Garden Of Doom

Professor John Hoopes returns to continue our conversation about pseudoarcheology and ideas spearheaded by Graham Hancock. What did we talk about? What didn't we talk about? Giants - check. Hybrids - check. Yes, both nephilim and Homo Sapiens with other hominids. Megalythic structures - check. Pyramids on several continents and Baalbek and Henges. Nazca Lines - check. Vamanas or other flying machines - check. THE Crustal Skull - check. Nuclear glass and tectites - check. Huge regions of India unlivable due to nuclear radiation - check. White Gods and Lost tribes - check. Atlantis and other lost continents and lands - check.

This episode we welcome back returning guest Daniele-Hadi Irandoost. He's written two books on spycraft and is working towards his Doctorate in the subject. We discuss the ethics of espionage and what versions in the media are accurate or fantastical. Most of all, we discuss surveillance State and the surveillance culture. 

Rahab's House of Spies: https://a.co/d/4MSRVHK A New Vision of Spycraft: https://a.co/d/epY2gZz Bio: Daniele-Hadi Irandoost is a professional author and currently reading for his doctorate in the sociology of surveillance at the University of Glasgow.

The Garden visits Mt. Olympus and the Greek world with our sometimes cohost, Cee the Superior, and New York Times bestseller, George O'Connor. Disclaimer: The show did not get a proper ending as I lost internet, but the vast majority of the topic was covered. The better news is George has agreed to come on again and we'll visit some of your favorites and mine.

George O'Connor is an author, illustrator and cartoonist. Above all, George is a Greek mythology buff and a classic superhero comics fan, and he's out to remind us how much our pantheon of superheroes (Superman, Batman, the X-Men, etc) owes to mankind's original superheroes: the Greek pantheon. Now he has brought his attention to OLYMPIANS, an ongoing series retelling the classic Greek myths in comics form.​In his New York Times bestselling Olympians series, O'Connor draws from primary documents to reconstruct and retell classic Greek myths. But these stories aren't sedate, scholarly works. They're action-packed, fast-paced, high-drama adventures, with monsters, romance, and not a few huge explosions. O'Connor's vibrant, kinetic art brings ancient tales to undeniable life, in a perfect fusion of super-hero aesthetics and ancient Greek mythology. George's first graphic novel, Journey Into Mohawk Country, used as its sole text the actual historical journal of the seventeenth-century Dutch trader Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, and told the true story of how New York almost wasn't. He followed that up with Ball Peen Hammer, the first graphic novel written by playwright Adam Rapp, a dark, dystopian view of a society's collapse.
 In addition to his graphic novel career, O'Connor has published several children's picture books, including the New York Times best-selling Kapow!, Sally and the Some-Thing, If I Had a Raptor and If I Had a Triceratops. George lives in Brooklyn, NY with five terrible cats and one Olympian goddess.

J.L. Hancock is the author of a military techno thriller and the sequel is pending Pentagon approval. Prior to becoming an author, he spent two decades in the United States Navy, and was cryptologoist specialist. This put him in the Special Forces domain and he explains his origin, his path and his trainings. He also describes what his role was as a member of the armed forces and later, as a contractor. He has been deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Phillipines. 

We of course discuss his books. But we also discuss Havana Syndrome, high cancer rates within the Special Forces, the current situation involving North Korean Troops in Ukraine, Russian military doctrine and issues, and a lot more.

We don't usually cover historical fiction in the Garden, but this opportunity was too good to pass up. Tong Ge has already won one award for best new fiction, but she's a finalist for yet another prestigious award. Ancestrally biographical (I think I made this term up), she takes us through the Chinese experience of the Japanes invasion and occupation, and how that led to the Maoist Revolution. Tong takes us through those scenarios through the eyes of one family and the protagonist, Golden Phoenix. During the course of our discussions, we cover history, the politics of China, the military of China, the Taiwan issues, the cultural and socio-economic status, and religion in China. We discuss the Uiygars and other matters as well. 

Born and raised in China, Tong Ge came to Canada in the late 80s as an international
student. She has obtained a Master of Science degree from University of Saskatchewan
in 1992. Since 2012, she has written under both her real name and the pen name Tong
Ge, publishing poems, prose, and short stories in both English and Chinese across North
America, England, and Taiwan. Her works can be found in publications such as PRISM
International, Canadian Stories, Ricepaper, Academy of the Heart and Mind, FLOW
magazine, Vineyard Poetry Quarterly, 渥水, 远方的诗, Polyglot Magazine, Aloka
Magazine, Magnets and Ladders. With four literary prizes already received, she is also a
finalist for four others. Her debut novel, "The House Filler," was published in Canada in 2023 and is among the five
finalists worldwide for the 2023 Eyelands Book Awards historical fiction + memoir category and is the winner of the
2024 Independent Press Award for new fiction. It is also a finalist for the 2024 Canadian Book Club Award.
To request additional review copies or an interview with Tong Ge, please contact Mickey Mikkelson at
Creative Edge Publicity: [email protected] | 403.464.6925.

With the veil between the living and the dead so thin, The Garden thought it appropriate to bring you an episode on exorcisms. To do this properly, we call upon the host of Southern Demonology, and all around scholarly and learned man, JJ Johnson. We discuss when exorcisms became something formal and ritual based in historic times. We discuss when an exorcism is appropriate and the vetting process. Is the exorcism over a person or place? Are there non Catholic exorcisms? Why is it important to know the Demon's name...or is it important? What did Hollywood and the media get right and wrong, and so much more.

What's more Halloween then witches? Maybe next week's show topic. But, probably not. From shamans mizing herbs and bat wings, to goddesses, to green faced crones, to hags luring children into the forest for supper. Skinwalkers are witches. Shapeshifters are witches. Cannibals are witches. Hippies are witches. Homeopaths are witches. Or are they? 

To answer hard questions, we call upon our part time cohost, full time smartie: Cee the Supeior. And our return guest who knows pretty much everything, Mark Olly. Archeologist, author, historian. 

And we cover witches. From our pre-historic roots around the world to modern constructs and the notions of covens, etc. We tackle questions regarding cats and nine lives, cauldrons, Templars, Salem, Hecate, Circe, Morgana le Fay, and JK Rowling's world. Follow the trail of candy. The Garden boasts lovely woods.

Emmy nominated Jett Jansen joins the show. Jett tells his story and how he blended a love of theater with a love or combat sports to make his way to Hollywood. He started more or less as a runner for an extreme sports team and parlayed that into a role in an ongoing production. Since then, he's been stuntman, actor, writer, producer, action coordinator and all sorts of other ttitles. His Emmy nomination was fron "The Righteous Gemstones" and he's worked on movies and TV shows including "Stranger Things". He was the spirit and brains behind a Pluto TV channel dedicated to independent wrestling and he's even done body work on video games, including for World Wrestling Entertainment. 

More than that, he's a first generation American of Cuban descent who is the American dream. He even taught John Goodman a few moves. But for more, you have to listen.

Sean Haas enters the Garden. He hosts the "Advent of Computing" podcast, Described as: the show that talks about the shocking, intriguing, and all too often relevant history of computing. A lot of little things we take for granted today have rich stories behind their creation, in each episode we will learn how older tech has lead to our modern world.

We discuss what technology does have doom potential, and what's being exagerrated? So, should we fear robot overlords like Terminator or Ultron? Is HAL going to lock us all out? Is there another Y2K looming? 

In addition to the above, we discuss viruses, malware, spyware. What's the big deal about TikTok? Should you pay more attention to Terms & Conditions and Personal Data Privacy policies?

Richard Anderson is the acclaimed author of Nautilus Award winner "The Evolution of Life" and "Outbound Islands in the Void". He's a researcher par excellance and a three time guest of the show. Our topic is climate change. Is the Earth at a tipping point? Or has it past that tipping point? Many argue climate change is cyclical or not man made. Others argue we are not near, let alone past, any tipping point. Others feel science and technology will resolve these issues. Anderson believes we are mostly past the point of no return. Not necessarily because we can't reverse and address certain key problems; but because we won't. Our politics are too divided. The nations of the world are too divided with differing priorities and resources. Science is no longer respected and anything establishment has been undermined by the YouTube citizen researcher culture. This almost made it into Garden of Doom but since we stuck mostly to science and real politique, Views it is. In this case, the water being warm is one of the problems.


richardandersonauthor.com