The Joy Factory Weekly - Issue #7 (5/24/2021)
Alright! You've got your tickets! Let's get to this!
Another week has gone by, and here I am giving you updates on all the things! The past week has been pretty eventful, actually.
First, I accepted a tenure track position here at Bemidji State University, where I’ve been teaching the Digital Writing minor and other courses since 2018. This is probably not a surprise to some, but given the state of the academic market for English folks, it’ll come as a surprise and relief for others. Tenure track positions are hard to come by these days, and while I was kind of a shoe-in for this position to begin with, the fact that I finally got one makes me “one of the lucky ones.” Of course, there’s still time for everyone else, even if the number of positions showing up have begun to dwindle down for this academic cycle. I want to be hopeful for everyone, but I also know there aren’t enough jobs for all of the folks with PhDs in English. *sob*
Second, I’ve officially been placed as head of academic programming at Chicon8 (Chicago’s upcoming Worldcon). It’s still early days, of course, but I’m planning to build an inclusive and pragmatic list of program items. One thing I’d like to do is put together panel conversations focused on the humanities and social sciences which can help other scholars of all stripes study SF/F/H. More on that later, though!
Third, I also became part of Capricon’s programming team for a second year running. I swear, I’m not trying to insert myself into Chicago fandom from Bemidji, but I’m just likable over there or something. This year will be in-person (or so we hope), and that will change the dynamics of the con a bit. Again, it’s early days, so I don’t have a lot of plans just yet, and those will be deeply dependent on the head programming agent!
And finally, here are some of the things I’ve been up to elsewhere in the world:
Over at The Skiffy and Fanty Show, you can hear me in conversation with Brent Lambert on David Anthony Durham’s Acacia. We had a great conversation about this book!
I recently posted a tweet on the tendency of some to confuse “fiction” with “reality,” and it’s gained a bit of traction. Scream at me if you want to hear more of my thoughts on this!
Over at The Joy Factory Monthly, I hosted a conversation on the joy of horror with Tonia Ransom of Nightlight Pod! If you haven’t listened to it yet, you really should. It was a good one!
Now with updates done, we can turn to...an interview?
It’s time for yet another fantastic interview! This week, I’m joined by author and friend Stina Leicht to talk about her latest novel, Persephone Station, genre hopping, worldbuilding in space opera settings, and so much more. I hope you enjoy it!
Here we go!
Hello, and welcome to this Joy Factory Interview! Thanks for agreeing to join me on this short adventure! The first question will always be an evil question: If you could recommend one book not written by you (in any genre) that everyone should read, what would you recommend and why?
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood because apparently people need to be reminded how much of women's rights depend upon body autonomy.
This question is a two-parter! One of the interesting things for me as a friend who has watched your career since the beginning is to see you just casually wander from a kind of historical urban fantasy in Of Blood and Honey (2011; Night Shade Books) to epic flintlock fantasy in The Malorum Gates series (2015-17; Saga Press) to, most recently, high octane space opera in Persephone Station (2021; Saga Press). First, I want to ask about your writing inspiration. Where do the greatest influences for your work come from, whether they're writers, filmmakers, cute cats, sentient toasters, wild dreams, or elsewhere?
Most often my influences are other writers. For the Fey and the Fallen duology, that was mainly Adrian McKinty's novels--although, he wasn't the only NI writer I read. For The Malorum Gates duology, it was primarily Patrick O' Brian and Bernard Cornwell. (I'm a big fan of Patrick O'Brian's series, by the way.) For Persephone Station, that would be a combination of other writers' works and a few films. C.J. Cherryh is an influence and so is Iain Banks' Culture series. As for films the biggest influence is Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven (multiple incarnations), and Tombstone.
The next part of the question: What about exploring different genre styles and forms appeals to you as a writer, reader, or fellow superdork? Or, what is pulling you from genre to genre?
Actors aren't the only creatives that have to worry about being type-cast. Mind you, it's perfectly fine if a writer only wants to write one thing. The only problem in doing so is that literature goes through phases. Sometimes genres go out of fashion. If you only write one type of story and that genre becomes less popular, it makes selling your work more difficult. I kind of want to stick around, you know? That's why I never wanted to stay an Urban Fantasy writer. As it happens, my publisher (at that time) said that they wouldn't be interested in more Northern Irish novels because I was swiftly approaching a more than a little problematic period of Irish history. (It was hard enough getting novels set in 1970s NI published.) Therefore, I moved to Epic Fantasy. When Blackthorne didn't sell all that well my editor suggested I write Science Fiction.
Ultimately, exploring is fun. (Most of my short stories tend to be more Horror than SF&F.) And having range as a writer is not a bad thing. You're less tempted to repeat yourself.
Given that all of your novels up to this point have been variations of fantasy, what was the most difficult part of constructing an epic space opera in Persephone Station? And where did you have the most fun?
I've always wanted to write SF, but the prospect was intimidating. As sexist as Fantasy can be, at least Fantasy gives the appearance of being more open to women. SF is kind of a Good Old Boy's Club--this in spite of quite a few women writing great SF since forever. I've also got the impression that a background in real science is absolutely necessary. My degree is in animation/art, not science. So, while I've always read SF I didn't feel I could write it. Merely thinking about having to learn All The Science and Future Tech made the prospect of writing SF look like cramming for an important college final exam. Mind you, it never seems to matter to "the only SF that matters is Hard SF" crowd that Star Wars--arguably the most popular SF property ever--doesn't contain the tiniest bit of actual science. Ultimately, I decided I could take on Science for my novels one subject at a time. Hey, if the author of The Martian can write an entire novel focused on growing potatoes on Mars and still be considered Quality Hard SF, why the hell worry about not having All The Science of Everything? So, I chose Artificial Intelligence as Persephone Station's science fact focus and decided not to worry about the rest.
Again, not that any of that matters because Star Wars is Science Fiction and involves zero real science.
My goal for Persephone Station was to create old skool SF for women and other non-male genders. I wanted a team of women and other non-male genders because men are portrayed on teams all the time. Other genders? Not so much. So, I enjoyed the hell out of the way The Ladies fit together as a team. Everyone had their expertise, they knew and loved one another. They were not just friends but close friends. They were Ride or Die. Women are so rarely depicted that way--unless it has to do with a kid. The other fun part? Writing powered armor/mech battles and space ship chases. That was a total blast.
Largely, I wrote the whole of the novel for the fun of it. I felt that was something everyone would need a year into a pandemic: FUN. I know I have.
Let's talk about...criminals! Persephone Station pits a badass crew of mercs against an interstellar corporation. It's Cowboy Bebop meets Space Sweepers! What excited you most about exploring this dynamic in this novel? Did you see yourself engaging in that age-old SF tradition of commenting on the present?
Of course, I was commenting on the present. It's kind of SF's job. Normally, a certain amount of exaggeration is used. And I did that. However, I started writing Persephone Station in 2017. We were only starting to understand how damaging late stage Capitalism is. It wasn't until the book came out that the present basically caught up with me. Anyway, I am happy no one accused me of creating a Twirly Moustache Corp. That might have been a risk in 2001.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoy characters that are a bit scruffy ethically speaking but do their best to do the right thing. It's kind of a theme for me. I suspect most people can identify with that. Or maybe that's just my Chaotic Good showing?
If you could have your dream cast for Persephone station, who would play the lead? Go on. Dream!
I've always seen Angel as Zoe Saldana. Sukyi? Rosario Dawson. I'd be thrilled to death for Ruth Negga to play Lou. And I firmly believe that Angela Bassett would make an amazingly amazing Enid Crow.
Thanks for answering these questions. Now for our ending and quite silly question! While on a flight across the pond, you awaken to discover that your plane has landed on a mysterious island. The crew and passengers are gone (but they left a note, so they're OK). There are three things on the island with you: one object of your choice, one book of your choice, and one nemesis of your choice. What are your three things?
Hmmmmm. One book: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. One object: my new laptop (because I could continue writing!) And my nemesis? Chris Hemsworth's Thor. (No one said my nemesis couldn't be a fictitious hottie.)
Stina Leicht writes science fiction, horror, and fantasy novels and short stories. Her latest novel, Persephone Station is a Feminist Space Opera that debuted January 2021 via Saga Press. She was a finalist for the Crawford Award in 2011 and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer in 2011 and 2012. She has also written four Fantasy novels: Cold Iron, Blackthorne, Of Blood and Honey, And Blue Skies from Pain. Currently, she is working on another SF novel.
It’s the last week of May, and like most “last weeks of a month,” it’s a light one for exciting new books. This week also leans heavily into the non-fiction department, which was a bit unexpected.
That said, here are some of the books published between May 24 and May 31 that you should check out!
On the Origin of Species and Other Stories by Bo-Young Kim (Kaya Press; May 25, 2021)
Version Zero by David Yoon (G.P. Putnam’s Sons; May 25, 2021)
A Diasporic Mythography: Myth, Legend and Memory in the Literature of the Indian Diaspora by Pooja M. Biswas (Luna Press Publishing; May 25, 2021)
Ecocritical Geopolitics: Popular culture and environmental discourse by Elena dell’Agnese (Routledge; May 27, 2021)
The Ethos of Digital Environments: Technology, Literary Theory, and Philosophy edited by Susanna Lindberg and Hanna-Riikka Roine (Routledge; May 28, 2021)
New Ecological Realisms: Post-Apocalyptic Fiction and Contemporary Theory by Monika Kaup (Edinburgh University Press; May 31, 2021)
You’ve probably already heard me talk about how much I love Bo-Young Kim’s work. I’m Waiting for You and Other Stories is one of my favorite books of 2021, and so it goes without saying that I’m equally excited about On the Origin of Species and Other Stories. Bo-Young Kim is an incredible writer who dedicated so much energy into exploring concepts at length and with a flare of the strange and wondrous that really makes the mind spin about. You need to read both collections, to be honest…
Meanwhile, the only other fiction book here is Yoon’s Version Zero. Here, I think Yoon approaches head-on some of the problems in the Silicon Valley tech industry -- particularly the “don’t ask questions or you’ll get fired” problem. I’m glad to see this being explored across a range of genres (this one is a thriller), and I’m hopeful this will be a particular good book!
On the on-fiction side, we have some pretty intense works. First is Biswas’ critically important work on myth and legend in the Indian diaspora. It explores how diaspora writers use these frameworks to connect back to India proper and makes some interesting arguments about myth-making and more. It’s definitely worth checking out if that area of literary studies interests you. Additionally, there are two ecology-oriented books: Kaup’s New Ecological Realisms and dell’Agnese’s Ecocritical Geopolitics. Both examine pop culture narratives and their impact on discourse and theory. Naturally, the climate change fiction nerd in me is curious how these will influence examinations of writers such as Tobias Buckell, Jeff VanderMeer, and Premee Mohamed. Lastly, there’s a collection by Lindberg and Roine, which looks at the ethical dimensions of contemporary digital tech, including examines of the meaning of truth, morality, and more. As someone deeply invested in teaching courses which challenge students to question the structure of their society, I’m hopeful there’s some work here that will be useful!
And there you have it! Books! You’re welcome...
Now on to...a movie about a dragon?
When you’re a kid, you don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about the historical basis for the narratives in the fantasy films you grew to love. It’s all about the anthropomorphic Robin Hood figures, talking parrots and genies, flying beds and walking suits of armor, an astronomically large collection of Dalmatians, or a magical cartoon dragon who roasts apples for his child companion. That describes much of my early experiences with Pete’s Dragon (1977), which saw Disney attempting to recreate the live-action-and-cartoon musical magic some thirteen years after Mary Poppins. It’s a film about a little boy and his magical dragon, about a small New England seaside town, about larger-than-life hillbilly villains, and about familiar Disney things like the power of family (even found family) and even the “value” of children.
Value would normally have an obvious meaning here. Something like “hey, we should listen to kids because what they have to say matters,” for example. And Disney certainly has that here. Pete (Sean Marshall), the lively redheaded boy who is taken in by lighthouse keepers Nora (Helen Reddy) and Lampie (Mickey Rooney) gets his fair share of moments to remind the adults around him that what he thinks does matter -- though other adults, such as the strict and draconian schoolteacher, Miss Taylor (Jane Kean), find little of value in the words of children. Yet, it’s the other value that I found particularly shocking upon rewatching the film for this feature.
The central premise of Pete’s Dragon involves the titular character escaping from the Gogans, a group of cruel, extremely dirty farm folk who are led by matriarch Lena and who have purchased Pete for use on their farm -- there’s even a song about it (“Bill of Sale”). Helping him on his journey is a dragon named Elliott (voiced by Charlie Callas). Pursued mercilessly by the Gogans, Pete makes his way to the fictional town of Passamaquoddy (though there is a bay and an indigenous group with that name) and is taken in by Lampie -- the town drunk and lighthouse keeper -- and his daughter, Nora -- whose fiancé, Paul, was lost at sea and is presumed dead. Meanwhile, traveling charlatan Dr. Terminus (Jim Dale) and his alcoholic assistant Hoagy (Red Buttons) roll into town and once more woo the townsfolk with their nonsense health remedies. When they discover that Elliott is actually real, they hatch a plot to capture him and convert him into a lucrative (and finally legitimate) sea of health remedies. Intermixed are a series of utterly delightful songs, which you can listen to on Spotify (and you should listen to them because they are, as I said, utterly delightful). Most folks also don’t know that it is based on a short story by Seton I. Miller and S.S. Field (“Pete’s Dragon and the U.S.A. (Forever After)”) which Disney optioned in 1957.
Coming back to this film as an adult has considerably changed my perspective on Pete’s Dragon. Before, it was a light hearted and fun movie involving dragon shenanigans and some of my favorite things in the world: the ocean, roasting things on fire, and fun musical numbers. Now, well, it’s still light hearted to a degree, but the darkness lingering in the background is such that it’s a wonder the movie didn’t terrify me. Dr. Terminus and Hoagy, for example, sing an entire song about brutally murdering, chopping, and grinding up Elliott (“Every Little Piece”) -- but with smiles! There’s such glee in their performance that one becomes infected with it. And how can you really dislike Hoagy here? Red Buttons is positively delightful in the role. Sure, he may be following in Dr. Terminus’ footsteps, tricking unsuspecting townsfolk out of their hard earned money in exchange for nonsense and, with a bit of coercion, partaking in a particularly gruesome crime (if one could call it that), but he sings those lines -- “can you hear that jingle jangle song (oh yeah)” -- and you’re sucked in. To be fair, dragon cartilage apparently keeps you thin, so…
Of course, this is Disney. Literally every Disney film meant for children has featured terrible things, from the horrific murder of parents to threats to murder to threatsof skinning people (or animals) alive, and so on. Disney is a twisted company. Effective, but twisted. Yet, little did I know that in watching Pete’s Dragon as an adult, I’d be sent on a journey into the history of child trafficking in the U.S. Given that one of the two major conflicts in this story involves the Gogans trying to acquire their property and the film is set sometime in the early 1900s (many decades before its release), I should have picked up on it. Here, Disney’s motive is one of a moral message about the treatment of children as property, both in the film’s more passive examinations of the early school system (Miss Taylor) and in the more aggressive kidnapping antics of the early U.S. adoption (and related) systems (the Gogans). It quite reflects the ethics of the 1970s, which saw a rise in criticism of the longstanding rules about how we view children. In 1977, for example, Ingraham v. Wright upheld the constitutionality of corporal punishment in schools, which still remains effectively legal in a number of U.S. states even if most of us don’t realize it. By the release of Pete’s Dragon, four states had outlawed corporal punishment in public schools (and New Jersey added on bans in private schools). Today, we might look back at Ingraham v. Wright and wonder how you could uphold as legal a punishment which sent a child to the hospital after he was restrained and beaten with a paddle. In 1977, it was controversial, sure, but the tide hadn’t quite flipped over. Arguably, it hasn’t flipped over today either. It’s still legal in nineteen states and practiced in fifteen, albeit mostly in private schools.
If that weren’t horrifying enough, Pete’s Dragon’s explicit reference to the history of child trafficking in the U.S. prior to effective bans is arguably more grim and equally as moralistic. The Gogans -- who, again, literally sing a cheerful song about the bill of sale for Pete -- are presented here as ignorant, dirty, cruel, and deceitful rural folk whose obsession with Pete amounts almost entirely to getting their money’s worth out of him in the form of labor on their farm. That “bill of sale” is their contract, one which has considerable historical precedence. While adoption was established in U.S. law in 1851, it wasn’t immediately popular due in part to prevailing (eugenics-adjacent) beliefs about those children being genetically tainted due to the circumstances of their availability -- often from poor and immigrant families. In 1854, several institutions put together the Orphan Train Movement, which basically gathered up orphans and shipped them around the country, often to rural Midwest communities where they were meant to provide an extra set of hands and be treated effectively as a true-born child of the families who took them in. Practically speaking, a good chunk of them basically became slave labor, albeit with a technical end point (adulthood). Much of this changed in the wake of Georgia Tann’s work with the Tennessee Children’s Home Society (or, rather, illegally to the side of it). Tann probably helped popularize adoption as a legitimate practice and apparently disagreed strongly with the genetic arguments, but she also spent nearly three decades (1924-1950) abducting and selling children (up to 5,000) to various families selected mostly for their wealth. Tann was, if anything, the prototype of Lena Gogan, a manipulative person hell bent on using legal pressure to get what she wanted.
All of this, is of course, set in the background for Disney’s moral argument against both corporal punishment and child trafficking in the form found in the U.S. up to the moment of the film. The Gogan’s are set up as deceitful monsters who are happy to lie and abuse “the system” to take ownership over a child they clearly only value for a monetary-labor relationship, we’re at no point meant to sympathize with them even if we find their antics -- and propensity for getting thrown into the mud and other gross places -- amusing. Indeed, the Gogan family is quite funny here in a slapstick sort of way. Miss Taylor, meanwhile, is far too strict, far too cruel, and far too distrusting, abusing Pete after accusing him of things he couldn’t possibly have done right up until the entire town learns that Elliott is, in fact, real and operates as a kind of protector to Pete (a trickster protector). Meanwhile, Dr. Terminus is all smoke and mirrors, a well-dressed, clean, quick-witted, and manipulative man whose acts are both illegal and gruesome.
All of these figures give the film a cast of villains who are all the butt of jokes and analogues to real-world things from yesteryear. And each serves to remind us that there is good and evil, that systems are not substitutes for morality, and that being a child in a world where what is legal and what is right are in constant flux is a dangerous game. The way to beat that game is, predictably, through family, found or otherwise. Pete’s family is a war between an imposed family and a family he chooses for himself, and it is this latter which brings him safety and security in a way that Elliott ultimately cannot. And I’ll just note that Lampie and Nora (and, eventually, Paul, who turns out to have survived) are not a bad family to have at all. Intensely loving, willing to provide stability and lessons while still giving a child space to be themselves and be heard, and happy to break out into delightful song during chores -- these are all things that serve as a perfect contrast to the Gogans and as a perfect embodiment of Disney’s message. Every child won’t necessarily have their very own Elliott to protect them, but every child deserves a family that loves them. A “bill of sale” doesn’t matter. Love and stability matters.
It’s no wonder my grandmother was so fond of this movie. While many complain about “message fiction” these days (ridiculously, of course), here is a movie with a clear message -- like all Disney movies, really -- that both attacks the past while offering us an alternative that is absolutely better. And sure, there is a jolly giant green dragon who sings and can turn invisible. And sure, there are so many delightfully memorable songs in this film with great dance numbers attached. And sure, the film is just so much fun to watch even as an adult. But it’s that deep message, the history, that stuff embedded in there that you might not notice as a kid that really gets me. Pete’s Dragon is a film you can rewatch precisely because you’ll get something new out of it every time. It’s also a film you can rewatch precisely because it’s just so much fun.
Every week, I’ll ask my Twitter followers what they’re reading. Here’s what they said:
The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman by Nancy Marie Brown (from @chadwickginther)
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore (from @chadwickginther)
Rabbits by Terry Miles (from @blueiriseditor)
How Propaganda Works by Jason Stanley (from @blueiriseditor)
Between Two Worlds by Upton Sinclair (from @blueiriseditor)
When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science & Mystery of Sleep by Antonio Zadra and Robert Stickgold (from @AChadwickSaxelid)
Orbit 1 edited by Damon Knight (from @CoraBuhlert)
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (from @RainbowWar71)
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor (from @SkiffilyPodcast)
Humans by Donald Westlake (from @PEMatson)
The Other Einstein by Heather Terrell (from @PEMatson)
Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux (from @KateSherrod)
Vernon Subutex 2 by Virginie Despentes and translated by Frank Wynne (from @KateSherrod)
LoveStar by Andri Snaer Magnusson and translated by Victoria Cribbon (from @KateSherrod)
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (from @SStaatz)
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton (from @abetterjulie)
Bottle Demon by Stephen Blackmoore (from @jaimeleemoyer)
Whatever for Hire by R.J. Blain (from @mikaela_l)
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark (from @TruthyFruit)
Ghosts of St. Vincent’s by Tom Eubanks (from @TruthFruit)
Have His Carcase by Dorothy Sayers (from @TruthyFruit)
Parasite (screenplay) by Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won (from @tadethompson)
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (from @rachettwrench)
How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley (from @rachettwrench)
Sha Po Lang by Priest (from @rachettwrench)
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (from @delagar and @templetongate)
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (from @CamestrosF)
The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross (from @Thorvaaldr)
Rules of Prey by John Sandford (from @Thorvaaldr)
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk (from @rebeccagumaer)
The Third Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen (from @Wi11iamSc0tt)
The Clingerman Files by Mildred Clingerman (from @SteveJWright1)
Honour Guard by Dan Abnett (from @jolantru)
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (from @effjayem)
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin (from @Nickpheas)
Darkening Skies by Juliet E. McKenna (from @ctjhill)
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (from @zzyzyvasmay)
Mediocre by Ijeoma Oluo (from @zzyzyvasmay)
Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (from @zzyzyvasmay and @JoyceReynoldsW1)
Woman on the Verge of Time by Marge Piercy (from @zzyzyvasmay)
1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline (from @oldscout)
The Galaxy and the Ground Below by Becky Chambers (from @oldscout)
The Keeper Chronicles #1-3 by JA Andrews (from @cherylreads)
Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris (from @AnneLibera1)
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz (from @AnneLibera1)
Culture Warlords by Talia Lavin (from @AMan4AllSaisons)
Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard (from @john_zeleznik)
It by Stephen King (from @john_zeleznik)
The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison (from @MistyMassey)
Chourmo by Jean-Claude Izzo (from @davelauchlan)
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (from @LadyCecilyNevil)
Philip K. Dick: The Complete Short Stories (from @M_A_Frasca)
Peace by Gene Wolfe (from @M_A_Frasca)
Jade City by Fonda Lee (from @PatriceSarath)
A Perfect Vacuum by Stanislaw Lem (from @louisevanswrite)
Blaze Island by Catherine Bush (from @CoreyRedekop)
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good (from @CoreyRedekop)
Venus on the Half-Shell by Philip Jose Farmer (from @CoreyRedekop)
The Palliser Series by Anthony Trollope (from @JoyceReynoldsW1)
Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett (from @SithHounds)
And there you have it. Follow me on Twitter @shaunduke if you want to share your reads next time!
And so it came to pass that another edition of the Joy Factory Weekly newsletter concluded! Thanks again for subscribing and reading this thing! I appreciate it!
Here are some of the things you should expect by next week:
A new article on Millennium Actress and possibly one other thing
A new episode of The Joy Factory Monthly. I intended to have one out today, but we had a recording snafu that made that impossible. That episode will get rescheduled, so expect something on the joy of gaming next week. I’ll get back to the previous episode on Batman Returns as soon as I can reschedule with my guest!
A book review for I’m Waiting for You and Other Stories.
A new episode of The Skiffy and Fanty Show w/ P. Djèlí Clark. Interviews are great!
I’m working on something else, too, including the actual play project and more TTRPG shenanigans. I’m running a game and playing in two others this week because I’m that wild!
And there you have it!
Joyful Transmission Concluded!
Thanks for reading The Joy Factory Weekly newsletter! As always, if you want to support the project or my other work, head over to patreon.com/thejoyfactory. You can find me @shaunduke on Twitter and at shaunduke.net!