A critical book club from the Ancillary Review of Books. Host Jake Casella Brookins invites writers, scholars, and critics to discuss thorny works of science fiction, fantasy, and other speculative genres.
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A Meal of Thorns 48- READY PLAYER ONE with Matthew Leggatt
Monday, April 20, 2026 • Duration 01:10:39
The pleasures and perils of nostalgia & reference, the importance of identifying real play versus gamified labor, and whether the internet used to be fun: Matthew Leggat of the Utopian & Dystopian Fictions podcast joins to discuss Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One.
A Meal of Thorns 47- CLOUD ATLAS with Abigail Nussbaum
Monday, April 6, 2026 • Duration 01:10:53
A nested novel that very pointedly bridges the litfic/specfic divide, David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas takes some big swings at tricky topics. Abigail Nussbaum returns to the podcast with some thoughts on how the novel has aged, and how it’s still relevant to genre thinking today.
A Meal of Thorns 38- VENOMOUS LUMPSUCKER with Cameron Kunzelman
Monday, December 1, 2025 • Duration 01:23:21
Academic, critic, and prolific podcaster Cameron Kunzelman joins for a far-ranging discussion about how climate fiction, science fiction, and personal and political connections to the environment intersect. Bonus hog sighting.
A Meal of Thorns 37 – THE HISTORIAN with Sean Guynes
Monday, November 17, 2025 • Duration 01:27:15
Vampire scholar, science fiction studies editor, and ARB co-founder Sean Guynes joins to discuss Kostova’s 2005 historical vampire thriller. We both have fairly negative opinions of the book, but it did lead us to talk about what historical thrillers are (or are not) theorizing, vampire novels we like more, and much else besides.
A Meal of Thorns 36 – UNDER THE EYE OF THE BIG BIRD with Eleanor McAdam
Monday, November 3, 2025 • Duration 01:04:24
Writer, scholar, and academic organizer E.F. McAdam joins to talk about human evolution & extinction, AI, pseudo-science, and much more in Kawakami’s very strange and really quite funny far-future novel.
A Meal of Thorns 35 – 60 Stories with Timothy Moore
Monday, October 20, 2025 • Duration 01:24:39
Barthelme’s surreal, post-modern writing was massively influential for the short story market and for evolving conceptions of literary realism and irrealism, but he’s not often discussed in speculative circles. Author & teacher Timothy Moore is on to help rectify that: we dig into some of our favorites from this landmark connection, with lots of spitballing about the limits of interpretation.
A Meal of Thorns 34 – BURNING BRIGHT with Ursula Whitcher
Monday, October 6, 2025 • Duration 53:13
Combining cyberpunk, space opera, and a strong interest in artistic creation and gaming, Burning Bright is an unusual SF novel from a very specific era. Author Ursula Whitcher joins us to talk about the novel’s many strange facets, its fascination with endings, and its connections to developments elsewhere in gaming and science fiction.
A Meal of Thorns 33 – THE FIFTH SEASON with Joy Sanchez-Taylor
Tuesday, September 23, 2025 • Duration 01:03:57
Fresh off the release of her book Diverse Futures: Science Fiction and Author of Color, Joy Sanchez-Taylor joins the podcast to discuss Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, a landmark book in SFF. Lots to talk about here: in terms of how the entire trilogy is tackling ideas about race and oppression, Jemisin’s approach to structure and genre categories, and The Fifth Season’s significance and ongoing legacy.
A Meal of Thorns 32 – AUTHORITY with Zachary Gillan
Monday, September 8, 2025 • Duration 01:10:47
Picking the second book as an entry point into Area X, weird scholar and normal ARB editor Zachary Gillan is on the pod to talk about Jeff VanderMeer’s work and how the New Weird is more than just ecological anxiety. (Though it might be that, too.)
Casella heads to Seattle for the World Science Fiction Convention, reporting on his travels and the convention. Includes interviews with Worldcon guests & conrunners, thoughts on the Hugos and the event, and, of course, a quick coffee report.
Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris, translated by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox (from Jean-Michel Jasiensko’s French translation) and Bill Johnston (from the Polish)
Boris & Arkady Strugatsky’s Roadside Picnic, translated by Olena Bormashenko
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