Page Chewing
Page Chewing is where books, comics, and conversations collide. From in-depth chats with authors and artists to lively discussions with fellow readers, we explore the craft of storytelling, the worlds we love, and the ideas that stay with us long after the last page.
Understanding Blood Meridian with Steven Frye | Judge Holden, the Kid & What It All Means
After 23 chapters, the Blood Meridian read-along is complete—but the questions certainly aren't.
For this special concluding conversation, I'm joined by Steven Frye, author of Understanding Cormac McCarthy, to dig into some of the biggest questions I was left with after finishing Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.
What exactly is Judge Holden? Why is he so interested in the kid? Does the kid actually change? What does his refusal to completely embrace the Judge's philosophy tell us about him? And what really happens in the jakes at the end of the novel?
We also di...
Our REAL Pick of the Week Wasn't a New Comic | Panel Chewing #149
We start with Jarrod's thoughts on Supergirl, which leads us into a larger conversation about superhero movies, shorter theatrical windows, interconnected universes, and whether Marvel and DC would be better served by worrying less about the bigger universe and simply making good individual movies. 149
Then it's time for this week's comics, including Lost Fantasy #2, Absolute Cassandra Cain #1, Detective Comics #1113, Absolute Green Arrow #5, The Hab #4, and Hellraiser: Resurrections #1. There aren't any complete disasters in the stack, but there are definitely a few books hanging on by a thread. 149 149 149
That brings us to what we're calling our “li...
Blood Meridian Chapter 23 | The Dance Never Ends
We've reached the end of Blood Meridian.
Chapter 23 brings the kid, now the man, face-to-face with Judge Holden one final time, and suddenly so many things we've been tracking throughout this read-along begin connecting.
The dancing.
The kid's capacity for mercy.
The Judge's obsession with war.
Predators and prey.
Cycles of violence.
And the question we've been asking almost from the beginning: Why did Judge Holden take such an interest in the kid?
In this episode, I work through my immediate reaction to...
Blood Meridian Chapter 22 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
For twenty-two chapters, we've been asking the same question.
Why is Judge Holden interested in the kid?
We've noticed the smiles.
The conversations.
The Judge's attempts to influence him.
The kid's apparent resistance.
Holden hunting him through the desert.
And throughout all of it, we've wondered whether the Judge sees something in the kid that we don't.
Chapter 22 may finally give us the answer.
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Blood Meridian Chapter 21 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 21 is short, but it gives us one of the clearest looks yet at who the kid has become.
Wounded and still being hunted by Judge Holden, the kid has multiple opportunities to abandon Tobin and save himself. Tobin even tells him to go.
The kid refuses.
He also gets an opportunity to fire at the Judge and doesn't take it, raising another question we've been carrying since Chapter 15: is the kid actually afraid of Judge Holden?
Then comes one of the great reversals of the novel. The kid and Tobin...
Blood Meridian Chapter 20 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
In Chapter 20, the remains of the gang are scattered and vulnerable. The kid is wounded, Toadvine and Tobin are trying to survive alongside him, and the hunters we've followed throughout the novel have finally become the hunted.
Except for Judge Holden.
The Judge emerges from the destruction of the gang seemingly transformed into an even more frightening figure. He stalks the survivors through the wilderness, calls out to them, offers forgiveness, and seems so capable of manipulating people through language that the others are afraid even to listen to him.
In this episode...
Page Burners: The Bonehunters Ch. 22 | The Empire Turns
We've reached the end of The Bonehunters.
In this episode of Page Burners, we dive into Chapter 22, as Steven Erikson brings months of reading and storylines stretching across multiple Malazan novels, crashing together in an explosive finale.
After four months with The Bonehunters, it's finally time to say goodbye to Book Six and figure out exactly what this ending means for the Malazan Empire and the characters we've followed this far.
As always, this is a full-spoiler discussion for The Bonehunters and everything we've read previously in Malazan Book of the Fallen and...
Blood Meridian Chapter 19 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 19 brings one of the biggest turning points in our Blood Meridian read-along: John Joel Glanton finally meets his end.
After taking control of the Colorado River ferry, Glanton's gang turns another opportunity for profit into something far more horrific. Travelers who simply want to cross the river become victims of robbery, murder, assault, and abuse as the gang's violence reaches another extreme.
But this time, there are consequences.
The Yumas attack the ferry operation, killing Glanton and many of his men. After spending so much of the novel hunting, murdering, and profiting...
Blood Meridian Chapter 18 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 18 of Blood Meridian is extremely short, but there's much more happening here than its length initially suggests.
The chapter focuses on the disabled man Glanton's gang has been carrying in a cage. When a group of women discovers him, their reaction creates a striking contrast with the way the gang has treated him: they release him, wash him, care for him, and seemingly recognize a humanity the men around him have ignored.
Then Judge Holden intervenes.
After the man wanders into the water and begins to drown, the Judge pulls him out...
Beyond the Page: Can Science Prove Life After Death? | Don Schechter on Ascendants
In this episode of Beyond the Page, Steve sits down with filmmaker, professor, TEDx director, and author Don Schechter to discuss his science fiction techno thriller Ascendants.
Don shares the remarkable 20 year journey that took Ascendants from an idea for a film to a series of short films and eventually a novel. They explore the book's collision of science and belief, what happens when technology divides society into those who can "ascend" and those who cannot, and why the story feels particularly timely in the age of AI and enormously powerful technology companies.
The conversation...
Blood Meridian Chapter 17 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 17 may be the most revealing Judge Holden chapter of Blood Meridian so far.
The Judge lays out his philosophy of war, games, morality, chance, agency, and the human desire to impose order on a universe that may have none. His argument that war exists independently of human judgment gives us one of the clearest glimpses yet into the worldview behind this mysterious character.
But then McCarthy complicates things even further.
Around the fire, the Judge performs an apparently impossible trick with a coin, leaving us once again wondering whether we're witnessing something...
This Comic Feels Like a Nightmare | Panel Chewing #148
This week on Panel Chewing, we're talking Batman, dropping comics from our pull lists, discovering some unexpected favorites and reading a comic that feels like an actual nightmare.
We kick things off with a list of the Top 10 standalone Batman stories, including The Long Halloween, Hush, The Court of Owls, The Killing Joke, Year One, and The Dark Knight Returns. Some placements make sense. Others? We're not so sure. We also discover a couple of Batman stories we somehow haven't read yet.
Then we dig into this week's comics, including Cruel Kingdom Vol. 2 #1, Fury of...
Blood Meridian Chapter 16 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 16 returns us to Glanton's gang as they continue moving across the landscape and leaving death behind them.
This isn't one of the most character-heavy chapters of Blood Meridian, but it reinforces just how completely violence has become the gang's normal way of interacting with the world. Murder barely requires justification anymore, and consequences seem almost irrelevant.
In this episode, I look at the horrifying fate of the Delaware scouts, the killing of Owens and the gang's apparent lack of concern about accountability, another disturbing disappearance, and the cruelty surrounding two brothers separated by violence.<...
Beyond the Page: Samurai in Space, Character-Driven Sci-Fi & Starfire Dragons with Dawn Ross
On this episode of Beyond the Page, I’m joined by science-fiction author Dawn Ross, creator of the seven-book Starfire Dragons series.
Dawn explains how the “dragons” of Starfire Dragons aren't literal creatures, but symbolic of a futuristic warrior culture. At the center of the story are characters dealing with loyalty, family, morality, and the difficult choices that arise when doing the “right” thing isn't always clear.
We also talk about Dawn's lifelong love of character-driven storytelling, how being bullied as a child led her to create heroes and adventures in her imagination, and what it was lik...
Blood Meridian Chapter 15 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 15 shifts the focus back toward the kid as Glanton's gang is scattered, exhausted, starving, and on the run.
In this episode, I look at the kid's encounter with the wounded Shelby and his refusal to kill him, raising a difficult question we've encountered before: is refusing to kill an act of mercy when it leaves someone behind to suffer?
We also get one of the most striking scenes in the novel so far as the kid encounters a burning tree in the desert surrounded by animals. For a brief moment, he seems to enter...
Blood Meridian Chapter 14 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 14 pushes Glanton's gang even further into violence that seems increasingly disconnected from profit, survival, or any practical purpose.
After wondering last chapter whether these men kill for profit or pleasure, I'm beginning to lean toward an answer. The scalp trade may finance their reign of terror, but much of what they're doing now seems to exist simply because they want to inflict violence.
In this episode, I look at that escalation, one particularly disturbing act involving two puppies, the return of buzzards and blood soaked landscape imagery, and Judge Holden's increasingly revealing worldview.
<...The Warrior Prophet Chapters 22–25: The Circumfix
Our full-series reread of R. Scott Bakker’s The Warrior Prophet reaches its conclusion with Chapters 22–25.
We also look back at The Warrior Prophet as a whole and ask a question that surprised all three of us: Is this book actually better on a reread than we remembered? Both Shawn and Shobz found the battles and desert journey much less overwhelming this time, while I found myself appreciating the Esmenet and Serwë material more than I remembered.
⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS: This discussion contains spoilers for all seven books of The Second Apocalypse.
Next time, the...
Blood Meridian Chapter 13 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 13 continues one of the darkest stretches of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian as Glanton's gang moves from place to place leaving bodies behind them.
At this point, one question is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: are these men still killing for money, or do they simply enjoy killing?
In this episode, I explore the gang's increasingly indiscriminate violence, the kid's growing boldness, Glanton's apparent abandonment of the life he once had, and Judge Holden's remarkable ability to move between murderer, strategist, intellectual, and political operator.
We also return to the contrast that has...
Page Burners: The Bonehunters Ch. 19–21 | When the Heavens Fall
In this episode of Page Burners, we enter the penultimate stretch of Steven Erikson's The Bonehunters with a full-spoiler discussion of Chapters 19–21—and one of the strangest convergences we've encountered in Malazan so far.
As always, this is a full-spoiler discussion for everything we've read so far in Malazan Book of the Fallen and the connected Ian C. Esslemont novels.
Only Chapter 22 remains.
The pieces have converged. The heavens have fallen. Now it's time to see how The Bonehunters ends.
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Blood Meridian Chapter 12 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 12 is one of the most disturbing chapters of our Blood Meridian read-along so far.
Next up: Chapter 13.
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Blood Meridian Chapter 11 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 11 might be the most difficult and revealing chapter of our Blood Meridian read-along so far.
I'm not pretending I have Chapter 11 figured out. This is one we're putting a big mark beside so we can return to it later.
Next up: Chapter 12.
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Beyond the Page: If Not Now, When? | Ray Hartjen on Cancer, Storytelling & Living with Purpose
What happens when life suddenly reminds you that time isn't guaranteed?
On this episode of Beyond the Page, I’m joined by author, musician, and storyteller Ray Hartjen for a conversation about creativity, resilience, and learning to live with greater intention.
It’s a conversation about making something meaningful out of difficult experiences and remembering to actually live while we have the opportunity.
Find Ray: https://rayhartjen.com/
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Blood Meridian Chapter 10 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 10 of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian gives us our deepest look at Judge Holden yet.
Next up: Chapter 11.
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Too Many #1s, Too Many Good Comics | Panel Chewing #147
This week on Panel Chewing, we have the opposite of a bad comics problem: there were almost too many good books to choose from.
Join us for a great week of comics, some unexpected favorites, and another journey down the assassin's road.
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Blood Meridian Chapter 9 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Our chapter-by-chapter journey through Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian continues with Chapter 9.
This isn't a definitive guide to Blood Meridian. We're reading one chapter per day, recording immediate reactions and watching our interpretations change along the way.
Next up: Chapter 10.
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Blood Meridian Chapter 8 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Our chapter-by-chapter journey through Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian continues with Chapter 8.
This isn't intended as a definitive explanation of Blood Meridian. We're reading one chapter at a time and keeping a running notebook of our observations as they develop.
Next up: Chapter 9.
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Blood Meridian Chapter 7 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Our chapter-by-chapter journey through Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian continues with Chapter 7.
Next up: Chapter 8.
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The Warrior Prophet Chapters 18–21: There Will Be Fire
The Slog continues as our full-series reread of R. Scott Bakker’s The Warrior Prophet reaches Chapters 18–21.
The Holy War enters one of the most brutal stretches of its journey. Water disappears, the desert becomes an enemy of its own, and the enormous scale of death becomes almost impossible to comprehend. Even when salvation seems to appear, it brings new horrors with it.
As always, we're rereading with knowledge of the entire series, so later events are constantly informing how we interpret these early chapters.
⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS: This discussion contains spoilers for all seve...
Blood Meridian Chapter 6 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Chapter 6 is a short but important transitional chapter in our journey through Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.
It's a brief stop in the read along, but it feels like we're crossing a threshold.
Next up: Chapter 7.
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<...Blood Meridian Chapter 5 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Our chapter-by-chapter journey through Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian continues with Chapter 5.
This isn't intended as a definitive explanation of Blood Meridian. We're reading one chapter at a time, recording observations, asking questions, and building a notebook that we'll revisit as the novel develops.
Next up: Chapter 6.
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We Actually Picked the Same Comic?! | Panel Chewing #146
This week on Panel Chewing, Steve and Jarrod do something that almost never happens: they choose the same Pick of the Week.
But first, why are there so many #1 issues? We talk about the appeal of jumping into a brand-new comic from the beginning, whether publishers are leaning too heavily on #1s to boost sales, and why more comics might benefit from starting as limited series instead of promising an ongoing that could be cancelled before the story has a chance to finish.
Then we dig into this week's stack, including American Caper #10, Powers 25 #12, Denver #1...
Blood Meridian Chapter 4 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Our chapter-by-chapter journey through Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian continues with Chapter 4.
This isn't intended as a definitive explanation of Blood Meridian. We're reading one chapter at a time, recording what stands out and building a running notebook as the novel develops.
Next up: Chapter 5.
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Beyond the Page: Matt Witten on 51%, Dystopia & Writing for TV
What happens when corporations don’t just control the things you buy, but begin to own pieces of your life?
It’s a wide-ranging conversation about storytelling, creativity, television, books, and writing something you genuinely care about.
Find Matt: https://mattwittenwriter.com/
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Blood Meridian Chapter 3 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
Our chapter-by-chapter journey through Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian continues with Chapter 3.
This isn't a definitive explanation of Blood Meridian. We're reading one chapter at a time, recording observations, asking questions, and seeing how those ideas change as the novel develops.
Next up: Chapter 4.
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Blood Meridian Chapter 2 | Chapter by Chapter Read Along
The journey through Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian continues with Chapter 2.
This isn't intended as a definitive explanation of Blood Meridian. We're reading one chapter at a time, recording observations, asking questions, and seeing where those questions take us.
Next up: Chapter 3.
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Beyond the Page #24 | Science, Human Rights & Peace with Zafra Lerman
In Episode 24 of Beyond the Page, I’m joined by scientist, educator, human rights advocate, and author Zafra Lerman for a remarkable conversation about a life devoted to education, freedom, and peace.
This is a conversation about science, courage, human rights, diplomacy, education, and what one person can accomplish by refusing to believe that division has to be permanent.
Find Zafra: https://zafralerman.com/
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Blood Meridian Chapter 1 | A Chapter by Chapter Read Along
We're beginning a chapter-by-chapter journey through Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, reading and discussing one chapter every day.
Read Chapter 1, listen along, and join me tomorrow for Chapter 2.
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<...The Warrior Prophet Chapters 14–17: Becoming the Warrior Prophet
Our full-spoiler reread of R. Scott Bakker's The Warrior Prophet continues with Chapters 14–17, bringing us to the end of Part Two.
⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS: This discussion contains spoilers for all seven books of The Second Apocalypse.
Welcome back to the Slog.
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Beyond the Page #23 | Lost Treasure & Family Secrets with Brigid Kennedy
In this episode of Beyond the Page, I’m joined by author and professional violinist Brigid Kennedy for an incredible conversation about family history, lost treasure, Irish roots, the Amazon, and the unusual experience that led her to become a novelist.
It’s a conversation about much more than writing a novel. It’s about preserving the stories that might otherwise disappear—and sometimes creating the ending your family never received.
Find Brigid: https://brigidkennedybooks.com/
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Good Comics, Bad Comics & a $15 Conan | Panel Chewing #145
This week on Panel Chewing, Steve and Jarrod are back with another stack of new comics, some winners, some disappointments—and one comic carrying a whopping $15 price tag.
Join us for comic reviews, industry talk, our Picks of the Week, and another journey down the assassin's road.
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