Podcast
Authors Die Twice
Hosted by Nathan Wainstein and Bryan Counter · EN
A podcast on video games and aesthetic theory hosted by two Living Failures.
13episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
A Dose of Ambient Sociality (with James Martell and Erik Larsen)
Mar 2301:22:53Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Bryan and Nathan are joined by special guests James Martell and Erik Larsen to discuss Dead by Daylight. They discuss experiences with multiplayer games, ideas about horror and Lovecraftian tropes, and the ephemerality of that first time.James Martell is Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Lyon College, and was a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge in 2025. He is the author of Beckett and Derrida (2024) and Modernism, Self-Creation, and the Maternal (2019), and the editor of Understanding Sade, Understanding Modernism (2025). His current projects are Thinking Surfaces in French Contemporary Thought and Foiled Reflections: Mirror Stages for Stupid Times in Literature, Art, Film, Psychoanalysis, and Philosophy.Erik Larsen is an associate professor of Health Humanities and Bioethics at the University of Rochester. His research and teaching focus on biopolitics, critical theory and medicine, and the many intersections of narrative and healthcare. He holds a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Notre Dame. Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
Transcribe →The Puppet Question
Mar 900:44:23Tap to summarizeBryan and Nathan talk about the 2023 action role-playing game Lies of P. They think through some impressions (or lack of impressions) of it, wonder about the intertwined roles of the clown and the puppet in the game and in horror more broadly, and briefly touch on Heinrich Von Kleist’s 1810 story “On the Marionette Theater” to consider the relationship between the automaton and the human. Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
Transcribe →Anti-Indiepus (with Martin Dolan)
Feb 2300:51:07Tap to summarizeBryan and Nathan are joined by games writer Martin Dolan to discuss indie games.Read Martin's essay "Indie Squeeze": https://strangematters.coop/indie-games-renaissance-is-over-what-comes-next/Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
Transcribe →Pretty Inscrutable and Fairly Bizarre
Feb 900:41:45Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Nathan and Bryan return to Ebisugaoka to talk more about Silent Hill f. They discuss the abstract nature of horror, Hinako’s two worlds, and the worst room in the game.Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
Transcribe →Systemic Chekhov's Gun (with Justin Carpenter)
Jan 2601:29:45Tap to summarizeBryan and Nathan welcome back friend of the show Justin Carpenter to talk about Metal Gear Solid 3 and the larger Metal Gear saga. Here's a link to Justin's recent essay on Kentucky Route Zero (subscription or library access required): https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/abcsj-2025-0022Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
Transcribe →Loud Valley Pianissimo
Jan 1201:01:38Tap to summarizeBryan and Nathan return to Silent Hill to discuss Silent Hill f (2025). They talk about the question of origin, moments of horror in gameplay, the banality of horror, and the horror of banality.Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
Transcribe →Nonrectangular
Dec 2900:51:11Tap to summarizeBryan and Nathan wrap up their discussion of Metal Gear Solid 2 by talking about the trippy sequence in the game's final location, and begin their discussion of Metal Gear Solid 3 with Bryan's initial impressions of the game.Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
Transcribe →The Blithetown Holiday Special
Dec 2400:36:42Tap to summarizeJoin us for a special holiday chat.Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
Transcribe →Ambient System Flavor
Dec 1500:50:30Tap to summarizeBryan and Nathan continue their discussion of Metal Gear Solid 2. They talk about its elaborate structure of nested simulations, the importance of chance, and why "postmodern" feels like an unsatisfying term to apply to the game. Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
Transcribe →Formless 1-3: Club Silencio
Dec 101:13:57Tap to summarizeBryan and Nathan are back with another Formless One. Bryan starts off the episode recounting his recent experience seeing the metal band Ulcerate, while Nathan shares some thoughts on the 2002 remake of the original Resident Evil. They then turn to Algernon Blackwood's eldritch short story "Secret Worship" to discuss Abstract Horror, Blackwood's relation to H. P. Lovecraft, and whether a demon is still a demon if it's just the outline of a man. Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
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