New episode is out now here, or wherever you get your podcasts from. This time we talked about Iain Banks' debut 1984 novel The Wasp Factory, which is simultaneously a very well written book and also difficult to get through at times due to things like the extended and very graphic scenes of animal cruelty in it.
As ever; no ads, no sponsors, no AI, just talking. Note: we're no longer pushing episodes to Spotify.
UK trans/non-binary charity Esse House are running a campaign to
'...distribute accessible toilet keys to people who are experiencing, or are fearful of, hostilities in public facilities...'
So we're raising money for it. Please help us out here and as well as donating via our ko-fi page you can of course donate directly to them if you prefer, on their website. We will be passing on 100% of all we raise, along with our own donation in a few days time.
In this episode we discussed Olga Ravn's Booker Prize longlisted novel The Wax Child which has a very Satanic theme of the utter insanity of the European witch-persecution of the 17th Century, it being a fictionalised account of real events. High marks all round for this, with 2 of us giving it a straight up 10 (of whom I was one).
As usual, no ads, no sponsors, no AI and just to re-mention, if you listen to us on Spotify then no new episodes will be on there after the end of May as we don't want our content profiting AI and weapons investors who also pay artists and bands an absolute pittance. Its at the link above or anywhere you get your podcasts from.
This is the final podcast episode from before Devil's Library existed as a separate thing. In this one, my Satanic sibling Ligeia and I talk about Susanna Clarke's prize winning fantasy novel, Piranesi - Ligeia had never read any Clarke before and I think she fell in love with this a bit :)
It's here , or wherever you get your podcasts from - as ever, no ads, no sponsors, no fucking AI and a reminder that if you're kind enough to subscribe to us on Spotify that as from May 31st new episodes will not be appearing on there as we're not prepared to be on a platform that funds AI and weapons development. Very unSatanic.
So, when we were recording the last episode of the podcast there was a bit that reminded me (on the spot, so no time to do research) of an old sci-fi story I read a long time ago. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of it, or the author and there is a small part of me that thinks it might even have been a Twilight Zone episode.
But on the off-chance it was a short story, if anyone recognises this (very sparing, sorry) description I'd love to add a link to the story in the episodes show notes.
So, the story is centred around time-travel and the ruling society has turned it into a tourist attraction where there are guided tours into the past. As part of each tour, customers are told never to stray off the paths that are clearly marked out for fear of the possible consequences.
On one tour (which I think was a group going back to Jurassic times to see the dinosaurs), one of the customers stumbles and places one foot off the designated path and onto a patch of grass. He quickly recovers his balance but the damage is done - the future they return to has been irrevocably altered in numerous ways.
This month we read and talked about the Strugatsky brothers influential sci-fi classic 'Roadside Picnic'. We all really enjoyed this one and its not difficult to appreciate why it became a classic and has inspired countless authors, movie makers (Tarkovsky's movie 'Stalker' is based on the novel) and game developers (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl is loosely based on the novel too).
One thing to note - we're leaving Spotify after May, we can't carry on contributing, even in our small way, to a company that does shitty things to musicians and who's ex-CEO invests in AI and AI weapons companies.
We transferred the first set of monthly profits from the sales of our Ultio Baphometis comp album (a compilation album of extreme metal/punk/'core artists who all have at least one gender non-conforming/trans/enby member) to TransActual, amounting to £103.37 (the album is set to a 'name your price' model, hence the odd amounts).
Our longer-term six month campaign 'Fruits of Knowledge' (which is a campaign to challenge bigotry and far-right extremism at its roots by increasing empathy via book reading) now has 2 months left to run. Its difficult to gauge what the final tally will be, but it will be in the hundreds of pounds.
We attended two alt/flea/fetish markets to both talk about what we do and also to sell merch and we are booked in for two more in the early Summer - details will be forthcoming when the markets themselves are announced.
As a side note - 100% of all profit from merch sales, either online or offline, goes to the orgs and charities we support. No one takes a single penny. We also publish our accounts publicly every 12 months (all donor names/details are redacted for privacy). The next publication date is Oct 31st this year.
We have restocked our shop, the image below shows a small selection of what's available. All designs are our own and no type of AI was used at any stage of the design process.
We have made the decision to remove our two podcasts, The Devil's Library and Devil's Discourse from Spotify, as of June this year. Spotify is terrible for artists and musicians and Daniel Ek's choices to invest heavily in AI and weaponry is unSatanic. If you do listen to our podcasts on Spotify, we urge you to find other ways - methods are outlined on our dedicatedsites for each podcast.
We have a new Satanic Ritual in development, 'Rite of Golgotha' which will go live soon, alongside our others (youtube link - remember there are privateways to access youtube content).
Not sure if this community is still alive but just in case...
I noticed today that my app menu and applet shortcuts to start GIMP/photoGIMP weren't working. A quick visit to the photoGIMP repo and someone has posted the fix (all credit goes to UniverseLord for this fix).
I originally installed GIMP via Flatpak so mileage may vary. Anyway, close photoGIMP/GIMP if its open.
Go to ~/.local/share/applications/ and make a backup copy (just in case) of org.gimp.GIMP.desktop . Now edit that file (not the backup file) and look for the line:
Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=gimp-3.0 --file-forwarding org.gimp.GIMP @@u %U @@
and change 3.0 to 3.2 so the line reads:
Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=gimp-3.2 --file-forwarding org.gimp.GIMP @@u %U @@
Save that file, close it and photoGIMP should now open fine.
We don't enjoy being overly critical of books but this is one of the worst books I've ever read - I actually couldn't finish it, it was that bad and this review included our first (and hopefully last) 0 scores.
I haven't the heart to go through why its so bad again - just listen to the podcast episode if you want to.
We did a bonus podcast episode discussing three of the stories from Susanna Clarke's short story collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu - the stories are all set in the Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell universe but its not vital you've read the novel before reading these stories.
As ever, no ads, no subscriptions, no sponsors or any of that type of shit. Available wherever you get your podcasts from.
New episode of the podcast is out now wherever you get your podcasts from.
We talked about Play Nice by Rachel Harrison. I mention it during the episode but its the first book we've done as a podcast group that I really struggled with. She's clearly a good author but this book just did not land for me. I'd be interested in hearing others opinions if you've read it.
As ever, no ads, no sponsors or any of that corporate crap.
Ultio Baphometis, our compilation album of UK based metal/alt bands with gender non-conforming members, is now live. 100% of all profits go to TransActual, a UK trans-led charity combating lawfare and billionaire funded hate and is released at 'name your price' model.
It's out on Mirlo (a workers collective organised alternative to Bandcamp), who generously allow us to waive processing fees to get more money to TransActual. Please give what you can but be aware that some ad-blockers can affect payment processors.
Ultio Baphometis, our compilation album of UK based metal/alt bands with gender non-conforming members, is now live. 100% of all profits go to TransActual, a UK trans-led charity combating lawfare and billionaire funded hate and is released at 'name your price' model.
It's out on Mirlo (a workers collective organised alternative to Bandcamp), who generously allow us to waive processing fees to get more money to TransActual. Please give what you can but be aware that some ad-blockers can affect payment processors.
On Sat 14th Feb we'll be at Birmingham Bizarre Bazaar - the second city's biggest alt/fetish Market from 12-6pm - Nightingale Inn, Kent St, Birmingham Stop by for a chat and maybe a browse of out merch - 100% of all profit goes to the orgs/charities we support.
Wē bēodaþ Sātanes gāst tō fultumne ūs on ūre strīde for frēodōme.
We are in the return of the dark ages. Under the guise of tradition and religion, individual liberties are being attacked, and those who do not fit the mold are quickly losing their rights. Among the groups impacted the most is the LGBTQIA+ community, especially the trans community. All over the western world the LGBTQIA+ community is becoming the scapegoat for the supposed moral demise of society. Due to this, violence against LGBTQIA+ people is rising, and their rights are under threat.
Unfortunately, this is nothing new.
February is LGBTQIA+ history month in the UK. In light of this, we celebrate the courage it takes to live openly, the tenderness it takes to love honestly, and the fierce beauty of becoming who you truly are in a world that doesn’t always make it easy. Pride is not just about visibility—it’s about survival, joy, chosen family, and the right to exist without apology. To every LGBTQIA person: you are not a phase, a problem, or a debate. You are real, you are worthy, and you are loved.
We ask all members of the UK community, regardless of religion, belief, or creed, to inform themselves of the struggles of this community. When learning this history, don't think of them as stories or statistics -- every difficult story is from a person whose life is or was as complex as yours. Each statistic is a person who just wants to live and love as freely as you do. If you still do not support LGBQTIA+ rights after knowing the struggles that the LGBQTIA+ community has faced, we challenge you to think about why. If you believe that Pride is a sin, we remind you that there is no greater expression of unfounded Pride than assuming that you know what is better for one's life than they know themselves.
We stand with the LGBTQIA+ community, and we ask that you do too.
If you're into the horror genre, the Bram Stoker Awards for 2025 have just released their preliminary ballot listings. Lots of categories, lots of great work - not just book fiction but also graphic novels, poetry, short stories and non-fiction.
Y'know, just in case you wanted to add to your already completely unmanageable TBR piles.
So, the latest episode of the Devil's Library podcast is now live. Safe to say the four of us did not have the same, or even a similar, opinion about this one!
As usual, available from the link above or wherever you get your podcasts from and also as ever, no ads, no sponsors, no crap.
https://thedevilslibrary.libsyn.com/episode-14-the-wasp-factory-by-iain-banksOpen linkView original on piefed.blahaj.zone
