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VoK podcasts are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Monthly Archives: February 2014
VoK 65: Fall of Giants (by Ken Follett)
*Spoiler warning to potential fans of Ken Follett*
Mordion (Michael) and Dagos_Rivers (Glen) discuss the 2010 book release, ‘Fall of Giants’ by Ken Follett, decide to spoil every single sentence in the book, discuss other adult authors like ‘Child Lee’, Dan Brown and Jeffrey Archer, and discuss and value for money when using Audible.
Other topics of discussion:
-Marry, one night or join the Russian Army
-Scottish Referendum
-The perils of Downton Abbey-esque Housemaids
-TV adaptations
Credits:
Edited by Dagos_Rivers
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VoK 64: LOTR ReRead (Part 5) – Forum Feedback Discussion
In this episode our Fellowship of Vassals takes a break from carrying the Ring into Mordor in order to discuss all the fantastic feedback the four previous episodes have had in the Podcast of Ice and Fire forums.
Podcasters: Shellfish (Peter), WhiteRaven (Brett), Teddard (Eddie), MiddleCyclone (Amanda), Scilens (Tanja) and Bina007 (also editing, using music from the Brobdingnanian Bards and Chicago.)
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings
Tagged Bina007, middlecyclone, Scilens, Shellfish, Teddard, White Raven
VoK 63: Writer’s Workshop
Five Vassals sit down to discuss the craft of writing and share some of their own work. Join Steven (SJLee), Michal (inkasrain), Zach (Alias), Duncan (Valkyrist), and Ace (SomeNewGuy), as they share their insights into writing, offer feedback to one another, and discuss their latest projects.
Ace shares an inspired-by-real-life comedy of life overseas in the Peace Corps. Zach and Duncan discuss their early foray into fantasy fiction. Michal’s unique cop drama, set in a world of drug-addicted dragons, captures the interest of her fellow hosts. And Steven describes his post-apocalyptic novel, which is nearing completion. The conversation covers many areas of writing:
1:55 – Part 1: General Discussion on Writing
23:15 – Part 2: Roundtable Conversation on Work [Gardeners vs. Architects; Breaking down the Fantasy Genre; Plot vs. Character; Female Characters and “Unlikeable” Protagonists; World-building; Writing Post-Apocalyptic Fiction; Publishing your Work]
1:58:10 – Part 3: Advice to Fellow Writers [including a defense for Fan Fiction]
Credits:
Edited by SJLee
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Links:
The Anxiety of Writers
Year of the Dragon by inkasrain (extract)
Quincy’s Tale by SomeNewGuy
The Knight of Leafport by Valkyrist (extract)
A Shattered World by SJLee (extract)
Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, Science Fiction
Tagged Alias, inkasrain, SJLee, SomeNewGuy, Valkyrist
VoK 62: LOTR ReRead (Part 4) – The Journey into Mordor
Join our Fellowship of Vassals as they Journey Into Mordor, and discover that the much-dreaded Book Four of Lord of the Rings has more to it than just ‘more walking’. Not least, many spoilers for all of Tolkien’s oeuvre.
- 02:45 Shellfish aka Peter describes The Taming of Smeagol, and his deep and abiding fascination for Elvish rope.
- 12:45 JoThirteen aka Joanna taks us through The Dead Marshes, and asks what exactly the magicks are that are preserving the bodies.
- 19:20 EastTexasDirewolf aka Shane leads us to The Black Gate, in which we debate whether the black gate is, in fact, just a big gate.
- 28:40 Middlecylones aka Amanda speaks Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit in which we discuss the coolness of armoured elephants.
- 45:30 Bina007 gasps in awe at Faramir in The Window On the West, and gets excited about how the Dalai Lama could use the Ring to take over India.
- 57:50 Teddard aka Eddie watches over The Forbidden Pool and asks if Frodo was a victim of creaking doors.
- 1:01:30 WhiteRaven aka Brett takes a Journey To The Crossroads, in which there are some cool staves and a Venn diagram of doucheyness.
- 1:04:45 Nadia leads us into Cirith Ungol and Shelob’s Lair where we discuss Orc technology, Beren and Luthien and whether Frodo is Lord of the Rings.
- 1:19:00 Shellfish aka Peter describes the Choices of Master Samwise, as Frodo continues his habit of being stabbed by new and exotic things, this time off-screen, and Shelob Occupies Wall Street
- 1:30:00 Outro.
Editing credits: Bina007 using music from the original soundtrack to The Two Towers composed by Howard Shore.
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings
Tagged Bina007, easttexasdirewolf, JoThirteen, middlecyclone, Nadia, Scilens, Shellfish, Teddard, White Raven
VoK 61: The Winds of Winter – Preview Chapters (by George R. R. Martin)
Cold winds rise as the Vassals dive into the first 8 preview chapters of George R. R. Martin’s The Winds of Winter. Jon Vikram (fortytwo), Bina, Duncan (Valkyrist), Nadia and Zach (Alias) as they discuss the Battle of Winterfell, the Siege of Meereen, and Aegon’s Second Landing.
Before going through the chapters, however, the hosts have a general debate over what constitutes a spoiler in contemporary culture. After that, its wild, unmitigated book 6 speculation (and the occasional bit of intelligent analysis).
Due to the episode’s length, each segment has been time-stamped with a short musical cue:
3:23 – “Spoilers” in Pop Culture
32:15 – Theon I
1:00:23 – Tyrion I & II
1:12:25 – Victarion I
1:37:52 – Barristan I & II
2:13:58 – Arianne I & II
3:00:55 – ????
Warning: This episode contains spoilers for the sixth (unpublished) book in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.
Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist
Various tracks owned by The Walt Disney Company, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment.
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Links:
Theon I (full reading) [released Dec 2011]
Victarion I (partial reading) [recorded Mar 2012]
Arianne I (full reading) [released Jan 2013]
Barristan I (full reading) [published Oct 2013]
Summaries for Unreleased Chapters
Posted in A Song of Ice and Fire, Books & Novellas, Podcast
VoK 60: LOTR ReRead (Part 3) – The Treason of Isengard
The ongoing quest to re-read Tolkien’s fantasy classic continues as the Fellowship of Vassals tackles Book Three of Lord of the Rings aka The Treason of Isengard.
In this third episode, Nadia, Eiffel aka Matt, Shellfish aka Peter, Amanda aka MiddleCyclones, Joanna aka JoThirteen, Brett aka Whiteraven and Bina007 enumerate their love for all things Rohan!
Beware of Spoilers: This podcast discusses Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and the Silmarillion in detail.
00:00 Introduction to the Fellowship and Bina’s geeky key stats.
05:00 JoThirteen leads a discussion on Chapter One – The Departure of Boromir – Should this chapter have been in the previous book? How were orcs and trolls made? Why does Aragorn keep Boromir’s betrayal secret?
13:00 Eiffel leads a discussion of Chapters Two and Five – The Riders of Rohan and The White Rider – Is Saruman deliberately trying to look like Gandalf? How come Gimli is happy to ‘ride bitch’? Is Aragorn every funny? Does Gandalf know about the Entmoot? Is it weird that Saruman is abroad before battle?
49:00 Whiteraven leads a discussion of Chapters Three and Four – The Uruk-Hai and Treebeard – is cutting off a hand harder than swinging a sword? Poor Orcs! Did the movie misrepresent Ents? What happened to the Entwives?
1:05:00 MiddleCyclones leads a discussion of Chapter Six – The King In The Golden Hall – in which we express our Hama-love for seemingly hours; Theoden compared to Mufasa and/or the Arthurian Fisher-King; why do they let Wormtongue go?
1:22:00 Nadia leads a discussion of Chapter Seven – Helm’s Deep – Do the movies rob Treebeard and Theoden of their agency? The Elves show up! Erkenbrand doesn’t! The absurdity of Aragorn parlaying with the Orcs!
1:45:00 Bina007 leads a discussion of Chapters Eight and Nine – The Road to Isengard and Flotsam and Jetsam – On the new no-nonsense Gandalf the White and the importance of chilling out.
1:54:00 Shellfish leads a discussion of Chapter Ten – The Voice of Saruman and Chapter Eleven – The Palantir – what is the nature of Saruman’s power? Would Theoden have fallen? How Theoden has all the best lines. Does Saruman know Gandalf has the Ring? Was Saruman always bad? Is it credible that Gandalf doesn’t know about the Palantir?
Edited by Bina007 using extracts of music from the official soundtrack to The Two Towers composed by Howard Shore.
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings
Tagged Bina007, Eiffel, JoThirteen, middlecyclone, Nadia, Shellfish, White Raven
Vassals of Kingsgrave 