Pleasant Evenings Book Club

Ep. 9 - Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov

What do you get when a bunch of depressed failures spend a lot of time disappointing each other in a rural Russian estate? It turns out, one of the enduring classics of western literature.
Anton Chekov is not messing around. This was easily the most emotionally challenging read so far for us on Pleasant Evenings Book Club, but we were able to have a nice conversation regardless.
We touch on the pain of finding your life is behind you, how misplaced hopes can either carry you through the unbearable or bury you slowly, and the destruction of our ecosystems. (like I said, it was a nice conversation! )
Join us next time for a change of pace as we read the works of Junji Ito. If you'd like to read ahead the stories in question are: The Human Chair, Long Dream, and Fashion Model.
We will be changing to a bi-weekly schedule (once every two weeks), so you won't see too much of us next week. Keep a look out for updates on our social media and feel free reach out!
 
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Ep. 8 - Movie Night! A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Imagine a world where the state and capital have have attained so much power over our individual lives that every waking moment is surveilled and cataloged by an unthinking system, but we are only dimly aware of the problems at the edges because the burden of a meaningless life demands you find ways of floating through it all in a semi-narcotized state.
Sounds bleak, but it goes down smooth in rotoscoped animation! And it's occasionally pretty funny.
 
A good sign that you've got a good movie on your hands is that when we finished recording this episode we talked about the movie some more. We hope you enjoy this week's discussion of Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly, based on the novel by Philip K. Dick.
 
Join us next week for Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov!

Ep. 7 - 10 Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly // Part 2

When reporter Nellie Bly successfully insinuated herself into the care of a mental institution, she encountered all the abuse and neglect (yes both) one might expect. What she wasn't prepared for was the terrifyingly inedible food!
It's the finale to our two-part coverage of 10 Days in a Mad-House. A thought provoking read that we somehow manage to extrapolate modern-day doomerism out of and a surprising amount of From Software comparisons.
 
Next week, it's movie night. We're watching Richard Linklater's other rotoscoped reality-bending film: A Scanner Darkly (2006). We look forward to the discussion then.

Ep. 6 - 10 Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly // Part 1

So half of Nellie Bly's trailblazing piece of stunt journalism "10 Days in a Mad-House" doesn't take place in a madhouse. This week we follow Nellie Bly through a slice of New York's boarding houses, police precincts and hospitals. We get a taste of what it's like to be processed by the systems that handle those on the margins of society. Mostly we have fun with the conventions of Gilded Age America and what passed for food in those days.

Ep. 5 - Movie Night! Viy (1967) and Mad God (2022)

It's a double feature!
Tonight we're sitting down to watch the Soviet Folk-Horror highlight Viy (1967) and Phil Tippett's unrelenting handcrafted staring contest with the abyss, Mad God (2022).
Honestly the two movies have only the most tenuous and surface-level similarities, yet the Venn Diagram charting the kinds of people into either of these movies is nearly a circle. (It's gag reflex that accounts for the difference).
Despite their difference in tone, setting, language, pacing and look, these are both fantastic films for celebrating the limits of human imagination and the anxious joy of peeking into its hidden dark corners where all the f***ed up little guys are hanging out.

Ep. 4: King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers // Part 2 - Court of the Dragon and The Yellow Sign

Some technical issues in the back half of this episode spoils what could have been our best one yet. But it's still a really good episode!
 
In our discussion of the latter two King in Yellow stories, we hit on all the great Carcosian themes: spiritual terror, human frailty, insanity, and a wacky book that makes all that stuff really come alive.

Episode 3: King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers // Part 1 - The Repairer of Reputations and The Mask

Have you heard of the song of the Hyades in dim Carcosa? Where black stars rise and where flap the tatters of the King in Yellow? No? Well you can read all about it in the fake play 'The King in Yellow' which seems to cause the characters in the stories from Robert Chambers' short story collection 'The King in Yellow' all kinds of troubles.
 
There are four stories in this collection that built the foundation for what would be called the "Carcosa Mythos," and we're reading all of them here on Pleasant Evenings Book Club. This episode covers the first two and the following episode will wrap things up. For now, expect to listen to a conversation on the madness that can take over the lives one person, three, or ten-thousand.

Episode 2: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

You've seen the video game adaptation in Top 10 lists for "MOst DISTURBING GAMES!" (maybe that's just me) but have you read the landmark 1967 short story by Harlan Ellison?
It's bleak, it's unhinged, and finally, it's being covered by the only podcast on the internet devoted to having pleasant evenings, Pleasant Evenings Book Club!

Episode 1: The Nyctalops Trilogy by Thomas Ligotti

Probably the most famous horror writer you can't find in an airport, Thomas Ligotti is the name to beat for cult-status in literary horror.
For our first episode of Pleasant Evenings Book Club, we're diving into his Nyctalops Trilogy. Three very different stories linked by a very familiar evil at the center of the stories' point of view.
We talk about the warped mind of abusers, pessimism in modern life, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. It's a good time.
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