This week on The Short Horror Beer Cast, we’re cracking open “Free Dirt” by Charles Beaumont and pairing it with two beers that go down smoother than a buttered gerbil.

This is Part 1 of a two-parter! Sort of. We’ll explain when you get here.

Till then, you can expect our usual mix of literary over-analysis, pop culture nerdery, and tangents about [insert Gen-X grievance].

Spoilers ahead, so read the story first if you're precious like that.

Story Info

* Title: "Free Dirt"

* Author: Charles Beaumont

* Originally Published: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1955

* Read it here: https://a.co/d/9oGzdrm

Beer Pairing

* Alec’s Choice: New Holland Brewing Company, Full Circle

* Paul’s Choice: Abomination Brewing Company, Autumnal Harvester

In Today’s Episode

* Introducing The Short Horror Beer Cast drinking game!

* Paul nails his lines like a pro!

* Lots of fruits and veg!

* Umami!

* Alec tells a heartwarming tale of determination and overcoming adversity!

Links & Follow Us

* Website: shbeercast.com

* Instagram: @paullorello_writer (official SHBC insta coming soon!)

* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShortHorrorBeerCast/

Credits

* Theme music: “Beer Cast Boogie”, by Paul Lorello, performed by Sid Seizure and the Conniption

* Edited by Alec Chambers

Produced by Sid Seizure

Today we look at Poe’s masterpiece of mesmeric, macabre, malodorous morbidity while masticating malt from murky mugs!

Also, Irish antics! Swooning students! And how we nearly inhaled ourselves into early graves!

The Beers

* Paul’s choice: Aurora Brewing Company, Fresh to Death

* Alec’s choice: Dragonmead Brewery, Final Absolution

The Book

* The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

The Music

* Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse (Dig his stuff on YouTube)

Follow Us:

* Alec Chambers

* Paul Lorello

* Facebook

* Instagram

Welcome to the afterparty! In this follow-up to Episode 10, we bring you the darkest music we could think of in a moment’s notice without pre-thought, forethought, or intuition of any kind.

Nevertheless, you’ll love what we chose:

* S. Prokofiev, Montagues and Capulets

* Johnny Cash, Hurt

* The Beach Boys, ‘Til I Die

* The Talking Heads, The Overload

* Nina Simone, Strange Fruit

* The Keith Jarrett Trio, My Back Pages

Plus, EGOISTE!

Theme song: “Afterparty”, by Paul Lorello, performed by Sid Seizure and the Conniption

Produced by Sid Seizure

Follow us:

Subscribe at our official site

Facebook

Instagram

Grandpa Lovecraft is back with another delightful tale. Fill yer tub with ice and crack open a cold one. Doctor’s orders. We’re gettin shiv’ry wittit.

Also, Surströmming! Paul gets another bad taste in his mouth! And Alec becomes a keyboard warrior!

The Beers

Paul’s choice: Freigeist Bierkultur, Smoke and Ice Sixpoint Brewery, The Crisp

Alec’s choice: Arbor Brewing Company, Cold Excursion IPA

The Book

* The H. P. Lovecraft Collection: Deluxe 6-Book Hardcover Boxed Set, H.P. Lovecraft, Arcturus Collector’s Classics

The Music

* Jason Dennie

* Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse (Dig his stuff on YouTube)

Follow Us:

* Alec Chambers

* Paul Lorello

* Facebook

* Instagram

We kick off Season Two with everyone's favorite racist uncle, H.P. Lovecraft!

Join us as we witness our poor narrator endure the worst soundtrack since Moulin Rouge. Get a front row seat to Erich Zann's All-Star Celebrity Hootenanny!

Also, the plausibility of ghosts! Keith Emerson's Moog! And Paul offends 15,448 people in a single rant!

The Beer

* Paul’s choice:

* Twin Fork Beer Co., Crescendo

* Alec’s choice:

* Griffin Claw Brewing Company, Sin Repent Repeat Pączki Stout

The Book

* The H. P. Lovecraft Collection: Deluxe 6-Book Hardcover Boxed Set, H.P. Lovecraft, Arcturus Collector’s Classics

The Music

* Jason Dennie

* Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse

(Dig his stuff on YouTube)

Follow Us:

* Alec Chambers

* Paul Lorello

Greetings, mofos!

So here’s the deal. Season 1 was a test run to see if we could actually do this thing. Turns out, we sorta can. At any rate, we're having fun, and that's all that counts. (That's not all that counts.)

This season, Season 2, is actually our first real season, the one where we finally figured stuff out. But to avoid the crises of schemata that will inevitably result from renaming all of Season 1's episodes to something like Season Naught Point One, Two, Three, etc., we're forging ahead and merely regarding Season 1 as our troubled firstborn whom we love but don't take out in public much for fear he'll scare small dogs.

Therefore we ask you to join us March 25, 2025, as we kick off Season 2 with a couple of tasty beverages and discuss "The Music of Erich Zann" by H.P. Lovecraft!

See you soon,

Paul and Alec

NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS: This is a toned-down, less special-effecty version of the show we uploaded as a treat on New Year’s Eve. That glitzier edit was a one-time dealio, you see. But the show’s more or less the same. If you listened to it already, we hope you liked it and urge you to listen again. And bring a friend. And take notes this time. What the hell are we paying you for, anyway?

Enjoy!

Ever find yourself alone in a cabin with a corpse? Maybe you fared better than our good friend Murlock.

Come with us as we peek behind “The Boarded Window” by Ambrose Bierce.

In this Never Before Heard™ episode, we fill our steins with piping hot java as Brutal Bierce offers up a little nugget of unsettling horror—frontier style.

Also, Alec’s adventures in the wild! Paul hears voices! And we find ourselves flailing and out of sorts with non-alcoholic beverages #neveragain

The Beer

* Paul’s choice:

* Threes Brewing, Hereafter

* Dunkin’ Original Blend

* Alec’s choice:

* Founder's Brewing Company, Backwoods B*****d

* Folger’s Classic Roast

The Book

* Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, Ambrose Bierce

The Music

* Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse

(Dig his stuff on YouTube)

Follow Us:

* Alec Chambers

* Paul Lorello

Ah, ‘tis the season of warmth, of joy, of strict atomization of humbug, of all things wintery and blazing with good humor, benevolence, comfort, and extreme pessimism regarding the futility of all human existence…

Yes, we're covering the king of bad tidings, Thomas Ligotti, by discussing his masterpiece of unnerving horror, "The Frolic."

Also, terrible Christmas gifts! Alec meets the Night Hag! Paulie Wren's Christmas Story! And more from Santa's big ol' bag o' podcast maunderings!

Come for the obscure references, stay for the obscure allusions—as we celebrate the Yuletide with very strong beer and a killer story.

The Beer

* Paul’s choice: Schloss Eggenberg, Samichlaus

* Alec’s choice: Bell’s Brewery, Christmas Ale

The Book

* Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe, Thomas Ligotti

The Music

* “Nocturnal Phosphorescence”, “Mortuaries of Time”, by Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse

(Dig his stuff on YouTube)

Follow Us:

* Alec Chambers

* Paul Lorello