I tend to think of phrenology as a 19th-century phenomenon. In 1902, LA Vaught, late to the party, published 'Vaught's Practical Character Reader', a work seeking to (re)popularise phrenology. Mostly charming drawings and advertisements for phrenology ('it's plain to see!' is a commonly used phrase), it's a fun read, albeit one that is so chaotically set out that it's kinda hard to follow.

Capitalisimo joined me for this episode, helping me to phrenologically and physiognomically analyse various world leaders and luminaries.

NB: This episode is probably best watched as a video, as we examine Vaught's illustrations and carry out phrenological case studies using Google image search.

Capitalisimo on X: @thecapitalisimo

Tooky's Mag Sidebar: https://www.youtube.com/@tookysmag/podcasts

Drive Time Movie Night: https://rumble.com/c/c-6180416/livestreams

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Contact: jack.bcfh@gmail.com

Jack has published a novel called Tower!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

The first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.com

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Brad Kelly, of the Method and Madness podcast, returns to talk about his new book, The Earthen Dark. It's a work of weird fiction set in a sewer. Turns out, this is the perfect place to set such a tale. We talked about why subterranean places are so spooky, the near and far alien of weird fiction, the Glass Bead Game and LLMs, the effect of having children on one's writing, the provenance of imagination, Brad's writing process, and a whole lot more.

Get The Earthen Dark here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GF67226L
Brad's website: https://www.bradkellyesque.com/
Brad on Substack: https://bradkellyesque.substack.com/
Brad on X: @bradkelly

Utter Goodness is an upcoming short story collection written by Audrey Lee and published by Farthest Heaven. Its thirteen stories are lovely character studies, various faces of that peculiarly American form of cultural maximalism, and each rendered in very lithe prose. There's a kinda extemporising quality to the writing here, if one could extemporise in full paragraphs with foreshadowing and multiple layers of meaning, etc, etc, ect. It's good!
We spent a lot of time talking about how Audrey comes up with these characters, and how her return to faith influenced the writing of Utter Goodness, both consciously and unconsciously.

This will be the last episode this year. We'll start releasing things again early 2026.

Get Utter Goodness here: https://farthestheaven.com/products/utter-goodness
Audrey's website: https://audreymorganlee.com/
Audrey on X: @tinndfishmonger
Audrey on Substack: https://jawndidion.substack.com/

We mentioned Anna Krivolapova's work here, and you (you!) should also check it out: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCW2HGMX

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Contact: jack.bcfh@gmail.com

Jack has published a novel called Tower!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

The first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.com

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): discord.gg/ZMtDJ9Hscr

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Chapters VIII, VIII and IX, titled 'Problems of the Arabian Culture', are some of the most fun in all of Spengler's work. In order to properly illuminate Spenglerian concepts like pseudomorphosis, the Pagan Church, the second religiousness, Islam as Magian Civilisation, and more, Gabe and I did what we do best: talk about gaming in Spenglerian terms. Turns out, Croteam's Serious Sam franchise is the perfect artefact of the coming Slavic soul, the endless flat plane, the erased z-axis of aiming, Siberian Mayhem...

Gabe on X: @ezrarunnaround

Tooky's Mag on X: @tookysmag

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Contact: jack.bcfh@gmail.com

Jack has published a novel called Tower!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

The first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.com

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQ

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Andrew Edwards is the author of the novels King of Dogs (2019) and Crowbar (2025), both of which are well worth reading. King of Dogs is a tense action novel, while Crowbar feels like reading Programmed to Kill and watching thirty conspiracy thrillers at the same time during a speed comedown. It's a lot.
For this episode, I softballed Andy with simple questions like 'What is the supernatural?' and 'What is your conception of the soul?' He's a real trooper and actually answered these, as well as a whole lot more.

Get Crowbar: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FZ93M9GB
Get King of Dogs: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578608081/

Andy on X: @goldengoatguild

Audio version of King of Dogs: canonic.xyz

Andy's Recommendations
Colter Wall: https://www.colterwall.com/
Brad Kelly: https://www.bradkellyesque.com/
Miles Hollingworth: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Miles-Hollingworth/author/B004APNGBQ

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Contact: jack.bcfh@gmail.com

Jack has published a novel called Tower!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

The first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.com

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQ

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

The Regime of the Brother is a book of psychoanalytic feminist theory (particularly leaning on Lacan), explaining why we no longer live in an Oedipal patriarchy, but rather live in a 'sham-Oedipus' regime of the brother. Neo-totemism, the primal hoard, the narcissistic ego as a consequence of failed symbolic castration and, consequently, no entry into the symbolic order. Make sense? Either way, you should listen to me and Stephen G Adubato talk about this book!

Cracks in Postmodernity (very, very highly recommended!): https://cracksinpomo.substack.com/

Stephen on X: @stephengadubato

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Contact: jack.bcfh@gmail.com

Jack has published a novel called Tower!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

The first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.com

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQ

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

Farthest Heaven is publishing some of the most exciting poetry and (soon!) fiction around today. I got to talk to the First Consul (an in-house naming convention) of Farthest Heaven, Bill Ballard, about book design, finding great authors, his approach to editing, what it means to run a small press, and a whole lot more. I was really looking forward to this one, Farthest Heaven has only published winners so far, and I really encourage everyone to check them out.

Farthest Heaven's website: www.farthestheaven.com
Farthest Heaven on Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/FarthestHeaven
Farthest Heaven on X: @FarthestHeaven
Farthest Heaven on Substack: www.substack.com/@farthestheaven

Bill's Recommendations
Bruiser: www.bruisermag.com
Apocalypse Confidential: www.apocalypse-confidential.com
Postpop Lit: www.postpoplit.com

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Contact: jack.bcfh@gmail.com

Jack has published a novel called Tower!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

The first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.com

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQ

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi

£, flesh and Femoid are a novella and novel, respectively, written by Aaron Barry and published by McBussy Publishing. Both star poorly-adjusted female leads suffering terminal brainrot, and both are written in a dense, internet-inflected style.

In line with both books' preoccupations, this episode we talked about how to write the internet (and what that might even mean), the childish defences of irony and performative nihilism, nuisance streamers, /r9k/, Cioran, Camus, how Aaron is being sued, and a lot more.

Buy £, flesh: https://mcbussypublishing.org/product/flesh-by-aaron-barry-print-pre-order/

Buy Femoid: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1738633942

Get Femoid for free: https://mega.nz/file/WAl2EZRY#2JpCKfMBWli-vCS5c0iSvXXZCd4O3q9tAAiNOtiSgdM
Echolalia Review (written by Aaron under the pseudonym 'Jasper Ceylon'): https://www.amazon.com/Echolalia-Review-Anti-Poetry-Jasper-Ceylon/dp/1738633926
Aaron on Substack: @jasperceylon
Aaron writing about getting sued: https://substack.com/home/post/p-176802154

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Contact: jack.bcfh@gmail.com

Jack has published a novel called Tower!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC-ebook/dp/B0CM5P9N9M/ref=monarch_sidesheet

The first nine chapters of Tower are available for free here: jackbc.substack.com

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBookClubfromHell

Jack's Substack: jackbc.substack.com

Levi's website: www.levioutloud.com

Join our Discord (the best place to interact with us): https://discord.gg/nbRkVeztEQ

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0n7r1ZTpsUw5exoYxb4aKA/featured

X: @bookclubhell666

Jack on X: @supersquat1

Levi on X: @optimismlevi