Weird Studies

Latest Episodes:

Episode 220: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man: Live at the Dream Mapping Symposium Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

On September 26, JF and Phil took part in the Dream Mapping Symposium, a three-day event organized by the Dream Mapping Project and the Dream Library Foundation, and held at the Brooklyn Public Library. Their mission was twofold. First, Phil was to read Dostoevsky's short story "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man," and then, he and JF were to have one of their conversations about it. Despite inclement weather, exploding lighting equipment and the labyrinthine NYC subway system, it went off like a dream. In this episode, we offer you the full recording of the event.

Special thanks to Alisa Minyukova and Kelly Bulkeley for a thought-provoking weekend.

To support Weird Studies, ⁠become a patron⁠ of the show.

It's not too late to sign up to Erik Davis's Weirdosphere course, Do Androids Dream of Reading PKD? The first of two live Q&As with Erik is on Sunday, October 11, 2026.

Music in this episode: "Springtime on Ganymede" from PY Martel's Weird Studies vol. 2.

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Episode 219 – Composing the Cosmos, with Meredith Rigby Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, JF and Phil are joined by their beloved assistant and invaluable collaborator Meredith Rigby (formerly Meredith Michael) to discuss her recently completed doctoral dissertation, Composing the Cosmos: 20th Century Musical Mythologies of Outer Space. Meredith explains how classical music, in the last century, became a privileged zone for exploring the meaning, threat, and promise of the starry void after the collapse of the old cosmologies.

Music: "Fogcutter" from Pierre-Yves Martel's Weird Studies Vol 3.

Support Weird Studies on Patreon.

Upcoming Events

Registration is open for Erik Davis's course on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , starting October 1, 2026, on Weirdosphere.

On September 26, 2026, join JF and Phil at the Brooklyn Public Library for a live recording on dreams and Dostoevsky. Part of the Dream Mapping Symposium, organized by The Dream Mapping Project and the Dream Library Foundation.

On October 3 and 4, ⁠HitchCon 26⁠ will feature talks on Hitchcock and David Lynch. Speakers include JF and Victoria Nelson.

References

Meredith Rigby, "Composing the Cosmos: 20th Century Musical Mythologies of Outer Space"

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age

Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution

Jerry Goldsmith, Theme from Star Trek: The Next Generation

Richard Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra

Gustav Holst, "Mars" and "Neptune" from The Planets

Lili Boulanger, "Les Sirènes"

Alan Leo, The Art of Synthesis

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Episode 218 — A Mighty Matter of Legend: On J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Two Towers' Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Having taken up the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in episode 207, Phil and JF turn to part two, The Two Towers. Together, they peel back the husk of familiarity to reveal the strange object underneath: a story about stories, about life and destiny in a storied world.

Music: "Wotan Hangs" from Weird Studies Vol. 1 and "For the Sun" from Weird Studies Vol 3.

Support Weird Studies on Patreon.

Upcoming Events:

JF's course on the metaphysics of the horror genre, The Awful Truth, starts September 17, 2026, on Weirdosphere.

Erik Davis's course on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? starts October 1, 2026, on Weirdosphere.

Click here for details on JF and Phil's appearance at the Brooklyn Public Library on September 26, 2026. Part of the Dream Mapping Symposium, organized by The Dream Mapping Project and the Dream Library Foundation. Attendance is free.

References

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

Viktor Schlovsky, “Art as Technique”

Arthur Machen, “A Fragment of Life”

Joshua Cutchin, Fourth Wall Phantoms

Cristina Campo “On Fairy Tales”

J. R. R. Tolkien, “On Fairy Stories”

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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Mid-Hiatus Bonus: A Door in the Fourth Wall Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

Episode 218 will drop at the end of our summer break on September 9, 2026. Today, enjoy this recent audio extra, originally released for members of the Weird Studies Patreon. In the intro, JF announces two important Weirdosphere events: a talk on language in the age of AI by Emma Stamm, and a new six-week course on the idea of truth in horror cinema and literature. To learn more and enroll, visit Weirdosphere.

The musical piece following the intro is "Hypnagogic," from PY Martel's recent album Weird Studies Vol. 3.

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Episode 217 – Books, Spirits, and Hysteria, with Asti Hustvedt Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

Researcher Asti Hustvedt joins Phil and JF to discuss a talk she gave at the Lily Dale Symposium this year entitled "Bibliophantoms." The question: What does it mean to "get lost" in a book? Asti's answer, drawing on her research in nineteenth-century neuroscience and spirit mediumship, amounts to a genuine weirding of the act of reading.

Asti Hustvedt is an independent scholar and writer with a PhD in French literature. Her work examines the entangled histories of science, psychology, literature, and the occult, with a particular focus on hysteria and Spiritualism. She is the author of Medical Muses: Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Paris, named an Editors' Choice by the New York Times and a Book of the Year by The Independent, and the editor of The Decadent Reader: Fiction, Fantasy and Perversion in Fin-de-Siècle France. She is currently writing a book on hysteria and the supernatural that examines how Eusapia Palladino and other mediums challenged—and helped shape—the emerging sciences of the mind.

New Course! To learn more on JF's upcoming online course on truth in horror literature and cinema, visit Weirdosphere.

Image: Detail of The Reader by Jacques-Émile Blanche (1861-1942)

Music: "L'Esprit d'escalier" from Weird Studies vol. 3, and "Distant Early Warning" from Weird Studies vol 2.

REFERENCES

Asti Hustvedt, Medical Muses

Jean-Martin Charcot, French physician

Pierre Janet, French physician

Lon Milo DuQuette, It’s All in Your Head

Saint Catherine of Siena, Italian mystic

Saint Augustine, Confessions

Paul Auster, American writer

Julia Kristeva, Bulgarian French philosopher

Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

Lionel Snell, Introduction to Freya Aswynn’s Power and Principles of the Runes

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Episode 216 – Artworks Are People Too Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

"Now and then, a mysterious life and potency will flicker out of an artwork and confront you." So began "Artworks Are People Too," a talk Phil presented at the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute earlier this summer. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss the implications of this idea that some artworks break the mould of the inanimate and act as persons in the world. Are artworks mere creations, or creatures too?

To enroll in Questionable Cinema, our live summer series happening in August 2026, visit Weirdosphere.

Music: "Hypnagogic," from Weird Studies Vol. 3.

References

Henri Corbin, Alone with the Alone

Alfred Hallowell, "Ojibwa Ontology, Behavior, and Worldview"

Martin Buber, I and Thou

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age

Rainer Maria Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo”

Peter Sloterdijk, You Must Change Your Life

Carl Jung, “On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry”

Alejandro Jodorowsky, Pyschomagic

Dan Sperber, “The Causal Chains of Culture”

Paul Stoller, In Sorcery’s Shadow

Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky

Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo

Holly Cusack-McVeigh, Stories Find You

Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind

Ikea lamp commercial

Sam Raimi (dir.), Evil Dead II

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Special Episode: Make Art! Jul 08, 2026

Show notes

Owing to circumstances preventing us from releasing a new show this week, we are offering you one from the archives. This episode was originally released on our Patreon in March 2026. In it, we discuss the splendour and squalor of Victorian London, kung-fu bobbies, the (mis)alignment of society and technology, post-apocalyptic optimism, the emancipating genius of tabletop roleplaying games, the human after AI, and a reason for creating works of art.

A new episode of Weird Studies will drop on July 22.

For more information on Questionable Cinema, Phil and JF's upcoming online course, visit Weirdosphere.

To listen to more tracks from Weird Studies Vol. 3 and purchase the download or LP, visit Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp.

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Episode 215 – Where No One Can Hear You Scream: On Ridley Scott's 'Alien' Jun 24, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, JF and Phil discuss Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi/horror blockbuster Alien. Together, they wipe off the patina of familiarity that beclouds the film, restoring it to its original weirdness. What is the organism that terrorizes the Nostromo? What's its relation to technology, evolution, industry? How does it differ from the monsters of older horror classics? How does one interpret without explaining away?

Music in this episode: "Hypnagogic," from Pierre-Yves Martel's Weird Studies Vol. 3.

Events

Shannon Taggart's Lily Dale Symposium (July 23-25, 2026

Transcendence in the Age of AI, a Weirdosphere chat with Michael Garfield and JF Martel, hosted by Joel Gunz - June 25, 2026

Kickstarter campaign for Artist as Astronaut: The Otherworldly Art of Ionel Talpazan from Strange Attractor Press. The campaign closes June 27!

References

Ionel Talpazan, Romanian experiencer and artist

Ridley Scott (dir.), Alien

Peter Bebergal, All Our Famous Monsters (forthcoming)

Malachi Martin, Hostage to the Devil

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Danish painter

H. R. Giger, Swiss artist

Simon-Max, French entertainer

Eric Wargo, Passion of the Space Jockey

Weird Studies, Episode 213 on “Eric”

Mel Brooks (dir.), Spaceballs

Howard and Emerson, “Hello, Ma Baby”

Beowulf

Eugene Thacker, In the Dust of This Planet

Graham Harman, Weird Reality

Pierre Schaeffer, French musician

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Episode 214 – Fortune's Fools: On Gordon White's Philosophy of Fortune-Telling Jun 10, 2026

Show notes

It was with heavy hearts that Phil and JF learned of Gordon White's passing. Gordon was a force to be reckoned with: as an author and podcaster on all things occult, he offered unique perspectives and provocative interpretations at every turn. In this episode, your hosts discuss Gordon's thoughts on divination—or fortune-telling, as he preferred to call it...

Click here to purchase tickets to the 2026 edition of the Lily Dale Symposium (July 23-25), organized by Shannon Taggart and closing this year with a live recording of Weird Studies.

References

Rune Soup

Fortune’s Fools Oracle Deck

Duns Scotus, Scottish priest

Marshall Sahlins, The New Science of the Enchanted Universe

Henri Bergson, Time and Free Will

Ithell Colquhoun, Taro as Colour

Lord Dunsany, The Gods of Pegana

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Episode 213 – Comics, Surf Rock, and the Weirdness of Time: On Tom Manning's 'Eric' May 27, 2026

Show notes

Tom Manning's 2018 graphic novel Eric is that rarest of gems: the self-published masterpiece. Available only on the author's website, it's the story of a washed-up surf rocker who stumbles into a cosmic conspiracy involving elite cultists, post-apocalyptic cowboys, renegade magicians, and three-eyed djinn. In this episode, Manning's work serves as a shining example of what makes comics such a unique and potent art form. There's no need to have read the book before listening—but know that you'll probably want to do when you're done. You're welcome.

Visit the Weirdosphere website to sign up for the Weird Studies Vol. 3 listening party on May 30, 2026.

Join the Weird Studies Patreon and support the show.

References

Tom Manning, ERIC

Leslie Stevens, “So So Surreal”

“Beach Bum #1”

Mike Relm, “Change the Channel”

Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, What is Philosophy?

Sarah Heston, “Magical Los Angeles: An Interview with Tom Manning”

Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics

David Mamet, On Directing Film

Richard J. Lewis (dir.), Whale Music