Marlon and Jake Read Dead People

This week Marlon and Jake go back in time-way, way back-and revisit the myths and legends that have terrified and tantalized us for centuries. Gods and monsters. The powerful and the petty. The shape-shifting and the rampantly naked. From ancient Greece and Africa to Jamaica and Ireland, Marlon and Jake explore the world's myths and legends-how they persist and how we absorb, sanitize and subvert them. Whether it's Jason and the Golden Fleece, the trickster Anansi, or the non-consenting kiss in Sleeping Beauty, Marlon and Jake get real about fairy tales and folklore. And for all Black Leopard, Red Wolf fans, tune in to learn more about which of these traditions influenced Marlon's epic fantasy and how he's turning the wicked witch trope on its head in the trilogy's next novel! Select titles mentioned in this episode: The Greek Myths The Labors of Hercules Jason and the Golden Fleece Daedelus and Icarus Bullfinch's Mythology African Myths of Origin Anansi the Spider Apep and Ra Black Heart Man Rolling Calf Sukuyan The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales Snow White Rapunzel Sleeping Beauty Hansel and Gretel The Twelve Dancing Princesses The Little Mermaid The Little Match Girl Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales Irish Fairy and Folk Tales by William Butler Yeats

This week Marlon and Jake venture into fantasy: the imagined worlds of dead writers—from quests and dragons to magic carpets and pregnant kings. As they dive into the works of the giants of traditional fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, they discuss the influence both writers had on Marlon's own fantasy epic, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which was inspired by the epic traditions of Africa and writers like D.O. Fagunwa and Amos Tutuola. They debate how reading fantasy as a child differs from reading it as an adult, wonder why there aren't more female characters, and lament how fantasy is still mostly read by boys and men. From The Hobbit to Ursula K. Le Guin, the two have some very real takes on the make-believe. So tune in. Select titles mentioned in this episode: The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake The Longships by Frans G. Bengtsson My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola Forest of a Thousand Daemons by D.O. Fagunwa The Lake Goddess by Flora Nwapa The Sagas of the Icelanders A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún by J.R.R. Tolkien Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin Dune by Frank Herbert Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

Marlon and Jake passionately debate which dead authors they would take to a desert island, discussing Wide Sargasso Sea, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and more. They defend controversial authors, explore character dynamics in classic novels, and compare Agatha Christie to other crime fiction writers.

Marlon and Jake kick off the first episode by taking on some literary giants in a grudge match for the ages. This time it's Charles Dickens vs. Anthony Trollope and Louisa May Alcott vs. Laura Ingalls Wilder in a no-holds-barred royal rumble. The two of them pull no punches, whether they're talking about racism or Edith Wharton's snobbery, colonialism or Hugh Grant's hair. So get ready to cheer on your favorite dead author and literary warrior as Marlon and Jake go mano a mano in a street fight you've definitely never come across before. Select titles mentioned in this episode: The Palliser Novels by Anthony Trollope The Warden by Anthony Trollope A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Bleak House by Charles Dickens Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Maurice by E. M. Forster Stuart Little by E.B. White The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck East of Eden by John Steinbeck Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Marlon and Jake Read Dead People is a podcast hosted by the Man Booker Prize-winning and internationally bestselling author Marlon James and his editor, Jake Morrissey, Executive Editor at Riverhead Books. In each episode, Marlon and Jake talk about authors—specifically dead authors. Authors they like. Authors they hate. Great books, terrible books, and books they love that you’d never expect them to. As a writer and an editor, Marlon and Jake have read thousands of books between them, and they’re not shy in expressing their opinions about them. Sometimes they’ll agree, sometimes they won’t, but, in every episode, they’ll tell you what they think—uncensored and with no holds barred. (That’s why the authors have to be dead.) So listen along to hear about the spectacularly good, the hilariously bad, and the brutally honest.