Episode 69, Colson Whitehead's Zone One

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The Mikes are as split down the middle like the remnants of a rotting zombie, which you can read all about in Colson Whitehead's  Zone One.  Do the literati have any business invading the sacred territory of the current zombie meme or is it best to be cordoned off and left for those hard-boiled horror writers who know how it is done?

It IS Cocktail Time!

Manhattan Is Burning.

2 shots rye whiskey

1/2 shot red vermouth 

Pour in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled glass.  

Top with Angostura bitters.

Flame an orange by warming over a flame and pinching so the oils catch fire and fall

on to the drink—or not; it takes a little practice.

End Music:  I Love New York by Madge.

Episode 23.0: Joseph Delaney's Last Apprentice Series, Books 3 and 4

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By carefully avoiding girls with pointy shoes, The Mikes further their schooling in all things Spook in Joseph Delaney's The Last Apprentice Series, Book 3 - Night of the Soul Stealer and Book 4 - Attack of the Fiend. It takes a while for the guys to warm up in that cold bitter Spring of Doppletown USA but eventually the pontificating hits new heights and we all warm ourselves in the impending fires of the Apocalypse foreshadowed at the end of the book.


IT'S COCKTAIL TIME!

Blood Magic Cocktail

Crushed ice
2 shots Grenadine
3 shots OJ
1 shot Banana Liquor
1 egg white ( pasteurized - Egg Beaters or Crackleberry)

Shake it up till nice and frothy and pour into your favorite martini glass. You can garnish with a bleached white bone but we wouldn't recommend it.



End Music : Black Magic Women by Deep Purple.

Episode 21.0 Junji Ito's Uzumaki series

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Twist your minds around Junji Ito's weird, nightmare manga Uzumaki. The Mikes become entangled in the tale of a small Japanese village cursed by its obsession with all things spiral.

Our first try at a graphic novel, we surprise ourselves that we have anything to say at all—or do we?


It's Cocktail Time!

Uzumaki-sake-tini
2 shots good vodka
1 shot good sake
1 long, mesmerizing coil of lemon rind

Shake the shots in crushed ice; strain into a chilled martini glass; drop in the long lemon twist. Lose yourself in its endless yellow spiraling.


Special closing music: "Twisted" by Marques Bovre and the Evil Twins, from their excellent and long-lost album Ghost Stories from Lonesome County.

Episode 20.0 Ramsey Campbell's Ancient Images

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Take a leap off of an ancient heathen tower and join the Mikes as they mumble over horror master Ramsey Campbell's novel of cinematic sleuthwork. Like a gruesome bus tour of the scones and bones set, you'll sample wholesome bread, warm half-drunk beers and the wonders of the British highway system.


Cocktail Time!

How 'bout a Little Fire, Scarecrow!

1 bottle wheat beer
1 shot triple sec
1 tbsp 151 rum

Gently pour beer into a highball glass. Wait for the foam to settle down. Then pour in the triple sec. Pour rum into a metal spoon and, with the rest of the bottle well away from you and with full knowledge of where your fire extinguisher is and how to use it, light the rum in the spoon. Gently pour onto the top of the cocktail.

Enjoy the fine blue flame for a few seconds, but then blow it out; else your glass will be too hot to lip.