Galaxies and Goddesses: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Bookcast

Andrea: I’m Andrea.

Elizabeth: And I'm Elizabeth.

Andrea: Join us as we chat about sci-fi and fantasy books and beyond.

Elizabeth: Looking for a little escape from reality? So are we.

Andrea: Welcome to Galaxies and Goddesses!

Elizabeth: This week's episode, we'll be chatting about WorldCon recently hosted in Seattle.

Andrea: The Hugo Awards, what they are, and some highlights from the 2025 winners.

Elizabeth: And Sci-Fi and fantasy classics. What makes it a classic and what books influenced us early in our reading lives?

Andrea: That's a lot to pack in one episode, so let's get started.

Andrea: So yeah, Worldcon, I was so happy that I got to go to this and it was amazing. I've been to Comic Cons before, like Emerald City ComicCon in Seattle, and I went to San Diego ComicCon once, and I always found myself going to the literary themed panels.

Andrea: It's exciting to see the Hollywood celebrities and movies that are upcoming, but I always really wanted to hear about new books and the themes about sci-fi and fantasy within a media, and that's exactly what Worldcon was.

Andrea: It was great.

Andrea: So had you ever heard of it before I brought it up?

Elizabeth: No, but I am so excited that you are so excited about it! Super duper nerding out. That's great. That sounds really fun. Oh man.

Andrea: So I got to go for three days. It technically went from Wednesday to Sunday, but I could only go during the week. And I got to go to kind of a mix of fan meetups, panels about topics like city of the future or working class in sci-fi.

Andrea: Those individual panels were really interesting with some big name authors like Becky Chambers. It was really cool to see her speak and just answer questions on the spot. And then I got to go to a reading for Martha Wells, and she also did a Q and A as part of that reading. Huge fan of hers.

Andrea: And then the big one was a two hour long panel of The Shifting Landscape of Epic Fantasy. And they had George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Rebecca Roanhorse, Ryan Cahill, and Brandon Sanderson.
Andrea: The co-hosts from SFF Addicts Podcast, Adrian Gibson, Greta Kelly and MJ Kuhn were the moderators for that panel.

Andrea: And it was like a huge panel.

Andrea: And I feel so lucky that I was actually able to get into that panel to watch it.

Andrea: But yeah, it was cool to look back at my notes and I have notes from, like, this is something that Robin Hobb said, or something that Brandon Sanderson said, and they weren't talking directly to me, but it felt like it. So that was, yeah, just really cool, really, really cool.

Andrea: Next year it's gonna be in Anaheim, so maybe, maybe we could go again.

Andrea: Now I'm like, this is something I wanna go to every year.

Elizabeth: Same time of the year. Always like in August?

Andrea: I think so in August? Yeah.

Andrea: I mean, last year it was in Glasgow, Scotland.

Elizabeth: Oh wow.

Andrea: So the fact that it was in Seattle this year just is like, lucky me, I suppose, is in my backyard, basically.

Andrea: So I thought this would be a perfect time to talk about the Hugo Awards 'cause it's awarded on that Saturday of Worldcon.

Andrea: Maybe you can help explain to our listeners, Elizabeth, what are the Hugo Awards?

Elizabeth: The Hugo Awards to give them their full title are awards for Excellence in the Field of Science Fiction and Fantasy. And they were actually first awarded in 1953 and been awarded every year since 1955. And the awards are run by and voted on by the fans.

Andrea: And then when are the Hugo Awards presented?

Elizabeth: Each year at the World Science Fiction Convention or WorldCon.

Elizabeth: So tell me, how are the awards determined? Who selects the nominees and who selects the winners?

Andrea: So you can pay to become a member and there's different levels of membership and you can become a voting member. So I was able to sign up early enough this year that I got to actually vote on this year's Hugo Awards, which is kind of cool. That's a vote on that before I went to the convention.

Andrea: The number and nature of awards can vary from year to year. So there is a list of the current award categories online. And there's a lot more than just best novel. I feel like I've seen, you know, a Hugo Award-winning novel or a Hugo Award finalist on books before, and I just assumed it was only for books.

Elizabeth: So when they're presenting the awards in 2025, they're like the books that have been published in 2024? Is that how it works?

Andrea: Yes. So generally speaking, the works are eligible if they were published in the calendar year preceding the year in which the vote takes place. For next year, it'll be books that were published in 2025, and they'll be awarded in 2026. And sometimes awards are given for a body of work, like best series rather than a single item.

Elizabeth: Cool. So who won this year? Were you there? Did you go to the award ceremony?

Andrea: I did not go to the award ceremony. I had to look it up the next day. But I looked it up online at the Locus Magazine site and they had a list of winners.

Andrea: So the best novel winner was the Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett from Del Rey and Hodderscape UK. I actually bought this book when I was doing my big, independent bookstore day marathon tour .

Andrea: So I have the book, but I have not read it yet. And now that it's won the Hugo Award, it should go to the top of my list now.

Elizabeth: Totally.

Andrea: It's sort of a modern fantasy take on like a Sherlock Holmes detective-esque novel is what I've heard. I've also heard that it's got some mushroom themes in it.

Andrea: Sometimes mushrooms can make really weird stories make for really weird …

Elizabeth: Mushrooms are really weird.

Andrea: Kind of plot lines. Yeah.

Andrea: But I'm into that. I'm totally up for reading that. That's why I bought the book. Yeah. Mushrooms and Pirates and Dragons. Like, ugh. Oh my, that should be my, we should make a sticker.

Andrea: Mushrooms and Pirates and Dragons. Oh my!

Andrea: And then the best novella was The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler from Tor.com. And I'd seen this one in bookstores, it has a kind of cool cover art with these big very colorful tusks, like a dark background with these sort of purple-ish color changing tusks on the cover.

Andrea: But I don't read that many novellas. Maybe we'll have to read that in November. If we do a novella November theme, we can try to put that on our to read list.

Andrea: And then the best series winner, which I thought was pretty cool, was Between Earth and Sky, that series by Rebecca Roanhorse.

Andrea: And that's published by Saga . So it was cool that I got to see her on one of the panels and then she won the Hugo Award and she seems like a really cool person. I haven't read any of her books, but they've always been on my list. Black Sun is the first in the series Between Earth and Sky and it's set in a Pre-Columbian America. So it's sort of a historical fantasy . And it, it sounds really cool. And so it's another one that's just gonna jump to the top of my to read list.

Andrea: Those were the top three categories I was most interested in. So, best novel, best novella, and best series. But they also have a best fancast.

Elizabeth: Oh that’s right, you said that.

Andrea: So if we're really popular, if we could be nominated, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Andrea: That'd be super cool. But yeah, if there are any Hugo Award people out there listening and you like our podcast, that'd be super cool. But they say not to try to like promote yourself too much for that. So maybe a we'll mention it just this once year and that'll be it. But the best fancast this year was Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones, presented by Emily Tesh and Rebecca Fraimow.

Andrea: Emily Tesh is actually a really well known author. She won best novel last year, 2024 for Some Desperate Glory.

Elizabeth: Wow.

Andrea: I don't think we could compete with like a Hugo Award-winning author.

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Andrea: for the podcast, but you know, we could dream right?

Andrea: We can dream, we could try.

Elizabeth: Yeah…

Elizabeth: I have to totally admit here that like I never really thought of myself as much of a sci-fi fantasy reader until doing this podcast and then realizing that actually a lot of books that I have read are sci-fi and fantasy, and a lot of the books that I like are sci fi fantasy. And so actually trying to embrace it more that actually, you're right.

Elizabeth: So just looking back at the list of winners from the last 25 plus years it actually seems that I've read quite a few as have you for sure.

Andrea: When I started looking at the list of books that have won recently, I was like, oh! In 2023, Nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher, that is a book I've had on my shelf back here to read that I'm hoping to get to. and some of the books on here I didn't realize had won like in 2012 Among Others by Jo Walton.

Andrea: I read that several years ago, probably close to and I had no idea that it won the Hugo Awards. A lot of the books on here, the whole Fifth Season, Obelisk Gate, Stone Sky, the Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemison. Each one of those won best novel in three consecutive years.

Elizabeth: Totally.

Andrea: Three Body Problem like, just like shocked, like, oh, well, I guess I read these books and they were popular and award-winning.

Andrea: And I'm still learning.

Andrea: Jonathan's Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clark that, I have that downstairs on my bookshelf.
Elizabeth:It does look a bit intimidating I have to give you that.

Andrea: I keep putting it off. It's like, oh, I've heard good things. I've heard it's really good, but I just, I haven't taken that plunge. I need to get through the Kingdom of Ash, the last book of the Sarah J. Maas series. Before I get to any other big thick books, I've kind of been saving that one.

Andrea: And it kind of shows that Romantasy doesn't really show up on this list.

Andrea: Speaking of Sarah J. Maas, maybe the Romantasy stuff is just a very small segment of the sci-fi fantasy genre or fan base, maybe that fan base doesn't quite overlap just yet, but it is a growing segment of the population.

Elizabeth: Better

Andrea: Yeah.

Elizabeth: Romantasy?

Andrea: Yes.

Elizabeth: So yeah, The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. It's on my shelf actually. I've read his book the Adventures of Cavalier and Clay, and that is a long book, but it is excellent.

Elizabeth: It is a really good book. Weird but interesting. Good. It gets a bit, yeah, it could be a little bit shorter, but anyway.

Andrea: What's it about?

Elizabeth: This friendship of these two people, Cavalier and Clay, but it's also just it defies description. It starts maybe around World War II, I wanna say like with concentration camps and in Europe and a gorgon. Is that what it is? And then they go to Antarctica for a bit? And it's in New York City and it's it does defy description. Yeah, I haven't read The Yiddish Policeman's Union, but would not have actually thought that it's actually sci-fi fantasy or nor that it won a Hugo Award. Cool Maybe I should read that soon.

Andrea: So I guess what I'm kind of getting to with, reviewing this list a little bit is that looking back at the list of winners from the last 25 plus years, it turns out that we've actually read quite a few of them and there's quite a few that are also on my radar for books I'd like to read. So I know you had been using that New York Times Reader's Choice and Critic's Choice List as a resource for where to get inspiration and what to read or to guide your reading, but now I think I'm gonna use the Hugo Award winning list to guide my reading personally outside of picking books for this podcast.

Elizabeth: Oh we could read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Have you read that book?

Andrea: No, but that was on our list of, oh, maybe we should read this for our moon theme.

Elizabeth: Oh, that’s already on a list.

Elizabeth: Oh…

Andrea: That's on our list of potential books. There's three or four books I couldn't decide on for the last couple months of the year.

Andrea: So we might open that up as a public vote what people would like to hear us talk about.

Andrea: Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao is another book that I'm not sure if we're gonna read it or not, but maybe if people wanna hear us talk about it, we could read it for the podcast. So that was not nominated for a Hugo Award though, so doesn't have that going for it.

Elizabeth: No, but it was published this year.

Andrea: It was published this year, so maybe it could get nominated next year.

Elizabeth: For sure. Yeah.

Andrea: Potentially…

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Andrea: Possibly.

Andrea: So books do not have to be published in the US to win a Hugo Award. Non-American works are eligible regardless of its place or language of publication. So I think Water Moon was published in the US, but you know, theoretically if it were published in Japan, you know, the story takes place in Japan. It could be eligible. Works first published in languages other than English are also eligible in their first year of publication in English translation.

Andrea: The third book that I was like, maybe we could read that for the podcast, but I'm not sure, is The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida [by Shehan Karunatilaka] published in 2022, and it won the Booker Prize. So didn't win the Hugo Award, but it won the Booker Prize, which is for the United Kingdom, UK.

Elizabeth: Right I believe to qualify for Booker Prize, it has to be published in the UK?

Andrea: Yes.

Elizabeth: Yeah, totally.

Elizabeth: Which I find if you're looking at award-winning books, like non sci-fi and fantasy awards, I feel like you can compare like Pulitzer Prize versus Booker Prize and I feel like in general my reactions towards Booker Prize winners is I usually really like them versus I don't always really like Pulitzer Prize winners.

Andrea: What's the Orange prize? Are you familiar with that one?

Elizabeth: Isn’t that, written by a woman, maybe?

Andrea: Oh, okay.

Andrea: You're right. The Orange Prize was a former name of the Women's Prize for Fiction, a prestigious British literary award for women writers active from 1996 to 2012.

Andrea: So it sounds like they don't award the Orange Prize. It's like the ex Orange Prize now. It's a Women's Prize for Fiction.

Elizabeth: Oh, used to be Orange Prize…

Andrea: Interesting.

Elizabeth: But now Women's Prize for fiction. Oh yeah. Huh.

Elizabeth: Yeah. Booker Prize, for books to qualify for the Booker Prize winner, they have to be published either in the UK or Ireland, actually. To be more specific.

Elizabeth: Yeah, I just find that in general, the Booker Prize winners almost always, I don't know if I've ever read one and thought to myself like, oh, I didn't actually that as much, versus, I definitely read Pulitzer Prize winners and thought to myself, I didn't like that as much. So yeah. That's cool.

Andrea: The only book that I wasn't a huge fan of that was a Hugo Award-winning book, honestly, was The Three Body Problem. And then I know it was really popular, but I just, it was a little too far out there for me at some points.

Andrea: It, it had an interesting premise and I can see why it could win an award, but it kind of lost me at the end of that one. Anywho…

Andrea: So you were saying that you read Speaker for the Dead, but not Enders Game by Orson Scott Card.

Elizabeth: No I read Ender’s Shadow.

Andrea: Oh.

Elizabeth: But not Ender’s Game.

Andrea: Was Ender’s Shadow from Beans was his name Bean?

Elizabeth: Yeah. From Being's perspective. Yeah.

Andrea: Okay.

Elizabeth: And that happened because I came across a copy of Ender’s Shadow in the Peace Corps. So it was a matter of you take what you get .

Andrea: Did you enjoy it? Like, I haven't read that one.

Elizabeth: Yes, totally. Totally.

Andrea: Okay.

Elizabeth: And I absolutely should read Ender's Game.

Elizabeth: You should read both. They're great. And it's maybe fun to have read Ender's Shadow first as opposed to Ender's Game. Go the less common route. Ender's Shadow first, but, yeah, totally. It was really good. Totally. I, thought about that in a really long time.

Elizabeth: In terms of oh yeah, I should read Ender's Game. But now that we're talking about it, like absolutely.

Andrea: Well, and this sort of gets into the topic of what makes something a sci-fi or fantasy classic.

Andrea: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card won the Hugo Award in 1986, which is before I was born. So, I think when you read a book that was published before you were born and it gets you interested in the genre in general, I think then you can kind of say it's a Classic.

Andrea: What, what do you think?

Elizabeth: Totally. Yeah.

Andrea: How would you define a classic, I guess?

Elizabeth: Well I suppose in terms of all practicality, it's the books that people keep reading, right? It seems with every passing year, there are more and more books that are published, but they don't all last. So the books that are classics are the ones that last and people keep reading and then you'll see them in different publications, in different printings and printed over and over, right?

Elizabeth: Because books don't last forever. Books fall apart and books get lost and thrown away and so then the books that continued to stick around, I think they stick around because they're, they either or it's just a combination of all the above that they like, resonate with people, that they're enjoyable to read, that they're relatable.

Elizabeth: What's interesting with sci-fi and fantasy stuff is that oftentimes there are stories that are about the future. So then if it's a book that was about the future, but maybe didn't necessarily come true, but predicted things well in a certain way. you know 'Cause thinking about like Dune and absolutely a sci-fi classic, right?

Elizabeth: It went to the top of the bestseller list when it first came out and then it went to the top of the best seller list again when came out with the Dune movie in like the eighties. Then it went back onto the bestseller list.

Elizabeth: And now with the more recent Dune movies, once again back on the bestseller list and new generations of people continue to discover it enjoy it and want to read it, so then they print more of it.
Elizabeth: In terms of the ecology of Dune and climate aspects , that do seem to really resonate with climate change now, and the desertification of the Southwest as you look at this desert planet.
Elizabeth: It's interesting.

Andrea: So it's funny that you're using Dune as your example of a classic, because that also was a winner this year. I don't know if you noticed, but on the list Dune Part Two, the screenplay won the category of best dramatic presentation for long form. So the screen play for Dune Part Two, the movie won a Hugo award this year.

Andrea: So the fact that the original Dune world and content is still being made into things and still winning awards and I think that's kind of reinforces your idea that that is part of what makes it a classic. Right?
Elizabeth: Yeah, I actually am looking at the list of Hugo Award winners and Dune didn't outright win in 1966. It tied with a different book ...And Call Me Conrad expanded as This Immortal by Roger Zelazny. You ever heard of that?

Andrea: So he was one of the panelists I actually did get to see, but I had no idea who this series was and apparently he was a really big, big writer, big deal. Like this character Conrad, he was a big deal. Yeah.
Elizabeth: Well maybe we should read that.

Andrea: I did like Wicked, but I'm kind of glad that Dune won the Hugo Award for the long form screenplay.
Elizabeth: Oh because it was up against Wicked?

Andrea: It was up against Wicked and Mad Max.

Elizabeth: Wait, Mad Max. There was a screenplay for Mad Max?

Andrea: Yeah. Furiosa A Mad Max Saga. I think it was the new one with what's her name, the Argentinian actress?

Elizabeth: Oh, Anya Taylor Joy.

Andrea: Yeah.

Elizabeth: Is that right?

Andrea: Yes.

Elizabeth: Oh.

Andrea: Yes. That's right.

Elizabeth: Wait, there was a Mad Max. I didn't even know that happened. Like a big movie in the theaters?
Andrea: We streamed it.

Elizabeth: I have to admit, I have not been to a movie in a [00:22:00] really long time. Like when was the last time you went to a movie?

Andrea: I’m not sure. I mean, just with, with having little kids, I, you know, we get one date, night a month and for that date night we usually go to dinner. We don't go to a movie. So yeah, I don't think I've been to a movie in a very long time.

Elizabeth: Yeah. There was a series of Oscar nominated short films that played at the like art house theater here in town. I went to that…

Andrea: Oooh, I can tell you. I saw Pride and Prejudice because I went on a girl's night, and I mentioned on the last episode I saw Pride and Prejudice in theaters. That's the last movie I saw , but it wasn't a new movie. They were playing the 20th anniversary .

Elizabeth: Wow. Yeah. Movies anymore . What I suppose my point is that I have not been to a movie in a really long time because there's just so much on streaming and movies anymore you can still see them relatively quickly after they come [00:23:00] out on streaming. And so you're already paying for these things and so there isn't the anticipation anymore that comes with big movies in the theater. There used to be, when I feel like

Andrea: Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth: That it was like an event 'cause you didn't have the access to these movies at home and so you had to go to them and when a new one came out and it was supposed to be a big movie and remember, people would wait in line overnight to get tickets to like the first showing of a new…

Andrea: Yeah.

Elizabeth: No one does that anymore, do they?

Andrea: This was a trivia question I saw and a YouTube video where they kind of ask, random facts and they try to figure out what the answer is amongst themselves.

Andrea: It's a show on YouTube called Lateral. And one of the questions was what was the reason people bought a ticket to see the movie Meet Joe Black, the movie Meet Joe Black, it was the old Brad Pitt movie.
Elizabeth: I remember it very well, Uhhuh.

Andrea: They bought a ticket, they went into the theater, they watched the trailers for other movies, and then they all left.

Andrea: And the question was, why? Why did they all go in, watch the trailers, and then leave before the movie even started? Can you think of why that might have happened, Elizabeth?

Elizabeth: They paid money to watch the brand new trailer for like Titanic or something?

Andrea: Star Wars, they paid to go watch the trailer for Star Wars because it was before the internet really took off and you couldn't watch it on YouTube. So you had to pay for a ticket to go watch the trailer in theaters.

Elizabeth: For Episode One, I'm guessing.

Andrea: I think it was for Phantom Menace, but I'm not sure.

Elizabeth: Right, because it was like the first reboot of the very first reboot of Star Wars after…

Andrea: Yes.

Elizabeth: The original Star Wars…

Andrea: Yes.

Elizabeth: The series…

Andrea: Was the Star Wars Episode One the Phantom Menace in 1999. Yep.

Elizabeth: I’m really close!

Andrea: 1999.

Elizabeth: What year did Titanic come out?

Andrea: But people didn't know that was gonna be a hit.

Elizabeth: Yeah, I know yeah.

Andrea: Titanic came out in 1997. People didn't know that was gonna be like so iconic, right?

Elizabeth: Yeah. Totally.

Elizabeth: Wow. They paid a full ticket price to just go watch the trailer for Star Wars. Wow.

Andrea: Yes.

Elizabeth: That is never gonna happen ever again. Oh wow. Yeah. There's not this anticipation. So much anticipation. What is that? Like 20 years of waiting for a new Star Wars and now there's so much new Star Wars all the time. I can't even keep track of how much Star

Andrea: Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth: Anymore. Like Mandalorian and then what was…

Andrea: Yeah.

Andrea: I do like all the Mandalorian stuff though, and the baby Yoda. I like all that.

Elizabeth: Yeah And then there's the Star Wars, so episodes seven, eight, and nine, and then there's like the offshoots and the pre stories and the sequels and the, oh my gosh. You just can't even, it's like exactly what happens with Marvel and then, DC Universe is I can't even keep track of it anymore. There's just so much . There isn't the anticipation of 20 years from the first Star Wars movies…

Andrea: Yeah.

Elizabeth: To the first new Star Wars movie. Yeah, for sure. It's good trivia.

Andrea: But I will say the Star Wars world at Disneyland or Disney World is pretty cool. If you get a chance to go…

Elizabeth: Wait at Disney?

Andrea: Next year when we go to WorldCon, we'll get to go to the Star Wars world.

Elizabeth: I have been to Disneyland many years ago, and I don't know if the Star Wars part existed. Indiana Jones was there and that was a very good ride. I remember that being a good ride.

Andrea: So, yes. I, I think

Elizabeth: When we go to Anaheim and then we get to go to Disneyland…

Andrea: Disney Classics, that's a whole nother,

Elizabeth: It's Star Wars…

Andrea: That's a whole ‘nother episode.

Elizabeth: is Disney, right? Like it wasn't Disney at the time.

Andrea: Yeah. Yes.

Elizabeth: But is now Disney and …

Andrea: Now it is.

Elizabeth: A subsidiary of the Sheinhardt Wig Company, which is all owned by GE. Like no one can even keep track of it.

Elizabeth: Oh. And did I see recently that now Disney is pairing up with Hulu and also something else.

Elizabeth: So now it's they're basically just like recreating cable packages. You're just signing up for one and it comes as a package. They're reinventing cable. yeah.

Andrea: Yes.

Elizabeth: Wild.

Elizabeth: What would you say makes a book a classic? I didn't ask that.

Andrea: Yeah. I think any book that ends up carrying over to the next generation of readers could then be considered a classic, right? If I save a book and I want to read it to my kids someday, then I consider that a classic. And I think Dune falls into that category easily. A lot of the authors, if they talked about what books influenced them when they were growing up, they said Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings series.

Andrea: I actually haven't read The Lord of the Rings Series, but I did read The Hobbit in fifth grade. Our whole class read The Hobbit, and at the end of the book we had to make a diorama. And I remember it vividly because my little men that I made out of clay for my diorama kept falling apart.

Andrea: I was so self-conscious about my bad diorama.

Elizabeth: Wait, you haven't read The Lord of the Rings?

Andrea: I have not read The Lord of the Rings.

Elizabeth: I think you should feel less bad about the little characters in your diorama and more bad about not having read The Lord of the Rings. call yourself a sci-fi and fantasy fan and you have never read The Lord of the Rings?

Elizabeth: It’s so good!

Andrea: Oh, you've read it?

Elizabeth: Yes.

Andrea: Oh.

Elizabeth: I have read The Hobbit at least twice. I think I read The Hobbit out loud to my grandmother actually.

Andrea: I have reread The Hobbit. As an adult, I was like, I should go read this again and see if I still like it. 'cause I remembered enjoying it. Scenes stood out to me that I remembered liking as a kid. And so Reading it again, it was kind of fun. I don't reread many books, but I have reread The Hobbit by Tolkien.

Elizabeth: You should read The Lord of the Rings because that would also count as a fantasy classic.

Andrea: Yes.

Elizabeth: They are so good, Andrea. Oh my God. You get to the end and you're like, wait, it's over? I'm not ready for it to be over. It needs to keep going.

Elizabeth: I suppose probably takes a bit to get into. I read it a long time ago, maybe 20 years ago now, 15 to 20. I could definitely reread those. And I absolutely would reread them. Absolutely.

Elizabeth: It maybe takes a bit to get into and if I remember correctly, I don't remember at any point being like, oh, now it's really good. You just drift into it and then you just get carried away and it's so good. The scope of the story and the movies are really good. They did the movies really well.

Andrea: I did like the movies.

Elizabeth: Right! The movies are really good and …

Andrea: Yes.

Elizabeth: Think about right: books are always better. And when they did the movies really well and the book, is that good or better? Yeah.

Andrea: Well, this is just expanding all the books that I need to read.

Elizabeth: I know list has ever expanding. It's true.

Andrea: There's only so much time. I only have so much time.

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Andrea: Speaking of classics, our next book pick for September will be The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin And this is a book that's been sitting on my shelf for at least the last, like five years.

Andrea: After I read The Left Hand of Darkness, this was the next book I picked up and bought of hers and wanted to read it, but then it just got lost in the ever growing list of books and I'm really glad that we're getting back to this, and it takes place on a moon!

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Andrea: So it fits with our moon theme and it's great. It won the Hugo Award in 1975.

Andrea: So this would be like 50 years later it's 50th anniversary.

Andrea: Well, I'm excited to read that. I actually started it, but, i'm only like two pages in.

Elizabeth: Dip a toe?

Elizabeth: Unfortunately, that concludes this week's episode. We've reached the end of another cosmic journey on Galaxies and Goddesses.

Andrea: But don't worry, the adventure never really ends. There are always more stories to explore and let's be honest, more bookish tangents for us to go on.

Elizabeth: But hey, that's part of the fun. If you love today's episode, make sure to subscribe, leave a review and share the magic with your fellow goddesses.

Andrea: Stay tuned for our next episode where we'll be announcing our book bingo winners and recapping our favorite summer reads. There's only a few days left to join in on the book Bingo. So head over to our Instagram page to check out the details.

Elizabeth: In the meantime, keep your mind fueled by the magic of stories.

Andrea: And never stop chasing the world's waiting for you between the pages. Thanks everyone!