The Fascinating Podcast

Our Halloween episode features Dr. Brandon Grafius, author of Reading the Bible with Horror. He tells us how using horror as a lens can help us understand the Bible. We dive in deep on the Bible's most famous ghost story - Samuel being summoned by the witch of Endor.

Cancel culture seems impossible to escape. But what exactly IS cancel culture? We walk through the history of cancelling and consider the promise and danger of what's ahead. PLUS: Where in the world is Mikalatos this week?

What happens when you make a TV show about Native Americans with a Native show runner and an all-Native writers' room? You get the unparalleled new show Reservation Dogs. Rev. Sonya Brown (Dine/Navajo) joins us to dive into this groundbreaking show.

What does theology look like when you don't center white male theologians? Kat Armas has a radical suggestion: it looks like Abuelita Faith. Kat invites us into the kitchens and homes where theology is embodied. PLUS: a killer photoshoot for October babies.

After the excitement of 300, your Fascinating buds slow down and spend some time catching up. What big changes did we miss? And what's been fascinating us while we've been gone? It's the gap-episode you've been waiting for!

Fall began with a box-office dominated by Shang-Chi. What does this smash-hit mean for the future of fantasy fiction? We interview four experts for their insights. Ken Liu, Fonda Lee, Phil Yu and Andrea Stewart join us for a THREE HOUR episode 300. Plus, you know we have to weigh in on Shang-Chi. We're back with a big, big splash!

The Season 6 finale is here... and we're remembering things that turned 21 in 2021 - including the camera phone. Has any other device so accelerated social change, for good and ill?

Matt Mikalatos is in the hot seat again. He has concluded his epic fantasy trilogy The Sunlit Lands. What does it take to bring a world to a satisfying conclusion? What should we expect in this final volume? And how about that killer cover? All this and more as we dive into The Story King!

It's summer and with vaccinations, it's time to travel again. We share some of our travel plans, as well as some of our most embarrassing travel faux pas.

How do you deal with trolls? More importantly, how do you even spot a troll? And what about folks who aren't trying to troll, but still don't have good intentions? We do a deep (and wide) dive on how we spot, engage and deal with disagreement in online spaces.