Episode 88: The Other Works of George RR Martin

In alignment with Bastards of Kingsgrave’s longest running reread of George RR Martin’s earlier works, BOK releases the recording of the A Podcast of Ice and Fire & Vassals of Kingsgrave panel hosted online at Ice and Fire Con in April 2021. Amin and Duncan provide an introduction to George’s prolific works, look for connections to ASOIAF, and discuss George’s overall development as a writer and his philosophy toward writing genres.

Episode 88 download link (right click and download).

Notes: Here is the link to the “Thousand Worlds” wiki. Here is the accompanying presentation slides for the panel:

GRRM – Other Works – 2021 Ice and Fire Con Panel SlidesDownload

Episode 87: Fevre Dream

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues our longest running reread of George RR Martin’s earlier works. We have a spoiler filled discussion about George’s novel Fevre Dream, published in 1982.

Notes: This is the article we briefly talked about. Here is another good review of the book, although we didn’t cover it.

Episode 87 download link (right click and download).

Episode 85: The Glass Flower and The Stone City

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues the longest running re-read of George RR Martin’s earlier works. We have a spoiler filled discussion about The Glass Flower and The Stone City.

  Notes: This episode was recorded in May 2020. Episode 85 download link (right click and download)

Artwork by Caffeine2

Episode 84: The Way of Cross and Dragon and And Seven Times Never Kill Man!

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues the longest running re-read of George RR Martin’s earlier works. We have a spoiler filled discussion about The Way of Cross and Dragon and And Seven Times Never Kill Man!

 

Notes: This episode was recorded in May 2020. Episode 84 download link (right click and download)

Episode 83: Bitterblooms and In the House of the Worm

Bastards of Kingsgrave returns to continue the longest running re-read of George RR Martin’s earlier works. We have a spoiler filled discussion about Bitterblooms and In the House of the Worm. In the middle, we talk about our support for GRRM if he wants to move on from ASOIAF to new works in the Martinsphere or return to writing in the Georgeverse (Thousand Worlds).

Episode 83 download link (right click and download).

Episode 72: Dying of the Light

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues our reviews of George RR Martin’s earlier works. We have a spoiler filled discussion about George’s first novel, Dying of the Light,  published in 1977.

Notes: Michael and Greg had a code duello required match after the record  over name pronunciations.

Episode 72 download link (right click and download).

Episode 71: Nightflyers

After 2 years, Bastards of Kingsgrave resurrects our reviews of George RR Martin’s earlier works. We launch into a lengthy, spoiler filled discussion about Nightflyers, a horror short that was re-released as a novella that won the 1983 Seiun Award (called by some the “Japanese Hugo”). We discuss the questionable movie adaptation and try to find links between Nightflyers and A Song of Ice and Fire, entertaining a couple exotic theories.

Notes: Nightflyers is most readily available in Dreamsongs Volume I. This episode was recorded in February 2017, exactly 2 months ago. The end music themes are from the Nightflyers movie soundtrack.

Episode 71 download link (right click and download).

 

Episode 51: Run to Starlight and The Last Super Bowl Game

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues our reviews of George RR Martin’s earlier works with two short stories from the 1970s. With the football season ending and the Super Bowl this past weekend, it seemed only appropriate to cover Run to Starlight and The Last Super Bowl. We provide a spoiler filled discussion of both works, with the podcasting crew divided over the former, while united in appreciation for the latter.

Notes: The episode was recorded before the Super Bowl, which explains the pro-Seahawks hopes.

Episode 51 download link (right click and download).

Episode 47: The Monkey Treatment and The Pear-Shaped Man

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues our reviews of George RR Martin’s earlier works, this time focusing on horror. We have an in-depth, spoiler filled discussion about The Monkey Treatment and The Pear-Shaped Man, both available in Dreamsongs. We debate about the origin of the “Monkey Lords” and “Cheez Lords”, drawing disturbing connections between both stories. To your delight or horror, this is the longest BOK episode recorded and produced to date, including a reading from the The Pear-Shaped Man. You will never look at Cheez Doodles the same way again.

Notes: The Cheez Doodles webpage and Facebook page were thoroughly explored during the podcast aftershow. The short stories are most readily available Dreamsongs Volume 1. We will be continuing our Martinsphere reviews, submit your questions here or in the BOK subforum.

Episode 47 download link (right click and download).

Episode 43: Meathouse Man

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues our reviews of George RR Martin’s earlier works, this time providing spoiler filled discussion about the macabre short story Meathouse Man. We also chat about the recent Hugo nominated graphic novel adaptation, drawn by Raya Golden.

Notes: The short story is most readily available in Dreamsongs Volume 1. We will be continuing our Martinsphere reviews, but at a less regular rate. Our first novel to review will be Dying of the Light.

Episode 43 download link (right click and download).

Episode 41: Portraits of His Children

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues our reviews of George RR Martin’s earlier works, this time providing spoiler filled discussion about Remembering Melody and Portraits of His Children. We dig deep into the latter story, trying to draw parallels with George’s own publication history.

Notes: This episode was recorded the week before San Diego Comic-Con 2014. The two short stories are most readily available in Dreamsongs Volume I and Volume II respectively, among other publications. Congratulations to Amber and Greg for joining the exclusive Triple Gold Club.

Episode 41 download link (right click and download).

Episode 39: With Morning Comes Mistfall

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues our reviews of George RR Martin’s earlier works, this time providing spoiler filled discussion about The Hero and With Morning Comes Mistfall. We discuss the importance theses stories played in George’s life and alternative paths his own life story may have taken.

Notes: These two short stories are most readily available in Dreamsongs Volume I, among other publications. Congratulations to Michael and Leigh for being two of the first members in the exclusive Triple Gold Club.

Episode 39 download link (right click and download).

 

Episode 37: Sandkings

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues our reviews of George RR Martin’s earlier works, covering the Nebula and Hugo winning Sandkings. We have a spoiler full podcast discussion of one of our favourite short stories in the Georgeverse.

Notes: Sandkings is readily available in Dreamsongs Volume I, among other publications.

Episode 37 download link (right click and download).

Episode 35: The Second Kind of Loneliness

Bastards of Kingsgrave continues our reviews of George RR Martin’s earlier works, this time covering The Second Kind of Loneliness. We have a spoiler full chat about the short story and properly define the terms Martinsphere and Georgeverse.  We have a somewhat spoilery side chat for the movie Groundhog Day.

Notes: The Second Kind of Loneliness is readily available in Dreamsongs Volume I, among other publications. The image above is from the original 1972 print in Analog.

Episode 35 download link (right click and download).

Episode 33: A Song for Lya

Bastards of Kingsgrave hosts several vassals of Kingsgrave (Amber, Greg, Mordion) to help cover A Song for Lya, another one of George RR Martin’s short stories based in his science fiction ‘Georgeverse’. We have a spoiler full chat and tie in the discussion to some of Martin’s other short stories on romance and loneliness.

Notes: A Song for Lya is readily available in Dreamsongs Volume I, among other publications. The image above is from the ooriginalanthology cover we talked about during the podcast.

Episode 33 download link (right click and download).

Episode 23: Unsound Variations

Amin is joined by guest hosts Mordion and Vikram to review George RR Martin’s chess short story Unsound Variations. It is a spoiler FULL episode where we dive into every aspect of the story, analyzing it and trying to draw connections to George’s other works and career. This is the first of a series of episodes planned to cover some of George’s short stories and novels that predate A Song of Ice and Fire.

Notes: Unsound Variations is available in Dreamsongs Volume II. It also might be contained as part of this ebook. As noted in the episode, APOIAF is still up for daily voting at the podcast awards (under entertainment), the last day being November 15th.

Episode 23 download link (right click and download).