Categories
Back Seat Book Club Shows

Back Seat Book Club – Book Five: Battle Royale

Author: Koushun Takami, Trans. Yuji Oniki

Published: April 1999

Viz LLC

Plot Summary – A class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan – where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller – Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world.

Quick Thoughts [forthcoming]

“Kazuhiko could have taken his gun and aimed it at the person behind them. But Sakura wouldn’t want that. What she wanted was to leave this world quietly before they got sucked into this horrible massacre. Nothing was more important to him than her. There was no room for compromise. If this were what her trembling soul wanted, then he would follow her. Had he been more eloquent he might have described his feelings as something like, “I’m going to die for her honor.”

Their two bodies danced in the air beyond the cliff, their hands still clasped together, the black sea under them.”

Your Hosts:

  • Lena
  • Sam
  • Scott

This episode was recorded: 01/03/13

Categories
Back Seat Book Club Shows Special Guests

Back Seat Book Club – Interview: Tee Morris & Pip Balantine

Guests Tee Morris and Pip Ballatine, join the BS Book club to discuss steampunk, their novel Phoenix Rising, side projects and a whole lot of miscellenia.

Hosts:

  • Lena
  • Sam
  • Scott

Recorded: 01/16/13

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies #77: Django – Unchained

In the seat (of a carriage, most assuredly):

  • Scott

Recorded: 01/22/13

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies #76: Les Miserables

In the seat:

  • Scott

Recorded: 01/12/13

Categories
Back Seat Book Club Shows

Back Seat Book Club – Book Four: Phoenix Rising

Author: Tee Morris & Pip Ballantine

Published: 2011

Harper Voyager

Plot Summary – Evil is most assuredly afoot—and Britain’s fate rests in the hands of an alluring renegade . . . and a librarian.

These are dark days indeed in Victoria’s England. Londoners are vanishing, then reappearing, washing up as corpses on the banks of the Thames, drained of blood and bone. Yet the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences—the Crown’s clandestine organization whose bailiwick is the strange and unsettling—will not allow its agents to investigate. Fearless and exceedingly lovely Eliza D. Braun, however, with her bulletproof corset and a disturbing fondness for dynamite, refuses to let the matter rest . . . and she’s prepared to drag her timorous new partner, Wellington Books, along with her into the perilous fray.

For a malevolent brotherhood is operating in the deepening London shadows, intent upon the enslavement of all Britons. And Books and Braun—he with his encyclopaedic brain and she with her remarkable devices—must get to the twisted roots of a most nefarious plot . . . or see England fall to the Phoenix!

Quick Thoughts:

Scott needs to be quiet and read what we tell him to read!

  • Fluffy swords and sorcery is good.
  • Comparison of Phoenix Rising and Lethal Weapon.
  • Yes, that’s what I said.
  • Librarians… quiet, studious, tea lovers.
  • The easiest way to get out of a corset?  Duh, a knife!
  • Corset wearing also depends on level of boobage.
  • Books & Braun = Scott & Sam, especially if Sam can have explosives.
  • Teasing for the 2nd book was teased!
  • Bad-ass Italian assassin lady, of course.
  • Scott sums up the plot in two sentences.
  • Slow start for first couple of chapters, then it steamrolls.
  • In which Prince Lord Fontlebottom Receives a Guest… or Batman.
  • Lena mixes up chapters.  There’s a surprise.
  • The settings are vivid and a great backdrop to the story.
  • A good introduction to Steampunk for the novices.
  • World takeovers via Steampunk, human-boned robots.  Yeah!
  • The hunting scene.  That happened.
  • Adjectives are good, use them.
  • Crazy Victorian secret societies need orgy scenes.
  • It’s a dude-oriented orgy.  You don’t hear that very often, do you?

“She groaned as her face turned to press against the rosewood floor. “Welly, remind me to order a better mattress for my bed. This one is far too firm.”

“Oh, Eliza,” Wellington gasped, now remembering why he was in these lush surroundings. “No broken nose, I hope.”

“S’all right,” Braun slurred. Her voiced dropped to a whisper. “My ample bosom broke my fall.” – 

Your hosts for the episode:

  • Lena
  • Krissy
  • Sam
  • Scott
this episode was recorded: 12/06/12

Remember to vote on the for the next round of books here.

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies #75: Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

in the seat:

Scott

Recorded: 12/31/12

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies #74: the Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey

in the seat:

  • Scott

recorded 12/18/12

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies #73: Gnomeo and Juliet

In the seat:

  • Scott

Recorded:  12/09/12

Categories
Back Seat Book Club Shows

Back Seat Book Club – Book Three: Hogfather

**We’re close to choosing the next six books for Back Seat Book Club and we need your recommendations!  Leave a comment here, leave us a voice mail  or leave a comment on our Goodreads group** 

Author: Terry Pratchett

Publication date: 1996

Victor Gollancz

Plot Summary – ITS THE NIGHT BEFORE HOGSWATCH.  AND IT’S TOO QUIET.
Where is the big jolly fat man?  Why is Death creeping down chimneys and trying to say Ho Ho Ho?  The darkest night of the year is getting a lot darker…Susan the gothic governess has got to sort it out by morning, otherwise there won’t be a morning.  Ever again…

The 20th Discworld novel is a festive feast of darkness and Death (but with jolly robins and tinsel too).

As they say:  You’d better watch out…

Quick thoughts:

  • Lena admits to sometimes being confused by the faculty, the assassins and the auditors.
  • Death was a cool dude.
  • Sam’s favorite character is Susan and… who knew the Tooth Fairy had a land of its own?
  • Jack Frost is a punny guy!  AND he likes ferns.
  • Don’t say “moist” to Sam, please.
  • He’s a sociopath, just not the ravenous, bloodthirsty kind.  That’s a good thing, right?
  • Death of Rats is adorable.
  • Bilious, the Oh-god of hangovers and the sock-eating monster and the gnome that leaves warts on your feet.
  • Children don’t go hoppity-skip unless they’re on drug.
  • Grumpy Albert the gnome, trying to be Death’s voice of reason… but Death is as matter-of-fact as they come.
  • Sure, we’d all burst into giggle fits if Death was handing out presents!
  • Kids need to believe the small stuff to get through the big stuff.
  • Tooth fairy = boogey man?  Old gods do new jobs.
  • Who doesn’t want to hang out with the cheerful fairy?
  • TEE-TIME, we’re calling him TEE-TIME!!
  • Banjo, Bongo… something like that.
  • The Unseen University is not Hogwarts.
  • Not a difficult read, recommended by all of the hosts!
  • Being able to tap into your “child at heart” makes this a really fun read.
  • I want a pony in my bedroom!
  • Soul cake duck??  Twilight Zone Easter bunny, maybe?
  • Who better to be the voice of Death than Christopher Lee?
  • Final thoughts – READ IT.

Take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy. and yet… and yet you act as if there is some ideal order in the world, as if there is some… some rightness in the universe by which it may be judged. – Hogfather

Your hosts for the episode:

  • Lena
  • Scott
  • Sam

this episode was recorded: 10/25/12

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies #72: Sam’s Top 5 Asian Movies

In the Seat:

  • Sam

Recorded 11/25/12