Terry has been dead for a few years now, but it's clear that he controls Chris from beyond the grave with a Rada'Han because Chris begged Paris to read yet another Sword of Truth novel this year. The suffering is turned up to 11 as we're both crushed beneath a block of fantasy plot swiss cheese. Even though it's more holes than cheese-plot, it still hurts because the holes have spikes, in Goodkind fashion.

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of abuse, sexual assault/coercion, sex worker murder, slavery, and pandemics.

Other episodes in this series:

• Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth #3) by Terry Goodkind (2020)
• Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth #2) by Terry Goodkind (2017)
• Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth #1) by Terry Goodkind (2015)
• Our commentary on the first season of the ABC adaptation of these books, the Legend of the Seeker, is is available on our Patreon

The time has come. It was inevitable; at last, we submitted to the will of Terriblo, listeners, and fate to bring down the evil monarch and find our destined mate - I mean, bring you our review of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, popularly known by its acronym of ACOTAR. To ease us through this experience, I've brought my emotional support Emily who herself is an avid reader who has suffered through not only this first book, but most of the series that follows.

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of hunting, kidnapping, murder, disfigurement, sex/sexual slavery, shapeshifting, & torture.

Happy Halloween! This episode was supposed to air on 11/4, but we figured you'd all appreciate hearing this one a week early in the spirit of the season. The next episode will air on schedule on 11/18, so make sure you check out some older spooky season TBC episodes while you wait:

• The Hog from Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson *Special Guests D & Ken from Antiques Freaks*
• Drag Queen Dino Fighters by MP Johnson *Patron's Choice*
• Man, F*ck This House by Brian Asman *Patron's Choice*
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in His Adventure on Earth by William Kotzwinkle *Special Guest Mary Parker*
• The Haunted Vagina by Carl Mellick III
• In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt *Patron's Choice*

This week it was Chris's turn to head over to r/horrorlit to pick through more of the sub's worst horror books from 2024. He was lured to The Paleontologist simply based on the thought that ghost dinosaurs seemed an especially funny concept.

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of child abuse, abduction, and murder; ghosts; implied pedophillia; and the pandemic.

References:

• Terrible Book Club, Episode 79 (2020): Museum of the Living Dead (A Plot-It-Yourself Horror Story) by Hilary Milton: This week it's 1985 and we're two children in an off-brand "Plot-It-Yourself" horror story. Chris wants to die as quickly as possible while Paris chooses life. Paris's microphone is backwards, Chris can't stop creating new lyrics for a bad 90s song, and we play another round of Power Rangers Monster or Weed Strain?
• Vintage Burn Podcast

For this year's Spooky Season, we headed over to reddit to see what r/horrorlit thought were the worst horror books they read in 2024. It seemed that Eric LaRocca's novella Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was widely hated by the sub, but since the Antiques Freaks already reviewed that back in October 2023, Paris chose to instead read two short stories packaged together as Other Misfortunes with Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke in the edition she had.

Other Misfortunes:

• The Enchantment
• You'll Find It's Like That All Over

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of angels, demons, infidelity, death and the afterlife, marital stress, miscarriage, pet death, suicide, and gambling.

References & Resources:

• Antiques Freaks, Episode 245: Antique Apple Peeler Pricing - Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
• Esoterica YouTube Channel

Today's book was suggested to us by a fan on Instagram who said, "Your schedule is probably still full but I have the book to end all terrible books. [Redacted] wrote this about her love (obsession) for Jason Mamoa and it is a mess; it's absolutely terrible." This extremely personal book of poetry rotates around the axis of Jason Momoa and takes us to many strange, sad places.

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of intense parasocial relationships, cancer/terminal illness, and big 'ol age gap relationships.

References & Resources:

• Jason Momoa's Mananalu Water
• If you're interested in learning more about greenwashing and corporate responsiblity being reflected back onto the individual, check out these episodes (or the entire 1st and 3rd seasons) of the podcast Drilled:
  • Drilled S1, Ep5 | Aggressive Think Tanks, Shouty Pundits, and a New Religious Argument
  • Drilled S3, Ep8 | Meet The Harrisons
• Terrible Book Club, Episode 35 (2018) - Woman Worship by Dean Jean-Pierre: If you're tired of plots and characters, this episode was made just for you! This time we read a book of poetry loosely held together by western gender norms, redundancy, and poor word choices. Paris reveals her theory about the hidden message behind these poems that will blow the lid off of everything you ever thought was true about Woman Worship by Dean Jean-Pierre! Luckily, Chris and Paris are finally rescued by the spirit of Pablo Neruda after suffering through a heat index of 104 to record this episode.

This week, Paris discusses her experience reading the sample issue of a magazine called After Dinner Conversation from the non-profit philosophy and ethics short fiction publisher of the same name. They DM'ed us on Twitter saying they wanted us to try their free sample issue, so we actually took them up on this offer because we've never reviewed a magazine before. It's a year of firsts on TBC!

Stories featured in the sample issue:

• Abrama's End Game by David Shultz
• The Lives and Times of David Hackman by Patrick Hueller
• Pappou's Garden by Fotis Banis
• The Zombie in the Bathroom by Maura Morgan
• Junk by Taylor Lawritson
• We are Here by Harley Carnell
• Pandora's Dreams by Peter Beaumont

References & Resources:

• Subscribe to After Dinner Conversation for $1/3 Months

• After Dinner Conversation Ethics Survey

• After Dinner Conversation

Our patron rootbeercutie recommended I Am Not Starfire and since we had somehow not done a graphic novel in the 10 years of this podcast, Chris stepped up to tackle this Teen Titans spinoff. Today's episode features a whole lot of superhero tropes and parent/child strife; even good art and a lesbian protagonist who gets a happy ending couldn't save this one, though.

We haven't done any self-help lately, so Paris braved Oprah's Book Club list to pull the recently published Secrets of Adulthood straight from its maw. Though it attempted to take her, she fought her way out to bring you this episode about the science of happiness and the pop cultural grift which swirls around it.

References & Resources:

• Dr. Robert Waldinger: What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness
• The Good Life by Robert Waldinger, MD & Marc Shulz, PhD

• Dr. Laurie's Happiness Lab Podcast

• The Science of Well-Being: Dr. Laurie's Yale course, free for adults and a teen version

• Martin Seligman's Authentic Happiness

• The Wiser Model

• University of New Hampshire - Positive Psychology
• The You You Are by Ricken Hale, PhD

Content Warnings: In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of capitalism and eating the rich.