The works of Diana Wynne Jones, in order, one decade at a time, with Emily Tesh and Rebecca Fraimow
Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones is a Hugo-nominated DWJ readalong podcast. You can find us on Zencastr, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
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S2 E7: Howl’s Moving Castle
Her mind was such a blank that for a second, it actually seemed to her that Howl had no faults at all. How stupid!
The fantastic Freya Marske joins us for a discussion of John Donne, fairy tales, unmusical Welshmen, and Diana Wynne Jones' first truly romantic novel.
S2 E6: Fire and Hemlock
She realized he had sat down on purpose near the door, and she knew, perhaps without quite understanding it, that if she ran away, it would mean he had to go back into the funeral again. She was his excuse for coming out of it, so she stayed.
A man who wants to craft himself a Janet, a girl who wants to make herself a hero, and the full three hours we spend working through the powerful fictions and terrible truths that result.
[NB: themes of grooming and child abuse are woven pretty inextricably through our conversation this episode. Also, it is Three Hours Long.]
S2 E5: Archer’s Goon
I hate Mum, I hate Dad, I hate Howard and the Goon.
Big brothers and bigger brothers, good words and bad infrastructure, the power of being a megalomaniac evil wizard, and the power of having parents that you actually trust.
S2 E4: Witch Week
"He was fairly sure it made you wicked too, to be kissed by a witch."
The horrors of the British boarding school, the things you learn about yourself in the men's locker room, and what the Chrestomanci series is really about (it's Chrestomanci.)
S2 E3: The Homeward Bounders
"There are no rules, only principles and natural laws."
This week we're joined by the brilliant Adrian Tchaikovsky to discuss heroes and NPCs, gods and demons and sacrificial victory, and the worst fate that can befall anyone: endless nonconsensual cricket.
S2 E2: The Time of the Ghost
"People write stories pretending you can alter the past, but it can't be done. All you can do to the past is remember it wrong or interpret it differently."
The horrors of the past, the traps of the future, and being cursed, with sisters.
[NB: this is another one that deals more directly with abuse and suicidality in several forms]
For more on Time of the Ghost, check out Em's Reactor article on Making the Metaphor Literal: Fantastic Reality in The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones.
S2 E1: The Magicians of Caprona
Tonino wondered how he could laugh like that at something so horrible until he remembered that he had stood himself a score of times and laughed himself sick at just the same thing.
Two households both alike in comedy, in fair Caprona where we lay our first episode for Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones, Season Two: the Eighties.