Ravyn Reads

This is a soft refuge from the world — hosted by a guy held together with protein powder, public-domain novels, and unresolved guilt. I started reading again because grief had to go somewhere, and books are quieter than panic attacks and cheaper than therapy (although I have one of those, they're exhausted). I don’t have a degree in literature. I just think people who died putting words on paper deserve a hug. This podcast isn’t curated. It’s not scholarly. It’s just me, reading stories between hospital shifts, in a sweater covered in protein powder, hoping something sticks to the inside of your chest. Sometimes it’s Poe. Sometimes it’s Wind in the Willows. Sometimes it’s a glossary entry about how your last relationship was actually an allegory. Welcome to RavynReads. Tighten your ribbons. Hydrate. Stay heroic. Stay human.

A Year Without Summer: Polidori's Failed Pitch to Mary Shelley (The Vampyre) | The October Rite 10/25/2025

Vlad the Impaler: Sinner or Saint? (1490) - The October Rite 10/16/2025

The Impaler's Theatre: How Did Vlad the Impaler's Legend Spread? (1463) - The October Rite 10/13/2025

Blood Between Empires: The Land Vlad the Impaler Fought to Protect (1456) - The October Rite 10/11/2025

What's Worse Than a Vampire?: Vlad the Impaler (1431ish-1477) 10/08/2025

The Monk Who Said "...Maybe?" - Dom Calmet (1746) - The October Rite 10/07/2025

A Biologist's Guide to The Undead: Revisiting Early Vampires (2025) - The October Rite 10/06/2025

The Perfect Couple - "The Awakening" (Ch. 3 & 4) by Kate Chopin (1899) 10/04/2025

UpToStake: How to Take a Vampire Physical: Arnold Paole (1725-1732) - The October Rite 10/03/2025

The "First" Vampire: Petar Blagojević (1725) - The October Rite 10/02/2025

A History of Vampires: Introduction - The October Rite 10/01/2025

Summer at Grand Isle - "The Awakening" (Ch. 1 & 2) by Kate Chopin (1899) 09/12/2025

A Dog, A River, & A Friendship - "Wind in the Willows" (Chapter 1) by Kenneth Grahame 09/03/2025

Shelf Lives #9 - "You Try to Be a Stand-Up Human Being" (Denis) 05/22/2025

Shelf Lives #9 - "You Try to Be a Stand-Up Human Being" (Denis) There’s a park in New York that made me believe in places again. Denis took me there — both in this episode, then eventually in person. Gorman Park. It starts as a playground and opens like a wardrobe into music, languages, soccer games, and the kind of quiet joy you don’t expect to find tucked between apartment buildings. Denis Gorman is a native New Yorker, a sports journalist, and the kind of man who reads All the President’s Men like it’s scripture and The Godfather like it’s family history. In this episode, we talk about legacy, loyalty, sports as storytelling, and how books anchor us when the world tries to shake the ground out from under us. I promised I’d go visit that park, not because it was beautiful, but because it meant something to someone who trusted me with their story. And I'm so glad I did Books Mentioned: Born to Steal by Gary Weiss The Conspiracy to End America by Stuart Stevens Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America's Mayor by Andrew Kirtzman Losing the Edge by Barry Meisel All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein The Godfather Series by Mario Puzo Pain Hustlers by Evan Hughes Wall Street vs. America by Gary Weiss The Man Who Broke Capitalism by David Gelles Confidence Man by Maggie Haberman Patrick Roy: Winning. Nothing Else by Michael Roy Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power by Anna Merlan Murder on K Street by Margaret Truman Daniel We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism by Andy B. Campbell Confidence Men by Ron Suskind Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy by Elizabeth Williamson The Storm Is Upon Us: How Qanon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything by Mike Rothschild Jewish Space Lasers by Mike Rothschild /episode/index/show/827e39a7-7845-4e31-880d-921fe10bb0b6/id/36621505

Shelf Lives #8 - "I Seem to Recall Something About Never Letting Go" (Tim) 04/29/2025

Shelf Lives #8 - "I Seem to Recall Something About Never Letting Go" (Tim) This 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 /episode/index/show/827e39a7-7845-4e31-880d-921fe10bb0b6/id/36356720