286: Hingepoints and Speculative Fiction (with B.L. Blanchard)

We’re joined by author B.L. Blanchard to imagine a North America without colonization. We talk about map-making as world-building, returning home, and dancing the rice.    Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of murder, imprisonment, colonization, climate change, death, heart attack, and estrangement.    Guest Brooke Blanchard, who writes under the name B. L. Blanchard, is a graduate of the UC Davis creative writing honors program and was a writing fellow at Boston University School of Law. She is a lawyer and enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. She is originally from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan but has lived in California for so long that she can no longer handle cold weather. Pre-order The Peacekeeper today!    Housekeeping - Merch: Pick up your Spirits major arcana tarot deck and get our first sticker of the month at spiritspodcast.com/merch - Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends The Anti-Racism Daily newsletter.  - Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books - Call to Action: Have you heard about the MultiCrew?! This is our membership program that lets you help us invest in Multitude as we try weird new stuff. Plus, you get a members-only weekly podcast: Head Heart Gut, our weekly friendly debate show. Join for as little as $5 a month at multicrew.club and get access to Head Heart Gut!   Sponsors - Calm is the #1 app to help you reduce your anxiety and stress and help you sleep better. Get 40% off a Calm Premium subscription at calm.com/spirits. - Brooklinen delivers luxury bed sheets, pillows, comforters, & blankets straight to your door. Go to Brooklinen.com right now and use promo code “spirits” to get $20 off when you spend $100 or more, PLUS free shipping. - BetterHelp is a secure online counseling service. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/spirits   Find Us Online If you like Spirits, help us grow by spreading the word! Follow us @SpiritsPodcast on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. You can support us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/spiritspodcast) to unlock bonus Your Urban Legends episodes, director’s commentaries, custom recipe cards, and so much more. We also have lists of our book recommendations and previous guests’ books at http://spiritspodcast.com/books. Transcripts are available at http://spiritspodcast.com/episodes. To buy merch, hear us on other podcasts, contact us, find our mailing address, or download our press kit, head on over to http://spiritspodcast.com.   About Us Spirits was created by Julia Schifini, Amanda McLoughlin and Eric Schneider. We are founding members of Multitude, an independent podcast collective and production studio. Our music is "Danger Storm" by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.