Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch

Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch
  • 4.6 (14)
  • BOOKS
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

With their expertise in a grand total of 3 advanced degrees in English literature, as well as a lifetime of reading, Michael & Ethan get together every other week to drink Scotch and talk about books, but not about Scotch. You don’t need to listen in order, but just search for a book (story, play, poem, etc.) that interests you and follow along!

  1. APR 15

    Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day, by Jonathan L Howard, and Tamdhu 12yo

    Michael and Ethan discuss the short story “Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day,” by Jonathan Howard, while drinking Tamdhu 12yo Single Malt.. In this episode: Shout-out to Jamie from the Chanhassen Total Wine Very interesting Bluetooth headphone talk A short story is somewhere between a tweet and a novel, but closer to a tweet Putting the screws to Michael Faust both is and is not a necromancer Cabal both is and is not a D&D figure What is a homunculus? or, Ethan is Frankenstein(‘s monster)ed by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Fantasy Autism Hero Mr Spock is the Star Trek guy, not Dr Spock, a distinction you need and Ethan doesn’t Some remarks on “chatty” prose styles and TV writing Inevitable Lovecraft discussion, sorry Conclusion: TV writing predates TV A third-person narrator can have an opinion (and a D&D alignment) Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss Jack Faust, by Michael Swanwick! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page. Join us on GoodReads! Get on our Substack! Donate to our Patreon! MUSIC & SFX: "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission. "The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. "Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License. (Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

    1h 31m

  2. MAR 23

    Things That Are Also Faust

    What makes a Faust story? Michael, Ethan, and special guests Josiah & Jacob discuss this ontological question and all things Faust in this special episode. In this episode: Michael begins confrontationally. Is this episode Faust? Is this podcast Faust? Ethan is NOT in Law School. Is capitalism Faust? The Bible is inevitable. Josiah brought it up. Totally. It was Josiah. He's very smart. The Josian Anti-Faust idea (C) 2026. Demon, Helen, Margaret - Where are the lines of demarcation between them? Two questions: 1) What are you willing to sacrifice [to get what you want; and is it your very soul]? 2) What do you worship? (Josiah came up with the smart thing again. (C) 2026.) What you worship you will sacrifice. Ethan cheats with Wikipedia. Vein. American Faust: do we win? (Sorry for the Beetlejuice summoning.) If it looks like an exchange but is a gift, it's grace. If it looks like a gift but is an exchange, it's vampi-- Faust. When you're having night terrors, fart in the Devil's face and confess the Apostles' Creed. Shout-out to Reading Revisited! Every time he comes on this podcast, Jacob makes it a different podcast and/or a deal we need to wiggle out of. There are other things in Detroit other than Eminem. Let it be known, we can be charitable to a garbage fire. The answer is a tautology. Or cake. Here's each work we discuss: Is it Faust? The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton: Is it Faust? The book of Job: Is it Faust? It's A Wonderful Life: Is it Anti-Faust? Is it Faust? Jesus tempted in the desert: Is it Faust? Is it Anti-Faust? Is Faust a fan-fiction of Jesus? Genesis 3: Is it the OG Faust? A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens: Is it Faust? Trust, by Hernan Diaz: Is it Faust? The Secret History, by Donna Tartt: Is it Faust? The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde: Is it Faust? "The Ballad of Reading Gaol," by Oscar Wilde: Is it Faust? Of One Blood, by Pauline Hopkins: Is it Faust? Hadestown, by Anaïs Mitchell: Is it Faust? Orpheus & Euridice: Is it [proto-]Faust? Dracula, by Bram Stoker: Is it Faust? Hades & Persephone: Is it Faust? Interview with the Vampire: Is it Faust? Underworld: Is it Faust? "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," by Charlie Daniels: Is it Faust? Robert Johnson: Is he Faust? O Brother, Where Art Thou?: Is it Faust? Oedipus: Is he Faust? Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke: Is it Faust? Devil's Advocate: Is it Faust? Beetlejuice: Is it Faust? Macbeth, by William Shakespeare: Is it Faust? The Waterboy: Is it Faust? Rick & Morty: Is it Faust? Doctor Who: Is it Faust? Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie: Is it Faust? Ghosts, S4E22-S5E1: Is it Faust? The Passenger, and Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy: Are they Faust? Previously featured on Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy: Is it Faust? Grimm's Fairy Tales, e.g. "The Devil's Sooty Brother," "Bearskin," "The Devil and His Grandmother," "The Gravemound," "The Peasant and the Devil," "Doctor Know-all," "The Spirit in the Bottle": Are they Faust? Irish Fairy Tales, and Russian Stories: Are they Faust? Luther throwing his inkwell at the Devil: Is it Faust? "The Little Mermaid," by Hans Christian Andersen: Is it Faust - WAIT, we'll talk about it later! "The Magic Thread": Is it Faust? Click: Is it Faust? The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare: Is it Faust? Breaking Bad: Is it Faust? Rapid(-ish) Fire: Fullmetal Alchemist "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked," by Cage the Elephant Better Call Saul Melmoth the Wanderer, by Charles Maturin - WAIT, we might also talk about that later(?) It Follows The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Death Note "Button, Button," by Richard Matheson "The Monkey's Paw," by W.W. Jacobs The Third Man[, by Graham Greene] The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis That Hideous Strength, by C.S. Lewis The Magician's Nephew, by C.S. Lewis Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe Hamlet, by William Shakespeare Love's Labours Lost, by William Shakespeare "Goblin Market," By Christina Rosetti Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones Paradise Lost, by John Milton The Tempest, by William Shakespeare "Calliope," by Neil Gaiman Ravelstein, by Saul Bellow Previously featured on Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch KPop Demon Hunters The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne Previously featured on Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes Previously featured on Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley Liar, Liar Bruce Almighty Big Darby O'Gill and the Little People Phantom of the Opera[, by Gaston Leroux] "Alastor," by Percy Bysshe Shelley Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathanael Hawthorne Wittenberg, by David Davalos - DON'T BOTHER Stranger Things (especially Season 5) Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss “Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day,” by Jonathan L. Howard! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page. Join us on GoodReads! Get on our Substack! Donate to our Patreon! MUSIC & SFX: "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission. "The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. "Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License. (Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

    1h 59m

  3. MAR 9

    Opera de Lille's Gounod's Faust and Toki Suntory

    Michael, Ethan, and special guest Josiah discuss Gounod’s opera Faust while drinking Suntory Toki Japanese whisky. In this episode: We watched Opera de Lille’s production of Gounod’s Faust This is a two-intermission opera Josiah’s favorite aria How sincere is Faust? (not a Romeo and Juliet discussion) Also not The Age of Innocence podcast However, it MIGHT be the “Tragedy of Marguerite” podcast Misinterpreting the plot to make it more interesting Did the devil make Faust do it, or did Faust make the devil do it? The Romantic Era in literature is from when Michael said to when Ethan said; the Romantic Era in music begins a couple decades before the date Ethan said Does Michael hate opera??? Next time Michael, Ethan, and Josiah (still/again!) will discuss the Gounod opera Faust! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page. Join us on GoodReads! Get on our Substack! Donate to our Patreon! MUSIC & SFX: "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission. "The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. "Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License. (Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

    1h 38m

  4. FEB 9

    The Memory of Whiteness, by Kim Stanley Robinson, and Toki Suntory, Part 2

    Michael, Ethan, and special guest Josiah discuss The Memory of Whiteness, by Kim Stanley Robinson while drinking Suntory Toki Japanese whisky. In this episode: The orchestra! Lots of tree stuff, also snake stuff and lizard stuff Curation vs collage vs other art stuff We GOTTA talk about the metadrama Vertumnus, by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1591) (another trap for a date-pilled boy) At least two topological surnames All (or at least some) about Margaret College is the time when men become deterministic Margaret in this book is the scholars from Marlowe, Margaret from Goethe, Zeitblom from Mann, and also Horatio from Hamlet Two-thirds of this podcast think the book is an anime The score: 2 damned, 2 saved, 2 (????) (Enraging) Next time Michael, Ethan, and Josiah (still/again!) will discuss the Gounod opera Faust! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page. Join us on GoodReads! Get on our Substack! Donate to our Patreon! MUSIC & SFX: "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission. "The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. "Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License. (Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

    1h 22m

  5. JAN 26

    The Memory of Whiteness, by Kim Stanley Robinson, and Toki Suntory, Part 1

    Michael, Ethan, and special guest Josiah discuss The Memory of Whiteness, by Kim Stanley Robinson while drinking Suntory Toki Japanese whisky. In this episode: Accusations of cuckoo-bird-ery Is this book Faust? Is this book Alastor? Is Alastor Faust? Having a stroke, falling into a singularity: pretty much the same thing The Contexts of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Faust Translations, by Mathelinda Nabugodi Determinism leads to free will leads to determinism leads to free will, etc Have you ever heard of a piece of music starting with a prologue??? Ethan scoops Josiah, but at least he gives Josiah credit for it Lots of mountain stuff The music of the spheres? THAT’s provocative Ethan loses but is only called out for it the second time Nepenthe, the drug of forgetfulness Some extremely cool and not at all completely nerdy discussion of different types of genitive We are not doing any kind of linking or backgrounding of the punishment song. We’re all suffering together Note: Josiah did force the karaoke to go on MUCH longer, but the editors have cut it down purely for the sake of avoiding a copyright strike and for no other reason Next time Michael, Ethan, and Josiah will continue to discuss The Memory of Whiteness, by Kim Stanley Robinson! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page. Join us on GoodReads! Get on our Substack! Donate to our Patreon! MUSIC & SFX: "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission. "The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. "Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License. (Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

    1h 10m

  6. JAN 12

    The Devil and Tom Walker, by Washington Irving, and Suntory Toki

    Michael, Ethan, and special guest Jacob discuss the short story “The Devil and Tom Walker,” by Washington Irving, while drinking Suntory Toki Japanese whisky. In this episode: Is Michael the devil? What gives Benet the right? Pedestrian deals with the devil Faust scoreboard so far: 2 damned, 2 saved, 1 (?????) Honesty and deeper honesty God terms, devil terms, and Deadpool terms Rules, rules, we want more rules Hey hey we talk about the Monkees! (Also The Devil’s Advocate, The Simpsons, and, inevitably, Star Trek) “Little brothers should always let their older brothers go first.” - Book of Hezekiah 14:12 The Devil and Daniel Webster — 1941 film Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss The Memory of Whiteness, by Kim Stanley Robinson! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page. Join us on GoodReads! Get on our Substack! Donate to our Patreon! MUSIC & SFX: "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission. "The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. "Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License. (Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

    1h 33m

  7. 12/22/2025

    The Devil and Tom Walker, by Washington Irving, and Suntory Toki

    Michael, Ethan, and special guest Jacob discuss the short story “The Devil and Tom Walker,” by Washington Irving, while drinking Suntory Toki Japanese (gasp!) whisky. In this episode: A not-too-presumptuous new rule The Devil belongs in America American mythology creating arbitrary exclusions and inclusions… who would have thought? Landscape as character Making up theories out of whole cloth Everyone should know that shortcuts will go badly for them It’s a Wonderful Life as Reverse Faust Con men, flim-flam artists, and bunko Public Universal Friend’s wikipedia page is worth reading “Charity begins at home” SOUNDS very pious Lots and lots of playing Telephone, it’s fine There’s nothing unique about the postmodernists God’s Philosophers, by James Hannam Next time Michael, Ethan, and special guest Jacob will discuss the short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster," by Stephen Vincent Benet! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page. Join us on GoodReads! Get on our Substack! Donate to our Patreon! MUSIC & SFX: “Fools that Will Laugh on Earth,” by Benji Inniger, from the Original Soundtrack to The Spiritual Tragedy of Doctor Faustus "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission. "The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. "Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License. (Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

    1h 30m

  8. 12/08/2025

    Doctor Faustus, by Thomas Mann, and Jura 10yo, Part 4

    Michael and Ethan discuss Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn as Told by a Friend, by Thomas Mann, while drinking Jura 10yo single malt. In this episode: We do start off this episode very, very similarly to how we started at least Part 3, if not also Part 2… sorry REALLY REALLY REALLY helpful: A Reader’s Guide to Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus, by Tobias Boes The Devil Is in the Details: Neurological Diseases Presenting as Religious Hallucinations in Two Literary Works, by Matheus Kahakura Franco Pedro, Thiago Ferreira Simões De Souza, Francisco Manoel Branco Germiniani Thomas Mann knows so many things AND can get so deep in the weeds (at least seemingly) When your hobbyhorse comes riding up, sometimes you just have to mount it We do get into the weeds on theology and with Latin and stuff, but for once it’s like straight from the text The devil’s objective may be the subjective On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder Hitler’s Monsters, by Eric Kurlander No one said “thank you” Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss the short story “The Devil and Tom Walker,” by Washington Irving! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page. Join us on GoodReads! Get on our Substack! Donate to our Patreon! MUSIC & SFX: “Fools that Will Laugh on Earth,” by Benji Inniger, from the Original Soundtrack to The Spiritual Tragedy of Doctor Faustus "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission. "The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. "Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License. (Links to books & products are affiliate links.)

    1h 33m
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4.6
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

With their expertise in a grand total of 3 advanced degrees in English literature, as well as a lifetime of reading, Michael & Ethan get together every other week to drink Scotch and talk about books, but not about Scotch. You don’t need to listen in order, but just search for a book (story, play, poem, etc.) that interests you and follow along!

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