Comic Book Clubs Near Me

Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Ancient Terrors of the Night

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Ancient Terrors of the Night,”** an introduction to what terrified the Greeks and Romans of antiquity, with Barbette Stanley Spaeth, professor emerita of classical studies at William and Mary and scholar of magic and the supernatural in the ancient world. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/northern-virginia-ancient-terrors](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/northern-virginia-ancient-terrors) .] Literature, papyrus scrolls used for magic, and archaeological finds show that ancient Greeks and Romans believed in demons, ghosts, vampiric beings, reanimated dead, shape‑shifters, and night‑hags. Get to know what might have spooked Nero or Sophocles with the help of Barbette Stanley Spaeth, who has spent 25 years researching, teaching, and publishing on the supernatural of antiquity. Dr. Spaeth, who previously has given several excellent Profs and Pints talks, will make clear that ancient Greek and Roman tales of the “terror that comes in the night” were not relegated to folklore but woven into religion, law, medicine, and the sincere practice of magic. These stories explained the unexplained, enforced social norms, and supplied tools for protection or attack such as amulets, curse tablets, exorcisms, and other various spells. You’ll learn how belief in daimones (demons) went from regarding them as ambiguous, semi‑divine beings to assigning them malign character and making them the targets of exorcism. People thought the dead returned as incorporeal spirits or ghosts as a result of improper burials or in response to unresolved business with the living, and that they also could be exorcised with the proper rituals. Necromancy typically summoned such shades to ask them for information, yet texts also describe how animated corpses were harnessed to harm others, becoming ancient analogues of vampiric or zombie threats. We’ll discuss how witches and magicians were believed to shape-shift into a variety of creatures—including wolves, owls, and weasels—to carry out their dark deeds. The most frightful of all, however, may have been the night hags, who were blamed for sleep assaults, drained vitality, sexual violence, and the kidnapping and torture of children to derive ingredients for magic. You’ll emerge from the talk with an understanding of how our modern terrors of the night are drawn from a long, complex classical heritage as refracted through centuries of reinterpretation as well as various local traditions. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: An 1898 painting by Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl depicts souls on the banks of the Acheron, a river, associated with Hades, where necromancy was practiced.

Book Club: The Shining by Stephen King

For the spooky season we are reading The Shining by Stephen King, a tale of a haunted hotel, addiction, family dysfunction, and isolation. We will meet in The Spot at Rockville Town Center where you can grab some food or coffee before we discuss the book.

Liza's Halloween Party 2026

Silent Book Club of Rockville

Wine, Cheese and Barker's "The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic"

We invite you to an engaging evening of wine, cheese and lively conversation around Emily Croy Barker's enchanting debut ***The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic,*** offering an intelligent escape into a richly imagined world. With an appealing female protagonist, cinematic storytelling, wry humor, and wonderfully clever literary references. **From Goodreads:** During a miserable weekend at a friend’s wedding, eager to forget about her disastrous breakup and stalled dissertation, Nora Fischer wanders off and somehow finds herself in another realm. There, she meets glamorous Ilissa—who introduces Nora to a decadent new world—and her gorgeous son Raclin. But when the elegant veneer of this dreamland shatters, Nora finds herself in a fairy tale gone incredibly wrong. And the only way she can survive is by learning real magic herself. As always, please feel free to join even if you have not finished the book - no stress :-) All attendees are asked to please bring one of the following: 1. A bottle of wine 2. Cheese and Crackers 3. An alternate beverage or nosh of your choice Host will provide glasses, wine opener, plates & napkins. To enhance the opportunity for great conversation, we would like to keep the group small. Please feel free to sign-up to meet us along with up to 2 friends. 📚 Exciting Updates for 2026 Book Club! 📚 Starting in January 2026, we’ll be implementing a new system for book recommendations that will make our reading selections even more collaborative and engaging! **Book Recommendations:** From January through October, members can submit book recommendations at each meeting, via email, text or Meetup DM. All suggestions will be added to a shared Google Sheet, which will include links to Goodreads and other pertinent information for each book. [LINK to 2027 BOOK LIST](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18AC_FH9bGGxyH6v7Rw36EvPtKtVl5e_N/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102804280893316002961&rtpof=true&sd=true) **Voting for 2027 Reads:** Our voting for next year’s book selections will take place during the November 2026 meeting. Members in attendance will have the opportunity to cast 12 votes for their favorite picks. If you’re unable to attend the November meeting, you can still participate! Simply submit 6 votes via email, text, or DM through Meetup before the start of the November meeting. **Announcement of Selections:** The chosen books for 2027 will be revealed at the end of the November meeting. We’re excited about this new process and can’t wait to see the amazing book recommendations you all have! 📖✨ PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE COMMITTED TO ATTEND WHEN YOU RSVP FOR THIS EVENT. We ask that ALL folks honor their RSVP. If you are unable to attend after sending in a YES, please update your status so that others may join us. In the event you do not communicate and are a no-show, your ability to RSVP for future events will be restricted. Thank you in advance for your understanding. If you are unable to join us in October, we hope you'll remain interested and join us for an evening in the future. Looking forward to wine & cheese with you soon - happy reading!

October Book Club Meetup: Last Boat Out of Shanghai by Helen Zia

Join us for a discussion of ***Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution by Helen Zia.*** Here's the summary: Shanghai has historically been China’s jewel, its richest, most modern and westernized city. The bustling metropolis was home to sophisticated intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and a thriving middle class when Mao’s proletarian revolution emerged victorious from the long civil war. Terrified of the horrors the Communists would wreak upon their lives, citizens of Shanghai who could afford to fled in every direction. Seventy years later, members of the last generation to fully recall this massive exodus have revealed their stories to Chinese American journalist Helen Zia, who interviewed hundreds of exiles about their journey through one of the most tumultuous events of the twentieth century. From these moving accounts, Zia weaves together the stories of four young Shanghai residents who wrestled with the decision to abandon everything for an uncertain life as refugees in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States. Benny, who as a teenager became the unwilling heir to his father’s dark wartime legacy, must decide either to escape to Hong Kong or navigate the intricacies of a newly Communist China. The resolute Annuo, forced to flee her home with her father, a defeated Nationalist official, becomes an unwelcome exile in Taiwan. The financially strapped Ho fights deportation from the U.S. in order to continue his studies while his family struggles at home. And Bing, given away by her poor parents, faces the prospect of a new life among strangers in America. The lives of these men and women are marvelously portrayed, revealing the dignity and triumph of personal survival. Herself the daughter of immigrants from China, Zia is uniquely equipped to explain how crises like the Shanghai transition affect children and their families, students and their futures, and, ultimately, the way we see ourselves and those around us. *Last Boat Out of Shanghai* brings a poignant personal angle to the experiences of refugees then and, by extension, today. “Zia’s portraits are compassionate and heartbreaking, and they are, ultimately, the universal story of many families who leave their homeland as refugees and find less-than-welcoming circumstances on the other side.”—Amy Tan, author of *The Joy Luck Club* **Let’s meet at Caboose Commons in Fairfax to enjoy some good discussion and meet new friends.**

Book Club Halloween Party!

Ella Enchanted

October Book Club: The Bewitching

Explaining Postmodernism: Chapters 5,6

Join us as we wrap up our discussions of Stephen Hicks' book *Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault*. For this final meeting, we will focus on the last two chapters: Chapter 5: The Crisis of Socialism Chapter 6: Postmodern Strategy The book is available in multiple formats on Amazon: [LINK](https://youtu.be/FZnwBrtE6ys?si=tVulmoVZk6cwMB8k) Tracing postmodernism from its roots in Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant to their development in thinkers such as Michel Foucault and Richard Rorty, philosopher Stephen Hicks provides a provocative account of why postmodernism has been the most vigorous intellectual movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Why do skeptical and relativistic arguments have such power in the contemporary intellectual world? Why do they have that power in the humanities but not in the sciences? Why has a significant portion of the political Left--the same Left that traditionally promoted reason, science, equality for all, and optimism--now switched to themes of anti-reason, anti-science, double standards, and cynicism? Explaining Postmodernism is intellectual history with a polemical twist, providing fresh insights into the debates underlying the furor over political correctness, multiculturalism, and the future of liberal democracy.

The Brunch Book Club

Book Discussion: And Then There Were None

Our November book will be *And Then There Were None* by Agatha Christie. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! There will be an optional social lunch at a nearby restaurant following the book discussion. All are welcome! Book summary: Ten strangers lured to an isolated island are killed off one by one in accordance with a sinister nursery rhyme, with no way to know who among them is the murderer.