In this episode, I go into a bit of detail about my new favorite television series: Ted Lasso. It's a show I've recommended to several people already. I also happen to think it's one of the most important shows to come around in a long time—perhaps since The Office.  I maintain that Ted Lasso is a show about leadership and human connection, and it's told through a metamodernist lens. (If you don't happen to know what metamodernism is, I define it in this episode.) Especially in these rough...

This week, I'm returning to the man who inspired this podcast: Albert Camus. I don't feel enough people are familiar with his work. And in this episode, I try to convince the listener that Camus is one of the most accessible and worthwhile writers and thinkers. I address his writing style, his lyricism, and his most pivotal philosophical position. Even if you've already read Camus, perhaps I'm able to provide a perspective you haven't thought about before. I'd love to hear your thoughts...

This is my first review of 2022, and it's a doozy! After taking some time away from the podcast, I decided I would kick off the new year with an independent author I have had the privilege of engaging with on Twitter. House of Sleep is an intriguing work that heavily leans into the power and drawbacks of dreams, and the havoc that arises when we learn of our ability to penetrate another's sleeping state. I highly recommend this work. You can find Brad Kelly on Twitter @BradKelly.  He will...

Writer's block is something that a lot of people experience—undoubtedly. One of the most common places writer's block happens is at the beginning of a writing project. When facing the blank page. However, this hasn't been my experience. Writer's block—at least for me—tends to happen about halfway through a project, when there are so many different directions a story could go. It's not so much a lack of ideas or direction as it is about what direction to go in. This can be paralyzing (and...

The reason I finally decided to give Dick’s VALIS a try is due to my research into esotericism and the occult. Dick’s major contribution to the field of esotericism is his posthumously published work called The Exegesis. However, he addresses many of his ideas in his fiction. VALIS  is one I could see myself reading again and again. There is so much to get from it, and it's certainly not a conventional science fiction story. Have you read this book? If so, what are your thoughts? My debut...

Though it goes without saying, one of the most unique factoids about dreams is that we all have experience(s) with them. In one way or another. According to scientists and researchers who specialize in neurology and dreams, everyone dreams. Even if you don’t remember what you dreamed the night prior, you did, in fact, dream. I'm not completely sold on the idea mainstream science says about dreams—that they are essentially information dumps. In this episode, I discuss my thoughts on dreams....

I’ve received several messages and emails, asking me to explain how my writing process works. To learn that people would be interested in my experience is not only flattering for me, but it communicates to me that others are thinking of writing something of their own. And that’s perhaps the best news. And then I’m sure there are several of you who have already published your first book...or second book...or even your third book. If that’s the case, you may find some of this information a bit...

Adventures in Immediate Irreality, from my perspective, takes up the idea of dissociation, and attempts to give the reader an idea of what that might be like. We have a narrator that could accurately be described as pessimistic, ruminating over the nature of reality in a way I have rarely seen in fiction. This book is truly one of a kind! You can purchase it right HERE. Consider supporting me below: PATREON YOUTUBE SUBSTACK MUG T-SHIRT

Battles in the Desert introduces and questions notions of nationalism, socio-economic status, and what it is like for one Mexican child living in a society gradually being taken over by American enterprise.

Philosopher John Gray does not have a lot of good things to say about humanism and progress, and some of his arguments are difficult to disagree with. I discuss precisely why he has a pessimistic view of the modern-day conception of progress.

Notes From Underground manifests as an excerpt from the general ramblings of a bitter and isolated unnamed narrator, who previously worked as a civil servant living in St. Petersburg.

There has been an ongoing debate on whether there is a difference in literary art and literary entertainment. While many people believe the distinction is quickly vanishing, I hold that there is a clear distinction, though there are oftentimes overlap.

Gabrielle Wittkop's The Necrophiliac is undoubtedly a disturbing novel about a man who has a particular sexual taste for, well, dead bodies.

Though everyone tends to believe they are the arbiters of truth and what is right, the 18th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer disagrees.

Knut Hamsun's Hunger is a book, fundamentally, about hunger—in every sense of the word. Hamsun's nameless protagonist is starving for food, for love, and for relevance while simultaneously refusing the help of his fellow city-dwellers in Oslo, Norway.

Emil Cioran—a Romanian philosopher— is sometimes considered to be the best aphorist since Friedrich Nietzsche. This episode addresses Cioran's position on consciousness, and that to reflect too much on the world is oftentimes a tragedy. Instead, what we...

This episode is about Cioran's position on suicide—something he believed one always elects to do too late.

"Mapping the Interior" is one of those special books one wishes they would have found earlier. It is a book both about the elusive nature of truth and the potential illusion of memory—and how one young boy attempts to commune with his dead father's ghost amid a fractured reality.

Camus' "The Stranger" and conception of the Absurd gives us a way to navigate a potentially meaningless world