Tag: Sci-fi

Episode 132: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Andi and Lise really enjoyed this movie starring Michelle Yeoh that explores various themes around the idea of connection and finding meaning in our lives against the backdrop of the multiverse, absurdist comedy, action adventure, and moments of poignancy. Here, Yeoh plays Evelyn Wang, who lives above the laundromat she and her husband own. They’re being audited by the IRS; her husband is trying to serve her with divorce papers but she doesn’t realize it because so much is going on; her father is living with them and she doesn’t have great history with him; and she’s practically estranged from her daughter. And then suddenly, she’s brought into the multiverse as the one person who might be able to save it from a potential threat.  

So many layers! This is one they’ll be thinking about for a while. A few minor spoilers, but they don’t detract from the impact of this movie. 

Movie Trailer HERE 

LA Times article with the movie writers (mild spoilers) 
Rent it on Amazon Prime. 

Shout-outs: Lise is jazzed about Adrian Tschaikovsky’s Final Architects sci fi series. She read the first book, Shards of Earth, and the world-building is amazing. She ran right out and bought the second because she had to know what happened next. Andi is reading the second in the Dread Nation series by Justina Ireland, Deathless Divide. Alt-history zombies. What’s not to love? She also started watching the TV adaptation of the comics Paper Girls on Amazon Prime and is really enjoying it. Tense and creepy! 

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Episode 128: The Fifth Element: Does it Hold up?

Andi and Lise dive into the 1997 dystopic sci fi film The Fifth Element, with Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, and Chris Tucker to determine what still works (or not) 25 years after its release. They find that it holds up surprisingly well in a number of ways, but needed work in others. Still, after 25 years, it’s a visually appealing film that does interesting things with cinematography, soundtrack, and gender expression. 

Original trailer HERE 

2017 Entertainment Weekly article about the film’s making HERE 

Shout-outs: Lise shouts out veterinarians; she’s been dealing with a sick kitty and hopefully all will be well soon. In honor of this shout-out, Andi shout-outs and recommends the show Critter Fixers: Country Vets, available on NatGeo. 

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Episode 126: Writing WLW Spec-Fic: A Conversation with Author Cathy Pegau

Andi and Lise chatted with award-winning author Cathy Pegau about her writing and publishing trajectory and about writing F/F spec fic, including her latest work, The Demon Equilibrium, a historical paranormal saga in which two women have to save the world from a demonic horde.  

Cathy’s website HERE 

Find out more about The Demon Equilibrium HERE 

Shout-outs: Lise is working on figuring out how to build caterpillar cages to help protect caterpillars in her backyard ecosystem. Cathy is stoked that her son is graduating from college very soon and Andi is once again planting things. 

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Episode 117: The Matrix: Does it Hold up?

Andi and Lise enthusiastically re-watched the sci fi dystopic action movie The Matrix (1999) to determine how well it holds up 21 years after its release. The movie became a sensation (still is) and they’ll tell you why it still holds up in most ways and things they noticed with their 2022 perceptions (as opposed to their 1999 perceptions) that they thought were problematic. 

Matrix trailer 

Lilly Wachowski on BBC, 2020 

Vox piece on how The Matrix universalized a trans experience 

Shout-outs: Lise got a Nintendo Switch for Christmas and has been enjoying it immensely. Andi has been getting back into DIY stuff and discovered HGTV’s Home Town, where there’s a lot of community revitalization and restoration of historic homes going on in Laurel, Mississippi. 

Link to the planner Lise and Andi talked about. 

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Episode 86: Cosmoknights

Andi and Lise highly recommend Book 1 of the 2019 web comic-turned full-color graphic novel Cosmoknights, by Hannah Templar and had a blast with it. Great story, intriguing world-building, excellent characters, fabulous art, and awesome queer rep that includes WOC (shout-out to the butch lesbian rep!). This tagline from the website will no doubt make you want to check it out: “For this ragtag band of space gays, liberation means beating the patriarchy at its own game.” 

Read the webcomic at the Cosmoknights website. 

And buy the graphic novel at all the places! 

Shout-outs: Lise would like to acknowledge the deliciousness of maple cream cookies at ALDI and Andi points out the simple fluffy joy of 80s movie Adventures in Babysitting and early 90s movie Clueless. 

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Episode 83: Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi

Andi and Lise greatly admire Jacqueline Koyanagi’s novel Ascension, an excellent space opera with elements of magic and mystic-ness layered in. Great diverse cast of characters; queer WOC main character who also deals with a chronic illness; fabulous world-building. This one stays with you in many different ways.

“Alana Quick is the best damned sky surgeon in Heliodor City, but repairing starship engines barely pays the bills. When the desperate crew of a cargo vessel stops by her shipyard looking for her spiritually-advanced sister Nova, Alana stows away. Maybe her boldness will land her a long-term gig on the crew. But the Tangled Axon proves to be more than star-watching and plasma coils. …” –from Amazon book description

Koyanagi’s website

Lise’s shout-out: super see-krit new project she’s working on but she’s not sharing it yet! Plus, finishing up via Netflix the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Andi’s shout-out: Wynonna Earp Season 4, people! Episode 2, “Friends in Low Places,” has what Andi predicts is a history-making F/F love/sex scene (and no, that’s not a link to the scene LOL).

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Episode 71: Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

Andi and Lise chat about Rebecca Roanhorse’s debut novel, Trail of Lightning, the first in her Sixth World series.

“Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last best hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much more terrifying than anything she could imagine.” –Simon and Schuster

Roanhorse builds a post-apocalyptic world in what was the American Southwest, populated largely by Indigenous people. In this world of Dinétah, resources are in short supply, and myth and mythical beings roam freely among the humans.

Verge: “Trail of Lightning is a breathtaking Native American urban fantasy adventure”
Locus: “Rebecca Roanhorse: From Legend to Fantasy”
Lightspeed: Interview with Rebecca Roanhorse
Indian Country Today: “Trail of Lightning is an appropriation of Diné cultural beliefs”

Shout-outs!
Lise: Sex Education, the series on Netflix (Gillian Anderson, y’all!)
Andi: TGIF/Femslash convention in Long Beach

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Episode 58: The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

LGO morphs into the Kameron Hurley fan club as Lise and Andi dive into her latest book, The Light Brigade, a time travel military science fiction novel that explores themes of militarized capitalism, war, and connection through the eyes of grunt Dietz. Through tech that disassembles soldiers and sends them as beams of light into combat zones and reassembles them upon re-entry, Dietz realizes that she is experiencing the war between Earth and Mars differently than others: she’s jumping around its timeline, which gives her a unique and horrifying view of battles and comrades lost and gained. This is a uniquely layered, tightly-written story that stays with readers long after they finish the last page, as its themes resonate with contemporary issues.

Find more about Hugo-winning author Kameron Hurley at her website.
More information about The Light Brigade HERE.
Synopsis and review of The Light Brigade at Publishers Weekly.

Andi and Lise talk with Kameron Hurley on episode 52 of the Lez Geek Out! podcast HERE.

Also this week, Lise and Andi shout out the Golden Crown Literary Society convention, which is going on right now!

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Episode 23: Paper Girls

This week Andi and Lise get into the retro-cool mystery sci-fi comic series Paper Girls, in which four twelve-year-old girls have paper routes in 1988 and band together to deal with weird and crazy things happening in their town. So you’ve got monsters, strange beings, time travel…and what seems to be a conspiracy underneath it all. Appropriate for kids, strong female characters, and unpredictable plotlines. Have fun!

If you’re interested in finding out more about Paper Girls (AND YOU TOTALLY ARE), see Image Comics.

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Episode 22: Galaxy Quest

Andi and Lise totally lose it over one of their joint fave movies, Galaxy Quest (1999), which is a delightful spoof of Star Trek and the Star Trek fandoms. It’s a hilarious romp through sci-fi fandom, a clever nod to various plots and fun show tropes, and just a whole lot of fun in general.

The film stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Alan Rickman among others.

Seriously. It’s well worth your time.

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