Dec 10, 2017

The much beloved--and also frequently reviled--Dragonlance books are a series of Dungeons & Dragons tie-in novels written by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. Combining the high fantasy of Tolkien with sword and sorcery elements from authors like Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, these books served as the launchpad...

Nov 22, 2017

Matthew G. Lewis's 1796 novel The Monk represents the first sordid blooming of the gothic horror novel. Rockstar Spanish monk Ambrosio faces an increasingly jaw-dropping series of temptations thanks to a novice monk who may not be what he seems, imperiling the virginal young Antonia in the bargain. But that's just the...

Nov 9, 2017

Kate and Jack explore one of the creator-owned titles from the current Golden Age of Comics, the action-packed yet poignant Weird Western Pretty Deadly. Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick, artist Emma Rios, and colorist Jordie Bellaire create an immersive new mythology around the American frontier that features characters who...

Oct 20, 2017

Things get painful for our hosts as the results of a high-stakes book dare. Kate assigns Jack Ready Player One, the nerd nostalgia sci fi blockbuster by Ernest Cline, and Jack retaliates by assigning Kate I Hate Everyone But You, a novel co-written in text message and email form by YouTube stars Gaby Dunn and Allison...

Oct 9, 2017

Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix strikes the perfect balance of context, curiosity, and lurid sensationalism in its approach to the paperback horror boom of the 70s and 80s. Daring to peer beneath the gruesome (and often just plain baffling) covers, Hendrix and his colleague and researcher Will Errickson chart the...