all right everyone, who's ready to visit Fantasyland (c. 1997)? please remember when packing for your trip that you are Not allowed to bring any personal items unless they are Magic and/or contain Important Lore zencastr.com/z/U8sm3Gjc

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

JOKES are against the rules. A tour of nineties Fantasyland, with stops along the way in California, Minnesota, Shannara, Valdemar, Derkholm, Dalemark, and the 'Maggots' entry in the Encyclopedia of ...

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Our first S3 bonus episode drops today, discussing Dalemark as a series, with an eye to the Guide to Dalemark and a long stopover on the early proto-Dalemark novella "The True State of Affairs" Believe it or not, this one was supposed to be short. zencastr.com/z/KuathQUW

S3 Bonus Episode 1 - A Guide To The True State of Affairs in Dalemark by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

Truth is the fire that fetches thunder. A planned minisode on the Guide to Dalemark goes fully off the rails with the addition of early proto-Dalemark novella "The True State of Affairs," for a wide-...

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Is it a problem that Dark Lord of Derkholm often decides not to dwell on the darkness of its subject matter because it's instead busy fitting more jokes in? Perhaps yes. Are all the jokes very funny? DEFINITELY yes. zencastr.com/z/lClP6mCT

Dark Lord of Derkholm by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

""Why have we got six soppy men in a green haze hanging about?"" Tolkien and Disney, coffee and cotton, children and chattel, colonialism and capitalism, satire and sitcoms and sentimentality and as ...

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Thank you to my wise and wonderful friends for bringing me along for this ride!! I had so much fun digging into this book and I hope that comes through on the episode. Bonus joke: if DWJ was writing today about R. Venables, wizard and game developer, he would definitely be working in Unreal Engine.

Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones@eightdaysofdiana.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Thanks for your patience as we got our Deep Secret episode out the door! We're thrilled to have @agbouskila.bsky.social as our guest consulting expert on game dev and magids on this week's trip back in time to [Definitely Absolutely A Completely Fictional Con], 1997 zencastr.com/z/WduuwZZw

we did not even have time to talk about Janine's Sweaters on the episode so please enjoy this majestic compilation in lieu

Violinknitter@violinknitter.bsky.social · 6mo ago

In honor of the next @eightdaysofdiana.bsky.social podcast episode, a reminder of just how, um, interesting 90s sweaters could be. Because Diana Wynne Jones was not exaggerating Janine’s wardrobe in Deep Secret

Thanks for your patience as we got our Deep Secret episode out the door! We're thrilled to have @agbouskila.bsky.social as our guest consulting expert on game dev and magids on this week's trip back in time to [Definitely Absolutely A Completely Fictional Con], 1997 zencastr.com/z/WduuwZZw

Deep Secret by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

I thought of Uncle Ted's wobbly windows, and I began to think he must really, truly never look through them or anything else. Can't anyone look out there and see that you need not to think of everythi...

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hello all! two quick announcements: 1 - due to technical difficulties, there will NOT be a new episode this week! Deep Secret will go up either 3/7 or 3/14 depending on how quickly we resolve them. as a taster to tide you over please enjoy @emilytesh.net's beautiful Lost Heirs Chaos Family Tree

Finally, we've made it all the way from Drowned Ammet to Crowned Ammet, and we do feel very lucky that, unlike readers in the 70s, we didn't have to wait 15 real time years for it zencastr.com/z/wv-F0dWm

The Crown of Dalemark by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

Mitt at last came out with the real cause of his disappointment with the North. "They told me it was free here," he said. "They told me it was good." North and South, history-time and story-time, pas...

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perhaps you'll say: was it really necessary for this to be a four hour episode? to which I say: look forward to at LEAST another hour of Hexwood Time in this season's Q&A. Happy Hexwood Day, everyone! zencastr.com/z/Y9k1q1AZ

Hexwood by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

This wood is like human memory. It does not need to take events in their correct order. Do you wish to go to an earlier time and start from there?  It's a portal fantasy! It's a space opera! It's an ...

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New year, new DWJ - and in today's episode, it's definitely a new DWJ, as she throws everything she knows out the window and sets out to write the wildest book of her career to date. We're definitely in the back half of the nineties now! zencastr.com/z/4YIgZkmy

A Sudden Wild Magic by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

The restraints of knowledge harmed this wild power. In order to use it, Zillah could not know what it was. It would only answer a being as untrammeled as itself. Time for elves, centaurs, demons, god...

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Happy New Year! just a quick note that we're taking a little holiday break, so our Sudden Wild Magic episode will drop on the 17th. see you then!

This week we're talking about Diana Wynne Jones' most classically horror book yet, in which she tackles her ultimate fear: nice little old ladies. MUCH to unpack in this one zencastr.com/z/BitLmcRH

Black Maria by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

What's the good of being civilized? That's what I want to know. It just means other people can break the rules and you can't.   The gender dictatorship, the horror of conformity, the limits of word p...

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This week, it's Castle in the Air! Welcome back, fan favorite characters; glad to see you still being nightmare people, sorry about the war crimes, and thank you to Christopher Chant for giving us full permission to go all in on Richard Burton zencastr.com/z/v5yFguoY

Castle in the Air by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

‘That djinn has taken liberties with a person's castle,’ Sophie said. 'Unless I'm entirely turned around, this used to be our bathroom.' Richard Burton's Arabian Nights and Edward Said's Orientalism,...

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we're back and launching S3 with a BANGER today as the fabulous @singlecrow.bsky.social joins us for a TWO HOUR episode on our favorite future-dressing-gown-wearing disaster, Christopher Chant zencastr.com/z/26xps9hC

The Lives of Christopher Chant by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

Nobody should be losing lives at this rate. What is wrong, Christopher? In our first episode of Season Three, the brilliant Iona Datt Sharma joins us for a discussion of bureaucracy, cricket boys, Bu...

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We're finally wrapping up S2 today with our last bonus episode for the season -- thank you all so much for the many thoughtful, interesting and insightful letters you sent in for our Q&A!

S2 Bonus Episode 3 - Q&A by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

The first time round most of the catching-up you do is retrospective. The second time round you see it happening. In our final S2 bonus episode, we do a terrible job of not looking ahead to Hexwood a...

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A bunch of stories we really loved, a bunch of stories we'd love to see more of, and a Lot of stories in which a bad adult gets turned into (metaphorical or literal) bacon: it's time for DWJ's short fiction of the 70s and 80s! zencastr.com/z/1eIt9L0F

S2 Bonus Episode 2 - DWJ Shorts of the 70s and 80s by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

"She has tremendous talent, of course, or she couldn’t do it at all, but I do sometimes feel that she—well—she repeats herself. Put it like this: I think maybe Carol doesn't give herself a chance to b...

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thank you all so much for all the amazing questions you've sent in for our Q&A!! FOR THE RECORD, although we planned to record that ep today, life events plus the realization that people might have thoughts about the shorts has caused us to reschedule for NEXT THURSDAY 9/25

for the first of our S2 bonus episodes, we had the absolute joy of talking with critic and historian @effjayem.bsky.social for an hour and a half about historical context, book-hunger, and DWJ as a critical writer of critical texts zencastr.com/z/MEQO-ixY

S2 Bonus Episode 1 - With Farah Mendlesohn by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

The thing we must notice is frequently identified by what is not described or told or explained. In our first Season Two bonus episode, Farah Mendlesohn -- who literally wrote the book on Diana Wynne...

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apparently we are now a Hugo-winning podcast! a fact which is thanks entirely to a.) Diana Wynne Jones, for her consistent ability to make us think, wonder, and delight and b.) all of you, for taking time out of your lives to join us in reading her as deeply as she deserves

Locus Magazine@locusmag.bsky.social · last yr.

The #HugoAward for Best Fancast goes to Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones, presented by Emily Tesh & Rebecca Fraimow

Today we're wrapping up our second season with A Tale of Time City! a real butter-pie of a book: delicious ice cream froth on the outside, but full of surprisingly rich ideas once you actually bite into it zencastr.com/z/8P9vM1fI

A Tale of Time City by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

Twenty Century refugee equipment. Case is open to show clothing and protective mask.  A tale of one or two cities, three or four Vivians, four to fourteen badly translated old women, and at least two...

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through dangers untold (sleeping infants) and hardships unnumbered (three wildly incompatible timezones) we have managed to successfully kidnap brilliant romance expert @freyamarske.bsky.social to discuss DWJ's most romantic novel with us. Happy Howl's Moving Castle Day! zencastr.com/z/r0LaZYob

Howl's Moving Castle by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

Her mind was such a blank that for a second, it actually seemed to her that Howl had no faults at all. How stupid!  The fantastic Freya Marske joins us for a discussion of John Donne, fairy tales, un...

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[belated] obligatory reminder that we are nominated for a Hugo award, and there are approximately eight remaining hours in which you can vote for us if you feel so inclined!

Seattle Worldcon 2025@seattlein2025.org · last yr.

Hugo Awards voting closes TOMORROW! Make sure your ballot is in before the deadline: Wednesday, July 23 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. There’s still time to weigh in on the best of science fiction and fantasy—don’t miss your chance! seattlein2025.org/wsfs/hugo-aw... #HugoAwards #SeattleWorldcon2025

This week, in our most intimidating project yet, we spend two recording sessions and three hours exploring Nowhere as we attempt to unpack the dense oppositional layers of truth and fiction, heroism and monstrosity, sacrifice and selfishness underlying Fire and Hemlock zencastr.com/z/6AFSB60R

FIre and Hemlock by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

She realized he had sat down on purpose near the door, and she knew, perhaps without quite understanding it, that if she ran away, it would mean he had to go back into the funeral again. She was his e...

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Loved your Archer's Goon conversation! Thanks for doing the podcast, it's so great. To fill up the time until Fire & Hemlock, I decided to share my LEGO re-enactment of Archer's Goon. Thought you might get a kick out of it! samhester.substack.com/s/archers-goon

We are back with CAHOOTS. We are back with HIJINKS. We are back with MEGALOMANIAC EVIL WIZARDS, and we are back with the best picture of a family that actually likes each other that DWJ has written to date: it's Archer's Goon! zencastr.com/z/jiZt3zhC

Archer's Goon by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

I hate Mum, I hate Dad, I hate Howard and the Goon. Big brothers and bigger brothers, good words and bad infrastructure, the power of being a megalomaniac evil wizard, and the power of having parents...

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Please give a warm welcome to a collection of miserable children with transcendently bad vibes: it's Witch Week! zencastr.com/z/1UBGm4SC

Witch Week by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

"He was fairly sure it made you wicked too, to be kissed by a witch." The horrors of the British boarding school, the things you learn about yourself in the men's locker room, and what the Chrestoman...

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Looked up with some shock from the things I am buried in (the Clarke Award shortlist, my Iliad reread, a first draft in progress, the new season of the DWJ podcast @eightdaysofdiana.bsky.social) and realized that THE INCANDESCENT has been out for a month.

Emily Tesh@emilytesh.net · last yr.

THE INCANDESCENT is a book about money and education and status symbols, about loving your career, about demons, about magic, about fantasy school - but most of all about how 'school' is always a kind of fantasy. Available now! US: bookshop.org/p/books/the-... UK: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/unti...

It's Homeward Bounders day! This week we're incredibly fortunate to have the brilliant @aptshadow.bsky.social walking the Bounds with us as we explore tragedy, time, the multiverse, and evil D&D zencastr.com/z/hOgSOXdy

The Homeward Bounders by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

"There are no rules, only principles and natural laws."    This week we're joined by the brilliant Adrian Tchaikovsky to discuss heroes and NPCs, gods and demons and sacrificial victory, and the wors...

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good morning everyone it is TIME! for the GHOST! are you ready to confront the looming spectre of childhood trauma? because DWJ sure is! zencastr.com/z/Z23DWyle

Time of the Ghost by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

"People write stories pretending you can alter the past, but it can't be done. All you can do to the past is remember it wrong or interpret it differently." The horrors of the past, the traps of the ...

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And we're back! Starting off the 80s with a cream pie and a clown car, it's Magicians of Caprona, a joyous structural experiment in comedy and heterosexuality that is also somehow a sequel to Charmed Life zencastr.com/z/x3fhRKxo

The Magicians of Caprona by @Rebecca Fraimow and Emily Tesh

"Tonino wondered how he could laugh like that at something so horrible until he remembered that he had stood himself a score of times and laughed himself sick at just the same thing."  Two households...

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