Workers' Lit

We put out the call to Patreon, and Patreon answered! Patreon decided on today’s topic: Suzanne Collins’ 2003 middle grade fantasy novel, “Gregor the Overlander.” This is Suzanne’s first novel, and she gets into themes about poverty, futurelessness, family, war, and changing diapers. It’s cute! It’s good! You’ll like this one. To help choose future episode topics go check out our Patreon! Www.patr...

The American left has a LOT of work to do. We’re joined in this episode by Black Red Guard, an organizer with the DSA, YouTuber, and that guy who made the excellent “cracker control” tweet you’ve probably seen. BRG joins us for a vital conversation about the work ahead of any liberatory movement in the United States, how to build principled left unity, the American labor movement, the Iran war, an...

We’re talking about THE evangelical author once again. The man known as Jacksie, the drunken Inkling terror, the OG Christian furry, the most miserable convert in all of England. It’s C.S. Lewis!! In this episode we learn how all adventures in Narnia began as we cover the 1955 prequel, “The Magician’s Nephew.” Lewis will answer questions you never asked such as: where did the lamp post and wardrob...

Nothing says “declining empire” like an all-out show of ruling class decadence! In this episode Jen, Lenore, and Jacob discuss Trump’s increasingly wild vanity projects, Republican (and one very big and very dumb Democrat) attempts to defend them, and what it means to live in a country that couldn’t care less about its 250th birthday. Go support us on Patreon! Also, shout out to RXKNephew for his...

Y’all loved the Neon Hemlock episode, so here’s yet another episode where we sit down with someone in weird, queer, independent publishing! Eric Raglin of Cursed Morsels press talks to us about why us queers love horror, the definition of antifascist art (and how it differs from/intersects with action), and the ongoing battle of writing versus slop. Go support Cursed Morsels’ incredible work below...

What do you do when the video game comedy website you write for is bought out and you stop getting paid and everything gets a lot worse? You start your own worker-run, people-first, video game comedy website that rules, that's what! We are joined by the founders of the GG Tribune to discuss the horrific behavior of the new owner of Hard Drive Magazine, their break from it, and the work they&#3...

Yes, THAT Wallace Shawn wrote a play about reckoning with capitalism’s horrors as a privileged person in the imperial core. Written in 1990, it hits like a dozen punches to the gut. Ethan of People’s New Republic and The Sandcastle Business joins us to discuss his own staging of this show, the impacts it’s had on him, and the brutality of the challenge it poses. Listen to Ethan read the entirety o...

Buy the book you goofballs you know you want to. Buy Adam Johnson's "How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza" today! Brilliant media analyst and host of the "Citations Needed" podcast Adam Johnson joins the pod to discuss his book about the media's truly criminal coverage of Israel and Palestine, as well as the U.S. (and its proxies...

How do you feel about gay trauma? How about getting disabled because of your annoying twink brother? How about some mild, one-sided incest? How about two of the best ladies in podcasting on their absolute A-game? If you answered yes to any of these questions, listen to our episode on Sarah Monette's 2006 fantasy novel, "The Virtu." If you want the backstory before you proceed, we did...

The White House has rolled out a new counter-terrorism strategy. It’s nuts. Are you Muslim? How about trans? Are you an immigrant, or related to one? How about on the left in any way? How about opposed to fascism? If you answered yes to any of these questions, I’ve got bad news: you’re on the list. We get into Trump’s bizarre counter-terrorism czar, Sebastian Gorka, the narratives involved in just...

It’s our first Patron chosen episode! Shout out to all who submitted and voted, especially Dark Jackal who submitted Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1974 work of political sci-fi, “The Dispossessed.” Want to suggest and vote on an episode for next month? Become a Patron and support our work! Imagine an imperfect but noble anarchist utopia in space, now imagine it’s orbiting a capitalist world. Can you imagine...

We’re gonna shoot straight: we had a guest drop out a few hours before we recorded. So we made the best of it, turned on our webcams, and talked about…everything. The MET Gala, Cuba, King of the Hill, Final Fantasy, the Supreme Court, Iran, Being Gay. All of it. We decided to make a video episode out of this, which you can watch on our Youtube. If you want more video episodes of us chatting (and a...

What if you were a giant mosquito in a climate hell future, and the mosquito was trans, and the trans mosquito destroyed the stock market and also a school bully, and the school bully possessed a VR headset that allowed him to be the guy that runs the stock market, and the guy that runs the stock market is responsible for your mosquito-fication, so you have to confront him as you bring about a new...

It’s time for more BONUS CONTENT! We are joined by host of the “Lions Led By Donkeys” podcast, Joe Kassabian, to discuss his upcoming gunpowder fantasy novel, “The Highlands Burn.” What is gunpowder fantasy? Where are all the Armenians in sword and sorcery? How do you build an interesting magic system? All this and more in this fantastic interview! Pre-order “The Highlands Burn” Listen to Lions Le...

Sure, we have our beefs with the internet, but did you know a lot of powerful people are working extremely hard to make the internet even worse? On today’s episode Cameron, aka Much Like Your Posting joins us to discuss efforts to repeal internet protection law Section 230 and other attempts at online censorship. It’s a tricky issue, but that’s never stopped us from yapping before! Check out MLYP’...

We’re back to talk about EVEN MORE QUEER HORROR. We are joined by brilliant author and returning guest Lee Mandelo to discuss Dolki Min’s 2023 novel, “Walking Practice.” If you’re queer, this book will be highly relatable to you. If you’re a shapeshifting monster from space who eats humans it will also seem familiar. All others will have to imagine. We discuss the challenges and beauty of translat...

After a brief check-in at the top with Tehran Taylor, Jen and Jacob launch into Palantir CEO Alexander Karp's Manifesto, "The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West." More specifically, we look at Palantir's 22 point summary of the text it put out, to a concerning amount of praise from the liberal and conservative establishment alike.

Do you want it? If by “it” you mean Gretchen Felker-Martin’s 2025 queer horror novel, “Black Flame,” the answer is 100% yes! We are joined by Jon Greenaway, writer, co-host of the “Horror Vanguard” podcast, and certified gothic literature understander. Together we enter this story about being so horny it warps reality, trauma-haunted art, supernatural resistance against patriarchal violence, and R...

War propaganda has always been strange... But now it's got Wii Sports and Legos in it. Caleb of Kill the Computer and 60 Minute Drill joins us to talk about the "meme war" that has raged parallel to the Iran war. First we check out the White House's slop: warning, not for the faint of heart. Then we look at Explosive Media, an Iranian-state backed media collective's, use of A...

What if the Jewish diaspora had established a mini-state in Alaska? What if Harry DuBois had a gigantic muscle-pal instead of Kim? What is the Messiah was gay? All this and more is addressed in Michael Chabon’s 2007 alternate history novel, “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.” On top of being some darn good genre fiction, this book takes a hard and unique look at U.S. empire and its relationship to Zi...

Folks, we regret to inform you that the internet has kind of become...important. Today we are joined by Anthony DePice, activist, movement cheerleader, and digital organizer to talk about the wide, wonderful, horrid world of social media. We talk some (and laugh more) about various platforms, their highs and lows, and how people pursuing liberation can make our intervention on the web (hopefully w...

PRIORITY: We finally got a Patreon! Supporting us there wins you 1 million Lit Points. Go check it here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/WorkersLit Today we cover “The Unworthy,” a 2023 horror novel by Agustina Bazterrica (of “Tender is the Flesh” fame). Religious trauma, oppression of women, lesbian sex jokes, puppy girls, this episode is 100% worth the obligatory purification ritual in the Tower of S...

Bad times in the USA...and elsewhere. The Iran war rages, trans rights come under assault, millions of people take to the streets, and calls for a general strike are building. It's just another week in 2026. Articles referenced and quoted: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trump-goes-commando https://www.foxnews.com/politics/communists-democrats-use-nokings-rally-call-may-day-strike-shut-down...

This book sucks. But the episode? It goes hard. We are joined by returning guest Talia Bhatt, writer and radical trans-feminist whose work covers epistemic injustice, Third World feminism, and ranked competitive breast growth (yes, she has RANGE!) to discuss "GamerGate's favorite feminist," Christina Hoff Sommers' anti-feminist rant from 1994, "Who Stole Feminism? How Women...

The war hasn't stopped. Today we discuss the U.S. and Israel's murderous war against Iran and Lebanon as the Iran War escalates into what may be an even larger conflict. We get into the absurd communication style of the White House around the war, the confusion around what the point even is, and how we're all just trying to piece together our own little reality. Also, we get sidetracke...