We begin season five of Around the Long Fire by going back to the classics that forged Em into the weirdo she is today, as we crack open Dante and talk about pining and eating hearts, among other things. Usual ALF fun follows, in classic fashion.

Things Discussed: Dante studies, Wotakoi, Nodame Cantabile, Hey Kids Watch This, The Beginning of the Slow Bucket Draining, Pokemon, Dagger: On Butch Women, Dear Brother, Piercings, Clothes Shopping, Hokuto and Kamiyama's Pondering Pootan, Pondering Proctors, GGP Backup Shows

Opening music for this book is La vita nuova by Christine and the Queens

See the show schedule here! This’ll tell you which versions of books and which sections of those books we’re reading each week.

Niamh podcasts on Export Audio with Ghost Divers and Ornate Stairwells. Fae posts on bluesky at foxmomnia.exportaud.io and on twitter @foxmomnia

Em hosts Abnormal Mapping and Repertory Screenings on abnormalmapping.com and also is the Pokemon Master of Ceremonies on The Great Gundam Project. She posts on bluesky at polarbearsummer.online and on twitter @em_being

Next episode: La Vita Nuova, intro & parts 9-23 from Vita Nuova, Dante Alighieri, trans. Joseph Luzzi (Liveright Publishing)