IRC #1: House Of Leaves Part One

In our first IRC (Inebriated Reading Challenge) episode we read the cult classic, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.

Mr. Ashleigh Hatter, the expert in weird fiction himself, joins Caleb James for this new weekly reading episode where they'll be discussing their progress of the book and break down all the weird ass things that happen in this novel. Though, novel might be a generous title for what this is.

If you are interested in reading the book, this is the perfect jumping on point as the guys spend the episode introducing the work, author, and discussing what they hope to get out of House of Leaves.

Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth -- musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies -- the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.

Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices.

The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story -- of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.