Claire (she/they) and Han (any pronouns) examine Gideon the Ninth, Chapter 17 with hard-hitting questions like what's happening with inter-House rankings? Why can't dead people do murder? Can we commission fan works in the middle of our podcast?Content Warning: murder, child soldiers, torture, criminalization of children under occupation, slaveryFurther ReadingKinka Usher (1999) Mystery MenMikko Joronen (2016) Minor(s) Matter: Stone Throwing, Securitization, and the Government of Palestinian Childhood Under Israeli Military Rule [Note: we normally make sure scholarly work that we share is open-access. Don't pay to read this! Ask your library for access if you don't have a relationship with a university.]R. F. Kuang (2018-2020) The Poppy War TrilogyKathleen Stokker (1995) Folklore Fights the Nazis
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An Active Investigation
Claire Beans (she/they) and Han Koehle (any pronouns) dig into Gideon the Ninth, Chapter 17. (Almost) everybody tries to call back the ghosts of absent friends. The Eighth get weird. The third also gets weird. Actually Necromancers generally are weird.This week's cover art isContent Warning: murder, grief, blood, self-harm, cannibalism, abuse, child soldiers,Further Reading:bell hooks (2004) The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and LovePosh Painter (2024) European Noble Titles Explained [note: this is straightforward and contains interesting etymological facts, but it's also hardcore uncritical of empire and monarchy]Naomi Novik (2020-2022) Scholomance Trilogy (A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate, and The Golden Enclaves)
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BONUS: Outtakes & Deleted Scenes
Need a break after Act II? Us too. While Han embarks on a research trip, enjoy this peek behind the curtain, featuring outtakes, tangents, personal lore, extended cuts, canon confusion, and other deleted scenes from our season so far. Next week we'll be back with Gideon the Ninth, Act III.This episode features Claire (she/they), Han (any pronouns), and guests Caro (she/they), Geddy (she/her), and Night (he/him).Our cover art for this episode features Han and its wife as Gideon and Harrow.Content Warning: unintentional weight loss, death, sex, abuseFurther Reading:Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (1990) Good Omens Note: We encourage you to source one in a way that doesn't give Neil Gaiman money, like borrowing a copy or picking a used copy at bookshop.org You can also make a donation to Our Voice in honor of his victims using the name "Calliope." Read more about that here.Thomas Wharton (2004) The Logogryph: A Bibliography of Imaginary BooksKaitlyn Vogt (2015) Being Nice is Lethal: Disciplining and Subverting Southern Femininity in Contemporary Southern Popular CultureAlexander M. Maley and Jack L. Arbiser (2015) Gentian Violet: A 19th Century Drug Re-Emerges in the 21st CenturyCindy M. Meston and David M. Buss (2009) Why Women Have SexHan Koehle (ongoing) The Locked Tomb: Unauthorized Annotated EditionT. X. Watson and Astrid Lundberg (2025) Academic and Ergodic LiteratureResting Glitch FaceNun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. Find us at NunPod.com and get our attention with #NunPod.If you’d like to support our show with your voice, share NunPod with a friend or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’d like to use money to support us, we encourage you to think of the amount you’d like to send us on Patreon each month and then instead send it here. Let us know that you did!
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Companionable Silence
Claire (she/they) and Han (any pronouns) reread Gideon the Ninth Act II, Chapter 16. Gideon and Harrow enjoy their first major victory on the path to lyctorhood. Then, everything changes.Content Warnings: death, child abuse, emetophobia, humiliation, mild cannibalismFurther Reading:Gavin Van Horn, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and John Hausdoerffer (2022) KinshipJames Ashworth (2022). Neanderthal Extinction May Have Been Caused by Sex, Not Fighting. Victor Hugo (1831) The Hunchback of Notre-DameNun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. Find us at NunPod.com and get our attention with #NunPod. If you’d like to support our show with your voice, share NunPod with a friend or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’d like to use money to support us, we encourage you to think of the amount you’d like to send us on Patreon each month and then instead send it here. Let us know that you did!
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Very Correct Pleasantries
Claire (she/they) and Han (any pronouns) welcome Hannah (she/her) to re-read Gideon the Ninth, Chapter 15. The Ninth receive an invitation. All the Houses get together. Gideon gets to eat a dessert.Our cover is guest Hannah. You can find her wonderful cosplay and commentary on TikTok and and Tumblr.Content Warning: eating your cav, murder, infertility, slaveryFurther Reading: Catechism regarding priests acting in persona Christi CapitisAubrey Smalls (2025) Did You Know About Court Dwarfs?Samin Nosrat (2013) Jeweled RiceT. H. White (1958) The Once and Future KingNun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. Find us at NunPod.com and get our attention with #NunPod. If you’d like to support our show with your voice, share NunPod with a friend or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’d like to use money to support us, we encourage you to think of the amount you’d like to send us on Patreon each month and then instead send it here. Let us know that you did!
Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb series (so far, Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, and Nona the Ninth) offers a rich, humorous look at power, agency, and relationship under empire. Join Claire Beans (she/they), Han Koehle (any pronouns), and guests as we reread the Locked Tomb series chapter by chapter, analyzing Muir's universe and characters and connecting them to the real world through theory and fandom.Spoilers will be spoilt.
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