At The Well: Science Fiction (Fireside Exclusive)
At The Well is a new bonus series where we talk about the stories that shaped us. The books, films, shows and soundtracks we draw from when we sit down to build worlds together. Where our brains go when we’re improvising.
This week, Lou leads a conversation about the science fiction that fuels us. From How Long ’Til Black Future Month? to Cowboy Bebop, from intimate character studies to galaxy-spanning epics, we dig into what sci-fi actually does. How it builds worlds. How it carries message. How it imagines futures that challenge, comfort, or warn us. Why the genre feels infinite.
We’ll have more At The Well conversations on future Fireside weeks. As a reminder: new main campaign episodes every other Tuesday. Fireside and bonus content in between.
Theme music courtesy of Twilight Symphonium.
Comments (118)
Just read the first two stories in How Long 'Til Black Future Month just before and after seeing I Love Boosters at a little local theatre. Feeling revolutionarily inspired and hopeful. Thank you for recommending the book!
As an ardent Cowboy Bebop fan since the early days it aired on Toonami in high school, the live action was just a barrel full of ass. The only saving grace was Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black. He was absolutely Jet 100% personified. The rest was utter bullshit. Just watch the anime.
I love How Long Til Black Future Month? so much. But The Fifth Season seriously changed my brain chemistry. As a writer myself, it opened doors that I hadn’t even realized existed in terms of perspective, structure, world-building and sheer emotional impact. Probably my favorite book of all time.
Haven't listened to the ep yet but this is so exciting. I love how long till black future month and am sure this series will quadruple my read/watch list
K this was awesome. One episode each person isn't enough though.
i love love loved this yes please do make more
After listening to the first Solari episode I’m SUPER wondering if Brennan took any inspiration from like, Psalm for the Wild Built when it comes to XL-ZL
That's all I could think about too, one of my very favorite books
was anyone else thrown through a loop when Erika said there were 2 seasons of cowboy bebop? xD
I never thought I'd find an argument that could get me to read Sci-Fi, but the discussions about it being actually limitless by not being tied to history might have done it
SOOO good to hear them talking about Jemisin. Fifth Season was my introduction to adult fantasy and set the bar impossibly high. Just on another level of excellency in story crafting 😭
How Long 'til Black Future Month shook me to my core! It felt so refreshing. It completely blew my mind about the possibilities of SciFi, and showed me what it could look like when whiteness is not the default. I usually don't read short stories, but each one left me hungry for more or pausing to think. I'd feel sad starting the next one, missing the previous, but then I'd be hooked.
Killing Moon is my favorite Jemisin novel and it pains me that it never gets brought up in these sorts of discussions. Gorgeous, Egyptian inspired fantasy that really makes you sit in a world with a vastly different moral framework, it’s a huge inspiration for me.
Is there a way to make these episodes at least an hour long?
I just checked out How Long ‘til Black Future Month and read the first story. I am shook. In the best way. Thank you!
this was so special 🥹 what a great idea for a fireside series!
As another huge fan of N.K. Jemisin, I feel it in my bones as Aabria talks about being star-struck. 😂 This was so wonderful to hear story-titans talk about the stories that moved them.
I love a good source material matrix, so I'm a fan of this idea and hope we get more dives into y'all's sci-fi buckets over the run of Solari! Cowboy Bebop is so fundamental to my identity since college, and like Erika it felt like a culminating point of what I loved and was raised on up to that point! And bonus points for the shade to the live action (how do you miss with that stacked a cast? Sigh...)! 😂 Also, thank you for maintaining the tradition of "soothe-core" intros/outros. Every time I listen to WBN, especially the bone cone, I know I'm going to feel calmed at the beginning and end, like a sonic spa day. 🥰
N. K. Jemisin is great. I wish The City We Became hadn't have to end early for reasons of [vaguely waves at the state of the world] - I'd actually be really interested how she'd have approached the topic now that, *despite* [vaguely waves at the state of the world], NYC is strangely in a phase of oddly positive change.
1. This was so delightful… I could 100% just listen to the cast talk about their favorite stories and how they influence their storytelling forever. 😍 2. Can I just say — I really loved listening to Lou host and share. The “Who is Lou this week” bit is super funny, and I KNOW how committed Lou is to The Bit… but this episode also made me realize how much of his talking time in other fireside episodes has been bit stuff and it was really nice to just hear him talk about stories. 😊💜
My 11yo was planning to do his first solo figure skating performance to Tank. Then he got too good and will be performing at a higher level where, apparently, judges wouldn't like it. 😡 Trying to figure out how/when he can live that dream anyway.
Okay, so who is taking bets on which member of WbN is gonna bring Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower up from their Well? Because, I could see any one of them/all of them going DEEP and I am Soooo ready for that conversation/entire episode. "The only Lasting Truth is Change."
perfect content, more please 💖💖💖💖
Paused mid sentence to go purchase the audio book of How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?
Erika, Tank has also been my default ringtone ever since my first iPhone!!!!!
Gobbledygook! And it's some good gobblin'
Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Outlaw Star
foundational.
Love the opening music
this was amazing, thank you!
Cant wait to hear more!
This is great
I just got into comics last year and one of my FAVORITES that I've read so far is Far Sector. Incredible Neo-Nior Sci-Fi that I just fell in love with. The writer? NK Jemisin. She's such a great writer and Jamal Campbell's art is gorgeous. Highly recommend if you like Star Wars or Altered Carbon.
Jemisin resetting your bar for literature is so real. It was the prologue of fifth season for me. The false ceiling of what I thought writing could do got blown away and the real ceiling was so much higher
If you like Bebop and Icharon, I'd recommend Planets. A hard sci-fi about a group of orbital debris collectors in 2075. Even has a ship being heisted.
Bebop is the only cool anime.
If this doesn't directly translate to Solari having SEATBELTS do a guest spot for some music I'm gonna be so sad
I have 'The Cities We Became' from the library rn, can't wait to read it!
Came back to say that I finished it in one day, it really is that good, you guys
Wait...is there 26 extra episodes of Cowboy BeBop that I've never seen?!?!
Disregard...I commented too soon
At the Well Ahh Well Well, they tried Well Well Well Well, What Happened? Well: To Do Around the Wheel Well Well Fought There have to be more show titles. I want to listen to them all.
2 Well 2 Wellrious
Aabria talking about meeting people that starstruck her is the feeling I got from getting to watch her live doing 20sided tavern and I just think that is fun lol
This was incredible, so excited to hear more! Also thank you for confirming the NK Jemisin connection and the Cowboy Bebop love.
Just gonna put it out there: Spike in his pink puffer coat. 10 outta 10. No notes. Cowboy Bebop crawled into my brain when I was a kid and never left. There are moments that live in my head rent free.
NK Jemisin I cannot express how wonderful her work is. I'm so happy the fireside is on this topic ❤️
Got a little emotional listening to how engaged and joyful all three of them were about their craft and what inspires them
Link for the lazy https://nkjemisin.com/2013/09/how-long-til-black-future-month/
I had not heard of NK Jemisin before, but the episode convinced me I should for sure give her books a try! Anyone has a recommendation for which one to start with?
I am a big fan of her series the Broken Earth! That was my intro to her works
Toonami raised me ❤️
I am the world's most obnoxious book recommender just in general, but I read Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson for a postcolonial postcyberpunk lit class and I do think it could play nicely with y'all's picks. It's folkloric Carribean futurism, which I haven't seen anywhere else and enjoyed. The way language gets played with was also really interesting and immersive. Trigger warnings for absolutely everything, though.
Yes, a thousand times. I read Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson as part of a world lit course over a decade ago, and it still sits in the back of my mind.
Love this segment! And I also started Cowboy Bebop from the movie thanks to my college roommate! 🥰
As much as I liked Cowboy Bebop, I think I preferred Space Dandy. It was more inventive visually, and managed to be simultaneously ultra low and ultra high brow.
And to think in an alternate universe, we could have had John Coltrane Ishii, THE Mayor of Berkeley
I'm so glad At the Well is becoming a series! This is my jam. Both recommendations are now at the top of my list. Also the sound intro and the art are gorgeous. BOY AQUARIUM
Lol I didn't know about boy aquarium and my kids (boys) are figure skaters and there is an 'interesting' relationship between figure skating and hockey. So I immediately pause to share with my wife who responds "yeah. I know. You just aren't a girl on the ice skating socials." 🤷🏻 I still find it a hilarious term.
Yassssssss to NK Jemisin. I have read most her books. The broken earth trilogy is just phenomenal. Her latest books The City We Make/Became are an amazing read!!! Thank you for this conversation and can’t wait for more of these and learning about what inspired y’all and what made you fall in love with these genres.
I felt like a different person after reading and rereading The Broken Earth trilogy. It really made a solid before and after for how I enjoy and analyze science fiction and fantasy works going forward. Also! Is your icon from Saga? :-O!!
Loved How Long Until Black Future Month. Read it while sitting in my backyard. Also cried. I read it after having read The City We Became and The Broken Earth trilogy. After that, I read every other Jemisin book I could get my hands on. Can't wait to hear the next episode of The Well. 💜
If you’re looking for another sci-fi book that raises the literary bar - Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa - cannot recommend enough x
I went to Libby immediately and checked it out. Thanks.
Not a big sci-fi girlie, but immediately borrowed “How Long Til Black Future Month?” cause I’ll take any recommendation from this crew 📚
What timing. I’m in the middle of reading The City We Became, and it’s so interesting! Recently finished her Broken Earth trilogy and wanted more. Such an incredible author. Loved this Fireside and can’t wait to listen to more conversations like this!
"Weeaboo is an old term for an anime nerd". Haha cool, well, I'll just turn into a dry crumbly leaf and blow away into ancient dust.
Same 😂 I had no idea it’s changed cause I have fallen out on the anime world
This is a fantastic idea, I hope there is many more episodes to come! I love the stories you tell, learning about the inspiration and thought processes for these games is a treat, and I am always in need of new media recs, so.🤗 Also, it's just fun listening to you talk about stuff you are invested in☺️
30 minutes fam? Yall f-king around with shit that interest us for 30 minut.....ill calm down, all right, I'll take it. This could last 4 hours worth of tangents. Jk, love this
(5:30) TIL Erika Ishii has the hookup on the super secret second Season of Cowboy Bebop. RELEASE THE TAPES
I love that every single dang thing that Lou, Erika, and Aabria said about the stories in their “well-house,” I would say about Worlds Beyond Number!!! 🔥✨ Aabria: “And then at the end, she was like, hi. And I was like *gasp*” Literally how I reacted meeting Aabria and Erika Aabria: “This is, this is the caliber of person that makes me starstruck. Someone whose creativity just changes systems that they operate in.” YEAH THAT’S YOU GUYS!!!!!! Literally every part, except maybe the boy aquarium. 🏒🐟🥅
I’m guessing that the Wizard Sunny has a sibling and Brennan will be back soon.
Absolutely adored this! As someone who’s also been fundamentally changed by the works of N. K. Jemisin, I’m always hungry for more analysis of her work. I also highly recommend her run on Green Lantern!
I love, love, love this episode and really do hope we get to hear the rest! Erika covered my favorite TV series and I will be checking out How Long Til Black Future Month (already checked out the ebook from my library!)
Please, please, please. To Eric and Aabria!!!! Watch women’s hockey. The PWHL is amazing and so much better than the NHL. It is free on YouTube, it is women, it is queer as hell, they are inclusive, and they have only have 1 problematic player in the whole league (vs whatever is going on in the NHL, which is not good). I would fight a rando on the street over this, I cannot emphasize ENOUGH to just watch women’s hockey!
Outlaw Star!
Oooh looking forward to this 😃
I'm going the try the books mentioned in this. Been looking for something new and I'd say it's from some good sources!!!!!
Highly highly recommend Scavengers Reign if ya’ll haven’t seen it!
I'm so excited to listen to this!!!
Ah missing brennan massively I hope he comes at a later date with his pics
He will!
oh this was so incredible i want to listen to this for a million years i love the fireside
Love this!
Erica just had me screaming in the car saying there were 52 episodes of Cowboy Bebop. Thank you for correcting yourself, I thought I missed half the show
I most definitely didn't almost drive off the road lol
What an awesome concept and something I’ve wondered about in other works you all have built! Thank you for starting this!
Mwahahahha evil laugh
this is so damn cool
Man I haven't heard anyone say "Focus on the feelings a piece of media gave you for your inspiration." It's always "analyze the theme, character, setting, etc.," but in this case the why of it is so critical. Sure watching the masters and using their techniques is fine, but it's the "AND HOW DID THAT ELEMENT MAKE YOU FEEL" that's critical
Right? It makes so much more sense, and I think it explains why some people's work *cough* Tarantino *cough* feels so hollow, because they're just choosing stuff based on cool factor and the technicals of how it works instead of the emotional aspects of why it worked
That logo is gorgeous!
Thank you for this comment, I had not properly appreciated it, you made me look at it more closely! 🤩
For those who haven't read NK Jemisin's How Long Til Black Future Month?, it's really really good. The Ones Who Stay and Fight is v good and The Effluent Engine is something I wish there was a whole novel or multiple novels
After hearing the recommendation from the cast I immediately did a search for the books. Looking forward to reading them!
2 firesides without BLeeM… is he insanely busy or is he on parental leave again?
This was my guess since we knew Izzy was pregnant again.
I loved your explanation of homages and tributes via tropes. I feel like people who are a *little* bit genre savvy will see something that feels too familiar and call it copying, as if it's not extremely intentional, scene-setting and expectation-setting, and just overall the language that the genre uses. I've been thinking recently about how music does the same thing. I'm sitting here in 2026 listening to an album that came out in 2005 and the first song reminds me of a song that came out in 2006, but that I first heard in 2009, and now even though it's my first time hearing this song it immediately feels like a song that I've loved for decades. The well goes SO DEEP!
Fandom spinoff title: At The Weeb
My favorite thing about at the well is the inspiration for other media to enjoy. I hadn't heard of any of the books/short stories you guys mentioned and I can't wait to check them out
Anyone east coasters who love bebop just want to let you know Yoko Kanno is doing two shows in New York April 10-11th that still have tickets available I believe!
I saw that, wish I could make a trip up the coast to New York for it!
I don't trust anyone who doesn't list Bebop as a major influence.
I just *know* from this that Aabria and Erika have to have seen heated rivalry
I could listen to these guys talk about the media that inspires them for hours and hours. Cowboy Bebop late night on Cartoon Network is a core memory for so many in this generation. I remember sneaking out to the living room to watch it with the volume on the lowest setting and my head right next to the speaker so I wouldn't wake my mom up and get in trouble for A) being up late on a school night and B) watching something that I was probably too young for.
I watched Cowboy Bebop on DVD when Netflix used to send them to you in the mail. I'm that old. Such an amazing show. But not as amazing as you guys. :) <3
I had no idea it was that old!
More episodes of these please? Really interested to see what specific genre stuff has influenced all of ye. Intrigued to see what you all make of horror and creature features
YES!!! BEBOP!!!!!!
Yesssss WBN, absorb my minutes please
Ahhh NK Jemisin is such a force!!! Broken Earth Trilogy has led me to read everything from her. So good!
Agreed!! Broken Earth literally changed my writing!! She’s getting inducted into the SFWA grandmasters at the Nebulas this year 😍
Awesome idea for a series, can’t wait to listen.
Yaaay content! Always glad to know what inspires you all.
For a second I forgot what was this show about and I thought it had something to do with the grove of the well, like an interlude or something lol
mornin everyone
I will not jinx a consistent upload time by getting overexcited by it. I will not jinx a consistent upload time by getting overexcited by it. I will not jinx a consistent upload time by getting overexcited by it. But I will get overexcited for the show - let's go!