DEATH // SENTENCE

Why aren't books hitting like they used to? Partly it's because of how they're sold, Dan Sinykin says in Big Fiction. We talk about how everyone from Cormac McCarthy to Stephen King and the Million Little Pieces guy explains the Conglomeration Era of fiction. Music by Fawn Limbs & Nadja and Panopticon. Theme tune by Caina.

Matt McManus is one of the most perceptive critics of the conservative movement out there, and in The Political Right and Equality: Turning Back the Tide on Egalitarian Modernity he takes them on their own terms, reading major figures from Socrates to Burke, Hegel, Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche to find what links them. Music by Rosa Faenskap and Afterbirth

On this episode, Adam and Craig of the Acid Horizon podcast join Eden to discuss their new book, "Anti-Oculus: A Philosophy of Escape". The three dive deep into cybernetics, the blindness of the Israeli genocidal apparatus, what it means to control and be controlled, pathways of escape, and how to write good introductions to books. Music played: Exulansis - Overtures of Uprising https://bindrunerecordings.bandcamp.com/track/overtures-of-uprising

Langdon and Eden sink deep into M. John Harrison's masterful, erudite, oppressive, and creepy "The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again"! The two discuss the fading landscape of England, London's dire straits, the numbing reality of the Midlands, forests, ponds, disappearing women, post-modernism, and more. But first, they critique the very current and relevant Game of Thrones and, by way of it, all of fantasy as well! Music played: Xoth - Map to the Stars, Monuments to the Ancients https://xoth.bandcamp.com/track/map-to-the-stars-monument-to-the-ancients Flesh of the Stars - Unseen https://fleshofthestars.bandcamp.com/track/unseen

Highly aerodynamic tech investor Marc Andreessen and the hosts discuss the ideas of arch-edgelord dork Nick Land, Martin Heidegger, degrowth, and dystopia. They also touch on topics such as the cultural context of cyber culture research unit, Jesus' foreskin, cloning, capitalism, and the potential for non-hateful engagements with Nick Land's philosophy.

This time around, Langdon and Eden begin by talking about literary and epistemological bewilderment before pivoting to the role of knowledge, narrative, and "neutral" understanding in the Palestinian conflict. Free Palestine! Then, continuing the theme of confusion, they tackle the wonderfully beguiling "the book of webs" by Jesse Kohn a fragmented dream journal of a book which offers an option of resistance through weird logic. Music played - Stortregn - Omega Axiom https://stortregn.bandcamp.com/track/omega-axiom Woe - Distant Epitaphs https://woeunholy.bandcamp.com/track/distant-epitaphs

Eden returns and is joined by his compatriot, Langdon, who is definitely not a robot! The two start off by discussing the disappearance acts of The Twin Towers, Jesus Christ, and power metal (yeah) before diving into what is arguably Michael Moorcock's weirdest iteration of the Eternal Champion cycle, The Dancers at the End of Time! Music played: Mohini Dey - First Food Then You https://mohinidey.bandcamp.com/track/first-food-then-you Sprain - Margin for Error https://sprain.bandcamp.com/track/margin-for-error

A writer wins a prize but the prize is a UFO and there's a spider-deer hybrid and a time-travelling playwright and- Isabel Waidner's new book is a trip, but it's not just weird for the sake of weird - there's a social critique there, which we talk about on this show, which includes new music by Ragana and Tomb Mold. Be a deer and subscribe to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DeathSentence

In 2020 Eliza Clark's debut Boy Parts absolutely blew up. Now she's back and, folks, Penance is even better - twistier, deeper, overall more toothsome than its predecessor. We talk to Eliza about fanfic, true crime, the internet and the TV adaptation of Boy Parts that we've all been hoping for. Music by Agriculture.

Commissar of Enlightenment Graham Jones joins the boys to talk about his new book Red Enlightenment, the nature of spirituality, whether communism is a religion and whether we should do a spin-off podcast about riddles and tricks. Music by Radiant Knife and Baroness.