Gideon the Ninth Act I Chapter 8. Teacher welcomes the scions and their cavaliers to Canaan House and lays down the ground rules. Claire Beans (she/they) and Han Koehle (any pronouns) discuss the weird vibes in the atrium, the very unusual sleeping arrangements, and Teacher's whole deal.

This week's cover art is a gorgeous illustration of the Canaan House atrium by Lorin Wendell. You can find more of their work here and follow them on Instagram. Lorin did an amazing job of capturing the colors and textures and lush emptiness of the space and we're really excited to share this image.

Content Warning: death, suicide, murder, genocide

Further Reading:

Samuel Moyn (2021) Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War

Ian G. R. Shaw & Marv Waterstone (2021). A Planet of Surplus Life: Building Worlds Beyond Capitalism

Douglas Adams (1981) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Brian Fagan & Nadia Durrani (2019). What We Did In Bed: A Horizontal History

Nun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. Find us at NunPod.com and get our attention with #NunPod.

If you’d like to support our show with your voice, share NunPod with a friend or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’d like to use money to support us, we encourage you to think of the amount you’d like to send us on Patreon each month and then instead send it here. Let us know that you did!

Gideon the Ninth Act I Episode 7. Gideon has an exciting encounter with a bright new world and people who aren't cultists!

Claire Beans (she/they) and Han Koehle (any pronouns) dive into the possible reference behind the sunglasses, who knows what, and what exactly is meant by "blood flaw."

Today’s cover art was provided by Ninth Knight Cosplay. You can find more of Bailey's art on TikTok.

Content Warning: death probably

Further Reading:

Let's Read Homestuck

Nun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. Find us at NunPod.com and get our attention with #NunPod.

If you’d like to support our show with your voice, share NunPod with a friend or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’d like to use money to support us, we encourage you to think of the amount you’d like to send us on Patreon each month and then instead send it here. Let us know that you did!

We're re-reading Gideon the Ninth Act I Chapter 6. We get a Gideon Nav training montage! Gideon gets a compliment (kind of). Harrow and Gideon leave home.

Claire Beans (she/they) and Han Koehle (any pronouns) dive into monastic life, revisit material culture on the Ninth, and talk more about sword sports. Han wants to watch Gideon and Claire wrestle. Claire wishes somebody would make this fan video that Han made in 2023. Han wants to know why Crux even has a "turn off the heating for Gideon specifically" lever.

Thanks Claire for this week's cover art. You can find more of Claire's art on Instagram.

Content Warning: death, torture, slavery, child abuse, infertility

Further Reading:

"Training Montage" (2022) The Mountain Goats

Destreza Part 3 - Footwork (2013) Martial Traveler

Don't Leave Your Friends Behind: Concrete Ways to Support Families in Social Justice Movements and Communities (2012) Victoria Law & China Martens

Childhood and the Monastery: Jigme's Story (2019) UNICEF

Discipline and Punish (1975) Michel Foucault

Ancrene Wisse (early 13th century) Author Unknown; Edited J. R. R. Tolkien

Nun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. Find us at NunPod.com and get our attention with #NunPod.

If you’d like to support our show with your voice, share NunPod with a friend or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’d like to use money to support us, we encourage you to think of the amount you’d like to send us on Patreon each month and then instead send it here. Let us know that you did!

Gideon the Ninth Act I Chapter 5. Harrow and Gideon prepare for the challenges ahead.

Claire Beans (she/they) and Han Koehle (any pronouns) dig into Ninth monastic paint, the relationship between the Ninth and the other Houses, the extractive nature of necromantic war, Gideon's early childhood, and the role of propaganda.

Content Warning: death, addiction, war, suicide

Further Reading:

"Achille Mbembe: Necropolitics" (2020) Antonio Pele

"Necropolitics as Accumulation: Enforcement and Enclosure in Brisbane During COVID-19" (2023) Julia Caroline Morris

"Combat Cuties: Photographs of Israeli Women Soldiers in the Press Since the 2006 Lebanon War (2012) Eva Berger & Dorit Naaman

"Yank Magazine Created a Unique Record of American Soldiers' Roles in World War II (2022) Peter Zablocki

Nun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. Find us at NunPod.com and get our attention with #NunPod.

If you’d like to support our show with your voice, share NunPod with a friend or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’d like to use money to support us, we encourage you to think of the amount you’d like to send us on Patreon each month and then instead send it here. Let us know that you did!

Gideon the Ninth Chapter 4. Harrow has a job for Gideon. Gideon is not into it.

Claire Beans (main gauche fist) and Han Koehle (main gauche additional sword) have a combined 25+ years of sword fighting and are excited to talk about the weapons systems of the empire and what they tell us about the world. Gideon's ambiguous status comes into play again. We get clues about animal agriculture and class differences in clothing on the Ninth.

Cover Image by Eerna.

Content Warning: brief discussion of injury related to abuse and combat, medical injustice, slavery, war, calories

Further Reading:

"Critical Theory for Political Theology 2.0: Refusal" (2022) Elisha Chi

"A million other factors killing us": Black women's health and refusing necropolitics-as-usual during COVID-19" (2023). Megan A. Carney, Debi Chess, Deyanira Ibarra, Kianna Dieudonne, and Michelle Rascon-Canales

A Feminist Theory of Refusal (2021) Bonnie Honig

The Art of Swordsmanship (1482) Johannes Lecküchner

"Hostess" (1951) Isaac Asimov

"Reconciling the Privilege of a Few with the Common Good: Sumptuary Laws in Medieval and Early Modern Europe" (2009) Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli

"Tetanus" (2025) Sawbones

Nun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. Find us at NunPod.com and get our attention with #NunPod.

If you’d like to support our show with your voice, share NunPod with a friend or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’d like to use money to support us, we encourage you to think of the amount you’d like to send us on Patreon each month and then instead send it here. Let us know that you did!

Gideon the Ninth, Act I, Chapter 3

Gideon is having just the worst day. Harrow gets a surprising message. Ortus and Glaurica change plans.

Claire Beans (she/they) and Han Koehle (any pronouns) explore why skeletons go to church, fatphobia in the myriadic year, and social norms around death on the Ninth. Claire waxes poetical about cosplay. Han wants to know the provenance of the Ninth prayer. Tamsyn Muir is a troll (complimentary).

Content Warning: death, suicide, physical abuse, fatphobia, body size, suggestive themes

Further Reading:

Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World (2013) edited by Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro and translated by Fábio Fernandes

"Dehumanization is a Feature of Gig Work, Not a Bug" (2022) Eric Anicich

Myths of Empire: Domestic Politics and International Ambition (1992) Jack Snyder

Nun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. Find us at NunPod.com and share your art with us using #NunPod.

If you'd like to support our show, leave a review, share Nun Pod with a friend, or visit rescue.org and donate whatever you would have been willing to spend on Patreon to help Palestinians get life-saving healthcare, hygiene supplies, and cash aid. We'd like that a lot.

Gideon the Ninth, Act I, Chapter 2

Reverend Daughter Harrowhark Nonagesimus offers Gideon a tempting deal. Gideon thinks it's a trick. It's a trick.

Claire Beans (she/they) and Han Koehle (any pronouns) talk about lies, Gideon and Harrow's relationship, developmentally appropriate goblinry, the relationship between the imperial military and economy, and what it's like to fight Too May Guys. Claire wants to know how blood sweat works. Han has a Theory about Gideon's immortality. Both are perpetually confused about the thanergy/thalergy system.

The audio quality in this episode is not where we'd like it to be. There was a thunderstorm through most of the recording session and Han's microphone got real weird about it. Sorry about that, and we promise it's better in episode 3.

Content Warning: death, decomposition, blood, fictional and real-world injury, slavery, war, emetophobia, value-neutral mention of specific weight.

Further Reading:

William Shakespeare (1623) Hamlet (especially Act 5, Scene 1)

Charles Dickens (1861) Great Expectations

Peter Kropotkin and N.O. Bonzo (2021) Mutual Aid: An Illuminated Factor of Evolution

Zach Norris (2020) We Keep Us Safe

Nun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. Find us at NunPod.com and share your art with us using #NunPod.

Gideon the Ninth, Act I, Chapter 1

In the early morning darkness on the barren and remote planet of the Ninth House, Gideon awaits the shuttle that will help her finally escape from her life as an indentured servant.

Claire Beans (she/they) and Han Koehle (any pronouns) discuss the ambiguity around Gideon's status, the economy of Drearburh, and what's happening with the Ninth's population. Claire puts porridge in a sandwich bag. Han has questions about space Alcatraz. Anything is necromancy if you try hard and believe in yourself?

Content Warning: brief mentions of death, torture, slavery, racism, war crimes, genocide

Further Reading:

R. F. Kuang (2018) The Poppy War

Achille Mbembe (2011) Necropolitics

Angela Davis (2003) Are Prisons Obsolete?

W.E.B. Du Bois (1903) The Souls of Black Folk

Michel Foucault (1975) Discipline and Punish

Nun Pod With Left Grief is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License.