Beards, Books, and Bourbon Podcast

What would a Russian fairytale as dark as rancid tree sap be without an old shaman woman conjuring the ghosts of dead prisoners and laying them to rest on the Road of Bones??  Right, and yet we forgot to talk about her.  OOPS.  Pairing up with this, we explore New Riff once more.

With it being such a master class in fast paced cosmic horror fiction, it might be better to call it what we wished we could forget.  Some of those images are never coming out of our brains, but we loved it.  In the epsiode we will be drinking to it!

Khan once said that it is very cold in space, but he'd never been on the Road of Bones in Siberia!  In this novel by Christopher Golden, we will explore the bleakness of the coldest inhabited place on Earth, and the folklore that resides there with the people in this fast paced, hard hitting, unapologetically terrifying book!  To keep our spirits warm, we will be sampling Barrel Armida Bourbon onc...

Stephen and Mark travel to different worlds were tentacles are replaced wtih roots...and organs.  Come take a wild backwater cosmic horror ride in T. Kingfisher's "The Hollow Places".  They will explore something else wild and complex with Piggyback 100% Rye.

Stephen and Mark talk about how sometimes people just want to be seen.  They want to be acknowledged.  They want to be let back into the room.  For this heady talk, we take a little time to revisit an old friend.  Basil Hayden Dark Rye.

Stephen and Mark explore a short but compelling story about a troubled boy who calls for a monster in the dark.  This is a bittersweet  and complex tale.  Nothing goes better with it than Basil Hayden's Toast bourbon.

What could we possibly forget about Bag of Bones?  Well, since it's a Stephen King book and we can't manage to even get through half of it in the main episode?  Yeah, it feels better to just say, pretty much most of it.  But in this oopsisode, we focus on just one thing (out of the 500) that we didn't get to discuss.

Once again, Stephen and Mark return to the universe of Stephen King in this massively surprising and haunting tale of ghosts, racism, and the sins of the father.  They'll need something to offer the spirits to keep the nightmares away, and only a very special bottom of Evan Williams will do the job.

They always forget something!  Listen as Stephen and Mark talk about what they forgot to talk about in "The Sea of Tranquility" by Emily St. John Mandel.  In this oopsisode, they will revisit Chatinooga Whiskey.

Stephen and Mark take a romp through time and space, through relationships lost and found, through paradoxes and moral dilemmas.  Cosmic anamolies and personal inevitabilities abound in the wonderfully haunting and lyrical story by Emily St. John Mandel.  "Sea of Tranquility" is anything but, and we'll need the help of none other than Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls (or at least his bourbon) t...

We cannot say "what we forgot" in this oopsisode, because it is too easy to forget, if you believe in the curse.  So, Stephen and Mark will discuss what they remember of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

Stephen and Mark will contemplate what it might be like if they never had an impact on anything or anyone (kind of like their podcast) as they discuss "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" by V.E. Schwab.  They will also plant some ideas about a delicious new find.  Isaac Bowman portwine barrel finished bourbon.

It's like Alma Katsu Month in the House of Stephen and Mark!  Because we have enjoyed it so much (and it's fun to go back to episode 4).  Keep in mind that we did this episode in November of 2020, in the midst of lockdown time in Illinois.  Take a re-listen with the beauty of hindsight.

What do you do when you can't talk about what you forgot to talk about because it might be too spoilery?  You spend 10 minutes talking about a bourbon instead!

Stephen and Mark dive deep into a story about spirits, balloons, spiders, and Japanese American internment camps in "The Fervor" by Alma Katsu.  This is another genius work, incredibly uncomfortable in all the right ways, and deeply thought provoking.  To lighten the mood, they will sample Coppercraft Bourbon.

In which we learn what it means to be terribly British while we revisit one of our favorites in the rye family.

Stephen and Mark delve deep into the origin of species (AND THE MULTIVERSE) in this amazing tale by Adrian Tchaikovsky.  They'll seek to soften the bite of truth with the smooth taste of Knob Creek Straight Kentucky Bourbon.

Stephen and Mark talk about things they forgot to talk about while revisiting Old Elk bourbon.

Stephen and Mark discuss the long awaited "Recursion" by Blake Crouch.  This one was both deep and brutal.  Time travel and hard choices are bouyed up with the sweet and complex taste of Journeyman Distillery's Featherbone  Bourbon Wiskey.

Stephen and Mark spend a little time revisiting Relics as well as Dexter 3 Wood Bourbon!

In this mad and gory tale about exotic species hunting taken to a whole new level, Stephen and Mark will discuss "Relics", complete with a scene inlvolving eating roast faerie, and inappropriately pairing it with Smoke Wagon bourbon.

If it weren't for this week's guest host, Michael Wagner, we'd call this episiode Artificial Idiocy.  In this theme episode, we talk about A.I. in sci-fi with a real subject matter expert in the field of A.I. in the real world.  It's a pleasure to have our good friend back on the show, and we share with him a bottle of Dexter 3 Wood Bourbon as we try to keep up with Mike.

If we could have time in a bottle....it would probably taste like RIFF.

Wait.  Didn't we read The Kaiju Preservation Society??  Why, yes.  Yes, we did.  Aren't we talking about it??  Why, yes.  Yes, we are.  But there are other things to talk about too.  Like MOOOOONSHIIIIIIIINE.

Do you like fun?  Do you like alternate dimensions?  Do you like 50 story tall monsters?  Do you like irresponsible corporate execs getting what they deserve?  DO YOU LIKE WHISKEY FROM TENNESSEE??? Then, have we got a show for you tonight!  Join Stephen and Mark on a wild romp that's a cross between Godzilla, the Land Before Time, Look Up, and....and...uh...well, I don't know, but you're going to...