From Bayeux to Florence to Tokyo, the humble comic has lived 1000 lives. Come along with us as we turn the brightly-panelled pages of history's most enduring graphic stories. Who is Mr Obadiah Oldbuck? Should we worry if our kids are only reading graphic novels? And do webcomics really predate the web? 

We are joined by very special guest, bestselling and Aurealis Award-winning author Kell Woods as we venture into the deep dark woods of children's tales. Hold the lantern high as we breadcrumb our way through boarding school mysteries and gingerbread houses and wicked stepmothers.

And the winner is.... Duracell? What do batteries have to do with literary awards? Who snubbed the Nobel? Why on earth would anyone set themselves a challenge to read the entire Booker Prize shortlist? Find these answers and more in our examination of literary awards. And in the spirit of prize culture, let us know whether you think we deserve a gold star.

Yeehaw podcast pardners! Jump into the saddle and join us on a journey into the wild West as we take a look behind the fringed leather curtain of the humble Rope Opera. We'll chinwag about the good, the bad and the deeply problematic and find out how the cowboy really got his chaps. We'll also discover why Westerns won't be riding off into the sunset anytime soon.  

It's Alive! Plug in and enter the fray as we look at science fiction through the ages. Also, we discuss who the father - or mother - of Science-Fiction really is; how Star Trek very nearly fell at the final frontier and was saved by Lucille Ball; and whether science-fiction is reaching its event horizon. And seriously, Homer, you don't belong in this episode.

What really are 'trashy' books and why are they so verily looked down upon? This month we inspect the shame and snobbery around readership. And to lighten things up, we leave season 3 with a puddle of bloopers.

What makes a classic book? Come along on a journey through the classics as we discover how a book becomes exalted above others - and whether they're still relevant today. Oh, and, yeah, the Odyssey makes its episodic appearance.

When George Eliot wrote "don't judge a book by it's cover' in the Mill on the Floss in 1860, it is certain she did not know just how strange a relationship we would have to her enduring idiom 160 years later. Open the book on a journey through the history and importance of cover design from clay tablets to jewel-encrusted tomes to open-shirted men - we find out why we're still absolutely judging books by their covers.

What might be achieved in a single day? Come with us as we stride across an investigation of pacing and character and breadth and in which we find out what connects Aristotle to a 16th century Italian humourist to Shakespeare to James Joyce to Ferris Bueller.

What's in a name? Quite a lot, it turns out. This month we take a deep dive through the history of pseudonyms - who has them, who dropped them and wherefore art thou?