Cracked Spines

Our favorite horror writer is back at it again! This week we read Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix, a truly harrowing mixture of pregnancy horror, social horror, and eels. In this episode, as you can probably imagine, we talk a lot about abortion rights, fucked up pregnancy stuff, and infanticide. Like honestly probably way too much discussion of infanticide, oopsie, sorry about that. Proceed with caution accordingly. 

More pregnancy/motherhood/baby horror recs: 

• Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
• Immaculate (2024)
• The First Omen (2024)
• Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022) (Note from Cyrus: I forgot to mention this one on the episode but IT'S SO GOOD PLEASE WATCH IT. One of the rare movies that actually made me scream aloud)

And lastly, if you want to read/listen to Cyrus's story mentioned at the end of this episode, it's not about pregnancy but it is very much horror: Hemorrhage on Pseudopod.org (not .com as we say on the podcast, I'm a fool)

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Hey, everyone! Sarah is one of the thousands of unionized healthcare workers on strike in Oregon. At their last job, Cyrus saw how hard a company will work to destroy a union. Let's do some labor chatting.

This is a different episode than usual. We've been thinking about doing some extra episodes on our off weeks about stuff, and this episode? Well, I'm not sure it's the best example of our ideas for what the interstitial episodes will look like, but by god it's sure not about books. 

Click here to donate to the strike fund. You can also click here to go to our patreon, where we'll be donating a third of our income from that to the strike fund for the duration of the strike. 

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We discuss the new Murderbot novel, System Collapse by Martha Wells! Which came out in... 2023. We're really part of the zeitgeist. And really, we only talk about Murderbot a little bit before the episode just becomes a confessional booth. Our financial habits are tearing this family apart. Our construction projects are tearing our house apart. Here is a link to Emily Axford's journey to flush a cake down the toilet. No one can say this episode didn't go up on Monday.

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Haunted catacombs! Mysterious knights! Rat man! For those looking for a game manual on their quest through Vermis, you couldn't ask for more. For those looking to actually play Vermis, well, we've got bad news. The book is a video game manual for a retro soulslike that doesn't exist. It's a fantastic piece of meta-fiction with amazing art by Plastiboo, and we loved it so much---and had complicated feelings about the sequel. So select your character (Rat Man superiority) and dive in. 

Check out Vermis here: https://hollow-press.net/products/vermis-i

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Everyone was like, "look out for David *eyes emoji*" and in this episode we find out why. These three books are jampacked with moments that made us scream a little and we discuss them. (Spoiler: RACHEL. I LOVE YOU, QUEEN.) Sarah marvels at 
Animorph's Pain Per Page ratio. Cyrus ponders if they could fight a whale. None of the characters are happy, but boy did we have a good time. 

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Another year, another yearly wrap-up episode. This week, we have a somewhat meandering conversation (gasp! so different from normal!) reflecting on our personal and literary lives. Turns out buying a house will derail your life. We share our favorite books, our upcoming resolutions, and our intimate relationships with our local Lowe's paint counter. Thanks for sticking around for another year, and we'll see you in 2025 which is a year that sounds absolutely fake. 

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We are pleased to announce this is NOT an episode about Mortal Kombat. You might be surprised at the challenge that presented. It is, however, an episode about the phenomenal science fiction political thriller, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine! Sarah and Cyrus discuss the challenges and delights that such a complex world presents, and Sarah definitely doesn't struggle to say the word "imago" even a little bit. 

Next up, catch our end-of-year wrap-up episode, followed shortly by the long awaited David arc of the Animorphs series! And yes, there will be a Mortal Kombat bonus episode somewhere in the mix. 

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Hi, guys! We read more Animorphs. Don't...look at how long its been since the last one. In this episode: Trauma! Murder! Elaborate set pieces! These kids are fighting a war they can't tell anyone about, and they are handling it so well. We discuss character rankings, philosophical quandaries, and the essential nature of Cassie. Like, A LOT of Cassie. 

Also I realize they aren't actually twelve. Some are thirteen which makes it okay for them to go to war.

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This week on Cracked Spines, Sarah did all the dang work and presents to Cyrus volume one of three Chinese danmei series for their consideration: The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish, The Husky and His White Cat Shizun, and You've Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post. Two-thirds of them are completely insane and the last one is morally reprehensible. Guess which one Cyrus gravitated to. 

Discussion includes a forty-year-old man's suicide plan being derailed by dick pics, an exploration of how exactly one manages to seduce and be seduced by a fish, the most begrudging recommendation that Sarah's ever given, and more urination featured than one might expect.

Media:
The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish by Xue Shan Fei Hu
 The Husky and His White Cat Shizun by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
 You've Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post Blackegg

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Well, guys. The third of our recorded episodes about Gravity Falls. This is really our Return of the King. Cyrus and Sarah discuss media in-ties for a children's show--Journal Three, Lost Legends, and The Book of Bill, all written by Alex Hirsch. Sarah ponders about the challenges of adapting a story from one medium to another. Cyrus explains why Grunkle Ford is the new Hamlet. We keep remembering too late to be less horny about this, again, animated children's show. To be fair to us though--I mean, The Book of Bill is horny as hell to those with the eyes to see.

Check out the first part of our epic $94 million trilogy posted for free on our Patreon right here.

Our next episodes will be:

• Danmei Beat-Down on November 18, where Sarah makes a case for three separate danmei novels and Cyrus chooses which one they'll read in full.
• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine on December 2, plus maybe A Desolation Called Peace depending on how much get-up-and-go we have.

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