Thursday, December 15, 2011

Good Story 025: Hogfather

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak


In Episode 25, Julie and Scott visit the Guild of Assassins, then try to explain the nuances of human belief to Death himself. Instead, it's Death that teaches them a thing or two about belief. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett is the book.

HO. HO. HO.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #025|

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Good Story 024: Tokyo Godfathers



Julie and Scott got out of the convenience store just in time! After calling an ambulance, they talked about Tokyo Godfathers, a meaningful Christmas movie from an unlikely source.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #024|

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Good Story 023: Way Station

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak


Episode 23: Julie and Scott agree to make coffee for Ulysses in return for a cube of deceased vegetation. Also, they read Way Station by Clifford D. Simak.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #023|

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Thursday, November 3, 2011

Good Story 022: The Social Network



Episode 22! Julie and Scott talk about The Social Network, a movie written by Aaron Sorkin, then decide to sue Mark Zuckerberg for wearing flip flops in the snow.

You know, you really don't need a forensics team to get to the bottom of this. If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #022|

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Thursday, October 20, 2011

Good Story 021: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury


Episode 21: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. Also, Julie and Scott race to the barber pole, go trick or treating, and barely mention zombies.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #021|

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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Good Story 020: Shaun of the Dead



Episode 20, in which Julie sacrifices her record collection to ward off zombies, and Scott wishes she hadn't thrown the Batman soundtrack. Shaun of the Dead is the subject! Hilarious movie. With zombies.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #020|

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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Good Story 019: Declare

Declare by Tim Powers


Episode 19. Here is a list: Philby. Espionage. Powers. Declare. While they await your coded response, Julie and Scott discuss Declare by Tim Powers, a fantasy/spy thriller they both enjoyed.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #019|

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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Good Story 018: Contact



Episode 18, in which Julie watches a movie she does not like and Scott says, "Wha?" Contact, from a book by Carl Sagan, directed by Robert Zemeckis, and starring Jodie Foster and rarely shirtless Matthew McConaughey.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #018|

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Good Story 017: And Then There Were None





And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie


Episode 17. Julie and Scott find themselves trapped on an island serving cold ham to eight seven extremely nervous guests. What could go wrong? And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Good book.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #017|

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Thursday, August 11, 2011

Good Story 016: Inception





Episode 16. Or is it? Julie and Scott both remember how they got there, and are pretty darned sure they discussed Christopher Nolan's Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #016|

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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Good Story 015: East of Eden

East of Eden by John Steinbeck


Episode 15 takes us to the Salinas Valley in California. The subject is John Steinbeck's East of Eden, written in 1951.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #015|

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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Good Story 014: Groundhog Day



Episode 14. We recommend that you listen to this episode over and over and over and over... Julie and Scott talk about Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray and Andie McDowall.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #014|

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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Good Story 013: Prince of Foxes

Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger


Episode 13 finds us in Renaissance Italy. Our book is Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #013|

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Thursday, June 9, 2011

Good Story 012: About a Boy



Episode 12! About a Boy starring Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, and Toni Collette. From the novel by Nick Hornby.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #012|

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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Good Story 011: Stories of Your Life and Others

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang


It's Episode 11 time! Julie and Scott discuss Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang.

From Rivets and Trees (by Scott):
In 1999, Gardner Dozois published the Sixteenth volume of his Year’s Best Science Fiction. I bought a digital copy for Handspring Visor from Peanut Press (now eReader) and started reading. Included in that volume was “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, a story that affected me so much that it renewed my interest in short fiction. In first-person prose that refers to past and future as if it were all present, a woman tells the story of her daughter’s life while at the same time telling a fascinating story of attempts to unravel an alien language. How it converges is breathtaking.

A good Chiang story (and they are all good, as I found out) mixes the intensely personal with exciting science and philosophy. Stories of Your Life and Others includes all the fiction Ted Chiang wrote through 2002. Standouts other than the story I already mentioned: “Tower of Babylon” (building a tower to find God), “Understand” (a story that reminded me of “Flowers for Algernon” by Keyes), and “Hell is the Absence of God” (in which religious things are easily seen, yet a man struggles with faith).

I’ve heard so many times the refrain “I just don’t get into short fiction”, and that makes me sad because if you don’t read short fiction, you don’t read these incredible stories. I urge you to read Ted Chiang. Anything by Ted Chiang. It’s all gold.

Table of Contents:
“Tower of Babylon” • (1990) • novelette
“Understand” • (1991) • novelette
“Division by Zero” • (1991) • short story
“Story of Your Life” • (1998) • novella
“Seventy-Two Letters” • (2000) • novella
“The Evolution of Human Science” • (2000) • short story
“Hell Is the Absence of God” • (2001) • novelette
“Liking What You See: A Documentary” • (2002) • short story

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #011|

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  • Ted Chiang Interview at Fantastic Metropolis

  • Ted Chiang Interview at StarShipSofa

  • SFFaudio Ted Chiang page

  • The quote about Hell that Julie was looking for from John Ciardi's essay about understanding Dante:

    “The damned are there because they offended a theological system that enforces certain consequences of suffering. But part of that theological system has also decreed that salvation was available to all men. Christ in his ransom had procured endless mercy. One need only wish to be saved, need only surrender his soul to God in a last gasp of contrition, and he will be saved. He may have to suffer at length in Purgatory, but, once there, his place is reserved in Heaven and he will in time arrive there. Purgatory is like our modern colleges: no one can flunk out of them.

    It follows then, that the only way to get into Hell is to insist upon it. One must deliberately exclude himself from grace by hardening his heart against it. Hell is what the damned have actively and insistently wished for.”

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Good Story 010: Fallen



Episode 10 features Fallen starring Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, and Embeth Davidtz. It's a movie featuring a demon, and Julie and Scott place it at very different places on the Rank-O-Meter.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #010|

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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Good Story 009: The Mystery of Grace

Eifelheim by Michael Flynn


In Episode #9, Julie and Scott discuss The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint.

On the Day of the Dead, at the Solona Music Hall, Altagracia Quintero meets John Burns — just two weeks too late.

Grace, as her friends call her, has a Ford Motor Company tattoo running down her leg and grease worked deep into her hands. She works at Sanchez Motorworks customizing hot rods. Finding the line in a classic car is her calling. Now Grace has to find the line in her own life. Grace loves John, and John loves her, and that would be wonderful, except that John, like Grace, has unfinished business: he’s haunted by the childhood death of his younger brother. He's never stopped feeling responsible. Before their relationship can find its resolution, the two of them will have to teach each other about life and love, about hot rods and Elvis Presley, and about why it's necessary to let some things go.


Download or listen via this link: |Episode #009|

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  • Charles de Lint's site: |LINK|


The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Good Story 008: Stranger Than Fiction



Time for Episode 8! Julie and Scott discuss Stranger Than Fiction, a movie from 2006 starring Will Ferrell, directed by Marc Forster, and written by Zach Helm.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #008|

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The opening of the movie, with the graphics we talked about:

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Good Story 007: Eifelheim

Eifelheim by Michael Flynn


In Episode #7, Julie and Scott discuss Eifelheim by Michael Flynn.

Centuries ago, one small town in Germany disappeared and was never resettled. Tom, a historian, and his theoretical physicist girlfriend Sharon, become interested. By all logic, the town should have survived. What's so special about Eifelheim?

Father Dietrich is the village priest of Eifelheim, in the year 1348, when the Black Death is gathering strength. To his astonishment, Dietrich makes first contact between humanity and an alien race from a distant star, when their ship crashes in the nearby forest. Flynn gives us the full richness and strangeness of medieval life, as well as some terrific aliens.


Download or listen via this link: |Episode #007|

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Julie's new book!


Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist by Br. Guy Consolmagno


In the Country of the Blind by Michael Flynn

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Good Story 006: Quiz Show



In Episode 6, Julie and Scott discuss Quiz Show, a movie from 1994 directed by Robert Redford.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #006|

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Stuff mentioned in the podcast:

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Good Story 005: The Franchise Affair

The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey


In this week's podcast, Julie and Scott discuss The Franchise Affair, a mystery novel by Josephine Tey.

Download or listen via this link: |Episode #005|

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Stuff mentioned in the podcast:

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Good Story 004: The Castle

Julie and Scott take a look at The Castle, an Australian comedy from 1997.



And here's the podcast!
Download or listen via this link: |Episode #004|

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Extra Stuff mentioned in the podcast:
Neeta Lyffe: Zombie Exterminator by Karina Fabian.
By the 2040s, the shambling dead have become an international problem. While governments and special interest groups vie for the most environmentally-friendly way to rid the world of zombies, a new breed of exterminator has risen: The Zombie Exterminator.
 
Boardgames! Smallworld, Ticket to Ride, Carcassone, Zombies!!!
 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Good Story 003: Black Cherry Blues

Black Cherry Blues by James Lee BurkeThis time around, Julie and Scott discuss James Lee Burke's Black Cherry Blues. This gritty story won an Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1990, and is third of Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels. The book is remarkable for its well-written prose and the emotional baggage carried by nearly every character. The setting is contemporary Louisiana and Montana.

And here's the podcast!
Download or listen via this link: |Episode #003|

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Extra Stuff mentioned in the podcast:
The Good Wife, a CBS TV series.

 

Quirks and Creation, an Episode of Being from American Public Media. A discussion with John Polkinghorne about science and religion. "Science and religion are often pitted against one another; but how do they complement, rather than contradict, one another? We learn how one man applies the deepest insights of modern physics to think about how the world fundamentally works, and how the universe might make space for prayer."
 

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Good Story 002: Serenity

Serenity Joss WhedonIn Episode 2, Julie and Scott talk about Serenity, a movie written and directed by Joss Whedon.

And here's the podcast!
Download or listen via this link: |Episode #002|

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Extra Stuff mentioned in the podcast:
Diana Wynne Jones - Fire and Hemlock, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Howl's Moving Castle, The Homeward Bounders
Paperback Swap

    Wednesday, January 5, 2011

    Good Story 001: The Reapers Are The Angels

    The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden BellIn the first A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast, Julie and Scott discuss The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell!
    For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can't remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.
    Download or listen via this link: |Episode #001|

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    An iTunes feed is on the way...

    Talked about in the podcast:
    And here's the audiobook from Blackstone Audio, read by Tai Simmons. I love this cover!



    The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell

    Tuesday, January 4, 2011

    Announcing "A Good Story is Hard to Find"

    Scott Danielson (from SFFaudio/Rivets and Trees) and Julie Davis (from Happy Catholic/Forgotten Classics) have a lot in common.

    We're both Catholic.

    We both love science fiction, mysteries, fantasy, books, movies ... in fact, we love good stories, wherever we find them.

    We both love finding stories that have a deeper meaning that sheds light on faith, belief, life, and God. Especially when those stories are right out there in popular culture. The Lord of the Rings springs to mind.

    We both love talking about our faith, stories, and deeper meanings.

    Last, but not least, we love sharing the conversation.

    Premiering this Thursday, Scott and Julie will begin the new Catholic podcast, A Good Story is Hard to Find.* (There will be more here than a blank space very soon!)

    This bimonthly podcast will alternate discussing books and movies that we can't wait to talk about and to share with you.

    We will begin by discussing The Reapers Are the Angels, Alden Bell's zombie apocalypse novel. (My review here.) The movie to be discussed mid-January will be: Serenity. You might be surprised at the themes these works carry about belief, faith, and free will. We were.

    Join us and spread the word.

    *Our patron author is Flannery O'Connor. Who else?