Stories Are Soul Food

Canon Press
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Sep 3, 2024 • 54min

161: How to Fake the Shroud of Turin

N.D. Wilson, an author known for his inventive storytelling, discusses his intriguing method for replicating the Shroud of Turin. He shares how a professor's dismissal of the Bible sparked his experiment, revealing a medieval technique using glass and paint. Wilson examines the historical context, including how even medieval Catholics deemed the shroud a forgery. The conversation explores the tension between faith and science, emphasizing the critical need for authenticity in understanding such artifacts and the storytelling around them.
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Aug 21, 2024 • 45min

160: 8 Million Copies

After a quick discussion of Brian's decision to shout more at Nate to please a few vocal liseners, the SASF guys discuss what it takes to sell more than 8 million copies of your books. Turns out, if you published in the 2010s, putting "Girl" in the title pretty much did it. If you follow publishing, you should be able to guess the books that sold the most copies in the 2010s: EL James's 50 Shades series (the trilogy sold 35 million copies). Nate and Brian discuss the crisis that publishing such successful smut caused Random House -- and how RH made it go away. They also introduce you to Doug Wilson's reviews of Twilight and 50 Shades. Then they move on to identifying the expertise required to sell what fills out the rest of the top 10 list for the previous decade in this books-focused episode of Stories Are Soul Food. Includes discussions of Hunger Games, The Help, Gone Girl on a Train with Tattoos, Divergent, and more, all of which sold about 8 million copies or more.
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Aug 7, 2024 • 57min

159: Living Forever

Nate, a budding sci-fi writer, and Brian, a storyteller and life coach, dive into profound discussions about the essence of storytelling and human choices. They tackle the idea of narratives persisting in the afterlife and explore Nate's dystopian concept where no one lives past 18. Brian offers life advice on selecting a path, emphasizing action over paralysis, and how divine guidance reveals opportunities. They also reflect on human nature, success, and the lessons found in hardship, illustrating how life's journey is intrinsically linked to our stories.
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Jul 30, 2024 • 1h 6min

158: Fast Starters Who Fade

Prepare for a very convicting episode of Stories Are Soul Food. Jesus warns of one kind of seed that springs up fast but quickly withers away. It's this kind of character the SASF guys discuss today, with Brian asking questions about Saul and Judas. Nate identifies one fundamental error such characters always make: They mistake their place in the story, making themselves the main character. Saul thinks the kingdom of Israel is about him. Judas thinks he can make the Messiah drive out the Romans. But the most common place Nate has seen this error? Parents. Moms who can't see past their own trials. Dads who sabotage their kids goals for their own. Turns out, mis-reading the story is the way we all make things easier on themselves.  
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Jul 22, 2024 • 1h 2min

157: The Boy and the Heron (feat. Crispin's Rainy Day)

Nate and Brian invite Forrest Dickison on to make sure he takes first place as SASF'S Most Invited Guest. But really they want to discuss Forrest's debut picture book, Crispin's Rainy Day, a story about a boy who wants to join a crew of pirate frogs -- but only if he can escape from his little sister first. The book is a perfect chocolate chip story with stunning illustrations -- meant to be enjoyed as a family -- but it has a contentious depiction of gender roles reflected in the relationship between Crispin and his sister Rose. "Contentious" means "traditional" in this case -- Rose wields delicious slices of cake and is completely uninterested in swords. The discussion of the heroic feminine leads naturally into a discussion of Miyazaki's latest feature film, The Boy and the Heron, with some amazing female characters of its own and bold narrative choices (man-eating parakeets, anyone?). Forrest calls it a masterpiece; Brian wanted it to be better. You'll have to listen to the episode to find out what Nate thought. If you're an NC Wyeth fan, you'll also get some recognition in this episode. Visit crispinsrainyday.com for more.
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6 snips
Jul 15, 2024 • 1h 5min

156: Trump Survives

The podcast dives into a recent failed assassination attempt on Trump, exploring the chaotic reactions and mixed media narratives. It examines the implications of social media on public perception and political theater. Key discussions include the broader failures of the Secret Service and critiques of the deep state. The hosts reflect on how to approach these events as Christians, emphasizing the importance of building towards real solutions rather than seeking political saviors. They tackle complex issues like leadership decay and the evolving nature of truth in our information-saturated age.
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Jun 11, 2024 • 59min

155: Unsung Heroes

This week Brian has abandoned Nate to attend the birth of his daughter, so Nate strikes back by having two of his own daughters on the pod instead. The discussion begins with what books the girls, Lucy and Ameera, are reading, and why Lucy hates detective novels and green food.  Lucy is moved to love, though, when the trope of "unsung heroes" is introduced.  Nate pursues this line, getting his daughters to articulate exactly why praise-less sacrifice is such a stirring concept.  Frodo finally gets the love that he has been missing both from the hobbits of the shire and the audience of the Peter Jackson's movies.  This episode touches down on all sorts of authors, ranging from the obligatory Tolkien (All Hail!) to Terry Pratchett to Jane Austen, Agatha Christy, and (who else?) C.S. Lewis.  It wouldn't be a SASF episode though if Nate didn't sneak in some comments at the end about behaving like the kind of character you want to be and ...  which episode number are we on anyway?    
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Jun 3, 2024 • 51min

154: Innocence in the Postapocalypse

Today's Stories Are Soul Food episode covers two new dystopian tales, a book and a show. The book is Leif Enger's "I Cheerfully Refuse", which Brian cheerfully despised for Leif's overly luminous characters and bass-playing giant protagonist. The show is Amazon Prime's "Fallout," which Nate skipped his way through, watching the innocence of the virginal protagonist be stripped from her episode by episode through violence, immorality, and (apparently) cannibalism. Nate talks about how the show's potential was ruined because the director, Jonathan Nolan, had only one trick: take innocence and corrupt it. Beyond that, the show never gets beyond the video game logic which bounds it. Brian asks why the destruction of the innocent seems to be the theme of most postapocalyptic fiction, and the guys talk their way through Margaret Atwood, The Road, Mad Max, and other tales of scientific dystopia. Why do we love such stories? Brian answers that it's because our lives are so easy. Listen to the episode to see if Nate agrees... #SASF #StoriesAreSoulFood #Books #Movies #NDWilson #JonathanNolan #Fallout #AmazonPrime #ICheerfullyRefuse #LeifEnger #DystopianSciFi #Postapocalypse  #Innocence
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May 28, 2024 • 1h 2min

153: Not All Burgers Are Equal

If you're a crippled Eskimo girl, would the best story you could ever read have a crippled Eskimo girl as the hero? Many book publishers and movie studios today would say YES. (The part they don't say is that the only reason they don't make more movies about Eskimos on crutches is because that demographic doesn't sell enough tickets.) Another way to ask this question: Do stories appeal because the main character represents you? Or do they appeal because you connect with the main character? Here's the takeaway: Representation is pointless; connection is the holy grail of storytelling. And the confusion of "representation" and "connection" is behind much of our worst woke storytelling today. Nate doesn't connect with a "father of five" on screen  because he himself feels represented as a father of five -- there needs to be some human connection, some shared feeling or experience, if you want a character to resonate with the audience. The SASF guys discuss the difference between, say, the generic heroine of Princess Diaries versus Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. And then they get into a discussion of character archetypes, and how, in storytelling as in a restaurant, you can have all the ingredients of a great burger and still end up with a terrible burger. You also get to hear Nate hate on Shakespeare's tragedies while Brian tries to defend them, and hear which Shakespeare play Nate has adapted into a high-school rom-com. #SASF #StoriesAreSoulFood #Books #Movies #NDWilson #Shakespeare #PrincessDiaries #wokestorytelling
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7 snips
May 20, 2024 • 58min

152: Filtering Bad Books

Nate, a weather-sensitive individual with a knack for sensing atmospheric shifts, joins Brian, a prologue critic with strong opinions on storytelling. They explore the intriguing topic of filtering books for content, debating when literature crosses ethical lines. The duo also dives into a lively discussion about prologues, weighing their merits against narrative flow. Their banter leads into deeper reflections on literature's societal impact and the complexities of storytelling in both books and films.

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