Ep 396 - Most Anticipated Books for the Start of 2025 + Clay McLeod Chapman!

Summary

Podcast Episode Summary: Reading Glasses Ep 396 - Most Anticipated Books for the Start of 2025 + Clay McLeod Chapman!

Release Date: January 30, 2025

Hosts:

• Mallory O'Meara: Author and avid reader
• Bria Grant: Filmmaker and e-reader

---

1. Introduction

In Episode 396 of Reading Glasses, hosts Mallory O'Meara and Bria Grant delve into their most anticipated book releases for the early months of 2025. Despite the episode being released in January, the hosts enthusiastically cover readings for January, February, and March. The episode promises insightful discussions, book recommendations, and a special appearance by renowned author Clay McLeod Chapman to talk about his new book, Wake Up and Open Your Eyes.

Bria Grant opens with excitement:
"[00:13] Bria Grant: This episode, we're talking about our most anticipated books for the start of 2025. Yes, we're already in January, but we're doing January, too. January, February, March. Here we are. Plus, we got some big news."

---

2. Listener Feedback

Before diving into book discussions, the hosts share heartfelt listener feedback, highlighting the community's supportive nature.

Bria shares Beth's story:
"[04:37] Bria Grant: Beth wrote in to say... she couldn't bring her Kindle to serving jury duty and instead shared her beloved book, Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers, with a fellow juror who adored science fiction. Beth's heartfelt gesture not only brightened her day but also contributed to the reading community."

Mallory reflects on Beth's contribution:
"[04:38] Mallory O'Meara: Beth, thank you... it's such a sweet thing."

They express gratitude:
"[05:34] Bria Grant: You know what? Happy New Year. Yeah, it is a happy new year."
"[05:37] Mallory O'Meara: It's a happy New Year because Beth personally is making sure they are making it happy for other people."

---

3. New Podcast Announcement: Reading Smut

Exciting news unfolds as Bria and Mallory announce their new podcast, Reading Smut, focusing on erotica and "smut" literature. This addition aims to explore the culture surrounding erotica reading and smut books, providing a space for open discussion without judgment.

Bria introduces the podcast enthusiastically:
"[08:04] Bria Grant: Get out your slide whistles, kids... we're launching a new podcast. It is called Reading Smut..."

Mallory clarifies its relationship with Reading Glasses:
"[08:16] Mallory O'Meara: Nothing is changing with Reading Glasses... Reading Smut is coming out every other Friday."

Details on the podcast's format and first book:
"[08:35] Bria Grant: A book club for smut. Our first book is Unhinged by Vera Valentine."

---

4. Most Anticipated Books for January 2025

The core of the episode revolves around the hosts' book recommendations for the first quarter of 2025. They categorize their picks into shared selections and individual choices, covering various genres from horror to literary fiction.

Shared Picks:

Horror Selections:

1. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

   • Bria's Review: "It's basically about a bunch of young girls who get pregnant out of wedlock and discover a book about witchcraft while hidden away."
   • Timestamp: [13:53]

2. Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman

   • Mallory's Excitement: "Clay is one of the most important horror authors... it's a powerful piece of social horror."
   • Timestamp: [14:13]

Solo Picks:

Bria's January Picks:

1. Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire

   • Description: A portal fantasy about a disabled Russian orphan who discovers a world of rivers and giant turtles.
   • Timestamp: [15:38]

2. Cold Storage by Michael C. Grummaly

   • Description: A near-future thriller about a man thawed after being frozen, holding secrets a clandestine organization wants to suppress.
   • Timestamp: [17:10]

3. Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

   • Description: A literary fiction piece about a woman whose self-written book alters humanity's course.
   • Timestamp: [18:27]

Mallory's January Picks:

1. Old Soul by Susan Barker

   • Description: Two strangers in a Japanese airport bond over the mysterious woman seen by their loved ones before death.
   • Timestamp: [16:42]

2. Blob by Maggie Sue

   • Description: A woman in NYC finds a sentient blob, shaping it into her ideal boyfriend.
   • Timestamp: [17:10]

3. Vantage Point by Sarah Sigler

   • Description: A high-powered family in New England faces a digital haunting amidst a family curse.
   • Timestamp: [19:21]

---

5. February 2025 Anticipated Books

Moving into February, Mallory and Bria continue their exploration of exciting new releases, blending personal recommendations with broader literary trends such as climate fiction (Cli-Fi) and queer horror.

Shared Picks:

1. Daughter of Daring by Mallory O'Meara

   • Description: A love letter to Los Angeles, exploring Hollywood history and the city's unique cultural landscape.
   • Timestamp: [20:13]

2. Emily Wilde Series: Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

   • Description: Fairy folklorist Emily Wilde embarks on adventures in fairyland.
   • Timestamp: [20:37]

Solo Picks:

Bria's February Picks:

1. One Message Remains by Premier Mohammed

   • Description: A collection of sci-fi dystopian short stories dealing with themes like bone gallows for prisoners of war.
   • Timestamp: [20:25]

2. The Poorly Made and Other Things

   • Description: Short horror stories set in Renfield County, exploring characters losing their minds.
   • Timestamp: [21:36]

Mallory's February Picks:

1. Echoes by Evie Wild

   • Description: A male protagonist grapples with grief while haunting his former partner to understand her.
   • Timestamp: [21:54]

2. The Lamb by Lucy Rose

   • Description: Queer horror exploring family decay, with a mother and daughter facing supernatural disturbances.
   • Timestamp: [23:38]

---

6. March 2025 Anticipated Books

As they transition to March, the hosts present a mix of historical fiction, dystopian narratives, and queer literary works, ensuring a diverse range of genres for their listeners.

Shared Picks:

1. The Buffalo Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

   • Description: Historical Western vampires interwoven with Jones's signature storytelling.
   • Timestamp: [27:29]

2. Nowhere by Allison Gunn

   • Description: A terrifying tale set in a fundamentalist small town facing mysterious disappearances.
   • Timestamp: [27:47]

Solo Picks:

Bria's March Picks:

1. The Dream Hotel by Layla Lalami

   • Description: A woman’s dreams predict her potential to harm her loved ones, forcing her under surveillance.
   • Timestamp: [28:33]

2. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

   • Description: The latest installment in The Hunger Games series, introducing twice as many tributes from their homes.
   • Timestamp: [30:36]

3. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green

   • Description: A micro history of tuberculosis intertwined with personal narratives and advocacy.
   • Timestamp: [31:15]

Mallory's March Picks:

1. The Antidote by Karen Russell

   • Description: Set in a fictional Nebraskan town ravaged by a dust storm, exploring various characters' interwoven fates.
   • Timestamp: [32:00]

2. The River Has Roots by Amal El-Matary

   • Description: A reimagined 17th-century murder ballad brought to life with illustrations.
   • Timestamp: [32:44]

3. The Haunting of Room 904 by Erica T. Worth

   • Description: A psychic is hired to investigate recurring deaths in a specific hotel room.
   • Timestamp: [33:21]

---

7. Interview with Clay McLeod Chapman

A standout segment of this episode is the interview with fellow author Clay McLeod Chapman, who discusses his latest work, Wake Up and Open Your Eyes. Chapman explores themes of social horror, demonic possession, and the pervasive spread of hate and misinformation in contemporary society.

Interview Highlights:

• Introduction and Current Readings:
  Clay shares his current reads, including The Burial Tide by Neil Sharpton and Feast While You Can by Michaela Clements and Anjuli Datta.

  • Timestamp: [36:32]

• Discussion of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes:
  Chapman explains his novel’s premise, questioning what if half the country were possessed by demons—a metaphor for societal issues like hate and misinformation.

  • Timestamp: [38:43]

• Inspirations and Influences:
  Chapman cites inspirations like Colson Whitehead's Zone One and the Pontypool series, emphasizing the influence of social horror in his writing.

  • Timestamp: [41:03]

• Reflection on Current Fears:
  The conversation delves into how contemporary fears—especially those surrounding hate and misinformation—are encapsulated in social horror genres.

  • Timestamp: [44:22]

• Recommendations and Upcoming Releases:
  Chapman mentions forthcoming books like Blob by Maggie Sue and The Night that Finds Us by John Horner Jacobs, highlighting their unique contributions to the horror and weird fiction genres.

  • Timestamp: [52:01]

• Tour and Availability:
  Clay discusses his current tour schedule and where listeners can purchase his book.

  • Timestamp: [53:42]

Notable Quote:
"[39:37] Clay McLeod Chapman: There is no solution to it other than... just kind of the utter collapse... it's the breaking down of social norms... delivered by hate and misinformation."

---

8. Closing Remarks

As the episode wraps up, Mallory and Bria express gratitude towards their listeners and encourage them to engage with the Reading Glasses community through various platforms. They also promote their merchandise store, emphasizing support for their ventures and charitable causes.

Mallory concludes with enthusiasm:
"[55:07] Mallory O'Meara: If you like the show, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. It's so so great for us and helps us reach more readers. ... Thanks for listening and thanks for reading."

---

9. Key Takeaways

• Diverse Recommendations: The hosts offer a wide range of book recommendations spanning genres like horror, literary fiction, dystopian thrillers, and queer narratives, catering to a broad audience of book lovers.

• Community Engagement: Listener stories and feedback play a significant role in the episode, highlighting the supportive and interactive nature of the Reading Glasses community.

• Expansion into Erotica Discussion: The announcement of Reading Smut marks a strategic expansion, addressing a niche yet vibrant segment of the literary world.

• Timeliness and Relevance: The discussion with Clay McLeod Chapman underscores the importance of literature mirroring societal fears and challenges, particularly through the lens of social horror.

• Support and Accessibility: The hosts emphasize the importance of listener support, both through ratings and merchandise, ensuring the sustainability of their content and community-driven initiatives.

---

Conclusion

Episode 396 of Reading Glasses serves as a comprehensive guide to the most anticipated literary releases in early 2025, enriched by personal anecdotes, community stories, and expert insights from guest author Clay McLeod Chapman. Whether you're seeking your next horror fix, a thought-provoking dystopian narrative, or exploring queer literary fiction, Mallory and Bria's curated selections promise something for every reader. Additionally, the launch of Reading Smut signals the hosts' commitment to diversifying their content and fostering deeper discussions within the literary community.

For more details on the discussed books, events, and to engage with the hosts, listeners are encouraged to visit the show notes or contact them directly at [e-mail].

Transcript

[Mallory O'Meara]

Foreign. You're listening to Reading Glasses, a show about book culture and literary life designed to help you read better. I'm author and book devourer, Mallory O'Meara.

[Bria Grant]

And I'm Bria Grant, filmmaker and e reader. This episode, we're talking about our most anticipated books for the start of 2025. Yes, we're already in January, but we're doing January, too. January, February, March. Here we are. Plus, we got some big news.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Biggest. One of the biggest pieces of news we've ever have.

[Bria Grant]

Stick around. We're going to talk about it right after we do our feedback. It's going to be very soon. Don't miss it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Wow.

[Bria Grant]

Big, big, big news coming from us. It's good. It's a positive, positive for your year.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And spicy.

[Bria Grant]

And. Oh, hey. And also, we have our friend of the show, our pal, Clay McLeod Chapman, to talk about his new book, wake.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Up and open your eyes. It's so good. But first, Bria, what are you reading?

[Bria Grant]

I'm reading a little book called Daughter of daring by Mallory. Mallory. I'm loving this book. I'm about a third of the way through. It's so wonderful. Mallory and I are doing an event for The Book on February 23rd. 23rd.

[Mallory O'Meara]

At the Los Feliz 3 Theater in Los Angeles.

[Bria Grant]

Yep. But it's. It's been a rough couple weeks in Los Angeles, as a lot of people know. And we. We are gonna do something for the people who lost their homes in the fire. But that's. It's. It's a long road, y'all. Like, thank you to everyone who've given, who's given money. Thank you, everybody who's reached out to check on us. So lovely. We're talking years, like we have. It's going to change LA forever, ourselves on, like, what can be done. Anyway. But I was reading this when the fire started.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh. And it's a lot about L. A.

[Bria Grant]

It's such a love letter to L. A. And it's just something like, we should do an episode where we just talk about it, because I have so much to say. And it's such an interesting. LA is such an interesting place because most of us are transplants. There's some Los Angeles born here. You come here because you are kind of a person looking for something else, looking to change your life. You just think there's nothing more. And you really represent that in the book in a really interesting way.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Thank you.

[Bria Grant]

And even, you know, in the early 1900s.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

It was still a place where you go because you were like, I think there's, like, something more to this life for me.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Something that I love about LA is that. And I talk about it in the book, is that Los Angeles specifically was the only, like, boom town where people moved to in the west that had more women than men. Like, from Go. LA was a very special city for female creators. And.

[Bria Grant]

And you get into all of the LA history. Like, it was funny. I was literally reading about how Hollywood's created and about how people were expanding out to like, to literally the Pacific Palisades and stuff.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

While the Palisades were burning. It was a very surreal experience. But I'm loving it. It's great so far. Thank you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That makes me so happy.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Really liking it. What are you reading?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, this is gonna be a little sad. I am rereading for the millionth time, Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch. We were recording this on the day after David lynch died. And I want to thank. All the glassers were like, writing into the show to check on me. I literally woke up. I was telling Bria this. I woke up to like 50 text messages. You called me, Jeremy called me, and I. In my. The first thought I had in my head, I was like, who died? And then I was like, someone did die. And if you've listened to the show for a long time, you know, I don't think there's anybody whose work has changed. Shaped my life or changed me as much as David Lynch. Like, it's almost like. Like I can't. I can't even be hyperbolic about how obsessed with his work I am. So it's a really big blow. Especially after the flake. Fuck 2025, man. Like, I was. I said before we recorded, I was like, if something good doesn't happen soon, I'm going to jump off a cliff. But I just love him so much. And this book, the tiny little book, it's. And it's square, which is fun. It's just like this beautiful little collection of his thoughts on. On consciousness and creativity and meditation and in LA and lighting, and it's just. It's all his, like, beautiful little thoughts put together and he talks about all his different projects. Yeah, it's just so wonderful. It's so creatively energizing. Like, there's no one who makes me want to make stuff more than David lynch and makes me like, he completely fundamentally changed the way that I think about creativity. So if you're a person, like, maybe if you want to start a new project, you want to write you want to. Whatever. This is a perfect book to do so and honor the, I think the greatest filmmaker of all time. So that's Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch.

[Bria Grant]

And mine is Daughter of Daring by Mallory Omar sitting across from her right now.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So we want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Beth wrote in to say, dear Bri and Mallory, happy New Year. No, it is not a happy new year. I'm no.

[Bria Grant]

Beth.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Beth, thank you.

[Bria Grant]

We know you cannot unpredict it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Thank you, Beth. I know what I think we need to do is throw 20, 25 away and get a new one.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, start over.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Get a fresh. I think we should just call it and call today's January 1st. We're starting a new year.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Beth says, I have been serving jury duty this week and as it is federal court, I am not permitted to bring any electronic device inside with me, including my beloved Kindle. Oh, brutal. I grabbed a book to reread off my shelf, but just wasn't feeling it. In the jury waiting room, there was a magazine rack with the dregs of what people have left behind. I saw a man sadly gazing at the rack and decided to offer him my book. I asked if he likes science fiction and his whole body lit up and he declared, I love science fiction. I gave him my well thumbed copy of the Galaxy and the Ground within by Becky Chambers and told him to keep it and that I hope he liked it. The spring in his step as he walked away made my whole day worth it. Luckily, I found a bookstore on the lunch break and was able to pick up a new book for myself. And I intend to bring a few more books to seed the rack with tomorrow. Thanks for everything you do for the reading community. This is the sweetest thing ever.

[Bria Grant]

You know what? Happy New Year. Yeah, it is a happy new year.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's a happy new Year because Beth personally is making sure they are making it happy for other people. We need a Beth out here.

[Bria Grant]

LA needs making it a happy New Year.

[Mallory O'Meara]

LA needs a Beth.

[Bria Grant]

And you know what? I love that. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

See that?

[Bria Grant]

See that shelf? Give people something to read.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So great.

[Bria Grant]

Allison Roden and said, hi, reading glasses. I wanted to send out a general recommendation to Glassers to check out Book Roast, the booktuber and creator of the Cawpile system. She goes by giving Cawpile, which we talked about in our last episode, is a great resource and I use it regularly. But G's real accomplishment, in my opinion, is her creative and engaging magical readathon.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I looked into this it's wicked cool.

[Bria Grant]

She created an original fantasy world for readers to engage in while taking part in the Magical Readathon. There are Readathon events all year round, but the main events take place in April and September. She has a video on her page which is an introduction to taking part in the Readathon. I would highly recommend. It is always the highlight of my reading year and there is a wonderful community around it. Also, she's based in Edinburgh, so bonus.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Of course she is.

[Bria Grant]

Connection.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think she wasn't. Wasn't based in Edinburgh and then she got this bookish and she just became stuck in. I think that's what I. What you and I are going to wake up in Edinburgh one day.

[Bria Grant]

What is the Magical Readathon?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Basically, it's like you have. You have. You are your little character and you go through the world and you acquire powers by reading certain types of books. Like, if you. This might not be totally correct, but, like, you want to learn how to do fire spells, you have to read a book with the word fire in the title.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So it's like an rpg, but you acquire things by reading certain books. Wow.

[Bria Grant]

Impressive.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Cool, right? Very cool. And then Marie wrote in to say, diabran Mallory. Just had to forward the attached bumper sticker I spotted recently. Perfect for Mallory. I'd rather be trapped in a haunted tower. I would. I especially right now. Put me in a haunted tower, please. I'm a longtime fan of your show. I know Mallory had a rough 2024 and 2025, and so did I. I'm grateful for reading glasses for perking me up and getting me back into reading. We got you, Marie. And you want to read Marie's wheelhouse, huh?

[Bria Grant]

Magical Academia. Unreliable slash unhinged narrators and alternative narration. Breaking the fourth wall. Oh, yeah. Entering a land of stories or fractured fairy tale retellings. Lovably dysfunctional families. Extra points for multicultural, immigrant or LGBTQIA elements. Cozy mysteries set in a small town and witty comedy of manners.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And Marie adds, Bria, I love audiobooks and you have helped me find some of my favorites.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And Mallory, I loved your books. I'm looking forward to the new ones in 2025. Thank you. God, look at all these wonderful glasses. We appreciate you all so much, so you can email us at reading glasses podcastmail.com if you want a list of all the books we talk about on the show delivered to your inbox every month. You can sign up for our newsletter link in the show notes. Bri, you want to drop a Little BFN right now. Big fucking news.

[Bria Grant]

Get out your slide whistles, kids, because kids know adults. Adults, get out your slide whistles because Mallory and I are launching a new podcast. It is called Reading Smut, and if you can't tell by the title, does.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What it says on the tin. And folks, we want to say off the top, nothing is happening. Nothing is changing with reading glasses. Reading glasses is unchanged. It's coming out same time every week saying, like, nothing is different. It's also on maximum fun. It's coming out every other Friday. And we. If you have enjoyed our erotica clubs, then this is for you, exactly what it is.

[Bria Grant]

We will be talking about a book. We will be talking about the culture around erotica reading around smut books. Our first book, if you want to participate, because we obviously don't do specific books on this show. That's been really important to us to not be a book club show. This is a book club show.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yep.

[Bria Grant]

A book club for smut Smut. Different kind of smut club, if you will. Yes. Our first book is Unhinged, Unhinged by Vera Valentine.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So if you want to read that and join us, we're going to be talking about it with Chelsea devontez next month for our first episode. So every. There's going to be two episodes a month. One will be the book club episode and then one will be the culture discussion, where the first episode for that is. We're talking about why specifically fairies. Why are people horny for fairies?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. And if you don't know Unhinged, that would be the sentient door erotica. That's where we're starting. So this is going to be podcast bang, a knock, if you will. And if you read the book, if you have opinions about the book, we would like to hear them in the same way that we've loved hearing your opinions on reading glasses for so many years. If you have opinions on this book, good, bad, weird, whatever, write into us. We actually have a wonderful email address.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Readings smut podcast69gmail.com it was the only one that I could get. I had to put numbers in and you knew the ones that I had to choose. So email us. We're super excited. Again, this is not going to affect reading glasses at all, but these books have become so popular and we've really enjoyed reading them and we want to be the ones talking about it and really delving into why readers love these books so much and just the culture of. Of being a spicy little reader. So just like reading glasses, we're tailoring it. If you've never read these books, you can join us. It's not, it's not a advanced level show. Maybe even if you haven't done any of our erotica reads or watched any of our erotica events, but you're just curious and you've, you don't know where to dip your toe. Come on in. The water's great.

[Bria Grant]

You don't have to read the book to listen to the episodes. The episodes will explain what the book is. There will be spoilers about the book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes, but we spoilers. They, it won't be.

[Bria Grant]

It will be funny. It will be.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But also insightful.

[Bria Grant]

We're hoping it will be insightful. It will not be judgmental. We are just, we want to get to the bottom of why people are reading these books. If they're sexy, if they're hot, our sentient doors hot. We'll answer that question.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We're going to answer that question. Would I bang a door? We're going to find out.

[Bria Grant]

Bang. Bang on the door, baby.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Bfn, baby. And one more bookmark. Come to Bria and I's no pressure Book Journal event. If you are in Los Angeles at 5 February, which is a Wednesday night, it is at skylight books at 7pm Bria and I are launching our Book Journal. It's going to be super fun. Come hang out with us. It's basically going to be a big bookish party and we would love to see you there. Before we talk about our most anticipated reads for the start of 2025, we're going to take a quick break. Hey, everybody, I'm Jeremy.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

I'm Oscar.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm Demetri.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

And we are the Eurovangelists. Or a weekly podcast spreading the word of the Eurovision Song Contest, the most important music competition in the world.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Maybe you already heard Glenn Weldon of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. Talk up our coverage of this year's contest. But what do we talk about in the off season?

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

The rest of Eurovision, Duh.

[Mallory O'Meara]

There are nearly seven decades of pop.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Music history to cover. We've got thousands of amazing songs, inspiring competitors and so much drama to discuss. And let me tell you, the drama is juicy. Plus all the gorillas and bread baking grandmas that make Eurovision so special.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Check out Euro Evangelists. Available everywhere. You get podcasts. And you could be a Eurovangelist too.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Ooh, I want to be one.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You already are. It's that easy.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Oh, okay, cool.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This week we're diving into our most anticipated books for the start of 20, 25. These are our picks for January, February, March. Let's get into them. First off, I do want to say that, yes, this is about a monthly. This is my personal responsibility.

[Bria Grant]

You did great. And I didn't notice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's my personal fault. I'm sorry, folks. This just saw a lot happening right now. Our city is on fire. David lynch is dead. A lot of big, bad things are happening right now. So this should have came out a few weeks ago, but it's fine. It's fine. Everything's fine.

[Bria Grant]

And you know what, Mallory? I think at one point I was like, we shouldn't. We should only do these quarterly, but maybe we should be doing them more often, and that would be like, a little less work for you. You know what I mean?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, we were. We were doing them every. Every couple of months.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, we were.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And then January got away from me.

[Bria Grant]

Like, oh, we are doing them every two months.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, this one's at forever. Actually, this one's the last one. It was our Max Fund Drive goal from last year was to do to. To bring these into the mainstream. And so maybe we'll put them back on the Max 1 drive and maybe we won't. Okay, okay, we'll see. Hopefully people like them and people get to listen to them. But you know what? Right now, at least the January picks are out, so you can buy them immediately. So I'm doing my best, folks. It's been a rough time. Thank you for your understanding and also, as always, want to thank our incredible and very generous Max Fund members for making it possible for us to do this. We literally would not do this episode without you. This episode, it literally. It takes me days and days and days to do this. It takes me so much time, and the only way I'm able to do it is from the extra support from our Maximum Fun members. If you want to become one of them, you can go to maximumfun.org join sign up and support reading glasses. Also, to support me personally, please look in the show notes because I make such a big list of all these books and I write all the wheelhouse items out. Well, I write the. I write. I write like a little note for each book so you can see if you want to read it or not. All right, Bria January. We have some two pretty big shared picks here.

[Bria Grant]

So first up, we have two great horror books. One I've already read, one I have purchased. They are Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendricks, which I absolutely love.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I got my pre order in the mail finally. It is such a beautiful, beautiful book.

[Bria Grant]

If you like witchcraft, if you like.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Wayward girls, if you like witchcraft, if you like girls.

[Bria Grant]

It's basically a bunch of young girls who get pregnant out of wedlock and are sent away to this home where they can be hidden away from the shame of their families. And while there, they discover a book about witchcraft. And it is, in true Grady Hendrik style, just wonderful book. And then we also have Wake up and Open youn eyes by Clay McLeod.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Chapman, which I am reading right now.

[Bria Grant]

Which Mallory's reading and who is also on today's episode.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes, we are recording this way in advance, but it is amazing. It's. I mean, Clay is one of the most important horror authors I think we have working right now, just like Grady is. It's basically about a way of demonic possession that goes through the news. And it's about this guy who lives in Brooklyn. He drives down south to see his family and he discovers that his already very conservative mother is violently attacking him. And it's this like crazy demonic possession that's going around the country. And it's, it's, it's Clay really examining how hate spreads in our media and how it affects and divides families. Yeah, it's incredible. I mean, and it's Clay, so it's also going to be really funny. It's. It's just amazing. And it's. It's like, I really think. I mean, we'll get. We're going to get into this in the interview later, but it's just such an important piece of social horror right now. And I think it's something that a lot of people are experiencing with their own families. So seeing a whole book that's exploring that is amazing. Clay is incredible. So very hot. Anticipated books.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. And they're out. These books are out.

[Mallory O'Meara]

These are the times.

[Bria Grant]

So you can go get these right now. Almost all these January ones are out.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

Right. Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. What's your first solo pick?

[Bria Grant]

First solo book that I've already read actually is Adrift in Currents Clean and clear by Seanan McGuire, which is another installment in the Wayward Children series. This is how I've been starting every year for the past however many years. I read this first one of Shannon's books first. This is about a disabled Russian orphan who's adopted by an American family. So these books are all about. It's portal fantasies. So they're novellas. It's about a young child, usually who gets. Or a teenager who gets. Goes into a portal, a door, and enters into A world which they belong more than the world that they're currently in. So this is this Russian girl and she's adopted by this American family and she goes through a door. It takes her to a world of rivers and giant turtles. Because she loves turtles.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hell yeah.

[Bria Grant]

It's very sweet. These books are both sweet and dark, which is something I can't ever. It's like it's dark, fairy tale esque, and not necessarily for children, even though they are fairy tale esque. Like some of them are darker than others. But this one's pretty dark and it's fantastic. I loved it. Always loved these books. What's your first one? What's our solo pick?

[Mallory O'Meara]

My first solo pick is Old Soul by Susan Barker. And all I know is it's about these two people. They're two strangers, they're in an airport in Japan, and they both just lost loved ones and they start talking to each other and they realize that both of their loved ones saw the same mysterious woman before they died.

[Bria Grant]

Ooh, I love that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's all I know. They end up going on this big journey together. It's like it's pitched as the historian meets under the Skin. Part horror, part western, part thriller. And I was like, yep, that's a hook. I'm in. I'm wicked pumped. What's your next one?

[Bria Grant]

My next one is one actually I have waiting for me called Cold Storage by Michael C. Grummley. It just sounded so good to me. It's a near future thriller about a guy who's like thawed out after being frozen for years and he has answers the secret organization doesn't want to get out. And that's all I really know about it. I just thought it just sounded very cool. I like a near future thriller.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Yeah, you do. You also like. I've. There's quite a few books where people have either.

[Bria Grant]

I love being thawed.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, people. You like when people. People getting frozen and. Or thought and then you come out.

[Bria Grant]

At a different time. I think it's. I like people who are a little bit out of time.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Out of their own time. Funny, we talked about Ministry of Time last week. Just touched on it. But that's a similar. Similar thing. What's your next one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

My next one is Blob by Maggie sue. And I know it's about this woman who is like trying to find herself. She lives in New York City and she's like really stressed out with dating until one night she finds this blob that is sentient and she Brings it home and she realizes that she can shape it to be whatever she wants. So she shapes it into a boyfriend.

[Bria Grant]

January is a banger month.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is such a banger month. I'm. And I think maybe it was Paul Tremblay, somebody that we know, an author that we know, was talking about it online. I was saying how amazing it was and I was like, this sounds fudgeing awesome.

[Bria Grant]

It does sound great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I want to blob. I want to find my own blob. What is your next pick? Oh, I knew you were gonna pick.

[Bria Grant]

I already got. Also waiting for me on my Kindle, it's Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor, which is a literary fiction book about a woman who writes a book just for herself. Like she's feels like she has to do something for herself and then it ends up changing the course of humanity in some way. Just as Nnedi Okorafor book is really good at doing and it's her first.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like big literary thing. Right. It's sci fi adjacent.

[Bria Grant]

It's like it's sci fi.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, it's about a writer who is writing sci fi.

[Bria Grant]

Right. But then the sci fi book I.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Think starts to bleed into reality.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah. And I haven't read it yet, but I can guarantee you I'm going to be reading it very soon because I just think Nnedi Korafor is such a. She's a queen, amazing author and does a really good job. It's often about someone who does a thing and it sort of changes everything for everybody. Like one woman does, one does this thing and is able to be the chosen one or whatever. Yeah. I just love her books. And what's your last one for January?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Vantage Point by Sarah. Does this come out? This comes out last day of January.

[Bria Grant]

Great. January. These are all out. They're all out available.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So mine's Vantage Point by Sarah Sigler also sounds good. I've seen a bunch of people, I think it was Samantha Irby who was.

[Bria Grant]

Talking about this too, maybe in her newsletter.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. And it's pitched as Megan Abbott meets Succession. And it's about this like really high powered family. They, they're in New England. But there is a family curse and that's, that's all I really know. And I saw someone talk about how there's haunting, a haunting in this book, but it's digital and I, you know me, I'm the queen of haunting things. Getting haunted and I've never. It's very rare to see normally some when you get Into a haunted house. Like your phone doesn't work anymore. Like, a lot of creators take the technology off the table so they don't have to deal with it. I'm very interested to see an author be like, all right, well, I'm just going to figure out what a digital haunting looks like. So I am. I'm very pumped for this. All right, we're going to get into February. What are our shared picks?

[Bria Grant]

Well, first of all, I'm going to say a daughter of daring is my pick, but also is it should be everyone's shared. This is a glass or shared pick. We're all excited about your new book coming out.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[Bria Grant]

So. So we should celebrate that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Thank you. Yeah. If you like Hollywood history, ladies doing cool shit.

[Bria Grant]

And it's very clever. It's very Mallory. If you like Mallory. And you're like, I don't know about Hollywood history. No, Mallory's writing it. So it's very interesting. It's very funny.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I make a lot of stupid jokes.

[Bria Grant]

A lot of silly jokes in there. I really enjoyed it, or am enjoying it. What. What is our other shared pick?

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's got the third Emily Wilde book, baby.

[Bria Grant]

No, I haven't read the second one yet.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I know, but I put this as our shared pick because it's like such a big glasser thing that I figured it needs to be elevated a little bit. It's so it's Emily Wilde's compendium of lost tales by Heather Fawcett.

[Bria Grant]

Good name.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's in the series. And yeah, it's a fairy folklorist with her fairy partner going on fairy adventures in fairyland, doing fairy things. And it's. It's fucking great. We like this is such a big glasser series. I read the second one and loved it. Get hyped, folks. What is your first solo pick?

[Bria Grant]

My first one is One Message Remains by Premier Mohammed, which got my attention. You. You put it on here because it's sci fi dystopia and short stories. Short stories are tough, but I like a sci fi short story. And this one, it seems like it's all kinds of stuff. Everything from building bone gallows for prisoners of war to bone gallows.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Fuck. Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

It feels like it's very much about, like it's very perilous sort of short stories. It just looks really good. I like a short story book. I'm trying to find a book for our. Take a long time to read a book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Things.

[Bria Grant]

I'm thinking about a short story.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, yeah. This would Be good.

[Bria Grant]

So I kind of have a lot of short story books on my radar right now. What's your first one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is the Echoes by Evie Wild. I've read all of Evie Wild's books. I love her writing. She kind of reminds me of Charlotte McConaughey. Like, it's. A lot of her books are, like, women going on intense personal journeys in, like, intense climates.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, like that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And this one, I'm excited because it's very different for her. It's a male protagonist. It's basically the plot of the movie Ghost Story, which you were also in. It's about this man, man. And he, like, obviously not a spoiler. He dies and becomes a ghost and, like, is haunting his. His partner. And he kind of realizes that he doesn't really know her at all. And just. And now he's learning about, like, all these different things about her as he's haunting her. So it's a book all about grief in relationships. And obviously I love a ghost and I'll read anything Evie Wilde writes, so. Oh, I thought you were gonna pick this one.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, well, I read the other book, so my next one is the Poorly Made and Other Things, Another short story book. Obviously, I'm really wanting to do short stories, which is. I read this book called Edenville last year and I thought it was really great. And it's by Sam Rebelaine. Rebelaine, I believe. And this is short stories set in the town where Edenville takes place, which I guess is Edenville. I'm not sure. It's Renfield County, I guess is the name of the town. But it's basically just people are slowly losing their minds in this town. These are stories that happen there. For example, a father returns home, finds himself trapped in a dizzying maze, haunted by lurking monsters that live off the remains of weary travelers. Sounds wonderful to me. It's like. It's very horror. This book was a really cool. Eatonville is a very cool horror book that I felt like did a great job of building character in a way that I really appreciated. So I'm excited to read. I haven't read anything else by him, so I'm excited to read more from him.

[Mallory O'Meara]

My next pick is the Lamb by Lucy Rose. Queer horror alert, folks. And you know what's funny? I just realized looking at the description, this is another family decay book. Why do I love. I mean, because. I mean, because I am estranged from my family. Maybe I love, like, fucked up family books, but this is about. It's like. It's folk horror. It's Gothic. It's about this mother and her daughter who, like, live together in the woods. There's something scary going on with the mom. And then this stranger comes by one day, this beautiful woman and needs to stay with them. And the daughter starts falling in love with her. And that upends all of the entire. Like, ruins the mom and the daughter's relationship. That's. That's all I know. But it's comped for fans of Angela Carter and Julia Armfield. So, like, folky gothic lady horror, I'm all about. What's your next one? Ooh, this one also looks really good.

[Bria Grant]

So there's a big thing in. I mean, obviously Cli Fi. We're having a moment. Is having a moment. But also. But particularly flooding things. Flooding. And I. Look, I don't love flooding.

[Mallory O'Meara]

No.

[Bria Grant]

But I like a flooding book and.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I like my flooding confined to the.

[Bria Grant]

Page where New York City was underwater from a few years ago. Like, there's just some really interesting cool flooding. If a book is about a city or something that is flooded, if it's a water world type book, then I'm sort of into it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Oh, you should have read Fathom Folk last year. That. Yeah, it's like a fantasy, but in like an. Unlike a. Most of the world is submerged.

[Bria Grant]

But I like it that it had to have been a not submerged world for a while. Yes, that's important to me. Okay, great. This one is called all the Water in the World by Erin Caffel. So a lot of it takes place on the roof of the New York Museum of Natural History. So it's like a flooded dystopian New York. And a lot of it takes place in a museum, which I obviously love. And it's compared to from the Mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I loved that book when I was a kid.

[Bria Grant]

Parable of the Sower.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, my God, Bria. Holy fuck. Amazing.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Jesus.

[Bria Grant]

Immediate pre order sounds amazing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, fuck.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. What is your last one? And what is vegetable Gothic?

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's why I put it on here. It's Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield. And I literally put it on there because they pitched it as vegetable Gothic.

[Bria Grant]

What does that mean?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know.

[Bria Grant]

Is that. Is that Benicula? What is that?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Sort of. It's about this girl and her boyfriend and they're like, trying to get money. So they're. They're in Minnesota and they go to this beet farm and, like, get hired as, like, seasonal workers there. But as soon as they get there, like, weird things start happening. She starts getting. The main character starts getting a weird rash. People start disappearing. All I see is the menacing but enticing siren song of the beats.

[Bria Grant]

Beats Eat.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. And like, I was like, I don't need to know anymore. Vegetable Gothic. Sign me the fudge up. This sounds amazing. So, before we reveal our picks for March, we're going to take a quick break.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

The Greatest Generation has been going for more than eight years.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And if you've been greatest gen curious.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

But have never taken the leap, we recommend exploring your greatest gen curiosity in a safe, fun environment with partners you can trust.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And right now is one of the best times ever to become a new listener. That's because we just started covering a new series, Star Trek Enterprise, one of the horniest and weirdest editions of Star Trek ever released. This is your chance to ease into.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

The Greatest Generation lifestyle. The Greatest Generation. Now covering Star Trek Enterprise, the one with Scott Bakula, Every Monday on MaximumFun.org or in your podcast.

[Mallory O'Meara]

APPLAUSE okay, we're back. Let's dive into our picks for March. All right, we have a couple of shared picks. One of these I'm. I haven't read and I'm so excited because you told me how scary it was. But the first one is by friend of the show, Stephen Graham Jones, the Buffalo Hunter. Hunter.

[Bria Grant]

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, yeah. I'm so excited about this. Stephen Graham Jones is doing vampires.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Historical vampires. Historical Western vampires. I mean, we love anything that Steven does, but. But this one sounds so good.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I'm very, very excited about that one. Very excited for a new Stephen Grimm Jones.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So the second one you told me about a wicked long time ago.

[Bria Grant]

Yes. Which I haven't read, but someone told me about. Okay. Yes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's Nowhere by Allison Gunn. And apparently this book is terrifying.

[Bria Grant]

Yes, that is what somebody told me. That is. Yes, that's right. And I have a friend who reads a lot because he works for a film company.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, yeah, he's reading horror books. Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

And he's a big reader and he sends me books all the time and he said this one was horror.

[Mallory O'Meara]

He's single.

[Bria Grant]

He's not. He's married.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Damn it.

[Bria Grant]

Sorry. But yeah, yes. Said he was a very scary book. He said it was super scary. I am excited to read it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. It's about this small, small town that's very fundamentalist and it's like a lady coming back to her small town book, which I love, but apparently there are going to be disappearances and they're very Scary. That's all I really needed to know. Scary book about someone going back to their small town and spooky stuff happens and people disappear. That's all I need.

[Bria Grant]

Yes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All right. What's your first solo pick?

[Bria Grant]

My first solo pick is one that you put on my radar because it's. It said sci fi, near future dystopia and dream monitoring.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You like a dream?

[Bria Grant]

Dream, memory, sleep.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

And flooding. But this one doesn't have flooding. This one is called the Dream Hotel by Layla Lalami. It is about a woman returning home to Los Angeles, not a small town. Sorry, everybody. And using the data of her dreams, there's an algorithm that is determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most, her husband. And so for her safety, she has to be kept under observation, which just sounds great to me. It's.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

It's.

[Bria Grant]

Feels a little. What's that Tom Cruise movie where there's like two twin. Like a woman with a shaved head and she sees things in the future? Cries.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, a Minority Report.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, but with dreams. Anyway, this sounds like such a me book. I'm very excited about that. What's your. What's your first solo pick?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think a lot of glasses are also anticipating this. This is a literary darling. Stop me if you've heard this one by Kristin Arnett. I love her. Her other two books are fucking incredible. I recommend her all the time. So this is queer literary fiction about a clown. It's about this woman, and she is. She works as a professional clown, but she's, you know, her life is kind of a mess. She's always clowning around, which I don't know what the verb is for clowning. But she's always. She has all these side jobs. She's like. And she has. Her family's kind of messy and like, the clown community is very messy. But things start looking up for her when she meets this, like, this very sexy older lesbian magician who starts to like, like, show her how to do life, but also, like, how to be an artist and, like, how to balance your art and your business and your life. And her career is amazing. So she really looks up to her. And of course she's very sexy, but obviously this new person in her life that has everything together, throws other things into disarray. And it sounds a lot like Kristen's first book, which is mostly dead Things, like queer Florida people who have messy lives trying to get their together in a funny and insightful and endearing way. Like, I just. I love her. What is Your next one. Oh, I was surprised that you picked this.

[Bria Grant]

Are you? Yeah, I'm picking the new Susanne Collins. The new. The. The new Hunger Games book. It's called Sunrise on the Reaping. Comes out in March. I read all these books when they came out. I was a big. Before the movies, I mean, I think everyone was a big fan, but I loved them. I thought they were very good. I remember reading them and then telling my friends to read them. My friend to read them. And he was like, I had to go to the YA section. And that was weird for me because I'm an adult man. And I was like, it's okay. You can read ya. But this was sort of like, I feel like a lot of people's gateway book into ya because it was this. This was like. Like, I don't remember what year the first one came out, but long time ago, apparently. Hunger Games are back, baby. And guess what? Twice as many tributes are going to be taken from their homes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Whoa.

[Bria Grant]

Dark times. Whoa. Suzanne Collins knows dark times are matching the dark times in the United States. Hopefully not, but I just am excited about it. I like the Hunger Games. I haven't read the books in a long time, but.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. When did they come? They must have been early 2000s.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

The hunger Games, the first book came out in 2008.

[Bria Grant]

2008. I just think. Good writer. Excited to see where this. This series goes. I'm excited to pick up a book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Good for you, Ms. Collins.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, keep going. Keep going.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hell, yeah.

[Bria Grant]

What's your next one? Oh, this. This interested me as well.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. It's the Antidote by Karen Russell. I love Karen Russell. I've read all of her books. This is such a big spring for authors that we like.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I actually.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We actually have extra. We have extra picks in March because there's so many good books coming out in March.

[Bria Grant]

I could have done, like, three more for January.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, it wild. So this is about. It's a fictional Nebraskan town. There's a historic dust storm that comes through, and it completely ravages the town. And it's about all a bunch of different people in the town. One of them is a prairie witch. And I was like, I don't know what that is, but I need to know more. It's about these. These five characters who, in their fate, kind of becomes entangled after the storm. And if, since it's Karen Russell, there'll probably be some sort of supernatural element, I'm really excited. It's, like, literary, but also a little maybe Fantastical, but also Clifi. Like, I fucking love. Did you read Swamplandia?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh.

[Bria Grant]

So I read it while I was in Florida.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, wow. This is her first novel since then.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. I like Swamplandia. I'm excited to read this one.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What's your next pick?

[Bria Grant]

My next one is there's a new book from Amal ELM MATAR ON TOUR.com, which I guess started as an audio. Do you know, have you heard about this? It started as an audio only novella and it's now been put in physical form with illustrations.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, Bria Catnip.

[Bria Grant]

The River Has Roots.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, and it's got a great cover.

[Bria Grant]

And it's reworking. It's like the retelling. Reworking of a 17th century murder ballad.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Whoa.

[Bria Grant]

I don't understand what that means, but it just sounded very cool, very interesting. I like a book with illustrations. Obviously, y'all know that. So. Yeah, excited to check that one out. What's your next one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

More horror. There's so much horror on my list, folks. But you know what? The glasses themselves encourage me to read whatever the fuck I want, so it's Horrortown usa, baby. Great. My next pick is the Haunting of Room 904 by Erica T. Worth. She wrote White Horse, which came out a few years ago, which I really love, but I think it was on my best of the year. And this is about this woman. She's a psychic, and she's been hired. She's very in demand, and she gets hired to go to this hotel in Denver. And the owner. Owner needs her help because every few years a girl is found dead in the same room. No matter what room she's checked in the night before, she's found in room 904.

[Bria Grant]

I want to read this so bad.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yep. And that's all I need to know. Again, I really loved White Horse and this just sounds fucking excellent. What's your last pick for March? Oh, I thought. I thought you were gonna pick this up.

[Bria Grant]

I've become a John Green fan because of Anthropocene Revisited. I think he has a new book coming out called Everything Is Tuberculosis, which is about the history of, like, humanity and tuberculosis and how this does sound intertwined. Yeah, it's about how it's kind of been intertwined. It's told about there's a person that he met that had tuberculosis or has tuberculosis now. Yes. Tuberculosis is still a problem in other parts of the world. So this was in Sierra Leone. And he has become like, an advocate to. In. John Green has become an advocate to increase access to treatment and awareness of tuberculosis. When you, like, hear about it, you're like, now and like, yes, it's really actually still killing 1.5 million people every year. So we kind of go through our relationship. It seems like it's a little bit of a micro history of tuberculosis alongside how it's still around today. Sounds fascinating. And I think he's a great writer.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Fantastic.

[Bria Grant]

What's your last one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is a new Emma Donoghue as an event for me. She's another favorite author of mine. It's called the Paris Express, and it's like a fictionalization of a real thing that happened in 1895. There was this very infamous disaster that happened at this Paris train station. So she has all of these characters on this. On this train. You know, people with secrets. There's members of the parliament in Paris who need to go vote. There's an anarchist on the plan on the train. And like, all of these people are together and this train disaster happens and all they all become entangled. And I think after reading A Cautious traveler's guide to the wastelands last year, I'm like, ooh, train books.

[Bria Grant]

Train books. Train books are fun. Train books are fun because it's like one location.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. And it's like almost like a locked room murder mystery kind of deal. So. But yeah, I love Emma Donoghue. She's an incredible historical fiction writer. So I'm really pumped for this. So, folks, again, please check the show notes. There's a bazillion more of these that are author titled, but also a little bit about each book. And we pick out one specifically that we think the glasses are going to like. So check the show notes and you can send your most anticipated picks to reading glasses podcast gmail.com. and now we're going to interview friend of the show amazing author Clay McLeod Chapman about his new book, wake up and open your eyes. So here we are with author and more importantly, good friend of the show, Clay McLeod Chapman. Clay, thank you so much for coming back to Reading Glasses.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Oh, my God. Thank you so much for having me. You are casting the lifeline of my life, of my soul. Soul lifelines.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We love having you here. It's very. It's going to be a wild ride talking about this book the day after the inauguration. But before we get into that, I have to ask you, as always, what are you reading?

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Oh, my golly. I literally just finished last night this book called the Burial Tide by an Irish fellow by the name of Neil Sharpton. This book doesn't come out till, I think, later this year.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm writing it down just based on the title.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

I mean, it is a good book. It definitely is. Is one of those books that I like. I. I got a, like, kind of sneak a peek at it, and I don't know, I really loved it. I want to tell you about his previous book, which was called Knock, knock, open wide, which I loved. I loved, loved, loved this book. I think it came out. Oh, golly. I'm not gonna be able to tell you when, but it was on Nightfire. Tor Nightfire. And it was so amazing. I mean, I'll just read anything that he writes because it's amazing. But I had. I have to ask you. I know it's a little bit of a cheat, but I read this book, and for some reason, like, I just wanted to ask you, have you heard or read this book that's called Feast while you can?

[Mallory O'Meara]

No.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Oh, my God. I think it came out, like. Like, October of last year. It's got two authors, and I am so dangerously close to murdering their names, but I hope it's Michaela Clements and Anjuli Datta. Anjuli Dada.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm also writing this down. It is.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

It is so good. Feast while you can. Like, I. I read it like. Like. Like over the holidays, and, like, it's still. Still with me. It's like a romance, possession, demons in Italy kind of book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's like, oh, I'm all in. I'm all in.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

It's so good.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You're speaking my language so good. It sounds incredible.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, being of incredible books, you got to tell us about your brand new book. Wake up and open your eyes.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Oh, God, what have I done?

[Mallory O'Meara]

The book of the. The book of the moment.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

The moment I have been, like, waiting for, like, a bolt of lightning to just strike me down. Like, every. Every day I wake up and I'm like, like, when's the lightning gonna hit? When. When am I gonna. When is the, like, the air conditioner unit just gonna fall off of some skyrise and, like, smash me in some, like, Final Destination kind of way? Because I feel like I've tempted fate or tempted the Grim reaper, and now he's coming to collect.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You wrote an amazing book, and it just so happens to be the most timely book. This is like when Paul released a Survivor song the month that Covid happened.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

I mean, he created Covid, right? That's what I read on Twitter.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, he's like, it is the Tremblay disease.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Whenever I'M sick now. I'm just going to be like, oh, I caught the trembling.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm trembling.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Trembling. Amazing. Can we start that? Can that actually be a thing? Yes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Let's do it. Let's do it. But tell us about your amazing book.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Okay. I wrote a book called wake up and open your eyes. And it posits the idea that, like, what if. Just what if half of the country was possessed by demons? But what.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hypothetically speaking, you know, totally.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Like, what. What Half really kind of depends on where you get your information from. Like, do you get it from 24 Hour News Network? Do you get it from social media? Do you get it from, you know, some weird ear wormy baby shark video from YouTube algorithms? Like, where's your news coming from? And that's. Yeah. That is, in essence, wake up and open your eyes. Otherwise known as Clay just shot himself in the foot in front of everybody.

[Mallory O'Meara]

No, Clay, you were struck by lightning, but it was an inspiration lightning. And. And this just so happened to come out at the exact right time. So this book is about as relevant, timely as you can get when it comes to social horror. So I know that you are also a big horror fan. You're one of our favorite horror writers. Did you just. Did you draw any inspiration from, like, social horror classics for this?

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

I mean, it's so funny because, like, I wasn't thinking about this book before I started writing it, but, like, now that, that, now that you mentioned it, like, the first book that, like, popped into my head is zone one. Have you ever.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh. By Colson Whitehead.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, I. Oh, that checks out. That checks out.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

It's in a weird way. And I. You know, sometimes you read something and you absorb it and it, like, bubbles back up in your subconscious without you kind of being aware of it. But, like, it's only when you pose the question of, like, have you been reading these social horror. Like, I was like, oh, zone one. And I was like, wait a minute. Did I think about zone one when I was writing this? I was like, no. I don't know. Like, all of a sudden, now I'm second guessing myself. Like, have I just, like, copied Coulson?

[Mallory O'Meara]

No, but a book.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Like, here's a weird one. Like, there is a book trilogy, play movie that I was thinking about a lot, and that is Pontypool.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, yes. Okay, that also checks out.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Right. Like, I. I've been kind of mouthing off a lot about Pontypool because I just. I love the fact that this. This story cannot be contained in one medium. Like, I think we mostly know about it through the film, which is an.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Amazing, wicked good movie.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Right? But it is truly. I mean, I think originated as like, a trilogy of novels. And then.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Yeah, yeah, it has a. Oh, my God, I'm so bad. I'm gonna. I'm gonna destroy the name on air. It's like the new. Like the Newberry Incident or like the new. Oh, my God, I can't do it. I'm not gonna pull it out. I'm losing my street cred as we go. But like, the. You know, it is a trilogy of novels. Embedded in the novels is the Pontypool Incident, the Pontypool story. And from there the book gets adapted either into a play first or the film first, I don't know which. But, like, it kind of branches off into these separate directions where, like, there is actually a stage play that you can read. Like they've published it. And it's amazing. I love it. And then, of course, there's the movie. And I've. I've read all. I've read all of these things, the novels included. And it's. It's astounding how, like, that mimetic idea of a zombie epidemic that is like, it's dispersed by way of words. That to me is just so genius that I just wanted to kind of not update it, but kind of, you know, screenify it, contemporize it with algorithms and. Yeah, that was. That was honestly like a kind of guiding light, like a LOD star for. For. For this one. For. Wake up.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's funny, I can. I wasn't thinking about it while I was reading it, but I could. That now you saying that it totally clicks and so horror always reflects the fears of its time. Do you think that the spread of hate and misinformation is going to be the defining fear of this era?

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

I. I definitely think it's going to be a hydra of things. Like, you know, you're. You're talking about hate and misinformation. I think misinformation, you know, it. Hate is the kind of fuel and misinformation or gaslighting is the. Is the kind of. Like. That's the. The kind of. The missile, the. The kind of, like, vessel in which is kind of delivering whatever the. The kind of tonnage is, whatever that kind of nuclear core. I think it's breaking down our kind of safety nets of civil society in such a way that, like, it. It runs on hate. And I don't. I mean, I can't even imagine what's on the other side of that, if not just, like, kind of utter collapse. But it. It's. It's the kind of breaking down of social norms. It's the breaking down of our fabric as a culture, as a society. And that happens by way of misinformation. Like, you. You start to kind of see that schisming effect that, like, people are kind of, like, fracturing and breaking apart and relationships are kind of becoming unmoored. So. Yeah, I mean, the short answer. Yes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So we talked a little bit about Survivor Song, another amazing book. Are there any other, like, like, because Pontypool came out. God, in the early 2000 and tens, I want to say.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Oh, my God.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Came out a while ago now. Are there any more recent movies or books that you think are. Are reflecting our current fears?

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

I mean, I. I do think Survivor Song is a great example of the kind of, like. I mean, I. I love. What I love about Survivor Song is that heat. Like, it starts and it just doesn't stop.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I think the old Tremblay special is it, though?

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Like, I feel like trembling. He usually is like, huh. I'm gonna. I'm gonna, like, look around and, like, see what's over here. And like, oh, look at this leather jacket. Oh, there's a. Here's a bookcase or, like, a drawer. You know, like, he's not in any rush to get anywhere. But with, like, Survivor Song, it's like, oh, the clock is a ticking, and we gots to go. And that, to me, like, is really kind of powerful. Like, I think, like, in that way that, you know, information comes at you so fast and so quickly, and there's just no, like, keeping up with it. Like, I think books are clipping along in a way that, I don't know, really kind of blows my mind. I don't know if it counts because it was, like, a year or two.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Ago now, but, like, it totally counts. Anything within the past few years very much counts.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Have you read Tell Me I'm Morphless by oh.

[Mallory O'Meara]

By Alison Rumpfit? Yes. Yes.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Like, that book, to me, is a distillation of that kind of, like, how do you take that hate, that kind of, like, nebulous energy that is created by everything, but put it in a place, put it in a house, put it in an environment where it can kind of feed. Like, that book, to me, is, like, haunting of Hill House, but modernized. Like. Like, let's. Let's take it now. Like, this is. This is the moment where we see the Kind of like spiritual, you know, like supernatural cancer just kind of like spread. And I, I can't. I. I honestly can't think of a book that has traumatized me more than.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is a dark ass book. Oh my God.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

So dark. But, like, necessary. I think that book is necessary.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's a good word for it.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

There's another book called and Then I Woke up by Malcolm Devlin.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, yes. I didn't read it, but Bria loves that book.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Yeah, right. It's a kind of pontypoolish, kind of like there's this pandemic, this, this kind of virus that's going around or is there? You know, but it's like, you know, like your, your kind of reality gets unmoored and you become outside of everybody else's reality, which is just such a, such a cool idea. I'm just, I'm basically telling you all the books that I copied for Wake up and up your Eyes, like, these are like wholesale. Like, it's like, that's awesome.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Inspiration. Inspiration.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So last question about the book, which I really, really enjoyed, is that so a lot of social horror, when people say social horror, that they think of, of, you know, the, of the dead movies. Zombies. Why did you choose demons for this story?

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

I mean, a couple of reasons. And primarily, you know, I'm trying to be as open and honest about this as humanly possible. But like, I am personally dealing with family who are, who I have kind of witnessed over the course of like the last decade, kind of shift in their ideologies by way of their news sources, you know, their kind of intake of news.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And a lot of people are going through that exact same horrorful, horrible experience.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, my kind of solution. Well, there is no solution to it other than, like, you know, for me, I was like, what do I do? What do I do? And I feel very powerless in this moment because I can't connect to people that I love and who, you know, love me back. So I read about it, I learned, I try to learn about it. And in kind of hearing all of these news, like, accounts of like, other people who are dealing with it, like that refrain of like, I saw at least two or three times of like someone saying, it's like my parents are possessed, or it's like my uncle is possessed, my uncle's no longer my uncle anymore. And like just that, that, that simple statement of like, it's not like they're no longer who they are, it's like they're possessed. That like I, I heard that. I read that and I just said to myself, huh, has anyone like just done that? Like, has anyone like turned that into a story? And I kind of noodled around and nobody really kind of had that. I could see that I could find. And that was just, just amazing. I was like, oh my gosh. Well this, this seems to be something that a lot of people are going through. I want to tell this story. So demons like, like. And I don't know when was the last time you were on Twitter like that. That to me like feels like the, this paper thin divide barrier between some other dark world and our own. And that barrier just is getting thinner and thinner and thinner in some like John Carpenter, Prince of Darkness way where it's just like oozing through into our world. And like it, it won't be long before like Satan is here. So yeah, it just felt. It just felt. Apartment you know?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, I think it's perfect. It really, really is. So finally this book is there. This book. Wow. This episode. Bri always laughs at me because I have a habit of putting the. The. The word book in for other things that are not books. This is an anticipated books episode. And as an author, you know, we both were reading, reading in the reading ahead of time. Are there any books that are coming out this year that you are excited about?

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm gonna mention the Burial Tide, which I, I guess I cheated. I'm. I'm gonna say books that I've already read that are coming out this year.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That I hope you lay them on us.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Us.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We're ready.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Have you heard of this book called Blob by Maggie Sue?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes, that's one of my picks for the books that I'm excited about. Have you read it?

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Yes, it's amazing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, I can't wait to read it. I'm so excited.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Oh my God. I'm like looking for some spice. Like I'm looking for some like weird ass like creepy spice. So anytime you've got like a sentient blob like looking for love, I am all.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You heard it here folks. First folks. Clay is pro blob.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

I am. Blobs just need love too. And then there's this other book that I think comes out in October maybe, but it's called the Night that Finds Us by John Horner Jacobs. You gotta like this one is so wild. It's. It's basically like Master and Commander by way of Lovecraft. It's, it's. It's like I Don't know. It's. And that's. That's selling it short like it is. It is really fun. John Horner Jacobs is like, one of these authors. Like, he did this, like, duo duology novella thing called A Lush and Seething Hell, which came out a while ago, which is so good. He did another one called Murder Ballads. He's just this Ozarkian gothic dude who writes these really wild books and they're just great. They're just great. His next one is about a haunted ghost ship. So. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hell yeah.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Hell yeah. Weird fiction, man. Gotta do it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Weird fiction. Amazing. So, Clay, you're on tour right now. So is there any big events you've got going on? Where can listeners buy. Wake up and open your eyes. Do you have anything fun coming up?

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Fun?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Let's go back to fun. Let's have fun books. We want fun.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Let's have fun.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

I mean, I'm. February is going to be a great month because I'll just be kind of like everywhere. On the 29th of January, I'm going to be at the Strand for. With Eric LaRocca and Rachel Harrison.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, that's going to be so fun.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

Super duper fun. And the Strand is awesome, but, like February, like, still pounding the pavement, doing tour. I'll be up, up, up in the Northeast, so New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode island, like, just kind of like. Like I have a snow shovel and some ski boots and I'm just gonna, like, just like, hold the door for me because I'll be shoveling my way through the northeast corridor.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We love it. We love it. Well, Clay, as always, thank you so much for coming on the show. I think glasses are really gonna love this book. It is. Folks, if you are looking for something to help you process what is happening in this country right now, this is the book to read.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

And in all fairness, all the trigger warnings. I just. I think I need to say that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, I think people can figure it out. I think people are figuring it out.

[Clay McLeod Chapman]

I mean. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me back. It's such a blast to talk to you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

As always. Want to thank the wonderful mods who run our Facebook group. And remember, you can buy reading glasses, totes and shirts and sweatshirts and stickers and anything you could. Actually, not anything. We. There's no blenders, there's no javelins, but a lot of things that you could want are in the store and they help feed our really hungry animals. There's a link in the show notes for that. And if you like the show, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. It's so so great for us and helps us reach more readers. You can email us at reading glasses podcastmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading. Maximum Fun A worker owned network of artist owned shows supported directly by.