It wouldn't be a new season of TBC without a Victorian visit from the Antiques Freaks! Dig your Carnacki Bingo cards out of storage and enjoy a live reading of The Story of the Beetle Hunter by Arthur Conan Doyle, all set to the impeccable scoring and sound design talents of Oselka Sound.

If you'd rather hear a properly acted, serious version of this story, please check out the Gothic Tales audio book narrated by Gary Furlong.

In addition to our usual barnyard language, this episode includes irreverant and sexual humor and some bad Victorian ideas and opinions.

Scribando and Bookbarella return! We're a little tipsy for the first four episodes of the season in service to a future TBC episode, so this one is perhaps not our greatest season opener. We try and fail to do a little scientific thinking around particle and quantum physics and sing a fake song for your amusement, though, so there's that.

Special Thanks to:

• Ken from Antiques Freaks for narrating our cold open for this season
• Lightwitch/Courtney Brooke Hall for our new photos
• Greylord's Hoard for our new logo and graphic design

Links & References:

• The Multiverse is real. Just not in the way you think it is. | Sean Carroll

• You can find many episodes about particle physics and other quantum topics we mentioned on Daniel & Kelly's Extraordinary Universe podcast:

• • What is a particle?

  • Time travel fiction

  • Unraveling misleading popular science

  • How to make sense of quantum entanglement

• Focus playing Hocus Pocus on NBC in 1973 (introduced by Gladys Knight!)

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion of depression, suicide, and very brief mentions of guns and pet death.

TBC is an AI-free production. Audio by Oselka Sound.

Thank you to our Patron One In A Thousand who requested this week's book! They wrote in to us earlier this year, saying:

"...At some point in your lives, you've probably experienced media that you felt was ALMOST really good, but for whatever reason it just wasn't, and media that was almost really good can be just as frustrating as outright bad media because you can see that it just needed a little bit of fixing. That's how I felt about The Third Force. It's a tie-in novel to an obscure Japanese multimedia franchise from the 90's called Gadget...Marc Laidlaw was given a lot of creative freedom to write his own interpretation of the story, including more worldbuilding and character development, to mixed results...Laidlaw has confirmed that several characters and plot points from this book went on to inspire elements of the Half-Life series, which he became the lead writer for a couple years after writing this...In a way, The Third Force is almost like a rough first draft for ideas that Laidlaw would execute in a better way later."

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of brainwashing, torture, murder, and general high mind loss.

It's winter up here in the northern hemisphere, so why not explore a fluffy memoir that flirts with self-help specifically for the season? Get a nice blanket and a stuffed creature, a hot beverage, maybe light a candle or incense or perhaps even a fire, and snuggle in. Take care of yourselves out there - make that doctor, dentist, therapist, etc. appt you've been avoiding!

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of injury, surgery, mental health struggles, and alternative treatments for health and wellness.

References & Resources:

• National Institute of Health - Help for Mental Illnesses
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Hotline: Chat Online for Free

Terry has been dead for a few years now, but it's clear that he controls Chris from beyond the grave with a Rada'Han because Chris begged Paris to read yet another Sword of Truth novel this year. The suffering is turned up to 11 as we're both crushed beneath a block of fantasy plot swiss cheese. Even though it's more holes than cheese-plot, it still hurts because the holes have spikes, in Goodkind fashion.

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of abuse, sexual assault/coercion, sex worker murder, slavery, and pandemics.

Other episodes in this series:

• Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth #3) by Terry Goodkind (2020)
• Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth #2) by Terry Goodkind (2017)
• Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth #1) by Terry Goodkind (2015)
• Our commentary on the first season of the ABC adaptation of these books, the Legend of the Seeker, is is available on our Patreon

The time has come. It was inevitable; at last, we submitted to the will of Terriblo, listeners, and fate to bring down the evil monarch and find our destined mate - I mean, bring you our review of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, popularly known by its acronym of ACOTAR. To ease us through this experience, I've brought my emotional support Emily who herself is an avid reader who has suffered through not only this first book, but most of the series that follows.

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of hunting, kidnapping, murder, disfigurement, sex/sexual slavery, shapeshifting, & torture.

Happy Halloween! This episode was supposed to air on 11/4, but we figured you'd all appreciate hearing this one a week early in the spirit of the season. The next episode will air on schedule on 11/18, so make sure you check out some older spooky season TBC episodes while you wait:

• The Hog from Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson *Special Guests D & Ken from Antiques Freaks*
• Drag Queen Dino Fighters by MP Johnson *Patron's Choice*
• Man, F*ck This House by Brian Asman *Patron's Choice*
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in His Adventure on Earth by William Kotzwinkle *Special Guest Mary Parker*
• The Haunted Vagina by Carl Mellick III
• In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt *Patron's Choice*

This week it was Chris's turn to head over to r/horrorlit to pick through more of the sub's worst horror books from 2024. He was lured to The Paleontologist simply based on the thought that ghost dinosaurs seemed an especially funny concept.

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of child abuse, abduction, and murder; ghosts; implied pedophillia; and the pandemic.

References:

• Terrible Book Club, Episode 79 (2020): Museum of the Living Dead (A Plot-It-Yourself Horror Story) by Hilary Milton: This week it's 1985 and we're two children in an off-brand "Plot-It-Yourself" horror story. Chris wants to die as quickly as possible while Paris chooses life. Paris's microphone is backwards, Chris can't stop creating new lyrics for a bad 90s song, and we play another round of Power Rangers Monster or Weed Strain?
• Vintage Burn Podcast

For this year's Spooky Season, we headed over to reddit to see what r/horrorlit thought were the worst horror books they read in 2024. It seemed that Eric LaRocca's novella Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was widely hated by the sub, but since the Antiques Freaks already reviewed that back in October 2023, Paris chose to instead read two short stories packaged together as Other Misfortunes with Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke in the edition she had.

Other Misfortunes:

• The Enchantment
• You'll Find It's Like That All Over

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today's episode includes discussion or mention of angels, demons, infidelity, death and the afterlife, marital stress, miscarriage, pet death, suicide, and gambling.

References & Resources:

• Antiques Freaks, Episode 245: Antique Apple Peeler Pricing - Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
• Esoterica YouTube Channel