Book Club From Hell

Surprise release! Clive Staples Lewis was a Christian apologist, Oxford don and spanking enthusiast. The Screwtape Letters is one of his many books, an epistolary novel published serially in the (now-defunct) Anglican weekly newspaper The Guardian during the Second World War. The letters are written by Uncle Screwtape, a demon administrator in the bureaucracy of Hell, and addressed to his young nephew Wormwood, an inexperienced tempter. Screwtape offers Wormwood advice on how to lead his 'patient' away from God, so that when he dies he can serve as food for demons. Hell as a gigantic, noisy bureaucracy in which subordinates are eaten by their superiors? Lovely stuff.Joining us for this episode are friends of the show Kevin and Matt from the wonderful Art of Darkness podcast (and There Will Be Books, Matt's other podcast, also wonderful!) For more info on Lewis' spanking enthusiasms, listen to the Art of Darkness episode on C.S. Lewis (https://artofdarkpod.com/c-s-lewis-a-jack-in-the-wardrobe)!Art of Darkness: https://artofdarkpod.comArt of Darkness on X: X.com/artofdarkpodThere Will Be Books: X.com/TherewillbbooksKevin on X: X.com/kautzmaniaMatt's new book: https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=az0Zsh8Ol7BjqsK8S6M4XHoJlnrHvYZSQMjh4VUlBZL VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONContact: jack.bcfh@gmail.comJack 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.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: @supersquat1Capitalisimo on X: @thecapitalisimoArt by moog

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: jack.bcfh@gmail.comJack 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: jack.bcfh@gmail.comJack 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

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: jack.bcfh@gmail.comJack 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: jack.bcfh@gmail.comJack 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

Pretty Boys Are Poisonous (2023) is a poetry collection written by actress Megan Fox. Mostly focusing on her troubled relationship with professional machine-gun Colson Baker, the poems are surprisingly adolescent for a (currently) 39-year-old mother of four. To assist me in parsing these poems, Aaron Barry, aka Jasper Ceylon, joined me for this episode.Aaron/Jasper's work:Echolalia Review: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1738633926Poundflesh: https://mcbussypublishing.org/product/flesh-by-aaron-barry-print-pre-order/Femoid: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1738633942Jasper's Substack: https://jasperceylon.substack.com/VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATIONJack has published a novel! Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet- The first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.comOur Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHellJack's substack: https://jackbc.substack.com/Levi's website: www.levioutloud.comwww.thebookclubfromhell.comJoin our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQX: @bookclubhell666Jack on X: @supersquat1Levi on X: @optimismlevi