Overdue

Come with us as we revisit Stoneybrook, CT through the visuals of acclaimed author and illustrator Raina Telgemeier. Joining us on this trip is Daniela Doncel, host of Generation: Baby-Sitters Club, a five-part series from Connecticut Public exploring the history and impact of the series. For more of Overdue episodes on the BSC, check out our longread series SIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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For this show-within-a-show, Craig and Andrew learned about the world of Middle-Earth by reading J.R.R. Tolkien's posthumously published legendarium THE SILMARILLION. This episode posted first for our Patreon supporters in October 2025. If you want to hear our current longread project THE PRYDAINGER ZONE (and a bunch of other stuff besides), visit http://patreon.com/overduepod.

Tolkien concludes the Quenta Silmarillion with several tales of woe, mostly centered on the man Húrin and his cursed children. After a half-elf successfully pleads his case before the supreme court of the Valar, a final battle ensues and Morgoth is defeated...or is he? (He is.) (Or is he???????)

The reading list:

Ep 1 - Ainulindale, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion Ch 1-3

Ep 2 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 4-10

Ep 3 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 11-16

Ep 4 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 17-20

Ep 5 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 21-24

Ep 6 - Akallabêth, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, Appendices

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Also titled Let Me In, this mid-2000s horror debut from Sweden engages directly with some vampire tropes, as well as one of the great fears of humankind: what if the kids were bad?

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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It's true that we usually try to reserve Spooktober for books that are, how you say, "classically spooky." But isn't societal misogyny and fatphobia just as spooky as any ghost, ghoul, or pieced-together-monster-that-represents-humankind's-hubris? We'd like to think so. And we'd really like you to think so too.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to http://squarespace.com/overdue for 50% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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Spooktober continues with this Rez Gothic slasher from Stephen Graham Jones. A vengeful spirit hunts down four young Blackfeet men for a past transgression on their reservation, prompting reflection on whether or not they'd ever have become "good Indians."

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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A classic haunted house tale, full of ghosts and bugs and ghosts who can boss around bugs. I swear the presence of time travel was not something I gravitated to on purpose this time.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to http://squarespace.com/overdue for 50% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Heinlein's sci-fi classic is rather different from the campy satire of Paul Verhoeven's 1997 adaptation. You can ask similar questions of both. Do they gleefully depict fascism? Do they glorify militarism and violence? Do they successfully subvert either? In our experience, both versions of Starship Troopers seem...complicated.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For this show-within-a-show, Craig and Andrew learned about the world of Middle-Earth by reading J.R.R. Tolkien's posthumously published legendarium THE SILMARILLION. This episode posted first for our Patreon supporters in October 2025. If you want to hear our current longread project THE PRYDAINGER ZONE (and a bunch of other stuff besides), visit Patreon.com/overduepod.

Morgoth is back baby!!! He's got dragons, he's got balrogs, he's got orcs, and he's ready to make a mess of the meticulously described map that a bunch of the rest of this book is dedicated to setting up.

But he doesn't get everything he wants! Like when a man and his elf girlfriend defeat his most-trusted lieutenant, put his big dog to sleep, and come a-creeping to grab the Silmarils right from his crown! We still don't really know what they do, but people sure do seem to want those things!!

The reading list:

Ep 1 - Ainulindale, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion Ch 1-3

Ep 2 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 4-10

Ep 3 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 11-16

Ep 4 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 17-20

Ep 5 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 21-24

Ep 6 - Alkallabeth, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, Appendices

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

They'll never write a time travel story that Andrew won't try! This week's riff on the formula includes megalomaniac tech billionaires, millennial malaise, and an astoundingly dangerous amusement park in northern New Jersey.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to http://squarespace.com/overdue for 50% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Shhhh...this episode is confidential. The kitchen secrets divulged by bad boy chef Anthony "Tony" Bourdain will Rock Your World. Or will they? This breakout essay collection laid much of the foundation for modern popular understanding of American restaurant culture, but some of its lessons may not feel so fresh today. Instead, it may best be viewed in the context of Bourdain's larger media career, which could not have happened without the success of this book.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This classic of twentieth-century Australian literature isn't a Whodunnit. It isn't a Howdunnit. It's barely a dunnit at all. It's a certifiable Whahappen??

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to http://squarespace.com/overdue for 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

Advertise on Overdue

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you like lesbian necromancer space operas but find all the grieving, brooding, and in-fighting a bit hard to sift through? Well then do I have the book for you! What began as Tamsyn Muir's concluding entry in her trilogy of The Locked Tomb evolved into a full novel of its own with the charming Nona at its center. Is it easier to understand than prior entries in the series? Of course not! But that might only add to its charms.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to http://squarespace.com/overdue for 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For this new show-within-a-show, Andrew and Craig will learn all about The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. We'll read the five books in this classic children's fantasy series, then close out with an extra episode on the Disney adaptation The Black Cauldron.

In this episode, you'll hear us discuss Andrew's background with the series, how Alexander came to write Prydain, and the Welsh myths from which he took inspiration.

This is a preview of a series we’ll be running exclusively for our Patreon supporters over the next few months; we won’t release them on the main feed until the entire series has run. If you want to listen to them as they’re released, see http://patreon.com/overduepod for more! Episode 1 is already up!

Here's the full syllabus for The Prydainger Zone:

• The Book of Three
• The Black Cauldron
• The Castle of Lyr
• Taran Wanderer
• The High King
• Bonus: The Black Cauldron (1985)

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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This is a book about what happens when a formerly tight-knight group of longtime friends rents a house in the woods for a week. Having to deal with your friends' significant others is one possible hazard; having to deal with a decade's worth of pent-up horniness and anxiety and yearning is another.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to http://squarespace.com/overdue for 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This story is a giant bag of cotton candy, which we mean mostly as a compliment. It's a romance-adjacent found family story set in a cozy coffee shop set against a D&D-flavored backdrop, a place where almost no one is really a villain and the one person who comes close gets the ending they deserve.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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Is it a novel? A collection of stories? A story cycle? A monograph?? It doesn't matter. This one's an award-winner. Strout's a masterful episodic storyteller, diving quickly into the deep end with characters we've met just pages before. However, the titular Olive looms much larger than the others we meet, compelling us to wonder if the collectionovelcyclegraph isn't a bit uneven.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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Sing, O Muse, of an adapted poem - specifically Homer's Odyssey as adapted for the silver screen by filmmaker Christopher Nolan. That's right, we went to an actual movie theater to see the blockbuster film that everyone is talking about (including friend of the show Emily Wilson). And don't worry, our personal Age of Bronze isn't collapsing - we'll be back to books next week.

You can read Homer's poem along with us in our very first longread series Stop! Homer Time.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to http://squarespace.com/overdue for 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With the recent release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and buzz around Emily Wilson's translation of Homer, we thought we would unlock this special Stop! Homer Time episode originally released to Patreon supporters in early 2024.

In November 2023, the acclaimed translator returned to the show to chat with us as we embarked upon our Iliad read. She spoke with us about her process, what it was like to have an audience clamoring for her translation, and what happens when the muses make you forget how to play guitar.

For more information on longreads series like Stop! Homer Time, please head to http://patreon.com/overduepod.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the 18th of November, friends! What's that you say? It's not the 18th of November for you? Well it is for us! Over and over and over again.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Toni Morrison's debut novel traces the tragedy of a young girl named Pecola Breedlove and the community that failed her. By splintering the book's perspective across the community of Lorain, she humanizes everyone and exonerates no one. Not an easy book, but a rewarding one.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to http://squarespace.com/overdue for 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.

Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky

Advertise on Overdue

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.