Episode · Behind the Bastards · 2026-10-20
Books mentioned on Part One: How Nuisance Streamers and Rage-Baiting Ate the Internet
How did nuisance streaming and rage-baiting rise to dominate the internet? Robert traces the unsettling devolution and its consequences for guest Jason Pargin.
Robert Evans recommended John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin and others, and discussed Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Snow Crash
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is a seminal cyberpunk sci-fi novel that famously anticipated virtual reality, avatars, social media, and modern digital commerce through a fast-paced narrative set in a fragmented future America.
Discussed“Because in 1992, Neil Stevenson published the novel Snow Crash, which in the years since has been credited with inventing or at least predicting MMORPGs, social media, cryptocurrency, almost every mainstay of our modern digital life, right? It really is a pretty remarkable book.”
Where to get it
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John Dies at the End
Jason Pargin’s John Dies at the End is a surreal horror-comedy novel that blends supernatural terror with deadpan absurdist humor.
Recommended“Jason's books all of Jason's book the jon dies at the end series is great”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“It is book five and the John dies at the end series that some of you will be familiar with. And the title is, there are no giant crabs in this novel, a novel of giant crabs. And it should be available probably when you listen to this.”
“The new one book five in that series is there are no giant crabs in this novel a novel of giant crabs. These books are like detective novels and that you can read, you can grab any random one.”