The Devil's Library

As temperatures soar across Europe, Ligeia and Leraje decide to cheer themselves up with three more stories from the Maestro of Misanthropy, Thomas Ligotti. This time we read the stories from 'The Voice of the Demon' section from Grimscribe. There are four stories in that section but we had already read 'In The Shadow of Another World' so we didn't talk much about that one. If you want to hear us...

This time we talk about Iain Banks' 1984 debut novel The Wasp Factory. The book carries content warnings, notably for the animal cruelty in it and so does this episode as we have to discuss these aspects. Obviously we don't graphically describe the details though. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep14.pdf The Wasp Factory: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL26871881M/The_Wasp_Factory Dev...

After our Susanna Clarke diversion Ligeia and Leraje dive back into the weird world of happiness hater Thomas Ligotti, and we're thrilled to be joined once again by Chris of the Doom Folk Metal band Buzzard as we look at Ligotti's Nyctalops Trilogy (The Chymist, Drink to Me Only with Labyrinthine Eyes and Eyes of the Lynx). Non-Spotify ways to listen: https://devilslibrary.org Transcript (PDF): ht...

This month we read and then discussed Olga Ravn's stunning Booker Prize long-listed novel The Wax Child which is based on the Witchcraft persecutions in 17th Century Jutland. You want to make Satanists cry Olga? Because this is how you make Satanists cry! Non-Spotify options for listening/subscribing to this podcast are at https://devilslibrary.org Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep1...

The final episode rescued from the pre-Devil's Library abyss, in which Ligeia and Leraje talked about Susanna Clarke's prize winning novel, Piranesi. Non-Spotify options for listening/subscribing to this podcast are at https://devilslibrary.org Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep12-7.pdf Piranesi (novel): https://openlibrary.org/books/OL36128954M/Piranesi  

Another episode rescued from the pre-Devil's Library abyss, in which Ligeia and Leraje talked for the very first time about the hugely influential work of Thomas Ligotti. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep12-6.pdf Book: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20016684W/Songs_of_a_dead_dreamer_and_Grimscribe Previous Ligotti episodes: Part 2: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-35-son...

In this bonus minisode Ligeia and Leraje read and discuss the final two short stories from Clarke's short story collection set in the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell universe. Non-Spotify options for listening/subscribing to this podcast are at https://devilslibrary.org Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep12-5.pdf Part I episode: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-105-the-ladi...

This month we discuss Pike's choice of 'Roadside Picnic' a stone-cold classic of the Sci-Fi genre first in print in 1972 that has inspired countless imitators and directly influenced Andrei Tarkovsky's movie 'Stalker' and games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Shadow of Chernobyl Non-Spotify options for listening/subscribing to this podcast are at https://devilslibrary.org Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibr...

Another episode rescued from the pre-Devil's Library abyss, in which Ligeia and Leraje talk about the sequel to The Exorcist, Legion. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep11-6.pdf The Exorcist Devil's Library Episode: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-96-the-exorcist-by-william-peter-blatty Legion (novel): https://openlibrary.org/works/OL927214W/Legion

In this bonus episode (that we really need to stop calling minisodes as there's nothing mini about them!) Ligeia and Leraje read and discuss three more short stories from Clarke's short story collection set in the Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell universe. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep11-5.pdf Part I episode: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-105-the-ladies-of-grace-adi...

In this episode, The Devil's Librarian's go to purgatory. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep11.pdf Book: https://www.librarything.com/work/35595680/t/A-Blackened-Heart-A-Blackened-Soul

In this bonus episode, Ligeia and Leraje take a Ligotti break (but don't worry, we will get back to him!) and talk about 3 stories from Susanna Clarke's short story collection, The Ladies of Grace Adieu. Transcript (PDF) - https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep10-5.pdf The Ladies of Grace Adieu - https://www.librarything.com/work/1363050/t/The-Ladies-of-Grace-Adieu-and-Other-Stories Jonathon Strange and M...

In this episode, Lithos, Pike, Ligeia and Leraje talk about Lithos' choice 'Play Nice' by Rachel Harrison - another episode with mixed opinions! Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep10.pdf Play Nice: https://www.librarything.com/work/33411221/t/Play-Nice

Another episode rescued from pre-Devil's Library time, Leraje's audio quality is not great due to a misconfigured mic. In this episode Ligeia and Leraje talked about The Exorcist, how it compared to the arguably more famous movie and what we took from it as a novel. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep9-6.pdf The Exorcist (novel): https://www.librarything.com/work/38484/t/The-Exorcist...

In January of 2025, on a different podcast, Ligeia and Leraje started doing episodes about books and reading. The original intent was to keep them short - but they soon got long! In the summer of '25, we started The Devil's Library but we thought it was a shame we had left the older episodes behind and so here they are. Be warned - the audio quality is dodgy in places! In this short episode we tal...

The Devil's Librarians talk about Ruthanna Emrys' debut novel Winter Tide and its role in countering Lovecraft's personal xenophobia whilst remaining true to the Mythos itself. Transcript: https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep9.pdf Winter Tide: https://www.librarything.com/work/18582659/t/Winter-Tide The Innsmouth Legacy series (3 works, a prequel short story called The Litany of Earth and 2 novels - Win...

In their latest Ligotti side episode, Ligeia and Leraje are joined by Chris from the Doom Folk Metal band Buzzard, a fellow Ligotti enthusiast - a fact that often comes through clearly in the lyrics he writes for Buzzard. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep8-5.pdf Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe: https://www.librarything.com/work/15932254/t/Songs-of-a-Dead-Dreamer-and-Grimscribe...

In this episode The Devil's Librarians get to grips with the beautiful, enigmatic horror of Jeff VanderMeer's novel Annihilation. Please note! Leraje made a mistake with a reference - when he mentions The Dunwich Horror he means The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep8.pdf Annihilation (novel): https://www.librarything.com/work/14034594/t/Annihilation Southern R...

In this episode, The Devil's Librarians are honoured (and slightly giddy) to be joined by Heather Parry, the author of Carrion Crow (which we talked about a couple of episodes ago) and Orpheus Builds A Girl. Transcript: https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep7.pdf Carrion Crow: https://www.librarything.com/work/32884942/t/Carrion-Crow Orpheus Builds A Girl: https://www.librarything.com/work/28299177/t/Orph...

Leraje, with help from some familiar voices, looks at the Romantic Satanism movement and how it informed and became the bedrock of our interpretation of Modern Atheistic Satanism. The Carducci quotes spoken in Italian were performed by Valter Zanardi, published on YouTube (https://youtu.be/hfPR0aQ61g8) under a Creative Commons license on 17th October 2019. Transcript (PDF) QueerSatanic on LaVey an...

Ligeia, Pike, Lithos and Leraje get gothic with Heather Parry's visceral, deeply affecting novel Carrion Crow. Transcription (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep6.pdf Carrion Crow: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL57547213M/Carrion_Crow The Madwoman In The Attic: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL545633W/The_madwoman_in_the_attic Fruits of Knowledge Book Campaign: https://helltraef.org/fruitsofknowl...

Ligeia and Leraje continue their in-depth breakdown of the unsettling short story collections of Thomas Ligotti. Transcription (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep5-5.pdf Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe on Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20016684W/Songs_of_a_dead_dreamer_and_Grimscribe Ligotti Part 2: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-35-songs-of-a-dead-dreamer-grimsc...

This episode Pike, Lithos, Ligeia and Leraje get our Satan all the way on and talk about the Ira Levin 1960's classic Rosemary's Baby. Hail, uh, Adrian I guess. Transcript: https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep5.pdf Rosemarys' Baby on OpenLibrary: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL28322W/Rosemary's_Baby Rosemary's Baby Movie on TMDB: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/805-rosemary-s-baby Tanis Podcast: https...

In this episode, Ligeia, Lithos, Pike and Leraje discuss Ursula K Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. Transcription (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep4.pdf The Last Archive podcast episode 'The Word For Man Is Ishi': https://www.thelastarchive.com/season-4/episode-2-the-word-for-man-is-ishi The Left Hand of Darkness on OpenLibrary: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL59800W/The_Left_Hand_of_Darkne...

In this episode, Ligeia and Leraje follow up on their original Ligotti episode and talk about three different short stories from Grimscribe and Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Episode Transcript (PDF) Grimscribe and Songs of a Dead Dreamer on OpenLibrary.org Original episode on GOSPod