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In this episode of Beyond the Page, Steve talks with Eva Levina, author of the two book Death Is No Reason to Stop Living series, about her experience in a 25-year marriage that she describes as involving covert emotional abuse and the difficult journey of rebuilding her life afterward. Eva discusses the subtle warning signs she says she missed, including gaslighting, constant criticism, sleep deprivation, manipulation and financial control. She also talks candidly about trauma bonding, therapy, learning to trust herself again, and the process of rediscovering the interests and ambitions she had put aside. We also explore what it was like to turn those experiences into a memoir, why writing the books was so emotionally difficult, and why sharing her story ultimately became liberating. This is a conversation about identity, survival, healing and allowing yourself to live again. Find Eva: https://www.evalevinabooks.com/ Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

The Pet Sematary Read-Along begins! For the first episode, I'm discussing Stephen King's introduction and Chapters 1–5 as the Creed family settles into their new home and Louis begins an unexpected friendship with their neighbor, Jud. This is my first time reading Pet Sematary, and I've never seen any of the film adaptations, so I'm going into the story almost completely blind. Using the same evolving-notebook approach from the Blood Meridian read-along, I'll be tracking six questions throughout the book: • What stood out? • What am I noticing about the characters? • What themes are emerging? • What images, places, or ideas keep returning? • What questions do I have? • What do I think happens next? Read along and share your own observations and predictions—but please keep the comments spoiler-free! Next episode: Chapters 6–10. Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

This week on Page Chewing, I’m wrapping up my September Blood Meridian read-along and looking ahead to October’s journey through Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. I talk about how slowing down and reading Blood Meridian one chapter at a time completely changed my experience with the novel, what I’m currently reading—including The Warrior Prophet and Lone Wolf and Cub—and what’s coming up on Page Chewing. I also share some thoughts on rewatching The Sopranos and One Hour Photo, including how differently One Hour Photo’s ideas about privacy hit in the age of social media. Plus, I take a look at my beautiful hardcover edition of Elder Epoch from the Gunmetal Gods series. What are you reading right now? And are you joining me for Pet Sematary this October? Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

Think comic books are all superheroes, capes, and decades of confusing continuity? There’s a lot more to the medium than that. In this episode, Steve shares 10 comics he’d recommend to someone who says, “I don’t read comics—where do I start?” This isn’t a ranking of the greatest comics ever written. Instead, these are approachable recommendations covering fantasy, crime, science fiction, comedy, superheroes, and several very different flavors of horror. The recommendations include (Amazon Affiliate links): • The Sacrificers by Rick Remender & Max Fiumara Think comic books are all superheroes, capes, and decades of confusing continuity? There’s a lot more to the medium than that. In this episode, Steve shares 10 comics he’d recommend to someone who says, “I don’t read comics—where do I start?” This isn’t a ranking of the greatest comics ever written. Instead, these are approachable recommendations covering fantasy, crime, science fiction, comedy, superheroes, and several very different flavors of horror. The recommendations include: • The Sacrificers by Rick Remender & Max Fiumara Think comic books are all superheroes, capes, and decades of confusing continuity? There’s a lot more to the medium than that. In this episode, Steve shares 10 comics he’d recommend to someone who says, “I don’t read comics—where do I start?” This isn’t a ranking of the greatest comics ever written. Instead, these are approachable recommendations covering fantasy, crime, science fiction, comedy, superheroes, and several very different flavors of horror. The recommendations include: • The Sacrificers by Rick Remender & Max Fiumara https://link.amazon/B03Y866kK • Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath https://link.amazon/B0chreKuc • Assorted Crisis Events by Deniz Camp & Eric Zawadzki https://link.amazon/B03m4VzFI • Where the Body Was by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips https://link.amazon/B0g3b8ySs • Babs by Garth Ennis & Jacen Burrows https://link.amazon/B0043qbFX • Stray Bullets by David Lapham https://link.amazon/B093itu1n • Invincible by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker & Ryan Ottley https://link.amazon/B03TvFVDV • Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons https://link.amazon/B07tucQpR • Into the Unbeing by Zac Thompson & Hayden Sherman https://link.amazon/B0gBWfqHQ • Crossed by Garth Ennis & Jacen Burrows https://link.amazon/B0dQpdW0S Whether you already love crime novels, dark fantasy, weird science fiction, extreme horror—or maybe you actually do want superheroes—there should be something here to help you find your way into comics. And if you’re already a comic reader: what ONE comic would you hand to someone who says they don’t read comics? Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

After 23 chapters, the Blood Meridian read-along is complete—but the questions certainly aren't. For this special concluding conversation, I'm joined by Steven Frye, author of Understanding Cormac McCarthy, to dig into some of the biggest questions I was left with after finishing Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. What exactly is Judge Holden? Why is he so interested in the kid? Does the kid actually change? What does his refusal to completely embrace the Judge's philosophy tell us about him? And what really happens in the jakes at the end of the novel? We also discuss the Judge's philosophy of war, the possibility of reading him as a Gnostic figure, McCarthy's recurring imagery of fire, the role of nature and the desert, the Judge's mysterious ledger, the historical Glanton Gang, the dancing bear, recurring bird imagery, and whether Blood Meridian is really as nihilistic as it initially appears. Steven also explains why the kid's resistance may matter even if it ultimately fails—and why Blood Meridian rewards readers who keep returning to it. If you've followed the chapter-by-chapter read-along, this conversation brings together many of the questions we've been tracking from the beginning. Topics include: What is Judge Holden?The Judge's philosophy of warWhy Holden singles out the kidMercy, resistance and the kid's moral developmentWhat happens in the jakesThe mysterious epilogueFire throughout McCarthy's fictionNature and “optical democracy”The meaning of the Judge's ledgerCycles of violenceThe historical Glanton GangIs Blood Meridian nihilistic?Birds and recurring imageryThe dancing bearWhat to watch for on a second reading Find Steven: https://www.csub.edu/english/sfrye.shtml On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Steven-Frye/author/B001KHDZPE Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

We start with Jarrod's thoughts on Supergirl, which leads us into a larger conversation about superhero movies, shorter theatrical windows, interconnected universes, and whether Marvel and DC would be better served by worrying less about the bigger universe and simply making good individual movies. 149 Then it's time for this week's comics, including Lost Fantasy #2, Absolute Cassandra Cain #1, Detective Comics #1113, Absolute Green Arrow #5, The Hab #4, and Hellraiser: Resurrections #1. There aren't any complete disasters in the stack, but there are definitely a few books hanging on by a thread. 149 149 149 That brings us to what we're calling our “light Picks of the Week.” Jarrod falls back on an old favorite with Savage Sword of Conan #16, while Steve goes with Viking Moon #4. Good comics? Absolutely. Books that blew us away? Not exactly. 149 But then there's Lone Wolf and Cub Volume 17: The Will of the Fang. The series continues to ramp up as Ogami faces bounty hunters, former pupils, desperate peasants and the brutal winter itself. More importantly, we're beginning to see something unusual from Ogami: the stoic assassin is starting to crack. One confrontation in particular produces an emotional response unlike almost anything we've seen from him so far. 149 149 By the end, we realize the truth: Lone Wolf and Cub was our real Pick of the Week. 149 Join us for another week of comics, and now you can watch along with us again, too. Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

We've reached the end of Blood Meridian. Chapter 23 brings the kid, now the man, face-to-face with Judge Holden one final time, and suddenly so many things we've been tracking throughout this read-along begin connecting. The dancing. The kid's capacity for mercy. The Judge's obsession with war. Predators and prey. Cycles of violence. And the question we've been asking almost from the beginning: Why did Judge Holden take such an interest in the kid? In this episode, I work through my immediate reaction to the ending, the dancing bear, the Judge's final conversation with the man, and the horrifying ambiguity of what happens in the jakes. I also look back at the kid's journey and the possibility that his great failure in Holden's eyes wasn't that he refused violence because he certainly didn't, but that he refused to surrender himself completely to it. And then there's the Judge. Decades have passed. He seemingly hasn't changed. He dances. He says he'll never die. What exactly is Judge Holden? I don't think Blood Meridian gives us an easy answer. And after spending a chapter a day with this novel, I'm not sure it should. Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

For twenty-two chapters, we've been asking the same question. Why is Judge Holden interested in the kid? We've noticed the smiles. The conversations. The Judge's attempts to influence him. The kid's apparent resistance. Holden hunting him through the desert. And throughout all of it, we've wondered whether the Judge sees something in the kid that we don't. Chapter 22 may finally give us the answer. Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

Chapter 21 is short, but it gives us one of the clearest looks yet at who the kid has become. Wounded and still being hunted by Judge Holden, the kid has multiple opportunities to abandon Tobin and save himself. Tobin even tells him to go. The kid refuses. He also gets an opportunity to fire at the Judge and doesn't take it, raising another question we've been carrying since Chapter 15: is the kid actually afraid of Judge Holden? Then comes one of the great reversals of the novel. The kid and Tobin are starving and near death when they're rescued by Indigenous people, the same people Glanton's gang spent much of the novel hunting, killing, and dehumanizing. In this episode, I look at the kid's loyalty to Tobin, his hesitation to shoot the Judge, the continuing supernatural aura surrounding Holden, the return of our bird imagery, and the possibility that the landscape itself now seems to have turned against the survivors. Only two chapters remain. Next up: Chapter 22. Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

In Chapter 20, the remains of the gang are scattered and vulnerable. The kid is wounded, Toadvine and Tobin are trying to survive alongside him, and the hunters we've followed throughout the novel have finally become the hunted. Except for Judge Holden. The Judge emerges from the destruction of the gang seemingly transformed into an even more frightening figure. He stalks the survivors through the wilderness, calls out to them, offers forgiveness, and seems so capable of manipulating people through language that the others are afraid even to listen to him. In this episode, I look at the Judge as predator, the kid's transformation into a much more capable survivor, the recurring theme of dehumanization, and the way Chapter 20 completely rearranges the power structure of Blood Meridian. Glanton is gone. The gang is gone. And increasingly, it feels like we're being left with the two characters who have mattered since the beginning: the kid and Judge Holden. Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

We've reached the end of The Bonehunters. In this episode of Page Burners, we dive into Chapter 22, as Steven Erikson brings months of reading and storylines stretching across multiple Malazan novels, crashing together in an explosive finale. After four months with The Bonehunters, it's finally time to say goodbye to Book Six and figure out exactly what this ending means for the Malazan Empire and the characters we've followed this far. As always, this is a full-spoiler discussion for The Bonehunters and everything we've read previously in Malazan Book of the Fallen and the connected Ian C. Esslemont novels. The Deck has been dealt. The Fourteenth has come home. And nothing will ever be quite the same. Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

Chapter 19 brings one of the biggest turning points in our Blood Meridian read-along: John Joel Glanton finally meets his end. After taking control of the Colorado River ferry, Glanton's gang turns another opportunity for profit into something far more horrific. Travelers who simply want to cross the river become victims of robbery, murder, assault, and abuse as the gang's violence reaches another extreme. But this time, there are consequences. The Yumas attack the ferry operation, killing Glanton and many of his men. After spending so much of the novel hunting, murdering, and profiting from others, Glanton finally becomes the hunted. In this episode, I look at whether Glanton changed over the course of the novel, our long-running question of profit versus pleasure, the historical basis behind his death, and the contrast between Glanton's fate and Judge Holden's seemingly impossible ability to survive. The Judge escapes with the howitzer, and with the imbecile still in tow. We're nearing the end now. Next up: Chapter 20. Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

Chapter 18 of Blood Meridian is extremely short, but there's much more happening here than its length initially suggests. The chapter focuses on the disabled man Glanton's gang has been carrying in a cage. When a group of women discovers him, their reaction creates a striking contrast with the way the gang has treated him: they release him, wash him, care for him, and seemingly recognize a humanity the men around him have ignored. Then Judge Holden intervenes. After the man wanders into the water and begins to drown, the Judge pulls him out by the heels and revives him in imagery that resembles a strange combination of birth, baptism, and ritual. In this episode, I explore that contrast between care and dehumanization, the continuing mystique surrounding Judge Holden, and why this tiny chapter may connect directly back to the Judge's philosophy from Chapter 17. Next up: Chapter 19. Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

In this episode of Beyond the Page, Steve sits down with filmmaker, professor, TEDx director, and author Don Schechter to discuss his science fiction techno thriller Ascendants. Don shares the remarkable 20 year journey that took Ascendants from an idea for a film to a series of short films and eventually a novel. They explore the book's collision of science and belief, what happens when technology divides society into those who can "ascend" and those who cannot, and why the story feels particularly timely in the age of AI and enormously powerful technology companies. The conversation also dives into the realities of publishing and book marketing, finding the right audience, the influence of Dune, Star Trek, Arrival, Children of Men and other science fiction, and Don's work in filmmaking, education, and TEDx. And, of course, we discover one of the strangest pizza-and-Coke combinations we've heard on the show. Find Don: https://ascendantsbook.com/ Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe

Chapter 17 may be the most revealing Judge Holden chapter of Blood Meridian so far. The Judge lays out his philosophy of war, games, morality, chance, agency, and the human desire to impose order on a universe that may have none. His argument that war exists independently of human judgment gives us one of the clearest glimpses yet into the worldview behind this mysterious character. But then McCarthy complicates things even further. Around the fire, the Judge performs an apparently impossible trick with a coin, leaving us once again wondering whether we're witnessing something supernatural or simply another carefully constructed performance designed to strengthen the Judge's mysterious authority. In this episode, I explore the Judge's philosophy, the biblical quality of McCarthy's language, the idea that morality and order may be human inventions, and one of the biggest questions of our entire read-along: Is Judge Holden revealing the truth about the world or constructing a philosophy that justifies the world he wants? Next up: Chapter 18. Page Chewing Blog Page Chewing Forum Support Page Chewing on Patreon Affiliate Links that support the show: Audible Standard Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4z1iKns Audible Standard Monthly Membership: https://amzn.to/3S6vadd Kindle Unlimited Free Trial: https://amzn.to/4wqkYdD Amazon Prime Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3UptxI9 Join Captivate.fm Send a message via SpeakPipe