As I get older, and the world gets worse, or gets differently bad, or stays the same but my understanding of its badness deepens and broadens, I grow ever more dependent upon books like Akwugo Emejulu’s Fugitive Feminism. This short, sharp text reminds readers that, like the rattling door in a haunted house or the concerned face of a friend who understands well the way a lover is slowly bringing about your annihilation, it is good to leave that which does not serve you. Fleeing, as in the case of the enslaved from the plantation, is no act of cowardice but a tremendous gesture toward liberation.

The flight Emejulu encourages is not from a place but from a conceptual space. Referencing the work of Black critical theorists like Sylvia Wynter, Fugitive Feminism troubles the notion of the “human,” arguing that it is not a neutral, objective term for one type of mammal but a philosophical and political category informed by colonialism that, from its invention, excluded Blackness and Black people. For years, many have fought (to no avail) to be, for once, called and acted upon as humans, but for Emejulu, there is nothing to be reclaimed in that cursed white supremacist taxonomy. When we stop seeking inclusion into a category built on genocide and eugenics, there is freedom to explore other ways of being, seeing, and doing.

Emejulu’s writing is clear, evocative, and concise, and while readers with no background in the subject material may find places where they need to spend more time, Fugitive Feminism is an extraordinarily accessible text that will touch many of those left behind by society without sacrificing complexity and critical rigor.

—Rivers Solomon, author of “This Is Everything There Will Ever Be”

Are England rusty? Are England confident? Is it rusty confidence?

Marcus, Jim, Pete and Luke react to a splendid night in Naples for Harry Kane! And definitely a splendid one for Kalvin Phillips, who was just happy to be involved.

Elsewhere, a sensational list of puns from a listener (it’s been a while), Roy Hodgson gets his talons on the perch at Crystal Palace, and we get to the bottom of Jonjo Shelvey’s friction with John Legend. Plus, we have an existential crisis: if Soccer AM are gone, where does that leave us?

Tweet us @FootballRamble and email us here: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sign up for our Patreon for exclusive live events, ad-free Rambles, full video episodes and loads more: patreon.com/footballramble.

There are a lot of suspicions that during this era of book bans, we’ll begin to see a different output of material from publishers. They may pull back on queer books and/or books by people of color, those books which approach “sensitive” topics like sex and sexuality, and even graphic novels. Unfortunately, because of how publishing works years in advance, we won’t be able to see how this plays out for another year or two.

But there is another element of the publishing ecosystem worth reaching to see if they have seen changes: literary agents.

For those who are not familiar with what agents do, the short answer is they represent the authors and books and work to sell those books to editors on the behalf of those authors. They are, for lack of a better way to describe it, the intermediaries. As such, they have a lot of insight both into what’s happening to authors and what’s happening in Big Five Publishing.

This week, I’ve put together a survey for literary agents to share what they’re seeing in the world of books with regard to book bans. Any agent is welcome to partake, and they may pass the survey along to colleagues — it is anonymous, with no required number of questions to be answered.

You can access the survey here.

The steampunk genre has been my jam since I first laid eyes on the epic airships of the Final Fantasy IX Playstation game as a kid. I loved nothing more than watching my brothers play it. Sometimes I would play too, but it was less effort to sit back and watch the game unfold in front of me. Seeing airships again while watching Treasure Planet in theaters in 2002 gave me so many feelings. If we want to get technical, the movie’s technology involves solar power rather than steam, but the speculative 19th century atmosphere definitely gives it a steampunk feel. As I explored more steampunk growing up, I fell further in love with it, including steampunk comics.

That’s the thing with steampunk though. It’s not just a genre of books and media involving Victorian-era settings with impressive steam machinery. It’s a whole aesthetic. Finding ways to subtly dress steampunk is very much my vibe, ticking earrings and all.

Along with this though, Amber Troska makes an excellent case on how steampunk extends even beyond the aesthetic. In her analysis of one of my favorite steampunk Studio Ghibli films, Castle in the Sky, Troska (2020) writes, “Yet, despite how entrenched the term has become as an aesthetic marker, I would argue the best steampunk stories regularly engage with social and political issues, with the rewriting of history through alternate histories and technologies operating as a deconstruction (and reconstruction) of contemporary concerns.”

Troska also digs into distinctions that may arise in steampunk content created, explaining,”Western steampunk stories are often set at the height of the colonial and industrial power of Europe (especially Great Britain), while Japanese entries in the genre are perpetually aware of the collapse of their imperial might on the world stage and the destructive height of industrialization.” It’s interesting to think about the various adaptations of steampunk and how different cultures can place unique lens on these fantasy worlds.

Food cozies are one of the most popular sub-genres of cozy mysteries including themes based on everything from ice cream to grilled cheese to cupcakes, and even a cannabis bakery! Food brings people together. Imaginary food, even more so. Plus, there are often recipes that you can really try. 

But how much do the cozies that take place in restaurants, bakeries, and other food establishments reflect the reality of working in the food industry? It’s important to know that this isn’t to point fingers at books that get it wrong but more as a thought experiment about the differences and more importantly, why those differences exist in the first place. 

I had the opportunity to talk to two mystery writers who have experience working in the food industry. Misha Popp, author of the delightful Pies before Guys series, started baking for fun before she decided to work at a bakery in Western Massachusetts, which closed after a fire. She returned to working on her own small dessert catering for people in her life. The second book in the series, A Good Day to Pie, came out in February.

Leslie Karst, author behind the Sally Solari Mystery Series, has worn many hats. She worked as a waitress through college, became a lawyer, and later went back to culinary school. She even got to cook for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg which is the topic of her forthcoming memoir, Justice is Served: A Tale of Scallops, the Law, and Cooking for RBG (April 4, 2023).

When it comes to science fiction, there is a fine line for the suspension of belief. To truly sit within the science fiction genre, you have to have some element of realism with your science. Otherwise, it is simply fantasy (which is okay and I have no problem with this, but at least be honest with yourself). Real science fiction takes what we know about science and then adds the story on top.

To be fair, science has been leaping forward every day with new discoveries. Sci-fi writers only need to turn on the news for a brief moment before they are inundated with ideas for their next story. Many readers, including myself, LOVE this element of realism. Maybe it’s because I like a book that does exactly what it says on the cover. Maybe it’s the scientific mind, always asking and seeking a reason why. Either way, the love for realism in science fiction continues to grow, splintering off into the sub-genre, Hard Science Fiction.

You must first internalize that it’s just not that big of a deal. People have different tastes; if someone doesn’t like the book you recommended, so what! Maybe they have bad taste. Maybe it’s not a reflection of you and everything you thought you believed about yourself, like that you have good taste in books and interesting opinions on literature and a thoughtful way of imagining what other people might enjoy. Maybe, it, um, says more about them than you? Or maybe it means you have just ruined a lifelong friendship and not only will this person never trust your opinion on literature again but they will probably never trust YOU again and they might even un-invite you to be a bridesmaid in their wedding which would not only be extremely embarrassing because you’re already on the wedding website but you would have to try and return that custom $300 dress.

Ok deep breaths, deep breaths are good, that was just the overthinking getting in your way of confidently recommending a good book to a good friend. Probably your friend will like it. If they don’t, probably they won’t even remember that you recommended it. Probably they will forget all about it. Unless…there is that scene in the third chapter that involves a cat getting stuck in a tree and your friend’s childhood cat did die four years ago. Oh my god, how could you have possibly been so insensitive? Your friend probably hates you now. Great. How many hours did you waste driving to visit her during college??? Maybe you would have passed intro to Spanish, except that she was having such a hard time freshman year and you wanted to be there to support her. And now that was all a waste because you didn’t even think through the potentially sensitive content in the book you recommended. 

Whew, that was a big one. Let’s acknowledge those bad thoughts and move on.

So, what I wanted to address in this piece is that there is no need to overthink your book recommendations. Say this three times in the mirror: “I have good taste in books. I am a confident reader and I can live with it if someone doesn’t like the book I recommended.” Would it even be your fault if someone didn’t like the book you recommended? Maybe they just didn’t get it. Oh my god, what if they don’t understand that it’s satire and think the book you recommended is misogynist. You might want to text Fred and find out if he gets that the book is satirical. If he misses that, it could be a real disaster. He must think you are a total idiot and completely clueless. “Why would she recommend a book by an author who clearly despises other women???” Oh wow, you really didn’t think this through. You just thought the humor and social commentary was so biting, but maybe if he doesn’t get it, he’ll think you didn’t get it in the opposite way? And then he’ll be all, “didn’t she major in English lit? Why would she recommend this dreck?” 

Okay, so that kind of thinking is exactly what you’re trying to avoid (but just FYI, you did text Fred and he does get the satire. Thank god!). Something that could be helpful if you tend to overthink is to have a set list of go-to recommendations. Books that have received critical acclaim and that you also enjoyed, so you have not only your own opinion but the critics to back you up as well. Although, what if then people think that you can’t think for yourself and you’re only recommending books that they could go find in the New York Times Book Review? That would be kind of embarrassing as someone whose “thing” is books. And what if you have this go-to list and you accidentally recommend the same book to the same person twice? They would probably be all like “what, has she only read three books? Why am I taking advice from someone who clearly barely reads herself?” That would also suck. That could really negatively impact the way people see you — they might think that you are just a bland follower, not confident in your own opinions and therefore not confident enough to deliver a speech at their wedding…

How the plucky Nintendo character Mario has gone from arcade games to Hollywood