We're back with a Socialist Shelf author interview! This week we're talking to labor lawyer, long-time activist, and author of the book, "Fighting Times," Jonathan Melrod!

Want to learn how to change the world through working-class organization? Jon is the man you need to hear from! He's an absolute fountain of wisdom. Don't miss this interview...or his book!

Visit https://www.jonathanmelrod.com/ to learn more about Jon, purchase "Fighting Times," and get access to all sorts of resources on working-class history.

This is a fun one.

Fantasy expert and professional hater Aysha U. Farah is back on the show to discuss C.S. Lewis' 1950 children's novel, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," though we really get into all of Narnia and spend a lot of time on its deeply fascinating author.

Who was this odd, sometimes-brilliant, sometimes-foolish, always-insane author? What made Narnia so wildly successful? Do we feel bad for Edmund? Was the Pevensie Monarchy a historically progressive force?

We're covering Tony Kushner's 2009 (and 2010, and 2011, and many-times-since-edited) play, "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures," which incidentally could also be the name of this podcast.

Joining us is beloved theater-enjoyer, A.J. Ditty from The Worst of All Possible Worlds podcast!

Together we dive into the mind of one of the great American playwrights, figure out how to kill yourself Marxistly, and catch up on Italian-American lore.

You can find A.J.'s work at https://www.worstpossible.world/ and follow him on Twitter @TheFuzzyMask.

Music by Solo Monk (@SoloMonk256 on Twitter, https://www.patreon.com/solomonkart,) Episode art is a picture of the good Kush(ner)

It's 2024...new year, new books, a new name...the same, classic socialist spirit.

We're talking about Francis Spufford's 2010 historical fiction...novel? Short story collection? Something like that... "Red Plenty."

Come for the history of the first worker state, stay for the discourse on whether or not smoking is sexy.

We both continue to remain dedicated to our organizing with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Any funds you can contribute would be helpful! The link to donate is here: https://www.liberationatl.org/donate

Music by Solo Monk (@SoloMonk256 on Twitter, https://www.patreon.com/solomonkart,) Episode art is the book cover.

It's our last episode of 2023...so let's end it on something we all know and love, "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin!

What is it about this little story that gets inside people's heads? Is Omelas basically just the story of Jesus? Can you reform a system built on child misery? (I'll go on and answer that one: no.)

For more top-tier Omelas content, check out this phenomenal article by friend of the pod, Kurt Schiller! https://bloodknife.com/omelas-je-taime/

We are giving shout-outs to anyone who donates to PSL Atlanta and sends proof of donation to our Twitter account (@SocialistShelf) or email ([email protected]). The link to donate is here: https://www.liberationatl.org/donate

Music by Solo Monk (@SoloMonk256 on Twitter, https://www.patreon.com/solomonkart,)

Yeah. The dog dies.

This week we're discussing Paolo Bacigalupi's sci-fi short story, "The People of Sand and Slag."

There's a lot of sand, there's a lot of slag. There's not a lot of joy, but we and our fantastic guest from Podside Picnic, Karlo Yeager Rodríguez, manage to find it where we can. They haven't managed to write a story yet that can destroy the power of a good bit.

We talk about climate change as blasphemy, the responsibility of humanity to the earth, the job of speculative fiction, and manage to talk about "1984" AGAIN despite having not done a "1984" episode.

Check out Karlo's work at https://alineofink.com/ and follow him on Twitter @kjy1066. Also, be sure to listen to Podside Picnic! https://www.patreon.com/PodsidePicnic

We are giving shout-outs to anyone who donates to PSL Atlanta and sends proof of donation to our Twitter account (@SocialistShelf) or email ([email protected]). The link to donate is here: https://www.liberationatl.org/donate

Music by Solo Monk (@SoloMonk256 on Twitter, https://www.patreon.com/solomonkart,)

Not all is well in the town of Salem...or Washington for that matter.

Join the Shelfers as we dive into Arthur Miller's 1953 not-so-subtle-allegorical play, "The Crucible"

Topics of discussion: McCarthyism, religious hypocrisy, Marilyn Monroe, and Jacob playing Judge Danforth in high school.

We are doing shout-outs to anyone who donates to PSL Atlanta and sends proof of donation to our Twitter account (@SocialistShelf) or email ([email protected]). The link to donate is here: https://www.liberationatl.org/donate

Music by Solo Monk (@SoloMonk256 on Twitter, https://www.patreon.com/solomonkart,) episode art is high school Jacob looking snazzy as Judge Danforth.

It's a lesser-known series...you probably haven't heard of it.

Today the shelfers take on Matthew Stover's 2005 novelization of "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith," the novel that asks the dangerous question of what would happen if you made ROTS... good?

Enjoy us diving into the concept of Star Wars legends, criticize Yoda for undialectical thinking, encouraging Bail Organa to start a Marxist militia on Alderaan, and draw parallels between Taylor Swift and Anakin Skywalker.

As discussed in the cold open, we'll be doing shout-outs to anyone who donates to PSL Atlanta and sends proof of donation to our Twitter account (@SocialistShelf) or email ([email protected]). The link to donate is here: https://www.liberationatl.org/donate

Music by Solo Monk (@SoloMonk256 on Twitter, https://www.patreon.com/solomonkart,) episode art is definitely an actual picture we took of ourselves to promote this episode.

Joss reads the entire thing at the opening so you have no excuse not to absorb this text (unless you just don't want to in which case...fair)

This week we discuss French philosopher Albert Camus' 1942, essential absurdist work, "The Myth of Sisyphus." You might have heard this one before, it's where the guy is happy despite his whole rock situation.

We get into the life of Camus (we've got opinions!), look into if absurdism and socialism are compatible ideas (we have MORE opinions) and talk about high school Jacob's brief fling with absurdist thought (no need for opinions on this one.)

Come back next week for a discussion of Matthew Stover's 2005 novelization of "Revenge of the Sith."

Music by Solo Monk (@SoloMonk256 on Twitter, https://www.patreon.com/solomonkart), episode art from SuperGiant's masterpiece, "Hades."

History may have gone entirely differently, but the music of Bruce Springsteen is eternal...

Today we explore the alt-history dystopia of Koushun Takami's, 1999 novel, "Battle Royale." This one's a little more intense than Fortnite.

What does "successful fascism" look like? Why is the genre of kids murdering each other so lucrative? Will Koushun Takami ever write a second novel?

Music by SoloMonk (@SoloMonl 256 on Twitter and https://www.patreon.com/solomonkart.) Episode art from novel's cover.