Words About Books

Ben reads Shepherd's Fall by George R. Appelt Jr. What was supposed to be a relatively straightforward discussion of a mysterious local horror author quickly goes off the rails. The boys grapple with a multifaceted narrative filled with ghosts, possible zombies, demons, and serious foundation damage that could run well into the 5-figures.Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

This week Ben finally unveils a rating system he kinda sorta plagiarised from an English Creative Writing class. Yes after months of threatening both Nate and the listeners he's finally gone and done it! And the results are... actually pretty good. Hopefully this will help us organize our thoughts and help you the listener understand what we liked, didn't like, and why from a variety of standpoints. After unveiling this new ratings system we stress test it by talking about EVERY BOOK THAT WE PREVIOUSLY BOTH READ AND DISCUSSED ON THIS PODCAST AND RE-REVIEW THEM ALL!Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

We've got a bonus for you this week! The best of the first quarter of WAB Pod! Chapter markers available off of our website.Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

This week on Words About Books Ben continues to move to another apartment instead of buying a house. So while he's busy throwing away his money we have to do a short episode. So we're talking a little more about Axiom's End to get a deeper conversation. Ben then brings up what a "popcorn movie" is and is wrong. He's just wrong. If he puts up a twitter poll be sure to tell him how incorrect he is. Anyway here's more Axiom's End by Lindsey Ellis!Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

This week on Words About Books Ben & Nate discuss Axiom's End by Lindsey Ellis. Because Nate is writing the description and editing he can tell you that Ben spent the first 16 minutes off the mic and then he came back to eat a sandwich necessitating the complete re-recording of the introduction.Join us as we discuss Axiom's End, a book about First Contact. It's a book set in the late 2000s aka "the good old days???" where World of Warcraft and Oblivion were still things people talked about and George W Bush was still president. Only in this world ALIENS! Our main character is swept up in the chaos of First Contact and the existential threat of human extinction. Ben & Nate both rated it pretty highly although Nate rated it more "above average" while Ben rated it "highly recommended". He really really wants these two to get together.Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

Words About Books is back with another exciting episode this week! Nate & James (aka New Ben) discuss a long-running book series: James Bond. We run through every single book there is in the franchise, starting all the way back with Dr. No. The Bond franchise is unique in that its books are moving pictures with sound added to them. Oh crap I think we just watched every film in the Bond franchise instead of actually reading... oh well! Hear our thoughts on EVERY movie in the Bond franchise including the two non-canon ones! It'll be a good one for sure!If you want to see more from James he's got a website here: https://ifyouwantthegravy.wordpress.com/Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

Today is a very special episode of Words About Books. We do our first LIVE EPISODE BAYBAY! We recorded this a few days ago and are putting it up today. I know it's coming out on April 1st but that's coincidental. This is a deadly serious episode. We honored a great man who did great things and Nate had the honor to be part of that. Hope you enjoy!Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

Ben convinces Nate to Read Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. That's right! Our resident expert on horror and human misery has decided to take a break from the hellish nightmare he insists on living to enjoy a pleasant, slice-of-life, low stakes fantasy novel about an Orc who wants to open a coffee shop and the friends she makes along the way. Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

Last year on Words About Books we got on the Halo Infinite coattails by talking about Halo: The Fall of Reach. This year there's a Paramont+ Halo show so WE'RE BACK BAYBAY!This week on Words About Books Nate reads Halo: First Strike and it becomes very apparent that Ben doesn’t get the fundamental underlying concept of early Halo. Let me make it easy for you: humans good, aliens bad. That’s it. It’s pretty straight forward. They keep killing our planets and Master Chief has to stop them and maybe learn to care about humanity along the way. It's called CHARACTER GROWTH, BEN! No, he WON'T learn to care about alien-life or their hopes and dreams. Now stop thinking about it and shoot 'em all! It’s not that hard, BEN.Anyway Master Chief blows up a bunch of persons, places, AND things and punches a lot of aliens to death like a super Chad boss man. Sgt. Johnson is around being a cool dude. Then the book gets retconned out of existence. Stick around until the end for the Halo: First Strike speedrun! Should be a good one!Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/

We conclude our discussion of Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey. Ben and Nate are well on their way to becoming some sort of Joker figure as Ben's hatred of Holden turns into a kind of stygian madness and Nate nearly dies laughing at his own jokes. Support the showBlue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/wordsaboutbooks.bsky.socialDiscord - https://discord.gg/6BaNRtcP8CThreads - https://www.threads.net/@wordsaboutbookspodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wordsaboutbookspodcastBlog - https://blog.wordsaboutbooks.ninja/