Today we read all of The Reckoners Book 2: Firefight, one of the best books we've read from Sanderson and our favorite episode we've recorded this year.

Next time we're reading Shadows of Self, which will release either the 15th or the 22nd.

Content warnings for this episode: aliens, apathy, assisted suicide, beheadings, being unhoused, betrayal, bleeding, bombs, bullying, cancer, Christianity, conspiracies, corpses, corruption, crushing violence, death, devils/Lucifer, drowning, faith, fire, force fields, gang violence, god, guns and gun violence, hospitalization, housefires, illusion magic, imprisonment, insanity, Jonestown Massacre, lying, many worlds theory, mental illness, mind control, misogyny, model minorities, murder, neglect, nuclear weapons, oligarchy, palliative care, paralell universes, prisons, racism, religion, royalty, self harm, sexualization, sin, spousal violence, stabbing, stereotypes, submarines, suicide, supervillains, telekinesis, torture, undeath, wounds

References:
Judge Judy
Fullmetal Alchemist - Hiromu Arakawa
Daemons of the Shadow Realm - Hiromu Arakawa
Bioshock - 2K
Bioshock Infinite - 2K
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow - Alan Moore
The Autobiography of Mark Twain

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We're back with two more Sanderson short stories, Allomancer Jak & Legion: Skin Deep!

Next episode we're reading all of Firefight! Episode airs: September 1 2026

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, assassination, atheism, betrayal, bleeding, body modification, cancer, Catholicism, Christianity, classism, death, DID, discussion of mental health, discussion of sexuality, existentialism, firearms, genetic mutation, germaphobia, germs, Greek Orthodoxy, guns, hallucinations, haunting, hostile corporate takeovers, imprisonment, imprisonment, infinity, insanity, kidnapping, military, mind control, minstrel shows, misogyny, Mormonism, murder, mutation, navy seals, Osama Bin Laden, passing, racism, race melodrama, religious conversion, religious extremism, schizophrenia, self harm, settler colonialism, staph bacteria, therapy, threat of torture, tokenism, viruses, wounds and infection

References

Coraline

Batman - DC Comics

Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

The Octoroon - Dion Boucicault

Crash Course Video expanding on this play and it's position in the history of US Theater

V.E. Schwab

Lampshading - OSP

Bathos - OSP

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

This time around we read all of Sixth of the Dusk, Dreamer, and Way of Kings Prime!

Next episode we're reading Legion: Skin Deep & Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania! Episode airs: August 18 2026

Huge thanks to Eamonn Tee for joining us this episode for a discussion on Sixth of the Dusk!
Eamonn’s Linktree

Eamonn’s Short Story Innsmouth

Eamonn’s Avatar Article

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, alien invasion, animal abuse/death, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones, caste systems, child abuse, child death, christian imagery, classism, colonization, corpses, death, death of a parent, decay, demonic possession, genocide, insanity, insects, knives, maiming, mind control, misogyny, mormonism, murder, mutation, mutilation, police violence, racism, religious conversion, religious extremism, self harm, settler colonialism, slavery, stabbing, undeath, violent crime, war, wounds and infection

Graham's audio has some issues until maybe 20 minutes in but gets resolved, apologies.

References Eamonn Section
Turncoat - Tihema Baker
The Traitor Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Full Fathom Five: A Novel of the Craft Sequence - Max Gladstone
Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

Kurangaituku - Whiti Hereaka
Kawai - Monty Soutar

References
Dredge - Black Salt Games
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - Bethesda
Star Trek - Gene Roddenberry
Avatar dir by James Cameron
Avatar: The Way of Water
Avatar: Fire and Ash
The game Jack mentions but couldn’t name is called The Shapeshifting Detective
Watch Dogs Series - Ubisoft
Austin Walker’s article about Watch Dogs and Shadow of Mordor

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

Many Apologies for this being so long overdue. I promise the next few will come out sooner. Due to a file corruption issue, The Episodes for Shadows for Silence Through the Forests of Hell and Mitosis have been lost. I'm going to try restore as much as is salvageable from that episode before the end of the year, but at least one full audiotrack will be missing.

Join us next time for Dreamer, Sixth of the Dusk (featuring a special guest), and Way of Kings Prime!

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones, caste systems, child abuse, child death, christian imagery, classism, colonization, death, decapitation, discussion of sexuality, disembowelment, domestic violence, espionage, exsanguination, gaslighting, genocide, human sacrifice, insanity, knives, maiming, marital rape, mind control, misogyny, mormonism, murder, mutation, mutilation, racism, rape, rape culture, religious conversion, religious extremism, secret societies, self harm, settler colonialism, sexual content, sex work, slavery, slave races, stabbing, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, surgery, terminal illness, undeath, wounds and infection

Other Things Mentioned

Netflix's Stranger Things

A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin

Pluribus

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

Happy New Year! I am so sorry this episode is so late.

Next episode, about Mitosis and Shadows for Silence Through the Forests of Hell will be out much, much sooner.

Content warnings for this episode: beheadings, being unhoused, betrayal, bleeding, bullying, Christianity, conspiracies, corpses, corruption, death, gang violence, guns and gun violence, illusion magic, imprisonment, insanity, lying, mental illness, mind control, misogyny, murder, neglect, nuclear weapons, oligarchy, prisons, racism, religion, royalty, self harm, sexualization, stabbing, stereotypes, suicide, supervillains, torture, undeath, wounds

Other media

Brandon Sanderson reviews art of his characters

Injustice

All Star Superman

Superman Red Son

Death of Superman

Batman vs Superman

The Reign of the Supermen

Invincible

The Boys

Absolute Universe

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We read read truly one of the most baffling books we've ever tackled with special guest Sophie Abromowitz! Oh and a Wheel of Time cut chapter too.

Sophie's Vampire Short Story: https://thebrooklynreview.com/2025/10/31/rules-for-vampires-sophie-abromowitz/
Sophie Substack: https://abromowitz.substack.com/

Seriously everyone check these out, Sophie has very quickly become one of my favorite writers.

Sophie Website: https://sophie-abromowitz.com/

Content warnings for this episode: auditory hallucinations, betrayal, bleeding, bullying, cheating/infidelity, child endangerment, child death, conspiracies, death, duels, gender dysphoria, god kings, human sacrifice, imprisonment, insanity, lying, mental illness, mind control, murder, neglect, nuclear weapons, oligarchy, prisons, religion, royalty, self harm, self hatred, stabbing, tech billionaires, torture, undeath, wounds, xenophobia

Next month we'll be reading Steelheart! Episode airs, November 18th.

Other Media

The Coen Brothers Intolerable Cruelty

Milwaukee PD Surviving Edged Weapons - Content Warnings Abound here

God Emperor of Dune

Wii Sports Resort

Guilty Gear

Guild Wars 2 - Ghosts and Ascalon and The Sea of Sorrows

The Book of Atrus - Myst - Rand Miller

Revenge of the Sith - Russel Stover

Changeover: A Young Rivalry and a New Era of Men's Tennis - Giri Nathan

Beyond All Reasonable Doubt, Jesus Is Alive! - Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Hot Streak Board Game

The West Passage - Jared Pechaček

Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We're back with The Rithmatist!

To skip A Memory of Light, Go to 29:41

Next month we'll be reading Infinity Blade Redemption & River of Souls. Episode airs October 7th.

Content warnings for this episode: abandonment, ableism, betrayal, bleeding, bullying, censorship, child abuse, child endangerment, child soldiers, Christianity, classism, colonialism, conspiracies, cults, death, displacement, existentialism, fandom, Harry Potter, human sacrifice, human transformation, immigration visas, J.K. Rowling, lying, mental illness, military, military academies, mind control, misogyny, Mormonism, murder, neglect, oligarchy, parental death, racism, religion, royalty, Scottish occupation, self harm, self hatred, settler colonialism, tourism, transphobia, undeath, Washington D.C.'s occupation, wounds

References

The Origins of the Wheel of Time by Michael Livingstone

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (attain second hand)

Brian Herbert Dune Sequels

The Expanse by James SA Corey

Return of the King - The Scouring of the Shire

You're Wrong About's 6 Part Series on Princess Diana

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

We read two novellas this month, The Emperor's Soul is really good! Legion is the craziest thing we've ever read for the show (and maybe off the show too).

Huge thanks to Kirk for guesting on this episode, you can find all his information here. https://kirkhamilton.com/

Next month we'll be discussing The Rithmatist and the End of A Memory of Light

Content warnings for this episode: ableism, Abu Sayyaf, assassination, atheism, betrayal, bleeding, blood magic, body horror, body modification, bombing, braindeath, broken bones, Catholicism, Christianity, classism, death, discussion of sexuality, enemies to lovers, genocide, hallucinations, imperialism, imprisonment, Islam, Israeli/Palestinian war, insanity, kidnapping, maiming, mind control, misogyny, Mormonism, murder, mutation, mutilation, Navy Seals, necromancy, racism, religious conversion, religious extremism, religious wars, Richard Dawkins, self harm, settler colonialism, slavery, stabbing, sterilization, strangulation, suicide, suicide bombing, suicide by police, terminal illness, therapy, tokenism, undeath, wounds and infection

Things Mentioned

Dave (1993) dir by Ivan Reitman

The Princess Bride dir by Rob Reiner

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Gladiator (2000) dir by Sir Ridley Scott

The Matrix (1999) dir by The Wachowski Sisters

Your Name (2016) dir by Makoto Shinkai

Miniature Painting

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Quote Investigator Article about the Quote I attribute to Emerson https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/06/20/books/

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) dir by Mel Stuart

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Disco Elysium

This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

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Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)