Be The Serpent – Details, episodes & analysis

And here you thought that the Twitter announcement on April Fool's Day about our upcoming shark episode WAS the joke! No! The joke is on us because we had to watch Sharknado for this prank! Also Jaws and Deep Blue Sea.

What We’re Into Lately

If They Haven’t Learned Your Name by silentwalrus Succession The Big Bad Wolf series by Charlie Adhara The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon “A Cornstalk Fiddle” by notbecauseofvictories “To Call the Darkness Home” by scioscribe The Heir to the House of Prince by Ada_Lovelaced & elph13 “Aurelius (to be called) Magnus” by Victoria Goddard “Portrait of a Wide Seas Islander” by Victoria Goddard Black Sails Other Stuff We Mentioned Captain America: The Winter Soldier The Thick of It Diana Wynne Jones (author) Dan Brown (author) The Devil Went Down to Georgia (And Then Went Down on Johnny) series by notbecauseofvictories Justified The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard The Chant series by Alexandra Rowland Alien Overinvested podcast Overinvested’s Jaws episode Titanic Jurassic World Jurassic Park Star Wars Watergate scandal Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley The Day After Tomorrow 2012 Sharks In Venice The Meg The “Cows With Guns” YouTube video Freya’s Twitter: @freyamarkse A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske A Restless Truth by Freya Marske (sequel to A Marvellous Light, coming out Nov 1st, 2022) Pre-order for A Restless Truth Macey’s Twitter: @englishmace “heat death” poem by Jennifer Mace “Silk & Steel” short story anthology (featuring Jennifer Mace & Freya Marske) Alex’s Twitter: @_alexrowland A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland (coming out Aug 30th, 2022) Alex’s website store: alexandrarowland.net/store. The infamous “sharks are smooth as hell” shitpost

Content Warnings

Gore (in every tentpole & throughout episode discussion) Body horror (in episode discussion) Sexual harassment (in Sharknado) Misogyny (discussed)

Transcription

The transcript of this episode is available here. Thanks to our fabulous scribes for their work!

On this week's episode, we have a two-hour special to answer questions sent in by our darling listeners! Thank you to everyone who has been with us through the last four years! The Great Hiatus begins now, but we will return for at least one more episode next year! Get hype!

What We’re Into Lately

My Name 

Beyond Evil

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

All the Feels by Olivia Dade

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

And This, Your Living Kiss by opal_bullets

The Courtier’s Love Affair (and Other Stories) by tridenture

Harlots

Bridgerton 

The Living and the Dead 

Macey’s NaNoWriMo Project: The Resurrection Chalice

In the Realms of Gold by Victoria Goddard

Sword Dance trilogy by AJ Demas

Plum Duff by Victoria Goddard

Alex’s NaNoWriMo Project: Some by Virtue Fall

Other Stuff We’ve Mentioned

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

Supernatural

Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty

Merlin

A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland

The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian

Silk and Steel Our Opinions Are Correct Tales from the Trunk Fated Mates Heaving Bosoms Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Fansplaining The Fantasy Inn Breaking the Glass Slipper Overinvested Campaign Skyjacks Tor.com The Rec Center Pinboard Dragon Age: Inquisition Fantasia in D Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Allegro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart BtS episode 6 “Cross Your Stars and Hope to Bi” BtS Special Episode Strange Horizons Miss Congeniality BtS episode 80 “Extravaganza” My Hero Academia Yesterday Upon the Stair by PitViperOfDoom BtS episode 98 “[SPOOKY NOISES]” “Bakugou and Todoroki’s Foolproof 5-Step Plan to Fuck with Mineta Minoru” by Anubis_2701 Naruto The Witcher (video game) The Witcher (TV) Person of Interest (2011)

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin The Ones Who Stay And Fight by N.K. Jemisin Singing my Sister Down by Margo Lanagan The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Yuri!!! in Space series by Fahye Choir of Lies by Alexandra Rowland A Sword On Two Fingers by Freya Marske (unpublished) Viable Paradise (writers’ workshop) Sam Hawke (Australian author) Jenn Lyons (Author) E. Jade Lomax (Author) The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins Welcome to Night Vale podcast The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard astolat Macey’s Frozen Meat Salesman Segment Macey’s misspent youth Sutton cottage (from A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske) Stars in the marsh (from A Choir of Lies by Alexandra Rowland)

Transcription

The transcript of this episode is available here. We'd like to take this moment to give an extra-special thank you to our team of scribes, who are amazing and meticulous and dedicated and extremely hard-working. Scribes, thank you, thank you, thank you. You're all amazing.

On this week's episode we’re discussing classics rewritten by women! The tentpoles are Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott, The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo, and Beowulf, translated by Maria Dahvana Headley.

What We’re Into Lately

Subtle Blood by KJ Charles For the Wolf by Hannah F. Whitten Luca “Choosing” by Susan Taitel The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes Victoria Goddard’s books: Tales of the Nine Worlds series Greenwing & Dart series

Other Stuff We Mentioned

Will Darling Adventures by KJ Charles Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare The Good Place (see Janet with a cactus behind her back) Moana Carmina Burana (text) Carmina Burana (cantata by Orff) Hamilton “Saltwashed” by Jennifer Mace The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Empresses in the Palace 

The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger Rule 63 of the internet Persona 5 videogame Peter Darling by Austin Chant Peter Pan by JM Barrie Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis E. Jade Lomax’s fanfic reinterpretations of The Susan Problem The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis Genderswap in fanfiction Mad Max: Fury Road Atomic Blonde

For Next Time Wicked the musical

Content Warnings Domestic abuse in The Chosen and the Beautiful Warfare and gore in Beowulf and Unconquerable Sun Discussion of trans and nonbinary erasure

Transcription

The transcript for this episode can be found here.  Huge thanks to our amazing team of scribes!!

On this week's episode, we are once again answering YOUR burning questions, dear listeners!

What We’re Into Lately

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

Bareknuckle Bastards series by Sarah MacLean

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis

The Untamed fanfic

“vinculum” by Skadiseven

Heaven Has A Road But No One Walks It by Silvestris

The Return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard

History Channel “documentaries”

Tim’s Vermeer

The Witcher

Other Stuff We Mentioned

Get Out

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Good Omens (TV show)

Nirvana in Fire

Famous Fanfic Author Fahye

Down to Agincourt series by seperis

Word of Honor

Isavalta series by Sarah Zettel

Naruto

Persona 5

Fic author Maldoror_Chant

Feminine Pursuits series (The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics) by Olivia Waite

The Covert Captain by Jeannelle M. Ferreira

Proper English by KJ Charles 

Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan 

How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole 

Once Ghosted Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole 

Codex Writers Forum

The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett

Tremontaine series by Ellen Kushner et al. 

”Glitter & Gold” by Barns Courtney The Queen’s Gambit X-Men Teen Wolf Dragon Age: Inquisition Ranma ½ Criminal Minds you wait and you wonder who’ll take on your odds by paperclipbitch A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

For Next Time

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

Content Warnings

N/A Transcription

The transcript of this episode is available here. Highest of fives to our wonderful team of scribes!

 On today’s episode, we're finally getting around to doing our Diana Wynne Jones Episode! Well, sort of -- it's not exactly a deep-dive. Our tentpoles this week are Howl’s Moving Castle, Howl’s Moving Castle, and two Howl’s Moving Castle fanfics — “Hearts and Their Consumption” by setepenre_set and “Second Time Lucky” by labellementeuse.

What We’re Into Lately

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

Sistersong by Lucy Holland

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland

Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott

Persona 5 fanfic

Word of Honor

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

Other Stuff We Mentioned

The Great British Bake Off

Imagine Me & You

“The Bonny Swans”

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

The West Wing

Moana

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis 

Ponyo

The Little Mermaid Spirited Away

Snow White

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Children’s author Frances Hardinge

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre miniseries

Good Omens TV series

Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones Tam Lin Scottish ballad Castle In the Air by Diana Wynne Jones Aladdin folktale Tales of the Arabian Nights Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien Labyrinth Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

Be the Serpent Episode 36: There’s No Place Like Home Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones

The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones Archer’s Goon by Diana Wynne Jones Eight days of Luke by Diana Wynne Jones

For Next Time

Episode 90: Extravaganza!

Content Warnings

Gore / Violence - Hearts and Their Consumption by setepenre_set.

Transcription

The transcript of this episode is available here. Thank you to our fabulous team of scribes for their hard work, as always :)

On today's episode we are talking about dystopian stratified societies and "layered cities". Our tentpoles this week are An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, the Snowpiercer movie (the original one), and “To the Victor, The Spoil” by Annakovsky.

What We’re Into Lately

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone

marigolds by colbub

Avatar: The Last Airbender fic

Rogue One fic

Hikaru no Go

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Imperial Coroner

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

Other Stuff We Mentioned

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

“Dixit Dominus” by George Frideric Handel

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan

Dragon Ball

Persona 5

Embers by Vathara

The Untamed

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean

Parasite

Space Sweepers 

This post by missellewoods

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Lara Elena Donnelly’s Amberlough series 

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

Avatar

The Unbroken  by C. L. Clark

“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing” by Shiv Ramdas

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin

"Victory Condition" by astolat

Les Mis (musical)

Les Miserables (disambiguation)

For Next Time

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Content Warnings

Sexual assault, racism, and slavery in An Unkindness of Ghosts

Violence, child harm in Snowpiercer

Sex trafficking, attempted suicide, and adult/minor relationship in “To the Victor, The Spoil”

General warnings for discussion in the episode: the spectre of pedophilia, cannibalism, classism and prejudice (as well as all above listed warnings from the tentpoles)

Transcription

The transcript of this episode can be found here. Thank you to our team of scribes for their great work!

On this week's episode, we're discussing those models of decorum and tranquility: Games, and game-adjacent narratives! The tentpoles this week are the C-drama version of Hikaru no Go, the film Jumanji: Into the Jungle, and the fanfic you wait and you wonder who’ll take on your odds by paperclipbitch.

What We’re Into Lately

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrum

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter

Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling

marigolds by colbub

The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett 

Other Stuff We Mentioned

The Bachelor franchise

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

The Queen’s Gambit

Chess (musical)

The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett

Jumanji

Aladdin

E.T.

The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi

Labyrinth

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

DIE by Kieron Gillen & Stephanie Hans

Casino Royale

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Alex’s Fun Facts History of Games Corner

Kriegsspiel game

Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People, and Fantastic Adventure from Chess to Role-Playing Games by Jon Peterson

Checkmate by Naadi

Yu-Gi-Oh

Battle Royale

The Hunger Games

League of Legends

Hercules

The Grandfather Clock by Anthony Hill

For Next Time

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Content Warnings

None

Transcription

The transcript for this episode can be found here. Thanks to our most excellent scribes for their hard work!

On this week's episode, we're discussing jobs, occupations, and vocations, both fantastical and mundane despite the fantastical settings.  The tentpoles for this episode are Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef by Cassandra Khaw, Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots, and “Always Near” by afrai.

What We’re Into Lately

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark 

How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole

Hollow Empire by Sam Hawke

The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi 

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Hiding in the Leaves by aventria & iluxia (Naruto fanfic)

Legend of Yun Qian

Scarlet Heart

Other Stuff We Mentioned

Jumanji

Labyrinth

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

 "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Naruto

After Working At Google, I’ll Never Let Myself Love A Job Again (Op-Ed, NYT)

My Life as a Background Slytherin (webcomic)

Avengers movies

Superhero Damage Insurance (TikTok)

Rogue One

Star Wars franchise

The Mandalorian

Be the Serpent Space Sweepers episode

The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson

Jessica Jones

October Daye series by Seanan McGuire

Lost Girl

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone

Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold

John Scalzi (author)

Honor Harrington series by David Weber

We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson

Catalyst by Jennifer Mace

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

My Next Life as a Villainess 

“Period Piece” by thimblefullofdespair

for a hundred vision and revisions by aventria, iluxia

Merlin TV show

Macey’s Fun Facts Tech Job Corner

An Example of Bad Radio

The Story Engine storytelling game

For Next Time

Hikaru no Go (2020 live action Chinese drama)

Content Warnings

Slavery (in “Always Near” + episode discussion)

Medical trauma & body horror (in Hench)

Cannibalism and gore (in Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef + episode discussion)

Transcription

The transcript for this episode is available here. Thanks as always to our fabulous team of scribes!

On today's episode, we're getting unseasonably spooky as we talk about Gothic novels! The tentpoles for this episode are Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the film Crimson Peak, and the Untamed fanfic Imago by astrophyllite.

What We’re Into Lately

Word of Honor

The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta

Die, Volume 1 by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Don’t Look Back series by acuteneurosis

ShuoshuoChinese

Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management by Alexander Elder

Untamed fanfic, as always

Other Stuff We Mentioned

The Wicked + the Divine by Kieron Gillen

Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen

American Psycho

Tim Burton’s Alice movies

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

The Untamed

Under The Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng

A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

Bluebeard folktale

Beauty and the Beast folktale

East of Sun and West of the Moon folktale

Eros and Psyche folktale

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Jane Eyre miniseries (with Ruth Wilson)

‘Restraint and Revelation: or, The Necromancer of Yiling’ (Erotic Gothic Novelist!Lan Wangji)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey TV movie

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

Be the Serpent Episode 36: There's No Place Like Home

Addams Family Values

For Next Time

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

Content Warnings

Violence, gore, and incest in all three tentpoles and the episode discussion.

Transcription

The transcript for this episode is available here. Thank you to our beloved team of scribes for their hard work!

On this week's episode, we're talking about postapocalyptic fiction, specifically stories set in the wake of a climate apocalypse. The tentpoles are Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse, the fanfic "Moebius" by AuroraNova and Mad Max: Fury Road.

What We’re Into Lately

The House of Niccolò series by Dorothy Dunnett

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Parks and Recreation

The World Figure Skating Championship

A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge

love, in fire and blood by cicer

Practical Creativity by Raph Koster 

Other Stuff We Mentioned

Be the Serpent, Episode 3: Apocalypse Sometime, Maybe Next Tuesday

Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge 

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge 

Be the Serpent, Episode 38: A Hugo Award Special — The Novels of 2018

“Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time” by K.M. Szpara

The Old Guard

Atomic Blonde

Studio Ghibli movies

James Bond movies

“Peer Gynt” by Grieg

The first Mad Max movie

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

 Mass Effect games

The ending of Mass Effect 3

Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha

Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

The Day After Tomorrow

Who Should Live In Flooded Old New York? by Brooke Bolander

Embers by Vathara

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

Lotus Blue by Cat Sparks

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

The Sea and Summer (aka Drowning Towers) by George Turner 

‘The Fall of Civilizations’ podcast

How We Get to Carbon Zero by Bianca Nogrady

The Expanse 

Space Sweepers

Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson

Macey’s Fun Facts Bronze Age Mediterranean Corner

1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline

The most famous and meme-able trader to ever live, Ea-nasir

For Next Time

Crimson Peak film

Content Warnings

Gore and implied sexual assault in Mad Max: Fury Road Gore and (urban fantasy standard) violence in Trail of Lightning Transcription

The transcript for this episode is available here. Thank you as always to our brilliant team of scribes!!