This was recommended eons ago in the age of 2021 by Twitter user KirliaHookah who described this book as, “Hey what if we crossed Sabrina the Teenage Witch with Mean Girls poorly?" which turned out to be perfectly accurate.

Musings and derailments in this episode include: Chris's DeathNote powers, George Michael Clooney, the Dance of Tables, the limits of school guidance counselors, Chris's criminal past, and we play a magic word guessing game.

In addition to our barnyard langauge, today's episode includes discussion or mention of bullying.

Happy Octoberween, dear listeners! In honor of the season, we bring you some spook-adjacent books for October's episodes. Today, our favorite guest Mary Parker is back with the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera musical - in book form! Although it was also turned into a musical, but remember this book is not the sequel to the original Phantom of the Opera book by Gaston Leroux...yeah.

Musings and derailments in this episode include: the morning routine underneath the Opera Populaire, Paris transforms into Girl Boss Mammon, Mary becomes a Valley Girl Priest, and Chris plays God.

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode includes discussion or mention of ableism, accidents leading to physical disfigurement, guns, murder, and suicide.

Julius the Nice Dragon offered us a true Patron's Choice: Return to The Dunks or choose a new path. We still had plenty of iced coffees to trade, so we made the only choice we could as Bostonians.

We rarely recommend prerequisites for episodes, but we think you should check out our review of the first book in this series before listening to today's episode because a) it's a good episode and b) we'll address elements of the series in that episode that we skipped today: Episode 165 - First, Impressions (Book #1 of Last Intentions) by SJ Saunders Patron’s Choice

Musings and derailments in this episode include: Boston, the MBTA, Mass Metal Gear Solid, store brand names, and a brief glimpse into Fourth Wing horrors (this was recorded much earlier this year and was perhaps where Chris got his idea to surprise Paris on the 200th episode).

*Local primaries and the general election are both coming up fast! Head to vote.org to check your voter registration, register to vote, preview your next ballot, or request a mail-in or absentee ballot.*

Referenced in this episode:

• Weird Studies - Visions of the Wasteland: On George Miller's 'Mad Max' Films: On the post-apocalyptic sci-fi glory of the Mad Max franchise
• Folding Ideas - Contrepreneurs: The Mikkelsen Twins: Another fantastic Dan Olson piece on a book publishing MLM/pyramid scheme/scam

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode discusses body horror, action-movie violence, suicide, guns/weapons, and medical experimentation like cloning, mind control, and genetic alteration.