Happy New Year! I am so sorry this episode is so late. 

Next episode, about Mitosis and Shadows for Silence Through the Forests of Hell will be out much, much sooner. 

Content warnings for this episode: beheadings, being unhoused, betrayal, bleeding, bullying, Christianity, conspiracies, corpses, corruption, death, gang violence, guns and gun violence, illusion magic, imprisonment, insanity, lying, mental illness, mind control, misogyny, murder, neglect, nuclear weapons, oligarchy, prisons, racism, religion, royalty, self harm, sexualization, stabbing, stereotypes, suicide, supervillains, torture, undeath, wounds

Other media

Brandon Sanderson reviews art of his characters

Injustice

All Star Superman 

Superman Red Son

Death of Superman

Batman vs Superman 

The Reign of the Supermen

Invincible 

The Boys 

Absolute Universe

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We read read truly one of the most baffling books we've ever tackled with special guest Sophie Abromowitz! Oh and a Wheel of Time cut chapter too.
 
Sophie's Vampire Short Story: https://thebrooklynreview.com/2025/10/31/rules-for-vampires-sophie-abromowitz/
Sophie Substack: https://abromowitz.substack.com/

Seriously everyone check these out, Sophie has very quickly become one of my favorite writers. 

Sophie Website: https://sophie-abromowitz.com/ 

Content warnings for this episode:  auditory hallucinations, betrayal, bleeding,  bullying, cheating/infidelity, child endangerment, child death, conspiracies, death, duels, gender dysphoria, god kings, human sacrifice, imprisonment, insanity, lying, mental illness, mind control, murder, neglect, nuclear weapons, oligarchy, prisons, religion, royalty, self harm, self hatred,  stabbing, tech billionaires, torture, undeath, wounds, xenophobia

Next month we'll be reading Steelheart! Episode airs, November 18th. 

Other Media 

The Coen Brothers Intolerable Cruelty

Milwaukee PD Surviving Edged Weapons - Content Warnings Abound here

God Emperor of Dune

Wii Sports Resort

Guilty Gear 

Guild Wars 2 - Ghosts and Ascalon and The Sea of Sorrows

The Book of Atrus - Myst - Rand Miller

Revenge of the Sith - Russel Stover

Changeover: A Young Rivalry and a New Era of Men's Tennis - Giri Nathan 

Beyond All Reasonable Doubt, Jesus Is Alive! - Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Hot Streak Board Game 

The West Passage - Jared Pechaček 

Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway 

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway 

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We're back with The Rithmatist!

To skip A Memory of Light, Go to 29:41

Next month we'll be reading Infinity Blade Redemption & River of Souls. Episode airs October 7th.

Content warnings for this episode:  abandonment, ableism, betrayal, bleeding,  bullying, censorship, child abuse, child endangerment, child soldiers, Christianity, classism, colonialism, conspiracies, cults, death, displacement, existentialism, fandom, Harry Potter, human sacrifice, human transformation, immigration visas, J.K. Rowling, lying, mental illness, military, military academies, mind control, misogyny, Mormonism, murder, neglect, oligarchy, parental death, racism, religion, royalty, Scottish occupation, self harm, self hatred, settler colonialism, tourism, transphobia, undeath, Washington D.C.'s occupation, wounds

References

The Origins of the Wheel of Time by Michael Livingstone

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (attain second hand)

Brian Herbert Dune Sequels

The Expanse by James SA Corey

Return of the King - The Scouring of the Shire 

You're Wrong About's 6 Part Series on Princess Diana 

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We read two novellas this month, The Emperor's Soul is really good! Legion is the craziest thing we've ever read for the show (and maybe off the show too). 

Huge thanks to Kirk for guesting on this episode, you can find all his information here. https://kirkhamilton.com/ 

Next month we'll be discussing The Rithmatist and the End of A Memory of Light

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, Abu Sayyaf, assassination, atheism, betrayal, bleeding, blood magic, body horror, body modification, bombing, braindeath, broken bones, Catholicism, Christianity, classism, death, discussion of sexuality, enemies to lovers, genocide, hallucinations, imperialism, imprisonment, Islam, Israeli/Palestinian war, insanity, kidnapping, maiming, mind control, misogyny, Mormonism, murder, mutation, mutilation, Navy Seals, necromancy, racism, religious conversion, religious extremism, religious wars, Richard Dawkins,  self harm, settler colonialism, slavery, stabbing, sterilization, strangulation, suicide, suicide bombing, suicide by police, terminal illness, therapy, tokenism, undeath, wounds and infection

Things Mentioned

Dave (1993) dir by Ivan Reitman

The Princess Bride dir by Rob Reiner

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Gladiator (2000) dir  by Sir Ridley Scott

The Matrix (1999) dir by The Wachowski Sisters

Your Name (2016) dir by Makoto Shinkai

Miniature Painting

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Quote Investigator Article about the Quote I attribute to Emerson https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/06/20/books/ 

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) dir by Mel Stuart

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Disco Elysium

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

Our shortest episode yet!

We read two short stories this month, The Eleventh Metal is pretty good, and HARRE (Heuristic Algorithm and Reasoning Response Engine) is pretty interesting from production standpoint. 

Next month we'll be reading The Emperor's Soul and Legion, Episode Airs:  Third Week of June. 

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, arranged marriages, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones, classism, death, decapitation, discussion of rape, discussion of sexuality, domestic violence, enemies to lovers, eugenic breeding, eugenics, fatphobia, gaslighting, genocide, hallucinations, homophobia, human sacrifice, insanity, maiming, mind control, misogyny, murder, mutation, mutilation, racism, rape, references to Nazis, religious conversion, religious extremism, self harm, sexual assault, sexual violence, slavery, spousal death, stabbing, sterilization, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, terminal illness, undeath, wounds and infection

Things Mentioned: 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

A Small Place by Jamaica Kinkaid

Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher

Blood Over Bright Haven M. L. Wang

How Long Until Black Future Month

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Ones Who Stay and Fight by N.K. Jemisin

Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole by Isabel J. Kim

Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir

Absolute Wonder Woman

Absolute Martian Manhunter 

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We talk about the highs and lows of The Alloy of Law, our first foray into Mistborn Era 2. 

Next month we'll be reading The Eleventh Metal and H.A.R.R.E, Episode Airs:  May 31st

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, arranged marriages, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones, classism, death, decapitation, discussion of rape, discussion of sexuality, domestic violence, enemies to lovers, eugenic breeding, eugenics, fatphobia, gaslighting, genocide, hallucinations, homophobia, human sacrifice, insanity, maiming, mind control, misogyny, murder, mutation, mutilation, racism, rape, references to Nazis, religious conversion, religious extremism, self harm, sexual assault, sexual violence, slavery, spousal death, stabbing, sterilization, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, terminal illness, undeath, wounds and infection

Corrections: Grant Morrison's pronouns are They/Them, many apologies for misgendering them. 

Correction 2:  Folks on the autism spectrum are moving away from the term "Asperger's Syndrome" for a multitude of reasons, one of which being the originator of the term was a nazi scientist. 

Things Mentioned: 

Grant Morrison's X-Men

A Game of Thrones

Grant Morrison's The Invisibles (Sympathy for the Henchman)

Necropolitics - Achille Mbembe https://muse.jhu.edu/article/39984

Society Must be Defended - Michelle Foucault (Biopolitics)

Dicipline and Punish - Michel Foucault

Rykers Island https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/nyregion/kalief-browder-held-at-rikers-island-for-3-years-without-trial-commits-suicide.html

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

Hey folks, just to let everyone know there's going to be a slight delay for our Alloy of Law episode, it's all on me. Normally I'd be able to turn around an episode in a week's time, but several of my loved ones have needed lots of additional support on top of my day jobs and classwork. It's been a busy month for us all. 

What this means for y'all as listeners is that you'll get two episodes in May, one is a longer episode towards the beginning of the month and a shorter episode towards the end of the month. After that we'll be back to our normal schedule in June. 

This will be deleted once Episode 15 goes live.

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We read two not very good stories and have 2 fantastic conversations about them with special guest Sophie Abromowitz!
 
Sophie Short Story: https://joylandpublishing.com/fiction/jan-is-important/
Sophie Substack: https://abromowitz.substack.com/
Sophie Website: https://sophie-abromowitz.com/ 


Next month we'll be reading Alloy of Law. Episode airs, end of April.

Content warnings for this episode:  auditory hallucinations, betrayal, bleeding,  bullying, child endangerment, conspiracies, death, duels, gender dysphoria, god kings, human sacrifice, mprisonment, insanity, lying, mental illness, mind control, murder, neglect, oligarchy, prisons, religion, royalty, self harm, self hatred,  stabbing, undeath, wounds, xenophobia

Infinity Blade Screenshots https://www.epicgames.com/infinityblade/en-US/game-info/infinity-blade-i

Infinity Blade II Screenshots: https://kotaku.com/games/infinity-blade-ii/gallery

Infinity Blade II Opening Cutscene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSywlxTpqBA 

Words of Brandon: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/169/#e8839

Books
Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Piranesi
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Movies
Inception dir by Christopher Nolan
Paprika dir by Satoshi Kon 

TV
Star Wars Andor

Other
Boss Baby Tweet https://x.com/afraidofwasps/status/1177301482464526337?lang=en 

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We're back in the era of normal length books with Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lens!

Next month we'll be reading Infinity Blade Awakening & I Hate Dragons. Episode airs, March 25th.

Around 59 Minutes in, we ask if ADX actually does the math correctly, she does not. 

References

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickett 
Percy Jackson and The Olympians by Rick Riordan

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Content warnings for this episode:  abandonment, ableism, betrayal, bleeding,  bullying, censorship, child abuse, child endangerment, classism, colonialism, conspiracies, cults, death, existentialism, fame, fatphobia, foster homes, Harry Potter, human sacrifice, imprisonment, insanity, J.K. Rowling, lying, mental illness, mind control, murder, neglect, oligarchy, prisons, racism, religion, royalty, self harm, self hatred, settler colonialism, stabbing, transphobia, undeath, wounds

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We read Towers of Midnight, Book 13 of The Wheel of Time. 

Next month we'll be reading all of Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lens, Episode Airs: Feb 18th. 

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, amputation, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones , classism, colonization, death, domestic violence, fetishization, gaslighting, gender roles, hallucinations, insanity, J.K. Rowling, kink, knives, maiming, misogyny, murder, mutilation, rape, real world violence, religious extremism, self harm, sexual content, sexual violence, slavery, stabbing, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, terminal illness, transphobia, trauma, undeath, Vietnam War, wounds and infection

Jordan Quote About Language: https://www.reddit.com/r/WoT/comments/1mv9wv/language_in_the_world_of_wot/ 

Interviews Jack Cited

https://aidanmoher.com/blog/2010/11/interviews/interview-brandon-sanderson-author-of-towers-of-midnight-and-the-way-of-kings/ 

https://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=547 

Jack's Rankings

The Way of Kings
Warbreaker
Mistborn
Alcatraz vs. the Scrivener's Bones
The Hero of Ages
Elantris 
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians  
Alcatraz vs. the Knights of Crystallia (Book 3)
The Well of Ascension

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)