It's ghastly, ghostly big book energy for you and all your ghoul-friends! Five treats (and perhaps some tricks!) for you in this roundup of creepy reads, including:

• Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
• Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda (yes I am a re-reader)
• Woo Woo by Ella Baxter
• The Body by Hanif Kureishi
• Termush by Sven Holm
• The Shining by Dorothea Lasky

Plus a peek at my spooky season TBR, featuring historical folk horror, Hitchcockian obsessions in academia, freaky short fiction, and more: in print, Grey Dog by Elliott Gish, Jawbone by Monica Ojeda, Organ Meats by K-Ming Chang, A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez, Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino, Spells, a collection of occult poetry edited by Sarah Shin and Rebecca Tamas; in audiobook, The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis, Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung, These Violent Delights by Michael Nemerever, We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad.

Resources

• Last year's Halloween books episode: S04:E01 | Retread: On Coming Back to Creativity + Five Fave Creepy Reads
• The Hauntings micro-series books episode: S02:E20 | Hauntings III: Books About Crossing Over (feat. Aoko Matsuda, Gus Moreno, & Jessica Johns)
• Find even more Big Book Energy in the Little Oracles Archive

IG: @littleoracles

Part two of 2025's most memorable, featuring the TV and movies that gave me pause last year, featuring:

• TV: Task (2025, created by Brad Ingelsby); Black Rabbit (2025, created by Zach Baylin and Kate Susman); The Bear (2022, Christopher Storer); Ren Faire (2024, created by Lance Oppenheim); Duster (2025, created by J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan); Sweetpea (2024, created by Kirstie Swain); The Hardacres (2025, created by Amy Roberts and Loren McLaughlan).
• Film: Nosferatu (2024, directed by Robert Eggers); Frankenstein (2025, directed by Guillermo del Toro); Sinners (2025, directed by Ryan Coogler); Wages of Fear (1953, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot) and Sorcerer (1977, directed by William Friedkin); Cube (1997, directed by Vincenzo Natali); They Live (1988, directed by John Carpenter); Crank franchise (2006, directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor); Transporter franchise (2002, directed by Louis Leterrier & Corey Yuen); Poor Things (2023, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos); The Loveless (1984, directed by Monty Montgomery & Kathryn Bigelow); Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975, directed by Peter Weir).

Resources

• Deadliest Catch cameo: S04:E07 | Refract: On Mirror Rot, Idiosyncratic Inspo, and Hailing the New Year
• Talking with Peter Gaucys: S01:E20 | Creative Chat with Peter Gaucys: On Conversations, Conductors, and Contextual Ghosts
• Participating in Peter's annual group show: S04:E02 | Reconnect: On Prompts, Cross-Pollination, and Creative Elasticity
• Reading roundup 2022: S01:E02 | My Top Books of 2022 & Relational Reading
• Reading roundup 2024: S04:E08 | Review: 2024’s Most Meaningful Reads & What I’m Digging in 2025
• Find even more Big Book Energy in the Little Oracles Archive

IG: @littleoracles

Revisiting the megasode that started it all: a massive reading roundup, featuring faves of 2025 in this belated bijou of big book energy, organized into three categories, plus an Honorable Mention section:

• Looking Back: The Lover by Marguerite Duras; Good Material by Dolly Alderton; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith; The Details by Ia Genberg.
• Is This Real Life: The Position of Spoons by Deborah Levy; Any Person Is the Only Self by Elisa Gabbert; Architect by Alison Thumel; The Art Thief by Michael Finkel.
• Weird Women: Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson; Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield; Creep by Emma van Straaten; Poor Things by Alisdair Gray.
• Honorable Mention: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson; The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde; Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Tales from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty.

Resources

• Reading roundup 2022: S01:E02 | My Top Books of 2022 & Relational Reading
• Reading roundup 2024: S04:E08 | Review: 2024’s Most Meaningful Reads & What I’m Digging in 2025
• Find even more Big Book Energy in the Little Oracles Archive

IG: @littleoracles

Something's brewing: Find out how flânerie recharged my creative brain and taught me a little bit about grace.

Resources

Other ways to reset your creativity:

• S04:E02 | Reconnect: On Prompts, Cross-Pollination, and Creative Elasticity
• S04:E04 | Reframe: On Commitment as Self-Care and How to Kick Inertia's Ass
• S04:E07 | Refract: On Mirror Rot, Idiosyncratic Inspo, and Hailing the New Year
• S04:E09 | Remix: On Rap as Disco Renaissance, Poetic Resonance, and Ripping Ourselves Off

IG: @littleoracles

What do Biggie Smalls, the Queens of Disco, and the poetry community have in common? Find out in this episode, wherein we talk about remixing ourselves as a way to recontextualize, reimagine, and regenerate our creative work.

Resources

• Lovelorn, my line-lifting solo poetry RPG (Part IV of the Western Cantos)
• The poetry of Deadliest Catch: S04:E07 | Refract: On Mirror Rot, Idiosyncratic Inspo, and Hailing the New Year

IG: @littleoracles

It's a booktastic megasode! Nearly 20 minutes of big book energy, opening with books that made me go "mmm" in 2024, and closing with what I'm excited to read in 2025. (Could this be the soft relaunch of the Asynchronous Book Club? Yeah, why not!)

As ever, check content warnings before you pick up anything we discuss here on the podcast; reading should be a refuge, not a trigger. And remember: reading is reading is reading, whether you're reading books with your eyes or your hands or your ears.✌️

Until next time, as always: take care, keep creating, and stay divine!

Resources

• S04:E01 | Retread: On Coming Back to Creativity + Five Fave Creepy Reads
• S04:E05 | Regift: On Booksgiving + Five Books for Your Fab Fam (and Favorite Freaks)
• S01:E02 | My Top Books of 2022 & Relational Reading
• S01:E16 | Little Reviews: Victoria Chang, Maggie Nelson, Heather Christle + May Book Club Picks

IG: @littleoracles

Let's talk about mirror rot! And also how it inspired me to write this episode all about the agnosticism of inspiration, and how your idiosyncratic log of the year (whether it's in your phone's notes app, your watch history, your box of ticket stubs) can not only help you reflect on the year that's gone, but also take you into the new one with a cache of cool curios to fuel your creative practice.

Wishing you a wonderful New Year! Until next time, as always: take care, keep creating, and stay divine. <3

Resources

• Talkin' about burnout and the pressure of the vision board: S04:E06 | Rekindle: On Burning Out, Learning Grace, and Making Art for Yourself

IG: @littleoracles

Let's burn your vision board! Not really! (But kind of?) In this episode, we're talking about taking space, practicing grace, and reminding ourselves of why we make what we make ... and for whom, and why it's not the best move to let your calendar control your creative work.

Heavily inspired by a great Bluesky thread about making art for yourself by game designers Sean and Navi Drake of A Couple of Drakes.

Resources

• The season-opening three-parter about coming back to creativity: S04:E01 | Retread: On Coming Back to Creativity + Five Fave Creepy Reads, S04:E02 | Reconnect: On Prompts, Cross-Pollination, and Creative Elasticity, S04:E04 | Reframe: On Commitment as Self-Care and How to Kick Inertia's Ass
• Get good at being lazy with me (and learn about the weird Christian history of Sloth!) | S01:E03 | Getting Good at Being Lazy: Creative Pressure, the Seven Deadly Sins, and an ABC Plot Twist
• Find every episode of the pod in the Little Oracles Archive

IG: @littleoracles