Death // Sentence

This time around, we go back to the early 20th century to discuss a foundational work of British Weird - The Human Chord by Algernon Blackwood! We survey the cultural trends of the 19th and 20th century literary and occult scenes in general, the gripping power of this tight and precise novel, and the feeling of dread and awe so often invoked by the weird. Music played: Cryptic Shift - Hyperspace Topography https://cryptic-shift.bandcamp.com/track/hyperspace-topography-2

All books are bad but Langdon and Eden have stumbled on one that SHOULD have been good but is actually awful - PKD and Roger Zelazny's Deus Irae. Confused theology, mish-mashed desert journeys, and more questions without answers than a church all blend together in a collaboration that should, and almost did, stay unpublished. Music played - Exxûl - Blighted Deity https://productionstso.bandcamp.com/track/blighted-deity

Eden launches into Hiron Ennes' The Works of Vermin, using it as a platform to explore ideas around the potentials and contradictions of living in modern cities. He also discusses the influence of the French Second Empire (yes) on the New Weird, why that period of time holds so much of interest, and sketches an upcoming essay on these ideas. Music played: Pallbearer - The Ghost I Used to Be (2025 Mix) https://pallbearer.bandcamp.com/track/the-ghost-i-used-to-be-2025-mix

Langdon and Eden meet to discuss a smörgåsbord (say it with us) of topics like mental health, the uses of online discourse, and a collection of books they've been reading. Music played: The Holy Pale by Wildhunt https://jawbreakerrecords.bandcamp.com/track/the-holy-pale

Eden is joined by friend of the cast Jesse Kohn (The Book of Webs) to talk about Leonora Carrington's beguiling and dense The Stone Door. Unfortunately, this episode is marred by the Brown University and Bondi Beach shootings. A better world is possible. Demand utopia. Music played: The Tea Club - The Bell Ringer https://theteaclub.bandcamp.com/track/the-bell-ringer

Langdon conjures forth the Wizard's Castle once more, this time trapping Branson Reese (HELL WAS FULL, SWAN BOY, Rude Tales of Magic, and more) within its sorcerous corridors. While there, the two discuss what makes jokes funny, the impact of the morality of art, and The Simpsons (among other things). Music played - Yellow Eyes - Brush the Frozen Horse https://yelloweyes.bandcamp.com/track/brush-the-frozen-horse

Langdon and Eden kick things off by talking about the uses of awards - how to follow them, what they're good for, and why! Then, they dive into John M. Ford's parallel reality version of cyberpunk with Web of Angels, his debut novel. Phone lines that span galaxies, crazy weird space opera, and a rough book that brims with passion! Music played: Heruvim - Arammu https://heruvim.bandcamp.com/track/arammu Chat Pile & Hayden Pedigo - Radioactive Dreams https://chatpile.bandcamp.com/track/radioactive-dreams

Naruto run with us to the local picture house to watch a double bill of Ari Aster's Eddington and Zack Cregger's Weapons, with Kayte Terry of the excellent Tender Subject podcast. Music by Umulamahri: https://umulamahri.bandcamp.com/album/learning-the-secrets-of-acid-2

Langdon and Eden discuss the too-often bland and safe nature of science fiction and fantasy before diving in to a work that's anything but, "One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve"! Body horror, familial obsession, and finally being at peace with yourself mix in this arresting and clever novella about a man sawed in half! Music played: Rintrah - Fearful Symmetry https://rintrahmusic.bandcamp.com/track/fearful-symmetry Kayo Dot - Oracle By Severed Head https://kayodot.bandcamp.com/track/oracle-by-severed-head

Ishiguro season is done now that we've reached 2022's Klara and the Sun, the heartwarming story of a M3gan learning what it is to love. We also talk about Anime, for Satan. Music by https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/changelings

This time around, Langdon and Eden peer into the world, which is actually many things and not just one (and that's good!) Then, they take a look at Ursula K. Le Guin award nominee, Ursula Whitcher's North Continent Ribbon! Weird spaceships, radical politics, interesting AI, and a lot of emotions mix in this short story suite! Music played: Hypomanic Daydream - Dissociative https://hypomanicdaydream.bandcamp.com/track/dissociative Editrix - The Big E https://editrix.bandcamp.com/track/the-big-e

Langdon and Eden kick things off by asking the important questions: which member of the Friends cast would you follow into battle? They also discuss the inherent futility and horror of war. Then, they tackle Roger Zelazny's weird and feverish Creatures of Light and Darkness, touching on elements of myth, explosive prose, attention to detail, and Zelazny's unfortunate misogyny. Music played: Mathilde - Kepler- 186f https://mathilde-blackmetal.bandcamp.com/track/kepler-186-f Imipolex - Martian Blood Mother https://imipolex.bandcamp.com/track/martian-blood-mother

We made it - the podcast's personal favourite Kazuo Ishiguro book, The Buried Giant. It turns out a book about memory and genocide is kind of relevant to the world today, but we set it as part of Ishiguro's grand project of showing how Britain is bad and should sink below the waves. Music by Planning for Burial Theme tune by Caina

Gareth and Eden explore Nisi Shawl's Everfair, a mostly successful attempt at writing better, less racist, and more "complete" historical fiction. Nuclear dirigibles, proto-socialist societies, cool knife-hands, and lots and lots (and lots) of character PoVs mix and mingle with geopolitics and complex racial identities! Music played: Knives - PHD https://knivesnoise.bandcamp.com/track/phd

Eden flies solo on this episode, diving deep into the masterful, subtle, and rich Growing Up Weightless by the criminally under-read and under-recognized John M. Ford. Lunar politics, coming of age, and weird interstellar drives clash in this unique, hard sci-fi bildungsroman! Music played: Changeling - Changeling https://changelingofficial.bandcamp.com/track/changeling

Langdon and Eden kick things off by discussing their favorite Metallica tracks and also how good Metallica really are. Then, they dive into Oliver K. Langmead's "Calypso", a beautiful, if limited, verse novel about terraforming, memory, personhood, and endings. Music played: Slave Agent - Forced to Suffer https://slaveagent.bandcamp.com/track/forced-to-suffer Grails - Silver Bells https://grails.bandcamp.com/track/silver-bells

The Kazuo Ishiguro season continues with maybe his least known, maybe his least liked work: Nocturnes. Sitting between the mega-hit Never Let Me Go and the critical blockbuster The Buried Giant, this book is often overlooked and, maybe, it kind of deserves to be? But first, we talk GAMING - specifically Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 and The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, because our woke Marxist schools taught us that everything is a text. Music by Hedvig Mollestad Trio, theme tune by Caina.

Are books... dangerous? A lot of people think so, from Moms For Liberty to the mostly-imaginary internet spectre of the censorious Puriteen. Lyta Gold joins us to talk about which books are most dangerous and which might be able to redeem the act of reading. Theme tune by Caina: https://cainaband.bandcamp.com/ Danger is our Patreon's middle name: https://www.patreon.com/DeathSentence

Eden and Langdon both exist (maybe) and with this snippet of existence, they discuss the historiography of the Paris Commune on the left and suggest a proper position (empathy) towards its hopes and failures. Then, they discuss the beautiful and problematic "Five Ways to Forgiveness" by Ursula K. Le Guin, a short story suite about slavery, feminism, war and Hain. Music played: Object Unto Earth - Alas I Hop Along https://objectuntoearth.bandcamp.com/track/alas-i-hop-along Cave Sermon - Hopeless Magic https://cavesermon.bandcamp.com/track/hopeless-magic

Olga Tokarczuk's first book since winning the Nobel prize in Literature is deeply feminist folk-horror with more than a little influence from Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain. Is it just a fun ghost story or a warning about how the Male Loneliness Epidemic(tm) will end in tragedy. More importantly, does Langdon yearn for the production lines?