This week our valiant trio talks titillating (a word that always makes Josh giggle) books, as well as love stories. Together they discover that creating believable romance in literature isn't as easy as it seems. We also hear the triumphant return of JoshBot. And as a bonus: fifty shades of a dramatic reading!

Music Used: Bottle of Tears by: Honeychurch

Zane and Sean take another listener suggestion and delve into the world of banned books. Who is banning these things? Why would that happen? The bad news: Josh had a last minute emergency and couldn't make it. The good news: We were able to plug in a replacement co-host. Enjoy!

Music Used: Sean’s Song by: Honeychurch

Books mentioned:

The Executioner’s Heart by: George Mann

Blackbirds by: Chuck Wendig

Press Start To Play by: Daniel H. Wilson, John Joseph Adams

The Essential Bernie Sanders And His Vision For America by: Jonathan Tasini

Children Of The Matrix - How An Interdimensional Race Has Controlled The World For Thousands Of Years - And Still Does by: David Icke

In Cold Blood: A True Account A Multiple Murder And Its Consequences by: Truman Capote

Lolita by: Vladimir Nabokov

Looking For Alaska by: John Green

Speak by: Laurie Halse Anderson

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by: Stephen Chbosky

The Catcher In The Rye by: J. D. Salinger

Huck Finn by: Mark Twain

Holy Blood, Holy Grail by: Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln

Cracking the AP Statistics Exam by: The Princeton Review

Endings. Every book has at least one. This week we delve into what makes an ending successful, or what makes it the opposite word of what successful means. We also yell at Zane. A lot.

Music Used: Winter Pageant by: Honeychurch

Books mentioned:

The Immorality Engine by: George Mann

The Executioner’s Heart by: George Mann

The Missing by: Sarah Langan

American Psycho by: Bret Easton Ellis

Contact by: Carl Sagan

Little Women by: Louisa May Alcott

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows by: J. K. Rowling

The Mist by: Stephen King

The Great Gatsby by: F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Natural by: Bernard Malamud

The Hunger Games by: Suzanne Collins

Armada by: Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by: Ernest Cline

The Giver by: Lois Lowry

This week those wacky Cracking the Spine kids talk about authors who may or may not have lost contact with reality. Is insanity a rare find in literature, or is it almost a prerequisite? And Sean channels his inner goddess to deliver an empowering self-help dramatic reading.

Music Used: A Work Suspended by: Honeychurch   

Books mentioned:

Aurora by: Kim Stanley Robinson

A Head Full Of Ghosts by: Paul Tremblay

Make Something Up: Stories You Can’t Unread by: Chuck Palahniuk

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by: Ken Kesey

Watchmen by: Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons

V For Vendetta by: Alan Moore, David Lloyd

Hyperion by: Dan Simmons

Ender’s Game by: Orson Scott Card

The Bell Jar by: Sylvia Plath

The Immorality Engine by: George Mann

A Confederacy Of Dunces by: John Kennedy Toole

A Million Little Pieces by: James Frey

Take 2: Your Guide To Creating Happy Endings And New Beginnings by: Leeza Gibbons

This week the gang serves up the laughs and chuckles as they delve into the topic of bleak and depressing books. Why do we read them? What do we gain? It's also a week of firsts as we give our first ever birthday shout-out, as well as witnessing our first ever dramatic reading rage-quit. Let's go!

Music used: I Want to Believe by: Honeychurch

Books mentioned:

Aurora by: Kim Stanley Robinson

A Head Full Of Ghosts by: Paul G. Tremblay

The Girl With All The Gifts by: M. R. Carey

The Road by: Cormac McCarthy

Blood Meridian: Or The Evening Redness In The West by: Cormac McCarthy

Trainspotting by: Irvine Welsh

American Psycho by: Bret Easton Ellis

We Need To Talk About Kevin by: Lionel Shriver

The Girl On The Train by: Paula Hawkins

Dog Heaven by: Cynthia Rylant

Once again our hosts take a listener suggestion, this time talking about the aesthetics of books. That is, does the physical appearance of a book influence our decision to read (or not) a particular work. With the dramatic reading, it's fair to say we've spared no expense.

Music used: Turning Leaves by Honeychurch

Books discussed:

Aurora by: Kim Stanley Robinson

Crooked by: Austin Grossman

Horrorstör by: Grady Hendrix

Marabou Stork Nightmares by: Irvine Welsh

Filth by: Irvine Welsh

The Martian Chronicles by: Ray Bradbury

Red Seas Under Red Skies by: Scott Lynch

Snakes on A Plane: A Novelization by: Christa Faust

The Dinosaur Lords by: Victor Milan

This week's topic, suggested by a loyal listener, is guilty pleasures. What books make our hosts red-faced if they get caught reading them? And today's dramatic reading takes us deep inside the mind of Dr. Sam Beckett.

Music: The Winter Part One by: Honeychurch

Books mentioned:

The Name Of The Wind by: Patrick Rothfuss
Horrorstör by: Sam Stall, Grady Hendrix
Until We Meet Again by: Renee Collins
The Maze Runner by: James Dashner
The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening by: L. J. Smith
The Hunger Games by: Suzanne Collins
Quantum Leap: The Wall by: Ashley McConnell

Fantasy! Sean, Zane and Josh delve into the fantastical world of the fantasy genre. What makes it tick? Why do we read it? Apologies for no dramatic reading this week...

Books mentioned:

The Fold by: Peter Clines

The Name Of The Wind by: Patrick Rothfuss

Horrorstör by: Grady Hendrix

Go Set A Watchman by: Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird by: Harper Lee

The Lies Of Locke Lamora by: Scott Lynch

Eragon by: Christopher Paolini

Anathem by: Neal Stephenson

A Game Of Thrones by: George R. R. Martin

The Lord Of The Rings by: J. R. R. Tolkien

The Last Unicorn by: Peter S. Beagle

Stardust by: Neil Gaiman

The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower I by: Stephen King

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone by: J. K. Rowling

Today Zane and Sean get into a discussion over old-fashioned paper books as compared to e-books/tablets/etc. Also Zane provides an informative and lively reading from a children's picture books (note to self: picture books are tough for an audio podcast...)

Books discussed:

Let The Right One In by: John Ajvide Lindqvist

Blood And Salt by: Kim Ligget

Hollow Man by: Mark Pryor

The Name Of The Wind by: Patrick Rothfuss

The Hunger Games by: Suzanne Collins

A Game Of Thrones by: George R. R. Martin

Warm Bodies by: Isaac Marion

Grey: Fifty Shades Of Grey As Told By Christian by: E. L. James

The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening by: L. J. Smith

Sean and Josh give Zane a much needed break from their stupidity this week and delve into a conversation about comedy. Two of the funniest living humans talk comedy. It literally cannot go wrong. Or can it?

Books discussed:

A Head Full of Ghosts by: Paul Tremblay

The Fold by: Peter Clines

The Name of the Wind by: Patrick Rothfuss

Bossypants by: Tina Fey

Not That Kind of Girl by: Lena Dunham

Born Standing Up by: Steve Martin

Modern Romance by: Aziz Ansari

The Time Machine Did It by: John Schwarzwelder

The Pirates in an Adventure with Communists by: Gideon DeFoe

The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists by: Gideon DeFoe

The Areas of My Expertise by: John Hodgman

Brain Droppings by: George Carlin

When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops by: George Carlin

Science. . . For Her! by: Megan Amram

American Cornball by: Christopher Miller

Writing Movies for Fun and Profit by: Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant

Monologue: What Makes America Laugh Before Bedtime by: John Macks