Michael, Ethan, and special guest Jacob discuss Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak, while drinking Glenlivet 12.

In this episode:

The witness is treated as hostile

Finding the Hodag where the Way Station is in the Driftless region

The dispelling of illusions

The CIA defeated by a conversation

Bible as metaphor for technology vs. technology as metaphor for Bible

Science fiction basllica!

Rat assassin! (Ratsassin?)

Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss Way Station, by Clifford Simak! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.

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MUSIC & SFX:

"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.

(Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

In this episode:

Language, Migration, Faith, Treachery, Faith, and the Great River: a Star Trek analogy that only Michael caused to happen

English as a “grabby” language

Lots of talk about God and faith and vulnerability, a lot of it not very fun to be sassy about in a bullet point (thanks guys)

De-validating pedantry (for perhaps the first time in this podcast’s history)

Deeply uneasy fart-based transitions

The Battle of Waterloo, by William McGonagall

For context, because the boys fail to give ANY, McGonagall was a Victorian poet who is often considered the worst poet in the English language

Also, McGonagall IS Cthulu

Midwest Immigration Bond Fund

Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss Way Station, by Clifford Simak! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.

Join us on GoodReads!

Get on our Substack!

Donate to our Patreon!

MUSIC & SFX:

"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.

(Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

We made some new friends with the Pints with Jack podcast! Listen in to our interview on their Half-pint special!

Michael and Ethan finish their discussion of Rivermouth, by Alejandra Oliva, while drinking Smokehead Twisted.

In this episode:

Language, Migration, Faith, Treachery, Faith, and the Great River: a Star Trek analogy that only Michael caused to happen

English as a “grabby” language

Lots of talk about God and faith and vulnerability, a lot of it not very fun to be sassy about in a bullet point (thanks guys)

De-validating pedantry (for perhaps the first time in this podcast’s history)

Deeply uneasy fart-based transitions

The Battle of Waterloo, by William McGonagall

For context, because the boys fail to give ANY, McGonagall was a Victorian poet who is often considered the worst poet in the English language

Also, McGonagall IS Cthulu

Midwest Immigration Bond Fund

Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss Way Station, by Clifford Simak! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.

Join us on GoodReads!

Get on our Substack!

Donate to our Patreon!

MUSIC & SFX:

"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.

(Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

Michael and Ethan discuss Rivermouth, by Alejandra Oliva, while drinking Smokehead Twisted.

In this episode:

Interrogating Michael, linguistically and in other ways

The Michael’s Translation Soapbox Podcast: a temptation

Blindly table-setting

Book baggage

Crowds as statistics vs crowds as groups of actual humans

The hermenutical principle of honesty, honestly

Cantankerous faith

The paradox of lack of description vs depth of described humanity

Next time Michael and Ethan will continue to discuss Rivermouth, by Alejandra Oliva! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.

Join us on GoodReads!

Get on our Substack!

Donate to our Patreon!

MUSIC & SFX:

"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.

(Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

Michael and Ethan and special guest Nick conclude their discussion of Stuart Turton’s third novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World.

In this episode:

The ten commandments of detective fiction

Topics in Turtonology

Schrodinger’s locked room mystery

If you bend any genre too far, horror leaks out

Pixar Extended Universe teasing

Thinking about thinking about The Tempest

DO THE WORK

Detective fiction lightning round

Names With Michael lightning round

Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss Rivermouth, by Alejandra Oliva! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.

Join us on GoodReads!

Get on our Substack!

Donate to our Patreon!

MUSIC & SFX:

"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.

(Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

Michael and Ethan and special guest Nick begin their discussion of Stuart Turton’s third novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World.

In this episode:

Thanks to Jared

The ten commandments of detective fiction

Murder plots versus murder mysteries

But like, what even is human, anyway, right?

And what is supernatural, even?

Clarke’s Third Law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

We must imagine Prometheus happy

Some bad news about ambiguity in novels

Next time Michael, Ethan, and special guest Nick will continue to discuss The Last Murder at the End of the World, by Stuart Turton! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.

Join us on GoodReads!

Get on our Substack!

Donate to our Patreon!

MUSIC & SFX:

"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.

(Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

Michael and Ethan continue discussing Nobber, by Oisin Fagan, while drinking The Midnight Silkie (Michael) and Red Locks (Ethan) Irish whiskeys.

In this episode:

Michael forgets, for the second time in four episodes, to call for Karen to read the rules. Rude. Good thing Karen just came in and started reading them

A real SCAREcrow, or, a murdered murder

Who is the greater fool, the fool or the fool who calls the fool a fool?

Pinning down the black box that is the murder of crows

Nobber is hell (?)

Nobber is colonialism (and colonialism is also hell, so…)

Palimpsests of colonialism, how’s that for some English-major talk?

Ethan gets to say vampire words a bunch of times

“The Terrific Cyclone of 1893,” by William McGonagall

Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss The Last Murder at the End of the World, by Stuart Turton! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.

Join us on GoodReads!

Donate to our Patreon!

BUY A NIHILIST BLANKET!

Your Hosts: Michael G. Lilienthal (@mglilienthal) and

Ethan Bartlett (@bjartlett)

MUSIC & SFX:

"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.

(Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Nobber, by Oisin Fagan, while drinking The Midnight Silkie (Michael) and Red Locks (Ethan) Irish whiskeys.

In this episode:

The question and the answer is “WTF?”

Bafflement loves company

Nihilism (question mark?)

Plague books

Michael says “plague-ground” and Ethan completely fails to call him on it

Very relevant and very pointed

Acquisitiveness so strong it breaks the fourth wall

A clumsy trap for Michael

Bestiality!

Scientific reasons are sometimes bestial, and bestial reasons are sometimes scientific

Is this book trying to make us, the reader, into the Christ figure?

Alchemical hermaphrodite, a possibly or possibly-not Ethan-only joint

Nebuchadnezzar!

Dueling heresies/heresies all the way down

Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss Nobber, by Oisin Fagan! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.

Join us on GoodReads!

Donate to our Patreon!

BUY A NIHILIST BLANKET!

Your Hosts: Michael G. Lilienthal (@mglilienthal) and

Ethan Bartlett (@bjartlett)

MUSIC & SFX:

"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.

(Links to books & products are affiliate links.)