Bookruptcy

On this episode, host Demetria Spinrad details her beef with The Song of Achilles while co-host Magali Ferare eats popcorn and eggs her on. They also touch on why many Greek myth retellings drive Demetria nuts, why a phalanx is not a unit of troops, and why Odysseus remains The Character Of All Time. Dive in with us! Intro/outro music is composed by ArcanaXIX Studios ( arcanaxix.com ) Books mentio...

This week, host Demetria Spinrad talks about what Hogwarts-adjacent (spiritually or literally) books she recently read instead of re-reading Harry Potter and getting depressed about JK Rowling's Whole Deal. Co-host Magali Ferare chimes in with a few recommendations of her own, and they discuss age-appropriate stakes, what magic and magic school can represent, and the various flavors of off-brand (...

This week, host Magali Ferare talks about the Agatha Christie deep dive that took over several months of her life this year while co-host Demetria Spinrad attempts to follow the many linguistic, historical, and genre-based tangents this takes us down. ADHD is alive and well on the podcast. Dive in with us! Intro/outro music by ArcanaXIX Studios ( arcanaxix.com ) Books mentioned: The Mirror Crack'd...

On this episode, hosts Demetria Spinrad and Magali Ferare go deep on what a “comfort read” is, why one might read for comfort, why reading too much romance can leave one with an emotional hangover, and why The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir is Demetria’s perfect comfort read. Dive in with us! 
Editor’s note: there were very weird audio artifacts all over this episode, which we will be blaming g...

This week, host Magali Ferare read Asexual Fairy Tales by Elizabeth Hopkinson and it gave her a lot of feelings about the state of publishing and asexual Discourse. Co-host Demetria Spinrad had depressing but extremely smart things to say about labels and marketing. What does the state of asexuality in publishing look like today? What would Ace 401-level reading look like? Why does Magali think Co...

On this episode, host Demetria Spinrad read Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski (also of The Witcher fame), which led to a discussion with co-host Magali Ferare ranging from Eastern European SFF, historical fiction, rightfully-cranky authors, and the game Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Dive in with us! Intro/outro music by ArcanaXIX Studios ( arcanaxix.com ) Books mentioned: Tower of Fools by Andrzej...

On this episode, host Magali Ferare recounts her deep dive into the saga of OneTaste, the sexual-wellness-company-slash-cult, through the book Empire of Orgasm by Ellen Huet. Between lawsuits, group housing, MLM-style sales tactics, cult and gender dynamics, and home-made lube, there's something for everyone (including cult nonfiction aficionado and co-host Demetria Spinrad). Dive in with us! Intr...

On this episode, host Magali Ferare expostulates at length about Frankenstein (the novel), Frankenstein (the 2026 film), and why the former is infinitely more interesting than the latter in almost every way. We cover Victor's God complex, the work's Transcendentalist themes, and answer the age-old question: "Who is the real monster, Byron or Shelley?" Co-host Demetria Spinrad even manages to get a...

In this first (of many) highbrow literary salons here on Bookruptcy, host Demetria Spinrad walks us through Pioneer Summer, a novel about a forbidden gay romance at a Soviet summer camp. Demetria and co-host Magali Ferare also cover the Discourse surrounding the book itself, the fascinating localization choices around one character's speech impediment, and the fact that Russian fujoshi are braver...

On this short teaser minisode, hosts Demetria Spinrad and Magali Ferare answer the important questions: Why are we making a podcast? What are we going to talk about? And what the heck is "Bookruptcy"?