With ‘Special Topics and Calamity Physics’ and ‘Night Film’ both catapulting Marisha Pessl into the realms of early BookTube and book internet fanfare in the early 2010s, with whispers of dark academia and academia-related stories that blend with thrillers and literary fiction.

We’ve both been long-interested in Marisha Pessl as an author and the fascinating premise and stunning cover of ‘Darkly’ meant it was sent straight to the top of our dark academia wishlist…

A seemingly ordinary high school student. A mysterious summer internship. And a legendary games designer, now dead.

When an ad for an internship with the Louisiana Veda Foundation appears, Arcadia 'Dia' Gannon rushes to apply. Veda's game-making empire, Darkly, was renowned for its ingenious and terrifying games back in the day and Dia is as obsessed with them as anyone.

The remaining games are priced like highly sought-after works of art, with the rarest and most notorious commanding tens of millions of dollars at auction. Now, Dia is thrust into the enigmatic heart of the operation. But who are these other interns? Why do they all seem to have something to hide? And why was she really chosen? It soon becomes clear that this summer will be the most twisted Darkly game of all.

But will ‘Darkly’ live up to our inflated dark academia dreams?

In this episode we discuss:

- The many pop culture, movie, TV and literary influences and connections we found in ‘Darkly’

- The way that the media villainise creative, successful women, and the way that the men around them support and facilitate it

- The role of romance, Poe Valois III and Choke Newington