Shelf Lives #8 - "I Seem to Recall Something About Never Letting Go" (Tim)
Release Date: 04/29/2025
A Year Without Summer: Polidori's Failed Pitch to Mary Shelley (The Vampyre) | The October Rite
Ravyn Reads
We've all done unhinged things for love, but have you ever invented an entire cultural genre? In 1816, the "Year Without Summer," a volcanic winter traps five creative minds at the Villa Diodati. While Mary Shelley dreams up Frankenstein, her admirer, Dr. John Polidori, is busy being insecure, jumping off balconies, and spraining his ankle. From that humiliation and unrequited love, he conjures a new kind of monster: the aristocratic, seductive predator. This is the story of The Vampyre, the failed romantic who wrote him, and the brutal lesson of a sprained ankle. Key Works Mentioned &...
info_outline
Vlad the Impaler: Sinner or Saint? (1490) - The October Rite
Ravyn Reads
Today, having examined both sides of Vlad's legacy, we ask the obvious question: So, arbiter of justice or monster? And the answer is...complicated... Today's primary text is a paraphrasing of the Church Slavonic text: The Tale of the Voivode Dracula https://sourcebook.stanford.edu/text/tale-dracula-voivode
info_outline
The Impaler's Theatre: How Did Vlad the Impaler's Legend Spread? (1463) - The October Rite
Ravyn Reads
info_outline
Blood Between Empires: The Land Vlad the Impaler Fought to Protect (1456) - The October Rite
Ravyn Reads
Today we examine the duality of Vlad. But more specifically, the land he fought for. There have been longer rulers in the region. More popular rulers. But none who claimed the Devil who would fight for God. A quick note: Wallachian geopolitics and history is fascinating. Vlad's life and lineage is chronicled in Radu Florescu & Raymond McNally's "Dracula: Prince of Many Faces". Alongside this title; Captivating History has an accessible and thorough history of Vlad and Wallachia available in audiobook, Kindle, and print forms "Vlad the Impaler: A Captivating Guide to How Vlad...
info_outline
What's Worse Than a Vampire?: Vlad the Impaler (1431ish-1477)
Ravyn Reads
He's only the third Vlad I know of, and definitely the one I'd least like to be stuck in a forest with. We briefly dive into the history, lore, and non-vampiristic character of Vlad Tepes III, Son of the Dragon. If you're interested in Vlad, I highly recommend these two books: Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times In Search Of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires Both authored by Radu Florescu & Raymond T. McNally If you'd like to connect on social media, feel free to follow me @RavynReads
info_outline
The Monk Who Said "...Maybe?" - Dom Calmet (1746) - The October Rite
Ravyn Reads
We've had a scientific rebuttal from 2025. But we've also got one from an 18th century librarian-monk-scholar! @RavynReads on socials
info_outline
A Biologist's Guide to The Undead: Revisiting Early Vampires (2025) - The October Rite
Ravyn Reads
When I'm not reading books into a microphone, I have a degree in biomedical sciences. Unbelievably, our two worlds are about to collide as we revisit the stories of early vampires and examine the likely biomedical causes of the descriptions. I'm delighted to say that your high school chemistry class is about to come roaring back. Forget Dracula, the scariest thing we'll encounter today is the ideal gas law... After all, pressurized vampires equal necrosis, rigor, & trauma. ... @RavynReads for socials and updates (and no more chemistry jokes) Marked explicit for pretty gross...
info_outline
The Perfect Couple - "The Awakening" (Ch. 3 & 4) by Kate Chopin (1899)
Ravyn Reads
Today, we're taking a break from all the blood and gore and returning to a far more seemingly placid disquiet. Grand Isle and the slow piercing of the Ponteliers. I hope you enjoy, friends. @RavynReads for social and updates
info_outline
UpToStake: How to Take a Vampire Physical: Arnold Paole (1725-1732) - The October Rite
Ravyn Reads
18th-century medicine has entered the vampire discourse... And...things to do not go well... This one is marked as explicit for the fairly dispassionate description of dissections. @RavynReads for socials and updates Visum et Repertum:
info_outline
The "First" Vampire: Petar Blagojević (1725) - The October Rite
Ravyn Reads
The First Vampire never knew he was the first vampire. Which honestly, seems unfair. @RavynReads for socials and updates
info_outlineThis week on Shelf Lives, we meet Tim—a 45-year-old veteran, psychology grad student, medieval reenactor, and unintentional philosopher—who once read He Died with a Falafel in His Hand because the font was Comic Sans and stayed for the truth.
In an hour that spans stroke survival, speculative fiction, and parenting rituals involving 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tim opens up about the books that shaped his life—from Starship Troopers to Stranger in a Strange Land, and the one quote that keeps him moving even when his legs want to quit:
“I seem to recall something about never letting go.”
This episode is for anyone who’s ever loved a book their daughter didn’t get, ever felt like they owed a teddy bear a future, or ever stared down a rationalist identity forged in the pages of Heinlein and Sagan. It’s about the books we reread, the dragons in our garages, and what it means to become the kind of man who walks into a bookstore and lets the universe decide.
And yes, there’s a cat. And yes, you might cry. And no, The Silmarillion still isn’t finished.
Books Mentioned:
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
Starship Troopers (1997 film)
1984 by George Orwell
You Will Go to the Moon by Mae & Ira Freeman
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 film)
After America by John Birmingham
Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
The Works of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
The Hawking Index (HI)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis
He Died With a Falafel in His Hand by John Birmingham
Neon Leviathan by T. R. Napper
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Once and Future King by T. H. White
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Mages by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
Glory Road by Robert Heinlein