Daemons Domain – All Souls Trilogy & Universe Fan Site + Podcast: Dr. Shelli Carter

Description: ADOW ch 35-38 – Settled into the Bishop house, Matthew Clairmont and Diana Bishop are faced with many problems: avoiding the wrath of the congregation, making sense of Diana’s magical limitations, and figuring out the meaning of the wayward page from Ashmole 782 that the house delivered to them in chapter 34. We soon realize that the pairing of Diana and Matthew may not just be fate — it could be necessary for species survival! In the midst of this discussion, the Daemons attempt to navigate through a chapter that has always been a bit of an enigma for them; they dip their toes in the murky waters of genealogy (with some guidance from the fandom’s favorite real-life vampire scientist — Dr. Shelli Carter — who joins in as a fourth for this chapter block). We also get a taste of the ‘war’ Miriam speaks of — ENTER JULIETTE! After sampling what their common enemies have in store for them, Matthew and Diana plot an alternate course for their future.

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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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:

* (2:08) – Thank you Discussers Stephen, Kate and Angela! Full emails can be found here.

* (3:55) – Jean and Angela’s theme song for Baldwin: Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes.

a. Chapter 35

* (5:15) – Stephen Proctor’s hint(s?!) with the Einstein quote included in the package. Einstein and Special Relativity; Minkowski’s theory on Time/Space.

* (9:58) – The passage that reminds Jean of Rebecca and Stephen. She goes on to say that she suspects that maybe Stephen was time traveling to find Rebecca, and how the mother of understanding and blessed hope could actually be Rebecca (mind BLOWN). YIKES.

“‘Attend to me, all people, and listen to me, all who inhabit the world: my beloved, who is red, has called to me. He sought, and found me. I am the flower of the field, a lily growing in the valley. I am the mother of true love, and of fear, and of understanding, and blessed hope.’”

* (13:22) – Shelli wants to know why Sarah didn’t guess that Diana was spellbound. Valerie counters with the notion that Sarah is a bit stubborn and has had her mind made up regarding Diana’s lack of ability to perform magic. An afterthought as we type these show notes, Sarah being a witch’s witch, would assume such a taboo (spell-binding) being performed on someone so close to her would not be able to happen without her knowledge (pure conjecture on our part). Sarah does assume a lot of things.

* (15:35) – Stephen Proctor bound the book so only Diana can access it. Some theories are discussed here with the prominent one being that Stephen engineered (along with Philippe) the pairing of these two creatures (Matthew and Diana). Shelli points out that Philippe set up the congregation with subtle loophole so that a non-vampire de Clermont can serve. Anyway, the conversation was good. You can read, or you can listen. We suggest you listen (of course we do)!

* (19:23) – The DAMN TEA + we discuss Diana’s default coping mechanism.

* (21:35) – How to feed your vampire!

“Is there anything at all that you would eat?” Em wasn’t used to people refusing her food. “Nuts,” I said firmly. “If you have to buy him food, get him nuts.” Em hesitated. “What about raw meat?”

 Matthew grabbed my hand and squeezed it before I could reply. “If you want to feed me, uncooked meat would be just fine. I like broth, too—plain, no vegetables.”

* (21:54) – The ugly American! The pompous European! They do find common ground . . .

“Don’t be so prim, Diana. Besides, it’s a bit late for that when it was you  who sent the book back.” Sarah stood, her eyes brightening. “Let’s see if the cookbook can help.”
 “Well, well,” Em said under her breath. “You’re one of the family now, Matthew.”

* (29:10) – The grimoire and the Bishop family lineage

“The Bishop grimoire.” She pointed to the first name. “It first belonged to Rebecca Davies, Bridget Bishop’s grandmother, then to her mother, Rebecca Playfer. Bridget handed the book down to her first daughter, born out of wedlock in England around 1650. Bridget was still in her teens at the time, and she named her daughter after her mother and grandmother. Unable to care for the girl, Bridget gave her up to a family in London. ” Sarah made a soft sound of disgust. “The rumors of her immorality haunted her for the rest of her life. Later her daughter Rebecca joined her and worked in her mother’s tavern. Bridget was on her second husband then, and had another daughter named Christian.”

* (30:49) – Marcus and Miriam arrive!

* (31:15) – Shelli wonders why Marcus wouldn’t tell Diana about the fact Marcus had met a member of her family? Jean said because Matthew is a grade-A crank!

* (32:16) – Sarah on the subject of humans and their lack of awareness.

Sarah stood and examined the newest members of the household, both of whom glowed. The stillroom’s subdued light only accentuated their unnatural paleness and the startling effect of their dilated pupils. “Goddess save us, how does anyone think you’re human?”
 “It’s always been a mystery to me,” Miriam said, studying Sarah with equal interest.

b. Chapter 36
We’ve got NOTHING! Shelli helps us through this chapter (some of these markers have no notes, just time stamps for audio reference):

• (33:40) – Africa
• (36:20) – VTS (Vanishing Twin Syndrome)
• (37:36) – Chimeras
• (39:00) – Sheilding/Protecting a potential mate/attraction to a potential mate
• (40:21) – AB-positive blood type and the significance of it. First editions say “AB-negative”, this has been corrected in subsequent editions SEE BELOW (time stamp:[1:35:12])
• (41:07) – The spade foot toad – update 25 Oct 17 – Shelli thought of us, and shared this article w/ us referring to the spade foot toad: Study sheds light on relationship between environment, hormones and evolution

The opening slide from Shelli’s All Souls Con presentation

* (42:20) – Clans and mtLilith – Shelli was kind enough to provide us the power point presentation that she used in the talk at All Souls Con. You can download her PowerPoint presentation