Shows
Authors Die TwiceOikospiel: The Twin Snakes (with Michael Barr)Bryan and Nathan are joined by Michael Barr to discuss David Kanaga's experimental indie game Oikospiel (2017). Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-11-171h 05Authors Die TwiceDeath Metal Gear HeadBryan and Nathan begin their discussion of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001). They talk about the game's unique interplay between immersion and abstraction, its deep silliness, and the complexity of its simulated embodiment.Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-11-0345 minAuthors Die TwiceThe Old Hunters Beach Vacation Halloween SpecialPlease enjoy this bonus Halloween episode on Bloodborne’s The Old Hunters DLC. We'll post a full episode next Monday as usual.Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-10-3139 minAuthors Die TwiceCritical Attack: Lightning BoultIn this episode, Bryan and Nathan discuss Jonathan Boulter’s 2015 book Parables of the Posthuman: Digital Realities, Gaming, and the Player Experience, published by Wayne State University Press. They discuss the concept of posthumanism and how games help us elaborate on it. Nathan proposes an alternate framing (“prehumanism”) and talks about why Boulter’s book feels so prescient in the context of the Metal Gear Solid series in particular. Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-10-201h 13Authors Die TwiceYou're My PlayerBryan and Nathan discuss Chill Games, "Smart Games," Dumb Games, and Dumb Smart Games, and Bryan shares his early impressions of Metal Gear Solid 2 (the topic of an upcoming episode). They also cover the second half of Kentucky Route Zero, including the brilliant Xanadu sequence and the risks of narrative complexity creep. Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-10-061h 10Authors Die TwiceAn Empty Madness That HurtsBryan and Nathan get "enfrenzied" as they continue their discussion of Bloodborne. They discuss the role of madness, the empty form of knowledge, and why scholars need so much sedative. Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-09-2252 minAuthors Die TwiceCleric Beast ModeAfter mentioning the game in almost every episode so far, Bryan and Nathan finally have a dedicated discussion about Bloodborne. They talk about Nathan's recently published book (Grant Us Eyes: The Art of Paradox in Bloodborne), Bryan's recent replay, Evil Santa, and the one area in the game that still makes no sense. Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-09-081h 07Authors Die TwiceGames Criticism (with Erick Verran)Bryan and Nathan are joined by games scholar Erick Verran to talk about video game criticism and writing. They discuss the pitfalls of professional scholarship, the differences between European and American games writing, and the beauty of classic gaming magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly. Find Erick Verran at https://linktr.ee/erickverranFind us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-08-251h 16Authors Die TwiceGetting Mise'd (with Justin Carpenter)Bryan and Nathan are joined by literary and games scholar Justin Carpenter (University of Utah) to talk about Kentucky Route Zero. They discuss the game's amazing art style and sound design, its literariness, and the ways it challenges ideas of play, agency, and control.Find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@authorsdietwiceHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-08-111h 28Authors Die TwiceSweihander/Zweihander (with Shane)Bryan and Nathan are once again joined by Shane (cohost of the terrific Reel Rap, a podcast about adaptations) to talk about Dark Souls 1. They discuss sentences lost to time, the meaning of humanity (!?), and why the game's world of Lordran resembles a giant haunted house. Have questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-07-281h 22
Reel RapWoodcutters with Bryan CounterWe are joined by author and critic Bryan Counter to discuss Thomas Bernhard's 1984 German novel, Woodcutters (Holzfällen). You will remember Bryan from our 4th episode when we discussed Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, Remains of the Day. Bryan also hosts a brilliant podcast with friend of the show Nathan Wainstein called Author's Die Twice.Listen to Author's Die Twice here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/authors-die-twice/id1802931188Buy Bryan's new book: https://anthempress.com/books/four-moments-of-aesthetic-experience-hb
2025-07-221h 26Authors Die TwiceYou Would Expect SpidersBryan and Nathan finish up their conversation about Silent Hill 2 (2024), focusing especially on the game's final boss and discussing (again) the game's structures of repetition, the warehouse setting, and why spider enemies in games usually suck.Have questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-07-141h 17Authors Die TwiceThis Guys Are Sick (with Christopher Jason Bell)Bryan and Nathan are joined by filmmaker Christopher Jason Bell (Miss Me Yet, Failed State) to discuss Final Fantasy VII. They touch on the generative capacities of technological limitation for gameplay and narrative, what motivates the various graphical iterations of the game's characters, and the role of paratext in the experience of playing.Find Christopher Jason Bell at https://linktr.ee/christopherjasonbellHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-06-301h 21
The Virtual Jewel BoxAesthetic experience, with Bryan Counter and Nathan WainsteinThis episode features Bryan Counter (Framingham State University) discussing his new book Four Moments of Aesthetic Experience: Reading Huysmans, Proust, McCarthy, and Cusk (published by Anthem Press) with Nathan Wainstein (Department of English, University of Utah). Counter theorizes aesthetic experience as something that mediates between subjective judgment and objective art, emphasizing the role of chance, atmosphere, and embodied encounters with literature. Rather than focusing on formal analysis, he examines moments within texts where characters grapple with aesthetic experience, arguing that our experience of reading often transcends the content itself.
Episode edited by Ethan Rauschkolb. Named after our s...
2025-06-2347 minAuthors Die TwiceSen's Forest (with Debbie Urbanski)Bryan and Nathan are joined by author Debbie Urbanski (Portalmania, After World: A Novel) to discuss her work and the 1963 novel The Wall by Marlen Haushofer. They touch on the gamelike qualities of narrative, environmental storytelling, and the metaphysics of invisible walls.Have questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-06-161h 25Authors Die TwiceAbandoned Old Workshop: Joseph LaBine on Niall MontgomeryBryan and Nathan inaugurate a new series, "Abandoned Old Workshop," where they are joined by colleagues in a focused presentation of their recent or forthcoming academic work. In this episode, they speak with Joseph LaBine, editor of terminal 1: Arrivals (Flat Singles Press, 2025), a collection of poetry by the Irish architect, artist, and critic Niall Montgomery. Among other topics, they discuss Montgomery's status as a figure in modernism, and his friendship with and influence from authors like James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and T. S. Eliot. terminal 1: https://www.flatsinglespress.com/shop/p/terminal-1-arrivals
2025-06-091h 25Authors Die TwiceFormless Two: Immersed in SimsBryan and Nathan embark on another "formless one," discussing the coziness of survival horror games, different valences of horror in the metal genre, and American author Bennett Sims's short story "Portonaccio Sarcophagus."Have questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-06-021h 24Authors Die TwiceEscape from Nathan Avenue (Wait...)Bryan and Nathan continue their conversation about Silent Hill 2 (2024), discussing the game's fascinating structures of repetition, déjà vu, and anonymity.Have questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-05-191h 07Authors Die TwiceEscape from Nathan AvenueBryan and Nathan discuss Bloober Team's 2024 remake of Silent Hill 2. They talk about the game's incredible sound design, the multiple ways one can and cannot identify with a video game avatar, and why this might be the smelliest game of all time. They also debut a new segment on video game atmosphere called Wainstein and Smog. Have questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-05-0555 minAuthors Die TwiceWanna See My Guy? (with Shane)It turns out Bryan and Nathan aren't done talking about Elden Ring. This time they're joined by Shane, a Living Success and the co-host of Reel Rap, a podcast about adaptations (you can find him at @crealoya on Twitter). Together they discuss the game's soundtrack and atmosphere, the irrelevance of its plot, and the question of a possible film adaptation.
2025-04-211h 11Authors Die TwiceFormless OneIn their first grab bag episode, Bryan and Nathan talk about the games they've been playing and the texts they've been reading, including Monster Hunter: Wilds, Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, "House-sitting" by Bennett Sims, and After World: A Novel by Debbie Urbanski. They then discuss Jorge Luis Borges's 1939 short story "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" and introduce their Enigma of the Week. Have questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-04-141h 12Authors Die TwiceConsort Radahn's Valentine's Day SpecialBryan and Nathan conclude (for now) their discussion of Elden Ring and its DLC by talking about their hard-won victory over the DLC's final boss in co-op (spoilers), engaging with Souls multiplayer systems for the first time, and the jubilation of being "smooched" on stream.Have questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-04-0753 minAuthors Die TwiceDraugr Ledgelord (with Sam Tett)In this week's episode, special guest Sam Tett (University of Utah) joins Bryan and Nathan to talk about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011). We discuss open world boundaries, the game's (underrated?) combat, the joys of ledging, and why the Dragonborn might be his own dad.The Eurogamer essay mentioned by Nathan is "The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is Anything but Overrated" by Chris Tapsell: https://www.eurogamer.net/games-of-the-decade-the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim-is-anything-but-overratedHave questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-03-311h 07Authors Die TwiceThese Scadutree Fragments I Have Shored Against My RuinsBryan and Nathan continue their conversation about Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree by discussing oversized objects, the DLC's strange sky, and why every Souls game might need a single un-openable door.Have questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-03-2552 minAuthors Die TwiceUndungeoningNathan and Bryan talk about spatial design and wonder in Elden Ring and the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Have questions or comments? Email us at authorsdietwice@gmail.com
2025-03-181h 04Authors Die TwiceIntroductionBryan and Nathan introduce the themes of the podcast, take a stab at explaining the title, and touch on their shared history with games.
2025-03-1811 min