Marlon and Jake Read Dead People

Marlon and Jake dive into the world of dystopian fiction, unpacking what truly makes a dystopia—and whether some of the genre’s biggest ideas hold up under closer scrutiny. Along the way, they discuss why some dystopias feel more believable than others, how our understanding of these stories changes over time, and the real-world parallels that make them resonate long after the final page. Tune in as they explore how history, power, and human nature shape the worlds we imagine.

Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle

The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow

The Last Man by Mary Shelley

1984 by George Orwell

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

Pilgermann by Russell Hoban 

The Road by Cormac McCarthy 

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Pincher Martin by William Golding

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Welcome back for a new season! Marlon and Jake catch up on what they’ve been reading, writing, and working on, including Marlon’s new novel, and explore the books they return to when it’s time to create. They discuss the stories that inspire rather than intimidate, the surprising value of giving up on a book, and the writers they revisit to clear the cobwebs from their minds. Tune in to hear how reading shapes their creative process, from finding the right voice to discovering what makes great dialogue.

Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper.

“A Trifle from Life” by Anton Chekhov

Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov

The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

“Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway

The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne

War Music by Christopher Logue

The Odyssey by Homer

The Oresteia by Aeschylus

Letters from a Stoic by Seneca

Maurice by E. M. Forster

Ernesto by Umberto Saba

Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar

New Hampshire by Robert Frost

In Parenthesis by David Jones

Civil War by Lucan

In the final episode of the season, Marlon and Jake weigh in on their favorite vacation reads, including the ones they started but never finished. Tune in to find out which classic novels Jake took to the beach and which ones Marlon says should have been thrown in the ocean. 
Subscribe to our River-herd newsletter for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content. https://sites.prh.com/riverhead-reader-newsletter
The Goodbye Look by Ross McDonald
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Chances by Jackie Collins
The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Golden Bowl by Henry James
The Ambassadors by Henry James
Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Pronto by Elmore Leonard
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert
The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur, Jr.
Persuasion by Jane Austen

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times—it was school. In this episode, Marlon and Jake discuss books where school is the setting or going to school is central to the plot. They debate which authors got school right and which got school wrong, what makes an inspiring teacher, and what the closed universe of a schoolyard or college campus can feel like. Tune in to hear Marlon and Jake reminisce over their own college experiences and what they were like as students.
Subscribe to our River-herd newsletter for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content. https://sites.prh.com/riverhead-reader-newsletter
Tom Brown’s School Days by Thomas Hughes
The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling by Henry Fielding
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
The Crime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Look back in Anger by John Osborne
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
Absalom, Absalom! By William Faulkner
Love Story by Erich Segal
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
Stoner by John Williams
Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm
The Corn is Green by Emlyn Williams

In this episode, Marlon and Jake talk about cities in books. Books set in memorable cities, books set in cities you're glad you've never been to and books where the city itself is nearly a character. They talk about the specificity of London of the 19th century British novel, the New York novel, entirely fictional cities in Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and don’t miss Marlon’s personal experience with Bloomsday in Dublin!
Subscribe to our River-herd newsletter for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content. https://sites.prh.com/riverhead-reader-newsletterUlysses by James Joyce 
Ulysses by James Joyce
Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce
Dubliners by James Joyce
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe 
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz
Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino 
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust 
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice 
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Young Unicorns by Madeleine L’Engle