Sunday, December 7, 2025
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The Devil Pulls the Strings Podcast Series

Do you like when time travel, twisted history, and secret societies collide?

The Devil Pulls the Strings, described as The Librarians meet The Magicians, is an epic fantasy adventure set in modern-day Wentzville, MO, New York City, and 1813 Genoa, Italy, weaves bromance, Slavic mythology, secret societies, Paganini’s music and time travel.

Boone Daniels (22) has problems, debilitating panic attack, gut-wrenching guilt, an evil spirit wendigo haunting him since age six, and now he almost killed his best friend in a joust. But when he fills in for his injured friend at a New York City gig, he ends up meeting the gig’s contact, Professor Stone, at his NYC brownstone where his body falls from the balcony and the place explodes with gun fire.

Boone barely escapes but uncovers a sinister plot to perform a rare Paganini piece that summons the Devil to trap Baba Yaga and destroy modern-day New York City and finds himself on a race through time to capture the cursed melody. Along the way, a crazed immortal, steampunk vampires and Baba Yaga set the stage for war, and Boone shall have to risk death for redemption. Because all Boone wants is to keep a promise to a friend. The same friend, he almost killed last Sunday during a joust.

Can a small-town Missouri musician outplay the supernatural and save NYC’s soul?

The Devil Pulls the Strings is the pulse-pounding first tale in the Archivist series. If you like when tortured heroes, epic battles, time travel, twisted history and secret societies collide, then you’ll love J. W. Zarek’s spectacular page-turner.

This audiobook is narrated by award-winning, professionally trained multi-media performer & audiobook narrator, Curt Bonnem. And for music lovers, includes music by world-renowned musicians Oleg Bezuglov, Natalia Bezuglova, and Vladimir Gapontsev.

Buy the full audiobook at https://bit.ly/DevilPullsStrings. Learn more at jwzarek.com. Chapters released weekly on this podcast.

The Devil Pulls the Strings Podcast Series

49 Episodes Available
Episode 29

ACT THREE Chapter Twenty-Seven - MÉLUSINE’S CUP

13.35 min May 9, 2025

Boone finds himself near a lake in Genoa, Italy, and spots three bandits about to attack a girl in medieval-style dress. 

Chilling thriller, heart racing hero journey

Buy the full audiobook at https://bit.ly/DevilPullsStrings. Learn more at jwzarek.com.

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Episode 28

ACT THREE Chapter Twenty-Six – BELVEDERE CASTLE

8.12 min May 9, 2025

Boone and Sapphire search for the cockatrice outside Belvedere Castle in Central Park at Midnight. 
“Don’t travel through the wrong portal.” 

Life and death human struggles with danger and adventure

Buy the full audiobook at https://bit.ly/DevilPullsStrings. Learn more at jwzarek.com.

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Episode 27

ACT THREE Chapter Twenty-Five - LE STREGHE

4.39 min May 9, 2025

Back at the French Embassy, Boone and Sapphire rest, and a ball of Paganini’s violin string Wickhamby gave Boone glows. 

Magic and dark fantasy

Buy the full audiobook at https://bit.ly/DevilPullsStrings. Learn more at jwzarek.com.

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Episode 26

ACT THREE Chapter Twenty-Four - WICKHAMBY’S OFFICE

22.45 min May 9, 2025

Professor Wickhamby gives Boone a bag of stones and Midnight task – find and feed the cockatrice in Central Park, to open the portal used to retrieve a rare blue rose grown by the Mother of all Witches – Baba Yaga herself. 

Sword and sorcery in a funny urban fiction

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Episode 25

ACT THREE Chapter Twenty-Three - 24 CAPRICES

18.42 min May 9, 2025

In Trinity Church, Boone and Sapphire find a bloody handprint and Paganini’s 24 Caprices missing. 

Epic time travel adventure series

Buy the full audiobook at https://bit.ly/DevilPullsStrings. Learn more at jwzarek.com.

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Episode 24

ACT THREE Chapter Twenty-Two - TRINITY CHURCH

14.57 min May 9, 2025

Inside Trinity Church, Boone and Sapphire follow a raven. 

Folklore and magic, horror and the devil.

Buy the full audiobook at https://bit.ly/DevilPullsStrings. Learn more at jwzarek.com.

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Episode 23

ACT THREE Chapter Twenty-One – RIZOS’ PLAN

29.78 min May 9, 2025

Boone and Sapphire find out Rizos’s plan. Boone saves a domovoi. And Rizos sends Boone and Sapphire to collect a sheet of Paganini’s music.

Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones ghost this fantasy series.

Buy the full audiobook at https://bit.ly/DevilPullsStrings. Learn more at jwzarek.com.

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Episode 22

ACT THREE Chapter Twenty – THE BIG BOOK

16.34 min May 9, 2025

At the Lavender and Roses Society Headquarters, Rizos shows Boone and Sapphire, the Big Book. The same big book that connects to time travel. Boone doesn’t know how he’s getting back to modern-day NYC, or why he’s where he is.

The wheel of time shifts to gothic medieval.

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Episode 21

ACT THREE Chapter Nineteen – HERE-THERE-EVERYWHERE

20.74 min May 9, 2025

In the Lavender and Roses Society Headquarters, Boone, and Sapphire search for Rizos. In the Lavender and Roses Society Headquarters, Boone and Sapphire meet a cat called Machiavelli. Rizos gives Boone a choice to help save NYC or go home with his memory wiped. 

Devilish decisions in an epic paran...

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Episode 20

ACT TWO Chapter Eighteen – LAVENDER AND ROSES SOCIETY

11.24 min May 9, 2025

Boone and Sapphire find the entrance to the Lavender and Roses Society. “Mr. Daniels, you might want to switch to high gear.” 

Time travel and gothic fantasy

Buy the full audiobook at https://bit.ly/DevilPullsStrings. Learn more at jwzarek.com.

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