Welcome to Poets at War, a podcast documenting the brood of writers, where art, theology, philosophy, and fun beckon your ears. Today on the program, we gather the troops for the monthly Broodcast! The writers assemble in the barracks to share their latest dispatches from the creative front lines.General Joshua David Ling kicks off by reading the next installment of Marty Francom's Civil War-era novel The Cane in the Field, following Virgil Cain's wrenching decision to run away to war with his younger brother Samuel — provoking a Brood-wide debate on the art of the simile and whether "darker than the inside of a cow" works in character voice. New recruit Ethan (SaurianScribe) shares two original prologues from his fantasy universe — a plane crash into a ruined skyscraper and a graveyard encounter in a wasteland — earning praise for his alliteration and worldbuilding. Ian Wilson then unleashes Chapter 8 of Heart of the Stars, where the wizard Azariah, a talking orange cat named Fred who pilots a Volkswagen van into space, and interdimensional arachnoid demons, leading to a dream-casting session (Christopher Lloyd vs. Eric Avari to play Azariah). Brendan shares the kinetic dragon-slaying climax of his fantasy novel — the heartbeat repetition, the final sword thrust — earning the title of "best action writer in the Brood." Joshua reads a raw-text chapter from Joel Stanley's sci-fi universe, exploring nanite handlers, shared dreaming, and post-battle healing. Finally, Joshua premieres two new poems from Idiot's Guide to Illegal Tech Repair ("Diners in Space" and "Idiot Dope") on his custom-built lyricanium reader, revealing that Waffle House is, in fact, space canon.Chapters: