Cracked Spines

Hi, guys! We read more Animorphs. Don't...look at how long its been since the last one. In this episode: Trauma! Murder! Elaborate set pieces! These kids are fighting a war they can't tell anyone about, and they are handling it so well. We discuss character rankings, philosophical quandaries, and the essential nature of Cassie. Like, A LOT of Cassie. Also I realize they aren't actually twelve. Some are thirteen which makes it okay for them to go to war.Support the show

This week on Cracked Spines, Sarah did all the dang work and presents to Cyrus volume one of three Chinese danmei series for their consideration: The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish, The Husky and His White Cat Shizun, and You've Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post. Two-thirds of them are completely insane and the last one is morally reprehensible. Guess which one Cyrus gravitated to. Discussion includes a forty-year-old man's suicide plan being derailed by dick pics, an exploration of how exactly one manages to seduce and be seduced by a fish, the most begrudging recommendation that Sarah's ever given, and more urination featured than one might expect. Media:The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish by Xue Shan Fei Hu The Husky and His White Cat Shizun by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou You've Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post BlackeggSupport the show

Well, guys. The third of our recorded episodes about Gravity Falls. This is really our Return of the King. Cyrus and Sarah discuss media in-ties for a children's show--Journal Three, Lost Legends, and The Book of Bill, all written by Alex Hirsch. Sarah ponders about the challenges of adapting a story from one medium to another. Cyrus explains why Grunkle Ford is the new Hamlet. We keep remembering too late to be less horny about this, again, animated children's show. To be fair to us though--I mean, The Book of Bill is horny as hell to those with the eyes to see. Check out the first part of our epic $94 million trilogy posted for free on our Patreon right here.Our next episodes will be:Danmei Beat-Down on November 18, where Sarah makes a case for three separate danmei novels and Cyrus chooses which one they'll read in full.A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine on December 2, plus maybe A Desolation Called Peace depending on how much get-up-and-go we have.Support the show

What does a feel-good video about compassion in nursing, a trainwreck of social ineptitude at the site of a roadside attraction, and the television show Gravity Falls all have in common? Well, they're all in this episode, kinda funny, and somehow blisteringly earnest! After winning a prestigious Daisy Award for nursing last year, Sarah was selected for an exciting opportunity: recording a video meant to showcase her compassion and dedication set to soft piano music. Sarah doesn't quite spontaneously combust while talking about it, but it's a close thing.Meanwhile, Cyrus recounts their renewed obsession with the television show Gravity Falls, and the stop they made at the real-life Mystery Shack on a road trip down to California. They were definitely super normal and the experience hasn't haunted their dreams in the month since this was recorded.Originally we recorded this to be a single bonus episode about Gravity Falls, but as it turns out we had so many thoughts and feelings about things only tangentially related that we just had to turn this into a three-part series. You can find part two, where we actually talk about Gravity Falls, uploaded for free on our Patreon right here. Part three, where we cover The Book of Bill, is right here in our main feed! It's a triple episode day!Support the show

In today's episode, Cyrus bullies Sarah into reading a book she really enjoys. Sucker! For fans of pining, fealty, political maneuvering in a fantasy setting, and panic attacks, you can't go wrong with A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland. Naturally, Sarah spends the entire episode second-guessing how to pronounce the names after literally looking it up. Support the show

This week, we're reading Nat Cassidy's second horror novel about vampires, babies, and New York real estate that is so completely not ADA compliant. With special guest, our friend and resident horror book recommender Katie! Talking points include: navigating the inherent antisemitism of vampire mythology, Capri-sunning a human being, different types of evil landlords, and truly so much stuff about motherhood. I'm sure three childless adults in their thirties are really gonna be the expert on that subject. Support the show

Cyrus saw Alien Romulus and loved it so much they immediately went back to see it a second time; Sarah saw Alien Romulus and experienced an internal crisis about the state of feminism in 2012. Somehow, we reconcile these two experiences. Contains spoilers for all of Alien Romulus, discussions of racism, and discussions of sexual assault in the context of the Alien franchise. But mostly a lot of excited babbling about set pieces and what it means to make a great genre film. Also, exciting news: this is our last holdover episode before we go off hiatus! As part of our new vibe, we're going to start posting our episodes in advance so ya'll can have a chance to read along if you feel so inclined. To that end, here are the episodes you can expect to hear coming up:Nestlings by Nat CassidyA Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra RowlandDANMEI BEAT-DOWN: Sarah pitches three separate danmei novels to Cyrus with one of them becoming a future episode. Support the show

It makes a valiant effort to try to be, but ultimately fails. We're rusty! We took the summer off! We're just vibing! We're so rusty that frankly the audio on this episode is maybe our worst ever. We're working on it, guys. We come in fresh off watching an episode of Interview With the Vampire, and we won't shut up about it. Cyrus explains all the different types of work, including the work of having fun so you can have fun with MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY. I touch so briefly on Heaven Official's Blessing which need to convince Cyrus to read, cmon buddy it's just eight books. Shout out to Katie, you made us the creamiest falafels, we promise. Support the show

Is there anything better than receiving package in the mail? Well, it helps if you actually enjoy the stuff inside of it. Cyrus and Sarah discuss three months worth of Illumicrate subscription boxes with the ultimate conclusion that maybe this one isn't for us. Cyrus remains a freak for body sharing. Sarah cannot resist trinkets. We also talk about the house too much, but specifically how it is trying to kill one of us, which is something we already suspected but now is a process in actual motion. Also, hiatus! We'll be back around August with hopefully regained literacy. Support the show

Oh my GOD we finally read this book. And it was good! But we are not without thoughts. Turns out 400+ pages of characters hating themselves is occasionally a bummer. Cyrus flip flops on the topic of duologies. Sarah is weirdly positive about the constant misogyny. They both don't talk enough about the horny pain play. Support the show

This week we read Ex Marginalia, a collection of essays edited by Chinelo Onwualu that focuses on the experiences of marginalized creators writing speculative fiction. In addition to talking about our favorite essays, we discuss everything from Sofia Tolstoy to Sarah's complicated relationship with her own identity, the joys and pitfalls of masculinity in the media and our own experiences with publishing. Sadly, our multiple digressions talking about how cute our cat was being had to be cut for time. We apologize for what is no doubt a devastating emotional blow. Support the show

The episode title actually doesn't refer to the whole concrete and flooring situation Cyrus has got going on in the basement. This week, we're talking about Things Have Gotten Worse Since Last We Spoke and Other Misfortunes, a collection of horror stories by Eric LaRocca. We. Didn't LOVE it. Support the show

Who's hungry? This week we're sampling the delights of Dungeon Meshi, aka Delicious in Dungeon, a manga by Ryoko Kui. 50 percent of our podcasting duo is scared of eating zucchini, while the other 50 percent would probably give boiled boot leather a try, so reading a food-related manga really brings out our spirit of debate. But mostly about how to tally up visual novels in our relative book tallies. Also featuring discussions of adaptations, favorite recipes, and the inescapable horrors of immortality. Support the show

I mean, look at the title. What do you want us to say. This is not a traditional episode so much as it is a 50 minute apology-brag about the most exciting thing in our lives right now. We bought a house, and Cyrus is single-handedly tearing it apart, and they are so so happy. I'm happy too, but doing less property damage in general. Support the show

This week on Cracked Spines, we discuss SO MANY BOOKS by British children's fantasy writer Frances Hardinge. Sarah gushes over the strange little girls and bizarre worlds of the books. Cyrus finds a character who is Tobias from Animorphs but somehow sadder and latches onto her instantly. We talk about what defines writing for children and come up with no real answers, but we do get relentlessly bullied by our cats this episode so our lack of conclusion is probably their fault. Books mentioned (all, obviously, by Frances Hardinge): The Lie TreeUnraveller DeeplightCuckoo SongA Skinful of ShadowsA Face Like Glass Support the show

This week we're discussing books 6-10 of Animorphs. This includes The Capture which is a great piece of sci-fi horror that hit Cyrus' preteen brain like a comet. It also includes the first Megamorphs, which isn't a masterfully crafted work of delicious psychological torture but does contain some absolutely perfect set pieces of animal vs knife hurricane chaos so I think they're about equal. We talk about how so many of our predictions for the books came true so quickly and try to what the hell is going to happen next. Sarah gets weird about brain slugs. Cyrus gets weird about Ax eating trash. We are an Animorphs household now. Support the show

Gender, self-determination, and law drama collide in Ann Leckie's Translation State!  Your hosts rank their favorite characters; unsurprisingly, Cyrus was head over heels for pro-vivisection Qven, whereas Sarah was charmed by Enae's swagless detective whimsy. Also, this book about terrifying unknowable aliens and sci-fi political drama is a regency romance, actually. Occasionally we devolve into wailing about how we miss the protagonist of the Imperial Radch trilogy, Breq. Bear with us. Support the show

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, guys. It's time for us to discuss the best of what we read, our disappointments, and what we're planning on next year. Cyrus discovers they're making good progress on their reading list for next year, but only because they forgot that they've already read one of the books. Sarah tries very hard to connect two works together for reasons beyond "...China," with frankly dubious success. The first ten minutes is actually an intervention about cookie making, and it doesn't work even a little. Goodbye, 2023. You treated us alright, but we're ready for the next one. Media Discussed:She Who Became the Sun and He Who Devoured the World by Shelley Parker-ChanThe works of Francis HardingeThe Hand of the Emperor by Victoria GoddardThe Scum Villain's Self-Saving System and Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong XiuShoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun by Wafaa Bilal and Kari Lydersen Thistlefoot by GennaRose NethercottA Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra RowlandForeigner by C.J. CherryhHow to Sell a Haunted House by Grady HendrixSupport the show

Thanks to our generous benefactors on Patreon, we're embarking on our journey to read and discuss the entire 54-book Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate, plus at least a few of the extras! And listen, I know we already had an episode titled "Warcrimes 4 Kids"  but these books make Avatar: The Last Airbender look like a splash fight in an inflatable pool. We talk about the psychological horror elements, the body horror elements, the pervasive sense of tragedy, and the fact that it probably shaped Cyrus as a human being after they got obsessed with the series as a kid. Like, really, they almost named themselves after an Animorphs character. This is our first episode, discussing the set-up for the series and our predictions for what's to come. We'll be spreading out our future episodes over the next few months, so keep an eye on our feed for the next part of the series!Support the show

This week Sarah and Katie (wait whomst? guest host filling in as Cyrus is sequestered in Spain!) discuss two books that are basically the same idea, prepared two different ways: Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente and The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey. We talk about the horror of marriage, the horror of cyclical violence, the horror of being treated like a thing, and the Westmoonster Dog Show, which is the setting of a movie we're pitching about the class system and also a werewolf who competes in dog shows. Thanks again to Katie for filling in! Support the show