Wand

The Cat gets ‘poetic and foul-mouthed’ in a bewitching episode with award-winning author and academic, the incantatory Lisa L. Hannett. While Kaaron gets a Lacroix and Joseph gets lost in the nineties, Aaron dodges the post-con blues by calling from the toilet. William Hope Hodgson is discussed, as is the gathering of disasters. An extended riff on the mixtape follows: the mixtape as a labour of love; the mixtape as a time capsule; the emotional beats of a mixtape. Also, the secret language of couples, the execution of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, and the cultural etiquette of burial mounds. The emotional safety net of a selfie and the magical thinking of everyday life. Aaron makes a mixtape confession. Lisa is careful not to say völva.

Runestones and philtres conjured in this episode include:

• Lisa’s Viking Women
• Aaron’s Dirty Heads
• M John Harrison’s The Course of the Heart

Check out the episode page for more pics and bits.