Daemons Domain – All Souls Trilogy & Universe Fan Site + Podcast: Daemons Discuss – Podcast: Take 25! | The Return of the Vampire Scientist & Last Thoughts on A Discovery of Witches

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Description: We welcome back our favorite vampire scientist, Shelli! We ply her with more questions, and then drift into our reflections of our latest re-read of A Discovery of Witches. Beware! We subject-hop like crazy in this one. Even maybe do a bit of time-walking with 80’s heartthrobs. The episode begins with an attempt to balance some daemons with a vampire, and ends with declarations of love for heretical opinions. Make sure your restraints are fastened. Enjoy the ride!

SPOILER ALERT! We (The Daemons) approach this podcast with an assumption that the listener has read The All Souls Trilogy, including A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night, and The Book of Life.  If you haven’t, and you don’t mind, we certainly don’t mind!  😊  Let’s do this.
*Note – this podcast is labeled ‘explicit’

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Listen:

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For newcomers to the series:– We’ll start with the basics: The books in discussion are A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night and The Book of Life.  Together they make The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness.
– Our Daemon Guides to the All Souls Trilogy are available for download: ADOW, SON, TBOL

Deb’s newsletter – The Blast; subscribe on her website

– If you’d like a ready-reference from the author herself, be sure to download the All Souls Real-Time Reading companion (free e-book at online booksellers via Penguin and Headline books).
– Deborah Harkness usually conducts a real-time reading on her Facebook Page (starting in September), and shares her posts across social media. Check out her website for all of her social media links, and of course all that she has to offer her readers! Be sure to sign up for her newsletter while you are there!
– To see what’s available on the web as far as the All Souls universe fandom, check our links page.

In this episode:

* (01:15) – Shelli explains “dosage compensation”

* (02:18) – Thank you Discussers! Thanks to Karina for your voice mail & to Patricia for your email; Patricia asked Shelli about DNA testing in the group! Last but not least, thank you Wendy for your email outlining your ADOW journey, and your question to Dr. Shelli (answered in this segment as well). Read full emails here.

More:

* (14:22) – Shelli brought the science with her (re: our last episode). She explains how it is that Sophie can have a witch child with another daemon, and how she wound up the anomaly in her family’s line of witches. She’s brought us pictures:

Figure 1 (Shelli tells us the spot is water from her tea!)
Figure 2
Figure 3

More in this section:

  • Nondisjunction event
  • Down Syndrome – Trisomy 21

* (20:10) – Origins in Africa, re-explained; links that Shelli sent for further reading:
* (21:50) – Does science explain magic or vice/versa?

* (22:33) – There are more neuron connections in your brain than there are stars in the universe. Think about that! Dr. Shelli’s suggested reading for this is here–> The Nervous System, from 128 MPH Signals to Trillions of Synapses

The lighter version of the peppered moth

* (24:24) – The peppered moth links that Shelli sent:

The Star Bellied Sneetches by Dr. Seuss; watch —> here

* (28:30) – Punctuated Equalibrium vs. Phyletic Gradualism

* (30:12) – Epistasis

* (30:29) – Marfan Syndrome

* (32:14) – Where did the first vampire come from? Too much! We’re going to let Shelli think about this. We’ll tackle this another time — well, SHE’LL tackle it, and we’ll be here when she’s ready to give her thoughtful analysis, as is custom for her.

* (35:55) – AB positive! We’ll post this here again: AB-POSITIVE is the correct answer per Deb (see here, and here), but contrary to what we told you, “AB-negative” does appear in some of the newer prints of A Discovery of Witches. In some copies, chapter 13 would show “AB-negative,” then the same book would display “AB-positive” in chapter 36! We wouldn’t have known had we not checked our prize closets, and peeked in some of the newest books in our stacks. Don’t bother writing the publishers, Deb, or her people . . . they all are aware of the misprint!

* (37:40) – Our thoughts on this re-read of A Discovery of Witches

  • Those wayward books that Ysabeau sent: George Chapman, Kit Marlowe – their admiration of Diana and Matthew.
  • The time-loop! Val jumps ahead to The Book of Life and talks about the bedroom Matthew made, waiting for Diana. We stopped discussing the time loop and just attributed it to magic.
  • Diana and Matthew have been shelved together since the 16th Century. Now it is Shelli’s turn to have her head hurt! Turnabout is fair play, Shelli. 😈
  • We decide Diana was a muse for George.
  • Angela says this time she was able to get her brain wrapped around the science for this re-read, thanks to Shelli and All Souls Con!
  • Shelli appreciated the eggs and foreshadowing that Deb planted in ADOW for the rest of the books, this re-read.
  • Valerie walked away with much more empathy for Diana this time.
  • For Jean, it was Marcus this time. This sparks a conversation of how parents always see their kids as kids. Shelli brings up guilt that Matthew had about not telling Marcus about blood rage.
  • We talk about how Emily is easily over-looked. A ‘noodle’!

* (52:10) – We veered off of the road and crashed into a ditch. We then swam around in it for a bit! Here are our 80’s heartthrobs:

(left to right) James Spader, Nick Cage, Christian Slater, Val Kilmer

* (54:19) – Thanks to Jean, we were able to climb out of the ditch! She owes a dollar in the swear jar.

* (55:05) – Events that were catalysts in A Discovery of Witches;

  • Jean – Ysabeau as a master chess player and captain of the ship.
  • Valerie – Diana using her her magic in the Bodleian – and Matthew spotting her as a result.
  • Shelli – Diana’s physical reaction to touching the manuscript (since the book was made of creatures); the creatures communicating with her

* (1:00:35) News – Casting (in no particular order)!

Daniel Ezra
Lindsay Duncan
Alex Kingston
Tanya Moodie
Valarie Pettiford

* (1:03:35) Housekeeping: Thank you for the email, Linda! Thank you laureni526, for your wonderful review!

* (1:05:44) Save It For the Show … Topic: But Ysabeau, though? Lindsay Duncan is a fine actor. We have less of a problem with the actor’s age than the opinion that TV audiences aren’t sophisticated enough to embrace the concept of vampire parents appearing younger than their children, or the more troubling alternative being the canon-altering vampire-aging explanation. Both attempts ring a bit hollow.

  1. The first explanation: TV audiences will have an easier time accepting an older Ysabeau as Matthew’s mother. We contend that ALL recent modern shows/movies depicting vampires prove that the maker/child age (parent being same age/younger than child) is not controversial with fans. Do better, TV producer people. 😒 It’s insulting. In the future, tell it like it is: ‘We wanted this actress/she was available/she was great in this/this is the direction we are going/we saw her in the audition and there was no one better‘