What Mad Universe?!?

It's interesting to consider which characters fall into obscurity and which remain relevant. Johnston McCulley's most famous creation, Zorro, is of course still a household word. His other creations, Thubway Tham and The Crimson Clown, have been completely forgotten, even though they were nearly as popular in their day. Both thieves, albeit of two very different sorts, the two even met in the crossover novel Thubway Tham Meets the Crimson Clown, and it's that we're looking at today! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Additional music: "Undercover Spy Agent" by David Fesliyan Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2024 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License.

Fandom! The word sends chills up the spine of anyone who's spent any time in Fantasy and Science Fiction spaces...for a pretty wide variety of reasons. But what if fandom turns...to murder? Actually, that seems pretty plausible. Sharyn McCrumb explored this very idea in the murder mystery Bimbos of the Death Sun (published by TSR!) and we're joined in this episode by our pal Filbi to talk about it! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additional Music: "Rhythmic Comedy" by Alayan10 (c) 2024 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (c) 2024 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators.

Langwitch, its syurly a confuzement! Whut wud Inlish luk liek inna thousand yeers? These are the questions asked by Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, a post-apocalyptic meditation on culture, storytelling, religion, and language. It's a tricky read but a fulfilling one. Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additional music: "War and Peace" by Jamie Evans (c) 2024 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License.

This is the story of Edwardian-era European explorers traveling to the north pole in an airship, only to find a strange land unknown to mankind, and populated by an alien yet advanced race of intelligent non-human beings. The encounter holds up a mirror to western society, colonialism, and the dark side of human nature, and things go badly for the protagonists. It's such a perfect encapsulation of this "Vernean" subgenre, so self-aware about its tropes, and so much in sync with modern day critiques of classical adventure fiction, that you'd swear it was a modern-day pastiche, but no: the book is The People of the Pole, written in 1907 by Charles Derennes. It's a great lens through which to talk about classic "exploration" SF. Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additional music: "In the Hall Of The Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License.

In the best of all possible worlds, this podcast would always be on time...but we're not there yet, are we. You know what comes close, though? The Culture, the star-spanning utopia depicted in Iain M. Banks's novels such as Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games. In this episode, Philip and I take a dive into the possibilities of benevolent godlike AI, post-scarcity economies, stellar-level constructs and utopian societies, and ask...can we truly conceive of a better world? Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License.

This week, wayfarers, we go WAY back, to 1666, and the first European work of feminist Science Fiction--in fact, one of the first works of Science Fiction as we know it--Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World, a travelogue, pontification, and philosophical potboiler. Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additional music: "The Sorceror's Apprentice" by Paul Dukas (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License.

We aten't dead! In fact we're back in 2024 for a new chapter in a series...a series within a series, you might say...on Terry Pratchett's Discworld! In this one we're joined by pal Ing to talk about the Granny Weatherwax books and witchcraft vs. wizardry. (Update: I'm really sorry, the wrong audio was uploaded for this. It should be fixed now.) Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additional Music: "Dark Space" by Alayan10 (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License.

'Tis darkening days, fair ones, and as we approach the end of the year of our lord 2023, What Mad Universe?!? has been, we confess, erratic of late. But take heed! We return with a look at an obscure but excellent fantasy series from the early 20th century, the Neustrian Cycle by Leslile Barringer. Is it a lost tome, or the wellspring for much later fantasy stories? Harken unto us and all shall be revealed! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additional Music: The Medieval Banquet by Shane Ivers (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License.

Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

As we all know by now, the WWII period saw the blossoming of ASTOUNDING magazine, which set the pace for the so-called "Golden Age" of Science Fiction, launching the careers of storied names such as Asimov and Heinlein. They also hosted a short series of satirical space westerns about a near-immortal doctor and his staunch companion, the Ole Doc Methuselah stories, penned by an obscure writer named L. Ron Hubbard. I wonder what happened to that guy. Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additonal music: Rythmic Comedy by Alayan-10 (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Swashbuckling adventures in far-flung lands to the east! Geopolitical intrigue! The manly code of the warrior! Dan Tyler Moore's The Terrible Game taps into several veins of pulp action that span several eras...as well as being the source material for one later, hilariously bad movie. Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additional Music: "Desert City" by Kevin McLeod (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

As Philip points out, if we had a nickel for every time we talked about a book where Buddha fights Jesus in a Sci-Fi setting, we'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right? The subject this time is Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny, and the subject is actually Hinduism more than those other religions, as far-future space colonists use technology to turn themselves into gods. Then Jack Kirby helps them free hostages from Iran, or something? Just listen to the episode, I swear it makes sense. (I am on drugs) Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additional music: "Indian Bollywood type loop" by 8keey at Looperman (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Sorry about the long delay there, folks, some real world chaos combined with a LOT of pages that had to be read for this episode led to an unplanned couple of week's break. We're back now, looking at Kim Stanley Robinsons' seminal trilogy, Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars, one of the most in-depth hard SF stories of the past few decades. But it's not just a dry scientific hypothetical, it's also an exploration of cultural evolution and political upheaval, in ways that the tech-heads who claim they're going to colonize Mars soon could stand to pay more attention to... Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

We've talked about John W Campbell as an editor on this show a few times, which isn't surprising since he oversaw an entire era of 20th century SF. Now we dive in directly to his own best known writing, the novella Who Goes There?, the basis for John Carpenter's The Thing (as well as the 50s movie The Thing From Another World), and talk more about how Campbell really did have a massive impact on our culture, in ways we're still recovering from... Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Phil's Twitter Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

The newest What Mad Universe?!? looks at one of the earliest progenitors of the space opera, a 19th century French obscurity that delves deeply into world-building, poetry, and, unfortunately, racism. It's STAR, OR, PSI CASSOPEIA by C. I. DeFontenay. We read it before it was cool! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Phil's Twitter Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additional music: "Space Cowboy Arp" By Ancient Pear (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

One hundred episodes! I'm not sure we ever believed it would happen, but it has, thanks to you, acolytes of adventure! A heartfelt tip of our space helmets to all of you, and we hope you enjoy this special 100th episode spectacular! And what better subject for this illustrious episode than a book that touches on both one of the most archetypal and influential pulp characters, AND the later mythological addition that created the basis for decades of nerdy recontextualizations! Yes, it's Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life by Philip Jose Farmer, after the original series of novels by "Kenneth Robeson" (i.e. Lester Dent, et al), part of the infamous Wold Newton mythos. It's an episode so huge, nothing will ever be the same! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Phil's Twitter Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2023 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Cordwainer Smith isn't one of the more well-known names in Science Fiction, but his influence seems to have extended pretty far into the works of better known writers. In this episode we take a look at his Instrumentality series, one of the first examples of a SF writer crafting a recurring universe for his stories, and his bizarre novel Norstrilia. It tackles the true gravest threat facing Earth in the future: rich Australians! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Phil's Twitter Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick Additional Music: ["Didgeridoo Loop" by Breo on Looperman] (https://www.looperman.com/loops/detail/29160/digeridoo-loop-by-breo-free-154bpm-weird-woodwind-loop) (c) 2022 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Apologies for the week delay (due to vacation). We're just a couple of no-goodniks, I guess, like the subject of this episode, about the galaxy's greatest criminal, Slippery Jim DeGriz, a guy so good at crime they put him in charge of catching all the other criminals. We explore the satirical (and long-running) romp that is the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison. Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Phil's Twitter Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2022 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Greetings, comrades, and glory to the utopian future glimpsed in our scientifically perfected podcast! Today we tighten our focus onto a subject we've touched on a few times: communism, that spectre that's been haunting Science Fiction almost since the beginning, and the way it intersects with the real-world Soviet Union, in the form of Francis Spufford's Red Plenty. It's an alternate-reality story about a nation that attempted to make science fiction of a sort a reality as well. But the Revolution eats its children... Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Phil's Twitter Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2022 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Here on What Mad Universe?!? we like to examine a subject from all angles, but this week we might be accused of flattening a complex topic. We're looking at Flatland, a 19th century oddity that's resonated with nerds for over a century with its consideration of some big ideas implied by math and science. Try not to damage your brain too badly! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Phil's Twitter Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2022 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators. Used under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.