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Author: Karlo Yeager Rodríguez

Two manticores scowling at each other. One is saying, "soon" while the other is replying with, "It's here"

Xanth Is a Four Letter Word

The Xanth episode of Crap Books has come and gone. While we had fun discussing just how awful the books are on several levels (the prose is not great, the misogyny and objectification of women that's the norm is awful, the internal logic and plots are nonsensical, and so on), one of the things that I've been thinking about is how awful the politics of A Spell for Chameleon are. Bink, the supposed hero, just following the rules no matter how unjust or cruel they may be is truly something that I'd forgotten. To clarify, not every hero or protagonist of a book needs to be an exemplar, but nothing that happens in A Spell for Chameleon challenges Bink's spinelessness. If anything, Bink suffers no lasting consequences for his continued existence as a human doormat, which seems to hint at the author's own beliefs and privilege. https://twitter.com/PodsideP/status/1310700089430556674?s=20 An example of awful prose and...

October 1, 2020
Crap Books, Fantasy
Close up of Manticore's scowling face, with the caption "Soon" under it

Episode 4 – A Spell For Chameleon

In which Pete and I go work our way through the stages of grief, and finally reach acceptance that we've been Xanthed. Listen in for a wide-ranging discussion about self-selected Florida Man, Piers Anthony, and his best-known (and oh-so-craptastic) works. Oh, and we manage to fit in some A Spell For Chameleon talk, too! https://soundcloud.com/user-733327042/episode-84-crap-books-iv-a-spell-for-chameleon-ft-karlo-yeager-rodriguez ...

September 29, 2020
Crap Books, Fantasy, Podcast
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A Descent Into The World Below

What if I told you there was a world before this one you know, a world ever dark and cold, where cold water drip-drip-drips down into lightless depths. . . A world usurped by this one, full of sunlight and the wind tousling the grasses, and resentful of losing its place. A world that sends its inhabitants squirming up out of the depths, throngs twisted by their hatred of us living above, all waiting just on the far side of our cellars and between our walls for their moment to strike. . . Recently, I heard of a gaming supplement called The Veins of the Earth, which sounded like a re-imagining of the now-tired idea of The Underdark (I'd offer my apologies to R. A. Salvatore, but I never got around to reading his books detailing Menzoberranzan and drow culture). Veins of the Earth does what many works do when they...

September 13, 2020
Crap Books, Fantasy, Podcast
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Cover of the Xanth novel, "Dragon on a Pedestal" depicting a small blonde girl in a red, frilly dress petting a dragon who's looking up at her in adulation

We Got Xanthed

When I posted a poll to gauge interest in discussing different crap books in an upcoming episode of Podside Picnic, I should've been prepared for this. https://twitter.com/kjy1066/status/1297661342271320064?s=20 What else can I say other than: the public has spoken! This means that Pete and I will prioritize talking about the series of books written by none other than British-by-Birth, Florida-Man-by-Choice, (and all around perv) Piers Anthony. As Pete so succinctly put it: https://twitter.com/PodsidePete/status/1297663309009899524?s=20 I feel your pain, man If there's one good thing I could say about the Xanth books, it's that each one's generally stand-alone. That's why I started on the 7th book in the series and worked my way through whichever ones I could find. Thus my journey began So, look for our Xanth-stravaganza, coming soon to a Crap Books near you! ...

September 3, 2020
Uncategorized
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More Crap Books Episodes

Some good news! Due to the popularity of the Crap Books episodes, Podside Picnic decided to have me on once a month to ramble some more about my genre mis-education. This will continue for as long as it's still something Pete and I are interested in doing. I'm currently racking my brains to list different novels I've not yet discussed for upcoming episodes. Full disclosure: we may reserve the right to circle back for a deeper dive of certain tie-in novels we've already discussed at any time. For the moment, we'll very likely discuss the Shadowrun novel, Burning Bright (which I'm currently reading in preparation), as well as the Vampire: the Eternal Struggle CCG (!) tie-in, House of Secrets sometime soon. We'll probably want to also explore what Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman wrote after Dragonlance. There's plenty of material to draw from already, but we wanted to gauge interest. This is...

August 23, 2020
Public Appearance, Reading, Uncategorized
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