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What if the hot vampires.... didn't kiss? Those are the kind of revolutionary ideas you can find in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.Duncan raves over his first encounter with the book, even if Louis' self-indulgent despair gets at little too goth at times, whilst Geordie wishes he was back watching the TV show adaptation again. Tune in for Duncan getting a brief history lesson about vampires, discussions of depictions of Slavic people somehow more offensive than Bram Stoker's, a debate on just how gay should the gay vampires be, and the most impromptu decision on the next episode's book in the podcast's history. Please be aware that Geordie's audio issues persist from the previous episode. Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected] Featuring: Intro and Outro Music: Fantasy Exploration Music | Chapter’s End Music provided by Dungeon Playlist - Emma Young and Jonathan Young Listen on YouTube

Another year. Another Halloween Season. Another arbitrary compartmentalisation of a larger official chapter of Berserk. This time Geordie gets Duncan to read the Fantasia Chapter, but to read no farther than Berserk's shortest mini-arc: Spring Flowers of Days Long Passed. Duncan celebrates the exciting fights, the genuinely unsettling horror and tries to figure out how a crew of veteran monster slayers can just merrily stroll into Innsmouth. Whilst Geordie, typically a defender of one of Berserk's less popular arcs, suddenly realises that Kentaro Miura may have been a little bit bolder in the stuff he borrowed from Hollywood. But, they both share fangirling over Roderick, and shedding a little tear for Chitch, the cutest short-lived character in the series. Editor's note: we have to apologise for Geordie's audio at the moment, which is due to his unexpected move and a disadvantageous recording set-up. It will likely remain the same for the next couple of episodes. Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected] Featuring: Intro and Outro Music: Fantasy Exploration Music | Chapter’s End Music provided by Dungeon Playlist - Emma Young and Jonathan Young Listen on YouTube

Just when the world they thought they were dead, they returned!! After some.... let's call them extenuating circumstances... the review of Blood Over Brighthaven will at last see the light of day. And what a review! You've got analysis of social commentary, you've got debate around excellent world building and characters, you've got some genuinely hysterical bants about the only nice thing we'll ever say about Maggie Thatcher. Anyway, this book is rad. Come hear about it! Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected] Featuring: Intro and Outro Music: Fantasy Exploration Music | Chapter’s End Music provided by Dungeon Playlist - Emma Young and Jonathan Young Listen on YouTube Listen on other platforms

After a brief break, Duncan and Geordie are back to continue their journey into deciding that this Sanderson guy is actually pretty good at writing books. Huh? The Well of Ascension carries on the plot begun in Mistborn: The Final Empire, plunging it from the world of revolution into one of politics, siegecraft, and eerie supernatural forces. Its full of badass action - sometimes a little too badass, which is a wild complaint but here we are - intrigue, and some genuinely great twists. Duncan is astonished to discover a tertiary antagonist that he literally forgot existed, and Geordie tries to figure out,,, like, what exactly are Brandon Sanderson's beliefs? Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected] Featuring: Intro and Outro Music: Fantasy Exploration Music | Chapter’s End Music provided by Dungeon Playlist - Emma Young and Jonathan Young Listen on YouTube Listen on other platforms

Geordie has been banished to Spain for being mean to Steven Erikson. Whilst Duncan defends one of the most seminal, if controversial, modern additions to epic fantasy: 'Gardens of the Moon' the first book in Malazan: Book of the Fallen. Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected] Featuring: Intro and Outro Music: Fantasy Exploration Music | Chapter’s End Music provided by Dungeon Playlist - Emma Young and Jonathan Young Listen on YouTube Listen on other platforms

For this year's annual Troy book (only slightly too late for the release of Christopher Nolan's adaptation) the fellas get together to read The Odyssey, as translated by Emily Wilson, a woman who hates Nolan's film more than Duncan hates 'The Sheepfarmer's Daughter,' or more than Geordie hates admitting that he actually likes Brandon Sanderson now. Tune in to find out if Wilson's plain, accessible and socially conscious version is right for you, to to hear Duncan explain why you should listen to Doctor Who as a radio-play, Geordie teaches the best method for blinding Cyclopes, and Duncan delivers a dramatic reading of his favourite.... naked fight scene? Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected] Featuring: Intro and Outro Music: Fantasy Exploration Music | Chapter’s End Music provided by Dungeon Playlist - Emma Young and Jonathan Young Listen on YouTube Listen on other platforms

Finally Duncan gets to tell the story of King Arthur and his knights in the way he remembers it, in a classic, mostly faithful retelling by beloved children's author and horse terrorizer Michael Morpurgo. This time there's less bigotry and more lengthy explanations by Geordie about his favourite niche Arthurian myths. Tune in to learn the strange connection between Morgan le Fay, Charles the Great, Microsoft and the Master Chief, Duncan's confusion about the inclusion of a magic dog, a heated debated about whether Lancelot is based or not, and the potential of a real historical King Arthur (its not who you think.) Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected] Featuring: Intro and Outro Music: Fantasy Exploration Music | Chapter’s End Music provided by Dungeon Playlist - Emma Young and Jonathan Young Listen on YouTube Listen on other platforms

Pop the champagne, its time for the long awaited Top 100 Is This Just Fantasy Top 100 ranking spectacular, where Geordie and Duncan revisit and review all 100 novels they've read over the past four years, and finally determine the definitive greatest fantasy novel of all time. Some times the conversation is fraught. There are expected divisions - one day Geordie hopes he can forgive Duncan for his placement of the Muse of Nightmares, just as Duncan hopes he will eventually forget just where he placed Duncan's #1 book of the podcast. Tune in to hear the Is This Just Fantasy's definitive, scientific ranking, and how they finally do what they weren't brave enough to complete during their Top 50: actually choose the podcast's #1 book ever. Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected] Featuring: Intro and Outro Music: Fantasy Exploration Music | Chapter’s End Music provided by Dungeon Playlist - Emma Young and Jonathan Young Listen on YouTube Listen on other platforms

To celebrate their 100th(ish) book covered on the podcast, Geordie has selected one of the all time greats. A story which defines fantasy in many ways: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. Listen as Duncan and Geordie make a bet, Duncan explains his radical Moorcockian theories of the Hook-Pan cycle, Geordie explains how a book-on-tape changed his relationship with music, and they both try to figure out whether Mr. Darling is a genuine weirdo. Not one to be missed! And a ideal capstone to 100 books. Tune in next time for the much awaited Top 100 Rankings. Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected] Featuring: Song: Tunetank - Clair De Lune (No Copyright Music) Music provided by Tunetank. Free Download: https://bit.ly/3PUMAnU Listen on Spotify: https://bit.ly/46nxy15 Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch? Clips taken from: Hook (1991) Peter Pan (2003) Peter Pan Goes Wrong (TV Movie 2016)

This time the fellas embark on a contraversial journey as they reckon with one of the most acclaimed modern Sci-Fi and Fantasy novelists, N.K. Jemison, but not about how seminal work: The Broken Earth trilogy. Instead they take a look at her debut and examine where she first showed promise, and in fact first dabbled in themes she would go on to examine again in the Fifth Season. Does she start her career strong? Did they make a mistake in choosing to look at this book instead of her later works? And just how sexy is this book supposed to be? Tune in to hear Geordie cover Jemison's unapologetic love of allegory, Duncan point out an incredibly obvious one he somehow missed, Duncan discussing the book's bizzare political system, and to not hear Geordie's 15-minute lecture on the origins of the Bible, which Duncan thankfully made him edit down to about 3. If you want to thank Duncan for his editorial oversight, follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or try our email: [email protected]

As their 100-book special looms ever closer, Geordie takes them back to a book which he meant to bring on the podcast about five years ago, a book which some weirdly personal connections. Its like if the Shadowhunter books were really good! And about King Arthur! And set at Geordie's Alma Mater! Precision engineered to appeal to him. And it turns out that Duncan really doesn't like it... Join in on a challenging discussion as both hosts reckon with the good, the bad, argue over where it butts heads with Arthurian canon, and try to weigh when personal experience completely trumps a book's best qualities. If nothing else, Geordie gets very excited to explain Arthur lore, the etymology behind Excalibur, and how much he hates the town of Clayton, Georgia. This one is for the nerds. Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]

After enduring some completely preventable recording issues, Duncan and Geordie are back, counting down the last couple of books before their 100th! This time they are joined by Bookstagrammer Kellie Greene (@theportsmouth_pageturner) to return to the world of sexy fae with Sarah J. Maas' debut, Throne of Glass. As Duncan discovers just how badass and beautiful and well-read and good at piano our hero, Celeana Sardoffian is, Geordie recounts his own experience of the series, and Kellie expounds on why she loves the series so much. And, because no authentic discussion of Throne of Glass can be had without discussing the massive twist, in a first for the podcast, Duncan is kicked out to protect him from spoilers. Is Duncan #TeamChaol? Why does Geordie hate Rowan so much? And will Kellie and Duncan finally force him to read the Chaol's spin-off book? Find out now! Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]

This episode Duncan and Geordie take a look a darling of the type of nerds who, if you say your favourite books are Harry Potter, Fourth Wing, and Ice Breaker, will tell you to read The Blade Itself - The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Duncan takes Geordie through the Gentlemen Bastards series' surprising publication history, and Geordie slightly overestimates how many The Usual Suspects style twists he expected from the book - it has 'LIES' right there in the title! Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if Edward Cullen wasn't Mormon, or Xaden Riarson didn't have #believewomen in his Tinder profile? Then this is the episode for you, as Duncan and Geordie cover From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout. They discuss a parade of bizarre and lazy worldbuilding, dangling plot threads, unusually basic wording errors, and possibly the shadiest love-story they've covered on the podcast so far (and that's saying something). Duncan found it so dry that he forgot the book existed until shortly before recording, and Geordie struggles with the fact he used to like it! Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]

A divisive episode. Duncan declares victory as Geordie is forced to hand in his membership to the 'pretencious nerd who doesn't like Brandon Sanderson books' club, because this one is a corker. They cover Mistborn: The Final Empire, covering its excellent twists and implemenation of magic, its surprising themematic coherence and nuance, and Geordie has no choice to admit that this time, maybe worldbuilding is important to making a fantasy novel work. Its not all glaze though, they cover their complaints about the book's depiction of women, and the weird age gap between the love interests. Has this turned Geordie around on Sanderson? And how long will Duncan be smug about it? Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]