Book 1 went fantastic, and it's time for book 2! But at a different time; please note that this event (and future events) will be at 6p rather than the previous 7:30p

Recap: Last month, in book 1, Satan picks himself up from the lake of fire in Hell where he's been thrown, and regroups his still-faithful followers. They build him a palace (Pandemonium) and a council there is called.

In book 2 now - and boy, a lot of stuff happens. The council proceeds as planned, with fantastic speeches by five of the major demons (Moloch, Belial, Mammon, Beelzebub, and Satan), each with their own ideas of how to proceed with their opposition to God and Heaven. Eventually, Satan is chosen to make his way alone to the new world they've heard about, to see what trouble he can cause there. The rest of the demons hang around Hell and busy themselves with various pastimes and exploration, while Satan flies off alone toward the gates of Hell. He finds there, guarding the gates, Sin and Death, and has some delightfully fucked up conversation with them, whose content I hate to spoil, but the end result is that Sin uses the key that God entrusted her with, opens the gates to let Satan out; whereupon he flies through the dangerous elemental Chaos, has a short chat with Chaos himself to ask directions, and finally approaches the outside of our universe.

It's great. Drink, listen, and be amazed.

(attention conservation notice: most of the below is copied from last month's event)

Three and a half centuries ago, John Milton gave us the best epic poem ever written in English. I want to share it with you by reciting it from memory.

Paradise Lost is the interlocking tale of two great rebellions: Satan's armed rebellion against God, leading to his fall from heaven; and Adam and Eve's choice to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, leading to their expulsion from the garden in Eden. It's a story about power and free will and responsibility, it's a story about hate, and it's a story about love.

Paradise Lost is divided internally into twelve "books" (we would probably call them "chapters" today). Last month, I recited book 1, where Satan picks himself up from the lake of fire in Hell where he's been thrown, and regroups his still-faithful followers. They build him a palace (Pandemonium) and a council there is called.

I expect this event to last about an hour and a half - that's about ten minutes for me to introduce the poem and talk about why I love it, an hour or so for recitation, and about twenty minutes for audience discussion/Q&A.