Episode 10: Interview with Gail Carriger

Andi had a long chat with steampunk author Gail Carriger, writer of multiple award-winning steampunkish genre fiction that melds not only steampunk, but paranormal, urban fantasy, comedy and dashes of romance. If you’re not familiar with her work, start with Book 1 of her first series (the Parasol Protectorate), titled Soulless. The protagonist is Alexia Tarabotti, a woman of some means in alt-Victorian England who is also a preternatural – she negates supernatural powers because she has no soul. Hence, “Soulless.” She is thus capable of temporarily rendering vampires and werewolves non-supernatural.

Carriger is also an aficionado of all things steampunkish and, in particular, the Victorian era.

She is currently writing another series that is a spinoff of the Parasol Protectorate, The Custard Protocol, and she is writing a series of novellas that feature as main characters her LGBTQ characters from the Protectorate/Protocol world. The first, Romancing the Inventor, features lesbian character Madame LeFoux (and you can see an interview about that Andi did at Women and Words).

Find Gail at the following places:
Website
Pinterest
Twitter (@gailcarriger)
Facebook
AND catch her Retro Rack Fashion Blog

Synopsis of Soulless:
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she is being rudely attacked by a vampire to whom she has not been properly introduced! Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire, and the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

Get This Book on
Audible.com | Audible.co.uk | Amazon.ca

0

Episode 9: Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Andi and Lise teamed up (kind of) and went to see the movie Guardians of the Galaxy 2. “Team up” in this case means they went to see the movie within a couple days of each other.

In this space opera romp, humor abounds with the Guardians’ team – Peter Quill, Gamora, Rocket, Drax, and Groot – who manage to anger The Sovereign, a super arrogant race of humanoids that, like Terminators, just don’t quit if they feel they’ve been wronged. In addition, the team unravels the mystery of Quill’s parentage (Andi refers to this as the “ Who’s yer daddy” plotline) and they end up having to save the galaxy (literally) from a power-mad entity.

All in the span of about two hours of non-stop action, great ol’ skool music (like the first movie), and awesome special effects, though they do have a request: More Gamora and Nebula, pleeeez!

Andi and Lise also recommend that if you haven’t seen the first (Guardians of the Galaxy), do. Because this one will make much more sense to you and you’ll understand the in-jokes and the backstories. Unless you’re a comics reader and you’re familiar with the series, in which case, have at!

0

Episode 8: Dark Matter

Andi and Lise really dig the TV series Dark Matter, which airs on the SyFy network. It’s a space opera, which is one of Andi’s all-time fave genres (and Lise’s!) but it’s got some really excellent elements that make it super watchable. Plus, diverse cast.

Six people emerge from stasis on a space ship and none of them know who they are or how they got there. Plus, there’s an android (played by Lost Girl’s Zoie Palmer) who also has to have her memory wiped. So six humans with no idea what they’re doing on this vessel and as the series progresses, they realize that they have shady pasts and even shadier business dealings in a galaxy ruled by mega-corporations vying for power. The six have to learn how to stick together though they have no idea who they are, and both Lise and Andi love how the show explores the idea of how who we are is determined, to an extent, by our memories.

0

Episode 7: Ghostbusters

Lise (L-MAC!) and Andi wanted to a do a point/counterpoint on the original and new versions of the movie Ghostbusters. So they take a walk down memory lane and chat about the original 1984 Ghostbusters and then completely lose it in classic fangirl style over the 2016 homage with Kate McKinnon as the iconic Jillian Holtzmann, the gadget/science master of all.

The premise of both deals with a misfit group of friends/colleagues who all have a fascination with the paranormal. They start up ghost hunting businesses in Manhattan, but soon realize that paranormal power is building, and things are gonna get wild!

Also, THE SCENE that still sets Andi off on a grrl power rush.

0

Episode 6: Lumberjanes

Andi and Lise rave about the comic Lumberjanes, which is totes safe for kids and is chock full of so much awesome that you’ll dig it, too. Imagine if the Goonies met up with the Buffy crew and…well, you can imagine the awesome, right?

Five friends are spending the summer at Lumberjane scout camp. But it turns out not to be your typical camp, as mystical and mythical creatures show up that our five feisty and fabulous campers have to figure out how to deal with. It’s grrl power, friendships to the max power, and the power of teamwork and acceptance.

2

Episode 5: Sense8

Both Andi and Lise MacTague (LMac!) really dug the first season of this Netflix show, and it’s been almost 2 years since it launched. Finally, Season 2 will be released in May, and we can’t wait to see what happens. Here, they tell you a bit about the show and what they love about it, as well as talk about some of the characters.

In a nutshell: a group of eight people from around the world begin to realize that they are linked mentally and emotionally, and as they start to explore what this means, they also find out they’re being hunted by others who view sensates as a threat to the world’s order and they will have to learn how to harness their links to help each other survive. (sensate = sense 8…get it???? Lol)

0

Episode 4: The Women of Star Wars

Lise (LMac) and Andi talk about three women characters from the Star Wars franchise. The iconic Princess Leia (the late Carrie Fisher and omg we miss her so) from the trilogy that was first released beginning in 1977; Rey (Daisy Ridley) from 2015’s The Force Awakens, and Jyn (Felicity Jones), from Rogue One, the 2016 standalone/prequel to the 1977 movie Star Wars: A New Hope (the first one released).

 

0

Episode 2: ChaosLife

Lise MacTague and Andi Marquette are stoked to talk about the web comic ChaosLife, which follows the lives and relationship of two people, A. Stiffler and K. Copeland. A identifies as agender while K is cisgender and identifies as female and lesbian. They are married to each other.

ChaosLife deals with the mundane and sometimes the deep, as in politics, LGBTQIA issues, gender, sexuality, and mental health. It’s a sweet, funny, quirky look at A and K’s everyday lives, with the good and the bad, and—BONUS!—it also serves as an educator in terms of LGBTQIA lives.

Find Chaos Life HERE

0

Episode 1: D.E.B.S.

Andi Marquette and Lise MacTague both decided to inaugurate the first episode of this podcast with the movie D.E.B.S. because AWESOME. And it happens to be a fave of both of them, so they each watched it for probably the 30th time and fangirled over it.

D.E.B.S. (2004) is a campy, fun, spoofy romp in which 4 young women (Max, Amy, Dominque, and Janet) are recruited into spy school via a college entrance exam. Things get crazy when archvillain Lucy Diamond is discovered to be back in town, and she’s got a meeting with a Russian assassin. What could she be up to? The D.E.B.S. are on the case, but one of them didn’t count on developing an attraction for Lucy…

Also, this podcast has spoilers of the movie.

Watch the trailer HERE.

Synopsis:
Sultry crime boss Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster, The Fast and the Furious) is back in the states and the D.E.B.S.- an elite team of paramilitary college co-ed superspies- are hot on her trail. But when their top agent, gorgeous Amy Bradshaw (Sara Foster, The Big Bounce), mysteriously disappears after coming face to face with the attractive young villainess, the D.E.B.S. begin a full-scale search for Lucy’s secret lair, never suspecting that Amy may not want to be rescued after all, in this smart and sexy spy spoof about love at first gun sight.

Get it on Amazon.comGet it on Amazon.com| Amazon.co.uk| Amazon.ca

It’s also available on DVD. You can also find it on DVD via Netflix and purchase to stream on Amazon Prime.

1

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑