DEATH // SENTENCE

On our newest Death Sentence Solo Series, Eden (@tallesteden) discusses Andrew Krivak's THE BEAR, a heart-wrenching and powerful book that peers deeply into both a human and a naturalist terror. That of grief, of solitude, of love and of the natural world. He mentioned sobbing at the end of the book; prepare for a heavy and real one. FEATURED MUSIC: Amiensus - "A Convocation of Spirits"

On our newest Death Sentence Solo Series, Eden discusses Jeff Noon's series The Nyquist Mysteries. Jeff Noon is a remarkable figure in the field, sitting somewhere between Philip K Dick and Paul Auster; following that analogy, this series functions almost like Noon's own version of what The New York Trilogy by Auster might look like in the hands of a cerebral but still richly pulpy genre writer. F...

Langdon and Eden tackle Becky Chambers' Hugo-nominated novella TO BE TAUGHT, IF FORTUNATE, a work which grapples with the holocratic and highly mediated communal/social side of science. Meanwhile, on the first half, they discuss two radically different images of the teenager: the Kenosha shooter and the girl who made a smart-than-she-got-credit TikTok about the philosophy of math. TRIGGER WARNING:...

A solo episode! Langdon launches a new sub-series working through analysis of all of Kazuo Ishiguro's body of work in chronological order. This time it's his debut, A PALE VIEW OF HILLS (1982), a novel exploring a Japanese woman's grief after losing her eldest daughter to suicide following a move to Britain and the confounding non-response of her youngest daughter who doesn't mourn her sister at a...

Langdon and Eden breakdown the glittering poetic beauty of Roger Zelazny's seminal science fiction novel LORD OF LIGHT. But first, we have to talk about shoes that look straight up like ribbed condoms as well as the VP pick for the 2020 election. Spoiler: Electoral leftism in the West is a near systemic impossibility and worth less time than the boots-on-the-ground activism happening all around us...

DEATH // SENTENCE returns after a brief hiatus. Between COVID and life changes for our hosts, Gareth has had to step away for the foreseeable future, leaving Langdon to figure out how to run, edit, and host a podcast all on his lonesome. Will Gareth return someday? We will see; the door is certainly open. New cohost Eden Kupermintz, editor-in-chief of Heavy Blog Is Heavy as well as a noted bibliop...

Returning champion Margaret Killjoy joins us to talk about her incredible, possibly album-of-the-year album as Feminazgul, No Dawn for Men, the uprising across the US, violence and non-violence, guns and living in the woods. Music by Feminazgul: https://feminazgul.bandcamp.com/album/no-dawn-for-men And Vulgarite: https://vulgarite.bandcamp.com/releases Give your money to legal defence funds for pr...

You're going to thank us for this one. Mordew is acclaimed author Alex Pheby's first foray into fantasy, and it's incredible. Imagine Gormenghast, China Mieville, Bloodborne, Dorohedoro- if it's dark, fantasy and stuff we like then it's an ingredient here. We talk about writing, publishing, Dark Souls, Harry Potter and more. You can order Mordew here: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/paperback-shop/...

WE GOT THOU. Mitch and Bryan from one of the greatest metal acts on the planet join us to discuss pop-punk, coughing, fantasy, comic books and not being super into metal. Featuring EXCLUSIVE covers of Sweet Leaf by Black Sabbath and Prayer to God by Shellac.

Returning guest Michael Seidlinger joins us to talk about his new book Dreams of Being, sushi, wrestling and Meltdown May. Music by FLUIDS: https://maggotstomp-fluids.bandcamp.com/ And Couch Slut: https://gileadmedia.bandcamp.com/album/take-a-chance-on-rock-n-roll

Poet Brendan Joyce is on the show to talk about his new chapbook (available here on May 1st: https://gumroad.com/nicetryofficer). We talk about our own experiences of the lockdown and unemployment, poetry under quarantine, the possibilities for resistance AND we come up with a sure-fire way to totally destroy the Orange Orangutan Thief-In-Chief. Music by Cirith Ungol https://cirithungol.bandcamp.c...

Down for a quiet, sad book about maybe or maybe not getting your life together? Yeah you are. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan's Starling Days, the follow-up to her critically acclaimed Harmless Like You is a gorgeously written, beautifully observed look at how people survive, and how relationships survive when one party wants out. Music by Infant Island: https://infantisland.bandcamp.com/album/sepulcher And...

Gabriela Herstick (@GabyHerstik) joins us to initiate us into the mysteries of her new book Bewitching the Elements. We learn about witchcraft, the Western Mystery Tradition, the importance of self care in plague times and of course Satan. Music by Outer Heaven: https://outerheaven.bandcamp.com/ And Archgoat: https://archgoat666.bandcamp.com/ Subscrybe to our enchanting Patreon: https://www.patreo...

We've got our first YA novelist on the show: Emily Duncan is mid-way through her Something Dark and Holy series in Ruthless Gods, and she's already taken the meta-genre to spooky, eldritch places. We sit down with her to talk Final Fantasy 7, the depravity of the Dutch, writing as you go and the words you can't say in metal. Music by Anaal Nathrakh: https://anaalnathrakh.bandcamp.com/ And Igorr: h...

Struggle Session's anime correspondent Emma Bowers (@hyenasandgin) joins us to discuss Q Hayashida's Dorohedoro in both its anime and manga forms. First though, we perform a quick vibe check and eulogize the Bernie Sanders campaign. Music by Calligram: https://calligram.bandcamp.com/ And Night: https://nightband.bandcamp.com/

I don't want to hit a sore spot, but can we talk about herpes? Writer and Critic Gretchen Felker-Martin (@scumbelievable)joins us to talk about an obscure but incredible book about queer love and seismic activity by Davey Davis (@k8bushofficial). You can get The Earthquake Room for free from Tigerbee Press here (but you really should buy it): https://www.tigerbeepress.com/store/p17/the_earthquake_...

In Nino Cipri's Finna two co-workers, formerly a couple, have to track down a customer who has gone missing from a Scandinavian big-box store... into the multiverse. We talk about that, dropping acid in Ikea and, naturally, anime. Music by Pyrrhon and Afterbirth. Föölow üs on Patreon for mööre exclusive cöntent: https://www.patreon.com/DeathSentence

Shannon Strucci (Struggle Session, Critical Bits, YouTube and elsewhere) joins us for a COVID-related reading series followed by Sweet Home, a webcomic about people having to self-isolate because of a virus. This virus turns people into very creative Cronenbergs though. Music by Mamaleek and Alcest Follow us from six feet away on our Patreon for exclusive viral content: https://www.patreon.com/Dea...

Wendy Liu joins us to talk about her journey into the darkness of tech industry and out into the blinding light of leftist critique, with your hosts frequently threatening to parody-satire various tech figures in Call of Duty. Music by WAKE and Ruins of Beverast

Dan Franklin has literally written the book on heavy metal, taking us from Tony Iommi's fingertips through to modern bands like Oathbreaker and Conjurer. We of course have to perform a full Cred Check by having everybody name the heaviest song ever recorded. If you were cool you'd support us on Patreon for extra episodes: https://www.patreon.com/DeathSentence

We've got Hether Fortune, formerly of Wax Idols and White Lung, on the line from her bunker in Detroit to talk about what Coronavirus means for the music industry, and how independent artists were screwed even before the pandemic. Music, surprisingly, by Hether Fortune. You've only got one shot, do not miss your chance to subscribe to our Patreon for bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/DeathSe...

We're joined by A.M Gittlitz, producer of The Antifada podcast and author of I Want to Believe: Posadism and Left Wing Ufology. After paying tribute to former Vice President Joe Biden (RIP), we talk about the wacky world of J. Posadas: Trotskyite, cult leader, Dolphin-talker-to, meme. Music by Sweven and Feminazgul.

There is no consent under capitalism - that's the bold tagline slash thesis statement of KM Szpara's Docile, which imagines a future world in which you can eliminate your debt if you let creepy trillionaires do Epstein stuff to you. Music by Smoulder and Ulver Become slaves to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/DeathSentence

You made us do this. We read what is officially the worst thing that either of us have ever read: Supermarket, by Bobby Hall aka also known as Logic. There's an insanely predictable plot, crude ethnic stereotypes, mishandled representations of mental illness and a twist you'll see coming not just from a mile off, but from 1999, when Fight Club was released. Cleanup on aisle nine for an absolute st...

We're joined by J.G Michael of the Parallax View podcast to talk about Richard Stanley's The Colour Out of Space, based on HP Lovecraft's short story. Music by Integrity and Feminazgul Subscribe to our Patreon why not: https://www.patreon.com/DeathSentence