The Culture Books Club podcast
Use of Weapons, 28, Remembrance, Fourteen
We find out who Zakalwe really is...
Use of Weapons, 27, Remembrance, I
Possibly the most infamous chapter in science fiction history. Zakalwe receives a present.
Use of Weapons, 26, Remembrance, Thirteen
Zakalwe has a breakdown followed by an even more terrible day, but we get the standout quote of the book.
Use of Weapons, 25, Remembrance, II
Zakalwe takes the slow road to the stars, and almost doesn't make it.
Use of Weapons, 24, Remembrance, Twelve
Finally we get to see Zakalwe doing what he does best; soldiering.
Use of Weapons, 23, Remembrance, III
Zakalwe goes to the snow!
Use of Weapons, 22, Remembrance, Eleven
Zakalwe ruins a lot of nice people's holidays like the total jerk he is.
Use of Weapons, 21, Remembrance, IV
Zakalwe takes us on a tour of life on a Culture GSV!
Use of Weapons, 20, Remembrance, Ten
Zakalwe throws away his weapon, has a philosphical discussion, and fixes for a fight
Use of Weapons, 19, An Outing, V
This is Zakalwe's brain on drugs!
Use of Weapons, 18, An Outing, Nine
Zakalwe gets in a lot of fights, but his love of the old plasma rifle finally pays off!
Use of Weapons, 17, An Outing, VI
Zakalwe tries his hand at writing poetry in an idyllic rural setting, but it's not as nice as he'd hoped.
Use of Weapons, 16, An Outing, Eight
Zakalwe plays James Bond again, Diziet gets distracted, and our hero goes to an interesting party which he does not enjoy.
Use of Weapons, 15, An Outing, VII
As a flashback from the worst day of Zakalwe's life we get the origin story!
Use of Weapons, 14, An Outing, Seven
Agent Zakalwe makes a big splash while trying to play the part of James Bond.
Use of Weapons, 13, An Outing, VIII
Zakalwe gets stuck in a storm, takes a long hard look at himself, argues with an idiot, and sees some very strange things.
Use of Weapons, 12, An Outing, Six
Zakalwe spends a lot of time being rude to GSV minds, but does receive a lovely gift!
Use of Weapons, 11, An Outing, IX
Zakalwe falls in love, and dreams about the ghost of the real Zakalwe.
Use of Weapons, 10, The Good Soldier, Five
Zakalwe seems suspiciously happy to run away from his problems, but they have a nice time at the beach.
Use of Weapons, 9, The Good Soldier, X
We find out what happened to Zakalwe on Fohls. It was not nice.
Use of Weapons, 8, The Good Soldier, Four
Sma and Skaffen recover from a party and go for an island cruise.
Meanwhile The Culture goes nuclear around them!
Use of Weapons, 7, The Good Soldier, XI
Zakalwe goes to the beach, and we ask, is he a Gary Stu?
Use of Weapons, 6, The Good Soldier, Three
Skaffen and Sma go to a party on the Xenophobe and have a fight....
Use of Weapons, 5, The Good Soldier, XII
Zakalwe has a less pleasant visit to a castle and we ask if any aristocrat can be a good aristocrat?
Use of Weapons, 4, The Good Soldier, Two
Diziet gets out of bed and the Culture goes to the wild west to see just how scary a drone can be!
Use of Weapons, 3, The Good Soldier, XIII
In which we briefly meet an Ethnarch, and get a good look at just how stone cold cool this Zakalwe cat can be!
Use of Weapons, 2, The Good Soldier, One
We meet Diziet Sma and spend a lot of time on how exactly she likes to bone.
And The Culture seems to be putting a lot more resources into this caper than we've seen before...
Use of Weapons, 1, Slight Mechanical Destruction, and Prologue
We start The Big One for Banks fans, a great whiskey is reviewed, and the scene is set for a wild ride with fortunately short chapters!
The Player of Games, 4, The Passed Pawn
We wrap up Elon Musk's favourite book with a short chapter that ties up a couple of loose ends and really gets into non-binary love.
The Player of Games, 3, Machina Ex Machina
With apologies for the delay we are back with the third chapter of The Player of Games where we get to see just what rat bastards The Culture can be when they get going.
The Player of Games, 2, Imperium
Getting deep and dirty into The Player of Games and really wondering what Elon Musk gets into in this tale of cruelty and perversion.
Chapter 2, Imperium asks a lot of questions and we do our best to answer them.
The Player of Games, 1, Culture Plate
The Player of Games begins as we talk about the first chapter of this remarkable book and consider what games are really being played.
Consider Phlebas, 14, Consider Phlebas, and all the other bits
We come to an end of the journey for the first of The Culture books.
Fear not we shall return soon for The Player of Games.
Consider Phlebas, 13, The Command System: Terminus
It's a big episode with a big body count!
But finally we finish up in these goddamn tunnels!
Consider Phlebas, 12, The Command System: Engines
We get to learn a lot more about Idirans, and trains, in a chapter that spends a lot of time setting up the finale!
Consider Phlebas, 11, The Command System: Stations
The drone makes some jokes, the Idirans are mean, and Yalson has a big surprise!
Consider Phlebas, 10, The Command System: Batholith
The KFC ventures deep under Schar's World, while through Fal's musings we learn the history of the Culture.
Consider Phlebas, 9, Schar's World
The KFC on the CAT finally makes it to Schar's World and Horza's misspent youth catches up with him.
Consider Phlebas, 8, The Ends of Invention
A madcap escape, the arsenal of the end of the universe, a plucky drone, and the immense drag of being a galactic warlord with a young dude hitting on you.
Consider Phlebas, 7, A Game of Damage
How much damage can a game do?
We finally see the game up close and very personal, Horza and Kraiklyn settle their scores, and the scale and glory of a General Systems Vehicle is revealed.
