Greetings from Read Max HQ, and welcome to our weekly roundup column, in which I pick out some worthwhile and often overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers.

A quick reminder that John Ganz and I will be talking live on Substack about tech and politics this coming Wednesday, 10/22, at 2 p.m. ET. You can watch us here; a recording of the chat will be available behind the paywall following the discussion.

For this week’s round-up, I’ve got:

• A long, fun, gonzo 1980s pulp horror novel about vampires and spirit mediums fighting each other as spies during the Cold War;

• a silly, forgotten, actually-kinda-great ‘90s occult-horror action flick with some real spookiness at the core; and

• four tracks I’ve been listening to a lot.

If any of that sounds interesting--and if you want to support Read Max in its continuing mission of explaining the future to relatively normal people--please subscribe below. Subscribers get access to these weekly emails and to the comprehensive Read Max Master Lists of Good Movies to Watch and Good Books to Read--as well as preferred pricing on merchandise like the Read Max “EMAIL SUPPLY” caps. If you’re already a subscriber, thank you.

I love to hear from readers who want to recommend a cool book or movie (or whatever!) to me, or from readers who are looking for specific kinds of recommendations. Just leave a comment or drop me a line at maxread@gmail.com.

Finally, please note that I may receive a small commission if you purchase books via links in this email.

Now, the roundup:...