Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch

Michael, Ethan, and special guest Jacob discuss Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak, while drinking Glenlivet 12. In this episode: The witness is treated as hostile Finding the Hodag where the Way Station is in the Driftless region The dispelling of illusions The CIA defeated by a conversation Bible as metaphor for technology vs. technology as metaphor for Bible Science fiction basllica! Rat assassi...

We made some new friends with the Pints with Jack podcast! Listen in to our interview on their Half-pint special!

Michael and Ethan finish their discussion of Rivermouth, by Alejandra Oliva , while drinking Smokehead Twisted. In this episode: Language, Migration, Faith, Treachery, Faith, and the Great River: a Star Trek analogy that only Michael caused to happen English as a “grabby” language Lots of talk about God and faith and vulnerability, a lot of it not very fun to be sassy about in a bullet point (than...

Michael and Ethan discuss Rivermouth, by Alejandra Oliva , while drinking Smokehead Twisted. In this episode: Interrogating Michael, linguistically and in other ways The Michael’s Translation Soapbox Podcast: a temptation Blindly table-setting Book baggage Crowds as statistics vs crowds as groups of actual humans The hermenutical principle of honesty, honestly Cantankerous faith The paradox of lac...

Michael and Ethan and special guest Nick conclude their discussion of Stuart Turton’s third novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World . In this episode: The ten commandments of detective fiction Topics in Turtonology Schrodinger’s locked room mystery If you bend any genre too far, horror leaks out Pixar Extended Universe teasing Thinking about thinking about The Tempest DO THE WORK Detective...

Michael and Ethan and special guest Nick begin their discussion of Stuart Turton’s third novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World . In this episode: Thanks to Jared The ten commandments of detective fiction Murder plots versus murder mysteries But like, what even is human, anyway, right? And what is supernatural, even? Clarke’s Third Law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguis...

Michael and Ethan continue discussing Nobber, by Oisin Fagan , while drinking The Midnight Silkie (Michael) and Red Locks (Ethan) Irish whiskeys. In this episode: Michael forgets, for the second time in four episodes, to call for Karen to read the rules. Rude. Good thing Karen just came in and started reading them A real SCAREcrow, or, a murdered murder Who is the greater fool, the fool or the foo...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Nobber, by Oisin Fagan , while drinking The Midnight Silkie (Michael) and Red Locks (Ethan) Irish whiskeys. In this episode: The question and the answer is “WTF?” Bafflement loves company Nihilism (question mark?) Plague books Michael says “plague-ground” and Ethan completely fails to call him on it Very relevant and very pointed Acquisitiveness so stron...

Michael and Ethan continue discussing Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia Lennon , while drinking The Midnight Silkie (Michael) and Red Locks (Ethan) Irish whiskeys. In this episode: Jokes (get better the more you tell them) Spoilers for Downton Abbey series 3 (2012) If you haven’t watched every example of German Expressionist silent cinema, do you even lift? Nostalgia for a time when plays could induce...

Michael and Ethan begin discussing Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia Lennon , while drinking The Midnight Silkie (Michael) and Red Locks (Ethan) Irish whiskeys. In this episode: Don’t worry about why Karen reading the rules happens so suddenly This book is The Producers, the Great Escape, AND the Gift of the Magi Sometimes the real story is the anachronisms we met along the way “Version” is fine Obliga...

Michael and Ethan, finally alone, finish the discussion of their Mondo Book for the year: Persuasion, by Jane Austen. In this episode: Finally alone except for a dog and cat Persuasion Chapter 53 Persuasion is either Much Ado About Nothing or Parks and Rec or both Our highest aim on this podcast is “possible legitimacy” Jane Austen can’t have anybody naked, even in the 1990s People have been reall...

Michael and Ethan, with special wife guests Karen and Sarah, discuss their (somewhat slimmer than usual) Mondo Book for the year: Persuasion, by Jane Austen . In this episode: Again making use of our intern-generated, wonderful, thoughtful, very serious discussion guide Karen definitely makes multiple references to to Mrs Jennings, a character from Sense and Sensibility and NOT this novel A block...

On this “special” episode, Michael forces Ethan to play his weird game, smooch/marry/kill, but with books. If it’s a bad episode, it should be emphasized, it IS Michael’s fault. In this episode: It almost turns into the Dune/Lawrence of Arabia show ALMOST IMMEDIATELY and that’s Michael’s fault Michael references a “summer evening” which is relevant to when we recorded this episode but not to when...

Michael and Ethan, with special guests Lydia and Christina (aka Stiners), discuss their (somewhat slimmer than usual) Mondo Book for the year: Persuasion, by Jane Austen . In this episode: Our intern wrote us this very thorough, very thoughtful, and overall excellent discussion guide A sort of Damocles True gnosis will lead you to a binary choice Christina’s Walter Elliot thoughts Captain Wentwort...

Michael and Ethan, with special guests Erin and Risha, inaugurate their discussion of their (somewhat slimmer than usual) Mondo Book for the year: Persuasion, by Jane Austen . In this episode: What an excellent rule (sorry, Risha) An unpopular opinion that captures several important things Austen as a writer who maybe should be listened to at least as much as read? Reading novels was basically the...

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of suicide. Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy , while drinking Bunnahabhain 12yo single malt. In this episode: Michael is mean As Likely to End the World as to Save it: Knowledge and Science in Cormac McCarthy , by Philip Bunn (this bullet point happened a few eps ago, but it deserves repeating) Unconscious/subconscious, and...

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of suicide. Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy , while drinking Bunnahabhain 12yo single malt. In this episode: We’re sleeping together on the couch/futon tonight Cover blurbs, or, the marketing materials are contributing to the discussion of what these books are Hot takes on Pynchon cover blurbs, with a side-route into conspira...

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of suicide. Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy , while drinking Bunnahabhain 12yo single malt. In this episode: Concise answers, reining it in, etc Is this book JD Salinger’s (incest) Franny and Zooey? Is McCarthy’s body of work just him taking previous works and adding greater shock value? Are these books Catcher in the Rye...

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of suicide. Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy , while drinking Bunnahabhain 12yo single malt. In this episode: Some hot takes on The Road to start us off A reading group guide It takes a really long time to answer the extremely simple question of who the title character is Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle in a work of fictio...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of Beloved, by Toni Morrison , while drinking Jura 12yo single malt. In this episode: The essay under discussion at the beginning is “Literary Conjure Woman,” by Stanley Crouch, which still doesn’t seem to be online, but is maybe in one or more of his essay collections? Definitely see American Fiction if you’re like, at all interested in the things on th...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Beloved, by Toni Morrison, while drinking Jura 12yo single malt. In this episode: Immediately the ghosts/vampires thing again, we promise we’re not Vamps and Mers Michael said “The ghosts have business to do” and Ethan didn’t even chortle—the boys are growing up The seeds of vampires (but not like that) Main characfter vs central character—a potentially...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich , while drinking Jura 12yo single malt. In this episode: Who is the real fool: the fool or the fool who edits him? A bespoke toast, or, the most work anyone has ever done to prep for this podcast Does the adjective “ghost” actually indicate simply the inclusion of a ghost, or does it mean something more? Is a ghost actu...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich , while drinking Jura 12yo single malt. In this episode: This podcast is a haunting Other covid novels: Sea of Tranquility America Fantastica Sentence Sentencing Sentences Ethan is unprepared to answer a basic question about the text, but he affirms that there IS an answer The grace of babies Please tell us that Ethan is w...

Ethan and special guests Risha and Erin of the Vampires and Mermaids podcast, and also Michael, discuss ‘Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King , while drinking Auchentoshan 12. In this episode: Sometimes sharp places are filled with dark objects (shoutout to Gillian Flynn) Also, bamboozlement At some point the plot is discussed, eventually A deep and very important dive into ranking the scariness of bugs T...

Ethan and special guests Risha and Erin of the Vampires and Mermaids podcast, and also Michael, discuss ‘Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King , while drinking Auchentoshan 12. In this episode: Special guests! Who have a show! That involves vampires and mermaids OR mermaids and vampires! The introduction of what proves to be possibly the most chaotic rule in the history of the podcast Followed by THE FASTE...