Michal Wojcik's Blog
October 4, 2025
Episode 62 – 20,000 Lists
Over 20 years have passed since I first read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (1869-1870), so I roped in Cory and Marie for a re-read. We find 20,000 problems with the science and struggle through 20,000 lists of underwater species, but they never obstruct the fun. Additionally, Marie “does a Zork.”
May 19, 2025
Episode 61 – Imaginary Prisons
We wander through a vast mansion full of looming statues in Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (2020).
April 13, 2025
Episode 60 – Avian Attire
We try to get the jump on Canada Reads by discussing Bird Suit by Sydney Hegele (2024), the first pick for our 2025 book club. This southern Ontario gothic novel tells a story of generational trauma in a tourist town that also happens to have some bird-people living nearby. Opinions are decidedly mixed. We talk through our impressions of the book, and answer the important question: “How Canada?”
March 10, 2025
Episode 59 – Where There’s a Whip, There’s a Way!
That’s some *very* specific wording, right there.We decide to finally discuss something J.R.R. Tolkien-related on our podcast, but in the stupidest way possible: by comparing the 2024 animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim to 1980’s The Return of the King. This episode has been a long time coming, but as the orcs might say, where there’s a whip, there’s a way!
December 26, 2024
Episode 58 – 2024 Year in Review
As the end of 2024 draws ever closer, we reflect on our favourite arts and culture from the past year.
Download the Podcast (archive.org page)
Some things we mentionedInvincea and the Warriors from HellOrchard HouseFolding IdeasDrumeoGoebelinsStories from my Gay GrandparentsMünecatNick LewisSeptember 25, 2024
Episode 57 – Martian Madrigals
Our 2024 book club concludes with Roger Zelazny’s 1963 novelette “A Rose for Ecclesiastes”, wherein a poet goes to Mars and discovers he’s not very good at describing dances.
April 21, 2024
Episode 56 – That Was Just Cloud Talk, Man
We have only good things to say about The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed (2021), though that doesn’t extend to the term “hopepunk” used in the marketing copy. Is this post-apocalyptic novella set in Alberta the best specifically Canadian piece of science fiction out there? We make the case that it is.
February 28, 2024
Episode 55 – Slay, Queen
90s fantasy is back, baby! We discuss The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (2019).
January 31, 2024
Episode 54 – Fungus Among Us
Will we survive the fungal infestation that lurks beneath Toronto in The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan (2023)?
This horror/near-future science fiction/fantasy novel is packed with ideas and has plenty of relevant criticism of the direction Canada is heading, but doesn’t bring things together in a satisfactory way for the three of us. We talk about what we liked about the book, and the many (many) things that we didn’t.
...December 29, 2023
Episode 53 – 2023 Year in Review
In the dying days of 2023, we came together to reflect on the best things that we read, watched, listened to and played this year. Tune in to the end for our “dishonourable mentions” as well, where we consider…the opposite.
