Book Club From Hell

David Moulton wrote an article called 'Towards a Gay Art of Suffering', which was published in Verdurin's collection 'Inversion: Gay Life After the Homosexual'. In it, he uses the framing of Ivan Illich's concept of suffering, and the works of Péter Nádas, Gean Genet, and more, to talk about all sorts of uncontroversial topics. These topics include the 'state religion' of LGBTQ+, revisionist AIDS history, the domestication of gay men by gay marriage, COVID-19, LGB without the T, and so on. We talk about similarly temperate things here.David's writing in Compact: https://www.compactmag.com/contributor/david-moulton/Inversion: Gay Life After the Homosexual: https://verdur.in/inversion/VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2026 through Bonfire Books!Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bookclubfromhellOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9HscrWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Limits to Medicine (1975) describes how and why industrialised medicine contributes to an 'iatrogenic society', in which all political grievances are converted into demands for more industrial commodities. Helping me out with this easy and straightforward topic is Lucas Smith, ruling theocrat of Bonfire Books, an excellent small publisher who will be releasing my next novel, Audience Capture, in October of this year.Apologies if the audio in a few sections is a bit scratchy, we had recording issues and I've tried my best to surgically (in a holistic, Illichian sense, one preserving an art of suffering) reconstruct our conversation. Furthermore, I realise that I have done two episodes on similar topics recently. I apologise profusely for this, and can guarantee that upcoming episodes will have absolutely nothing to do with medicine or Ivan Illich.Spare Us Yet: https://www.amazon.com/dp/195131994xBonfire Books website: bonfirebooks.orgBonfire Books on X: @BooksBonfireBonfire Books on Substack: https://substack.com/@bonfirebooksVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2016 through Bonfire Books!Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bookclubfromhellOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9HscrWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Fedbook is a good book about feds. Less glibly, it's a ton of fun, a gothic espionage thriller about an informant placed in a terror cell, one planning a mass-casualty attack on a university. It's formally inventive, surprising, and, despite the whole mass-shooter thing, it's also very funny. John and I talked about Fedbook, his upcoming book ('Pierce', to be released by Farthest Heaven), Christian justifications for violence, /lit/, framing carpentry, and a lot more. Buy Fedbook: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BRC7Z2Q9John's Substack: https://johnjaystancliff.substack.com/VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2016 through Bonfire Books!Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bookclubfromhellOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9HscrWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Prison psychologist Jerry Marzinsky and civil engineer, quantum expert, computer programmer and occasional voice-hearer Sherry Swiney have developed a new theory of schizophrenia. As it happens, the voices one hears are not hallucinations, but instead thoughts inserted by cosmic predators, who feed off the negative energy produced by humans in a state of misery. How did Jerry and Sherry find this out? By interviewing the voices heard by psychotic prisoners (I am not exaggerating).Jerry Marzinsky's website: https://www.jerrymarzinsky.com/Buy An Amazing Journey: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1716919541Capitalisimo on X: @thecapitalisimoVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2016 through Bonfire Books!Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bookclubfromhellOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9HscrWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Morning Glory Milking Farm (2022) is an extremely successful self-published work of 'monster-bait' romantasy. In short, it details the budding relationship between Violet, a human female, and Rourke, a minotaur male, who met at Morning Glory Milking Farm, where Violet is working as a minotaur milking technician. There's a point at which a euphemism becomes more descriptive than that which it seeks to soften. The verb 'to milk' has comfortably reached such a point.Given that I have no experience at all with romantasy or monster-bait, Leigh Cuen joined me to navigate the intricacies of clit-lit.Leigh on Substack: https://substack.com/@acjrLeigh's website: https://leighcuen.com/Buy Morning Glory Milking Farm: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSKNYD2NCM Nascosta's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Monster_BaitVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2016 through Bonfire Books!Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bookclubfromhellOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9HscrWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Emshen joins me this episode to talk about Sacred Heart of the Purple Dawn, a bizarre choose-your-own-adventure novel (kind of) written by a man Emshen once got a Tarot reading from. Starring lesbian vampires, 90s action film comic relief black men, and (most horrifyingly) the Québécois, it was both a much more exhausting and much funnier experience than I was expecting.Sun Cross Publications: https://www.suncrosspublications.com/Get Sacred Heart of the Purple Dawn: https://www.suncrosspublications.com/product-page/sacred-heart-of-the-purple-dawnVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2016 through Bonfire Books!Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bookclubfromhellOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9HscrWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Phil Rot is back! After winning the Nobel Prize in Physics for his micronovel The Raft, Phil is gearing up for another Nobel with his newly-released The Moon Is Gay. Besides having maybe the best book title of all time, it is also a brave, timely, elegiac, lyrical, epochal, and moving account of camgirl diplomacy in a fast-paced, competitive, ultra-convenient, AI-enabled Amazon future. It also features gay moon werewolves. Phil and I got to talk about mole people, tunnels, Phil's writing process, why the poor can't produce great art, Phil's real name (Philip Roth), and a whole lot more.Buy The Moon Is Gay: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G6Y2L3WK/Phil Rot on Substack: https://philrot.substack.com/VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2016 through Bonfire Books!Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bookclubfromhellOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9HscrWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

I tend to think of phrenology as a 19th-century phenomenon. In 1902, LA Vaught, late to the party, published 'Vaught's Practical Character Reader', a work seeking to (re)popularise phrenology. Mostly charming drawings and advertisements for phrenology ('it's plain to see!' is a commonly used phrase), it's a fun read, albeit one that is so chaotically set out that it's kinda hard to follow.Capitalisimo joined me for this episode, helping me to phrenologically and physiognomically analyse various world leaders and luminaries.NB: This episode is probably best watched as a video, as we examine Vaught's illustrations and carry out phrenological case studies using Google image search.Capitalisimo on X: @thecapitalisimoTooky's Mag Sidebar: https://www.youtube.com/@tookysmag/podcastsDrive Time Movie Night: https://rumble.com/c/c-6180416/livestreamsVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2016 through Bonfire Books!Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bookclubfromhellOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9HscrWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Brad Kelly, of the Method and Madness podcast, returns to talk about his new book, The Earthen Dark. It's a work of weird fiction set in a sewer. Turns out, this is the perfect place to set such a tale. We talked about why subterranean places are so spooky, the near and far alien of weird fiction, the Glass Bead Game and LLMs, the effect of having children on one's writing, the provenance of imagination, Brad's writing process, and a whole lot more.Get The Earthen Dark here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GF67226LBrad's website: https://www.bradkellyesque.com/Brad on Substack: https://bradkellyesque.substack.com/Brad on X: @bradkellyVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2016 through Bonfire Books!Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bookclubfromhellOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9HscrWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Utter Goodness is an upcoming short story collection written by Audrey Lee and published by Farthest Heaven. Its thirteen stories are lovely character studies, various faces of that peculiarly American form of cultural maximalism, and each rendered in very lithe prose. There's a kinda extemporising quality to the writing here, if one could extemporise in full paragraphs with foreshadowing and multiple layers of meaning, etc, etc, ect. It's good! We spent a lot of time talking about how Audrey comes up with these characters, and how her return to faith influenced the writing of Utter Goodness, both consciously and unconsciously. This will be the last episode this year. We'll start releasing things again early 2026. Get Utter Goodness here: https://farthestheaven.com/products/utter-goodnessAudrey's website: https://audreymorganlee.com/Audrey on X: @tinndfishmonger Audrey on Substack: https://jawndidion.substack.com/We mentioned Anna Krivolapova's work here, and you (you!) should also check it out: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCW2HGMXVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2016 through Bonfire Books!Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bookclubfromhellOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9HscrWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Chapters VIII, VIII and IX, titled 'Problems of the Arabian Culture', are some of the most fun in all of Spengler's work. In order to properly illuminate Spenglerian concepts like pseudomorphosis, the Pagan Church, the second religiousness, Islam as Magian Civilisation, and more, Gabe and I did what we do best: talk about gaming in Spenglerian terms. Turns out, Croteam's Serious Sam franchise is the perfect artefact of the coming Slavic soul, the endless flat plane, the erased z-axis of aiming, Siberian Mayhem...Gabe on X: @ezrarunnaroundTooky's Mag on X: @tookysmagVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has published a novel called Tower!Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheetThe first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.comOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Andrew Edwards is the author of the novels King of Dogs (2019) and Crowbar (2025), both of which are well worth reading. King of Dogs is a tense action novel, while Crowbar feels like reading Programmed to Kill and watching thirty conspiracy thrillers at the same time during a speed comedown. It's a lot. For this episode, I softballed Andy with simple questions like 'What is the supernatural?' and 'What is your conception of the soul?' He's a real trooper and actually answered these, as well as a whole lot more.Get Crowbar: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FZ93M9GBGet King of Dogs: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578608081/Andy on X: @goldengoatguildAudio version of King of Dogs: canonic.xyzAndy's RecommendationsColter Wall: https://www.colterwall.com/Brad Kelly: https://www.bradkellyesque.com/Miles Hollingworth: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Miles-Hollingworth/author/B004APNGBQVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has published a novel called Tower!Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheetThe first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.comOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

The Regime of the Brother is a book of psychoanalytic feminist theory (particularly leaning on Lacan), explaining why we no longer live in an Oedipal patriarchy, but rather live in a 'sham-Oedipus' regime of the brother. Neo-totemism, the primal hoard, the narcissistic ego as a consequence of failed symbolic castration and, consequently, no entry into the symbolic order. Make sense? Either way, you should listen to me and Stephen G Adubato talk about this book!Cracks in Postmodernity (very, very highly recommended!): https://cracksinpomo.substack.com/Stephen on X: @stephengadubatoVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has published a novel called Tower!Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheetThe first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.comOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Farthest Heaven is publishing some of the most exciting poetry and (soon!) fiction around today. I got to talk to the First Consul (an in-house naming convention) of Farthest Heaven, Bill Ballard, about book design, finding great authors, his approach to editing, what it means to run a small press, and a whole lot more. I was really looking forward to this one, Farthest Heaven has only published winners so far, and I really encourage everyone to check them out.Farthest Heaven's website: www.farthestheaven.comFarthest Heaven on Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/FarthestHeavenFarthest Heaven on X: @FarthestHeavenFarthest Heaven on Substack: www.substack.com/@farthestheavenBill's RecommendationsBruiser: www.bruisermag.com Apocalypse Confidential: www.apocalypse-confidential.comPostpop Lit: www.postpoplit.comVERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has published a novel called Tower!Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheetThe first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.comOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi

£, flesh and Femoid are a novella and novel, respectively, written by Aaron Barry and published by McBussy Publishing. Both star poorly-adjusted female leads suffering terminal brainrot, and both are written in a dense, internet-inflected style.In line with both books' preoccupations, this episode we talked about how to write the internet (and what that might even mean), the childish defences of irony and performative nihilism, nuisance streamers, /r9k/, Cioran, Camus, how Aaron is being sued, and a lot more.Buy £, flesh: https://mcbussypublishing.org/product/flesh-by-aaron-barry-print-pre-order/Buy Femoid: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1738633942Get Femoid for free: https://mega.nz/file/WAl2EZRY#2JpCKfMBWli-vCS5c0iSvXXZCd4O3q9tAAiNOtiSgdMEcholalia Review (written by Aaron under the pseudonym 'Jasper Ceylon'): https://www.amazon.com/Echolalia-Review-Anti-Poetry-Jasper-Ceylon/dp/1738633926Aaron on Substack: @jasperceylonAaron writing about getting sued: https://substack.com/home/post/p-176802154VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: [email protected] has published a novel called Tower!Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheetThe first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.comOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's Substack: jackbc.substack.comLevi's website: www.levioutloud.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQWatch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featuredX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi