Undertowers Podcast

Episode 23: Ursula of Ulm, an interview with JB Jackson

We welcome back author and friend of the pod, JB Jackson to discuss his recently released novel, Ursula of Ulm, the second installment in the De Re Doridica series of which five are planned. It’s hard to adequately express how much we’ve enjoyed getting to know JB through these interviews and dive even deeper into the weird world of 1977’s Fort Worth, TX. We absolutely adored Ursula, the sequel to Shagduk. The novel is a clear step up but also a satisfying and natural continuation of everything that was enjoyable about Shagduk. 
 
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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP. 
 
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Episode 22: Between Two Fires

In this episode we dive into the horror filled 14th century French landscape that is Between Two Fires. We conduct a thorough plot overview and then work through themes of the book. 
 
This episode was dedicated to the memory of our dear friend Alyssa Lokits, who we toast at the beginning of the episode. Please support The Mary Parrish Center in her honor: https://maryparrish.kindful.com/ 
 
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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP. 

Episode 21: Le Morte D'Arthur

Sir! It is time to have passing good cheer ‘round the (small) round table as we dive head first into the vast plentitude that is Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. This conversation twists and turns into many a blind alley as we reckon with the mighty weight of Malory’s telling of the birth, life, and death of the Once and Future King. Morte is the first known telling of the entire story of King Arthur and we had a blast digging into it. 
 
We also discussed the trailer release for Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu as we patiently await it’s release this Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nulvWqYUM8k
 
For the curious here is some light reading on the Morte manuscripts and some images of the two extant versions: https://sianechard.ca/web-pages/caxton-and-winchester/
 
Images of the Winchester Manuscript
http://www.maloryproject.com/image_viewer.php?gallery_id=8&image_id=131&pos=1
Images of the Caxton Manuscript 
http://www.maloryproject.com/image_viewer.php?gallery_id=4&image_id=978&pos=1
 
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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP.

Episode 20: The Mabinogion

We wanted to take a moment to highlight Samaritan’s Purse and the work they are doing to help the recovery in Eastern Tennessee and North Carolina after the devastating flooding that took place. Donate here: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/pray-for-those-in-helenes-path/ 
Also, all proceeds from the sale of these shirts available from the Bitter Southerner will go to disaster relief: https://bsgeneralstore.com/products/south-disaster-relief-t-shirt
 
Between me and God, we will discuss these tales! Into the bowels of Welsh history and myth we plummet to revel in the lush wonders that is the Mabinogion, consisting of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, the Four Native Tales, and the Three Romances. We run through each story presented highlighting our favorite moments from this treasure trove of magic and surprise. 
 
We open the show with a discussion of a recent Screen Rant article on the need for “world-building” and “hard magic systems” in the new Chronicles of Narnia movies. We also discuss the announcement of Saoirse Ronin’s casting in the new films to be directed by Greta Gerwig for Netflix. 
 
If so inclined, these tales come from the Red Book of Hergest and the White Book of Rhydderch. More information and images are available for the curious here:
 
The Red Book of Hergest
 
Background - 
https://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/hindex.html
 
Images - 
https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/9bf187bf-f862-4453-bc4f-851f6d3948af/surfaces/7001c89c-4a3f-4e8a-beaa-f46961c24706/
 
The White Book of Rhydderch
 
Background - 
https://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/jce/rhydderch.html
 
Images - 
https://www.library.wales/discover-learn/education/learning-resources/the-white-book-of-rhydderch
 
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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP.

Episode 19: Tower of the Elephant

From the confines of Smoker’s Abbey in East Nashville, Steven and Daniel (Sam is unfortunately away for this one) discuss Robert E Howard’s Sword & Sorcery masterpiece The Tower of the Elephant and then Gene Wolfe’s Six from Atlantis which is an homage to Howard and collected in the Sword & Sorcery anthology. 
 
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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP.

Episode 18: The Authorial Godhand

In this episode we each reveal our authorial Godhand, giving the thumb, index, middle, ring, and pinky (basically a Berserk themed “top 5”). As we share a universal love of Tolkien and Gene Wolfe, those authors were highlighted by left out of the exercise (our Guts and Skull-Knight you could say). 
 
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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP.

Episode 17: the Wizard with James Wynn of Rereading Wolfe

Our second episode with James Wynn of the Rereading Wolfe to discuss Gene Wolfe’s fantasy masterpiece The Wizard which completes the duology that is The Wizard Knight. We get into wild speculation while also highlighting the sheer pleasure that this epic provides. In this episode we utilize the great work done by Marc Aramini (https://www.youtube.com/@marcaramini9794) and The Duchy of Cumberbatch blog (https://duchyofcumberbatch.wordpress.com/about/). Make sure to subscribe and check out the Rereading Wolfe podcast (podbean: https://rereadingwolfe.podbean.com/ / x-twitter: https://x.com/ReReadingWolfe). 
 
Give us a like and subscribe! You can follow us on x / tiktok / instagram: 
 
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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP.

Episode 16: The Knight with Rereading Wolfe

We are pleased to be joined by James Wynn of the Rereading Wolfe podcast to discuss Gene Wolfe’s fantasy epic The Knight, the first novel from his duology The Wizard Knight. We dive deep into the complex story (and in Wolfe fashion the story behind the story) while never steering away from the sheer pleasure of this imaginative fantasy tale. 
 
The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from the Crossroads EP.