TBC Plays DragonRaid by Dick Wulf *Special Guests Phoebe & Kami* - Episode 224
Release Date: 08/12/2025
The Third Force: A Novel Of Gadget by Marc Laidlaw *Patron's Choice* - Episode 234
Terrible Book Club
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...
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Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May - Episode 233
Terrible Book Club
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:
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Temple of the Winds (Sword of Truth #4) by Terry Goodkind - Episode 232
Terrible Book Club
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...
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A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1) by Sarah J. Maas *Special Guest Emily* - Episode 231
Terrible Book Club
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,...
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The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas - Episode 230
Terrible Book Club
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: 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,...
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Other Misfortunes (The Enchantment and You'll Find It's Like That All Over) by Eric LaRocca - Episode 229
Terrible Book Club
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...
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From Fan To Family: Embracing Jason Momoa’s World by Ligaya “Aying” Espina Cerny - Episode 228
Terrible Book Club
Today's book was suggested to us by a fan on Instagram who said, “Your schedule is probably still full but I have the book to end all terrible books. [Redacted] wrote this about her love (obsession) for Jason Mamoa and it is a mess; it’s absolutely terrible." This extremely personal book of poetry rotates around the axis of Jason Momoa and takes us to many strange, sad places. In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode includes discussion or mention of intense parasocial relationships, cancer/terminal illness, and big 'ol age gap relationships. References &...
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After Dinner Conversation Magazine: Sample Issue - Episode 227
Terrible Book Club
This week, Paris discusses her experience reading the sample issue of a magazine called After Dinner Conversation from the non-profit philosophy and ethics short fiction publisher of the same name. They DM’ed us on Twitter saying they wanted us to try their free sample issue, so we actually took them up on this offer because we’ve never reviewed a magazine before. It's a year of firsts on TBC! Stories featured in the sample issue: Abrama’s End Game by David Shultz The Lives and Times of David Hackman by Patrick Hueller Pappou’s Garden by Fotis Banis The Zombie in the Bathroom by...
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I Am Not Starfire by Mariko Tamaki / Illustrated by Yoshi Yoshitani *Patron's Choice* - Episode 226
Terrible Book Club
Our patron rootbeercutie recommended I Am Not Starfire and since we had somehow not done a graphic novel in the 10 years of this podcast, Chris stepped up to tackle this Teen Titans spinoff. Today's episode features a whole lot of superhero tropes and parent/child strife; even good art and a lesbian protagonist who gets a happy ending couldn't save this one, though.
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Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives by Gretchen Rubin - Episode 225
Terrible Book Club
We haven’t done any self-help lately, so Paris braved Oprah's Book Club list to pull the recently published Secrets of Adulthood straight from its maw. Though it attempted to take her, she fought her way out to bring you this episode about the science of happiness and the pop cultural grift which swirls around it. References & Resources: Content Warnings: In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode includes discussion or mention of capitalism and eating the rich.
info_outlineOne dark day in the TBC Patreon chat dungeons, our Patron Austin scrawled the following message to us:
"...[D]uring the 80s there was a guy literally named Dick Wulf (Not to be confused with law and order producer and writer Dick Wolf) who made a Christian version of D&D called Dragonraid. There's very little documentation online about what the game system was like but it did exist and from what I can gather there was some sort of mechanic involving casting spells by reciting bible verses. Cut to like 2020, some forty years later, some Christian company approaches Dick Wulf to buy the intellectual rights to his fantasy world so they can rebrand as LightRaider the new Christian fantasy RPG sensation! For the low low price of 57.99! And to build hype as they were creating the actual system, they created LightRaider Academy, a trilogy of YA Novels."
Based on this information, Chris could have read a LightRaider Academy novel, but, no - he had to spread the suffering around. So, he recruited his friends Phoebe and Kami to support Paris on an adventure into the world of DragonRaid. Our party gets to roll a single die and encounter terrifying dangers such as orcs, wolves, racist charicatures, and fat shaming! Don't even think about eating pie - literally.
In addition to being our GM, Chris also did all of the scoring for today's episode. Remember that you can hire him at Oselka Sound for all of your composition, sound design, editing, music teaching, and session work needs.
If you enjoyed our guests, you can find Phoebe on Instagram @phoebe.danskin and Kami on Twitch @maniacalpillow
In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode includes discussion of Christianity, fatphobia, and anti-semitism.