Hugo and Nebula Readership Podcast: Recent Episodes
Alice Baker and Ann Spangler
Sisters Alice and Ann attempt to read their way through all of the Hugo and Nebula award winning books.
Alice is a mother of one who is trying to get back in the habit of regular reading and who credits her sister Ann with for her love of the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres. Ann, a mother of two, has been and still is a voracious reader who hopes to improve her skill at book discussion.
In this episode, the two sisters tackle the nebula award winner from 1972 - A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg. Our man, a regular World con attendee, and prolific writer created a science fiction piece, and to us - almost a fantasy, while undertaking a personal writing challenge - to create a story without using the word “I”. So did this idea work? We definitely had our own opinions.
Here are some time markers to help guide you:
01:42 Book Jacket read (We say the names)
03:57 History Lesson
08:22 Tackling the Big Themes: Struggle bus time
11:31 The concept of writing without using “I”
12:13 Segway into Mindsharing
15:46 The New Wave style of writing
17:42 World Building, but it somehow fades to the background
20:54 Discussion of Bond Brothers/Sisters
24:30 Chosen one vs. the sidekick
25:40 We Segway again - this time into sex and character development
31:25 Earthman = Drug Dealer
33:26 Four questions
In this episode of the Hugo and Nebula Readership Podcast the two sisters are reading To Your Scattered Bodies Go or Riverworld by Philip Jose Farmer. It won the Hugo in 1972. The reason for the double name is that the first book - To your scattered bodies go - is now rarely published by itself but can be more easily found with its series under the series name - Riverworld. In this novel filled with historical characters, we ultimately were awash with questions. Listen and find out why. Here are some time markers for you: 01:24 Book jacket read 03:50 History lesson 10:39 Big Themes 13:10 Other peoples’ reviews - did that help us? 18:44 Protagonist and friends 23:40 Storyline and pacing and world-building, oh my 26:15 Adaptations and games 29:00 Suicide express and characters 31:20 Action writer, pulp writer 34:50 Women Characters - well, it’s a thing 43:40 Four Questions
In this Episode of the Hugo and Nebula Readership Podcast, the two sisters tackle Ringworld by Larry Niven. The book won the Nebula in 1970 and the Hugo in 1971. While highly praised by the SF world it was a bit of a struggle bus for us both. Listen in and find out why.
In a skipping mood? Here are some time markers to assist you:
01:15 Book jacket read but we have no book jacket
02:50 History Lesson
06:15 Tackling the Big themes
10:20 Big Science or Plot driven characters - can’t we have both?
18:24 Throwback tropes
20:24 Characters
30:00 Why Alice launches the book across the room
35:40 Other reviews of the book
38:14 The Four Questions
Welcome to the Hugo and Nebula Readership Podcast where two sisters are reading their way through the Hugo and Nebula awarding novels in order. This episode is the highly anticipated Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin which won both the Hugo and the Nebula in 1970. It was a big hit with both sisters; we’re singing praises in this rather short episode
Would you like to jump around and hit the high points? Here are the time markers to do just that:
01:32 Book Jacket Read
03:13 History Lesson
08:30 Big Themes - Love and Gender
13:14 Pronouns and Gender
17:19 Genly’s perspective and Gender
22:22 Characters and storyline
34:40 Amazing world building
40:00 Four Questions
Sisters Alice and Ann have read all of the novels that won either a Hugo award, a Nebula award, or both in the 1960s. In this episode, they look back on the experience and discuss how they think their readership is progressing.
Want to skip to a specific topic? Here are some time stamps to help guide you:
01:10 Lost Episodes - Starship Troopers, Canticle for Lebowitz and Case for Conscience
04:00 We rank our favorites
10:18 Impactful vs. Enjoyable books
12:16 History Lessons
13:16 Myths and Legends
15:19 Women in the 60s
18:10 Aliens in the 60s
19:25 How are we doing with our manifesto and goals?
22:50 New Ideas, new friends
29:24 Looking forward to the 70s
Welcome to the Hugo and Nebula readership podcast where two sisters are reading their way through all - all, I say - the books in chronological order. This episode covers Rite of passage by Alexei Panshin which won the Hugo in 1969. This book is a great example of how two persons never read the same book.
Here are some time markers to guide you through the episode
01:02 Book jacket read
02:29 History Lesson
04:39 A Heinlein moment
06:44 Open discussion: another Heinlein moment
10:38 Mia: protagonist, flawed and likable
17:00 Jimmy the boyfriend
20:09 Stories within stories
22:33 The writing and we go back and do a plot summary
26:26 Predetermined endings
29:16 More characters
35:25 The trial
39:59 Four questions
43:31 Side trip: male writers of female characters and visa versa
We're not quite hip enough for hip crime vocab, are you? On this episode of the Hugo and Nebula Readership podcast, the two sisters are reading the groundbreaking dystopia Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner - it won the Hugo for 1969. Give us a listen.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:51 Book’s Blurb which has no plot synopsis...
02:48 so we attempt one ourselves
05:40 History Lesson
12:26 General discussion and big theme
17:28 Dystopias and all that
23:50 Donald and/or Norman?
28:02 Chad C. Mulligan and the HipCrime Vocab
29:32 The Shiggies
31:57 … and we circle back to Chad C. Mulligan
34:40 John Brunner and the future
37:50 The Begi stories
41:20 Five Questions
Music by Carl Miles
This is the podcast where two sisters are reading their way through the Hugo and Nebula awarding novels in order. La, Lo or Le? In this episode, we discuss The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany. The Einstein Intersection won the Nebula for 1968. This tale of aliens and tangled human mythology was a challenging read for the two sisters who ultimately found the main character, Lobey, to be the best part.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:55 Book Jacket Read
05:45 History Lesson
09:01 Big Themes: Deep thinking about otherness
12:00 La, Lo or Le: what does it all mean - a summary of sorts
19:43 Kage: fancy pronunciation rules
23:53 Chapter intros: Why, why, why
28:53 Kid Death and the battle at the end
35:33 Opulent parties (and the Dove)
37:54 Ambiguous ending
40:32 Four Questions
Music by Carl Miles
Who is Sam? This is the podcast where two sisters are reading their way through the Hugo and Nebula awarding novels in order. In this episode, they discuss The Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny which won the Hugo award for 1968. The general theme for the discussion will be us questioning everything we think we read in the book.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:44 Book’s Blurb
04:03 History Lesson
08:47 Big Questions: so many questions
12:54 The Characters: who has what name when
19:00 General confusion: which last a while
25:13 The battles: loops and reincarnations
28:52 Feminist Rant
34:52 Religion: Mix and match parables and accelerationism
42:50 Hellwell
44:00 The Ending: more confusion and potty jokes and murder mysteries
54:24 Four questions
Music by Carl Miles
Would you choose to be supersmart? This podcast episode is all about the seminal Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. If you are of a certain age you undoubtedly had it as required reading. The two sisters cast their minds back and struggle to remember when they actually read the book but are fairly certain they had previously read it in some form or other. The book tied with Babel-17 by Delany for the 1967 Nebula.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:45 History Lesson
04:15 Okay, did we or didn’t we?
06:14 General Discussion, starting off with the usual - what’s the big theme
10:06 Would you choose to be supersmart?
15:33 We continue our ongoing discussion of the presentation of women characters in
Science Fiction in the late 20th century. (We do cover other characters too, to be fair)
23:00 Algernon the foreshadowing mouse
30:07 More character discussion, just to make sure we cover everyone. We’ll get there.
40:55 Four Questions and what did you love about reading this book?
Music by Carl Miles
This episode of the podcast covers Samuel R. Delany's Babel-17. A new author for both sisters, Delany’s 1967 Nebula winner was a record-breaker in many ways, have a listen to learn more.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
02:04 Book’s blurb
03:13 History lesson
07:47 General discussion of themes working through the plot
31:29 More major themes discussion
38:07 Transport world and Dan
43:24 Our first female protagonist
48:12 Lit Crit hats on
52:44 Space operas
55:52 Could it be a movie?
59:36 Four questions and the best part
Music by Carl Miles
In this episode of the podcast, the two sisters discuss the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, the final Hugo Award for Science Fiction Grand Master Robert A. Heinlein. Written in 1966, this is probably one of his more well-known novels for adults, but how did it compare in our opinion? Have a listen.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:29 Book jacket read
03:16 History lesson
06:45 General discussion: big ideas, main ideas, all that jazz
12:28 Worldbuilding
15:28 We love Mike
23:48 The wise old man
29:31 Wyoh and the Heinleinein archetype
37:25 Line marriages
46:10 Mort the Wart and the second part of the book
53:29 Four Questions and a happy ending
Music by Carl Miles
This episode finds the sisters reading ..And Call Me Conrad (also known as This Immortal) by Roger Zelazny. It tied with Dune for the 1966 Hugo. A SF/Mystery/Spy/Classical Mythology story packed with (un)forgettable characters that we have a great time discussing. But did we like the book? Have a listen and find out.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:50 Book’s Blurb - Actually the inside of the front cover, if you’d like to be technical
04:45 History Lesson
08:27 General Discussion: We tackle the big theme first and give it up quickly
16:00 The “New Wave” writers
20:45 The Character breakdown
39:20 Four Questions
45:35 What’s our favorite thing
Music by Carl Miles
In this episode, the two sisters discuss the iconic Dune by Frank Herbert. It won both the Hugo and the Nebula in 1966. Yes, it is the First Nebula award ever given out and both of us agree with the awards committees on this one; Dune is a damn fine book.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:53 Book Blurb, but not really from the book
03:03 History Lesson
05:43 General Discussion: We start with the big themes
11:27 Worldbuilding
18:32 Side discussion: World religions
19:45 The Ecology of Dune
23:25 Female Power
29:27 The mix of technology and fantasy elements
34:42 Character Breakdown
40:03 Four Questions - our new format
Music by Carl Miles
In this rather short episode, the two sisters discuss The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber. Not only did technical problems bring us to an early finish, neither of us could honestly say we liked the book very much. Take a listen to find out why.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:12 Book Jacket
03:06 History Lesson
05:36 General Discussion: How many story lines can you handle?
10:48 Ann attempts to explain the character breakdown and outline the book
18:13 The Ending - such as it is
20:50 Five Questions
24:45 Background of the upcoming Nebula Awards
Music by Carl Miles
This episode the two sisters, Alice and Ann, read Waystation AKA Here Gather the Stars by Clifford D. Simak. The book won the Hugo in 1964 and even though Simak was a new author to both sisters he was a hit. Listen to here about why both sisters enjoyed the read.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:49 We tweak the podcast format and read the book’s blurb
04:00 The History Lesson
09:27 General Discussion
15:07 The Way Station method of space travel
18:06 Aliens, so many aliens!
20:50 Simak predicts the future
23:38 Simak as a writer and his characters
35:08 Religious discourse and the sisters are a bit confused
43:06 The most confusing characters of the book (lots of confusion here)
49:37 Five Questions
Music by Carl Miles
This time the sisters, Ann and Alice, podcast about the Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick now a TV series of the same name on Amazon Prime. Are they the same? Give us a listen and find out.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:11 History Lesson
08:35 Book’s Blurb
10:09 General Discussion: and we start off with the lessons learned and big ideas
13:21 Alice attempts a better plot summary
18:32 We tackle the book within a book puzzle
24:23 The Mysteries of the I Ching
30:21 The Asian Culture in the book
34:35 Plotting oddities and the character discussion
43:47 The Man in the High Castle v. The Man in the High Castle
46:06 Five Questions
32:35 A most positive ending
Music by Carl Miles
In this podcast, the sisters tackle the iconic Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. Much discussed by sister Alice in other book groups it is not a fan favorite of either sister but in the end, it has much to offer the serious SF reader.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:12 History Lesson
09:19 Book’s Blurb
10:08 General Discussion
17:41 A little bit of family history
20:04 Heinlein as a writer
22:55 The Characters
33:54 Twenty-First Century goggles
40:15 Ann cannot pronounce Deus Ex Machina
41:10 Five Questions
Music by Carl Miles
The Baker sisters have made it through all the books that have won retro hugos or regular hugos through 1959. They take a break from regular episodes to reflect on their experience of the books of that decade and to check on how they are doing with their goals both on a project and personal level.
Time codes:
03:12 Ann provide a synopsis of the failed The Big Time recording
07:27 Order of favorite books
08:27 Top four books discussed
17:12 Manifesto review
21:21 Personal goal review
23:15 Looking forward to the 1960s
29:56 Vocabulary
31:10 Summary review of the era
This is the 8th podcast for the two Baker sisters as they read through the Hugo award winning novels. This time they are reading Heinlein's first official win (not a retro win) Double Star which was first published in 1956. Both sisters enjoyed the novel and did a double take on Heinlein. Ha! You see what I did there?
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:22 History Lesson
03:50 General Discussion
07:20 Alice Reads the Book’s Blurb
08:15 Alice discusses the lessons learned
12:31 Ann and the aliens
21:32 We segue into actors and acting stuff:
27:01 Alice and the Farley File
29:29 We discuss Penny
33:00 Alice reviews the other characters
37:33 Five Questions
Music by Carl Miles
In this episode, the Baker sisters covers the Hugo award winner They’d Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley. It was serialized in the magazine Astounding and then won the Hugo, yes - we’ve returned to the regular Hugos again, for best novel in 1955. It was a low point for the sisters who struggled with the whole thing in general, but they did laugh a lot.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:15 History Lesson
03:36 General Discussion
10:20 Alice creates a Book Blurb
11:26 Alice discusses the lessons learned
15:47 We end up discussing the writing and structure of the book
21:47 Alice brings up the problems with the character Joe
25:05 We tackle the ‘science’ in the book
29:43 Ann tries to figure out how the authors choose the title
32:24 Alice does a quick character review
40:03 Five Questions
Music by Carl Miles
In the 6th podcast, the Baker sisters tackle the Hugo award winner Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. A science-fiction futuristic dystopia that was published in 1953 and won a retro Hugo in 2004. This is a timeless classic which many of a certain generation had to read in high school, including the younger of the two sisters. It held up well, is still a striking ‘any-day-now’ read.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:05 History Lesson
06:58 Ann reads the Book’s Blurb
11:58 General Discussion
12:10 What are the lessons of the book
18:31 We discuss the predictive nature of the book
26:17 Once again we tackle the portrayal of women in this era
33:44 Then we discuss Montag, the main character
Music by Carl Miles
In this episode the Baker sister, they discuss the 1st Hugo awarded ever. It was given to the book The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester published in 1952 and won the Hugo in 1953. This rather amazing book was enjoyed by both ladies and but the brevity of the book and oddly enough, the likeability of it, made for a shorter podcast.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:50 History Lesson
05:00 We jump right in
06:44 Alice reads the back cover - if you want a synopsis
08:23 Open discussion - starting with “what are the big lessons”
09:08 We talk about telepathy and shape poems
14:15 The Murder Mystery aspect
20:35 The Love story aspect
28:28 The Five Questions
Music by Carl Miles
This is the 4th podcast for the Baker sisters Hugh Project and this is another retro Hugo; Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein. This young adult science fiction novel was first published in 1950, it won the retro Hugo in 2001 and could be considered a great novel for a boy scout enthusiast. Sadly neither sister are themselves scouting enthusiasts.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
00:58 History Lesson
05:34 We finally get to the book itself and it’s a book for boy scouts!
10:00 Alice reads the back cover - if you want a synopsis
06:19 Open discussion - starting with “what are the big lessons”
28:31 We talk about some of the science-y ideas
37:59 Coming of Age in SPAACEEE segues into filk singing and back again
41:30 Alien Objects or BDO
47:44 The Five Questions
Music by Carl Miles
In the third podcast from the Baker Sisters they discuss another retro Hugo for the novella, or borderline short story The Mule by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the magazine Astounding in 1942 and then republished in book form as part of the title Foundation and Empire. It won the a retro Hugo in 1996. Yes, still on retro Hugos. The sisters both decidedly liked the character Ebling Mis but the rest of the book…. Well it wasn’t quite all happy, happy, joy, joy.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
01:39 Spoiler Alert - The twist at the end of the book is a big part of the story so if you don’t want to spoil the surprise - read first - listen later.
Copy and paste from otherwhere
02:14 History Lesson
06:19 Open discussion
12:28 We go over the the characters
29:51 Tackling some of the big ideas in the book
46:39 The Five Questions
Music by Carl Miles
In this, the second podcast, the Baker sister discuss Slan by A.E. Van Vogt, first published in 1940 and never been out of print since. It won a retro Hugo in 2016. This madly paced science fiction dystopia won admiration and but did we truly love it? Listen and find out.
Want to skip a bit or jump to your favorite part? Here are the time markers for this episode:
00:51 History Lesson
03:40 Astounding Magazine
06:19 Open discussion
12:28 We go over the the characters
29:51 Tackling some of the big ideas in the book
46:39 The Five Questions
Music by Carl Miles
In their first episode the Baker sisters discuss The Sword in the Stone written by T.H. White which won a Retro Hugo in 2013 for the year 1939. This Arthurian Fantasy novel involving a very young Arthur and a Merlin who is living backwards in time was a hit with both of them and even though it the first go round for the elder of the two sisters a good time was had by both.
Want to skip a bit or jump ahead? Here are the approximate time markers for this episode:
01:06 History Lesson
06:48 5 Questions
19:30 Open Discussion
Music by Carl Miles
Sisters Alice and Ann introduce themselves and their plans for the podcast. They discuss their hopes and dreams for their journey reading the Hugo and Nebula award winning books and declare their manifesto.
Alice is a mother of one who is trying to redevelop a reading habit and credits her sister Ann with her love of the genre. Ann is a mother of two has been a various reader for as long as she can remember who is working on improving her book discussion skills.