March 22, 2024 • 9 mins
Introducing The Unbelievers: A Thomas Covenant Podcast. Hosted by Cams and Barge, two old friends of many years. Cams has read all of these books, most of them multiple times. Barge has read none of them.
If you'd like to read along and take part in our discussions, we've set up a read-along on The StoryGraph.
Join the read-along here: Lord Foul's Bane Read-along
If you'd like to buy your own copy of the book, here are some affiliate links that would help to support the show:
Support The Unbelievers on Patreon.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(01:00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to the pilot
episode of whatever this
podcast is going to be called.
We haven't decided on a name yet. My
name's Cams. I'm a
constant reader, a big fan and
aficionado of The Chronicles of Thomas
Covenant by Stephen
Donaldson. Or if you're in the
US, Stephen R Donaldson. Not sure why the
(01:00:23):
publishers do that, but
there you go. So we're
going to be talking through The
Chronicles of Thomas
Covenant along with my good friend
Barge.
Yeah, so I'm Barge and I've known Cams
since we were at uni a
million years ago and I remember
him going on about the Chronicles of
(01:00:47):
Thomas Covenant at a time
when I just wasn't interested
in fantasy or science fiction or
anything. So I mean, I
just, you know, like a couple
of times and nights or whatever, you'd
have started going on
about it and, you know, just
the name. I mean, absolutely no detail.
(01:01:07):
So I mean, you know,
I'm coming to this really
clean as it were, you know, because I
know none of the chat
around it. I know none of
the story. I mean, I had like no idea of
anything actually when
I came to it. So that's
my position, you know,
just a clean slate as it were.
(01:01:30):
And so you went into fantasy or sci-fi
back then? Are you now?
Yeah, I mean, certainly sci-fi and, you
know, genres in
general, I think, are less kind
of meaningful in being restrictive, you
know, because I mean,
when stuff is talked about,
(01:01:53):
you know, everything being interconnected
as far as I'm concerned
and, you know, anything
can be delivered through the medium of
anything else. And so I
don't exclude the way I used
to, I think.
Very good. So you're coming to it cold.
I'm coming to it very,
(01:02:13):
very warm. I've read at
least the first and second chronicles
multiple times. Each of
the chronicles are made up
of three books, the first and the second,
and then there's a last chronicles, which
is made up of four books. So I'm
anticipating getting
through all of them. I'm not sure
(01:02:34):
if it will take.
Right, right, right.
It's going to take a while. So the way I
see this going is that
we're going to read through
two or three chapters a week and then hop
on a call and discuss it. We're not going
to give you any spoilers. I'm going to
make sure that I don't
(01:02:55):
jump ahead and drop anything
and that I shouldn't.
And I won't be reading ahead of the point
that we're going to be
getting to at the end
of that particular episode. So I won't, I
won't be going ahead.
And if I do spot any
jumping ahead, then I'll point it out.
(01:03:17):
Yeah. So if you want to read along with
us, whether you're doing
that now or whether it's
in your time, you know, these things are
going to be evergreen, I
hope. And, you know, I'll
just tell you about the inspiration for
this. For me, it came
from listening to another
podcast called King Slingers, which is
all about Stephen
King's The Dark Tower series,
(01:03:39):
which I love. I've read the whole thing
and I found this
podcast discussing the books
in great detail. The format was the same.
There was a constant
reader who'd read them
multiple times and a newcomer. And I
really liked that format
as a listener. So I'm keen
to jump into it as, as a reader as well
(01:03:59):
and see, see what we can
bring to the table. I'm
quite surprised at how little content
there is out there on the
internet about these books
compared to some of the other bigger
fantasy trilogies or
series. So we're going to fill
that gap.
There's another aspect which intrigues me
(01:04:22):
anyway, and I like those kind of personal
linkages and relationships. So you had,
you had expressed
another reason why you wanted
to kind of explore these,
these books in this format.
Yeah. It's really to get an idea of what
(01:04:42):
keeps me coming back to
these books. You know, I'm
now in my early fifties. I first read
these in my late teens, at
least the first Chronicles.
And you know, I was a different person
then, you know, and each
time I've read these books,
I've got something else from it. And I'm
very keen to, to explore
that and see what it is
(01:05:03):
that keeps me coming back to this anti
hero called Thomas
covenant, the unbeliever.
And this, I don't know, this repeat
return, it seems to me to
have some kind of visceral
quality. So I mean, goes really deep into
(01:05:24):
some kind of aspect of
yourself that you want
to explore. So at least I get a sense of
that. And yeah, so I
mean, there may be some, some
deep stuff coming up
for you. Yeah, right.
Well, for the listeners benefit, you
know, we've been past a
long time and we've had
many deep and meaningful conversations
(01:05:46):
through the years. So
some of that might come out,
you know, and if we go too deep, there
might be some editing
involved. Who knows? We're
just going to be loose with it and see
where it takes us. And
hopefully the listeners will
get something out of it as well. Yeah. So
that's us. That's the
intro. We're going to
(01:06:07):
be published in the first episode very
soon. We haven't pinned
down a schedule yet as such.
We haven't even got a name yet. So we'll
need to discuss that.
Of course, it will have a
name by the time it goes out. So by the
time you listen to this,
you will know what it's
called, but we don't. So let us know.
(01:06:27):
It'll be too late of course by then.
Yeah, it'll be pinned down.
All right.
So that says it's going to go out on the
usual podcast platforms.
I'm also going to put it
out onto YouTube. I think that's it.
There's nowhere else
really. It's going to be audio
only. We'll probably set up a Patreon or
something like that. That
seems to be the done thing.
(01:06:49):
To invite supporters and try and grow
this into something with
longevity and hopefully
something that you will all enjoy
listening to and coming back
to each week along with us.
So anything else you want to add before
we end this episode, Barge?
I guess just that I'm a little bit of a
(01:07:10):
slow speaker sometimes.
So I just want to remind
people that they can always listen at one
and a half or two speed.
Yeah, who doesn't do that?
But I find some people find that it's
disrespectful to do that. I've had those
kind of reactions and
yeah, funny. But anyway, I
(01:07:34):
wouldn't feel disrespected.
No. Yeah. And also with that, I actually
put some of my audio
books down to 1X at the moment
because I've just launched a booktube
channel on YouTube and I
want to read more deeply,
listen more closely. And I feel that
(01:07:56):
blasting through 50 hour
fantasy books at two speed,
you know, I'm missing things. So I'm just
dropping that in there, you know.
Right, right.
So yeah, we'll say goodbye for now. We'll
send you to where we need
to send you to once we know
where that is. So right now you can go to
(01:08:16):
whatever this podcast is
called dot com and you'll find us.
Right, so I'll see you when we get back.
I look forward to our first discussion of
chapters one to three of Lord Fowl's
Bane, the first of the
Chronicles of Thomas covenant.
(01:08:36):
Thanks for listening.
Bye bye.
And just a wee add on here, I've set up a
read along using the Storygraph app.
So if you'd like to read along with us as
we publish these
episodes, a chapter at a time,
I'll put a link down in the show notes. I
think the Storygraph app
is a really good place for
doing this kind of thing. So that's what
(01:08:57):
I'm going to do. So I've
set it up there. You can go
and join the read along. I think you will
need a Storygraph account,
which is free. So just sign
up for an account over there. It's an
independent, small platform
run by a very small team. And I
think it's good to support that kind of
thing. So yeah, hopefully
I'll see you on there. And
(01:09:18):
we will be publishing using a new URL,
which is the
unbelievers.co. So we have a name.
Come and find us. Look forward to having
your ears listen to our content.
Hey everybody, welcome to the pilot
episode of whatever this
podcast is going to be called.
We haven't decided on a name yet. My
name's Cams. I'm a
constant reader, a big fan and
aficionado of The Chronicles of Thomas
Covenant by Stephen
Donaldson. Or if you're in the
US, Stephen R Donaldson. Not sure why the
(01:00:23):
publishers do that, but
there you go. So we're
going to be talking through The
Chronicles of Thomas
Covenant along with my good friend
Barge.
Yeah, so I'm Barge and I've known Cams
since we were at uni a
million years ago and I remember
him going on about the Chronicles of
(01:00:47):
Thomas Covenant at a time
when I just wasn't interested
in fantasy or science fiction or
anything. So I mean, I
just, you know, like a couple
of times and nights or whatever, you'd
have started going on
about it and, you know, just
the name. I mean, absolutely no detail.
(01:01:07):
So I mean, you know,
I'm coming to this really
clean as it were, you know, because I
know none of the chat
around it. I know none of
the story. I mean, I had like no idea of
anything actually when
I came to it. So that's
my position, you know,
just a clean slate as it were.
(01:01:30):
And so you went into fantasy or sci-fi
back then? Are you now?
Yeah, I mean, certainly sci-fi and, you
know, genres in
general, I think, are less kind
of meaningful in being restrictive, you
know, because I mean,
when stuff is talked about,
(01:01:53):
you know, everything being interconnected
as far as I'm concerned
and, you know, anything
can be delivered through the medium of
anything else. And so I
don't exclude the way I used
to, I think.
Very good. So you're coming to it cold.
I'm coming to it very,
(01:02:13):
very warm. I've read at
least the first and second chronicles
multiple times. Each of
the chronicles are made up
of three books, the first and the second,
and then there's a last chronicles, which
is made up of four books. So I'm
anticipating getting
through all of them. I'm not sure
(01:02:34):
if it will take.
Right, right, right.
It's going to take a while. So the way I
see this going is that
we're going to read through
two or three chapters a week and then hop
on a call and discuss it. We're not going
to give you any spoilers. I'm going to
make sure that I don't
(01:02:55):
jump ahead and drop anything
and that I shouldn't.
And I won't be reading ahead of the point
that we're going to be
getting to at the end
of that particular episode. So I won't, I
won't be going ahead.
And if I do spot any
jumping ahead, then I'll point it out.
(01:03:17):
Yeah. So if you want to read along with
us, whether you're doing
that now or whether it's
in your time, you know, these things are
going to be evergreen, I
hope. And, you know, I'll
just tell you about the inspiration for
this. For me, it came
from listening to another
podcast called King Slingers, which is
all about Stephen
King's The Dark Tower series,
(01:03:39):
which I love. I've read the whole thing
and I found this
podcast discussing the books
in great detail. The format was the same.
There was a constant
reader who'd read them
multiple times and a newcomer. And I
really liked that format
as a listener. So I'm keen
to jump into it as, as a reader as well
(01:03:59):
and see, see what we can
bring to the table. I'm
quite surprised at how little content
there is out there on the
internet about these books
compared to some of the other bigger
fantasy trilogies or
series. So we're going to fill
that gap.
There's another aspect which intrigues me
(01:04:22):
anyway, and I like those kind of personal
linkages and relationships. So you had,
you had expressed
another reason why you wanted
to kind of explore these,
these books in this format.
Yeah. It's really to get an idea of what
(01:04:42):
keeps me coming back to
these books. You know, I'm
now in my early fifties. I first read
these in my late teens, at
least the first Chronicles.
And you know, I was a different person
then, you know, and each
time I've read these books,
I've got something else from it. And I'm
very keen to, to explore
that and see what it is
(01:05:03):
that keeps me coming back to this anti
hero called Thomas
covenant, the unbeliever.
And this, I don't know, this repeat
return, it seems to me to
have some kind of visceral
quality. So I mean, goes really deep into
(01:05:24):
some kind of aspect of
yourself that you want
to explore. So at least I get a sense of
that. And yeah, so I
mean, there may be some, some
deep stuff coming up
for you. Yeah, right.
Well, for the listeners benefit, you
know, we've been past a
long time and we've had
many deep and meaningful conversations
(01:05:46):
through the years. So
some of that might come out,
you know, and if we go too deep, there
might be some editing
involved. Who knows? We're
just going to be loose with it and see
where it takes us. And
hopefully the listeners will
get something out of it as well. Yeah. So
that's us. That's the
intro. We're going to
(01:06:07):
be published in the first episode very
soon. We haven't pinned
down a schedule yet as such.
We haven't even got a name yet. So we'll
need to discuss that.
Of course, it will have a
name by the time it goes out. So by the
time you listen to this,
you will know what it's
called, but we don't. So let us know.
(01:06:27):
It'll be too late of course by then.
Yeah, it'll be pinned down.
All right.
So that says it's going to go out on the
usual podcast platforms.
I'm also going to put it
out onto YouTube. I think that's it.
There's nowhere else
really. It's going to be audio
only. We'll probably set up a Patreon or
something like that. That
seems to be the done thing.
(01:06:49):
To invite supporters and try and grow
this into something with
longevity and hopefully
something that you will all enjoy
listening to and coming back
to each week along with us.
So anything else you want to add before
we end this episode, Barge?
I guess just that I'm a little bit of a
(01:07:10):
slow speaker sometimes.
So I just want to remind
people that they can always listen at one
and a half or two speed.
Yeah, who doesn't do that?
But I find some people find that it's
disrespectful to do that. I've had those
kind of reactions and
yeah, funny. But anyway, I
(01:07:34):
wouldn't feel disrespected.
No. Yeah. And also with that, I actually
put some of my audio
books down to 1X at the moment
because I've just launched a booktube
channel on YouTube and I
want to read more deeply,
listen more closely. And I feel that
(01:07:56):
blasting through 50 hour
fantasy books at two speed,
you know, I'm missing things. So I'm just
dropping that in there, you know.
Right, right.
So yeah, we'll say goodbye for now. We'll
send you to where we need
to send you to once we know
where that is. So right now you can go to
(01:08:16):
whatever this podcast is
called dot com and you'll find us.
Right, so I'll see you when we get back.
I look forward to our first discussion of
chapters one to three of Lord Fowl's
Bane, the first of the
Chronicles of Thomas covenant.
(01:08:36):
Thanks for listening.
Bye bye.
And just a wee add on here, I've set up a
read along using the Storygraph app.
So if you'd like to read along with us as
we publish these
episodes, a chapter at a time,
I'll put a link down in the show notes. I
think the Storygraph app
is a really good place for
doing this kind of thing. So that's what
(01:08:57):
I'm going to do. So I've
set it up there. You can go
and join the read along. I think you will
need a Storygraph account,
which is free. So just sign
up for an account over there. It's an
independent, small platform
run by a very small team. And I
think it's good to support that kind of
thing. So yeah, hopefully
I'll see you on there. And
(01:09:18):
we will be publishing using a new URL,
which is the
unbelievers.co. So we have a name.
Come and find us. Look forward to having
your ears listen to our content.
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