We dive into BBC’s In The Flesh, the gritty British drama that uses “Partially Deceased Syndrome” as a razor‑sharp metaphor for identity, conformity and the politics of “passing”. From Kieren Walker’s quiet grief to the radical undead sect that rejects the cure, we unpack how the series blends horror, queer allegory and social critique, weighing the strengths of season 1 against the uneven twists of season 2.

Our longtime friend OllieEatsBrains joins the chair to share life updates—moving across the country, new job, recent adoption, and the launch of the MAZE comic Kickstarter. Ollie explains why the story shifted from prose to graphic form, highlights artist Fede’s striking style, and teases the next chapter of the MAZE universe, tying the comic’s themes of label‑rebellion back to the zombie‑politics of In The Flesh.

Contact & relevant links

• OllieEatsBrains
  • OllieEatsBrains website: https://ollieeatsbrains.com/
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ollieeatsbrains/
  • Epizode with Ollie talking about M.A.Z.E.: Epizode 58 
  • Carrd bio (central hub for all socials): https://ollieeatsbrains.carrd.co
  • MAZE Kickstarter (official campaign page): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred
• In The Flesh
  • In The Flesh Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Flesh_(TV_series)
  • BBC programme page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b042ckss
  • IMDb entry: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2480514/

Click here to back Ollies 'MAZE 1: Staken; Not Stirred' on kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred

Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

We’re buzzing with anticipation for Tina Romero’s upcoming queer‑zombie film Queens of the Dead! From the moment we caught the first trailer; a glitter‑soaked Neon lit warehouse rave gone horribly right, we’ve been dissecting the film’s bold premise, the promise of sequined power tools and six‑inch heeled zombies, and the way Tina Romero’s DJ‑nightlife roots could translate into kinetic, club‑ready choreography. We can’t wait to see how the all‑star drag lineup; Margaret Cho, Nina West, Dominique Jackson, Katie O’Brien and more, turns a typical zombie apocalypse into a celebration of chosen family, joy, and creative survival.

We're also challenging listeners to join our “Boycott the Machine” holiday push—support indie, BIPOC and local business and starve the giants who are supporting blatant fascism.

• The film is now streaming on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Fandango At Home, and Plex; rottentomatoes.com
• Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 92 % critic score, praising its “glam‑gore” aesthetic and heartfelt humor fandango.com

Click here to back Ollies 'MAZE 1: Staken; Not Stirred' on kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred

Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

In this episode we sit down with Sarah Lyons Fleming, the brilliant mind behind the Until the End of the World series (as well as her other series; City and Cascadia), which feels more like a well‑stocked pantry than a barren wasteland. She enthralls us with the gritty logistics of life after the collapse, cozy survival, acorn flour, and how community‑first storytelling can outshine lone‑wolf power fantasies.

Beyond the gore, Sarah shares how she weaves LGBTQIA+, women‑centered, and neurodivergent characters into the fabric of a post‑apocalypse, and reveals just how many cans of beans are hidden under her bed.

Relevant Links

• Sarah's Official website: https://www.sarahlyonsfleming.com/
• Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SarahLyonsFleming/
• Amazon author storefront (for all titles): https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sarah-Lyons-Fleming

Click here to back Ollies 'MAZE 1: Staken; Not Stirred' on kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred

Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

The undead gather for the inaugural ZombieWeen 2025 showdown, where the court of the apocalypse crowns a new monarch of the undead. Leah and Dan usher listeners into a night of witty banter, improvised challenges, and razor‑sharp satire—all framed by a Jeopardy‑style board that pits “Zombie Survival 101,” “Horror Tropes,” “Apocalypse Etiquette,” “Zombie Blockbusters,” and “Dating While Undead” against one another. Contestants—including returning royalty Laurie, the reigning king Sylvester, and challengers Alice B. Sullivan and Jack Callaghan—battle for the coveted Throne of the Undead while the audience votes for the fan‑favorite “Zombesties Choice Award.”

Vote here!

Special Guests

Laurie Calcaterra – Path of the Pale Rider

• https://www.pathofthepalerider.com
• https://instagram.com/path_of_the_pale_rider

Sylvester Barzey – Planet Dead

• https://sylvesterbarzey.com/
• https://instagram.com/sylvesterbarzey_author

Jack Callaghan – Zombie Nerd and the Half‑Term Harrowing

• https://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Nerd-Half-Term-Harrowing-Callaghan/
• https://instagram.com/jackcallaghanauthor

Alice B. Sullivan – Elementary Undead

• https://alicebsullivan.com
• https://instagram.com/zombieauthor_alicebsullivan/

Click here to back Ollies 'MAZE 1: Staken; Not Stirred' on kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred

Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

We crack open Resident Evil (2002) to expose Umbrella Corp’s playbook: a secret underground lab, an AI “Red Queen” that chooses lethal containment over humanity, and a virus that turns a research facility into an underground tomb. By mapping the film’s thrills onto today’s corporate landscape, we explore how shareholder‑driven incentives, corporate personhood, and profit‑first logic can become a real‑world horror story—​a corporate psychopath that “kills” for efficiency.

From the legal roots of corporate personhood (the 14th Amendment) to the documentary The Corporation that diagnoses corporations as psychopaths, we discuss how the Red Queen’s logic is a cautionary AI‑governance tale and a mirror of unchecked corporate power. We finish with concrete steps: building mutual‑aid networks, supporting cooperatives, and demanding transparency to “shoot the corporate head” before the next outbreak.

Relevant Links

• Wikipedia – Resident Evil (2002 film) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_(film)
• NPR – “When Did Companies Become People?” – https://www.npr.org/2014/07/28/335288388/when-did-companies-become-people-excavating-the-legal-evolution
• The Corporation documentary official site – https://thecorporation.com/
• Beagle Freedom Project – https://bfp.org/
• Leah’s Etsy shop (Sunset Cloud Parade) – https://www.etsy.com/shop/SunsetCloudParade

Click here to back Ollies 'MAZE 1: Staken; Not Stirred' on kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred

Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

The plan for this episode was simple: fire zombies, protest frogs, and a life update. What we got was a quiet living room, two handheld mics, and the kind of day that makes everything else feel small. Our old boy Nero, a once-feral, endlessly loving dog who shaped our routines and taught us patience, took a sharp turn. We walked into the ER carrying an 80lb dog like a duffle bag and left with a simple truth: sometimes love is mercy, and mercy means letting go.

If this resonates, tell us about a pet who left this world and the ritual that helped you say goodbye.

Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

Can a film adaptation ever capture the quiet ache of its source? In this crossover with Wicked Words Book Club, we dissect Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies and its sleek, sanitized movie version, tracing the emotional, ideological, and tonal shifts that split page and screen. We celebrate the bits that land, like visual metaphors of zombified liminality and clever sight gags, and lament the simplifications that undercut weight: interchangeable bonies, narrative shortcuts, and a romance that skips its own gritty labor.

Did the adaptation elevate or erode the zombie genre? Tune in and decide with us.

Contact & Links

Wicked Words Book Club

• Website / Blog: Wicked-Words.com 
  
  
• Spotify: Wicked Words Book Club
  
  
• Instagram: @wickedwordsbc
   
• Discord: https://discord.gg/J5DF983yMg
   

Click here to back Ollies 'MAZE 1: Staken; Not Stirred' on kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred

Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

Join us for a smart, irreverent dive into Aquarium of the Dead with marine biologist and festival fanatic Jacob Quijas. We map undead tropes onto real marine science—waves, buoyancy, detritivores, keystone species—and even speculate: can the ocean digest zombies faster than we expect and would their bones become coral?

Then we dive in to the movie: shark mix-ups, roaring octopi, and what Aquarium of the Dead gets hilariously wrong about marine life and systems. Along the way, Jacob’s wisdom about eating down the food chain, building communities under pressure, and finding science in the absurd will have you laughing, learning, and maybe even rethinking your next seaside horror flick.

Jacob Quijas

• Instagram — @vivalafestivapodcast
• Viva La Festiva Podcast — https://tr.ee/prdMZjTMeJ

Movie / Topic Links

•  Aquarium of the Dead (2021) — Wikipedia page with production notes 
•  Trailer on YouTube 

Click here to back Ollies 'MAZE 1: Staken; Not Stirred' on kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred

Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

When a zombie named 'R' rescues a living girl instead of devouring her, everything shifts. Told through R’s reflective, darkly witty inner monologue, Warm Bodies challenges our assumptions of life, death, and what it means to feel. As R consumes Perry’s brain and begins to access memories, he forges a strange intimacy with Perry’s consciousness—raising the question: whose identity is really influencing R’s journey?

In this crossover episode, we join Sara and Greg from Wicked Words Bookclub Podcast dive deep into Isaac Marion’s bold reimagining of the zombie mythos. We examine how the mirrored, stagnating societies of zombies at an airport and humans in a stadium reflect each other, how R’s transformations mirror emotional rebirth, and whether love alone can shake entire systems.

Contact / Social Media for Wicked Words Bookclub + Relevant Links

Wicked Words / Wicked Words Bookclub

•  Website: wicked-words.com 
•  Podcast (Spotify): Wicked Words Book Club 
•  Instagram: @WickedWordsBC 
•  Threads: @wickedwordsbc 

Isaac Marion (author of Warm Bodies)

•  Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Marion 
• Website: isaacmarion.com

Click here to back Ollies 'MAZE 1: Staken; Not Stirred' on kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred

Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

This episode digs into how the Trump Administration has rolled back decades of clean energy progress—through sweeping executive orders, budget cuts, and cancelled programs—and how those moves are hitting communities of color, the poor, and Indigenous Nations the hardest. Leah shares her own loss of work in environmental justice, and we break down what that means in real terms: higher energy bills, fewer clean-energy jobs, loss of protections, and more pollution in the places that already bear the worst burdens.

Relevant Information and Links:

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is terminating the $7 billion “Solar for All” program — a key initiative intended to bring solar access to low-income and disadvantaged communities.
  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-considers-ending-solar-for-all-program-funding/
• There is also a broader regulatory rollback: dozens of Biden-era environmental, climate, and clean air protections are being dismantled or suspended.
  https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/EELP-Environmental-and-Energy-Executive-Orders-Jan.-2025.pdf
• What’s Left of Federal Environmental Justice
• Wiring the Divide: The Impact of Redlining on Electric Infrastructure
• Race: The Power of an Illusion

Click here to back Ollies 'MAZE 1: Staken; Not Stirred' on kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred

Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com