Everything we read, watched, and revelled in during Sick Sad Lit: Season 1

A masterlist of every disturbing, dazzling, and darkly funny title mentioned on the Sick Sad Lit podcast.

Whether you're a new listener catching up or a devoted Sick Sad Lit(erary) follower building your TBR and watchlist, this is your official syllabus.

Season 1 of Sick Sad Lit took us from haunted Buenos Aires to lesbian pulp plagiarism, from gendered apocalypses to possessed archives, with stops along the way for body horror, cult classics, and chaotic women who refuse to be saved.

Below you'll find every single book, film, and TV show we mentioned across all episodes—disturbing, dazzling, and darkly funny. Save it, share it, study it.

The semester may be over, but the sorrows linger.

Books

Episode 1: Chuck Tingle on Queer Horror, Absurdity, and Why Love Is Real

Episode 2: Gretchen Felker-Martin on Horror, Publishing, and Finding Power in the Grotesque

Episode 3: Sarah Rose Etter on Magical Realism, Capitalism, and Writing Through Collapse

Episode 4: Lucy Rose on Folklore, Feminism, and Feeding the Hunger in The Lamb

Episode 5: Anna Dorn on Scent, Storytelling, and Writing Women Who Refuse to Behave

Episode 6: Emma Van Straaten on Writing Mixed Race Identity, Female Rage, and Obsession in ‘This Immaculate Body’

Episode 7: Ling Ling Huang on Speculative Fiction, Identity, and the Dark Side of Beauty

Episode 8: Mariana Enriquez on The Ghosts of Buenos Aires, Horror, History & Rebellion

Other books mentioned throughout the season:

Film

Television

This collection should keep you busy until Season 2 drops in September. Until then, let me know if you’ve read any of the books or seen any of the films an tv shows on this list. Bonus points if they fucked you up as a kid like Mariana and I with Stephen King. 🙃

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