would check out cracked.com, largely for the work of David Wong. His essays were hilarious, human, and insightful; he had a rational way of looking at the world that resonated deeply.

Fast forward: cracked.com is not the same. The current top story is "29 Inopportune Times People Farted" (okay, the title did make me laugh, but it still suggests a downward slide). On the other hand, Wong – aka author Jason Pargin – has gone on to much success. He has written the John Dies At The End series, the first book of which as famously released for free on his blog (and made into a film by legend Don Coscarelli). Then came the successful Zoey Ashe series. Now he has published a stand-alone novel called I'm Starting To Worry About This Black Box of Doom. It is one of my favourite books of 2024, if not the favourite. And I read about sixty books last year.

It was strange to see Jason in horizontal format (I follow him on Tik Tok, what can I say) but a true pleasure to talk to him about this book. Which you should read. Now.

Listen in!