The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson has been floating around in the American pop cultural stew for the last 22 years. Paris had always been interested in reading it, so when it happened to be in a pile of books some friends were giving away, she heeded the call of our dark lord and tossed it on the schedule for 2025.

Get on your fancy new bicycles, affix a lightbulb to the front, grab a can of PBR, and somehow also balance a bowl of Shredded Wheat while you're at it for a wild journey from the 1880s through the early 20th century. Paris leads us through Larson's dual accounts of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and its Director of Work, Daniel Hudson Burnham, alongside the Chicago years of "America's first serial killer", H.H. Holmes (Herman Webster Mudgett). If you think you know the Holmes story because you already read this book or saw some TV dramatization - you don't. Together, we'll discover that misinformation and disinformation have suffused this story for 120 years (and counting)!

Thanks to Ken from the Antiques Freaks for helping me down the research rabbit hole & to Adam Selzer for a stellar book, without which much of our disappointment in and suspicions of Larson's tale would not have been justified and relieved.

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode includes swindling/fraud, infidelity, sexism, racism, and murder.

Links & References:

• H.H. Holmes: The History of the White City Devil by Adam Selzer

Chris had to go to space again this week. This time, he takes us to a galaxy kinda far away and sort of a while ago (or maybe now? or in the future?) because our Patron Miles requested Black Moon Rising for his Patron's Choice this year.

Miles wrote to us saying, "Since I requested two books in a row that were both deeply political, I figured I'd instead give you guys something lighter: published Star Wars fanfiction. The book I'm referring to is Black Moon Rising by Frankie Rose and Callie Hart...to give you an idea of how egregious it is, it starts with a prologue that feels designed to be turned into a Star Wars text crawl. It then jumps directly to [the protagonist] who[se] name is literally Reyza, having a graphic sex dream involving the main antagonist, Jass Baylar."

We hope you enjoy the episode, Miles! Thank you for your support for TBC throughout the vast spacetime continuum.

Remember that if you, too, would like to have us read and review a book of your choice on the show, you can gain that power by joining our Patreon at the appropriate tier.

Today’s episode includes our usual barnyard language plus some sexual content, Star Wars violence, and weaponry.

Links & References:

Other commentary on this book:

• Jenny Nicholson: This is DEFINITELY not a published Reylo fanfic novel

Somehow we ended up with another zombie romance around Valentine’s Day for the second year in a row. Paris chose Rabid Heart for this season after her partner randomly turned to her one day last year and said, “Hey did you realize Jeremy Wagner from Broken Hope is an author?” This piqued her interest since she fondly remembers being at Broken Hope’s comeback show at Maryland Death Fest 13 years ago.

It’s not usually her type of death metal, but something about that show was extra fun and every now and then when she's feeling ignorant and wants some dumb slammy shit, she may put on Grotesque Blessings. When reading for TBC that’s kind of peak “I am feeling dumb and also full of rage”, so she listened to a lot of Broken Hope while reading this. Wagner sure has a theme and he’s sticking to it!

In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode includes gore, guns, kidnapping, sexual assault, general violence, weapons, and - of course - zombies. Have you listened to a brutal slam record recently? It’s that.

Links & References:

• The publisher's website: Riverdale Avenue Books

• Jeremy Wagner's band:

  • https://brokenhope.com/
  • Metal Archives - Broken Hope