Workers' Lit

The age of humanity has passed. The age of the noodle is at hand!
This week, we are joined by the brilliant author Cecilia Tan to discuss "Automatic Noodle," a cozy sci-fi novella by Annalee Newitz. This book will finally answer the question we've all been waiting to solve: What happens when a bunch of abandoned, sentient robots try to claim their autonomy and open a restaurant?
This episode has a bit of friendly disagreement as we discuss questions like: Is the environment TOO warm and fuzzy? Where does sci-fi succeed/fail as it turns real-world issues into allegory? How did California separate from the United States? All this and more!
Cecilia Tan is an incredible author. Go buy her books and support her on Patreon! All relevant info can be found at Cecilia's website here:
https://www.ceciliatan.com
We also covered one of Cecilia's books, "The Mystery of the Bitten Peach," just a few months ago. Go listen to that here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6q5EVMX85CuyFPD1SeSUke
Go support Workers' Lit on Patreon!
https://patreon.com/workerslit

Capitalism is not up to the task of 21st century healthcare. Facing wars, an ageing population, fossil fuel-driven disasters, debilitating diseases, and the everyday rigors of life, the capitalist healthcare system instead prioritizes profit above all else.
On this episode Jake Flores of "Pod Damn America" joins Jen and Lenore to discuss this crisis, then they get into a different healthcare model presented by, "Health Communism," a 2025 book written by Artie Vierkant and Beatrice Adler-Bolton of the "Death Panel" Podcast.
It's a great book. It's a great episode. Don't miss it!
Go support "Workers' Lit" on Patreon!
https://patreon.com/workerslit
Go check out Jake Flores' podcast, "Pod Damn America"
https://www.patreon.com/poddamnamerica
Go check out "Health Communism"
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2801-health-communism

On September 28, 2021, Lee Mandelo released his debut novel: "Summer Sons," a southern gothic horror that wrestles with guilt, sexual repression, the long shadows of southern history, the evils of academia, and reinventing BDSM dynamics from first principles with your buddies.
On September 28, 2026, Workers' Lit released an episode with Lee himself, looking back on "Summer Sons" as a book.
We've had authors on to talk about their books, but never to break down their novels in a beat-by-beat way we typically review literature. We were thrilled to have Lee back on the show for this amazing topic.
Want more of Workers' Lit/Lee collaboration content? You'd be crazy not to. Links to his two previous appearances and our coverage of "Woods All Black" here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5j6AH8gxlpojTjZdEiuJH9?si=0qRwbRd3Q_G8w26qW-EGhw
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5M8AaWNVKHh0zuhWDVbt81?si=fl-JuDvlTiqgoojLR7ztGg
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3CRYIorpGHJVC0oYvtJhLu?si=_qTz2i4OR9eWku4PjLnIzQ
Want to support Workers' Lit on Patreon? Of course you do. Link here!
https://patreon.com/workerslit
Want more of Lee? OBVIOUSLY! Link here!
https://leemandelo.com/

Now is the time of monsters!
Caleb from Kill The Computer and 60 Minute Drill returns to the pod to discuss the legendary Italian intellectual, Antonio Gramsci. Trace the life story of this short king with us as he travels from the poor countryside of his youth to meet baddies in a Moscow sanitarium all the way to revolutionary struggle and prison in fascist Italy…and bro didn’t stop there! As soon as he hit the jail cell he started, “The Prison Notebooks.”
Over 3000 pages of documents, “The Prison Notebooks” contains keys for understanding the failure of the working class to defend its own interests, the way the ruling class exerts control despite all odds, and answers the key question: is Macklemore an intellectual?
Go Support Workers’ Lit on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/WorkersLit
Go Check out Caleb’s podcasts!
https://www.killthecomputer.com/
https://linktr.ee/60MinuteDrill

This is a preview. To access the full episode please go support Workers' Lit on Patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/WorkersLit
Once again it's time for an Article Brain, the monthly sub-series where we find the worst articles of our day and age to torment one another with.
First up, we read Ross Douthat's departure from the New York Times. In typical Ross fashion, he manages to "both sides" in a way specifically designed to drive us insane.
And then we get CNN's take on the AI Apocalypse. Sure, it's coming, but don't we prefer an American AI Apocalypse to a Chinese one??
Links (not recommending you read these please God don't):
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/08/opinion/obama-trump-biden-enemy.html
https://us.cnn.com/2026/09/15/tech/ai-kill-everyone-china