Melee - Jack Cuthbertson on AUDIENCE CAPTURE
From the unique imagination of Jack Cuthbertson (host of Book Club from Hell (Jack)) comes Audience Capture, a brand new novel (out soon from Bonfire Books):
Atlas and the Shruggers. Four members, billions of fans. A band so popular as to be world government. The best music, the best storylines. Full spectrum audio-visual domination. Why would you pay attention to anything else?
But nothing lasts forever. The very forces that brought the Shruggers to prominence now turn on their former playthings.
Subversion in the form of phantom radio stations. Conspiring radar arrays. Visual prions. Rival bands. Breeding programs. Tasmanian separatists. Sold-out mass casualty attacks. Like clockwork, ERA repeats again. Separated, hunted, reformatted, our four band members must go through the painful transition from object to real, actual human beings.
Remember: there are no coincidences, only coordinations.
We also get into Jack’s writing process, “All Art is Political,” the Ausnaissance, and some of the recent works covered in his one-of-a-kind podcast.
Ep. 22.1 - SONGS OF A DEAD DREAMER by Thomas Ligotti w/Glen Rockney [PREMIUM EPISODE]
I got together with the great Glen Rockney of Rare Candy for a special spooktacular premium episode on Thomas Ligotti’s landmark short story collections Songs of a Dead Dreamer. We figure out how some of our favorite stories in the collection work and talk about enjoying the work of writers with whom we disagree, what’s actually scary, and how we to avoid blackpilling.
[PREVIEW] Ep. 20.2 -The MADNESS of Calvino’s IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER
A preview wherein I try to sort out how Italo Calvino would feel about literature-machines based on his amazing 1967 lecture “Cybernetics and Ghosts”
MELEE - E Rathke on BROKEN KATANA
The prolific E Rathke joined me to talk the far-out world of his forthcoming BROKEN KATANA omnibus, why preoccupation with the culture war makes you a loser, Broken River zines, and much much more.
Sign up to support the Broken Katana fundraiser
Anything, But Not Every Thing | 10/2026 Tarot Reading
A tarot reading on self-possession, bending your frame, and bringing your own carrots. Shout out to Dolly.. DM me with TAROT in the first few words to set up a personal reading for a reasonable fee.
Ep. 21.1 - MEDITATIONS IN GREEN by Stephen Wright w/David Leo Rice
David Leo Rice joins me to pore over the negatives of this novel. We talk the ongoing reverberations of the Vietnam war, Stephen Wright’s mastery of exposition and psychedelia, David’s personal experience studying under Stephen Wright, the consciousness of the jungle, the chaos of total information, James Wood’s notion of hysterical realism w/r/t MiG, the comfort of paranoia, and much, much more.
Subscribe to David’s substack, buy his books, and listen to his brilliant podcast WAKE ISLAND. He is one of the finest writers working today and I count myself fortunate to chat with him.
Check out David’s Vietnam-era story I mentioned at the top of the episode: “The Ward Clerk”
MELEE - Mallory Smart on BOOK OF DAVID
Mallory Smart, writer and impresario of independent literature, joins me for a discussion about the Midwest, parking lot hangs, David Koresh, the history of Maudlin House, the current horror boom, and much more.
“The Real Right Thing” by Henry James [audio recording]
First published in 1899, “The Real Right Thing” by Henry James is the shortest of his ghost stories, a subtle and cerebral unraveling of a spectral presence in the library of a great mind.
[PREVIEW] Ep. 19.2 - The MADNESS of HOUSE OF LEAVES
A wander down just a few of those strange doors underneath the HOUSE OF LEAVES: warps in space-time, exteriorizing the interior, THE SHINING and BACKROOMS, a portal in the desert, and a trillion-ton black pyramid.
Melee - Brad Michael Elmore on CAN’T GET NO
Writer and director Brad Michael Elmore joined me to talk about his films The Wolfman’s Hammer and Can’t Get No (watch both of these free on youtube), the will to just do things, his rollercoaster career in Hollywood, the need to create, and his serialized audiobook Nativity in Black.
Taking a Little Win | 9/2026 Tarot Reading
A tarot reading on self-possession, bending your frame, and bringing your own carrots. Shout out to Dolly.. DM me with TAROT in the first few words to set up a personal reading for a reasonable fee.
Ep. 20.1 - Calvino´s IF ON A WINTER´S NIGHT A TRAVELER w/Getting Lit
Matthew Fresta and Matthew Sini from Getting Lit join me to talk Italo Calvino’s whirlwind love letter to writing, reading, and the source of stories. We discuss what Calvino’s delightful use of postmodern technique, why the tone of this book might be the secret to its potency, whether there is a Father of Stories, and much, much more.
“The Million Pound Bank Note” by Mark Twain [audio recording]
First published in 1893, The Million Pound Bank Note by Mark Twain is an absolute classic American short story. A farcical rags to riches tale.
Melee - J. Reuben Appelman on THE CHEATING SIDE
J. Reuben Appelman is a celebrated writer of true crime (THE KILL JAR, investigating a notorious serial homicide case in Detroit in the 1970s). His latest, THE CHEATING SIDE, is a classic work of hardboiled fiction firmly set in the modern era.
From the back: When Idaho private investigator Jimmy Chinden’s murder investigation threatens a land deal worth millions, the politically protected Aryan mob comes gunning for his family―but the old money outlaws might be outgunned.
Melee - John Jay Stancliff on PIERCE
The great John Jay Stancliff joined me to talk about his latest novel, PIERCE, out August 11 from Farthest Heaven. His book is about fatherhood, men, work, and the deep struggle of virtue.
With Worn-out Tools | 8/2026 Tarot Reading
A tarot reading on finding home again, growing versus building, and what it means to play the victim. DM me with TAROT in the first few words to set up a personal reading for a reasonable fee.
Ep. 19.1 - HOUSE OF LEAVES by Mark Z. Danielewski w/J David Osborne
The great J David Osborne joined me to go deep on the cult classic HOUSE OF LEAVES. We get into what works, what doesn’t, what might have back in 2000, what the house might mean, and why we might never see another book like it in the age of the internet.
“Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather [audio recording]
Well before she became a household name, Willa Cather contributed this piece to McClure’s Magazine, a photo negative of a bildungsroman, and a tragedy about the draw of glitz and glamour.
The Garden, The Race | 7/2026 Tarot Reading
A tarot reading on trusting your gut, savoring the solace, and willing yourself to find the edge. DM me with TAROT in the first few words to set up a personal reading for a reasonable fee.
Melee - Scott Laudati on RAINBOW ROAD
Scott Laudati is a renaissance man. A musician, painter, filmmaker, and a true poet. We talk about being on local television, his ceaseless travels across this beautiful country, throwing away the phone, and his powerful new collection of poetry RAINBOW ROAD.