We are slowly losing our ability to question ourselves—our likes, our preferences, our judgements on literature... and from there, we're one step away from no longer questioning why we hate something. After all, "What do you despise? By this are you truly known".

This episode is actually a response to fellow BookTuber Britton from SomeOkieDude. Back in April (2025) he spoke about political commentary in fiction and made quite a compelling call of action: "[...] if there is a book or show that rubbed you the wrong way, I want you to sit back and think about why it did that. What was it about this piece of media that offended you so much?"

Let's get this idea undone.

Transcript & newsletter: https://liviajelliot.substack.com

Join me as I chat with Amy Minton about the author-narrator-character relation, focal distance in framed narratives and multi-timeline stories, and how to ground your reader... and perhaps frustrate them, but in good measure. This is a spoiler-lite episode focused on the craft, and we'll mention plenty of examples.

Find Amy at: https://www.youtube.com/@Talking_Story

Check my Substack: https://liviajelliot.substack.com

BOOKS & SHORT STORIES MENTIONED:

• "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley
• "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell
• "The Kingkiller Chronicles" by Patrick Rothfuss
• "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
• "Maus" by Art Spiegelman
• "City of Thieves" by David Benioff
• "Heat" by Joyce Carol Oates
• "Friend of my Youth" by Alice Munro
• "Dolores Claiborne" by Stephen King
• "The Garden of Forking Paths" by Jorge Luis Borges
• "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe
• "The Dregs" by Thomas J. Devens

Annihilation is a challenge to humanity's perennial navel-gazing. It confronts us with the terrifying idea that the universe is not hostile—it simply doesn't care about us. In this episode, I will discuss three way sin which it challenges the biologist's (and thus the reader's) reality.

You can find the full transcript, all citations, and get my free novella at: https://liviajelliot.substack.com

Snail on the Slope has a turbulent history, but the Strutgastkys themselves considered it as "the most perfect and the most valuable of [their] works". Let's get this book undone; we will review my proposed interpretation, and also the authors' intended one.

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"Take it back. I want ignorance again. What is the limit of human comprehension? How much can the abyss stare back at you before you flinch?" This is one of the many open questions explored in DISCOVERY, a cosmic horror debut by JAJ Minton.

In this interview, we first dive into the process of crafting a book as a team, and then we dive into some of the key themes, including a human-centric world, religions and cults (including a cult to AIs), the characters own personal discovery, and the permanence of conflict and struggle.

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Author Spotlights are back, and in this episode I'm in conversation with Bert-Oliver Boehmer, author of the Galacticide series--a modern-but-classical military sci-fi with a dash of first-contact, galactic politics, and fast-paced action.

Join to my newsletter to get bite-sized bookish deep-dives and a free novella, THE GENESIS OF CHANGE: https://liviajelliot.com/

FIND THE GALACTICIDE SERIES: https://www.galacticide.com

READ MY INTERACTIVE STORIES:

• On Android: https://bit.ly/unearthedstories
• On iOS: https://apple.co/48IcnYm

Dance With Me is one of my most personal books, and having a narrator that could translate the literary elements while giving life to a diverse cast was incredibly important. Join me as I chat to audiobook narrator Alison Phoenix, and deep-dive into the perks of audiobook narration.

DANCE WITH ME is available on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/liviajelliot/dance-with-me

Find Alison Phoenix:

- Website: https://alisonphoenixnarration.wordpress.com/

- Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchNarrator=Alison+Phoenix

Is life purposeless and meaningless? Can we survive when our purpose is shattered? Those are some of the questions presented in a cerebral book, a gem of Scottish fiction: 'Walking on Glass' by Iain Banks. Let's get this book undone!

TRANSCRIPT:

All the links are in the transcript here: https://liviajelliot.com/blog/2025/02-podcast-walking-on-glass

READ MY INTERACTIVE STORIES:

- On Android: https://bit.ly/unearthedstories

- On iOS: https://apple.co/48IcnYm