We've been on a few road trips this season, but Episode 7 is a full-fledged journey across time, space, and dimensions. After a quick checkin with Montrose (oh dear), Christina (strong bisexual energy), Ruby (on a break, but we think she's hooked), and our main duo, we follow Hippolyta on her journey of discovery.
She is Hippolyta, free and in Paris and being smooth as fuck with Josephine Baker's cigarette. She is Hippolyta, Dahomi Amazon warrior, fighting for her freedom and avenging herself and her ancestors. She is Hippolyta... Discoverer, woman who named a comet. It's a shift from the horror, haunted house, Indiana Jones, and war movie tones so far, and we're delighted with the Afrofuturist aesthetic which comes alive in it.
Voiceover in the episode was from Space is the Place, one of the earliest Afrofuturist works (from the 1970s, before the term was coined). Listen to Sun-Ra, P-Funk (still at it!), and Janelle Monae's Cindi Mayweather Trilogy (Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase), The ArchAndroid, and The Electric Lady).
Titles recommended during the media break:
- Octavia Butler's Xenogensis trilogy (renamed Lilith's Brood) and all her work from Parable series to Kindred
- Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond, with stories from many authors already named on this podcast
- Nnedi Okorafor's Binti (or the whole trilogy)
- Rivers Solomon's An Unkindness of Ghosts (also check out their The Deep)
- N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy
and remember, buying from a real bookstore will take more time than buying from Amazon! But it's worth it.
And some videos (may require being on the site to view):
