The Darc

This book has definitely been in the bathroom.

That sounds like you died.

Text: ‘“Slay the bats or send them slithering and I’ll come, but not before,” he dogmatized.’

That’s, uh, quite the dialogue tag.

From Fritz Leiber’s Swords in the Mist. The speaker is Fafhrd.

🪐📚💙

Ha, yes: Farseer trilogy, Liveship Traders trilogy, Tawny Man trilogy, Rain Wilds quadrology that should have been a duology, and the Fitz & Fool trilogy. Each set is a wholly satisfying story on its own but if you read them don't read them out of order.

And then the third through sixteenth, I’m sure.

This is what I actually want to (re)read in 2026 and what I’m starting now. 🪐📚💙

Novelization of the movie Willow and sequel story novels Shadow Moon and Shadow Dawn.

These are not good books, but goddamnit I’m reading them. 💙📚

I read Shadow Moon and sequels many years ago and all I remember is a fugue state. I thought it was me at the time. I didn’t understand then that books could simply be very bad. I’ll find out what happens with my newer state of wisdom.

Noobs to the 372-Pages podcast are always welcome. Why not start the year with an inexplicably terrible book? Expand your horizons! It will make everything else you read this year seem so much better. 📚💙

The book is so beautiful. The writing is beyond abysmal. So, so many problems in just the first paragraph.

Book: The Age of Scorpius by Audra Winter

Something very special arrived in the mail today…

📚💙

It took a while to find a copy.

Can’t wait! It could be anything! It could be that AI generated cookbook inspired by Anne Frank‘s diary published last week!

I just made it to the end also. I noticed Mountain Dew listed in the credits under “Special Thanks”

I considered writing a long carefully constructed argument laying out the harms and limitations of AI, but instead I wrote about being a hater. Only humans can be haters.

The Official Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off homepage #SPFBO SPFBO 300 books, 10 judges, 1 champion The SPFBO contest is in its 11th year. Over 3000 novels have entered. I'm bringing together the somewhat ...

You have 13 hours left to throw your self-published fantasy book into the #SPFBO hat!

mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-...

That has been suggested recently by others I trust, I will try it out at some point.

Yeah so that didn’t work out.

Sir, that is my wife you speak of!

My wife mashes potatoes like they killed her family.

In case you’re wondering what kind of dad I am, I am already lamenting the fact that municipal xmas tree curbside pickup won’t happen until Jan. 6.

Isn’t there some kind of Sandman, of any girth, to help in this type of situation?

Currently on the last book on my October to-read list. 📚💙

This was a Stephen King short story.

Front inside flap of dustjacket for Iced on Aran by Brian Lumley, with orange text against a teel background, very difficult to read.

Who chose these colours and why do they hate my eyes?
📚💙

I couldn’t get into PE2 either, then I recently heard it praised on a retro podcast and wondered if I needed to try again. Now I’m leaning to no again, but hells yeah I’d replay the first one any time.

Thanks! I’ve played all of them but I don’t think ever finished them except Wild Arms 2. I guess I don’t have to be in a rush to part with them all.

PSOne and Dreamcast games

Any I should play/replay before selling? #RetroGaming

An AI-generated book about the Louvre heist, not worth describing.

An AI-generated book about the Louvre heist, not worth describing.

An AI-generated book about the Louvre heist, not worth describing.

An AI-generated book about the Louvre heist, not worth describing.

An AI-generated book about the Louvre heist, not worth describing.

An AI-generated book about the Louvre heist, not worth describing.

An AI-generated book about the Louvre heist, not worth describing.

Thanks to AI and self-publishing, you too can spam the market with slop novels based on current events within moments. #AIbooks 💙📚

What a time to be alive. 🤑🤮

Awesome episode, I'm so glad you put this out. I find myself often thinking back to roughly that same time, when I was hella depressed and living with nary a piece of furniture, but dammit I had a PS1 hooked up to my VCR-TV combo and my memories of that time are quite fond now.

And you did it all without cancer. (Hopefully.)