Overdue

Ilya Rozanov. Shane Hollander. Two of hockey's greatest young goal scorers are also trying to score...with each other?? Reid's breakthrough hockey romance has become a true pop culture phenomenon, so we figured it was time to lace up the skates and see what the puck is going on with this most heated of rivalries. Happy belated Valentine's Day! This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to ...

Usually when robots gain sentience in fiction, they rise up and slay or otherwise subjugate their human creators, but this week's book dares to imagine what might happen if they stood up, looked around, said "thanks but no thanks," and left. It also ponders the meaning of existence, just for good measure. Monk & Robot collects two previously published novels: A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A P...

Three lives, all alike in indignity. Stein's debut book is a collection of stories about three working-class woman at the turn of the 20th century. In it, we see the beginnings of her unique literary voice - full of repetition, repetition, poetic vernacular, and repetition. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to  squarespace.com/overdue  for 10% of your first purchase of a websi...

For this new show-within-a-show, Craig and Andrew will travel to Neo-Tokyo to meet Akira , created by Katsuhiro Otomo. We're going to read this classic manga across six episodes, then close out with an extra episode on the groundbreaking 1988 film adaptation. This is a preview of a series we’ll be running exclusively for our Patreon supporters over the next few months; we won’t release them on the...

See Andrew and Craig. See Andrew and Craig read. Read, Andrew and Craig, read! The Dick and Jane characters are still widely known, even though their heyday as The Main Way American Kids Learn How To Read has long since passed. Join us for a discussion of how these (now public domain!) characters came to be, the method of reading instruction they embody, how they came to dominate American classroo...

Another month, another new member of the BSC! This time it's Jessi, ballerina extraordinaire, who also happens to be adept at learning languages. And her first big job involves learning sign language so she can babysit Matt Braddock, whose family just moved to town. Soon everybody in Stonybrook is learning to sign! Plus there's a whole parallel story about Jessi's ballet school. And really it's ju...

Sometimes you just want to get together with your friend and enlist prisoners of war into putting on a production of Euripides in the quarry, am I right? This is a broadly relatable thing that lots of people have thought about doing. Right? Right?? This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to  squarespace.com/overdue  for 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain. Head to Marl...

The public domain comes for us all and today it's come for Miss Marple, the elderly busybody and amateur sleuth that Agatha Christie created in the 1920s. In her first proper novel, Marple assists a vicar in uncovering the truth behind a murder that occurred in his own home (also known as a vicarage). How does Marple do it? With a keen understanding of Human Nature. This episode is sponsored by Be...

We’ve been known to choose an adventure for ourselves every now and again, but rarely have we delved into the history of the “gamebook” genre. Until now! Join us for an abbreviated run through Consider the Consequences , in which players can quickly ruin the lives of three young adults who All Have Their Own Stuff Going On.  This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to  squarespace.co...

It's time to meet Samantha and Addy, two American Girls from the toy brand of the same name. Their time periods and journeys are rather different, but they are united by one thing: American Girl founder Pleasant Rowland's quest to inspire girls to learn AND to accessorize. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . Follow @overduepod on  Instagram  and  Bluesky Advertise...

We jump forward in the series a bit this month, not too deep into the series (and not into the era where the series was primarily ghostwritten), but past the “we’re still setting up each of the core club-members” phase. This book is all about Mallory, a younger aspiring BSC member whose membership is jeopardized by a run of bad luck and some mildly unreasonable expectations from the other Club mem...

Happy Hornydays everyone! This extremely explicit dark holiday romantasy is sure to land someone on the naughty list. Please note that this story about Twyla and her adventure into the world of Krampus is very much Not For Kids. But does it give adults everything they want for Christmas? Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . Follow @overduepod on  Instagram  and  Blu...

Knowing absolutely nothing else about it, you might guess that a story called "The Bookshop" would a light and cozy novella about how books are magical and that the places where they are sold are sacred spaces. There are lots of books that are like that! But this most certainly is not one of them. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to  squarespace.com/overdue  for 10% of your f...

Darkness, imprisoning me / All that I see, absolute horror / I cannot live, I cannot die / Trapped in myself, body my holding cell These lyrics from Metallica's " One" were inspired by this classic anti-war novel (this is relevant, we promise). It's unique perspective and focus on the irreparable harm that war inflicts on the individual set it apart from the other anti-war text's we've read for th...

There has been a murder! A murder in a small Quebecois village where everyone knows each other and most people seem to be either artists or café proprietors! Luckily Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and the Sûreté du Québec are on the case, there to be avuncular and reassuring and blur the line between friend and law enforcement professional. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to  squ...

What starts as a dismaying story about a wrongful conviction turns into a deep meditation on loyalty, marriage, and independence. Given the subject matter, you might expect a mystery or a courtroom drama. Instead, Jones offers up a moving account of a couple just trying to find a future that will have them. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . Follow @overduepod on  Instagram...

Our newest BSC member, Dawn, has a lot to juggle in her debut as a series protagonist. Her mom is dating Mary-Anne's dad. She's low-key feuding with Kristy, the BSC President. And she's been hired by a mother of three who just does NOT have her life together. What a trial by fire! These episodes posted first for our Patreon supporters! If you want to hear the rest of them ahead of time (and a bunc...

A story about a young woman trapped in an underground prison with 39 other women sounds like it could be a stone cold bummer, and it isn’t not that. But this translated French novel from 1995 also hits some affirming, human notes, and it’s those aspects of it that help explain why it’s found new life via word of mouth and BookTok.  This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to  squares...

Perhaps befittingly, Anne Patchett's fourth novel changed the trajectory of her career. The award-winning Bel Canto centers on 58 people (a combination of hostages and militants sequestered in an unnamed country), many of whom spend the time cut off from the outside world meditating on the paths their lives did and didn't take. Many welcome the opportunity to sit, reflect, grow, and change -- all...

Did you ever wonder why the name "Jeeves" has always been inseparable from the concept of "a very good butler"? It's because of these short stories (plus more short stories, plus several novels) by English novelist P.G. Wodehouse. Hapless gadfly Bertie Wooster relies on his man Jeeves for just about everything, from clothing advice to getting his various dim-bulb friends out of money-related scrap...

Did you know that the classic 1997 slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer was actually based on a propulsive young adult thriller from 1973? Lois Duncan's original novel isn't too interested in bloody kills, however. It's more focused on how young people build their identities: around their regrets, around their parents, and around tragedies. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerang...

Fresh off their victory over the Baby-Sitters Agency, the girls of the BSC turn on each other in this month's entry. Quiet Mary Anne has to get the group back together, negotiate with her well-meaning but strict single father, make and repair a new friendship, and engineer an unlikely meet-cute. And, of course, she needs to tend to some babysitting, including one job that will prove to be her toug...

An official offshoot of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure series, the Choose Your Own Nightmare books cropped up for a couple of years in the mid-90s, an (alleged) response to the popularity of our old friend RL Stine’s Goosebumps series. Stine’s somewhat longer-lived Give Yourself Goosebumps sub-series would launch just months after the first Choose Your Own Nightmare book, but it’s fun to re...

Everybody loves our old friend Ray Bradbury! This time we’re taking a spin with his first short story collection Dark Carnival, a smattering of spooky tales that wound up scattered across a number of other collections throughout Bradbury’s career.  Stories discussed in this episode include: The Small Assassin The Dead Man Skeleton The Scythe The Emissary The Homecoming Uncle Einar The Lake Th...

A buzzy title that came to life thanks to BookTok but came to our attention because of a good-old bookstore shelf display, this week’s book (and the kickoff to Spooktober 2025) is what it says on the cover: it’s about monsters and also computers. If you didn’t associate either of these things with “found family,” then it’s also here to challenge some of your preconceived notions. This episode is s...