Episodes
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Episode 2 - LJ Smith: The Forbidden Game: The Chase
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Saturday Jan 01, 2022
Episode 1 - LJ Smith: The Forbidden Game: The Hunter
Saturday Jan 01, 2022
Saturday Jan 01, 2022
Backlist: It is time, at long last, to return to the series Cyna and Ollie have been eagerly awaiting. We've mentioned it several times in the past, how far away it was, but the wait is over... It's 9 o'clock and Julian is here. That's right, get your game tables ready for LJ Smith's FORBIDDEN GAME. Starting us out is THE HUNTER. Not that titles matter. These three books are one big story, in our opinion.
Spoilers for books two and three start at 31:07. Skip to 44:56 to avoid!
Chill: Cyna is drinking Blue Curacao, Sprite, sour mix, cranberry juice, and Ollie back on that absinthe train with what they're calling a Community of Sorrow (Wollersheim Dancehall Absinthe Blanche + POM white tea with orange blossom, and a sugared rim). Pics! Cyna - Ollie.
Intro theme - "Let It In" by Josh Woodward.
Next time: Season 9 Episode 2: FORBIDDEN GAME: THE CHASE! Chiller and Chillest tier patrons will receive this episode before it goes public!
Happy New Years, Backlist listeners! May 2022 bring a whole lot better than 2021 did. Get your boosters and keep those masks up!
(3h 10m. Content Warning: Profanity, alcohol consumption, sexually explicit and generally extremely filthy language, discussion of suicide, incest, sexual assault, child molestation, violence, mental illness, depression, and death.)
Psst! Want to get B&C delivered to your inbox days before it goes live to the public? Become our patron at the $2 or higher level and you are in! Already our patron? Then you know what we're talking about! Enjoy, friend!
Tuesday Sep 29, 2020
Episode 3 - LJ Smith: The Secret Circle: The Power
Tuesday Sep 29, 2020
Tuesday Sep 29, 2020
Monday Aug 31, 2020
Episode 2 - LJ Smith: The Secret Circle: The Captive
Monday Aug 31, 2020
Monday Aug 31, 2020
Backlist: Season 5 continues with the middle third of LJ Smith's THE SECRET CIRCLE: THE CAPTIVE (and another title that actually has any meaning) published October 1992!
Chill: Drinking! Cyna is drinking a Black John Crystal Skull, a cheap version of a Smoke Crystal Skull (vodka, tea and lemonade Arnold Palmer, liquid smoke, black gel food coloring). Ollie is drinking an absinthe and tea cocktail (Absente absinthe, green and white tea, sugar). Check out our set ups on twitter: Ollie - Cyna.
And all those covers at: ljscovers.insanitysandwich.com - The Secret Circle covers
Intro theme - "Let It In" by Josh Woodward.
Next time: Season 5 Episode 3: THE POWER! Chiller and Chillest tier patrons will receive this episode before it goes public!
(2h 6m. Content Warning: Vulgar language, drinking alcohol, and dramatic readings from the hosts; Misleading and spoiler-filled blurbs, magic removing consent and autonomy (including sexually--like we NEED TO BE CLEAR there's magic-compulsive rape implied against human guys), classism, not enough potential for The Gay, no plot that matters, bi-erasure, mean girls, zero parental oversight, privileged jerks and unexamined privilege, class warfare without addressing structural power, secrets, lies, non-Wiccan witchcraft, dark magic, kids doing petty crimes, extreme lack of diversity while coding antagonists with racist visuals and phrases, fetishizing of whiteness as goodness, lack of communication, breeding?, fire, violence, death, horror, and terribad pacing from the novel.)
Psst! Want to get B&C delivered to your inbox days before it goes live to the public? Become our patron at the $2 or higher level and you are in! Already our patron? Then you know what we're talking about! Enjoy, friend!
Saturday Aug 01, 2020
Episode 1 - LJ Smith: The Secret Circle: The Initiation
Saturday Aug 01, 2020
Saturday Aug 01, 2020
Backlist: A new season and a returning author! LJ Smith's THE SECRET CIRCLE series begins with THE INITIATION (and the title kinda has meaning, hooray) published September 1992!
Chill: Drinking! Cyna is drinking a Salem Witch (melon liquor, raspberry liquor, sweet & sour, vodka, grenadine, and club soda). Ollie is drinking a Triple L (Absente absinthe, lime juice, and homemade lilac simple-syrup--making it lilac-lime-licorice flavored). Check out our set ups on twitter: Cyna - Ollie.
And all those covers at: ljscovers.insanitysandwich.com - The Secret Circle covers
Intro theme - "Let It In" by Josh Woodward.
Next time: Season 5 Episode 2: THE CAPTIVE! Chiller and Chillest tier patrons will receive this episode before it goes public!
(1h 40m. Content Warning: Vulgar language, drinking alcohol, and dramatic readings from the hosts; Misleading and spoiler-filled blurbs, poverty shaming, witch radar, insta-love, bi-erasure, mean girls, zero parental oversight, privileged jerks and unexamined privilege, class warfare without addressing structural power, colonization, plot holes, coerced and dubious consent (but not with anything sexual), bullshit blood purity, secrets, lies, non-Wiccan witchcraft, dark magic, extreme lack of diversity, lack of communication, first crushes, first kisses, and terribad pacing from the novel.)
Psst! Want to get B&C delivered to your inbox days before it goes live to the public? Become our patron at the $2 or higher level and you are in! Already our patron? Then you know what we're talking about! Enjoy, friend!
Sunday Jul 19, 2020
Season Intro: The Secret Circle
Sunday Jul 19, 2020
Sunday Jul 19, 2020
In this Intro episode for season five, Cyna and Ollie get ready to revisit LJ Smith (previously read in season 3 for The Vampire Diaries) to continue our trek through her backlist--and going for some witchy YA one more time!
Intro theme - "Let It In" by Josh Woodward. No booze was consumed in the making of this episode--WHICH IS WILD, BECAUSE WE'RE SUPER GOOFY. Regularly scheduled alcohol to resume in Episode 1: THE SECRET CIRCLE: The Initiation!
Thanks for being with us, listeners. We hope you're all holding tight out there. Come hang with us on twitter @BacklistPodcast.
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Episode 4.5 - LJ Smith: The Vampire Diaries: Blood Will Tell
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Monday Mar 23, 2020
As promised, here's our chat about the terrible short story BLOOD WILL TELL by LJ Smith. This is a slight alternative to part of the ending, but not an actual full alt ending. It's like an AU insert. Some of the happenings in this story will definitely double down on our readings of how bad feeding must be in previous stories *cough Damon-Feeding-On-Stefan cough* *Damon-feeding-on-unwilling-girls-ever cough cough*
(30m. Content Warning: Vulgar language, shipping boys, sad cookie eating, and drinking alcohol from the hosts; Feeding as metaphor for sex, coerced consent, homophobia, bisexual erasure, sexualization of teenagers, pedophilic language, blood, mental health stigmatization, sex-shaming, "women's virtue" bullshit, justification of an abuser, turning friends over for abuse, infantalization of a high schooler, guilt tripping, and basically just porn-without-plot author fanwanking from the short story.)
Psst! Want to get B&C delivered to your inbox days before it goes live to the public? Become our patron at the $2 or higher level and you are in! Already our patron? Then you know what we're talking about! Enjoy, friend!
Monday Mar 16, 2020
Episode 4 - LJ Smith: The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion
Monday Mar 16, 2020
Monday Mar 16, 2020
"Allow me to reveal the plot. I am the Detective Stefan Salvatore."
Backlist: It's the final book of our Season talking about THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: DARK REUNION. This is LJ Smith's fourth novel, published May 1992. And for the first time this season, we have a bunch of good to say!
Chill: Drinking! Ollie is drinking absinthe (sugar water, absinthe, and lemon juice, aka A Broken Mirror) and Cyna is drinking a Rebirth (orange juice, rum, lemon juice). Check out our set ups, one is prettier than the other by far: Ollie - Cyna.
Intro theme - "Let It In" by Josh Woodward.
Next time: Our Intro Ep for Season 4! Who will it be....? Chiller and Chillest tier patrons will receive this episode a few weeks before it goes public!
(1h 57m. Content Warning: Vulgar language, drinking alcohol, shipping boys together, Ice Giant alien-conspiracy theorizing, dramatic readings, and continued Team Katherine from the hosts; Saint Elena, body horror, thinly veiled metaphors for sex/sexual assault, compulsive heteronormativity, manipulation, gaslighting, abusive friendships, terrible sartorial choices, violence and mentions of domestic violence, dehumanization of people with mental illnesses, mental illness used as plot device, manpain, murder, death, sexualizing teenagers, victim shaming and blaming, blood, bullying, atmospheric spookiness, and Gothic horror from the novel. )
Psst! Want to get B&C delivered to your inbox days before it goes live to the public? Become our patron at the $2 or higher level and you are in! Already our patron? Then you know what we're talking about! Enjoy, friend!
Tuesday Mar 03, 2020
Episode 3 - LJ Smith: The Vampire Diaries: The Fury
Tuesday Mar 03, 2020
Tuesday Mar 03, 2020
"That's a nice way to end it. Fuck, there's more."
Backlist: It's the penultimate episode of Season 3 with THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: THE FURY. This is LJ Smith's third novel, published November 1991, featuring "character development", "redemption arcs", "heterosexuals", Our Lady of the Attempted Eternal Polyamorous Triad, and the hand of the author! Bonus: Katherine and Honoria make the best worst roommates.
Chill: We're drinking the same thing, gasp! Love Noir Satin Red Wine: aka Elena Gilbert's life. Has good wine color. Our snaps: Ollie - Cyna.
As mentioned: The LJ Smith Cover Resource - check out those gorgeous Thai Vampire Diaries covers!
Intro theme - "Let It In" by Josh Woodward.
Next time: the (90s-era) finale! TVD: DARK REUNION. Chiller and Chillest tier patrons will receive this episode a few weeks before it goes public!
(1h 59m. Content Warning: alcohol consumption, explicit sexual discussion, sexual assault, rape, animal violence, violence against animals, suicide, suicidal ideation, gaslighting, inappropriate student-teacher relationships, sexualizing teenagers, bullying, blood, girlhate)
Wednesday Dec 25, 2019
Episode 2 - LJ Smith: The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle
Wednesday Dec 25, 2019
Wednesday Dec 25, 2019
Continuing Season 3 of B&C with THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: THE STRUGGLE. This is LJ Smith's second novel, published October 1991. A trilogy in four parts!
What's aged well, what's going in the trash, and can we possibly recommend this?
Featuring Cyna drinking an alcoholic shake, "Vampire Cocktail" (vanilla ice cream, Triple Sec, white creme de cacao, and strawberry drizzle) and Ollie with some cousin-of-babywine (Wild Vines blackberry merlot). Intro theme - "Let It In" by Josh Woodward.
Bonus content! Peep Cyna's drank set up via our Twitter sharing. (Ollie opted not to take a pic because they were drinking the same thing as book 1, in a MLP:FiM Twilight Sparkle mug.)
Next time: TVD: THE FURY! Chiller and Chillest tier patrons will receive this episode a few days before it goes public!
(1h 38m. Content Warning: Vulgar language, drinking alcohol, shipping boys together, dramatic readings, and whining that Katherine deserves better from the hosts; compulsive heteronormativity, thinly veiled metaphors for sex/sexual assault, manipulation, gaslighting, abusive friendships, violence, manpain, girlhate, sexualizing teenagers, victim shaming and blaming, stalking, inappropriate teacher-student dynamics, blood, bullying, main character death, atmospheric spookiness, and Gothic horror from the novel. )
Psst! Want to get B&C delivered to your inbox days before it goes live to the public? Become our patron at the $2 or higher level and you are in! Already our patron? Then you know what we're talking about! Enjoy, friend!