Workers' Lit

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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

It’s another Patron-selection! Welcome to “All Systems Red,” a 2017 sci-fi adventure novella by Martha Wells.
We talk about Wells’ life and the story, but a good chunk of this episode is dedicated to discussing robots in fiction more generally. What makes the robot who wants love such an interesting stand-in for real world alienation? Where do those parallels fall short? How does the rise of Gen AI (particularly AI slop) impact our relationship to robot narratives? Would Muderbot engage in kink at Pride discourse? All this and more will be answered!
Support us on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/workerslit

In the year 2000 a snarky chef named Anthony Bourdain published a collection of essays, rants, and observations about the food industry. The dude went on to do cool stuff, so much that our patrons voted for us to discuss this book!
In this episode we discuss how restaurant culture has (and mostly hasn't) changed, how to have working class solidarity in weird situations, the beauty of loving your job and having dignity in it, and the new A24 Film, "Tony."
Read the original Bourdain essay here:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/04/19/dont-eat-before-reading-this
Go support us on Patreon here!
https://www.patreon.com/workerslit

This is a preview. To access the full episode please go support Workers' Lit on Patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/workerslit
The spookiness only grows!
Jonathan Sims returns to Workers' Lit to talk with Aysha about his work, his novel, "The Burn Line" (which you should buy!), horror, trains, and more!
This episode is exclusively for $5 patrons and up. Every patron we gets helps us keep the show going and growing, and we appreciate you all for it!
Check out more of Jonathan's work here: https://jonathan-sims.com/
Go buy Jonthan's newest book, "The Burn Line" https://www.sourcebooks.com/the-burn-line.html

It's about to get really spooky.
Join us as we explore Robert W. Chambers' iconic 1895 short story collection, "The King In Yellow." Learn about this iconic influence on Lovecraft and eldritch horror as a genre, consider what might lie within the pages of that cursed play that makes you crazy, and consider whether you might in fact be the King of the United States.
Joining us is Jonathan Sims, writer of the Magnus Archives/Magnus Protocol, voice actor in games such as Slay the Princess, and author of books such as, "Family Business." Together, we will answer such puzzles as why Rhode Island is so scary, what the deal is with American and British naming conventions, and why the second half of this collection really, really, REALLY drags.
Also, would an eldritch being find Jacob sexy? We discuss!
Check out Jonathan's work here:
https://jonathan-sims.com
Go support Workers' Lit on Patreon!
https://patreon.com/workerslit