Madame Askew and The Grand Arbiter

Sunday, April 19th, at 4:30 PM Pacific (Seattle/Tucson) — 7:30 PM Eastern (Montreal/Atlanta)

Originally posted to our Patreon

This Sunday, April 19th, we return for our monthly book chat! I am positively over the moon about our pick, The Emilie Adventures by legend Martha Wells. Whilst Madame Wells is unable to join us this month, I know we shall nonetheless have a marvelous conversation about this duology. A wonderful steampunk adventure ranging from the hollow center of the Earth to the mysterious heights above in the aether-streams, The Emilie Adventures are a delightful young adult read, perfect for readers of all ages.

Wells’ recent fame around her Murderbot Diaries has catapulted her into best seller lists and reader acclaim, but she has a long history of creating stunning novels with superb world building. I highly recommend her first foray into steampunk The Death of the Necromancer, a wonderful gaslight fantasy set in the world of Ile-Rien. Wells has a gift for crafting riveting stories with nuanced, three dimensional characters. Her earlier works are beautiful examples of her penchant for exploring the human condition in fantastical settings. Thanks to the success of Murderbot many of her extremely hard to find early works are now available in reprints.

Whilst I clearly am keen to recommend all of her back catalogue, this month, we are delving into Emilie’s world and her adventures. As always, there is no need to finish the books to join us, but we shall be discussing both books in the duology. Naturally, I shall have a few questions to get the conversation started but I always encourage you to bring your own questions for the group. For those who have finished reading, consider whether Wells is creating an homage or a response to Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. Is she referencing other speculative fiction authors from the 19th Century? Of course, I shall want to know about your favourite characters, but what about your favourite world building details or your favourite technology?

Book chat starts at 4:30 PM Pacific (Seattle/Tucson) — 7:30 PM Eastern (Atlanta/Montreal). For the best experience, please join us in our virtual tea parlour on zoom or follow along on our YouTube channel. (We are unable to stream to multiple platforms for our book chat.) This is my happy little reminder that you never need to finish the book to join us for our monthly chat, but there may be spoilers.

Simply follow the link below to join us in our virtual tea parlour on zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87154929754?pwd=IBXQZW1LaHehASUatV5tmXv00fbz0j.1

Meeting ID: 871 5492 9754
Passcode: 419542