The Devil's Library

Another episode rescued from the pre-Devil's Library abyss, in which Ligeia and Leraje talked for the very first time about the hugely influential work of Thomas Ligotti. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep12-6.pdf Book: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20016684W/Songs_of_a_dead_dreamer_and_Grimscribe Previous Ligotti episodes: Part 2: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-35-songs-of-a-dead-dreamer-grimscribe-by-thomas-ligotti Part 3: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-55-songs-of-a-dead-dreamer-grimscribe-by-thomas-ligotti-part-3 Part 4: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-85-songs-of-a-dead-dreamer-grimscribe-by-thomas-ligotti-part-4

In this bonus minisode Ligeia and Leraje read and discuss the final two short stories from Clarke's short story collection set in the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell universe. Non-Spotify options for listening/subscribing to this podcast are at https://devilslibrary.org Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep12-5.pdf Part I episode: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-105-the-ladies-of-grace-adieu-by-susanna-clarke Part II episode: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-115-the-ladies-of-grace-adieu-by-susanna-clarke-part-ii The Ladies of Grace Adieu: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8892294M/The_Ladies_of_Grace_Adieu_and_Other_Stories Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (novel): https://openlibrary.org/books/OL18395675M/Jonathan_Strange_Mr_Norrell Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (TV show): https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/62717-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell The short story Leraje couldn't recall the name or author of was 'A Sound of Thunder' by Ray Bradbury from his short story collection 'The Golden Apples of the Sun': https://openlibrary.org/works/OL31528729W/The_Golden_Apples_of_the_Sun huge thanks to the Book community at lemmy.world for reminding Leraje!: https://lemmy.world/post/45879444 The three Greek fates and the cutting of the thread of life is explained here: https://www.greecehighdefinition.com/blog/2026/4/17/the-role-of-fate-in-greek-tragedy Blencathra!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blencathra

This month we discuss Pike's choice of 'Roadside Picnic' a stone-cold classic of the Sci-Fi genre first in print in 1972 that has inspired countless imitators and directly influenced Andrei Tarkovsky's movie 'Stalker' and games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Shadow of Chernobyl Non-Spotify options for listening/subscribing to this podcast are at https://devilslibrary.org Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep12.pdf Roadside Picnic (novel): https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24648194M/Roadside_Picnic Stalker (movie): https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1398 S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Shadow of Chernobyl (game): https://backloggd.com/games/s-t-a-l-k-e-r-shadow-of-chernobyl

Another episode rescued from the pre-Devil's Library abyss, in which Ligeia and Leraje talk about the sequel to The Exorcist, Legion. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep11-6.pdf The Exorcist Devil's Library Episode: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-96-the-exorcist-by-william-peter-blatty Legion (novel): https://openlibrary.org/works/OL927214W/Legion

In this bonus episode (that we really need to stop calling minisodes as there's nothing mini about them!) Ligeia and Leraje read and discuss three more short stories from Clarke's short story collection set in the Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell universe. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep11-5.pdf Part I episode: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-105-the-ladies-of-grace-adieu-by-susanna-clarke The Ladies of Grace Adieu: https://www.librarything.com/work/1363050/t/The-Ladies-of-Grace-Adieu-and-Other-Stories Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell (novel): https://www.librarything.com/work/1060/t/Jonathan-Strange-Mr-Norrell Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell (TV show): https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/62717-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell

In this episode, The Devil's Librarian's go to purgatory. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep11.pdf Book: https://www.librarything.com/work/35595680/t/A-Blackened-Heart-A-Blackened-Soul

In this bonus episode, Ligeia and Leraje take a Ligotti break (but don't worry, we will get back to him!) and talk about 3 stories from Susanna Clarke's short story collection, The Ladies of Grace Adieu. Transcript (PDF) - https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep10-5.pdf The Ladies of Grace Adieu - https://www.librarything.com/work/1363050/t/The-Ladies-of-Grace-Adieu-and-Other-Stories Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell (novel) - https://www.librarything.com/work/1060/t/Jonathan-Strange-Mr-Norrell Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell (TV show) - https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/62717-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell

In this episode, Lithos, Pike, Ligeia and Leraje talk about Lithos' choice 'Play Nice' by Rachel Harrison - another episode with mixed opinions! Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep10.pdf Play Nice: https://www.librarything.com/work/33411221/t/Play-Nice

Another episode rescued from pre-Devil's Library time, Leraje's audio quality is not great due to a misconfigured mic. In this episode Ligeia and Leraje talked about The Exorcist, how it compared to the arguably more famous movie and what we took from it as a novel. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep9-6.pdf The Exorcist (novel): https://www.librarything.com/work/38484/t/The-Exorcist The Exorcist (movie): https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/9552-the-exorcist Check out our sister podcast Devil's Discourse.

In January of 2025, on a different podcast, Ligeia and Leraje started doing episodes about books and reading. The original intent was to keep them short - but they soon got long! In the summer of '25, we started The Devil's Library but we thought it was a shame we had left the older episodes behind and so here they are. Be warned - the audio quality is dodgy in places! In this short episode we talk about Steven Peck's short but impactful book A Short Stay In Hell. Transcript: https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep9-5.pdf A Short Stay In Hell: https://www.librarything.com/work/12411595/t/A-Short-Stay-in-Hell The Library of Babel: https://www.librarything.com/work/22395084/t/The-Library-of-Babel-%5Bshort-story%5D House of Leaves: https://www.librarything.com/work/1488/t/House-of-Leaves The Backrooms: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVAh-MgDVqvDUEq6qDXqORBioE4Yhol_z Check out our sister podcast, Devil's Discourse: https://devils-discourse.podbean.com

The Devil's Librarians talk about Ruthanna Emrys' debut novel Winter Tide and its role in countering Lovecraft's personal xenophobia whilst remaining true to the Mythos itself. Transcript: https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep9.pdf Winter Tide: https://www.librarything.com/work/18582659/t/Winter-Tide The Innsmouth Legacy series (3 works, a prequel short story called The Litany of Earth and 2 novels - Winter Tide and its sequel Deep Roots): https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Innsmouth_Legacy The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Lovecraft): https://www.librarything.com/work/16020915/t/The-Shadow-Over-Innsmouth-%5Bnovella%5D Other modern Lovecraftian re-tellings: https://www.bestpodcasts.co.uk/podcast/the-lovecraft-investigations/ (podcast) and https://honfordstar.com/collections/lovecraft-revisited (books) Check out our sister Podcast, Devil's Discourse here: https://devils-discourse.podbean.com  

In their latest Ligotti side episode, Ligeia and Leraje are joined by Chris from the Doom Folk Metal band Buzzard, a fellow Ligotti enthusiast - a fact that often comes through clearly in the lyrics he writes for Buzzard. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep8-5.pdf Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe: https://www.librarything.com/work/15932254/t/Songs-of-a-Dead-Dreamer-and-Grimscribe Buzzard on: Bandcamp / Ampwall / YouTube / Bluesky / Instagram Contra Odium: https://contraodium.cc

In this episode The Devil's Librarians get to grips with the beautiful, enigmatic horror of Jeff VanderMeer's novel Annihilation. Please note! Leraje made a mistake with a reference - when he mentions The Dunwich Horror he means The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Transcript (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep8.pdf Annihilation (novel): https://www.librarything.com/work/14034594/t/Annihilation Southern Reach Series: https://www.librarything.com/nseries/5939/The-Southern-Reach Annihilation (2018 movie): https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/300668-annihilation Stalker (movie): https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1398 Alien franchise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(franchise)

In this episode, The Devil's Librarians are honoured (and slightly giddy) to be joined by Heather Parry, the author of Carrion Crow (which we talked about a couple of episodes ago) and Orpheus Builds A Girl. Transcript: https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep7.pdf Carrion Crow: https://www.librarything.com/work/32884942/t/Carrion-Crow Orpheus Builds A Girl: https://www.librarything.com/work/28299177/t/Orpheus-Builds-A-Girl The Devil's Library Carrion Crow Episode: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-6-carrion-crow-by-heather-parry The People In The Trees: https://www.librarything.com/work/13585455/t/The-People-in-the-Trees Wide Sargasso Sea: https://www.librarything.com/work/27239/t/Wide-Sargasso-Sea The Yellow Wallpaper: https://www.librarything.com/work/32824870/t/The-Yellow-Wallpaper-%5Bshort-story%5D Flowers In The Attic: https://www.librarything.com/work/12155/t/Flowers-in-the-Attic Perfume: https://www.librarything.com/work/36980/t/Perfume-The-Story-of-a-Murderer The Pigeon: https://www.librarything.com/work/171252/t/The-Pigeon Tampopo (movie): https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11830  

Leraje, with help from some familiar voices, looks at the Romantic Satanism movement and how it informed and became the bedrock of our interpretation of Modern Atheistic Satanism. The Carducci quotes spoken in Italian were performed by Valter Zanardi, published on YouTube (https://youtu.be/hfPR0aQ61g8) under a Creative Commons license on 17th October 2019. Transcript (PDF) QueerSatanic on LaVey and Church of Satan. Free Society Satanists Podcast (ep 1 of 6) on Might is Right. Paradise Lost. Cain: A Mystery. Prometheus Unbound. Hymn to Satan. Who Are You Lucifer. Enquiry Regarding Political Justice. God and the State. Concerning Justice in the Revolution and in the Church. The Scorceries and Scandals of Satan. The Devil is Red - Socialist Satanism in the 19th Century. The Philosophy of Defiance or, A Pardon for Cain. Recommended Reading.

Ligeia, Pike, Lithos and Leraje get gothic with Heather Parry's visceral, deeply affecting novel Carrion Crow. Transcription (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep6.pdf Carrion Crow: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL57547213M/Carrion_Crow The Madwoman In The Attic: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL545633W/The_madwoman_in_the_attic Fruits of Knowledge Book Campaign: https://helltraef.org/fruitsofknowledge Devil's Discourse Podcast: https://devilsdiscourse.org

Ligeia and Leraje continue their in-depth breakdown of the unsettling short story collections of Thomas Ligotti. Transcription (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep5-5.pdf Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe on Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20016684W/Songs_of_a_dead_dreamer_and_Grimscribe Ligotti Part 2: https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-35-songs-of-a-dead-dreamer-grimscribe-by-thomas-ligotti Ligotti Part 1: https://gospod.chat/e/minisode5-grimscribe

This episode Pike, Lithos, Ligeia and Leraje get our Satan all the way on and talk about the Ira Levin 1960's classic Rosemary's Baby. Hail, uh, Adrian I guess. Transcript: https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep5.pdf Rosemarys' Baby on OpenLibrary: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL28322W/Rosemary's_Baby Rosemary's Baby Movie on TMDB: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/805-rosemary-s-baby Tanis Podcast: https://tanispodcast.com

In this episode, Ligeia, Lithos, Pike and Leraje discuss Ursula K Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. Transcription (PDF): https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep4.pdf The Last Archive podcast episode 'The Word For Man Is Ishi': https://www.thelastarchive.com/season-4/episode-2-the-word-for-man-is-ishi The Left Hand of Darkness on OpenLibrary: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL59800W/The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness The Hainish Cycle on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainish_Cycle The Culture series on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series  

In this episode, Ligeia and Leraje follow up on their original Ligotti episode and talk about three different short stories from Grimscribe and Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Episode Transcript (PDF) Grimscribe and Songs of a Dead Dreamer on OpenLibrary.org Original episode on GOSPod          

In this episode, Ligeia, Leraje, Pike and Lithos talk about reading 'Sundial' by Catriona Ward. Special thanks to Bohema for the excellent outro music! Episode Transcript (PDF) Sundial on OpenLibrary.org Our review on Storygraph      

In this episode, Pike, Ligeia and Leraje talk about reading the Shirley Jackson classic "The Haunting of Hill House". Special thanks to Bohema for the excellent outro music! Episode Transcript (PDF) The Haunting of Hill House on OpenLibrary.org Our review on Storygraph The movie/TV version(s) on TheMovieDatabase.org: The Haunting (1963)  The Haunting (1999) The Haunting of Hill House (2018)  

In this episode, Ligeia and Leraje are joined by our fellow Satanist Pike to talk about the Iain Reid novel "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". Content warning - we discuss subjects raised in the novel such as self-harm and unaliving oneself. If you're accessing this via YT or PT then the 'S' word has been beeped out. Transcript: https://devilslibrary.org/t/ep1.pdf I'm Thinking of Ending Things: I'm Thinking of Ending Things on OpenLibrary.org Storygraph: Our review on Storygraph The movie version: The movie on TheMovieDatabase.org