65. Oculta by Maya Motayne

02/22/22 • 45 min

We’re finally going back to Castellan and reuniting with Finn and Alfie! In this episode we discuss Oculta by Maya Motayne, the second installment of the A Forgery of Magic series. This book is the sequel to Nocturna, which we discussed in episode 41, so go check that out if you haven’t yet!

In Oculta, we’re back in San Cristobal, with Finn and Alfie trying to figure out a murderous plot at the center of a v dramatic peace summit. Of course, chaos ensues!

onto the short and sweet show notes...

Recommend if you like...
- Six of Crows and/or Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo – there’s a heist-y feeling with all of the shenanigans and plotting.
- Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choice and Trickster Queen
From Art Spiegelman’s Maus, a graphic novel about the holocaust and it’s legacy in a family, to the autobiographical All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson and many books in between, censorship and book banning are back in our collective conversation. Below are some related resources and articles.
- “Book Bans Are Targeting the History of Oppression” by Marilisa Jiménez García (in The Atlantic)
- 2020 Banned and Challenged book list from the The Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association (published August 2021)
- “Banned Books Week: A Reading List” by PEN America
We discuss predatory financial practices in the episode, so here is some further reading
- multi-faceted criticisms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include it’s so-called “debt-trap diplomacy” of foisting the use of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) and austerity policies (don’t know WTF all those acronyms mean? here’s a source with more information)
- In this video, Dari Grant explains the cycle of payday loans and her ideas for disrupting it
K was trying very hard to describe a website where you can drag and see the real size of countries. It’s called “The True Size Of...”
K mentions the scholar and writer Jasbir Puar and the concept of “debility” she develops in the book The Right to Maim. Very heavy and important reading, so take care.

As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical people. Drop us a line in the comments or reach out to us on twitter, Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]).

Access complete show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com.

We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast!

You can support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord.

Our cover art is by the talented artist nimsby. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com.

We support #LandBack. The Library Coven is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie)

In Oculta, we’re back in San Cristobal, with Finn and Alfie trying to figure out a murderous plot at the center of a v dramatic peace summit. Of course, chaos ensues!

onto the short and sweet show notes...

Recommend if you like...
- Six of Crows and/or Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo – there’s a heist-y feeling with all of the shenanigans and plotting.
- Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choice and Trickster Queen
From Art Spiegelman’s Maus, a graphic novel about the holocaust and it’s legacy in a family, to the autobiographical All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson and many books in between, censorship and book banning are back in our collective conversation. Below are some related resources and articles.
- “Book Bans Are Targeting the History of Oppression” by Marilisa Jiménez García (in The Atlantic)
- 2020 Banned and Challenged book list from the The Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association (published August 2021)
- “Banned Books Week: A Reading List” by PEN America
We discuss predatory financial practices in the episode, so here is some further reading
- multi-faceted criticisms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include it’s so-called “debt-trap diplomacy” of foisting the use of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) and austerity policies (don’t know WTF all those acronyms mean? here’s a source with more information)
- In this video, Dari Grant explains the cycle of payday loans and her ideas for disrupting it
K was trying very hard to describe a website where you can drag and see the real size of countries. It’s called “The True Size Of...”
K mentions the scholar and writer Jasbir Puar and the concept of “debility” she develops in the book The Right to Maim. Very heavy and important reading, so take care.

As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical people. Drop us a line in the comments or reach out to us on twitter, Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]).

Access complete show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com.

We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast!

Previous Episode

64. Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy

Ahoy there, coven! Today we’re discussing Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy, a book about a nerdy suburban teen who can fly. After Faith’s all-time favorite show The Grove moves filming to her small town, a spate of human and other-than-human disappearances starts, and Faith is determined to get to the bottom of things. Chaos does indeed ensue!

This book was recommended to us by someone on Instagram a while back. So if that was you, let us know so we can give you credit If memory serves, this person mentioned wanting to see more books with fat representation.

Just so you know, around 27:30 we talk briefly about renowned TERF-turd she-who-shall-not-be-named (JKR) in the context of using fandoms as inter-texts for world building. Take care of yourselves and feel free to skip past this section.

Recommend if you like...
- Anything to do with fandom, so many of them got a mention in the book
- Ship It by Britta Lundin (which we reviewed waaaay back in episode 3!)
- Any comic book superhero things
- The Bright Sessions podcast and/or The Infinite Noise and subsequent books by Lauren Shippen
- Riverdale – comics or the first few seasons of the tv show before things went really off the rails lol
Here’s a whole scholarly article from a law and criminology journal that explains the phenomenon known as “missing white woman syndrome”
The sequel, Faith: Greater Heights is already out!
In doing some research while editing this episode, I found out that this series is based on the Zephyr comic book hero from the company Valiant Entertainment. There’s so many comics starring Faith – check them out here!
Here’s a whole CodeSwitch episode about the historical origins of the phrase “cake walk” – which, as we discuss in the episode, harkens back to the time of chattel slavery. I interrupt this kind of language with “did you know??” and then infodump. Personally don’t say “rule of thumb” either (reference to legal spousal abuse)
Stay tuned ’til the end to hear us discuss our celebrity crushes! It’s only fair since Faith basically starts dating hers in the book

As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical people. Drop us a line in the comments or reach out to us on twitter, Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]).

Access complete show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com.

We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast!

Next Episode

66. Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson

We’re back for what might be the most chaotic episode yet! join us for our discussion of Son of A Trickster by Eden Robinson. Attempting to summarize this book is an exercise in futility (you’ll understand when you hear k try to give an on-the-fly synopsis...).

While this book can get categorized as YA (the protagonist, Jared, is 15-16), there is a lot of explicit violence, so it would be better for a mature teen reader or adults.

Content warning for discussions of self-harm, suicide attempt, familial abuse, drug use, and alcoholism.

This book was chosen by our wonderful Patreon patron Grey! They are fantastic and wonderful. AND Grey posts amazing book reviews on Instagram, so do yourself a favor and check out their page!!
Recommend if you like...
- Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead
- Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi
- Reservation Dogs (tv show)
K suggests listening to this review of Reservation Dogs by Red Power Hour (a show via The Red Nation’s podcast — which you should TOTALLY support and listen to if you don’t already!!)
Residential schools are a massive topic with multi-generational impacts. below you’ll find further reading and resources:
- this article delves into the similarities and differences between this genocide tactic in the US and Canada
- “The Lasting Impact of Native American Residential Schools” by Cheyenne Barefoot
- The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
- Episode of The Red Nation Podcast: “American Indian boarding schools w/ Denise Lajimodiere”
here’s a cute Buzzfeed article about a guy who finds his old iPod nano from high school.
Let’s be like Sarah and decolonize our damn selves!! on that note, here are some dank (meme) accounts
- @decolonialatlas (on instagram)
- @illuminative (on instagram)
- @workingclasshistory (on instagram)
- @nowhitesaviors (on instagram)
Here’s a great episode of the podcast All My Relations “beyond blood quantum”

As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical people. Drop us a line in the comments or reach out to us on twitter, Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]).

Access complete show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com.

We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast!

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