Episode 59: Piranesi: Believe in Humanity and Possibility and Kindness
August 19, 2025

Has a book ever changed your life? This Book Made Me chronicles the books that made us who we are, and explains why they matter. Hosted by the marvelous Kim Middleton. 

A small book can pack a big punch, and Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke, is a terrific example of this phenomenon. It just might make you see the world as a kinder, more magical place. Check out my guest spot where Kim and I geek out about my favorite book, delving into portal fantasy, the sacred and the profane, liminality, and the symbolism of the albatross!

Episode 53: Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!
November 1, 2022

The Dispatchist is a friendly ongoing conversation about Hell in its many forms . . . as a story, as a social technology, as a mythology all its own. Side-topics may or may not include the Devil, popular culture, comparative religion, Dungeons & Dragons, mixed drinks, horror films, medieval snuff porn, schadenfreude, whether Tundale could kick Dante's butt (probably, but not in a literary sense), Norwegian death metal, latitudinarianiasm, and whatever else seems relevant this week.

I had the pleasure of connecting with Jacob, Victoria, and Jamin through our shared love of the Devil, Pan, and Death via the Morbid Anatomy community, where all cool people coincide! Listen in as we resurrect and dissect the 1988 horror comedy classic, Beetlejuice!

Episode 63: Sirens, Medusa, and the Beings of the Underworld with Liz Andres
April 8, 2022

I was extremely honored to be invited as a guest on the Between the Worlds podcast. I'm a huge fan of Amanda Yates Garcia (aka the Oracle of Los Angeles) and her book Initiated. Check it out!

Join us Between the Worlds as we discuss tarot, psychology, mythology, pop culture, witchcraft, magic, art, and history with host Amanda Yates Garcia and a series of special guests. Music and production by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs.

In this episode, we discuss Liminal Beings, those mythical creatures who dwell between the worlds, of life and death, above and below, in the wilds and in the human realms. Often, they appear as hybrid creatures, half human half animal, like the Sirens or Medusa, like the randy adventurous Centaurs of yore. These beings break through binaries - they are disrupters, destabilizing the reality we thought we knew all too well. When we find them in myth, they are often magical holders of the mystery traditions, and embodiments of the unknowable and the beyond. Sounds delicious, right?

A new podcast from the minds of John Carroll and Liz Andres, exploring the realms of awe and wonder. Coming soon . . .