Happy Christmas, mates! 

Join your two favorite fake British friends as they get into the spirit of the season with one of their favorite authors, J.R.R. Tolkien, and read a little known text of his that he wrote in the form of letters from Father Christmas to his children over the course of 23 years. This book was posthumously published in 1976, and you'd think it would be a simple light-hearted tale. But Kit and Bridge provide some historical context in the forms of world history and some of Tolkien's other works that make this text quite fun to dissect. Maybe the goblins were early forms of the orcs seen in Lord of the Rings... maybe the entirely all male squad was a blueprint for the Fellowship. Either way, it's well worth a read. Listen to follow along and hear their ratings of the wine and the book!

Reading Content: Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien

Drinking Content: Weihnachts Red Wine (aka German German German Red Wine) --the one in the Christmas Tree bottle

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Kit and Bridge continue to wind their way through the wonderful novel, The Nightingale. As they resume their discussion, you'll hear more of the struggles with Sturmbannführer Von Richter (not just the pronunciation... but his general hideous character), the complexities of Vianne's husband returning from the POW camp, and the cork ratings for the wine and the book. 

Reading Content: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Drinking Content: Bordeaux Superieur from Lidl & supplemented by Winking Owl Cabernet Sauvignon from Aldi

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"...In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are." As far as first liners go, that's a corkin' good one. 

Kit and Bridge survive a French Bordeaux and the painful, powerful, beautiful novel that is Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale.

Your favorite fake British friends wax philosophical about Vianne, Isabelle, Von Richter's breath, and how Kit can now do a French accent since she listened to the book on hoopla. 

In Part Two, your favorite fake British friends resume their discussion. Episode dropping December 12th! 

Reading Content: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Drinking Content: Bordeaux Superieur from Lidl

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Wrapping up the month of November's theme of the military and war, Kit and Bridge drain a bottle of Evening Shade Rose and Helen Oyeyemi's My Daughter, the Racist. Winner of the BBC's National Short Story Award of 2010 for this work, Helen Oyeyemi was also a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Awards in 2009 for novel she wrote called White is For Witching... it's all connected, innit?

After the All Quiet of the Western Front episode, your two favorite fake British friends jump into My Daughter, the Racist, flipping the perspective of war from the soldier to the civilian, from the man to the woman, from a European to an African. 

Listen to follow along and hear their ratings of the wine and the short story! 

Reading Content: My Daughter, the Racist by Helen Oyeyemi

Drinking Content: Evening Shade Rose

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In their first book to movie comparison bonus episode, Kit and Bridge recount the experience of watching Netflix's 2022 adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, the differences from the source text, the inception-y music, and whether human bowel movement foley should be included in films. As they sip on a sweet White Zinfandel from the illustrious Winking Owl Collection, your two favorite fake British friends hold nothing back in their cork ratings. 

Listen to follow along and hear their ratings of the wine and the film!

Reading Content: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Watching Content: All Quiet on the Western Front - Netflix 2022

Drinking Content: Winking Owl White Zinfandel 

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Kit and Bridge dive into a bottle of Riesling and Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. Long considered one of the best war books of all time and a consistent required reading for high schoolers, your two favorite fake British friends thought it a worthwhile read in the spirit of Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, and Veteran's Day. While the book has already been translated into a movie (1930), TV film (1979), radio adaptation (2008), it is being adapted to the silver screen yet again, for the first time by a German production company, and is now available on Netflix. 

Listen to follow along and hear their ratings of the wine and the book! 

Reading Content: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Drinking Content: Schmitt Sohne Riesling

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In the second BONUS Episode, Kit and Bridge are joined by special guest, Laura Marden, to discuss Laura's short story, "Come, Devil," which was published on CreepyPod and narrated by Nathan DuFort. 

Join your favorite fake British friends as they imagine Snoop Dogg running from a vampire and explore the writing craft, publishing, and learn more about Laura's journey to becoming an author.

Listen to follow along and hear their ratings of the wine and the story.

Reading Content: "Come, Devil" by Laura Marden

Drinking Content: Three Finger Jack (Kit and Bridge) and 19 Crimes Cali Red - Snoop Dogg edition (Laura)

Listen to "Come, Devil" on Creepypod

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In the final October 2022 episode, Kit and Bridge pop the cork off The Gilda Stories and a red blend from the McBride Sisters Collection.

Your favorite fake British friends recap the novel and talk in depth about Gilda 1.0 and Gilda 2.0, what it means to be a vampire in this world (versus the sparkling ones in Twilight), how creepy page 140 is, and how everything comes full circle. Listen to follow along and hear their ratings of the wine and the book!

Reading Content: The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

Drinking Content: McBride Sisters Collection Black Girl Magic 

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October 24

It's our first bonus episode and one of Bridge's real-life clients sent her cheese today! Petey is laughing at us because we ran around the house, jumping over the roomba, and nearly falling down when Kit hauled in a marble slab for the charcuterie spread. But doesn't he know we LOVE CHEESE?! 

Once we'd had our fill and nearly finished the Apothic Cab, we sat down to do some work. It was all about Patient Zero, Tananarive Due's short story. Bridge's dad has a connection to Tananarive Due and her mother Patricia Due from the days of some of their earlier writings. Tananarive Due is a popular writer and has written about vampires and other fantasy topics. Maybe one day we'll get to meet her.

The lights keep blinking, and our eyes are red, but that might just be the wine. We didn't really want to go outside, but isn't it okay if we've wrapped recording for the day? If you're reading this, tell us your cork rating for the wine and the short story. 

Reading Content: Patient Zero by Tananarive Due

Drinking Content: Apothic Cab Cabernet Sauvignon

Read the story in Lightspeed Magazine

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In their second episode, Kit and Bridge swig some sangria and Shirley Jackson's short story, The Lottery. This short story was originally featured in the New Yorker in 1948. Your favorite fake British friends recap the story and discover some ways its still influencing content today. Listen to follow along and hear their ratings of the wine and the short story! 

Reading Content: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Drinking Content: Winking Owl Sangria

Read the short story on the New Yorker

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