the city in the middle of the night by charlie jane anders

Wes: Sophie is first person and Mouth is distant. Oren: I forget, are either of them first person or are they both third person limited? Did we say that? Sophie’s a narrator and Mouth is a narrator. So those are the main character arcs of the story. And then there’s Mouth who is a kind of oddly named other character who has this arc of going from a total badass in theory, to being a total pacifist and also accepting alien Jesus into her heart. I guess really the two main character arcs, there’s Sophie who has this arc of having a toxic crush that she can’t quit until she joins up with the aliens who she accepts as her lord and savior. Definitely, there will be spoilers since we’re talking about the novel here, and part of those spoilers include the other character arcs. I guess I probably should have led with this. It’s very exciting to find out how these words are actually spelled. Oren: I mean, the best part about this book for me is playing the how do you actually spell these weird scifi words game? Because I listened to it on audio, so I don’t know how to spell Xiosphantor Argelo or Gelet, which is the name of one of the aliens. Which is like the only really great parts. We have main character, Sophie grows up in this oppressive city called Xiosphant, and then she travels to another city on this planet called Argelo that is very chaotic, and then finally goes to the City in the Middle of the Night, which is an alien city.ĭo any of you want to add some basic details of this premise or the genre? It’s a science fiction novel about human settlers on a tidally locked planet. So basic genre and premise of City in the Middle of the Night. I have read some of her short stories previously, and they were honestly a lot like this book. She’s got a lot of awards under her belt. And she’s had a previous novel that’s been a finalist.

She hasn’t yet gotten a Hugo for a novel, but she has won a Hugo for novelette. So again, Charlie Jane Anders is a trans author who’s won lots of awards previously. Wes: The last several podcasts we had to bite our tongues just to save some material for today.Ĭhris: So we’re going to start, we could pick over small things in this book for the entire podcast but just going over some basics, especially for people who have not read this novel. We have been practically bursting at the seams to talk about this one. And this time it is City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders, and it is a doozy. We’re going to be covering all six novels that were nominated for a Hugo this year. Hail.Ĭhris: So we are doing the first of our Hugo nominee coverage.

I’m Chris and with me is…Ĭhris: And all hail the Gelet, our lord and saviors. Generously transcribed by Cindi at YourPodScribe.Ĭhris: You’re listening to the Mythcreant podcast with your hosts Oren Ashkenazi, Wes Matlock and Chris Winkle.Ĭhris: This is the Mythcreant podcast.

The city in the middle of the night by charlie jane anders