A Meal of Thorns
@mealofthorns.bsky.social
A speculative book club, where critics, writers, and scholars join us to talk about thorny, interesting titles. A podcast from the Ancillary Review of Books.
https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/amealofthorns/
https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/amealofthorns/
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
Out today! Listen to Paul March-Russell discuss the importance of women writers in science fiction and the legacy of the short story collection “Women of Wonder” (1974) edited by Pamela Sargent.
Paul March-Russell is the co-founder of GoldSF.
Listen here!
www.spreaker.com/episode/wome...
Paul March-Russell is the co-founder of GoldSF.
Listen here!
www.spreaker.com/episode/wome...
February 5, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Out today! Listen to Paul March-Russell discuss the importance of women writers in science fiction and the legacy of the short story collection “Women of Wonder” (1974) edited by Pamela Sargent.
Paul March-Russell is the co-founder of GoldSF.
Listen here!
www.spreaker.com/episode/wome...
Paul March-Russell is the co-founder of GoldSF.
Listen here!
www.spreaker.com/episode/wome...
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
As I have said many times: Nick Land's The Dark Enlightenment isn't some ur-text of the dark and sinister limits of anti-humanist thought; it's a guy who's always on the computer complaining about Slate articles and how everyone laughs at race science.
Update on Bari Weiss University
If I worked for any reputable organisation, I'd flag the use of '88' in any messaging, since it's an infamous neo-Nazi bullhorn, especially if your first reading list for 'Origins of 21st Century Right-Wing Thought' (w/ selections from Nick Land and Curtis Yarvin?)
If I worked for any reputable organisation, I'd flag the use of '88' in any messaging, since it's an infamous neo-Nazi bullhorn, especially if your first reading list for 'Origins of 21st Century Right-Wing Thought' (w/ selections from Nick Land and Curtis Yarvin?)
February 5, 2026 at 8:37 AM
As I have said many times: Nick Land's The Dark Enlightenment isn't some ur-text of the dark and sinister limits of anti-humanist thought; it's a guy who's always on the computer complaining about Slate articles and how everyone laughs at race science.
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
I’m so busy thinking about #gally1 I almost forgot to post about this week’s #podcast episode! We read THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Listen to our thoughts here: linktr.ee/fictionfanspod
#booksky 💙📚
Listen to our thoughts here: linktr.ee/fictionfanspod
#booksky 💙📚
Fiction Fans | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree
View fictionfanspod’s Linktree to discover and stream music from top platforms like YouTube, Spotify here. Your next favorite track is just a click away!
linktr.ee
February 4, 2026 at 7:59 PM
I’m so busy thinking about #gally1 I almost forgot to post about this week’s #podcast episode! We read THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Listen to our thoughts here: linktr.ee/fictionfanspod
#booksky 💙📚
Listen to our thoughts here: linktr.ee/fictionfanspod
#booksky 💙📚
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
NEW WRITING: A while back I played Everyone's Gone To The Rapture and really enjoyed it - happy to say that Still Wakes the Deep is also really good www.patreon.com/posts/144522...
The Rig is the Monster: Still Wakes The Deep and The Horror of Extraction | TheLitCritGuy
Get more from TheLitCritGuy on Patreon
www.patreon.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:08 PM
NEW WRITING: A while back I played Everyone's Gone To The Rapture and really enjoyed it - happy to say that Still Wakes the Deep is also really good www.patreon.com/posts/144522...
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
This was amazing and I only heard about it because of the equally amazing @mealofthorns.bsky.social podcast from @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
Each episode is a curriculum and the careful consideration of the text is a joy: close reading and high level discussion!
pca.st/episode/366a...
Each episode is a curriculum and the careful consideration of the text is a joy: close reading and high level discussion!
pca.st/episode/366a...
February 4, 2026 at 3:51 AM
This was amazing and I only heard about it because of the equally amazing @mealofthorns.bsky.social podcast from @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
Each episode is a curriculum and the careful consideration of the text is a joy: close reading and high level discussion!
pca.st/episode/366a...
Each episode is a curriculum and the careful consideration of the text is a joy: close reading and high level discussion!
pca.st/episode/366a...
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
I don't know if Charles R. Saunders was the first Black author to tackle the Cthulhu Mythos, but he's the first I know of. His story goes into very unusual territory immediately, being told about two Black men and dealing with the history of slavery in the US.
deepcuts.blog/2020/08/29/j...
deepcuts.blog/2020/08/29/j...
“Jeroboam Henley’s Debt” (1982) by Charles R. Saunders
And he remembered a night more than a dozen years ago in Virginia, when he and Nedeau had been stopped by a policeman wanting to know exactly how a couple of “Nigras” had come by such a…
deepcuts.blog
February 2, 2026 at 3:15 PM
I don't know if Charles R. Saunders was the first Black author to tackle the Cthulhu Mythos, but he's the first I know of. His story goes into very unusual territory immediately, being told about two Black men and dealing with the history of slavery in the US.
deepcuts.blog/2020/08/29/j...
deepcuts.blog/2020/08/29/j...
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
In the latest episode of A Meal of Thorns, biographer Jon Tattrie (TO LEAVE A WARRIOR BEHIND) joins to talk about Charles R. Saunders' sword-and-soul classic IMARO, and its many lives & afterlives:
A Meal of Thorns 42- IMARO with Jon Tattrie
Charles Saunders’ sword and soul narratives, pulp-fantasy-inspired tales of Black and African heroes, helped blaze a trail for the genre—but, like Saunders himself, they have a complica…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
January 26, 2026 at 6:10 PM
In the latest episode of A Meal of Thorns, biographer Jon Tattrie (TO LEAVE A WARRIOR BEHIND) joins to talk about Charles R. Saunders' sword-and-soul classic IMARO, and its many lives & afterlives:
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
Two books we used to talk through Frankenstein are Capitalism: A Horror Story by @thelitcritguy.bsky.social (from @horrorvanguard.bsky.social) and Skin Shows by Jack Halberstam, both excellent reference books for your horror theory library!
This week on @tendersubject.bsky.social, we are joined by comedian @feraljokes.bsky.social
and writer @raygonne.bsky.social to talk Frankenstein. We dissect the book and the 2025 film through queer and Marxist theory and get into why the film often let us down.
and writer @raygonne.bsky.social to talk Frankenstein. We dissect the book and the 2025 film through queer and Marxist theory and get into why the film often let us down.
January 27, 2026 at 7:14 PM
Two books we used to talk through Frankenstein are Capitalism: A Horror Story by @thelitcritguy.bsky.social (from @horrorvanguard.bsky.social) and Skin Shows by Jack Halberstam, both excellent reference books for your horror theory library!
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
¡Ceci n'est pas une banane république!
Glad to be back on Worker's Lit talking about this truly wild and wooly novel!
Glad to be back on Worker's Lit talking about this truly wild and wooly novel!
9/11, Hamlet, the Statue of Liberty, Segismundo, Zoroastrianism, Puerto Rican Independence, Bananas. What do these have in common? This book.
Today we are joined by @kjy1066.bsky.social of @podside-picnic.bsky.social to discuss “The United States of Banana.” By Giannina Braschi.
Listen now!
Today we are joined by @kjy1066.bsky.social of @podside-picnic.bsky.social to discuss “The United States of Banana.” By Giannina Braschi.
Listen now!
January 26, 2026 at 4:03 PM
¡Ceci n'est pas une banane république!
Glad to be back on Worker's Lit talking about this truly wild and wooly novel!
Glad to be back on Worker's Lit talking about this truly wild and wooly novel!
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
And one last thing for today: the latest edition of Critical Friends. We've moved it a week earlier in the schedule in order to include a fantastic conversation between @tristanbeiter.bsky.social's Le Guin book club about the contexts of criticism ... and the potential of the book club.
Critical Friends Episode 20: On Book Clubs
In this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, as part of our 2026 criticism special issue Tristan Beiter introduces us to his Ursula K. Le Guin book club.
strangehorizons.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:05 PM
And one last thing for today: the latest edition of Critical Friends. We've moved it a week earlier in the schedule in order to include a fantastic conversation between @tristanbeiter.bsky.social's Le Guin book club about the contexts of criticism ... and the potential of the book club.
Jon Tattrie's biography of Charles Saunders, TO LEAVE A WARRIOR BEHIND, is hot off the presses! Jon's on our latest episode to discuss IMARO, sword and soul, and Saunders' legacy:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/01/26/a...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/01/26/a...
January 26, 2026 at 12:09 PM
Jon Tattrie's biography of Charles Saunders, TO LEAVE A WARRIOR BEHIND, is hot off the presses! Jon's on our latest episode to discuss IMARO, sword and soul, and Saunders' legacy:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/01/26/a...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/01/26/a...
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
In a strange twist of fate, or maybe an augury of futures past, most of the things I’m publishing in spring are print-first or print-only. Subscribe to @clereviewbooks.bsky.social , Death Kit, and The Toe Rag to get them, and you’ll find a whole print world on top of them!
January 23, 2026 at 9:04 PM
In a strange twist of fate, or maybe an augury of futures past, most of the things I’m publishing in spring are print-first or print-only. Subscribe to @clereviewbooks.bsky.social , Death Kit, and The Toe Rag to get them, and you’ll find a whole print world on top of them!
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
This is right now! Come on in!
📢 TODAY ONLY - @ 2PM ET 📢
🗡️📜🕹️ Cameron Kunzelman talks Assassin’s Creed, history, and how the franchise explores freedom, control, and conspiracy across time.
📺 Head to www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal to join the talk! 📺
💸 Our talks are always FREE and PUBLIC. DONATE: buff.ly/3PQ2HDE
🗡️📜🕹️ Cameron Kunzelman talks Assassin’s Creed, history, and how the franchise explores freedom, control, and conspiracy across time.
📺 Head to www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal to join the talk! 📺
💸 Our talks are always FREE and PUBLIC. DONATE: buff.ly/3PQ2HDE
January 23, 2026 at 7:03 PM
This is right now! Come on in!
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
It's Ursula Le Guin's day of death. Every year, I have a lot to say and every year I quote her instead.
"The Revolution is in the individual spirit, or it is nowhere. It is for all, or it is nothing. If it is seen as having any end, it will never truly begin.
"The Revolution is in the individual spirit, or it is nowhere. It is for all, or it is nothing. If it is seen as having any end, it will never truly begin.
January 23, 2026 at 5:31 PM
It's Ursula Le Guin's day of death. Every year, I have a lot to say and every year I quote her instead.
"The Revolution is in the individual spirit, or it is nowhere. It is for all, or it is nothing. If it is seen as having any end, it will never truly begin.
"The Revolution is in the individual spirit, or it is nowhere. It is for all, or it is nothing. If it is seen as having any end, it will never truly begin.
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
Yesterday a reporter asked me for comment about Minneapolis’ opposition to ICE. I got kind of worked up and sent way more than I should have. The piece is great—it’s in my prior post. But I wanted post my comments in full here:
January 23, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Yesterday a reporter asked me for comment about Minneapolis’ opposition to ICE. I got kind of worked up and sent way more than I should have. The piece is great—it’s in my prior post. But I wanted post my comments in full here:
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
Welcome to the Imaro Book Club, reading Charles Saunder's iconic epic, Imaro!
Read alone or join the TriCon Discord to chat as you go. Then, during the con, come to a live book club session w/ Jon Tattrie to discuss the work.
Be part of upholding Saunders' legacy as a black Nova Scotian writer!
Read alone or join the TriCon Discord to chat as you go. Then, during the con, come to a live book club session w/ Jon Tattrie to discuss the work.
Be part of upholding Saunders' legacy as a black Nova Scotian writer!
January 22, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Welcome to the Imaro Book Club, reading Charles Saunder's iconic epic, Imaro!
Read alone or join the TriCon Discord to chat as you go. Then, during the con, come to a live book club session w/ Jon Tattrie to discuss the work.
Be part of upholding Saunders' legacy as a black Nova Scotian writer!
Read alone or join the TriCon Discord to chat as you go. Then, during the con, come to a live book club session w/ Jon Tattrie to discuss the work.
Be part of upholding Saunders' legacy as a black Nova Scotian writer!
ICYMI: Marisa Mercurio of HOWEVER IMPROBABLE (@marmercurio.bsky.social) joins to discuss Richard Marsh's THE BEETLE, a melodramatic Gothic horror about shape-shifting cultists and imperial anxieties that reads a bit like DRACULA's louder sibling!
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/01/12/a...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/01/12/a...
January 22, 2026 at 1:52 PM
ICYMI: Marisa Mercurio of HOWEVER IMPROBABLE (@marmercurio.bsky.social) joins to discuss Richard Marsh's THE BEETLE, a melodramatic Gothic horror about shape-shifting cultists and imperial anxieties that reads a bit like DRACULA's louder sibling!
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/01/12/a...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2026/01/12/a...
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
I listen to a few podcasts going through individual writers’ work - Re-Reading Wolfe, Eight Days of Diane Wynne Jones etc. wondering if people have recs for similar, ideally with 2+ regular presenters with a good chemistry.
January 22, 2026 at 10:05 AM
I listen to a few podcasts going through individual writers’ work - Re-Reading Wolfe, Eight Days of Diane Wynne Jones etc. wondering if people have recs for similar, ideally with 2+ regular presenters with a good chemistry.
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
to distract from the horrors, why not a podcast? WE HAVE A NEW ONE and it's a banger.
this week we talk with the astonishingly smart and fun @byzantienne.bsky.social about doing history and writing fiction, empathy and emotion, and 11th century best century. enjoy! #medievalsky
pca.st/2zd3kmwg
this week we talk with the astonishingly smart and fun @byzantienne.bsky.social about doing history and writing fiction, empathy and emotion, and 11th century best century. enjoy! #medievalsky
pca.st/2zd3kmwg
Space Opera and Byzantine History with Arkady Martine
We go on a journey in this episode. Arkady Martine (AnnaLinden Weller) and Prof. Gabriele talk here about telling stories, about getting at complicated lives, and about the allure of empires (even…
pca.st
January 21, 2026 at 2:48 PM
to distract from the horrors, why not a podcast? WE HAVE A NEW ONE and it's a banger.
this week we talk with the astonishingly smart and fun @byzantienne.bsky.social about doing history and writing fiction, empathy and emotion, and 11th century best century. enjoy! #medievalsky
pca.st/2zd3kmwg
this week we talk with the astonishingly smart and fun @byzantienne.bsky.social about doing history and writing fiction, empathy and emotion, and 11th century best century. enjoy! #medievalsky
pca.st/2zd3kmwg
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
Going through the show and working on pulling out some clips to share! Starting with our very first episode, so long ago: @danhartland.bsky.social on THE SCAR and the (retrospectively premature) demise of the New Weird...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2024/07/01/a...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2024/07/01/a...
January 20, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Going through the show and working on pulling out some clips to share! Starting with our very first episode, so long ago: @danhartland.bsky.social on THE SCAR and the (retrospectively premature) demise of the New Weird...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2024/07/01/a...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2024/07/01/a...
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
Calling published SFF authors!
I’m researching the work lives & well-being of science fiction and fantasy authors for my doctoral dissertation, and I'm looking for participants!
If you’re a published SFF author interested in participating, then DM me and I can provide details
I’m researching the work lives & well-being of science fiction and fantasy authors for my doctoral dissertation, and I'm looking for participants!
If you’re a published SFF author interested in participating, then DM me and I can provide details
January 20, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Calling published SFF authors!
I’m researching the work lives & well-being of science fiction and fantasy authors for my doctoral dissertation, and I'm looking for participants!
If you’re a published SFF author interested in participating, then DM me and I can provide details
I’m researching the work lives & well-being of science fiction and fantasy authors for my doctoral dissertation, and I'm looking for participants!
If you’re a published SFF author interested in participating, then DM me and I can provide details
Going through the show and working on pulling out some clips to share! Starting with our very first episode, so long ago: @danhartland.bsky.social on THE SCAR and the (retrospectively premature) demise of the New Weird...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2024/07/01/a...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2024/07/01/a...
January 20, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Going through the show and working on pulling out some clips to share! Starting with our very first episode, so long ago: @danhartland.bsky.social on THE SCAR and the (retrospectively premature) demise of the New Weird...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2024/07/01/a...
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2024/07/01/a...
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
Today is the first anniversary of my launching the Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series, which started off with this essay on Peter Beagle's THE LAST UNICORN. I'm really proud of this one, in which I highlight how we might read this wonderful novel in the contexts of late 1960s America.
Ballantine Adult Fantasy: Reading “The Last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle
The first essay in Ballantine Adult Fantasy: A Reading Series, which looks at Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn (1968): a supremely beautiful, memorable, and critically energizing masterwork of fa…
seanguynes.com
January 19, 2026 at 11:44 PM
Today is the first anniversary of my launching the Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series, which started off with this essay on Peter Beagle's THE LAST UNICORN. I'm really proud of this one, in which I highlight how we might read this wonderful novel in the contexts of late 1960s America.
Reposted by A Meal of Thorns
Finally listened to this and A Meal of Thorns never disappoints!
Great conversation on this (the?) founding text of dark academia. Particularly enjoyed the discussion on the portrayal of the arts, and of magic as mechanistic in many texts?
Sadly, no talk of flowing scarves.
Go listen!
Great conversation on this (the?) founding text of dark academia. Particularly enjoyed the discussion on the portrayal of the arts, and of magic as mechanistic in many texts?
Sadly, no talk of flowing scarves.
Go listen!
If we can't comprehensively define dark academia, we can at least try to figure out the vibe: @chloroformtea.bsky.social is back on the show to discuss Donna Tartt's THE SECRET HISTORY, with many forays against its more speculative inheritors & borrowers!
A Meal of Thorns 39- THE SECRET HISTORY with Roseanna Pendlebury
We’re tracking down the wellspring of “dark academia” in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, and plucking on threads that stretch out to current fantasy and science fiction li…
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org
January 19, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Finally listened to this and A Meal of Thorns never disappoints!
Great conversation on this (the?) founding text of dark academia. Particularly enjoyed the discussion on the portrayal of the arts, and of magic as mechanistic in many texts?
Sadly, no talk of flowing scarves.
Go listen!
Great conversation on this (the?) founding text of dark academia. Particularly enjoyed the discussion on the portrayal of the arts, and of magic as mechanistic in many texts?
Sadly, no talk of flowing scarves.
Go listen!