PC Spotlight 5: Ironskin, By Tina Connolly

[Ocicat]

PodCastle Spotlight: Ironskin, By Tina Connolly



Dave and Anna hear from PodCastle pal Tina Connolly about her debut novel Ironskin, and discuss Evil Fairies, Jane Eyre, and ANGER. (Anna is ALWAYS angry.)

Visit Tina Connolly online, and definitely check out her flash fiction podcast Toasted Cake!

Listen to Spotlight: Ironskin

[Fenrix]

Lemme go move this one up the queue.

[danooli]

I adored this book.

[Unblinking]

I keep hearing about this one, good to hear a bit more.  I've heard it mentioned more than once as a Hugo/Nebula recommendation.  I'd like to read it though I wouldn't finish it by award season in any case.  Sounds really cool.

(Would've liked an excerpt)

[Fenrix]

excerpt

[Unblinking]

excerpt

Thanks.

(I meant as part of the Spotlight)

[Fenrix]

excerpt

Thanks.

(I meant as part of the Spotlight)

You just want everything, don't you? Fine you can be inside spoon next time.

Since it's on Audible, for the next one like this I recommend pointing to that location and plugging an Escape Artists promo code if there's one going on at the time.

[Devoted135]

Seems like a cool premise

[Mav.Weirdo]

On the question of "Are there other female dwarf characters?"

Forensics Watchdwarf Cheery Littlebottom has been in 5 of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

[Unblinking]

On the question of "Are there other female dwarf characters?"

Forensics Watchdwarf Cheery Littlebottom has been in 5 of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

Also, half of the other dwarves in the Discworld novels are female, it's just that Cheery is one of the few who are openly female (the other dwarves often don't even know another's until the time comes to consummate which can be rather embarrassing if they guessed wrong).

[Anarkey]

On the question of "Are there other female dwarf characters?"

Forensics Watchdwarf Cheery Littlebottom has been in 5 of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

That would explain my lack of knowledge.  I'm underPratchetted, mostly by choice.

[Unblinking]

On the question of "Are there other female dwarf characters?"

Forensics Watchdwarf Cheery Littlebottom has been in 5 of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

That would explain my lack of knowledge.  I'm underPratchetted, mostly by choice.

Some of the books are very worthwhile, others not so much.  Small Gods is easily my favorite, though it doesn't follow any of the recurring characters most of the other books do in some form or another.

[kibitzer]

On the question of "Are there other female dwarf characters?"

Forensics Watchdwarf Cheery Littlebottom has been in 5 of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

That would explain my lack of knowledge.  I'm underPratchetted, mostly by choice.

Gods, I thought I was the only one!

[Fenrix]

On the question of "Are there other female dwarf characters?"

Forensics Watchdwarf Cheery Littlebottom has been in 5 of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

That would explain my lack of knowledge.  I'm underPratchetted, mostly by choice.

Gods, I thought I was the only one!

Hi, I'm Fenrix, and I'm also underPratchetted, mostly by choice. I read one, was negatively disposed to it and walked away for a decade. I read another and was generally ambivalent trending towards amused. I have a small handful more on the "to read" pile but they're DEEP in the pile.

[Scattercat]

Guys.  Srsly.  Srsly you guys.

We can't be friends anymore you guys.

Guys srsly. 


(Actually, the problem is that with the series being as long and sprawling as it is, there are now, as per Sturgeon's Law, quite a few mediocre Discworld novels.  "Mort," "Eric," honestly "The Colour of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic," "Going Postal" and "Making Money," "Carpe Jugulum.")  That's just off the top of my head. 

My personal favorite has pretty much always been "Reaper Man," though if you can overlook the fanboying of Captain Vimes and the need to have a solid grounding in the world to understand the references, "Thud" is really enjoyable.  "Witches Abroad" was the first one I ever read, and it's still pretty high for me, though mostly because of Greebo turning into a human.  Also I'll definitely second "Small Gods.")

[Scattercat]

Oh, and "Feet of Clay," which strikes home for me with a lot of its themes, and "Hogfather," which has a really great discussion of myths and legends (and which Jim Butcher apparently finally read before writing the most recent Dresden Files novel).  Both of those probably require at least a little grounding in the series to follow the sideplots.  "Guards!  Guards!" and "Men at Arms" being the two major prerequisites, but both of those are pretty good ones and not in what I think of as the "Phoning It In" pile.

[DKT]

I've read three Pratchett books (four, if you include Good Omens), and my favorite this far is Dodger, which I thought was all sorts of fun, as funny, if relatively simple plot-wise. It helps I'm a fan of Dickens, I suppose. Out of the two Discworld books, I enjoyed Hogfather alright, and was bored by Mort (which reading Scattercat's comment is kind I encouraging). I'll probably read some more Discworld, but probably after I try Nation.

[Scattercat]

Reading the early Rincewind books, while kind of meh, is worth it for "Interesting Times" and "The Last Continent," by the way. 

[Fenrix]

Rincewind is what stopped me from picking up Pratchett for a decade.

So back on topic, are y'all working out an interview and spotlight for Copperhead? Maybe this time with a little audio excerpt? Or an Audible promo.

[Unblinking]

Reading the early Rincewind books, while kind of meh, is worth it for "Interesting Times" and "The Last Continent," by the way. 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Rincewind.  But Interesting Times is worth a read.  I was not a fan of The Last Continent.

[DKT]

So back on topic, are y'all working out an interview and spotlight for Copperhead? Maybe this time with a little audio excerpt? Or an Audible promo.

Heh. We haven't actually discussed it, to be honest. Thus far, we've only Spotlighted first books in series, or standalones. (Unless you count Bordertown, which I don't.) But I'm pretty stoked for Tina's new book.

The audio excerpts would be cool, but it is so difficult to do what we're doing now, and get it released in something approximating the release of a book. Taking the time to add another component to it is incredibly daunting.

[DoctorBob]

Sorry to tear things away from Pratchett, but I grabbed Ironskin as soon as I could, and devoured it. I thought it was very good, although perhaps Jane was a bit thick about her feelings for my taste. I enjoyed the slow pacing at the beginning of the book more than the fast pace at the end. I look forward to more of Tina's writing, and her guest-host on PodCastle pushed me to subscribe to Toasted Cake. In my opinion, Ironskin is a fine read, and I'm pushing people to try it.