Overdue

This week's book is a mostly-perfectly-fine novel attached to a somewhat insufferable and somewhat controversial literary scene. My experience of reading the book was fair-to-good! My experience of reading about "Dimes Square" was less good.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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Come with us as we revisit Stoneybrook, CT through the visuals of acclaimed author and illustrator Raina Telgemeier. Joining us on this trip is Daniela Doncel, host of Generation: Baby-Sitters Club, a five-part series from Connecticut Public exploring the history and impact of the series. For more of Overdue episodes on the BSC, check out our longread series SIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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For this show-within-a-show, Craig and Andrew learned about the world of Middle-Earth by reading J.R.R. Tolkien's posthumously published legendarium THE SILMARILLION. This episode posted first for our Patreon supporters in October 2025. If you want to hear our current longread project THE PRYDAINGER ZONE (and a bunch of other stuff besides), visit patreon.com/overduepod.

Tolkien concludes the Quenta Silmarillion with several tales of woe, mostly centered on the man Húrin and his cursed children. After a half-elf successfully pleads his case before the supreme court of the Valar, a final battle ensues and Morgoth is defeated...or is he? (He is.) (Or is he???????)

The reading list:

Ep 1 - Ainulindale, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion Ch 1-3

Ep 2 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 4-10

Ep 3 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 11-16

Ep 4 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 17-20

Ep 5 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 21-24

Ep 6 - Akallabêth, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, Appendices

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Also titled Let Me In, this mid-2000s horror debut from Sweden engages directly with some vampire tropes, as well as one of the great fears of humankind: what if the kids were bad?

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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It's true that we usually try to reserve Spooktober for books that are, how you say, "classically spooky." But isn't societal misogyny and fatphobia just as spooky as any ghost, ghoul, or pieced-together-monster-that-represents-humankind's-hubris? We'd like to think so. And we'd really like you to think so too.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com/overdue for 50% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Spooktober continues with this Rez Gothic slasher from Stephen Graham Jones. A vengeful spirit hunts down four young Blackfeet men for a past transgression on their reservation, prompting reflection on whether or not they'd ever have become "good Indians."

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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A classic haunted house tale, full of ghosts and bugs and ghosts who can boss around bugs. I swear the presence of time travel was not something I gravitated to on purpose this time.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com/overdue for 50% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

Advertise on Overdue

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Heinlein's sci-fi classic is rather different from the campy satire of Paul Verhoeven's 1997 adaptation. You can ask similar questions of both. Do they gleefully depict fascism? Do they glorify militarism and violence? Do they successfully subvert either? In our experience, both versions of Starship Troopers seem...complicated.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For this show-within-a-show, Craig and Andrew learned about the world of Middle-Earth by reading J.R.R. Tolkien's posthumously published legendarium THE SILMARILLION. This episode posted first for our Patreon supporters in October 2025. If you want to hear our current longread project THE PRYDAINGER ZONE (and a bunch of other stuff besides), visit Patreon.com/overduepod.

Morgoth is back baby!!! He's got dragons, he's got balrogs, he's got orcs, and he's ready to make a mess of the meticulously described map that a bunch of the rest of this book is dedicated to setting up.

But he doesn't get everything he wants! Like when a man and his elf girlfriend defeat his most-trusted lieutenant, put his big dog to sleep, and come a-creeping to grab the Silmarils right from his crown! We still don't really know what they do, but people sure do seem to want those things!!

The reading list:

Ep 1 - Ainulindale, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion Ch 1-3

Ep 2 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 4-10

Ep 3 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 11-16

Ep 4 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 17-20

Ep 5 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 21-24

Ep 6 - Alkallabeth, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, Appendices

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

Advertise on Overdue

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

They'll never write a time travel story that Andrew won't try! This week's riff on the formula includes megalomaniac tech billionaires, millennial malaise, and an astoundingly dangerous amusement park in northern New Jersey.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com/overdue for 50% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

Advertise on Overdue

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.