Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time The Myths that Inspired Fantasy and Sci-Fi
Dec 16, 2025
53:58
From Sumeria, to Greece, to India, to the depths of the dark ages we explore the stories that have inspired everything that came later with a professor of mythology and medieval literature. This particular professor also happens to be Cody's mom, so this is also a great episode to explore Cody's psyche, for those brave enough to explore a dark and twisted place.
- Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
- Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video
If you want to do some reading, here are our suggestions on the best translations of these myths (and even a couple great graphic novels):
- Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. Andrew George, Penguin Classics
- The Odyssey, trans. Robert Fagles
- The Odyssey, Gareth Hinds graphic novel
- The Iliad, Penguin Classics
- The Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles Penguin Classics
- Age of Bronze Series, Eric Shanower (series of graphic novels on Trojan War)
- Hercules, Fred Van Lente
- Monkey, trans. Arthur Waley
- Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney
- The Popul Vuh, trans. Michael Bazzett, Milkweed Editions
- The Nibelungenlied, trans. AT Hatto, Penguin
- Chretien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, trans. William W. Kibler, Penguin
- Le Morte D’Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory, Penguin Classics
- Tales from the Thousand and One Nights, trans. N.J. Dawood, Penguin Classics
- Sindbad and Other Stories from Arabian Nights, trans Husain Haddowy
- Sinbad the Sailor, Penguin Classics
- The Ramayana, Abridged and Translated by Arshia Sattar, Penguin Classics OR any children’s/YA book to get started. There are hundreds
If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for all the books we talked about:
- 0:00 - Intro
- 1:45 - The Epic of Gilgamesh
- 6:35 - The Odyssey
- 10:12 - The Iliad
- 12:09 - The Aeneid
- 14:12 - Hercules
- 15:53 - Monkey (Excerpts from Journey to the West)
- 21:00 - Beowulf
- 25:25 - The Popul Vuh
- 28:23 - The Nibelungenlied
- 33:21 - King Arthur Myths (Malory, De Troyes)
- 36:56 - Tales From the Thousand and One Nights
- 41:40 - Sinbad the Sailor
- 45:10 - The Ramayana
- 49:55 - Our Top 3 favorite myths