Smart Podcast, Trashy Books Podcast

426. All About Murderbot with Martha Wells

All Systems Red
A | BN | K | AB
Today my guest is Martha Wells, author of The Murderbot Diaries, one of my absolutely favorite discoveries this year. My inner thirteen year old barely kept it together as we spoke about Murderbot, romance and science fiction, and what she’s currently obsessed with like I’m obsessed with Murderbot.

IMPORTANT NOTE: we take a deep dive into the plot of the four novellas and Network Effect, so if you haven’t read the series, this may spoil some plot points. We talk about feelings, relationships, and other subjects Murderbot would absolutely hate.

Thank you to Pamala, Malia, CHoward, Hannah, Stacey, Angie, and others for the questions and excitement!

Music: purple-planet.com

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Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:

You can find out more about Martha Wells, the Murderbot Diaries, and her other fantasy work at her website, MarthaWells.com.

There’s gonna be a Murderbot Boxed Set, which I’m rather excited about. And she also mentioned The Untamed, which you can find on Netflix and Viki.

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Transcript

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This podcast transcript was handcrafted with meticulous skill by Garlic Knitter. Many thanks.

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  1. writerphoebe says:

    I hit play and immediately started crying i was so happy so that was a thing that happened

  2. Allie says:

    I am so excited to hear this podcast! (And sad that it will have to be tomorrow rather than today, when I finally have time to binge-listen to it…)

  3. HeatherT says:

    Setting my “Out of Office” notification now . . .

  4. Arijo says:

    First time listening to a podcast ever! Because it was Murderbot, I was lured in… Loved hearing about Murderbot’s quirks; made me want to try The Untamed again (but the book was SO GOOD, how could a series compare?) ; and what awesome rec’ reading list.

    BTW, The Empress of Salt and Fortune is only 3.99$ on amazon

  5. Cristie says:

    Cannot wait to listen to this! I just finished Network Effect two weeks ago and am still obsessed with Murderbot. Thank you so much for doing this podcast!

  6. MaryK says:

    OMG! Martha Wells is my fave author ever!

    (And I’m a mostly Romance reader.)

  7. Kareni says:

    What a wonderful interview… thank you, Sarah and Martha! And thank you to Garlic Knitter for the transcript.

    Would it be possible to get the links for the fan art that you mentioned?

  8. Pamala says:

    Yay!! What a fantastic interview! Thanks to you, Sarah and to Martha for taking time to answer our questions and to satisfy our curiosity about our fave, Murderbot. I’m going add this to my list of favorites to listen to over and over again 🙂

  9. Critterbee says:

    Thank you Sarah and Martha for this podcast, and thank you Martha for creating Murderbot & Co, and for Jade and Moon, I have re-read every one of their books so many times and it keeps me sane.

  10. Cori says:

    Love Murderbot. Read the text and listen to the audiobook to re-experience the awesomeness.

  11. Jenny Crusie says:

    I’ve been reading the Murderbots obsessively for a couple of months now, at least a dozen times each, no exaggeration, and they’re always wonderful. I’m a little bummed that the new book won’t be Murderbot and ART conquering galaxies, but I’ll take what I can get. And thank you, Sarah, for this interview.

  12. Egged says:

    I desperately need links to the fan art mentioned in the cast!

  13. Jane Ashford says:

    So interesting that Martha likes Regencies. I LOVE Murderbot!

  14. Italapas says:

    This episode definitely moved to the top of my listening queue. Murderbot is one of the few NEW things I’ve been able to read this year. I think I’ll go back and read them again, now that I think on it….

  15. Sarahjane Cottrell says:

    Where are you all finding your fan art? Drop a girl some links, I’m starving out here! 😉

  16. SB Sarah says:

    Fanart ahoy!

    The very insouciant picture of Ratthi is here on Tumblr, and the animation one is also Tumblr. Most of the fanart I’ve found has been via the Murderbot tag on Tumblr.

    This is one of my absolute new favorites (deleting gender, installing can and will say ‘fuck’?! HA!).

    Thank you for the enthusiastic response to this episode! I’m so pleased you liked it!

  17. Kareni says:

    Thanks for those links, Sarah!

  18. Kiraly says:

    OH MY GOD, I was reading the transcript and got to this part: “I saw a piece of fan art today of, an illustration of Murderbot in Exit Strategy, where it’s picking out clothes, and it’s like, well, I could wear a shirt and a turban and a caftan and some jackets – and it’s basically a picture of Murderbot wearing all of the clothes all at once?”

    THAT’S MY FANART AAHGHGHGHD (or at least, I assume it is, unless someone else has drawn it). Also I recognized the reference to Booty Shorts Ratthi instantly and went to the discord server to scream because that’s where the idea came from, we’re currently all dying about this interview thank you so much.

  19. SB Sarah says:

    @Kiraly: THANK YOU! I was searching Tumblr for it and could NOT find it when I rounded up the links! Gosh Tumblr’s search function is a terrific mess. Thank you for adding the link! I really appreciate it.

  20. MaryK says:

    I’m just getting to listen to this! I’m halfway through and have thoughts. It’s not just the plot that has romance themes. Murderbot itself is a mashup of character archetypes. Murderbot is an alpha caregiver. A grumpy, reluctant alpha caregiver who most people think is a villain but isn’t. That’s like half a dozen hero catnips right there.

    (Autocorrect on my iPhone knows ‘murderbot’ and even changes the capitalization. I don’t know how autocorrect works, but I don’t type the M word that often.)

  21. Larisa says:

    I just read the entire series in a week and immediately came back to this episode to catch up. It’s so good! Thanks for the great conversation and excellent fanart recommendations. After that enthusiastic discussion, I think I might have to start watching The Untamed now too…

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