Workers' Lit

We're back! We've got aliens! We've got monsters! We've got...penguins? Yes. Lots of penguins.

What good is a mystery you can't solve? How do you survive a shoggoth attack? What comes of a dream of a better world when it's clouded by anti-solidaristic bigotry? We cover a lot in the span of forty-five minutes or so.

Music by Kevin MacLeod. Art by Gecko! for the Moscow University Press.

It's time to enter the weeeiiirddd world of H.P. Lovecraft.

In this episode, learn about the life of Lovecraft, the good, the bad, the ugly, the badder, and the uglier (seriously, he wasn't a very good guy.) We discuss the influence of Lovecraft on the horror genre, the looming sense of doom instilled in the capitalism of the 1930s, and what makes a story actually scary.

Episode art by Howard V. Brown's cover of "Astounding Stories." Music by Kevin MacLeod.

You're really uploading an episode on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol?" In February? Are you crazy? Maybe!

Join us on the foggy streets of Dickens' London, a place where all sorts of wondrous folk fight to scratch out a living in the birthplace of industrial capitalism. How does light get introduced into such a bleak setting? Why does this story speak to us more than a century-and-a-half later? What can it teach us about our own world?

Let's dive in!

Follow us on Twitter @SocialistShelf or email us at [email protected]!

Cover image from the film, "The Muppet Christmas Carol." Music by @FreeToUseMusic.

Part 2! We talk about the motivation of Octavia Butler, the return of company towns, and just how vital clinging to one another is in a world on fire. Also, check out Jacob desperately trying not to spoil the second book.

Follow us on Twitter @SocialistShelf or email us at [email protected].

Picture of Octavia Butler from the Associated Press. Music by Kevin MacLeod

This is one of my all-time favorites: Octavia Butler's 1993 dystopian novel, "Parable of the Sower." Listeners, you're in for one heck of a ride.

What if dialectics were a religion? What will the US look like when the exploitation of the global south finally comes home? Plus, what to do when everybody else is acting calm in the middle of the apocalypse.

Follow us on Twitter @SocialistShelf or email us at [email protected]

Art from John Jude Palencar's cover art for "Parable of the Sower." Music by Kevin MacLeod.

The second half of our Brave New World discussion.

In this episode: We talk even more about Huxley vs Orwell (we can't help ourselves) and examine how fascism dresses itself up as a utopia to its subjects. Then we spend some time with the brilliant, the magnificent, the king of the debate-me-bros himself, World Controller MUSTAPHA MOND!

Follow us on Twitter @SocialistShelf or shoot us an email at [email protected]

Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Hey! First episode!

In this rough first attempt, we hop right into Aldous Huxley's dystopian classic, "Brave New World." 

How does propaganda really work? Why do we believe this book could trounce "1984" with one hand behind its back? What happens when you make Henry Ford into your actual God? All this and more in Brave New Pod Pt1.

Credits to Greg Klamt for the episode art and Kevin MacLeod for the music.