S&L Podcast - #543B - Wrapup of Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom.
/Our final thoughts on Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom.
Book of the Month Wrap-Up (Spoilers)
Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom.
Ruth:
Incidentally, I apologise if my reaction to Slewfoot was part of what made Veronica say 'everyone hates it!'. I do try to always give S&L picks a decent go and keep my comments positive, I just had a very visceral reaction to the Slewfoot audiobook and had to nope out. Doesn't make it bad—in fact the writing and audio performance were both very powerful—but I'm just not in the headspace for something like that right now.
And in what might be the greatest response I've ever read for Sword and Laser...
Seré:
I have several things I'd like to discuss, one of which is poop. Listen, I get it. There are a lot of animals about who are pooping freely. That's just part of being in town. What I cannot accept is that people are so willing to pick up and throw poop at others. Wow! I can understand the offense that would be felt by having poop thrown at you, particularly whilst shackled. What I cannot understand is why do you hate everyone else? Poop still stinks. Why are you so willing to handle it with your bare hands? Anyone in proximity of you, especially in a service that's meant to last for several hours, has to smell your poop-soaked hands. Do you hate those people too? And everyone's doing it. And by everyone I mean men, women, and children. There's just so much poop-throwing in this story. Shake my head. As vile as I find spitting, it seems like that would have been the better choice to be offensive. People who lack access to running water and soap shouldn't throw poop with their bare hands.
The other thing I'll never understand is why people are willing to be horrible to people who have the power to poison them. Sure, in your mind they're beneath you and they should serve you, including food. But now you've put yourself in an incredibly vulnerable position in which you might find yourself POISONED. This isn't a historical thing that was left in the past either. I'm always astounded that people are willing to mistreat servers and various restaurant staff that provide them food/sustenance. Are you trying to get poisoned, or at the very least, explosive diarrhea? Sans the magic, Wallace is providing all kinds of opportunities for Abitha to poison him, particularly when he's insisting on being served the last of their food and [any alcoholic beverage that was hard to come by].
If she has the knowledge to find herbs and plants that heal, she likely has the knowledge to find herbs and plants that harm.
Tassie Dave:
I enjoyed this story of feminine revenge. I was there for the slaughter of the truly guilty, but also know that the story is pure fantasy. The real outcome of these accusations (which were all about controlling women and removing their power and rights) would have ended with Abitha dead in brutal fashion, Sarah broken and silenced, all the women in the community scared to voice their concerns, and the men knowing that any opposition from any women would be easily silenced and controlled with the threat of an accusation. It is no secret that the vast majority of women executed for witchcraft were women. Even today we have men in power trying to take away the power & rights of women. Any society that doesn't give equal rights to all people, all the time, is a lesser society because of it. I give this book ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Hapahappiness:
I found the fantasy aspect of the story in the nice reverend's reactions to Abi versus the old gods/mystical creatures. I've read many witch trial primary sources and ain't no way the reverend would acknowledge Wallace's accusation was related to his desire for land. I found myself skimming over the torture in chapter 12 but relishing and smiling/giggling like Forrest and Sky during the living deliciously/righteous revenge chapter. Overall, I definitely was worried for Abi for much of the book and was very satisfied with the ending. I don't think I would have picked up this book on my own, so thanks again S&L!
John Nevets:
I am now finished. I don't think I'll be posting in the "Those of us who love it" post, but I'm glad I finished it. Like good art is often supposed to, it does generate an emotional response from time to time in the book. And some of those emotions are rage and hate. And that is fine, but not something I'm always in the mood to have pushed out of me. So I had to be careful about when I listened to this book.
I'm also in the camp that found the Epilogue a little tacked on, maybe more appropriate at the end of a Tales from the Crypt episode than in a book like this. But the regular ending was about what I expected. Might have been a fun story to twist it some, but that wasn't what this story was about.
Paw Paw Facts:
Asimina triloba. The species is native to eastern North America, in a more temperate range than its tropical relatives. It is a patch-forming (clonal) understory tree of hardwood forests, being found in well-drained, deep, fertile bottomland and also hilly upland habitat.
Although much of the plant contains the neurotoxin annonacin, the ripe fruits are edible. They are sweet, with a custard-like texture and a flavor somewhat similar to banana or pineapple. They are commonly eaten raw, but are also used to make ice cream and baked desserts.
Notable Trees: Connecticut’s largest known pawpaw tree is located on the lawn between the Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe historic houses in Hartford.
Shane:
It was so nice of @Veronica to choose a historical fantasy set near me! I grew up 50 miles from Hartford and have lived within 100 miles of it in some direction my whole life. I love history and recognized a number of places and references, so I started digging in to understand more of the context. I will post a bunch of what I found here, since I was going to look it all up anyway and others might find it interesting. I will refer to names encountered later in the book, but never with any plot context to avoid spoilers.
I am super impressed by Brom's accurate references in general.
First, names:
Pequot - Still an active Tribal Nation today (https://www.mptn-nsn.gov/). They spoke a now-extinct dialect of the Algonquin language and would have been present in and around Hartford at the time of the story. Like most indigenous peoples in the United States, they alternated between conflict and cooperation with various settler groups and were largely eradicated by them (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Hartford_(1638)). The treaty of Hartford that tried to destroy them had the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes on the other (winning) side. The history is very messy.
Mamunappeht - The Algonquin word for spider.
Hobbamock - A powerful Manitou in Algonquin theology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitou). From Wikipedia: According to Quinnipiac tradition, the giant stone spirit Hobbomock, a prominent figure in many stories, became enraged about the mistreatment of his people and stamped his foot down in anger, diverting the course of the Connecticut River (where the river suddenly swings east in Middletown, Connecticut after several hundred miles of running due south). To prevent him from wreaking such havoc in the future, the good spirit Keitan cast a spell on Hobbomock to sleep forever as the prominent of the Sleeping Giant Mountain.
A Pocumtuc story relates that Pocumtuck Ridge and Sugarloaf Mountain were the remains of a giant beaver killed by the giant spirit Hobomock.
I lived 1 mile south of Sugarloaf Mountain in grad school and hiked it at least once/week when the weather was nice.
Addendums
Thank you to all the folks who help to back our show! If you want to help support the show, head to patreon.com/swordandlaser.
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com.
Email: feedback@swordandlaser.com
Website: swordandlaser.com
Social Media: We are on Instagram, X, and Mastodon @swordandlaser
Goodreads: goodreads.com
