Page Chewing

The tension continues to build in Stephen King's Pet Sematary as Louis Creed moves closer to making a decision that could change everything.

In Chapters 46–50, we follow Louis's increasingly desperate efforts to reach Gage's body, while Rachel races back toward Ludlow and Jud prepares to intervene.

This section showcases King's ability to build suspense through small obstacles, detailed descriptions, and the thoughts of a chara...

Grief is pushing Louis Creed toward a decision that could change everything.

In Chapters 41–45 of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, Louis sends Rachel and Ellie to Chicago while becoming increasingly consumed by the possibility of bringing Gage back from the dead.

We explore King's use of Louis's internal thoughts, the desperation driving his decisions, and the questions he doesn't seem willing to confront about what resurrection mi...

This week on Panel Chewing #152, we're talking about disappointing comics, surprising discoveries, Halloween horror, and two outstanding Picks of the Week.

We open with a conversation about the health of the comic book industry. Are comics thriving, or are the big superhero titles hiding problems facing smaller independent publishers?

Then we jump into this week's reading.

Steve finally reaches his breaking point with Absolute Superma...

After a few days of battling a cold, I'm back with another Page Chewing weekly update!

This week I'm announcing our November featured read-along: Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe. We'll be taking a slower approach with weekly Friday discussions and a special guest conversation at the end of the month.

I'm also sharing my changing opinion of Stephen King as I continue reading Pet Sematary, discussing why Tender Is the Flesh has been su...

In this episode of Beyond the Page, Steve welcomes author, Army veteran, and podcast host Danno E. Cabeza to discuss his upcoming novel, The Return of Doctor Necropolis, a superhero crime-noir story about a brilliant but deeply flawed supervillain.

Danno shares how an experimental writing project unexpectedly became a novel that took nearly ten years to complete. We explore what makes morally questionable protagonists compelling, th...

Everything changes in Chapters 36–40 of Stephen King's Pet Sematary.

We've reached Part Two, and the story takes a devastating turn that I absolutely did not see coming. After the quiet, happy moments at the end of Part One, Stephen King delivers one of the most jarring developments of the novel so far.

In this episode, I discuss Gage's sudden death, the different ways Louis, Rachel, and Ellie process grief, and the enormous em...

The Slog continues as our full-series reread enters the final book of The Prince of Nothing trilogy: R. Scott Bakker’s The Thousandfold Thought.

This week we're discussing Chapters 1–4, and after the battles and brutality of The Warrior Prophet, Bakker immediately shifts the focus back toward philosophy, character, belief, and the increasingly complicated consequences of Kellhus’s rise.

At the center of the discussi...

We've reached the end of Part One of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, and Chapters 31–35 bring some of the most emotionally difficult moments of the read-along so far.

Norma's death forces Jud to confront the loss of his wife of sixty years, while Rachel finally reveals the disturbing circumstances surrounding her sister Zelda's death. Her story raises new questions about grief, guilt, and why death has always been such a difficul...

Something is very wrong with Church.

In Chapters 21–25 of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, the mystery surrounding the burial ground deepens as Church returns from the dead—but something about him has changed.

This time, I'm discussing Jud's increasingly suspicious behavior, the strange atmosphere surrounding the burial ground, and the consequences of disrupting the natural cycle of life and death.

I'm also beginning to questi...

What happens when a simple fantasy story written for your children grows into an interconnected multiverse spanning thousands of years?

In this episode of Beyond the Page, Steve welcomes author and retired Air Force veteran Terrence Rotering to discuss his ambitious Chronicle Series, an expanding collection of books blending epic fantasy, science fiction, military action, and Christian-inspired spiritual warfare.

Terrence shares how ...

This week on Panel Chewing #151, Steve and Jarrod kick things off with a conversation about the rising value of Green Lantern #87, the Lanterns television series, and the difficult balancing act of adapting beloved comic book characters for new audiences.

Then it's time to dig into this week's comics!

Steve returns to Absolute Superman #23, a series he desperately wants to love but can't seem to quit. Jarrod explores another Conan ad...

In Chapters 21–25 of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, the mystery surrounding the burial ground deepens as Church returns from the dead, but something about him has changed.

This time, I'm discussing Jud's increasingly suspicious behavior, the strange atmosphere surrounding the burial ground, and the consequences of disrupting the natural cycle of life and death.

I'm also beginning to question whether Jud and Norma have a much deep...

The Pet Sematary read-along continues with Chapters 16–20, and things are becoming increasingly unsettling.

Victor Pascow returns with a terrifying warning for Louis Creed, raising even more questions about what's happening in Ludlow and the mysterious Pet Sematary. Was Louis really dreaming? What does Pascow know? And what lies beyond the cemetery?

We also discuss Norma's health scare, Louis settling into his new life, and Ste...

It's another weekly update from Page Chewing! This week I'm checking in on my progress through The Bonehunters, discussing the challenges of reading Malazan, and sharing why Tender Is the Flesh has become one of the most genuinely unsettling books I've encountered.

I'm also continuing my reread of R. Scott Bakker's The Second Apocalypse, exploring Stephen King's Pet Sematary, and enjoying the unexpected journey of Lone Wolf and Cub.

...

After months of reading, Page Burners dives into Chapter 22 and an explosive finale that brings storylines stretching across the Malazan series crashing together in Malaz City.

Erikson has spent an entire book moving pieces across the board.

Now they've arrived in Malaz City.

Join us for our full-spoiler discussion of Chapter 22 and the finale of The Bonehunters as we try to make sense of what just happened and what it means for the f...

The Pet Sematary read-along continues with Chapters 11–15, and it feels like we've reached the moment when Stephen King's nightmare truly begins.

This is a relatively short section, but a major event involving Victor Pascow dramatically increases the creepiness and raises some big questions. Why does Victor know Louis's name? What exactly is wrong with the Pet Sematary? What does Jud know? And how much does the town itself und...

This week on the Friday Conversation, I'm joined by Jose from Fantasy Talks Live and author Alex French for an open discussion about genre burnout and whether fantasy is particularly susceptible to it.

We talk about massive series, thousand page books, taking breaks from our favorite genres, and why we inevitably seem to come back to fantasy anyway.

Along the way, the conversation expands into standalone fantasy novels, unfinished se...

In this episode of Beyond the Page, Steve sits down with poet and author Andrea W. LeDew to discuss Polemics, a collection that grew from years of blogging, poetry, essays, and reflections on contemporary American life.

Andrea talks about her path from studying English and practicing law to homeschooling, blogging, and eventually publishing her work. We explore writing as a way of processing difficult subjects, using satire and meta...

The Pet Sematary read-along continues with Chapters 6–10, and Stephen King is already turning our attention toward one unavoidable subject: death.

This time I'm looking at the developing friendship between Louis and Jud, the Creed family dynamic, Rachel's discomfort with death, our first trip to the Pet Sematary, and the increasingly eerie feeling surrounding Ludlow and the woods.

I'm also adding our first major prediction to t...