This week Stephen and Mark explore the slopes of Mount Ararat where, according to lore, Noah's Ark came to rest after the great flood of the world. Their guide will be author, Christopher Golden, who delights in bringing people to some the oldest and most terrifying places. It's said that Noah brought at least two of every creature upon the Earth. What might tourists to the long forgotten Ark find there? What might still be living? To help them through their journey, they will be sampling Middle...
Mar 17, 2023•48 min•Season 3Ep. 10
We all have our favorites, don't we? In this episode, we try some Doc Swinson bourbon while chatting about some of our favorite characters from the show and beyond.
Mar 10, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Sometimes things fall apart, including show hosts. Enjoy!
Mar 03, 2023•15 min
In this episode we explore the world of shadow magic, secrety societies, and of course...murder. Pairing this wonderful book by Holly Black with something appropriately magical in a dark sort of manner, we will be sampling Jim Beam Double Oaked.
Feb 24, 2023•56 min•Season 3Ep. 7
What do you do when you learn that you can't do everything with the time you've got? Well, we don't know what you would do, but you can find out what we would do with Piggyback Rye.
Feb 17, 2023•13 min•Season 3Ep. 6
How manage our time isn't about adopting the habits of the most effectively productive people, or working the 20 hour work week, or even finding that perfect spreadsheet to spread your data in all the best ways. NO! In 4,000 Weeks, we learn that managing our time is all about managing ourselves, our priorities, and our expectations. It's a deep topic this week, and we're going to need a really smooth sipping bourbon to help the medicine go down, like a drunken Mary Poppins who may or may not hav...
Feb 10, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Holy villainy, Batman! We forgot to talk about the antagonists in "Fairy Tale" by Stephen King. Tonight, we pair the book with with my Christmas present. Noble Oak Double Oaked Bourbon.
Feb 03, 2023•16 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Come on, all you Gen Xers out there. It's time to get your literary D&D hats on. Pick up your Zork lanterns at the bottom of the winding stair or else you might be eaten by a grue as we take on a classic trope by one of our favorite authors. In tonight's episode we talk about "Fairy Tale" by Stephen King, and his take on the classic modern version of this genre. Paired with it, we will taste Copper & Cask. Like this book, we felt this bourbon was a modern classic with a twist....
Jan 27, 2023•55 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this oopsisode, we discuss something we didn't get the chance to talk about during the main show. Two words. GHOST. BABY. Really, after something like that the only thing we can do to recover from this is to revisit our old friend, Smoke Wagon Bourbon.
Jan 20, 2023•14 min•Season 3Ep. 2
It's Season 3, and it's time to get weird! We start the season off with a book where ghosts are a drug, and seeing your loved ones again is an addiction. Do you want to get haunted? You will in "Ghost Eaters" by Clay McLeod Chapman. We'll get even stranger with our tasting of Redwood Empire bourbon. An amazing bourbon with a deceptively creepy illustration on the bottle.
Jan 13, 2023•57 min
We're so excited for Season 3 to begin, we just HAD to chat about it a bit. Enjoy!
Jan 06, 2023•5 min
Nov 12, 2022•7 min
Just remember! All celebrity endorsements are completely FAKE.
Nov 04, 2022•7 min
In the finale of Season 2, Stephen and Mark talk about what horror really is. It's a dark conversation, and they lighten the load by engaging in the much talked about Old Fashioned Challenge with three bourbons in three cocktails for two idiots. Thanks for a great season, and we will see you again in January!
Oct 28, 2022•56 min
What's a good ghost story without ghosts?? Stephen and Mark discuss the supernatural elements of both "Just Like Home" by Sarah Gailey and Piggyback Rye by Whistlepig.
Oct 21, 2022•15 min
In this week's episode, Stephen and Mark go back home to a happy nest of murder and disfunction in the novel "Just Like Home" by Sarah Gailey. As they polish the silver with the blood of their enemies, they will sample the dazzlingly good Uncle Nearest Tennessee Whiskey.
Oct 14, 2022•54 min
Stephen and Mark are getting ready for the big season 2 finale. Also...they have high schoolers. High school activities in the Fall are BRUUUUUUTAL. As before, we've added on a little bit, but it's really interested to hear just how far we've come from when we got started. ENJOY.
Oct 07, 2022•1 hr 3 min
What would a Russian fairytale as dark as rancid tree sap be without an old shaman woman conjuring the ghosts of dead prisoners and laying them to rest on the Road of Bones?? Right, and yet we forgot to talk about her. OOPS. Pairing up with this, we explore New Riff once more.
Sep 30, 2022•12 min
With it being such a master class in fast paced cosmic horror fiction, it might be better to call it what we wished we could forget. Some of those images are never coming out of our brains, but we loved it. In the epsiode we will be drinking to it!
Sep 23, 2022•16 min
Khan once said that it is very cold in space, but he'd never been on the Road of Bones in Siberia! In this novel by Christopher Golden, we will explore the bleakness of the coldest inhabited place on Earth, and the folklore that resides there with the people in this fast paced, hard hitting, unapologetically terrifying book! To keep our spirits warm, we will be sampling Barrel Armida Bourbon once again. We tried this over a year ago, and we're going to see if we taste something different this ti...
Sep 16, 2022•58 min
Stephen and Mark travel to different worlds were tentacles are replaced wtih roots...and organs. Come take a wild backwater cosmic horror ride in T. Kingfisher's "The Hollow Places". They will explore something else wild and complex with Piggyback 100% Rye.
Sep 09, 2022•52 min
Stephen and Mark talk about how sometimes people just want to be seen. They want to be acknowledged. They want to be let back into the room. For this heady talk, we take a little time to revisit an old friend. Basil Hayden Dark Rye.
Sep 02, 2022•13 min
Stephen and Mark explore a short but compelling story about a troubled boy who calls for a monster in the dark. This is a bittersweet and complex tale. Nothing goes better with it than Basil Hayden's Toast bourbon.
Aug 26, 2022•59 min
What could we possibly forget about Bag of Bones? Well, since it's a Stephen King book and we can't manage to even get through half of it in the main episode? Yeah, it feels better to just say, pretty much most of it. But in this oopsisode, we focus on just one thing (out of the 500) that we didn't get to discuss.
Aug 19, 2022•16 min
Once again, Stephen and Mark return to the universe of Stephen King in this massively surprising and haunting tale of ghosts, racism, and the sins of the father. They'll need something to offer the spirits to keep the nightmares away, and only a very special bottom of Evan Williams will do the job.
Aug 12, 2022•1 hr 11 min
They always forget something! Listen as Stephen and Mark talk about what they forgot to talk about in "The Sea of Tranquility" by Emily St. John Mandel. In this oopsisode, they will revisit Chatinooga Whiskey.
Aug 05, 2022•16 min
Stephen and Mark take a romp through time and space, through relationships lost and found, through paradoxes and moral dilemmas. Cosmic anamolies and personal inevitabilities abound in the wonderfully haunting and lyrical story by Emily St. John Mandel. "Sea of Tranquility" is anything but, and we'll need the help of none other than Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls (or at least his bourbon) to get us through it all.
Jul 29, 2022•59 min
We cannot say "what we forgot" in this oopsisode, because it is too easy to forget, if you believe in the curse. So, Stephen and Mark will discuss what they remember of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
Jul 22, 2022•15 min
Stephen and Mark will contemplate what it might be like if they never had an impact on anything or anyone (kind of like their podcast) as they discuss "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" by V.E. Schwab. They will also plant some ideas about a delicious new find. Isaac Bowman portwine barrel finished bourbon.
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 9 min
It's like Alma Katsu Month in the House of Stephen and Mark! Because we have enjoyed it so much (and it's fun to go back to episode 4). Keep in mind that we did this episode in November of 2020, in the midst of lockdown time in Illinois. Take a re-listen with the beauty of hindsight.
Jul 08, 2022•59 min
