Featuring : SUREKHA DAVIES, Humans: A Monstrous HistoryGuess what? We are featuring one of our own! Surekha Davis, long time peculiar, debuts a book on monsters. I mean on humans. Well. I mean both. Why do humans make monsters, and what do monsters tell us about humanity? Davies reveals how people have defined the human in relation to everything from apes to zombies, and how they invented race, gender, and nations along the way. With rich, evocative storytelling that braids together ancient gods and generative AI, Frankenstein's monster and ET, Humans: A Monstrous History shows how monster-making is about control: it defines who gets to count as normal. In an age when corporations increasingly see people as obstacles to profits, this book traces the long, volatile history of monster-making to chart a better path for the future. The result is a profound, effervescent, empowering retelling of the history of the world for anyone who wants to reverse rising inequality and polarization. This is not a history of monsters, but a history through monsters. THINK of the cocktail potential here, people! It’s going to be a wild night of history and monster mystery—so don’t miss out! Join us as an author-host is Bill Schutt, most recently author of BITE, and I can’t think of a better pairing for our VIP show!

Episode was recorded live April 24, 2025.

Email: peculiar@bschillace.com

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A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.

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Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book The Killer Whale Journals, we are reviewing a movie from our childhoods, 1993's Free Willy.

Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this childhood favorite. We'll discuss the themes of the importance of family, respect and love for whales, and greed.

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When Julia Mann, a bad-tempered ex-actress and professional thorn in the side of authority, runs into Natasha Mason at an AA meeting, it’s anything but a meet-cute. Julia just found a dead body in her swimming pool, and the cops say she did it (she already went to jail for murder once, so now they think she’s making a habit of it). Mason is eager to clear Julia’s name and help keep her sober, but all Julia wants is for Mason to leave her alone.

As their investigation ranges from the Hollywood Hills to the world of burlesque to the country clubs of Palm Springs, this unconventional team realizes their shared love of sarcasm and poor life choices are proving to be a powerful combination. Will secrets from their past trip them up, or will their team of showgirls, cat burglars, and Hollywood agents help them stay one step ahead? Are dead piranhas, false noses, and a giant martini glass important clues or simply your typical day in Los Angeles? And will they manage to solve the crime before they kill each other, or worse, fall off the wagon? Trying to keep it simple and take it easy is one thing—trying to find a murderer before they kill again is a whole other program.

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Featuring : HANNE STRAGER, The Killer Whale Journals: Our Love and Fear of OrcasORCA! It’s about time one of our Book Club shows featured these fascinating animals! When Hanne Strager, then an intrepid biology student, volunteered to be the cook on a small research vessel in Norway's Lofoten Islands, she couldn’t know the trip would launch a decades-long journey into the lives of killer whales―and an exploration of people's complex relationships with the biggest predators on earth. Killer whales' incredible intelligence, long life spans, and strong family bonds lead many people to see them as kindred spirits in the sea. But not everyone feels this way―like wolves, orcas have been both beloved and vilified throughout human history. Now an internationally renowned science writer, Strager gives us a book full of fascinating adventures, personal experiences with orcas, behavior, biology, and ecology. So grab a warm drink and join us for a journey into Arctic seas to decode whale-song, observe Inuit hunters in Greenland, and witness the dismantling of black market Russian "whale jails." It’s a BIG story, true tales of killer whales!

Episode was recorded live March 28, 2025.

Email: peculiar@bschillace.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Featuring : PAUL KOUDOUNARIS, Faithful unto Death: Pet cemeteries, animal graves, and eternal devotionWhen a little dog named Cherry died in 1881, his owners arranged for a grave in a nearby gatekeeper's garden in London. At this time, the idea that a pet, even one that had lived as a family member, might be given a dignified burial was considered comical. But when other pet owners―likewise determined to memorialize their companion animals―followed suit, the world's first urban pet cemetery was born. More soon followed across Europe, the United States, and then the rest of the world, resulting in a revolution in the way we consider animals. Paul Koudounaris, author, artist and photographer who gave us The Empire of Death and Heavenly Bodies returns with Faithful unto Death: the stories of people who gave their hearts to a disparate variety of species, yet were all united in one common belief. The reward at death for a faithful animal companion should reflect the love it offered during life. These astonishing photographs and stories are sure to move you—and Paul is an ever fascinating conversation companion.

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Episode was recorded live March 13, 2025.

Email: peculiar@bschillace.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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The New York Times bestselling author of They Knew, Hiding in Plain Sight, and The View from Flyover Country navigates a changing America as she and her family embark on a series of road trips, in a book that is part memoir, part history, and wholly unique.

It is one thing to study the fall of democracy, another to have it hit your homeland -- and yet another to raise children as it happens. The Last American Road Trip is one family’s journey to the most beautiful, fascinating, and bizarre places in the US during one of its most tumultuous eras. As Kendzior works as a journalist chronicling political turmoil, she becomes determined that her young children see America before it’s too late. So Kendzior, her husband, and the kids hit the road -- again and again.

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Featuring : CAT BOHANNON, Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human EvolutionYou loved Rachel Gross’s VAGINA OBSCURA? Of course you did. Then you MUST join us for this myth-busting, eye-opening landmark account of how humans evolved—answering questions like what IS the female body? How did it come to be? How does this evolution still shapes all our lives today? Some fast facts to whet your appetite: Women live longer than men; women are more likely to get Alzheimer’s; girls score better at every academic subject than boys until puberty, when suddenly their scores plummet. What’s behind all of this? And why, seriously why, do women have to sweat through our sheets every night when we hit menopause? (asking for me). Bohannon covers the past 200 million years to explain the specific science behind the development of the female sex: “We have to put the female body in the picture,” she writes, “If we don't, it's not just feminism that's compromised. Modern medicine, neurobiology, paleoanthropology, even evolutionary biology all take a hit when we ignore the fact that half of us have breasts.” Which means we are gonna talk about breasts. And blood and fat and vaginas and wombs. Let’s face it, the world has focused primarily on the male body for far too long. It’s time to dig deep—so join us for book talk, cocktails, and evolutionary science.

Episode was recorded live February 27, 2025.

Email: peculiar@bschillace.com

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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