Unknown Worlds of the Merril Collection

Selling Speculative Fiction

Host Oliver Brackenbury explores the world of sci-fi/ fantasy bookshops with Chris Szego, former manager of Bakka Phoenix Books, the oldest extant science fiction bookstore in North America.
 
Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:
Bakka-Phoenex Bookstore
The story of the LOTR Paperback Copyright Controversy
“This Body's Not Big Enough for the Both of Us” & “Meddling Kids” by Edgar Cantero
“The Lies of Locke Lamora” by Scott Lynch
“Fly By Night” by Francis Hardinge
Lois McMaster Bujold
“The Quantum Magician” by Derek Künsken

Dystopias & Utopias

York University's Professor Allan Weiss joins host Oliver Brackenbury for a discussion on the history of utopian and dystopian speculative fiction.
Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:
Allan Weiss (http://www.yorku.ca/aweiss/)
Thomas More's “Utopia”
Platos “The Republic”
H.G. Wells “The Time Machine”
“The Machine Stops” by E. M. Forster
“Hard Times” by Dickens
Problem Novels
“We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin
“Moon of the Crusted Snow” by Waubgeshig Rice
Drew Hayden Taylor
Neal Stephenson's “The Hieroglyph Project”
MIT Twelve Tomorrows Series
Nalo Hopkinson
The Mutopian Manifesto
“A Modern Utopia” and “The Sleeper Awakes” by H.G. Wells
“Herland” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Protopia
“Other Covenants: Alternate Histories of the Jewish People” by Mark Shainblum & Andrea D. Lobel

Canadian Speculative Fiction

Toronto-born speculative writer Cory Doctorow talks with host Oliver Brackenbury about Canadian sci-fi, his mentors in the genre, and his current experiences as an ex-pat author living in America.
 
Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:
Cory Doctorow
BoingBoing
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Judith Merril
Bakka-Phoenix Books
Futurian House
Prisoners of Gravity
Tim O' Reilly & Web 2.0
Tor.com
“Tolerable Levels of Violence” by Robert G Collins
Charles De Lint
License Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond Anthology
Madeline Ashby
“Stealing Worlds” by Karl Schroeder
“Radicalized” by Cory Doctorow
“Posey the Monster Slayer”
“Little Brother Omnibus”
“Attack Surface”
“The Lost Cause” Opening chapter posted by Cory.

The Pulps

Neil Mechem, co-founder of Toronto's Fantastic Pulp Show takes host Oliver Brackenbury on a journey into the world of classic pulp magazines – a major source of inspiration for modern horror, science fiction, fantasy, comics, film & TV, and more!
 
Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:
Too many titles mentioned to list, but we encourage you to check out the Merril Collection...
George Rozen's The Shadow Covers
Galactic Central
 

Role-Playing Games & The Appendix N Reading List

Host Oliver Brackenbury explores the world of role playing games and the Appendix N reading list that inspired them with master gamer and commentator Jeff Goad.
 
Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:
Spellburn
Appendix N
Cleave-Land Podcast
The Appendix N Reading List
Dungeon Crawl Classic
Call of Cthulhu
Monster Hearts RPG
Vampire: The Masquerade
Wizards of the Coast
Mechwarrior
Shadowrun
Beyond the Wall
A great, free booklet on what OSR gaming is
Traveller
B/X Basic D&D Set / Moldvay
Legends of the Flame Princess
Dungeon World
Dungeons & Drag Queens
Gencon & Garycon
Goodman Games Forum
D&D Gamefinder Forum
Jack Vance's The Dying Earth Series
“Imaro” by Charles Saunders
Critical Role w/ Matt Mercer
Adventure Zone Podcast

LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction

Host Oliver Brackenbury discusses queer sci-fi with Nebula Award-winning author Kelly Robson.
 
Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:
Kelly Robinson
Barrel Racing
The Ozark Trilogy by Suzette Haden Elgin
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge PIercy
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin
“The Female Man” by Joanna Russ
James Tiptree
Connie Willis
“No Enemy but Time”, “The City and the Signets”, and “Brittle Innings” by Michael Bishop (Author)
The Coode Street Podcast
Gary K. Wolfe Scifi Best of the Decade
“Docile” by K.M. Szpara
Samuel Delaney
“Gideon the Ninth” by Tamsyn Muir
“Game Changer” by L.X. Beckett
“So You Want to be a Honeypot”, a short story by Kelly Robson
“Alias Space and Other Stories” by Kelly Robson is her upcoming collection of short stories

The Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation & Fantasy

In this episode, host Oliver Brackenbury wanders the stacks of the Merril Collection with Services Specialist Annette Mocek and learns how acclaimed sci-fi writer Judith Merril transformed a small "Spaced Out Library" into one of the world's largest collections of genre fiction.Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:
The Merril Collection!
Friends of Merril (Facebook & Twitter)
Merril Collection at 50: Stories from the Spaced Out Library
The Works of Cyril Judd, Judith's Nom De Plume
Shadow on the Hearth by Judith Merril
Pulp artist Virgil Finley
The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books
Friends of the Osborne Collection
Lillian H. Smith Library
Academic Conference on Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy
Phyllis Gotlieb
The Little Green Man
Sept 1954 issue of Astounding
Martians Go Home by Frederick Brown
Frank Kelly Freas

Teaser for Unknown Worlds of the Merril Collection

A tiny trailer for Unknown Worlds of the Merril Collection, where host Oliver Brackenbury interviews special guests about notable history and new frontiers in the worlds of science fiction, fantasy and horror as found in Toronto's Merril Collection, the Western Hemisphere's largest publicly accessible archive of genre materials.Produced by Chris Dickie. Interviews have been edited for length and content.