Book Club From Hell

Vladimir Nabokov finished writing Lolita in 1953. It took him, an established author, until 1955 to have it published. Why? It's a book about a middle-aged man who has a sexual relationship with a twelve-year-old girl. Publishers were uncomfortable, etc. The thing is, it's also a phenomenally well-written book.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Jack has published a novel!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

Website: thebookclubfromhell.com

Patreon: patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's website: www.jackbc.me

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: levimk.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/bcfh

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @levimk_com

Among other things, Abbie Lucas is a filmmaker, and Kevin Kautzman is a playwright and podcaster (shout out to The Art of Darkness podcast). They've co-written a play, Basilisk, about spooky internet AI horror story Roko's Basilisk. We talked to them about their play, about AI, about crypto, about film versus theatre, and more.

Basilisk radio play (produced by Dark Pony Radio):
https://open.spotify.com/episode/29EGS0THzSnq2fPE1GVBmI?si=iviG232_T4ed0RcYTZGEbQ

Kevin Kautzman
https://kevinkautzman.com/
https://badmouthtc.com/
https://artofdarkpod.com/

Abbie Lucas
https://abbielucas.com/
Voices (directed by Abbie): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRKDNWXOEXM

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Jack has published a novel called Tower!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

The first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.com

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

www.thebookclubfromhell.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

The Accursed Share (vol. 1 published in 1941) lays out Bataille's concept of general economy. What do Aztec human sacrifice, potlach, Islamic conquest, Calvinism and the rise of capitalism, the Marshall Plan and avoiding World War III all have in common? Bataille has the answers.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Jack has published a novel!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's website: www.jackbc.me

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

www.thebookclubfromhell.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

I (Jack) talk to Dan Baltic about his book, Nutcrankr. To quote the blurb of Nutcrankr, "NUTCRANKR is a comic examination of fringe ideology, social atomisation, and sexual dysfunction in modern America. Dan Baltic's debut novel is a sardonic look at a certain type of Extremely Online character we're all too familiar with and what happens when their delusions and flights of fancy come into contact with the real world."

Yes, I changed the blurb's spelling from American ('atomized': hideous, uncouth) to British ('atomised': elevated, spiritually fulfilling). No, I won't change it back.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Where to buy Nutcrankr: https://www.amazon.com/NUTCRANKR-Dan-Baltic/dp/195189779X

Dan Baltic's Substack: https://danbaltic.substack.com/

Dan and Matt's New Write podcast is available on basically every podcast platform!

Authors recommended by Dan:
Matt Pegas

Caleb Caudell

ARX-Han

Adem Luz Rienspects

Brad Kelly
Kevin Kautzman 

Delicious Tacos

Jack has published a novel!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet
The first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.com

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

www.thebookclubfromhell.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Ernst Jünger, a man who fought in two World Wars, was an entomologist, award-winning author, philosopher, traveller, psychonaut and much more, wrote The Forest Passage (1951), a book which explores how one can retain freedom in a time of mass ideology and titanic technological change. It's a really, really good book.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Jack has published a novel!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

Apple Books: http://books.apple.com/us/book/id6466733671

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's website: www.jackbc.me

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

www.thebookclubfromhell.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Justin Murphy joins us to talk about 'Simulacra and Simulation' (1981), a book by French philosopher and cultural critic Jean Baudrillard. What happens when a society schematises too much, copies copies of copies and loses touch with 'reality'? Hyperreality. 

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Other Life (probably the best place to see what Justin Murphy is working on): www.otherlife.co

Jack has published a novel!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

Apple Books: http://books.apple.com/us/book/id6466733671

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's website: www.jackbc.me

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

www.thebookclubfromhell.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

The A above middle C is often tuned to 440Hz. Why? Because of a multi-decade conspiracy to degrade the spiritual connection of the human race, involving Joseph Goebbels, John Deagan, the Frankfurt School, sacred numerology, and a very wealthy American dynasty.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Jack has published a novel!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

Apple Books: http://books.apple.com/us/book/id6466733671

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's website: www.jackbc.me

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

www.thebookclubfromhell.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Jack talks to ARX-Han, author of Incel (2023), about the process of writing Incel, as well as the thought behind it.

Rather than sum up Incel myself, I'll quote ARX-Han:
"Savage, hilarious, and everything in between , INCEL is a pitch-dark comedy about one man's harrowing quest to ascend.

Suicidally depressed, twenty-two year old anon has settled on a if he can't find a way to lose his virginity by the date of his next birthday, he’s going to pick a fight with the biggest, baddest man he can find, and get himself killed.

For anon, social alienation is a simple matter of unvarnished America in the year 2012 is a brutal Darwinian hellscape where every man is engaged in a ruthless competition for access to attractive females-and losers like him are left to rot.

As he begins his first year of graduate studies in evolutionary psychology, the looming threat of his personal deadline mutates into a totalizing obsession to validate his theories and achieve sex for the first time. Convinced that he's discovered a special method for "hacking" the mating patterns in human behavior, he starts upon a path that only threatens to further destabilize his already fragile psyche, hurtling him toward a crucible of his own design."

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

ARX-Han's website: https://www.decentralizedfiction.com/
Amazon page for Incel: https://www.amazon.com/INCEL-Novel-ARX-Han/dp/B0C9SNQK9C

Jack has published a novel!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

Apple Books: http://books.apple.com/us/book/id6466733671

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's website: www.jackbc.me

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

www.thebookclubfromhell.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Books and Podcasts Recommended by ARX-Han
Mixtape Hyperborea by Adem Luz Rienspects 

Nutcrankr by Dan Baltic 

The Black Album by Matt Pegas 

Podcasts: 

Tooky's Mag 

(Tooky's Mag literary sidebar podcast) 

New Write

Magazines: 

The Mars Review of Books 

Articles: 

Asian American Psycho in Current Affairs by Christopher Jesu Lee 

Substacks 

Salieri's Redemption by Christopher Jesu Lee (literary crit) 

Political Currents by Ross Barkan (includes literary crit + politics as he's a journo and novelist)

random book 

Why? by Philip Goff 

Atta by Jarrett Kobek (reviewed on Post Era)

We reflect on 100 episodes of the Book Club from Hell (or on the 99 prior to this one, if you want to be pedantic).
Big shout out to moog for the intro music, and to Alex from Masticate (https://masticate.bandcamp.com) for the outro music.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Jack has published a novel!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

Apple Books: http://books.apple.com/us/book/id6466733671

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's website: www.jackbc.me

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

www.thebookclubfromhell.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

We were joined by Kevin Kautzman and Brad Kelly from the Art of Darkness podcast for this episode! We talked about Point Omega, by Don DeLillo, a short, mysterious novel published in 2010.
If you haven't listened to Art of Darkness, we highly, highly recommend you do.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION
https://artofdarkpod.com/

If you ever cared about us, you'll send Art of Darkness your money: https://www.patreon.com/artofdarkpod

Jack has published a novel!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

Apple Books: http://books.apple.com/us/book/id6466733671

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's website: www.jackbc.me

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

www.thebookclubfromhell.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi