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In 2013, Alex Shaw published a small novel called The Cartographer’s Handbook, the first in a series called The New Century Multiverse. The premise is alt history, where post-Civil War America is suddenly overcome with a plague of dangerous monsters that overwhelm the Reconstruction, and bring the nation to its knees. The series is not about its fall, however, but about the heroes that help bring it back from the brink, and step into a wider world that is not the one they knew. New mysteries to unlock, magics to discover, and worlds to explore. Ten years later, the New Century Multiverse is now thirteen books strong, with more on the way. It has had 2 major story arcs, an Avengers style coming together of the heroes of its various books, and multiple worlds and genres to explore. This is its first fan podcast. Through The Wind Door is a deep dive exploration of the novels and their corresponding audiodramas, along with interviews of the cast and creators. Accessible to new readers and long time fans, join Greg and Toby as they share thoughts about this engaging series.
Episodes
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Part 2 of our initial conversations on the hot new thing, Castle of the Moon.
As before, this episode will spoil the book in question, will potentially spoil Any Other Part of New Century because we get into a bunch of the implications for how this book reveals previously unknown context about previously released books. Part and parcel of being a prequel!
On top of that, this will get into spoilers for the movie Memento. Yes, revealing that is a bit of a spoiler in and of itself, can't be helped. I still don't think it would prepare you for how it comes into play, and Memento is a 23 year old movie, but still! We cant talk about how mind blowing this book is without the proper context! (Timestamp is 34:20 to 38:30)
Get ready for sex, grief, bargaining, and killer music.
The New Century Multiverse Website:
https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com
Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/
Intro is "Humanity" by Scott Holmes of Free Music Archive
Midroll is "One Winged Angel - Rebirth" from the FF7 Remake OST
Outro is "Between Heaven and Hell" by Miracle of Sound
Monday Nov 13, 2023
Monday Nov 13, 2023
What's the buzz, tell me what's happening... hey neighbor, have you heard the good New's?
That's right, a new book is here, and a new round of hot takes. This is only Part 1 of Toby and Greg dishing on the new book Castle of the Moon.
Big ol spoiler warning: if you have not read All the books up till this point, there may be spoilers for those books. Obviously, we get into full details on Castle, but because by Word of God this is a trilogy with Nightfall of the Wendigo, elements of this book may get referenced in relation to Nightfall. THIS WARN YOU.
And with that... here we go.
The New Century Multiverse Website:
https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com
Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/
Intro is "Humanity" by Scott Holmes of Free Music Archive
Other Music is from the Fear and Hunger OST, including "Minor Terror", "Eastern Wind", "Muted Aggression", and the main theme.
Outro is "Demons" by Henri Werner
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Monday Jul 19, 2021
This is going to be the last New's for a while, but I'm glad of it, because it means Alex is taking a break.
The only thing I have to say is that if this had to be the end of Phase Two, it was a hell of a note to go out on. We talk more about why this is the best homage to Back To The Future possible, discussions on wizards, and speculations for the future.
Stay tuned for outtakes at the end!
Live at Grillby's: https://youtu.be/9TwwiLAk4GM
What the Internet Did To Undertale: https://youtu.be/FFIs6LsV0a4
The New Century Multiverse Website:
https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com
Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/
Intro is "Humanity" by Scott Holmes of Free Music Archive
Outro is "Closing Time" by Semisonic
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
Took longer than I wanted to get this out. But the main show always comes first!
As always, talking about too much detail spoils the story for the audience that has not read it! But today we dive into the discussion with even more gusto. Our love of this stories heroes and the bright and dark reflections of many familiar characters the heroes meet along the way. The ideosyncracies of telling a time travel narrative, the hardship placed on someone trying to navigate it and more. Plus, a special cameo.
Also... WWKHD? Kick ass, apparently.
EDIT: Apparently I picked the wrong version of the song that was referred to in the book, so I got the right one and reuploaded. It affects my stats, but TBH, I care less about those and more about getting this stuff out there and being true to my source. That said, if you downloaded the original, no need to redownload!
Talking Heads: Once In a Lifetime (Live) https://youtu.be/3XCp3ioDjwo
The New Century Multiverse Website:
https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com
Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/
Intro is "Humanity" by Scott Holmes of Free Music Archive
Outro is "Once In A Lifetime" by Talking Heads
Sunday Jul 04, 2021
Sunday Jul 04, 2021
Here it is, folks. Some juicy conversation on the New Century time travel story.
As always, I keep the show notes for New's light on details to avoid even more possible spoilers. I will note that something weird happened with this recording where popping noises seemed to affect the sound file in places. Given that we didn't have issues today, I am going to chalk it up to interference from the AC unit being on. I did my best to reduce the sound when the popping happens, so it's less grating at least.
As always, new New Century books often make us reflect on what came before, including our thoughts on what this story would be about based on what few things Alex said and what we knew about the story thus far. So this episode will have a lot of that, a prewritten thesis on BITAS as a whole from yours truly, and some gushing from Toby on the way it felt for him as he laid into the book at start. That's enough for one episode, so, do enjoy.
The New Century Multiverse Website:
https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com
Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/
Intro is "Humanity" by Scott Holmes of Free Music Archive
Outro is "Live To Tell" by Madonna
Friday May 14, 2021
Friday May 14, 2021
Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen. Here is the last of our discussion on the latest New Century book (which won't remain the newest for long, since Back In Time is hot on it's heels.) Our discussion includes (show notes spoiler free)
- The story developments with Seth and the Wendigo.
- Discussion of new characters, and some parallels between them and influencial movies
- The dramatic plot turn, what it means for New Century going forwards, and how shocking it is considering the status quo originally set up by Phase One.
- The importance of closure
- And finally, speculations regarding Back In Time.
14 minutes of outtakes after the outro, some of them podcast related, and some just fun! Rah, Rah, podcasting.
SPOILERS FOR ALL OF NEW CENTURY
Here, a picture of Toby's old hamster, Pongo (listen to outtakes for an explanation.)
The New Century Multiverse Website:
https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com
The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:
https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/
Intro is "Humanity" by Scott Holmes of freemusicarchive.org
Outro is "The Eagle and the Hawk" by John Denver
Thursday May 06, 2021
Thursday May 06, 2021
Trigger Warning: While we do not get into a lot of detail on the act itself, once more, the subject of rape comes up. Time stamp is approximately between 29min-49 min.
We begin where we ended last time, on a further discussion of our characters. This includes an analysis on Frank, James, their interactions with each other, and then some fairly heavy conversation in regards to what happens between Yagana and James, and our various thoughts and feelings on it.
Futhermore, we speculate on Yagana as a character, her motivations, and the complex feelings from us in regards to with her character turns in this novel.
But as always, we try to end with hope.
SPOILERS FOR ALL OF NEW CENTURY
The New Century Multiverse Website:
https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com
Intro is "Humanity" by Scott Holmes of freemusicarchive.org
Outro is "Rhymes and Reasons" by John Denver
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
This is the first time in the short history of New's that a conversation about a recently released book has spilled over to two skype sessions, though in this case, it's because we had some technical difficulties partway through instead of just simply running out of time. That means that this selection of hot takes are going to not all be piping hot, but just as delicious.
I can't include many details, since even including them is spoilers, but one of the things we talk about early on was one of our first episodes where we speculated on what the Phase 2 books were going to be about merely based on the Title Artwork over a year ago, with the addition of some of the beta artwork for characters and covers. We had next to nothing for the book that was merely titled 'Wendigos' at the time, and it has flowered into a most unexpected story indeed.
We start lighter, discussing the arc of the story, things we really liked, as well as the outline of the journey of our many characters which we dive deeper into in part 2. These and many other things await.
SPOILERS FOR ALL OF NEW CENTURY
The New Century Multiverse Website:
https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com
Intro is "Humanity" by Scott Holmes of FMA
Outro is "Still Alive" by Lisa Miskovsky
Friday Mar 19, 2021
Friday Mar 19, 2021
And here come the rest of our thoughts on the epic journey through Rama, and all the New's that's fit to print.
Topics include a discussion of why understanding The Greatest - Muhammed Ali - is key to understanding our protagonist Kolo Nash. We unpack a lot of the motivating factors of our panther fella - including his sex appeal - and talk more on some of the big moments of the story, including the importance of our mentor Maximus and his part in the story.
We also discuss the differing nature of this story to others in the New Century ouvre, how that difference makes it stand out, and also contribute to making Rama a wider, more realized place in many respects. Panther Soul is it's own story, but the fact that it builds off what began with Tiger's Eye means that reading the first gives us a much more powerful experience overall. We discuss arcs, and feelings and themes, and end on a strong note of why we love this story, and much interest in what comes next.
Full spoilers for the novel: do not listen if you haven't read! (no outtakes this time around, it's all just part and parcel with the given episodes.)
For those that have not heard it, highly recommend watching the 2001 movie 'Ali', and then listening to the School of Movies podcast on it, because this movie impacted not only Panther Soul but many aspects of New Century:
https://schoolofmovies.podbean.com/e/ali-1613726520/
Intro is "Humanity" by Scott Holmes of FMA
Outro is "More (Red One Jimmy Jones Remix)" by Usher
Friday Mar 12, 2021
Friday Mar 12, 2021
Because you can't hold back the signal, our first hour discussing the newest New Century novel, Panther Soul. We jump in with both feet, discussion villians, heroes, a renewed discussion on the non-linear nature of the story, and how it feels to have this story build off Tiger's Eye.
Full spoilers for the novel: do not listen if you haven't read!
The New Century Multiverse books and audio dramas can be found on:
https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com
Intro is "Humanity" by Scott Holmes of FMA
Outro is "Friction" by Imagine Dragons