SPLANCHNICS: The Society for the Preservation of Literature, the Arts, Numinosity, Culture, Humor, Nerdiness, Inspiration, Creativity & Storytelling

Clare and Hannah discuss themes of isolation, greed, and old age in Cormac McCarthy's 2005 Western Gothic novel, "No Country for Old Men." We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message! Support the show We provide links and other resources to help you find and enjoy the things we talked about on this episode! Note that some of these may include “affiliate” li...

Clare and Hannah read "Ready Player One," Ernest Cline's 2011 LitRPG novel in which every challenge can be solved by being chronically online. Contestants plug in to the OASIS, a virtual universe where anything is possible, if you have the credits and enough one-joystick two-button dexterity to totally kick butt in Black Tiger.  Finally, knowing  Monty Python and the Holy Grail  wor...

Story structure is what makes us love stories in the first place. We love a nice set of bookends. We root for characters who save cats. A hero's journey "there and back again" resonates with the human psyche. In this episode, Clare and Hannah talk about several kinds of story structures, including Three-Act, Five-Act, Chiastic, Save the Cat, and the Hero's Journey.  Some of the...

This episode, Clare and Hannah talk about Flannery O'Connor's first novel, Wise Blood , published in 1952. O'Connor's stories are rich with symbolism, from a beat-up jalopy of a car to a stolen gorilla suit, and from a preacher's blindness to a shrunken mummified body in a museum. It's a darkly comic and often grotesque ride. Flannery O’Connor has her own section at C...

Does it dry up like A Game of Thrones in the sun?  Or fester like A Wise Man's Fear, and then run?  Clare and Hannah talk about book series that authors have left unfinished, and the repercussions of that. Should authors be obligated to finish their stories? Should Patrick Rothfuss and George R.R. Martin be locked in a remote cabin together until they finish their series that have gone fiftee...

Clare and Hannah struggle to untangle the final book in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy: That Hideous Strength. Clare declares this book did not require a wizard. Hannah finally discovers a romantic subplot she's invested in. Once again, we mention The Abolition of Man, but only because Lewis mentioned it first.  Get your own copy of  That Hideous Strength  at Clare’s Bookshop.org shop .  We’d...

After reading Perelandra, Clare and Hannah have been thinking about creation myths. In this episode, Hannah shares the whacky ideas the Greeks, Norse, and Chinese cultures had about how the world came to be.  Listener discretion advised for the following reasons: We mention the raunchy aspects of Greek mythology. Both hosts devolve into wailing the saxophone riff from "Careless Whispers.&quot...

Clare and Hannah continue their journey through Deep Heaven with C.S. Lewis, to a pure and unfallen planet where everyone is naked without shame. Seriously. The only clothed person in this entire book is literally the Devil. The planet is Perelandra—what we call Venus—a newly created Paradise, complete with a “human” King and Queen to be its stewards. But the Ancient Enemy, Satan, inflamed with En...

Clare and Hannah have a close encounter! In this episode we go over C.S. Lewis' five kinds of science fiction, as detailed in his essay, "On Science Fiction.” For complete show notes, including a list of the books we discussed, click through to the episode page on the Splanchnics website.  CSL’s essay “On Science Fiction” appears in the collection entitled Of Other Worlds . If you’d like...

In this book club episode, Clare and Hannah travel into space and try not to embarass themselves as they discuss C.S. Lewis's science fiction classic, Out of the Silent Planet . Naturally, they mention The Abolition of Man . For complete show notes, including a list of the books we discussed and one of the most beautiful passages Lewis wrote, click through to the episode page on the Splanchni...

Clare and Hannah both share a song that rocked their world. Hannah tries to rap (sort of), and Clare tells the story of the 10,000-pound haircut. Like the comments section of George Michael's "Careless Whisper," we hope you find this episode charmingly, wholesomely, vaguely off-color. The songs: “ Change ” by NF.  “ Careless Whisper ” by Wham! featuring George Michael, 1984 Sexy Sax...

Clare and Hannah take on Jekyll and Hyde in a battle of Victorian proportions. In other words, we slink furtively through darkened doorways, scandalize young housemaids sitting up past their bedtime, and write letters to our lawyers with the tantalizing instruction: "Do not open until I have died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances."   Get your own copy of this Robert Louis Ste...

This is a very serious episode. Clare and Hannah tackle a topic that is probably far beyond them, but that's never stopped them before. Today we discuss the difference between tragedy and evil. Hannah brings up vampires because at least she knows something about those. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message! Support the show We provide links and other resources...

Clare and Hannah each share another song that rocked their worlds. Clare's song is a universal story about the plight of the working poor, just as relevant today as it was forty years ago. Hannah spends most of her allotted time describing what happens if you trespass at a war vet's house and pester his wife (You get shot, that's what). Also, her song made both of us cry a little. H...

Clare and Hannah look back on 2024 as the year that blew their minds every other day. A few examples: The day that Israel blew the pants off their enemies. The presidential candidate who almost got his head blown off on live television. Amazing health discoveries that will keep you from blowing up the bathroom at your in-laws' house. Links: “ Stopping or reducing dietary fiber intake reduces...

Clare and Hannah read H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau," and discuss universal themes like the hubris of science, the true nature of humanity, and their uncanny ability to shoehorn a C.S. Lewis shoutout into any discussion.  Get your own copy of The Island of Dr. Moreau . We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message! Support the show We provide links an...

Clare and Hannah share their experiences practicing martial arts. By share their experiences, we mean they soared with exquisite grace through a grove of bamboo trees, exchanging blows that shook the surrounding wilderness and awakened a long-dormant volcano.  The Karate Kid Collection . Includes the original 1984 Karate Kid and its two sequels, plus the 2010 remake starring Jaden Smith.  Crouchin...

Clare and Hannah return with another book club, this time covering Joseph Heller's Catch 22 , a satirical commentary on corporate malfeasance, nonsense, incompetence and bureaucracy. A classic war novel that coined a phrase still prominent in the modern zeitgeist, Catch 22 left Clare feeling like a dummy and convinced Hannah that she does indeed have a twisted brain. In other words, a bit of...

In this breakfast chat, Clare shares a truly embarrassing story from a fellow veterinarian. Names and locations have been changed to protect those involved from further shame.  This episode may be troubling for more squeamish listeners, as it contains terms like: uterine horn, testicles, castration, cervix, and litter-bearing animals. Also, Hannah ate spaghetti throughout this recording. For more...

In part 2 of our series on the kings and queens of England, Clare and Hannah talk about two kings who embodied the term, "man-child." Henry II spent his entire wedding reception goofing off with his best friend and ignoring everybody else, including his new queen. Richard II surrounded himself with his favorite sycophants, spent a ridiculous amount of his country's money on clothes,...

Hannah takes the "reigns" for part 1 in a series about the kings and queens of England. Because royalty in England just cycled through the same three names over and over, today we learn about two kings named Henry: Henry II: the highlights of his reign were murdering his best friend in a cathedral, getting whipped within an inch of his life in the same cathedral, and giving a gorgeous ca...

Clare shares a song that terrifies both her and the man who wrote it. Hannah's song of choice did not so much rock her world as haunt her every waking moment for two weeks straight. Clare's song: " Cat's in the Cradle ." Music, lyrics, and performance by Harry Chapin. In December of 1974 it was the Number 1 song on the Billboard Top 100. The link includes a brief interview...

Clare and Hannah read Charles Portis' 1968 novel, True Grit, and have not been able to talk normally since. We also analyze two movie adaptations of the book: the 1969 adaptation directed by Henry Hathaway and the 2010 adaptation directed by the Coen Brothers. To get your own copy of this amazing book and/or your own DVD copy of the movies, visit Clare's Bookshop.org store. (It's in...

This is a weird one. Not at all what you'd be expecting. The names of locations, individuals, and 4-legged lifeforms have been changed to protect the innocent. If you enjoy funny vet stories, you might enjoy the books of James Herriot, a veterinarian plying his trade in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales of northern England. The stories take place before World War 2, in the days when farmers still...

Clare has been doing some light reading... of Dante's Inferno.   The translation Clare's been reading is by Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander. The commentaries are A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy by Jason M. Baxter and Spiritual Direction from Dante: Avoiding the Inferno by Paul Pearson. She's also been referring to the Dorothy Sayers terza rima English trans...