Anyone for Tennyson? The next stop in our tour of narrative poetry is the surprisingly onion-light, 'The Lady of Shalott' (1832/42). Out on Wednesday!

What's that, a *lyrical* ballad? Why, that's the maddest thing I've ever heard! (100 pts if you can give an equivalent contemporary genre/form oxymoron). Yes, next stop on our month-long tour of narrative poems is Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (1798): podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

The next instalment in our August poetical miniseries deals with a lil thing called *Romanticism*, as we cover Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (1798). If you like your weddings bassoon-laden, and your Constantinopolitans Platonic, then join us TOMORRAH!

We are very excited to start our August run of weekly episodes on short narrative poems. Tune in Wednesday 5th for Alexander Pope's epic about f*ckbois and haircuts, 'The Rape of the Lock' (1714).

In the month of August, we will be giving listeners not one, but FOUR (shorter) episodes, each on a narrative poem. Tune in on 5 August to hear us recap Alexander Pope's mock-epic about fairies, bad haircuts, making coffee, and men who belong in the sewer: 'The Rape of the Lock' (1714).

As we revealed in our last episode, we have a special treat for the month of August: FOUR episodes, one per week, (20-40 min each) on shorter narrative poems. The first of these poems is also the funniest of the bunch: a mock epic. What are we reading?

TOMORROW: our episode on Wilkie Collins's 'The Woman in White' (1860). This is a novel with a message: if you're going to be falsely imprisoned in a Victorian hospital, you simply *must* go private.

Several of you guessed correctly: we'll be doing our first sensation fiction on the podcast with Wilkie Collins's 'The Woman in White' (1860). This is the perfect text for us, as Daniel is an expert on concertinas and Abby is an expert on Italian men. Listen in on 15 July.

Time to guess the clue to our next episode! We've had a lot of texts this season that focus on women. Our next text is no different and, in fact, even references a woman right in the title. But let's complicate gender a little bit. What if it featured a very sexy lady with a big ole moustache?

Happy summer, Shelfers! Today we go Down Unda with Joan Lindsay's freaky-deaky missing persons horror story, 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' (1967). Let's look into the cosmic pouch, hear a bit from Rupert Murdoch's dad, and steal acting jobs from the Brethren Hemsworth. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

We had one correct guess: our big summer episode (which could easily double as a Valentine's Day or Halloween episode) is the Australian cosmic horror, 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' (1967). Brace yourselves for the laughs, lusts, and primal screams of a buncha old-fashioned teens. Episode drops 17 June.

Let's guess the clue to our next episode! As we enter summer, we thought we should focus on a text that HEAVILY features a classic summer activity. Or, since it's set on and around Feb 14th, should this should have been our Valentine's Day text instead??? Is it possible it could be ... both?

Bosom friends and kindred spirits: it's here, our single queerest text to date! 'Anne of Green Gables' (1908). There's a lot of chat about puffed sleeves, hating the French, and child labour on a farm (which city-boy Daniel refuses to understand in good faith). podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Out tamorrah! Our coverage of the Canadian children's classic, co-written by Lucy Ward Montgomery and Georges Perec. Join us for 'Ann of Grn Gabls' (1908) - it's a tearjerker.

As some of you have guessed from our (quite difficult!) clue, we're not covering the musical 'Annie', but rather the OTHER redheaded orphan named Anne from the early C20th, who is put to hard labour before warming the heart of an old bachelor. Our 'Anne of Green Gables' (1908) episode drops 13 May.

It's an SMFMS first--two episodes in one day! We cover another Big Boy™: William Thackeray's silver fork parody and 'novel without a hero', 'Vanity Fair' (1848). Parts 1 and 2 below. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Begad! Our double episode of W.M. Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair' (1847-8) is coming out this Wednesday - featuring a damn inarticulate rant about aristocratic accents in period dramas:

Our 'clue' was clearly rubbish, because nearly everyone guessed it immediately. You can all stop asking, because we're finally doing it--William Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair' (1848)!!! Join us for the two-part adventures of Becky Sharp in a few weeks. BOTH episodes will drop the same day: 15 April.

It's time to guess the clue to our next episode! We thought that the ladies in Lysistrata were pretty smart. And we've had a lot of savvy, intelligent female characters on the show so far. But the heroine of our next text is the sharpest BY FAR. What are we reading?

Happy belated International Women's Day! Enjoy Aristophanes's sex strike farce (and possibly the randiest text we've covered), 'Lysistrata' (411 BCE). We notice a dildo discrepancy, get a surprise visit from wee Donalbain, and get a LOT of translation help. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Some of you guessed correctly: For our International Women's Day episode, we'll be joining the ladies of ancient Greece on a sex strike with Aristophanes's incredibly horny comedy, 'Lysistrata' (411BC). Episode drops 11 March. Milesian dildoes at the ready!

The big play-on-words in our last text's title ('Much Ado About Nothing') is that there's an awful lot of fuss over a vagina The same is true of our NEXT text--also a play--which will drop around International Women's Day. What are we reading?

Happy Valentine's Day! If you like Beatrice and Benedick's schtick in 'Much Ado', you'll love Abby and Daniel's combative barbs. We fight about D's bad attitude, endless fart jokes, & odd directorial decisions. Let's eat HIS heart in the marketplace! Yum yum yum! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

TOMORROW, tomorrow, and tomorrow: our coverage of 'Much Ado About Nothing' comes out - including yet more dramaturgical insights.

Everyone guessed correctly! Our Valentine's Day text (replete with argument kinks, very loud balcony sex, and a whiplash-inducing strangers-to-fiancees-to-exes-to-spouses relationship) is William Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing'. Every single one of these perverts needs to GET IT TOGETHER.

It's time to guess the clue to our next episode (our Valentine's Day text--so you know it probably has *something* to do with love, marriage, and/or sex). While our next text is an unambiguous classic, an essential part of the canon ... we don't see what all the fuss is about. What are we reading?

Welcome to Season 7! Let's kick off a year of fan favourites and camp classics with our trashiest novel yet: Gaston Leroux's 1910 'Phantom of the Opera'. Abby has the time of her life, Daniel is checked out, and our new imaginary producer, Diane, keeps us on task. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

TOMORROW: If you thought 2026 already couldn't get any worse, our new series starts with Gaston Leroux's thoroughly stupid 'The Phantom of the Opera' (1910) - a rare example of a novel that's *more* incoherent and histrionic than its musical adaptation.

You guessed right! Season 7 (on camp classics and fan favourites) starts with Gaston Leroux's 1910 melodrama, 'The Phantom of the Opera'. And if you think the stage show is OTT, has an insufferable Raoul, and nonsensical plot points...then, babygirl, you better gird your loins for the original text.

Happy New Year, Shelfers! Time to guess the clue to our next episode. In S6, we saw an awful lot of attractive characters. The Duchess of Malfi, Emma Bovary, Molly Bloom, everyone in Streetcar and Fanny Hill, etc. But uggos need love, too! So for our S7 opener, I want to read about a real munter.