Best Isaac Hoffer Podcasts (2025)

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BONUS: THE RAGPICKER 1:06:12

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18h ago1:06:12

1:06:12

Kerstin Hall of Asunder fame joins us to discuss a book about aging and the end of the world. (It turns out aging isn't the end of the world, but the end of the world isn't the end of the world either.) There's also a lot of stuff about the internet, autism and knowing the names of plants, but more importantly it's a beautiful little book that is a…

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THE STARVING SAINTS 1:00:30

8d ago1:00:30

1:00:30

Cannibalism season continues on Wizards vs. Lesbians, as this one's a story about how all of us would probably eat some human meat the second things get difficult, and how on a metaphorical level we definitely already have. It's not without its problems but it does a good job of capturing how we all felt during lockdown and drawing a line between t…

1
BUNNY 1:08:01

22d ago1:08:01

1:08:01

A novel about being in an MFA (but not necessarily an MFA novel) with all the horror that implies. What if your creative process involved doing unethical things to dumb animals, and what if you have a hard time separating your creative process from your sex life?

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METAL FROM HEAVEN 58:15

1M ago58:15

58:15

A book about messianic communism, and also about obsessive childhood love, and also about microplastics. Inspirations cited by the author include Disco Elysium and End of Evangelion. Hang onto your hats.

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AUNT TIGRESS 1:09:10

2M ago1:09:10

1:09:10

Life is complicated for a Chinese-Canadian lesbian college kid with PTSD who is also half tiger - complicated enough, you would think, but complication invites complication, and soon she has to ask herself like questions like "is this the apocalypse" and "am I partially responsible for it." Those are pretty standard questions these days, admittedly…

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BONUS: KARLA'S CHOICE 58:38

2M ago58:38

58:38

Arkady Martine joins us to discuss a new spy novel written by Nick Harkaway and starring a bunch of beloved characters created by his father, John le Carré. In doing this, Harkaway has set out what is essentially an impossible task for himself; how does he manage?

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SHORT FICTION ROUNDUP #7 1:03:37

2M ago1:03:37

1:03:37

Today we cover Closer Than Your Kidneys by Ursula Whitcher, BRIDE / BUTCHER / DOE by Lowry Poletti, and There’s a Door to the Land of the Dead in the Land of the Dead by Sarah Pinsker.

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BONUS: MIDDLEMARCH 1:29:46

2M ago1:29:46

1:29:46

Our classic literature correspondent Kat Weaver joins us for a look at George Eliot's masterpiece about small towns and bad marriages. We find some wizards in it.

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THE MEMBRANES 1:02:14

3M ago1:02:14

1:02:14

It's very easy to get caught up in the titular metaphor, here - this brief, gauzy cyberpunk novel, written in Taiwan in 1995 and only recently available in translation, peels itself back slowly, revealing layer upon layer, until one can almost see the whole genome of the next thirty years of queer speculative fiction, wrapped up tight inside its co…

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BONUS: THE COMMODORE (AUBREY/MATURIN #17) 1:20:43

3M ago1:20:43

1:20:43

Our adventure correspondent Isaac Fellman joins us once again, this time to talk about Patrick O'Brien and the age of sail through the lens of the seventeenth book in the Aubrey/Maturin series. We chose to do it this way a) because we thought it would be funny and b) because this book features a small autistic girl healed through the power of Irish…

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THE INCANDESCENT 1:07:43

3M ago1:07:43

1:07:43

What if the Scholomance was a British boarding school, and therefore had funding, prestige and a competent professional faculty that cared about its students? And what if we told the story from the point of view of the Director of Magic, an extremely sensible woman who has devoted herself to a life of public service? And then, finally, what if it t…

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BONUS: VOWS AND HONOR 1:16:07

3M ago1:16:07

1:16:07

At long last we contend with Mercedes Lackey. We are deep in the ancestry of books about girls with swords; so deep that they're not even gay for each other, even though they're married.

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THE MANOR OF DREAMS 1:29:50

4M ago1:29:50

1:29:50

The titular manor is lavishly, extravagantly haunted - there are layers upon layers of haunting, over a century's worth, and we get to peel them back one by one. Some of the haunting is inspired by Dream of the Red Chamber, which makes Alexis very happy.

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BONUS: THE CHATELAINE 1:02:16

4M ago1:02:16

1:02:16

Heather Rose Jones joins us to discuss a delightfully strange book - hell is real, and it's a giant monster that lives underground, and the devil's wife tricked him and took his keys, so she's in charge of it, and she's trying to form a strategic alliance with the king of France, which sucks for you because you're Belgian. Also it's 1328. Fans of W…

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A SWEET STING OF SALT 57:55

4M ago57:55

57:55

This is a historical novel about life in a small fishing village in Nova Scotia in the 1830s, the options available to women at the time and what happens when a man takes an unwilling bride. In that capacity, it succeeds; as a fairy-tale deconstruction, which it's also trying to be, it doesn't.

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THE SAPLING CAGE 57:40

4M ago57:40

57:40

A young adult novel about a trans girl who wants to be a witch. Witches in this world are feminist/anarcho-primitivist forest mercenaries, though, which doesn't complicate matters for our hero but does for a reader trying to make sense of what's happening.

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BONUS: PIRANESI 1:12:01

5M ago1:12:01

1:12:01

This one's about a guy who gets stuck in a labyrinth. Lee joins us to discuss why the guy is there and what, if anything, it all means. We all agree it's a very good book but past that point things get a little contentious.

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LOTE 1:14:42

5M ago1:14:42

1:14:42

A synaesthete vagabond who wants to live like the Bright Young People accidentally goes to grad school instead. It's like if Foucault's Pendulum was funny.

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ASUNDER 1:12:32

5M ago1:12:32

1:12:32

What if the dude who is possessing you is actually a nice guy? And what if you're the kind of gremlin who can only be fixed by a live-in boyfriend, and by "live-in" I mean in your actual brain?

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BONUS: FANGIRL 1:11:55

6M ago1:11:55

1:11:55

Masha du Toit joins us to discuss a book about going to college and writing fanficiton which turns out to be laser-targeted at one of our hosts. So what we end up with is a strange mixture of cultural history and personal pain, much like the book itself.

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SHORT FICTION ROUNDUP # 6 - 2024 NEBULAS EDITION 1:03:57

6M ago1:03:57

1:03:57

It's this again! In this episode we discuss the following stories: The V*mpire by P.H. Lee Katya Vasilevna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka by Christine Hanolsy The Witch Trap by Jennifer Hudak Joanna’s Bodies by Eugenia Triantafyllou

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ZETA BASE 58:31

6M ago58:31

58:31

We could do nothing but weird small press lesbian novellas on this podcast and I'd be happy. This one's about how we really need to blow up the sun but we're too busy having smoldering academic love triangles.

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BONUS: SHELL GAME 54:54

7M ago54:54

54:54

Lianyu Tan joins us for another foray into literature that started life as Xena AU fanfiction (or Xena Uber, in the parlance of the time.) This one starts out as a pirate romp featuring the world's brattiest sub/voluntary slave girl and ends up in some really dark places.

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FEAST WHILE YOU CAN 1:04:37

7M ago1:04:37

1:04:37

This is the most Wizards vs Lesbians book we've covered in ages, and it's also really good. It's a familiar setup - there's a thing in a pit in a little tiny town and the locals have to keep it fed. The beauty's in the execution.

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BONUS: THE EXPEDITION (A LOVE STORY) 59:26

7M ago59:26

59:26

We adventure into the realm of non-fiction - mostly - for the first time, courtesy of Isaac Fellman, who has joined us to discuss a book about two disasters. The first is the Andree Expedition, a real-life polar quest which failed both disastrously and predictably; the second is an exercise for the reader.…

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MOBY-DICK 1:55:10

7M ago1:55:10

1:55:10

Finally, the all-caps title is correct! During the 2023 Wizzly awards we all said we were going to read Moby Dick by the time the next Wizzlies rolled around, and most of us did. It turns out it's really good. Like, I'd call it the great American novel, at least for the days before women were invented. Has anybody else heard about this?…

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BONUS: STARS IN MY POCKET LIKE GRAINS OF SAND 1:10:58

8M ago1:10:58

1:10:58

We kick off a new series of author's choice episodes with Cameron Reed, who has brought us a novel you can chew on like the ragged edge of a thumbnail.

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THE GOLEM OF BROOKLYN 1:10:00

8M ago1:10:00

1:10:00

This book is about whether murdering antisemites is a good idea or not, morally and strategically, and as such it's about Israel without ever discussing Israel, which as a rhetorical gambit has its advantages and disadvantages. One disadvantage is that it's therefore a New York Novel and it comes with all the problems that implies.…

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BONUS: 4TH ANNUAL WIZZLY AWARDS 1:43:04

8M ago1:43:04

1:43:04

We persevere through technical issues to bring you this, our annual extravaganza of self-indulgence. Is it possible four years in that we're actually worse at this than when we started?

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A DARK AND DROWNING TIDE 1:02:19

8M ago1:02:19

1:02:19

In fantasy Germany a fantasy Jewess and her fantasy Aryan forest princess must go up the river to save the cat, or something. Not as much blood as you'd expect in this one but there's plenty of soil.

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AN EDUCATION IN MALICE 1:01:09

9M ago1:01:09

1:01:09

We're dipping our toes into Dark Academia here. This book asks the question: what if your abusive academic advisor was literally a vampire? And the answer is it would be kinda cool. A classic example of horror elements blunting the actual horror, down to a 1960s setting that elides all the worst parts of the era.…

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THE LYREMOUTH CHRONICLES (BOOKS 1 & 2) 1:03:56

9M ago1:03:56

1:03:56

This one takes a while to get going - at first it seems like a genderswapped swords & sorcery novel, but it turns out that's only one part of a much larger world. Recommended for Steerswoman fans.

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THE MINISTRY OF TIME with Vajra Chandrasekera 1:10:22

10M ago1:10:22

1:10:22

A book about empire, memory, historical trauma and the consequences of dating your blorbo. Huge thanks to Vajra for suggesting this one and for coming on to talk about it!

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BONUS: THE SUMMER PRINCE 1:04:37

10M ago1:04:37

1:04:37

Our esteemed pal P.H. Lee joins us for a rundown of this charming bit of YA. It's Brazilian! It's Really Brazilian!

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THE SCORPION RULES 1:10:51

10M ago1:10:51

1:10:51

We return to the schools that resemble the prisons for a book that predates the Ninth House but has a couple of startling similarities, including a proto-John Gaius Gen-X godhead.

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BONUS: Q & A 4 (100 EPISODES!) 1:13:31

10M ago1:13:31

1:13:31

On the occasion of our 100th mainline episode we treat ourselves by answering your questions.

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KILL LA KILL 1:07:33

11M ago1:07:33

1:07:33

In perhaps our most controversial take yet, we posit that this anime is good, actually. Your tolerance for breast collision physics will factor in whether you agree.

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THE SEEP 49:55

11M ago49:55

49:55

Helpful alien friends take over the world and make everyone immortal and kind of chill, man. It's a metaphor for something or other. Maybe AI, maybe legal weed. Maybe california in general. It doesn't amount to much.

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BONUS: SCUM VILLAIN'S SELF-SAVING SYSTEM 1:19:46

11M ago1:19:46

1:19:46

We have fandom historian and BL expert Naked Bee on to discuss this extremely charming bit of gay metafiction.

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AMMONITE 1:11:16

11M ago1:11:16

1:11:16

We return to Nicola Griffith to get a more measured take on the lesbian space colony genre, written if not in direct response to Daughters of a Coral Dawn then to books like it. (We know this because of a helpful author's note.)

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BONUS: PALE FIRE 1:07:47

12M ago1:07:47

1:07:47

We get to do a literary classic - significantly, an extremely funny literary classic - in the company of the excellent Kat Weaver. A joy.

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DAUGHTERS OF A CORAL DAWN 1:00:03

12M ago1:00:03

1:00:03

Vintage lesbian separatist science fiction from 1984. It's almost charming until the implications set in - since women can't commit sexual assault and men can't not, pederasty for the one and extermination for the other only makes sense.

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DAUGHTERS OF CHAOS 1:05:34

1y ago1:05:34

1:05:34

A lazy, racist, sexist, ahistorical wankfest of a novel. At least we got a podcast out of it.

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DAUGHTER OF MYSTERY 1:04:16

1y ago1:04:16

1:04:16

Come with us to fantasy Liechtenstein for some feel-good classic yuri. The society is high, the stakes are low and the names are terrible.

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BONUS: THE SCHOLOMANCE TRILOGY 1:22:16

1y ago1:22:16

1:22:16

After Ann Leckie brought us Foreigner we decided to invite some other authors whose work we've enjoyed to bring us books to talk about. Jenna Moran has elected to bring us the Scholomance, which is highly entertaining, and silly, and incidentally a highly detailed study on the phenomenon of the tsundere.…

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SPIRITS ABROAD (JUST THE LESBIAN PARTS) 1:06:43

1y ago1:06:43

1:06:43

You already know we love Zen Cho, so we decided to do an easy breezy runthrough of the gayer stories in her ever-expanding short story collection.

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SHORT FICTION ROUNDUP #5 52:21

1y ago52:21

52:21

It's another short story roundup! Featuring: Miss Bulletproof Comes Out of Retirement: https://podcastle.org/2022/03/08/podcastle-725-miss-bulletproof-comes-out-of-retirement/ (or https://giganotosaurus.org/2020/08/01/miss-bulletproof-comes-out-of-retirement/) Selkie Stories are for Losers: http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/selkie-stories-are-for-…

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THOSE BEYOND THE WALL 1:07:10

1y ago1:07:10

1:07:10

The Space Between Worlds got itself a darker, angrier sequel. It has a really strong character study at its heart, but the further afield you go from that anchor point the fuzzier it gets.

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BONUS: DISCO ELYSIUM 1:56:30

1y ago1:56:30

1:56:30

This one got away from us - with returning champion Leora in tow we spend a good two hours mostly gushing. You should play this game if you haven't.

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SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN 57:10

1y ago57:10

57:10

You are a horrible man-eating goo monster. You grew up alone, with nobody there to teach you right from wrong. But somewhere deep in your ooze there slumbers an entire tumblr-approved lexicon of therapy speak, consent theory and minute identity parsing which allows you to become the ethical human chaser. This is thankfully funny on purpose - at lea…