapter has [TS]

00:45:09   gotten carved up into these mega bytes [TS]

00:45:10   and bits so you can only read it at the [TS]

00:45:12   pace of 1a week which is kind of fun [TS]

00:45:14   right and they're also they stand alone [TS]

00:45:17   but they also there's an arc right it's [TS]

00:45:19   like a TV show right like you're reading [TS]

00:45:21   an episode a week and there's work going [TS]

00:45:24   on in the background where there's [TS]

00:45:26   there's something larger going on here [TS]

00:45:28   but each episode is more or less [TS]

00:45:30   self-contained yeah I don't know if it [TS]

00:45:32   feels to be like it's just a novel but [TS]

00:45:34   it's been cuddling pieces it will [TS]

00:45:35   because know kind of like a TV show we [TS]

00:45:37   would have the adventures of the crew of [TS]

00:45:40   that one chip and that that one team [TS]

00:45:42   every week along with some other bits [TS]

00:45:45   and it's not like there's well it jumps [TS]

00:45:47   around there are local two of the four [TS]

00:45:49   installments have not featured them at [TS]

00:45:51   all [TS]

00:45:51   well unless yet did you do you read also [TS]

00:45:53   the the sort of episodes 0 i don't know [TS]

00:45:57   if you read that there's there's a no [TS]

00:45:58   yeah yeah which also does with the [TS]

00:46:00   characters which also deals your [TS]

00:46:01   characters from the Clark so there's [TS]

00:46:03   kind of interludes basically it seems [TS]

00:46:05   like we're every other episode roughly [TS]

00:46:07   deals with our main characters and then [TS]

00:46:08   the other ones are ya things that are [TS]

00:46:10   tangential to the plot yeah but that [TS]

00:46:12   makes me think that you wouldn't do that [TS]

00:46:13   on TV show so it feels it feels a little [TS]

00:46:15   more like it's just another thread into [TS]

00:46:17   bits but it's it's a fun experiment and [TS]

00:46:19   the cost of what they're gonna charge [TS]

00:46:21   for the fully booked at the end is no [TS]

00:46:23   more than the cost of reading a new [TS]

00:46:25   installment every tuesday and it's kind [TS]

00:46:27   of a fun it's not like the green mile [TS]

00:46:29   its but it's like that and they're [TS]

00:46:31   slowly you can you can knock them off [TS]

00:46:33   and you know less than an hour because [TS]

00:46:34   they're not that long [TS]

00:46:35   no they're yeah they're short but the [TS]

00:46:37   farm right and they're fun and I like [TS]

00:46:39   that universe i really enjoyed and said [TS]

00:46:41   in the the old man's war universe which [TS]

00:46:43   is a great universe and so avenue I've [TS]

00:46:45   been enjoying that although i think i'm [TS]

00:46:47   behind one or two and I've also been [TS]

00:46:51   reading the sequel to a book that I know [TS]

00:46:53   Scott is also red which is i'm reading [TS]

00:46:55   my kohls fortress Frontier which is the [TS]

00:46:58   sequel to his book control point which I [TS]

00:46:59   know we both read and I think [TS]

00:47:01   recommended last year [TS]

00:47:04   yes and so I'm enjoying that and then [TS]

00:47:07   didn't it is an interesting departure [TS]

00:47:08   I'm entirely finished I think I'm like [TS]

00:47:11   eighty ninety percent down though it's [TS]

00:47:12   an interesting departure in that it so [TS]

00:47:16   far there's a it deals with a separate [TS]

00:47:18   main character from the first book the [TS]

00:47:20   the protagonist in the first book and [TS]

00:47:21   appears in some of the earlier chapters [TS]

00:47:23   but his story is again sort of [TS]

00:47:25   intertwined with this new character [TS]

00:47:27   which I'm i'm enjoying I ate it delves [TS]

00:47:30   more into this parallel world called the [TS]

00:47:34   source which is basically this where all [TS]

00:47:36   the you know they're strange magical [TS]

00:47:38   creatures and stuff but it follows the [TS]

00:47:39   adventures of the American army and it's [TS]

00:47:41   you know division of wizards basically [TS]

00:47:43   who are in suckiness in this plane and i [TS]

00:47:47   use it you know he's a what makes it [TS]

00:47:50   what makes it interesting to read is [TS]

00:47:51   that this is all you available all the [TS]

00:47:52   characters are more on you know in the [TS]

00:47:54   military and he's a Coast Guard [TS]

00:47:56   reservist so he clearly knows what he's [TS]

00:47:58   talking about and so I think that the [TS]

00:48:01   verisimilitude aspect comes off really [TS]

00:48:03   well and I think he's pretty sure i [TS]

00:48:04   really enjoy his stuff it's it's fun [TS]

00:48:06   it's kinda it's pretty light but it's [TS]

00:48:10   more than the page turn around men in [TS]

00:48:12   the you know heavy literature realm but [TS]

00:48:14   I give it a thumbs up so far i will have [TS]

00:48:16   to see how to last you know 10 15 [TS]

00:48:18   percent of it goes i seem to recall that [TS]

00:48:20   damn on Twitter taunted me and said that [TS]

00:48:22   he would finish this book before I did [TS]

00:48:24   and in fact i'm done with it failed burn [TS]

00:48:27   you fail I fail so I found the the new [TS]

00:48:30   character in a second but much more [TS]

00:48:32   interesting than the main character of [TS]

00:48:34   the last book so huh experiment more [TS]

00:48:36   compelling that he has a little bit more [TS]

00:48:38   of an arc going on in that the first [TS]

00:48:40   book is set up more like this guy is a [TS]

00:48:41   fugitive essentially through reasons [TS]

00:48:44   that are kind of confusing but the [TS]

00:48:47   second this one deals with a guy who is [TS]

00:48:49   basically a and not once not dissimilar [TS]

00:48:51   to the brook is a bureaucrat who is [TS]

00:48:53   forced to do some decidedly not [TS]

00:48:54   bureaucratic things huh [TS]

00:48:57   and it rises to the occasion or does he [TS]

00:48:58   pay somebody reading i have also i read [TS]

00:49:01   the dog stars which we just talked about [TS]

00:49:03   but aren't going to talk about further [TS]

00:49:05   my talk about that later I also i'm [TS]

00:49:07   reading the human division by john [TS]

00:49:09   scalzi which we are in the middle of [TS]

00:49:11   then we talked about already so i'm [TS]

00:49:14   going to make people who like certain [TS]

00:49:15   series sad i read i read stormfront [TS]

00:49:18   which is the harry dresden first harry [TS]

00:49:20   dresden book i know that a lot of fans [TS]

00:49:22   and Harry dressed and novels out there i [TS]

00:49:24   found it kind of mediocre oh there I [TS]

00:49:28   know there were parts of it was not a [TS]

00:49:29   bad kind of story but the writing the [TS]

00:49:32   actual writing was kind of blame and I [TS]

00:49:36   don't know it didn't I i haven't bought [TS]

00:49:38   a second 1i guess that's you know we [TS]

00:49:41   have to read the good one [TS]

00:49:43   I'm sure Harry Dresden fans will say yes [TS]

00:49:45   the fourth one is really good i haven't [TS]

00:49:48   read any of them but I know that Jason [TS]

00:49:50   tachi who occasionally appears on the [TS]

00:49:51   spot yes had to basically have that same [TS]

00:49:54   reaction was like I read the first 1i [TS]

00:49:56   like wizards and stuff so I thought it [TS]

00:49:58   might be kind of cool and then I just [TS]

00:50:00   like couldn't stop reading them because [TS]

00:50:01   you get like I've got like an hour-long [TS]

00:50:02   hour-and-a-half kind i just need [TS]

00:50:04   something to read is like they improve [TS]

00:50:06   as they go along and laugh but it may [TS]

00:50:08   not again I don't know it's one of those [TS]

00:50:09   things were you know [TS]

00:50:11   yeah how much time do you think it's [TS]

00:50:12   serious but I guess if you go through [TS]

00:50:13   books like Scott does and you can afford [TS]

00:50:15   to read the entire yeah it was it was [TS]

00:50:16   kinda it was kind of fun yes you can in [TS]

00:50:18   the chat room and saying oh the series [TS]

00:50:20   improved a lot three times am i doing [TS]

00:50:22   better i do it um I also read the i want [TS]

00:50:26   to say third thursday next book which is [TS]

00:50:29   the well of lost plots and by jasper [TS]

00:50:33   fforde and I got about a hundred and [TS]

00:50:35   fifty pages into that and I said I give [TS]

00:50:38   up [TS]

00:50:39   wow yeah wow I don't remember what [TS]

00:50:42   happens in that one [TS]

00:50:43   well what happens now nothing happens in [TS]

00:50:46   that one she's pregnant and she's [TS]

00:50:48   hanging out in an unpublished novel for [TS]

00:50:51   a long time [TS]

00:50:53   well you know that happens does most yes [TS]

00:50:56   got my gonna have to I I don't know I've [TS]

00:50:58   read all those books I know Scott has to [TS]

00:50:59   Iran lost in a good book and I i I'm [TS]

00:51:03   wondering if maybe the deal with just [TS]

00:51:04   four days it just takes me some time to [TS]

00:51:06   get into them because lost in a good [TS]

00:51:07   book that I felt like the first hundred [TS]

00:51:09   and fifty two hundred pages whereas log [TS]

00:51:11   and then the last half of the book was [TS]

00:51:14   great and I read it through when I [TS]

00:51:16   thought it was fine i thought let's go [TS]

00:51:18   to the next [TS]

00:51:18   and then the next one I'm back in this [TS]

00:51:20   log again so i don't know i don't know [TS]

00:51:23   i'm trying jasper fforde might get it [TS]

00:51:25   back that was a library book so i can [TS]

00:51:26   just get it back [TS]

00:51:27   I felt like the library deserve to have [TS]

00:51:28   it back because I was doing I was [TS]

00:51:30   feeling bad about it but maybe I'll have [TS]

00:51:32   it back [TS]

00:51:33   I've never had that experience I it's [TS]

00:51:35   always been super quick reads for being [TS]

00:51:37   an interesting i can understand how [TS]

00:51:38   people could not like Justin yeah I [TS]

00:51:40   think he's very he's got a very distinct [TS]

00:51:42   style and a very distinct tone I mean he [TS]

00:51:46   reminds me of pratchett and Tara [TS]

00:51:48   pressure in douglas adams a bit in his [TS]

00:51:50   yeah humor but I can understand that [TS]

00:51:52   those are I can't stand those aren't [TS]

00:51:54   everybody's cup of tea either so I think [TS]

00:51:56   just before kind of borders on being a [TS]

00:51:58   little too precious [TS]

00:52:00   if you wanna be ya know a little too [TS]

00:52:02   clever [TS]

00:52:04   yeah and for some people it can just go [TS]

00:52:06   over that edge and then you're just not [TS]

00:52:08   interested yeah I I'm on the fence about [TS]

00:52:10   him i guess but but i might go back to [TS]

00:52:14   it just tell us tell us what else you [TS]

00:52:15   hate Jason crush ass cross-shot you know [TS]

00:52:19   so those those are the two series that [TS]

00:52:21   I've made people angry or they're going [TS]

00:52:22   to tell me that other books are better [TS]

00:52:23   but the other book that i'm going to [TS]

00:52:25   mention here which is not a novel at all [TS]

00:52:27   but i want to give it a plug because [TS]

00:52:28   it's a book that i've been reading is a [TS]

00:52:32   book called the Hall of nearly great and [TS]

00:52:36   it was a Kickstarter but i believe it's [TS]

00:52:38   available you can go to haul of nearly [TS]

00:52:39   great calm it's a collection of essays [TS]

00:52:42   headed by the it's a couple of baseball [TS]

00:52:48   writers and the Hall of nearly great is [TS]

00:52:50   a series of essays about baseball [TS]

00:52:54   players who were really good but not [TS]

00:52:58   great and not in the Hall of Fame so [TS]

00:53:02   it's it's it's this celebration of not [TS]

00:53:06   just the players themselves but of said [TS]

00:53:10   they're just that there's some really [TS]

00:53:11   great writing there there's a there's an [TS]

00:53:13   essay about dogmatically that is about [TS]

00:53:16   the it's really about how terrible human [TS]

00:53:19   being George Steinbrenner was and it's I [TS]

00:53:21   had no idea just how terrible [TS]

00:53:24   George Steinbrenner was there there's a [TS]

00:53:25   fantastic essay about [TS]

00:53:29   oh god I can't even remember there's [TS]

00:53:30   there's a [TS]

00:53:31   is it norm cash yet norm cash by a guy [TS]

00:53:34   named matthew Corey and you may not care [TS]

00:53:36   anything about Detroit Tigers player [TS]

00:53:38   norm cash but it is this it is such a [TS]

00:53:40   funny just incredibly hilarious [TS]

00:53:43   SI so so if you're a baseball fan i [TS]

00:53:46   really recommend that you seek out the [TS]

00:53:47   Hall of nearly great it is surprised me [TS]

00:53:50   because i bought a kind of on a lark as [TS]

00:53:52   a part of this kickstarter project and [TS]

00:53:54   it turns out that every one of these [TS]

00:53:55   essays which are by you know [TS]

00:53:57   professional writers in some fields or [TS]

00:54:00   another are actually they can be funny [TS]

00:54:03   they can be heartwarming that can be [TS]

00:54:05   bizarre but they're all really good [TS]

00:54:07   little little sis so baseball fans check [TS]

00:54:10   it out it's a secret little thing so [TS]

00:54:13   I've been enjoying that in pieces [TS]

00:54:14   because they're like 20 SI so you read a [TS]

00:54:16   couple and then you move on so Hall of [TS]

00:54:18   nearly great [TS]

00:54:20   that's it that's what I've been reading [TS]

00:54:21   then that's a pretty good the rook the [TS]

00:54:24   Rick was good but we mentioned that feel [TS]

00:54:27   like we've already covered the rook you [TS]

00:54:30   should really give the dress and files [TS]

00:54:32   another chance I that's what the chat [TS]

00:54:35   room tells me other books are much [TS]

00:54:37   better i have that bad what happened [TS]

00:54:39   with harry potter with me I hated the [TS]

00:54:40   first book of everyone's like oh you [TS]

00:54:42   can't stop the first book because it [TS]

00:54:43   gets really good at the third book and I [TS]

00:54:44   don't like the first book [TS]

00:54:46   why am I going to read two more books [TS]

00:54:49   yeah that's the 8th is the tough part [TS]

00:54:51   with with series right you know because [TS]

00:54:54   i do think there are there are series [TS]

00:54:56   that you can build to something but it [TS]

00:54:59   is really hard to sell that if you're if [TS]

00:55:01   the first book doesn't really when you [TS]

00:55:03   overwrite yeah you gotta entertain me [TS]

00:55:05   now I I'm not you know the fu ripped off [TS]

00:55:08   if i read a whole book and I get to the [TS]

00:55:09   evidence to be continued know but the [TS]

00:55:11   second book is really good right now [TS]

00:55:13   it's like it's like if you wanted two [TS]

00:55:14   history classes I kind of the Romans are [TS]

00:55:16   really boring no but wait wait until the [TS]

00:55:17   pot the Empire follow it for it's gonna [TS]

00:55:20   be good [TS]

00:55:21   it's gonna be so good so good to just [TS]

00:55:22   give you like to 3,000 years which we [TS]

00:55:26   read next [TS]

00:55:27   i guess.i guess we should we should talk [TS]

00:55:28   about the dogstars next maybe the eyes [TS]

00:55:31   that seems like low-hanging fruit that [TS]

00:55:33   seems yeah so so people should go on and [TS]

00:55:36   read that and read the book if you [TS]

00:55:37   haven't because we really liked it [TS]

00:55:38   true but you should read the dogstars [TS]

00:55:40   before if you haven't read the road [TS]

00:55:42   already read dogs first because then [TS]

00:55:44   you'll enjoy ya [TS]

00:55:45   then read the road and then read the [TS]

00:55:47   road and you'll be like whoa that's [TS]

00:55:49   crazy and depressing and I'm gonna kill [TS]

00:55:52   myself now but it was great so just to [TS]

00:55:55   read the dogstars first because after [TS]

00:55:57   you read the book you want to read [TS]

00:55:58   anything ever exactly and read the rook [TS]

00:56:01   rook never read the book that's the it [TS]

00:56:04   won't depress you at all yeah that one [TS]

00:56:06   and then that will bring you back up [TS]

00:56:07   right now is that laughs you won't cry [TS]

00:56:10   no you won't cry or laugh because they [TS]

00:56:12   laugh a lot yeah just say what are they [TS]

00:56:15   putting in the water in Australia [TS]

00:56:17   yeah greatness greatness is in the water [TS]

00:56:20   what are they putting in me plane crash [TS]

00:56:23   planes in the water and the hands the [TS]

00:56:25   author of the book has to write a press [TS]

00:56:27   release about pressure exactly and [TS]

00:56:29   that's how it works in Australia it's [TS]

00:56:30   amazing what a country well because yes [TS]

00:56:34   that's not how they speak in Australia [TS]

00:56:35   Scott but things never he doesn't [TS]

00:56:38   actually know with anyway so we've come [TS]

00:56:40   to the end of this book club and this [TS]

00:56:41   was great and I i want i once again i'm [TS]

00:56:43   grateful to Scott melty because he read [TS]

00:56:45   all the books and then tell us which [TS]

00:56:47   books to read and he was right again I [TS]

00:56:49   have a pretty good batting average so [TS]

00:56:51   far you do i'm trying to pretend like I [TS]

00:56:54   know sports [TS]

00:56:55   yeah that's good excellent work hard [TS]

00:56:57   pollen really great you can get ready [TS]

00:56:58   you really you really score a lot of [TS]

00:56:59   goals Scott yeah with your badge down [TS]

00:57:02   whoo yeah whoo so I'd like to thank my [TS]

00:57:05   fellow compatriots here in this book [TS]

00:57:07   club Dan Morgan thank you very much for [TS]

00:57:10   joining us and for reading the book my [TS]

00:57:12   pleasure i'll all the way through now i [TS]

00:57:14   will now not read the next four books [TS]

00:57:16   just to just understand sorry no you got [TS]

00:57:19   to get back into you just said on the [TS]

00:57:21   podcast you gotta read more books [TS]

00:57:23   you can't hold me to everything I've [TS]

00:57:24   ever said on this is true just you know [TS]

00:57:27   books they're not that [TS]

00:57:28   yeah I'm you there readable I do really [TS]

00:57:31   love books I'm sorry and I'm i don't [TS]

00:57:33   know i have cheated I cheated on the [TS]

00:57:35   television too much as well how do i [TS]

00:57:38   know i've fallen prey to them it's the [TS]

00:57:40   most American of past yeah that's true [TS]

00:57:43   and of course Scott McNulty thank you as [TS]

00:57:45   always for controlling everything we do [TS]

00:57:47   here you are all my puppets [TS]

00:57:51   yeah yay you like but we're happy [TS]

00:57:53   puppets because damn only dance because [TS]

00:57:55   we're afraid we don't dance we only read [TS]

00:57:57   books for you with book reading [TS]

00:57:58   puppets read faster all right yes sir [TS]

00:58:00   yes sir master with a lot of books [TS]

00:58:03   together [TS]

00:58:04   alright thanks to everybody out there [TS]

00:58:05   who is reading and of course as always [TS]

00:58:08   if you want to see what we're eating [TS]

00:58:09   next check out our Goodreads group [TS]

00:58:12   there's an incomparable goodreads group [TS]

00:58:14   so you can check that out and because [TS]

00:58:17   you loved the show [TS]

00:58:19   oh so very much leave us a nice review [TS]

00:58:22   on iTunes because that's how we beat [TS]

00:58:25   down the mean people who say bad things [TS]

00:58:26   about us and if you don't like us on you [TS]

00:58:28   and you don't like the podcast don't [TS]

00:58:30   leave a review because we don't stop [TS]

00:58:32   listening yeah we were [TS]

00:58:33   why are you why are you still not [TS]

00:58:35   punishing yourself [TS]

00:58:36   it's okay forgive us we love you [TS]

00:58:39   whatever you did yourself unless this is [TS]

00:58:42   part of like your work release program [TS]

00:58:43   have to listen to our podcast the prison [TS]

00:58:46   library is assigned us yes our tax [TS]

00:58:49   dollars are going to some strange things [TS]

00:58:50   is the spot read a book listen to a [TS]

00:58:53   podcast rehabilitation episode I said [TS]

00:58:56   podcast were rehabilitation or therapy [TS]

00:58:58   but this is ridiculous [TS]

00:59:00   alright until next time on the [TS]

00:59:03   incomparable podcast I'm Jason Snelling [TS]

00:59:04   thanks again for listening [TS]

00:59:06   goodbye [TS]

00:59:17   r 0 minus we got any spoilers know [TS]