09-29-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 123: Connie Willis : Blackout & All Clear

09-25-13: Commentary : Marisha Pessl Directs 'Night Film' : Dark at Heart

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Marisha Pessl : Night Film

09-24-13: Commentary : Joshua S. Raab Conjures theNewerYork Book II : Export from LA

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 122: Marisha Pessl : Night Film

09-23-13: Commentary : Jojo Moyes Finds 'The Girl You Left Behind' : The Pleasure of Story

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Phone Interview with Jojo Moyes : "It never happens on the page ... I have to plot really carefully."

09-19-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 121: Jojo Moyes : The Girl You Left Behind

Commentary : Ian Tregillis Does Not Eschew 'Necessary Evil' : Running Circles Around Yourself

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Ian Tregillis : "Gretl actually knew everything I knew..."

09-17-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 120: Ian Tregillis : The Milkweed Triptych

09-16-13: Commentary : Margot Leitman, No Longer 'Gawky' : Memory Serves Well

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Margot Leitman : "...the girl forever in the bottom half of a chicken-fight..."

09-13-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 119: Margot Leitman : Gawky: Tales of an Extra Long Awkward Phase

09-12-13: Commentary : Alfredo Corchado Clocks 'Midnight in Mexico' : Beneath the Barrel

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Alfredo Corchado : "...they're going to kill an American journalist and I think it's you..."

09-10-13: Commentary : Ian Tregillis Fights 'The Coldest War' : Waif of the Depths

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 118: Alfredo Corchado : Midnight In Mexico: A Reporter's Journey Through a Country's Descent into Darkness

09-09-13: Commentary : Benjamin Percy Marks 'Red Moon' : Satire Rising

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Benjamin Percy : "...I grew up eating bear, that's why I sound like this..."

09-05-13: Commentary : M. R. James 'A Pleasing Terror' : Essential Reading

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 117:Benjamin Percy : Red Moon

09-01-13: Commentary : : Shouts from the Stacks : Writers as Dissidents, Intentional and otherwise

08-26-13: Commentary : Walter Mosley Searches for 'Little Green' : Reichenbaching

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Walter Mosley :"I let him go over and I was comfortable with that..."

08-23-13: Commentary : Anne-Sylvie Salzman Charts 'Darkscapes' : A Mind for the Night

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Phone Interview with Marisha Pessl : "...a modern sense of a dark odyssey..."

08-21-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 116: Walter Mosley : Little Green

08-19-13: Commentary : Ivy Pochoda Maps 'Visitation Street' : Pragmatic Magic

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Ivy Pochoda : "I like when the inexplicable follows certain rules."

Agony Column Podcast News Report EXTRA: A 2013 Interview with Alfredo Corchado : "I keep using the phrase 'hope and dread'...."

08-15-13:Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 115: Ivy Pochoda : Visitation Street

08-12-13: Commentary : Phillip Meyer Sires 'The Son' : Building Texas World by World

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Philip Meyer : "...the folks who moved out there knew they were moving to a combat zone..."

08-09-13: Commentary : Gabriel Roth Examines 'The Unknowns' : Boundaries of Knowledge

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Gabriel Roth : "...going to parties and not really knowing how to have ordinary interactions with people..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 114: Phillip Meyer : The Son

08-07-13: Commentary : Revisiting Christopher Moore's 'Fool' : Fixing the Index

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read Episode 113: Gabriel Roth : The Unknowns

08-05-13: Commentary : Lisa Lutz Gets 'The Last Word' : Solving the Smart Family Mystery

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Lisa Lutz : "I follow most of the laws, right?"

08-02-13:Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 112: Lisa Lutz : The Last Word

08-01-13: Commentary : Koethi Zan Compiles 'The Never List' : Forever and Never

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Koethi Zan : "...some people were surprised that I could be writing such dark material and then lead the rest of my life..."

07-30-13: Commentary : Ruth Ozeki Clocks 'A Tale for the Time Being' : Reading is the Future: Man Booker Longlist Nominee Review and Interview

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 111: Koethi Zan : The Never List

07-29-13: Commentary : Andrew Sean Greer Explores 'The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells' : The Quantum Alternatives

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Andrew Sean Greer : "Is there an essential self?"

07-27-13: Commentary : A Quick Roundup of New Titles : Let's Look at the Inbox

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 110: Andrew Sean Greeer : The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells

07-22-13: Commentary : Brendan I. Koerner Declares 'The Skies Belong to Us : Flight to a New You

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Brendan I. Koerner : "...they didn't even make hijacking a crime..."

07-21-13:Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 109: Brendan I. Koerner : The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking

07-20-13: Commentary : Austin Grossman Plays 'You' : Second-Person Shooter

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Austin Grossman : "...in videogames, you're constantly having to re-think what your idea of story is..."

07-16-13: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews Eddy C. Bertin 'The Whispering Horror' : "...able to provide every time a note of originality and creativity."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 108: Austin Grossman : You

07-15-13: Commentary : Ryan Coonerty and Jeremy Neuner Reveal 'The Rise of the Naked Economy' : Evolve or Else

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Ryan Coonerty : "...being naked can be a pretty scary thing..."

07-12-13: Commentary : Joe Hill Grows 'Horns' : Devil and Detail

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 107: Ryan Coonerty : The Rise of the Naked Economy: How to Benefit from the Changing Workplace

07-10-13: Commentary : Helene Wecker Imports 'The Golem and the Jinni' : Supernatural History

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Helene Wecker : "...there is no template golem, they're all different..."

07-08-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 106: Helene Wecker : The Golem and the Jinni

07-01-13: Commentary : Joe Hill Licenses 'NOS4A2' : Your Mileage May Scare You

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Joe Hill : "..comedy and horror are almost the same thing, it's just the lighting is different."

06-29-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 105: Joe Hill : NOS4A2

06-28-13: Commentary : Nathaniel Rich Calculates 'Odds Against Tomorrow' : Kings of Catastrophe

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Nathaniel Rich : "...he told me about this new job in high-level catastrophe risk consulting."

06-25-13: Commentary : Nina Allan Will 'Spin'' : The Colours of Memory

06-25-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 104: Nathaniel Rich : Odds Against Tomorrow

06-24-13: Commentary : Annalee Newitz Suggests 'Scatter, Adapt, and Remember' : The Samsa Survival

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Annalee Newitz : "...what helped most of all was thinking about really good science fiction..."

06-23-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 103: Annalee Newitz : Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction

06-21-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report Extra : Panel Discussion :Higher Mysteries : Laurie R. King, Sharan Newman, Julia Spencer-Fleming and Zoe Ferraris

Agony Column Podcast News Report Extra: Higher Mysteries: A 2013 Interview with Zoe Ferraris : "I wanted to create a man based on people I knew when I was there..."

06-20-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 102:Higher Mysteries : Laurie R. King, Sharan Newman, Julia Spencer-Fleming and Zoe Ferraris

Agony Column Podcast News Report Extra: Higher Mysteries: A 2013 Interview with Julia Spencer-Fleming : "What I find fascinating is the repairative nature of solving the crime..."

06-19-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report Extra: Higher Mysteries: A 2013 Interview with Sharan Newman : "...Jews and Christians did mingle a lot, but there was still the tension..."

06-18-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report Extra: Laurie R. King Explores Higher Mysteries : "In crime, we're dealing with passions."

06-17-13: Commentary : ichael Pollan is 'Cooked' : Transformative Immersion

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 interview with Michael Pollan : "The culture of barbecue is highly Balkanized."

06-15-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 101: Michael Pollan : Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

06-11-13: Commentary : Hardcovers Worth Having : A Quixotic Buying Guide

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A (Casual) 2013 interview with Robin Sloan : "These people deserve to be part of these stories."

06-10-13: Commentary : Karen Joy Fowler Suggests 'We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves' : Best Served Cold

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Karen Joy Fowler : "We all question ourselves from time to time."

Agony Column Podcast News Report Extra: Matt Taibbi on Oil Price Fixing and Wall Street Reform : "...this entire debate can come down to sematics...":

06-08-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 100: Karen Joy Fowler : We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Agony Column Podcast Extra : Karen Joy Fowler Preview Interview: : "My father was a psychologist."

06-03-13: Commentary : Kate Atkinson Pursues 'Life After Life' : Vision and Revision

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Kate Atkinson: : "I'm still in the war zone..."

05-29-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 99: Kate Atkinson : Life After Life

05-27-13: Commentary : John Langan Eyes 'The Wide Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies' : A Book Full of Novels

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with John Langan: : "I think you have to be willing to change your characters...and change them in profound ways."

05-22-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 98: John Langan : The Wide Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies

05-13-13: Commentary : Mary Roach ... "Gulp." : Open Up and Say "Awe"

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Mary Roach : "I'd done a story on flatulence..."

05-12-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 97: Mary Roach : Gulp.

05-06-13: Commentary : Ian Tregillis Sews 'Bitter Seeds' : Darkness Blooms

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Mary Robinette Kowal Reads "Evil Robot Monkey" at SF in SF on April 20, 2013 : "...not that there's anything remotely Regency about evil robot monkeys..."

05-06-13: Commentary : Glennon Doyle Melton Suggests 'Carry On, Warrior' : Fighting for Life in the Too Much Information Age

Agony Column Podcast News Report : : A 2013 Interview with Glennon Doyle Melton : "Ironically, confession is a little bit addictive."

05-04-13: Commentary : Reasons Not to Leave the House, Reality Check : The Truth Hurts Edition: 'Down the Up Escalator' by Barbara Garson, 'The Wolf and the Watchman' by Scott C. Johnson,'The Book of Woe' by Gary Greenberg, 'Confessions of a Sociopath' by M. E. Thomas

Agony Column Podcast News Report : : A 2013 Telephone Interview with Benjamin Percy : "I was thinking about what we fear right now."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: : Time to Read Episode 96: Glennon Doyle Melton : Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed

05-01-13: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews An Emporium of Automata by DP Watt : "...from the bizarre to the grotesque, from the baroque to the uncanny..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report : : Rick Klaw Reads at SF in SF on April 20, 2013 : "...those are the kind of people that don't get work anymore..."

04-29-13: Commentary : Ben Katchor Catalogues 'Hand Drying in America' : Subversive Cities of the Heart

Agony Column Podcast News Report : : A 2013 Interview with Ben Katchor : "...people are hesitant to make their own building into a ruin..."

04-28-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: : Time to Read Episode 95: Ben Katchor : Hand Drying in America

04-27-13: Commentary : Mark Morris Introduces 'Toady' : A New World of Horror

Agony Column Podcast News Report : : Thomas Frank from The Easy Chair and Harper's Magazine: TV's DC Fantasies : "... basically, everyone is corrupt ..."

04-22-13: Commentary : Danielle Trussoni Maps 'Angelopolis' : The Afterlife of Angels

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Danielle Trussoni : "I wanted it to be accurate...absolutely accurate."

04-21-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 94: Danielle Trussoni : Angelopolis

04-17-13: Commentary : How Not to Leave the House : Reach for the Recycling

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Matt Richtel, Sophie Littlefield and Terry Bisson at SF in SF on February 9, 2013 : "You cannot do this all day long." Sophie Littlefield

04-16-13: Commentary : Stephen Kessler 'Scratch Pegasus' : Lens of Language

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Stephen Kessler : "..knit a formal coherence by way of sound and rhythm..."

04-14-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 93: Stephen Kessler : Scratch Pegasus

04-09-13: Commentary : Paul McComas & Greg Starrett Sew Up 'Fit for a Frankenstein' : Hands All on Gretl

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Matt Richtel Reads at SF in SF on February 9, 2013 : "I'm much more interested in the mental miasma..."

04-08-13: Commentary : Ruth Ozeki Clocks 'A Tale for the Time Being' : Reading is the Future

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Ruth Ozeki : "...through the act of writing, she would somehow conjure the reader into being..."

04-07-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 92: Ruth Ozeki : : A Tale for the Time Being

04-06-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 91: Lawrence Wright : : Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

04-04-13: Commentary : Danielle Trussoni Excavates 'Angelology' : Gothic Girl

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : : 'A Tale for the Time Being' by Ruth Ozeki, 'Odds Against Tomorrow' by Nathaniel Rich and 'Pandemonium' by Warren Fahy

04-02-13: Commentary : MacKenzie Bezos Sets 'Traps' : Need to Know

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with MacKenzie Bezos : "...without intention or recognition, we're playing important roles in the lives of other people..."

04-01-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 90: MacKenzie Bezos : Traps

03-28-13: Commentary : Patrice Vecchione Weaves 'The Knot Untied' : A Story of Poems

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Patrice Vecchione : "...a lot of my work in the first draft looks like prose..."

03-25-13: Commentary : Hugh Howey Spins 'Wool' : Backdated Dystopia

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Hugh Howey : "...the great thing about dystopia is that you get to wear down the world ..."

03-24-13: Commentary : How to Never Leave the House : Nathaniel Rich, 'Odds Against Tomorrow' ; Benjamin Percy, 'Red Moon'

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 89: Hugh Howey : Wool

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATED: Time to Read Episode 88: Karen Russell : Vampires in the Lemon Grove [Re-tracked]

03-21-13: Commentary : : Nathaniel Rich Speaks 'The Mayor's Tongue' : The Story Where We Live

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2008 Interview With Nathaniel Rich : "I spent a long time reducing the craziness factor..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2008 NPR First Books Report on 'The Mayor's Tongue' : First Books for NPR

03-18-13: Commentary : : Lawrence Wright is 'Going Clear' : The World According to Pulp

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Lawrence Wright : "...there's a psychic wound that couldn't heal..."

03-14-13: Commentary : : My Life in the Bush of Books : : Genre Fiction, Straight Up, No Chaser: David Walton 'Quintessence' ; Hugh Howey 'Wool' ; Helen Grant 'The Sea Change'

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Sophie Littlefield Reads from 'Aftertime' at SF in SF on February 9, 2013 : "These characters are called beaters..."

03-11-13: Commentary : Karen Russell Meets 'Vampires in the Lemon Grove' : Monsters and Mirrors

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Karen Russell : "...we've made these strange mirrors...."

03-10-13: Commentary : Archive Review: Cory Doctorow's 'Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom' : Futures of Days Passed

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 88: Karen Russell :Vampires in the Lemon Grove

03-07-13: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : A Happy Trifecta; Monte Reel 'Between Man and Beast,' Seth Patrick, 'Reviver' and Dan Simmons, 'The Guiding Nose of Ulfant Banderoz'

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Gene Kerrigan, 'Rage' ; Stephen Dobyns, 'The Burn Palace' ; Yoko Ogawa, 'Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales'

03-04-13: Commentary : Robert McCammon Promises 'I Travel By Night' : Have Fangs, Will Travel

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Robert McCammon : "When I was a kid, I remember reading a book, and when it ended, it was sad to me..."

03-02-13:Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 87: Robert R. McCammon : I Travel By Night

02-28-13: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books' : Genre-Go-Round

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Steven Gould : "...it came out of what-if..."

02-26-13: Commentary : Karen Russell Floods 'Swamplandia!' : Life in the Afterdeath

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Laura J. Mixon : "...we'd have to change ourselves..."

02-25-13: Commentary : Gregory D. Johnsen Escapes 'The Last Refuge' : News into Story

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Gregory D. Johnsen : "..he would shell somebody with one hand and then embrace them with the other..."

02-22-13: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : The Deep Range; 'Spectrums' by David Blatner, 'The Accursed' byJoyce Carol Oates, 'John Saturnall's Feast' by Lawrence Norfolk and 'Pandemonium' by Warren Fahy

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 86: Gregory D.Johnsen : The Last Refuge: Yemen, Al-Qaeda, and America's War in Arabia

02-21-13: Commentary : Archive Review: Lawrence Norfolk Opens 'Lempriere's Dictionary' : Cross Worlds

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Leslie Klinger : "We're hoping for a streamlined procedure..."

02-19-13: Commentary : Word for Word Stages 'You Know When the Men Are Gone' : Beyond Adaptation

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Siobhan Fallon, Amy Kossow, Chad Deverman and Arwen Anderson : "We're looking at the shape of the text on the page..."

02-18-13: Commentary : Dave Barry Explores 'Insane City' : The Farce is Strong

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Dave Barry : "Where's the beef, Mr. Lama?"

02-15-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report: Time to Read Episode 85: Dave Barry : Insane City

02-13-13: Commentary : Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross Find 'The Rapture of the Nerds' : Alien Earth

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Steven Gould Reads from 'Impulse' at SF in SF on January 19, 2013 : "This full-disclosure thing would take some getting used to."

02-11-13: Commentary : Cory Doctorow Finds 'Homeland' : Eternal Youth

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Cory Doctorow : "Student debt is the new sub-prime."

02-10-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 84: Cory Doctorow : Homeland

02-06-13: Commentary : More Life in the Bush of Books : Blurring the Edges of the Ineffable (F. Paul Wilson, Jim Crace, Thomas Owen and N. A. Sulway)

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Panel Discussion with Steven Gould and Laura J. Mixon Moderated by Terry Bisson from SF in SF January 19, 2013 : "...the very difficult choices women still have to make between their career and their kids..."

02-04-13: Commentary : Ian Rankin is 'Standing in Another Man's Grave' : Rebus Reborn

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Ian Rankin : "Everything I know about writing I've learned from reading books."

01-31-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 83: Ian Rankin : Standing in Another Man's Grave

01-30-13: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : Deep in the Printed Pages, Part 2 (Brian Lumley, James Blaylock, Edward Ball and Gheorghe Sasarman)

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Laura J. Mixon Reads from Child Left Behind at SF in SF on January 19, 2013 : "...out of fear, that I would end up..."

01-28-13: Commentary : Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd Write 'Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction' : The Story of Writing

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Tracy Kidder : "I always have a reader in mind, and that's Dick Todd."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 82: Tracy Kidder : Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction

01-23-13: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : Deep in the Printed Pages

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Thomas Frank From The Easy Chair : "...they should be running a much larger deficit...."

01-21-13: Commentary : Jojo Moyes Sees 'Me Before You' : Hard Choices for Smart Characters

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Jojo Moyes : "...it would not have been true to his character..."

01-19-13: Commentary : George Berguño 'The Tainted Earth' Reviewed by Mario Guslandi : "A perceptive, enchanting storyteller"

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 81: Jojo Moyes : Me Before You

01-15-13: Commentary : Brian J. Showers Re-Issues 'Old Albert' : Epilogue to Epilogue

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Ken Scholes : "...I was writing characters who did not understand the world that they came from...

01-14-13: Commentary : Laird Barron Summons 'The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All' : No Silence in the Solid Shadows

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2013 Interview with Laird Barron : "I kind of rejoice when I wake up from a dream..."

01-13-13: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 80: Laird Barron : The Croning and The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All

01-10-13: Commentary : Laird Barron Peels Back 'The Croning' : Deep, Dark History

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Three Books with Alan Cheuse : Louise Erdrich, 'The Round House', Amanda Coplin, 'The Orchardist', Eowyn Ivey, 'The Snow Child'

01-08-13: Commentary : Lee Child Makes 'One Shot' : Locked Rooms

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Andrew P. Mayer :"...characters become their ideas, become their ideals..."

01-07-13: Commentary : Fariba Nawa's 'Opium Nation' : Home Pages

01-03-13: Commentary : Mark Valentine 'Selected Stories' : The Heart of the World

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 79: Fariba Nawa : Opium Nation

12-19-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Lee Child, 'Nothing to Lose' : A Review by Terry D'Auray

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Lee Child at Google : "...it goes beyond to a kind of consolation ..."

12-17-12: Commentary : Lee Child is 'A Wanted Man' : Strangers, Dangers and the Faces in the Crowd

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Lee Child : "To me, there is only one draft."

12-15-12: Commentary & Podcast: Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Hazenuts from Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express : Easy, Fast, Delicious Fresh and Left Over

12-14-12: Commentary : Graham Joyce Spells Out 'The Facts of Life' : Power of the Matriarchy

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Tad Williams at SF in SF on October 12, 2012 : "...he has to be a hero just to be there..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 77: Lee Child : A Wanted Man

12-11-12: Commentary : Graham Joyce Finds 'The Limits of Enchantment'' : The Complications of Beauty

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2004 Interview with Graham Joyce : "I like offering the stories of these midlands people..."

12-10-12: Commentary : Susannah Cahalan's 'Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness' : Losing Your Own Story

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Susannah Cahalan : "I remember them like dream-like states."

12-08-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 77: Susannah Cahalan : Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

12-07-12: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews Jerome K. Jerome 'Weeds' : Still Elegant, Enticing, Insightful After 120 Years

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Ken Scholes, Andrew Mayer, and Tad Williams Discuss EPIC Fantasy Moderated by Terry Bisson on October 12, 2012 : "...you could spend your entire career not having a career by going back and re-working the same five chapters..."-Ken Scholes

12-05-12: Commentary : Lee Child Hits the 'Killing Floor' : "No laws to worry about"

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Ken Scholes Reads at SF in SF on October 12, 2012 : "There was a time when I used to get up and preach..."

12-03-12: Commentary : Justin Cronin Counts 'The Twelve' : The Tropes of Christmas Past and Future

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Justin Cronin : "How do you re-assemble a world?"

12-01-12: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : Around the Inner Worlds

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Charles Burns and Chris Ware : "..Tolstoy, the greatest writer who ever lived ..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 76: Justin Cronin : The Twelve

11-28-12: Commentary : Chris Ware Constructs 'Building Stories' : Our Buildings, Our Stories, Our Selves

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Chris Ware : "... an attempt to get at what it feels like to be alive..."

11-26-12: Commentary : Charles Burns Infests 'The Hive' : Dream Lives of the Lizard-Men

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Charles Burns : "...you're getting information in different ways..."

11-24-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 75: Charles Burns and Chris Ware : The Hive and Building Stories

11-21-12: Commentary : Mike Davis Explores 'The Ecology of Fear' : Boxing in the Terror

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Tad Williams Reads at SF in SF on October 15, 2012 : "...he is in Hell, he's wearing a demonic body..."

11-19-12: Commentary : Craig Childs Explores 'Apocalyptic Planet: Field Guide to the Everending Earth' : End and Again

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Craig Childs : "...we all want this to last..."

11-18-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 74: Craig Childs : Apocalyptic Planet: Field Guide to the Everending Earth

11-15-12: Commentary : Junot Diaz Explains 'This is How You Lose Her' : And Yet, We Never Seem to Get It

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Junot Diaz : "...you have to produce the world where your characters and conflicts are set."

11-13-12: Commentary : Andrew P. Mayer Visits 'The Society of Steam' : Starting with the Ending

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Andrew P. Mayer Reads from 'Hearts of Smoke and Steam' at SF in SF on October 12, 2012 : "...the weapon looked complicated..."

11-12-12: Commentary : Louise Erdrich Enters 'The Round House' : Transitions, Borders, and Never Going Back

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Louise Erdrich : "...there was nothing but assimilation."

11-11-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 73: Louise Erdrich : The Round House

11-09-12: Commentary : Michael Marshall Makes a 'Killer Move' : MODIFIED

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Michael Marshall Smith : "It's about the release of information ..."

11-07-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Michael Marshall Smith Moves 'Only Forward' : One Wonder Among Many

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Cindy Pon at SF in SF : "If I dig it, I write it."

11-05-12: Commentary : Tom Wolfe Gets 'Back to Blood' : Triumph of the Swill

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Tom Wolfe : "This is not a how-to book."

11-04-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 72: Tom Wolfe : Back to Blood

11-01-12: Commentary : Douglas Coupland Says Hey Nostradamus! : Predicting the Past; New Podcast of 2003 Audio Interview

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Roz Kaveney : "I quite enjoyed writing fan fiction, I found it very liberating."

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A New Podcast of the 2003 Audio Interview Interview with Douglas Coupland : "..who's the person being redeemed in the end?"

10-29-12: Commentary : Debra Dean Reflects 'The Mirrored World' : Shards of Life

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Debra Dean : "...there's something to be said for staying in your imagination."

10-26-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 71: Debra Dean : The Mirrored World

10-25-12: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : Kij Johnson, Fariba Nawa, S. G. Browne, Ruth Rendell as Barbara Vine

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Three Books With Alan Cheuse :Joyce Carol Oates, 'Black Dahlia, White Rose,' Gregory Benford and Larry Niven, 'Bowl of Heaven,' Charles Cumming 'A Foreign Country'

10-24-12: Commentary : David Wise Unearths 'Nightmover' : File Clerk With An Axe To Grind

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Malinda Lo :"I found that describing the way a scene was lit actually helped a lot."

10-22-12: Commentary : Jeffrey Toobin Administers 'The Oath' : Battle Royale for the Bitter Heart of Democracy

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Jeffrey Toobin : "..they were Republicans, who left the Supreme Court, totally alienated from the modern Republican party..."

10-19-12: Commentary : Jeffrey Toobin Counts 'The Nine' : Timeless Legal Non-Fiction Thriller

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 70: Jeffrey Toobin : The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court

10-16-12: Commentary : Karen Armstrong Makes 'The Case for God' : Precisely Ineffable

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Cindy Pon Reads at SF in SF on September 15, 2012 : "His words were ice against her ear."

10-15-12: Commentary : Bishop Gene Robinson Believes in Marriage : Straight Talk about Gay Marriage

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Gene Robinson : "I imagine having a conversation with one of them."

10-11-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 69: Gene Robinson : God Believes in Love: Straight Talk about Gay Marriage

10-11-12: Commentary : Worth Your Valuable Reading Time : Settle In For (Dis)Comfort Reading

Agony Column Podcast News Report: SF in SF Panel Discussion, September 15 2012: Roz Kaveney, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Moderated by Rick Kleffel : "I'm a little bit of a namedropper." - Roz Kaveney

10-10-12: Commentary : Ramsey Campbell Finds 'The One Safe Place' : Nowhere

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2002 Interview with Ramsey Campbell : "....to show the thing from the viewpoint of the monster...."

10-08-12: Commentary : Robert D. Kaplan Fights 'The Revenge of Geography' : Past, Present and Futurology

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Robert D. Kaplan : "Europe's southern border is the Sahara Desert."

10-05-12: Commentary : Joann Rose Leonard Reveals 'The Healer of Fox Hollow' : Rural Magic Realism

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Live Interview with Joann Rose Leonard at Capitola Book Cafe : "...how our beliefs color and change how we think about things..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 68: Robert D. KaplanThe Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate

10-02-12: Commentary : Ruth Rendell Finds 'A Fatal Inversion' : Reading as Memory

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Malinda Lo Reads from 'Adaptation' at SF in SF on September 16, 2012 : "I'll begin with the epigraph, which is from Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species."

10-01-12: Commentary : D. T. Max is Haunted by 'Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story' : David Foster Wallace Writ Well

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with D. T. Max : "...for me there was a really funny, strange opportunity to write a biography about someone who listened to the same music as me."

09-28-12: Commentary : Michael A. Lewis Fools With 'The Environmeddlers' : 21st Century Pranks

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Michael A. Lewis at the Capitola Book Cafe : "...maybe we could carry on what Abbey has said before us..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 67: D. T. Max Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace

09-27-12: Commentary : David Eagleman Calculates the 'Sum' : Forty Tales From the Afterlives

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Roz Kaveney : "Have you actually lived for thousands of years and retained that much capacity for trust?"

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 66: Michael A. Lewis The Environmeddlers

09-24-12: Commentary : David Rich Targets 'Caravan of Thieves' : Spies & Lies & Fathers & Sons

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with David Rich : "You don't know what your parents have going on, and all of a sudden it affects your life."

09-22-12: Commentary : Your Brain On (And In) Books : New Row Sigh Ants Need Not Ruin the Picnic

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 65: David Rich : Caravan of Thieves

09-18-12: Commentary : Magnus Mills Unleashes 'The Restraint of Beasts' : Survival of the Simplest

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Phone Interview with D. T. Max : "...his mental life was full of so much drama."

09-17-12: Commentary : Tad Williams Walks 'The Dirty Streets of Heaven' : Bartering in the Beyond

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Tad Williams : "Is this the true order?"

09-15-12: Commentary : Junot Díaz Reveals 'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao' : Sing, Listen and Read

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 64: Tad Williams : The Dirty Streets of Heaven

09-13-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Ken Macleod Surfs 'Newton's Wake' : Concise Space Opera

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Carlos Ruiz Zafon Live at Copperfield's Books, Santa Rosa, California, July 2012 : "Why can't a book stay a book?"

09-10-12: Commentary : Charles Yu Politely Says 'Sorry Please Thank You' : Identity In Language

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Charles Yu : "...a rigorous definition of what sorry is..."

09-08-12: Commentary : Worth Your Valuable Reading Time : From Unreal History to Our Uncertain Future

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Alice Oswald Memorial, Kevin Powers The Yellow Birds, Peter Heller The Dog Stars

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 63: Charles Yu : Sorry Please Thank You

09-06-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Tom Perrotta Sees 'Little Children' : Suburban Suspense

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2004 Interview with Tom Perrotta : "...I knew the story was going to end with a woman waiting at a playground at night...."

09-03-12: Commentary : Laura Lippman 'And When She Was Good' : Economic Genre Fiction

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Laura Lippman : "...there comes a time when I need to step back and not be thinking about the words so much..."

09-02-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 62: Laura Lippman : And When She Was Good

08-31-12: Commentary : Karen Kondazian Cracks 'The Whip' :Stages of Identity

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Karen Kondazian : "...once in a while it feels like you're channeling..."

08-30-12: Commentary : Tales of Nebulous Terror : Aickman, Bell, Oliver, Valentine and Howard

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with John Shirley : "In the novel it gets very, very dark and it's sort of Lord of the Flies for the 21st century."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 61: Karen Kondazian : The Whip

08-28-12: Commentary : Quentin S. Crisp Warns 'All God's Angels, Beware!' : A Review by Mario Guslandi

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Richard Kadrey : "I didn't start out with the intention of re-writing the history, like I said, of reality..."

08-27-12: Commentary : Tim Powers Asks 'Hide Me Among the Graves' : Worlds Between Lines of Poetry

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Tim Powers : "...their poetic gift did seem to sort of, come from outside of themselves..."

08-25-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 60: Tim Powers : Hide Me Among the Graves

08-25-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 60: Tim Powers : Hide Me Among the Graves

08-22-12: Commentary : A Shorter Distance : Short Story Collections, Collected and Collectible

Agony Column Podcast News Report: SF in SF Panel from 07-07-12 with Terry Bisson, Richard Kadrey and John Shirley : "..they did Jimmy Olsen that, didn't they?" - John Shirley

08-20-12: Commentary : Brian Castner Makes 'The Long Walk' : A Life, Exploded

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Brian Castner : "My goal in writing the book was to write it as it felt."

08-19-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 59: Brian Castner : The Long Walk

08-18-12: Commentary : Archive Review: James P. Blaylock Rings 'All the Bells on Earth' : Supernatural Suburbia

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Richard Kadrey Reads from 'Devil Said Bang' at SF in SF on July 7, 2012 : "...it's the sort of restless, screwed-up dead..."

08-13-12: Commentary : James P. Blaylock Captures 'Zeuglodon' : The Novel Worth 1,000 Photographs

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with James P. Blaylock : "...I decided I wanted to writer pieces that I might have written if I was thirty years old in 1875."

08-12-12:Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 58: James P. Blaylock : Zeuglodon

08-09-12: Commentary : John Shirley and Peter Heller Break the World : Unspeculative Fiction

Agony Column Podcast News Report: John Shirley Reads from 'Everything is Broken' at SF in SF on July 7, 2012 : "..A kind of a Lord of the Flies for the near-future..."

08-07-12: Commentary : Alan Cheuse Visits 'Paradise' : Consider the Alternative

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Alan Cheuse Live at the Capitola Book Cafe, July 21, 2012 : "...A novel is like a marriage..."

08-05-12: Commentary : Peter Bell Finds 'Strange Epiphanies' : Beauty, Strangeness and Charm

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 57: Alan Cheuse : Paradise, or, Eat Your Face

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Live Conversation with Carlos Ruiz Zafon : "...the way I do it is working in circles..."

07-31-12: Commentary : Charles Yu Politely Says 'Sorry Please Thank You' : Identity In Language

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Three Books with Alan Cheuse : Alix Olin Signs and Wonders, Charles Yu Sorry Please Thank You and Jonathan Carroll The Woman Who Married a Cloud

07-30-12: Commentary : Deborah Harkness Lifts the 'Shadow of Night' : Alchemical Marriage

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Deborah Harkness : "...he would not have been a nice guy..."

07-28-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 56: Deborah Harkness : Shadow of Night

07-25-12: Commentary : The Hidden Worlds of Words : Revealing Reading

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Rachel Swirsky and Robert J. Sawyer Interviewed at SF in SF on June 16, 2012 : Short Stories and Novels

07-23-12: Commentary : Carlos Ruiz Zafón Releases 'The Prisoner of Heaven' : A Novel Liberation

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview With Carlos Ruiz Zafón : "...we create myths, we create religion, we create beliefs..."

07-18-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Positively Fourth Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez by David Hajdu : Time Capture

Agony Column Podcast News Report: SF in SF , June 21, 2012: Terry Bisson with Robert J. Sawyer and Rachel Swirsky : "..walk a mile in their shoes...." -Robert J. Sawyer

07-16-12: Commentary : Christopher Hayes Greets ' Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy' : Broken

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Christopher Hayes : "That elite failure has produced this sense of betrayal..."

07-12-12: Commentary : Jason A. Wyckoff Rides the 'Black Horse' : American Weird Tales

Agony Column Podcast News Report: SF in SF June 21, 2012 : Robert J. Sawyer Reads from 'Triggers'

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 54: Christopher Hayes : Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy

07-10-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Brian Stableford Feeds 'The Hunger and Ecstasy of Vampires': Vampire Anti-Series

Agony Column Podcast News Report: SF in SF June 21, 2012 : Rachel Swirsky Reads "Death and the All-Night Donut Shop"

07-09-12: Commentary : Glen Duncan Hails 'Talulla Rising': Appropriate Responses

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Glen Duncan : "...the dark hilarity of not feeling the way one is supposed to be feeling..."

07-07-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 53: Glen Duncan : Talulla Rising

07-05-12: Commentary : Lots of Time to Read : Reality and Fantasy

Agony Column Podcast News Report : SF in SF June 16, 2012 : S. G. Browne and Lev Grossman Moderated by Terry Bisson

07-03-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Mark Bowden 'Killing Pablo' : Top Secret Histories

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Ep 052: Anthony Swofford : Hotels, Hospitals and Jails

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Ep 051: Daniel H. Wilson : Amped

07-02-12: Commentary : Anthony Swofford Visits 'Hotels, Hospitals and Jails': Away to Home

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Anthony Swofford : "I was going to do the opposite of what my father had done."

06-28-12: Commentary : Worth Your Valuable Time: My Life in the Bush of Books

Agony Column Podcast News Report: SF in SF on March 17, 2012 : Interviews with Claude Lalumiere and Dick Lupoff; Panel with Claude Lalumiere and Dick Lupoff

06-26-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Iain M. Banks 'The Algebraist' : Wit and Wonder

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Ep 050: Peter Carey : The Chemistry of Tears

06-25-12: Commentary : Daniel H. Wilson is 'Amped': Civil iRights

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Daniel H. Wilson : "We're not done with our civil rights movements, and I don't know that we ever will be."

06-21-12: Commentary : Kim Stanley Robinson Lives to '2312': The Whole Wide Solar System

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Live Interview with Kim Stanley Robinson at Capitola Book Cafe, June 16, 2012 : "...it's a somewhat Utopian situation in space, and still a somewhat grim and screwed up situation on Earth..."

06-20-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Peter Carey 'My Life as a Fake' Reviewed by Katie Dean : "...twisted reflection..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Ep 049: Richard Ford : Canada

06-18-12: Commentary : Peter Carey Extracts 'The Chemistry of Tears': Automatic Heart

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview With Peter Carey : "...a story which was about the wild, wild, very beautiful thrilling inventions..."

06-13-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Susanna Clarke Meets 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell' : Hint at Histories

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Ep 048: Leonard Mlodinow : Subliminal

06-11-12: Commentary : Richard Ford Enters 'Canada': Crime and Consequence

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Richard Ford : "Every book just has to have some fun parts for the guy who writes it."

06-06-12: Commentary : Mark Valentine and John Howard Map 'Secret Europe': Book Your Flight

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies ; Joseph Kanon, Instanbul Passage ; Paul Theroux, The Lower River

06-05-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Mary Roach Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers : An Auspicious Beginning of the End

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Ep 047: Walter Mosley : The Gift of Fire

06-04-12: Commentary : Leonard Mlodinow Goes 'Subliminal' : 'How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior'

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview With Leonard Mlodinow : "...so now, for the first time, you could look inside people's heads..."

05-29-12: Commentary : Archive Review John Hubner Nets 'Bottom Feeders' : Unclean Catch

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Time to Read Ep 046: John Irving : In One Person

05-28-12: Commentary : John Irving 'In One Person' : Multitudes

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview With John Irving : "There ought to be something you're afraid of in every novel that you write."

05-25-12: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews 'Bread and Circuses' by Felicity Dowker : "Occasion to Rejoice"

Agony Column Podcast News Report : SF in SF on March 17, 2012: Claude Lalumiere and Richard Lupoff : Performances

05-22-12: Commentary : Archive Review: John Shirley, '...And the Angel With Television Eyes' : Acting Out Your Hallucinations

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 45: Marika Blossfeldt : Essential Nourishment: Recipes from My Estonian Farm

05-21-12: Commentary : Walter Mosley Offers 'The Gift of Fire' : Destroy the World

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Walter Mosley : "It's us, the everyday people who change that world."

05-16-12: Commentary : Mark Sundeen Pays Out 'The Man Who Quit Money' : Over the Edges

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Mark Sundeen and Daniel Suelo : "What would happen if we actually practiced this stuff?"-Daniel Suelo

05-15-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Clive Barker 'Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War' : Impure Life

Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live with T. M. Luhrman, Capitola Book Cafe, May 5 2012 : "It's a real experience."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 44: David Vann :'Dirt'

05-14-12: Commentary : Marika Blossfeldt Serves Up 'Essential Nutrition' : Recipe for Life

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Marika Blossfeldt : "...we tend to look for foods to fill the gap..."

05-10-12: Commentary : Ross Jackson Will 'Occupy World Street' : Gaian World Order

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Ross Jackson : Part One and Part Two

05-08-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Clive Barker 'Abarat' : Reading in Color

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Phone Interview with Mark Sundeen : "...over the years, I had heard through my friends that he had stopped using money and was living in a cave..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Epsiode 43: Christopher Mooore : Sacré Bleu

05-07-12: Commentary : David Vann Digs Up 'Dirt' : Tragedy, Terror and Laughter

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with David Vann : "I don't view any of my characters as being crazy..."

05-03-12: Commentary : S. G. Browne is a 'Lucky Bastard' : Charting the Luck Economy

Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live with S. G. Browne, April 27, 2012 : "...the pug is going to steal the show..."

05-02-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Christopher Moore 'Fluke' : High Imagination

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 41: T.M. Luhrman : 'When God Talks Back'

04-30-12: Commentary : Christopher Moore Follows 'Sacré Bleu' : A Story in Color

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Christopher Moore : "...it often isn't efficient to tell a story in chronological order..."

04-27-12: Commentary : Lisa Lutz on 'Trail of the Spellmans' : Meta-Fiction is Fun

Agony Column Podcast News Report: SF in SF from February 11, 2012 : Panel Discussion Moderated by Terry Bisson and Interviews with Rudy Rucker, K. W. Jeter, and Jay Lake

04-26-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Emmanuel Carrere 'The Adversary' : The Enemy Within

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 41: Richard Zacks and Gregg Jones : 'Island of Vice' and 'Honor in the Dust'

04-23-12: Commentary : T. M. Luhrman Listens 'When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship With God' : Science and the Supernatural

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Tanya Luhrman : "...good candidates for being thoughts from God..."

04-18-12: Commentary : Gregg Jones Stirs Through 'Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines and the Rise and Fall of America's Imperial Dreams' : A Dream Of Today From Yesterday

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Gregg Jones : "The Philippinos would welcome us with open arms and greet us as liberators."

04-17-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Caleb Carr 'The Alienist' : Subterranean History

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Time to Read Episode 040: Ben Marcus and Heidi Julavits : The Flame Alphabet and The Vanishers

04-16-12: Commentary : Richard Zacks Visits 'Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York' :The Wild, Wild East

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Richard Zacks : "Roosevelt and Riis were out looking, and if they did find a cop, he was talking to a streetwalker."

04-12-12: Commentary : Excess of Excellence : Short Story Edition

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Three Books with Alan Cheuse : 'The Wolf Gift' by Anne Rice, 'Arctic Rising' by Tobias Buckell and 'The Third Gate' by Lincoln Child

04-11-12: Commentary : Archive Review Ann Arensberg 'Incubus' : Suburban Surreal

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 038 Whitley Strieber : Solving the Communion Enigma: What is to Come

04-09-12: Commentary : Heidi Julavits Joins 'The Vanishers' : Psychic Trap

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Heidi Julavits : "...wouldn't it just be way easier to be a dead person these days?"

04-06-12: Commentary : Tim Dorsey Tosses the 'Pineapple Grenade' : Storms Warning

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Tim Dorsey : "This wacky, off-center sub-genre was being generated by real events."

04-03-12: Commentary : Archive Review T. C. Boyle 'Drop City' : Utopia, Easier Said Than Done

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read Episode 038 C. J. Box and Tim Dorsey : Force of Nature and Pineapple Grenade

04-02-12: Commentary : C. J. Box Creates a 'Force of Nature'' : Drawing and Erasing a Line

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with C. J. Box : "..it's hard to legitimately isolate characters..."

03-29-12: Commentary : Terry Bisson Remembers 'Any Day Now' : Personal History

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Terry Bisson in Conversation with Karen Joy Fowler : 'Any Day Now' at Capitola Book Cafe

03-28-12: Commentary : Archive Reviews: Jon Courtenay Grimwood: The Arabesk Trilogy : Pashazade, Effendi, Felaheen

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read Episode 37: Matt Ruff and Alex Gilvarry : The Mirage and From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant

03-26-12: Commentary : Matt Ruff Reveals 'The Mirage' : Smoke and Mirrors

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Matt Ruff : "...one somewhat tortured soul to be the center of the novel..."

03-23-12: Commentary : The Devil's Coattails Reviwed by Mario Guslandi : "...a veritable cornucopia for horror fans..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Rudy Rucker, Jay Lake and K. W. Jeter Read at SF in SF on February 11, 2012 : "...a group of heavy hitters..."

03-20-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Frank Delaney Makes the Long Journey to 'Tipperary' : Careful With the Truth

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read, Episode 36: Kim Harrison : A Perfect Blood

03-19-12: Commentary : Kim Harrison Draws 'A Perfect Blood' : Million Dollar Demon

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Kim Harrison : "I plan an hour to two hours every day, talking with the readers."

03-16-12: Commentary : Vincent P. Barabba Weaves with 'The Decision Loom' : Steampunk Business Theory

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Vincent P. Barabba : "...you're more interested in how these parts interact..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Walking Dead

03-15-12: Commentary : 'The Moon Moth' Flies Again : Graphic Novelization of the Jack Vance Short Story

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Ryan Boudinot Interviewed at SF in SF on January 28, 2012 : "I really love that idea of playing with cluelessness."

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Ayize Jama-Everett Interviewed at SF in SF on January 28, 2012 : "Most people would be surprised what they are willing to do."

03-13-12: Commentary : Archive Reviews: Patrick Harpur, 'Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld' : Sublime, Inspiring, Beautiful

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read, Episode 35: William Landay : Defending Jacob

03-13-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Whitley Strieber: Updated Sound Analysis and New MP3 File : "...you could hear it, but Whitley and Anne couldn't. Pretty clever..."

03-12-12: Commentary : Whitley Strieber is 'Solving the Communion Enigma' : Ask the Better Question

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Whitley Strieber : "We find ourselves grappling daily at every level with questions we can neither bear nor answer."

03-08-12: Commentary : Val McDermid Exacts 'The Retribution' : Entropic Violence

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Val McDermid and Laurie R. King : "I grew up thinking that all adult books had to have dead bodies in them."-Val McDermid

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Debaptism

03-07-12: Commentary : Archive Reviews: William Landay, 'Mission Flats'' : Exceptional

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read, Episode 34: Anne Rice : The Wolf Gift

03-05-12: Commentary : William Landay Is 'Defending Jacob' : The DA Speaks

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with William Landay : "How far would you go to protect your children?"

03-02-12: Commentary : Alex Gilvarry Reads 'From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant' : Fashion, Terrorism and Fashion Terrorism

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Alex Gilvarry : "I would check the Home Security Website a few times a week."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Arizona

02-28-12: Commentary : Archive Review Keith Donohue 'Angels of Destruction' : Filling in the Blanks

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read, Episode 33: Michael Gazzaniga : Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain

02-27-12: Commentary : Anne Rice Presents 'The Wolf Gift' : Wolfen Liberation

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Anne Rice : "..the potential for tragedy, the potential for redemption..."

02-25-12: Commentary : Don't Overlook Mervyn Peake : Overlook Re-issues Lost Worlds

Agony Column Podcast News Report: SF in SF Panel discussion with Terry Bisson Moderating Ayize Jama-Everett and Ryan Boudinot, January 28, 2012 : "I'm always trying to find a place in-between."-Ryan Boudinot

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : The Artist

02-22-12: Commentary : Adrian Bejan and J. Peder Zane 'Design in Nature' : A Scientific Evolution

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Adrian Bejan : "Ignorance is an asset in the mind of the creative."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Cheetah

02-21-12: Commentary : Archive Reviews: Michael Cisco 'The Divinity Student' and 'The Tyrant' : World Immersion

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read, Episode 32: Thomas Frank : Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right

02-20-12: Commentary : Ben Marcus Ignites 'The Flame Alphabet' : Words, Deeds and Apocalypse

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Ben Marcus : "I like the idea of making the religious transaction more difficult."

02-17-12: Commentary : Ryan Boudinott Architects 'Blueprints of the Afterlife' : The Unfortunate Mirror

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Ryan Boudinott Reads at SF in SF on January 28, 2012 : 'Blueprints of the Afterlife'

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Bebe

02-15-12: Commentary : Michael Saler Lives in the 'As If' : Fantastic Fiction Matters

Agony Column Podcast News Report: Ayize Jama-Everett Reads at SF in SF on January 28, 2012 : 'The Liminal People'"

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Bible

02-14-12: Commentary : Archive Reviews: Jeffrey E. Barlough Awakens 'Dark Sleeper' and 'The House in the High Wood' :Bold, Unique, Horrific, Enchanting

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read, Episode 31: Eric Weiner : Man Seeks God

02-13-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Thomas Frank Reads from 'Pity the Billioinaire' : More's the Pity

02-13-12: Commentary : Thomas Frank Pleads 'Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right' :Weaponizing Words

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Thomas Frank : "You can spend a lot of money on a watch."

02-10-12: Commentary : Stephen Jones A Book of Horrors Reviewed by Mario Guslandi : A veritable feast

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Christopher Renstrom : "...anything that is born into time has a natal horoscope..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Sweden

02-08-12: Commentary : Thrity Umrigar Reveals 'The World We Found' : Slow-Burning Loss of Control

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Thrity Umrigar : "...I walked away from that meeting in 2008 with an old friend of mine and literally saw at least the outline of the book in front of my eyes..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Debates

02-07-12: Commentary : Archive Review: John Burdett 'Bangkok 8' : World Within Our World

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read, Episode 30: Thrity Umrigar : The World We Found

02-06-12: Commentary : Eric Weiner Posts 'Man Seeks God' : Religious Pilgrimmage and Mordant Wit

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Eric Weiner : "...by the end, given all the amazing people I met out there, I've changed my views about that."

02-01-12: Commentary : Stan Lee Splashes 'Stan Lee's How to Write Comics' and 'Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics' : Lessons in the Form, From the Master

Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Stan Lee : "When we got a telephone, it was a big thing."

01-31-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Lucius Shepard 'Floater' : Why We See the Way We See

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read, Episode 29: Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel : Lunatics

01-30-12: Commentary : Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel Meet 'Lunatics' : Craft, Timing, Character and Laughs

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Alan Zweibel and Dave Barry : A 2012 Interview with Alan Zweibel and Dave Barry

01-26-12: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : NASA

01-25-12: Commentary : Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger Perform 'A Study in Sherlock' : Holmes as Archetype and Inspiration

Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live with Laurie R. King : January 21, 2012 : "Conan Doyle was never convinced by Holmes."

01-24-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Neal Asher 'The Skinner' : The Balm of Violent Ecology

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read, Episode 28: Sara Paretsky : Breakdown

01-23-12: Commentary : Sara Paretsky Nails 'Breakdown' : The Machine Stops

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Sara Paretsky : "Everything in a courtroom is a story; it's not justice, it's combating narratives."

01-18-12: Commentary : Téa Obreht Conjures 'The Tiger's Wife' : The Grammar of Vision

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Téa Obrecht : "I had been raised with three religions..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Consumer

01-17-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Randall Sullivan Becomes 'The Miracle Detective' : Investigating a Spiritual Journey

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read, Episode 27: John Lescroart : The Hunter

01-16-12: Commentary : Michael Gazzaniga Asks 'Who's in Charge?' : Dream Lives of a Narrative Species

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "I started flashing things left and right field ..."

01-13-12: Commentary : Hard Case Subterranean Block : Not from Bob's Basement Tapes

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Phone Interview with Lisa Randall : "...there seems to be some evidence, especially from one of the experiments."

Agony Column Podcast News Update : Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Siri and Newt

01-10-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Terry D'Auray Catches Lawrence Block and 'The Burglar on the Prowl' : "A show well worth the price of a ticket."

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read, Episode 26: Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith : Van Gogh: The Life

01-09-12: Commentary : John Lescroart Unleashes 'The Hunter' : Detective as Mystery

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with John Lescroart : "...it's all about the details..."

01-05-12: Commentary : Adrian Bejan and J. Pedar Zane Reveal 'Design in Nature' : First Law of Flow

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Speaking Frankly With Thomas Frank : Semper Infidelis

01-03-12: Commentary : Tom Standage Unveils 'The Turk' : The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 25: Jonathan Lethem : The Ecstasy of Influence

01-02-12: Commentary : Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith 'Van Gogh: The Life' : "As my work is, so am I."

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith : "... he was such a voracious reader ..."

12-29-11: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : Island of Vice by Richard Zacks, Iago by David Snodin, The Coincidence Engine by Sam Leith and The Dipatcher by Ryan David Jahn

Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, October 8, 2011 : Josh Mohr and Steven R. Boyett

12-28-11: Commentary : Pamela Jackson and Jonathan Lethem Reveal 'The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick' : Science Fiction Testaments

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with David Goyer and Michael Cassutt : "Our approach was: 'OK, what happens next?'"

12-27-11: Commentary : Archiving 'Chronic City' : Re-Sync

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read, Episode 24: Robert K. Massie : Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

12-26-11: Commentary : Jonathan Lethem Enjoys 'The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfictions, Etc.' : The Non-Fictional Storyteller

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Jonathan Lethem : "I'm amazed to be taken so seriously as I am."

12-22-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Ian Shoales, in Cooperation with KQED : Current Events

12-21-11: Commentary : Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman : From the Seedy to the Sublime

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheuse : 'Kill Bin Laden' ; Ryu Mitsuse, '10 Billion Days and 100 Billion Nights' ; Michael Crichton and Richard Preston, 'Micro'

12-20-11: Commentary : David Blackbourn Visits 'Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in a Nineteenth-Century German Village' : Externalizing a Culture Clash

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read, Episode 23: David Vann : Last Day on Earth: A Portrait of the NIU School Shooter

12-19-11: Commentary : Robert K. Massie Paints 'Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman' : Balancing a Life

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview With Robert K. Massie : "...she abolished capital punishment..."

12-15-11: Commentary : Ayize Jama-Everett Reveals 'The Liminal People' : The Powers That Be

Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live with Lisa Goldstein and Ayize Jama-Everett, and music by Fenyang Smith, December 10, 2011 : "... let's look at what happens if people have abilities that other people don't have ..."

12-14-11: Commentary : Peter Orner Weighs 'Love and Shame and Love' : The Unstuck Family

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Peter Orner : "...the humor of hard things is what gets us through it."

12-13-11: Commentary : Marcia Muller Clocks 'The Dangerous Hour' : Managing a Life

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Speaking Frankly with Thomas Frank : "More Government, Please!"

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read, Episode 22: Sue Grafton : V is for Vengeance

12-12-11: Commentary : David Vann Outlives 'Last Day on Earth: A Portrait of the NIU School Shooter' : Hard Boiled Non-Fiction

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with David Vann : "...we're out of control, and we're a nation built on giant lies."

12-08-11: Commentary : Ross E. Lockhart Opens 'The Book of Cthulhu' : Discomfort Reading

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Cecelia Holland Reading and Interview at SF in SF on November 12, 2011 : "Fiction is agonizing sometimes."

12-07-11: Commentary : Vicki Goldberg Reveals 'The White House: The President's Home in Photographs and History' : The Politics of Plain Architecture

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Vicki Goldberg : "Most of the images were in the digital archive."

12-06-11: Commentary : Kim Stanley Robinson Sees 'Forty Signs of Rain' : Science in Science Fiction

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read, Episode 21: Scott Wallace : The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes

12-05-11: Commentary : Sue Grafton Unleashes 'V is for Vengeance' : Shopping for Change

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Sue Grafton : "Go to Sears, get a hammer and knock the guy on the head."

12-01-11: Commentary : Brian Showers Crafts 'Old Albert: An Epilogue' : Ringing in the Truth

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Kim Stanley Robinson Reads at SF in SF on November 12, 2011 : 2312

11-30-11: Commentary : Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan Unleash 'The Night Eternal' : Finishing the Dread

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse :Alan Garner, 'Red Shift' ; Stephen King, '11/22/63' ; Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, 'The Night Eternal'

11-29-11: Commentary : Win Blevins Chases 'So Wild a Dream' : The Simple Joys of Life

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 20: Charles Frazier : Nightwoods

11-28-11: Commentary : Scott Wallace Encounters '; The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes' : Conflicted Hearts of Darkness

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Scott Wallace : "Within months of first contact, these groups experience a huge die-off."

11-23-11: Commentary : Michael Pollan's 'Food Rules: An Eater's Manual' : Illustrating Uncommon Sense

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read, Episode 19: Jeff Herzberg and Zoe Francois : 'Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day'

11-22-11: Commentary : William Gay 'I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down' : Sunsets

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier, Part Two : "It's not me telling you, there's this storyteller voice."

11-21-11: Commentary : Charles Frazier Roams 'Nightwoods' : South of Noir

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier : "If we're going in the wrong direction, we could turn around and go back."

11-17-11: Commentary : Gianni's North Beach : Cooking Cioppino

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Gianni Mola : "The only way you can learn, I told them, is to watch me cook it."

11-15-11: Commentary : Mollie Katzen's 'The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without' : From the Podcast-a-day Files

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 18: Karl Marlantes : 'What It Is Like To Go To War'

11-14-11: Commentary : Jeff Hertzberg, M. D. and Zoe Francois Make 'Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day' : Plan Your Exercise Regimen First

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Jeff Hertzberg, M. D. and Zoe Francois : "I end up making all sorts of pizzas with this crust."-Zoe Francois

11-11-11: Commentary : Karl Marlantes Knows 'What It Is Like to Go to War' : Battle of the Spiri

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Karl Marlantes : "...the way I "think" about things, with quotes around think, is I tend to write them down..."

11-09-11: Commentary : Peter F. Hamilton Engineers 'Manhattan in Reverse' : Short, Science Fiction and Mystery

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Nick Mamatas Interviewed at SF in SF on June 11, 2011 : "It's a first contact story where we don't even realize that we're the ones being first contacted."

11-08-11: Commentary : Alastair Reynolds' 'Revelation Space' : Remembering Why

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 17: Lawrence Lessig : 'Republic, Lost'

11-07-11: Commentary : Lawrence Lessig Mourns 'Republic, Lost' : A Voice of Reason

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Lawrence Lessig : "The first constitution was a complete disaster."

11-02-11: Commentary : Sam Mogannam and Dabney Gough Shop 'Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food' : Before the Meal

Agony Column Podcast News Report : SF in SF Panel Discussion with Lisa Goldstein, Nick Mamatas and Terry Bisson on June 11, 2011 : "People got tired of all that realism." - Lisa Goldstein

11-01-11: Commentary : Martin Amis Lets Fly 'Time's Arrow' : Bringing Back the Archives

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 16: Michael Reynier : Five Degrees of Latitude

10-31-11: Commentary : Colson Whitehead Sweeps 'Zone One' : Zombie Bureaucracy

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Colson Whitehead : "In the Apocalypse, somebody's gonna have to do the grunt work..."

10-26-11: Commentary : Jana Marcus Documents 'Transfigurations' : Transsexual Journeys

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Jana Marcus : "'Transfigurations' is a real opportunity to stare."

10-20-11: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : Dr. Rick Wilber, Jonathan Lethem and Art Spiegelman Edition

10-25-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 15: Russell Banks : Lost Memory of Skin

10-24-11: Commentary : Five Degrees of Latitude : Literary Ripping Yarns

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Michael Reynier : "I just started typing..."

10-20-11: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : Dr. Rick Wilber, Jonathan Lethem and Art Spiegelman Edition

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Lisa Goldstein Reads at SF in SF : The Bondmaid's Tale

10-19-11: Commentary : Lisa Goldstein Visits 'The Uncertain Places' : Social Surrealism from Another Direction

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Lisa Goldstein at SF in SF : "I couldn't put it down, I had to finish it."

10-18-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read, Episode 14: Lisa Randall : Knocking on Heaven's Door

10-17-11: Commentary : Russell Banks' 'Lost Memory Of Skin' : Social Surrealism

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Russell Banks : "They are in a sense, permanently marked and thrown into this darkness..."

10-14-11: Commentary : Jacqueline Novogratz Exports 'The Blue Sweater' : Mind the Gap

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Phone Interview with Jacqueline Novogratz : "I'm sorry...I'm at the airport in Dubai, and it's pretty chaotic."

10-13-11: Commentary : The Business of Unreality : Novels Explore the Virtual World

Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live with Tad Williams and Deborah Beale : "Her style was different, our styles were very different."

10-12-11: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews 'House of Fear' Edited by Jonathan Oliver : "Arguably the Best"

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : 'IQ84' by Haruki Murakami, 'Assumption' by Percival Everett, 'Zone One' by Colson Whitehead

10-11-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 13: Erin Morgenstern : The Night Circus

10-10-11: Commentary : Lisa Randall is 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' : Science, Particles and Civilization

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Lisa Randall : "I gave it to religious people, I gave it to non-religious people and both were unhappy with what I wrote."

10-05-11: Commentary : Ruth Rendell Opens 'The Vault' : Wexford Follows Up

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Ruth Rendell : "Oh, I could kill him."

10-04-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 12: Neal Stephenson : REAMDE

10-03-11: Commentary : Erin Morgenstern Presents 'The Night Circus' : The Supernatural Stage

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Erin Morgenstern : "I'm always kind of a fantastical writer."

09-29-11: Commentary : Karl Shaw Offers '10 Ways to Recycle A Corpse' : Dime-a-List Book

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Phone Interview with Russell Banks : "I don't find plotting all that hard once I have the characters in place."

09-29-11: Commentary : Joan Slonczewski Graduates to 'The Highest Frontier' : Inverting Expectations

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheuse : Joan Slonczewski 'The Highest Frontier' ; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 'Apricot Jam' ; Denis Johnson, 'Train Dreams'

09-28-11: Commentary : Meg Wolitzer Fingerprints 'The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman' : Competitive Scrabble and Understated Superpowers

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Meg Wolitzer : "I really think you need to respect the antsyness of kids."

09-27-11:Agony Column Podcast News Report : Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 11, Lev Grossman : The Magician King

09-26-11: Commentary : Neal Stephenson Triggers 'REAMDE' : Plots, People and Novels

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Neal Stephenson, Plus Live Reading and Q and A : "Here you're asking me to engage into more self-examination than is my wont..."

09-21-11: Commentary : Tim Blanning Leads 'The Romantic Revolution' : Pocket Guide to the Underpinnings of the Little Good That Is Left In This Blighted World

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Tad Williams and Deborah Beale at SF in SF on August 13, 2011 : "...and you will notice that Antony has never stayed with any of the publishing companies he's founded..."

09-20-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 10: George Pelecanos : 'The Cut'

09-19-11: Commentary : Lev Grossman Crowns 'The Magician King' : Prose Magic Undermines The Real Deal

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Lev Grossman : "I'm gonna write it ... and if Viking doesn't publish it, everyone can just come over to my house and look at it on my laptop."

09-15-11: Commentary : Tad Williams Strikes 'Caliban's Hour' : Time to Let the Monster Speak

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Tad Williams Reading and Interview at SF in SF on August 13, 2011 : "The Lord of the Rings, so far as I was concerned, took place in the Sierras."

09-14-11: Commentary : Tad Williams and Deborah Beale Reap the Harvest of 'The Dragons of Ordinary Farm' and 'The Secrets of Ordinary Farm' : California Magic

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Deborah Beale Reads from 'The Dragons of Ordinary Farm' at SF in SF, August 13, 2011; Deborah Beale Interviewed at SF in SF, August 13, 2011 : "...it struck me that I had to go to America ..."

09-13-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read, Episode 9: Laurie R. King : Pirate King

09-12-11: Commentary : George Pelecanos Makes 'The Cut' : Chiseled Prose

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with George Pelecanos : "...maybe somebody's trying to tell me to write a book about this guy Spero."

09-08-11: Commentary : Rudy Rucker Double-Play : 'Jim and the Flims' and 'Nested Scrolls'

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Rudy Rucker and Kim Stanley Robinson in The Agony Column Live at Capitola Book Cafe, June 4, 2011 : "All of those were written on the typewriter."

New Book Review: Commentary : Rudy Rucker 'Jim and the Flims' : "We all get the afterlife we deserve."

09-07-11: Commentary : Michael Harvey Rides 'The Third Rail' : Undermining Hearts and Mind

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Ben Loory : "..there's so much of it that really is ... that comes from the unconscious and I really don't have any control over."

09-06-11:Agony Column Podcast News Report : Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 8: Midwestern Noir : Michael Harvey and David Levien

09-05-11: Commentary : Laurie R. King Crowns 'Pirate King' : Layering Laughs, Lives and Knives

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Laurie R. King : "...preferably throw in a few distractions as well..."

09-01-11: Commentary : Penn Jillette Says 'God, No!' : Ten Small Steps for an Atheist, One Giant Leap for Atheism

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Penn Jillette : "I don't know."

08-31-11: Commentary : Michael Harvey Reaches 'The Fifth Floor' : Crime, History and Character

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Nick Mamatas Reads at SF in SF on June 11, 2011 : "I will try to read more slowly."

08-30-11:Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read, Episode 7: Writing About Slavery : Alan Cheuse, Song of Slaves in the Desert

08-29-11: Commentary : David Levien Hits the '13 Million Dollar Pop' : Economic Disaster Informs Midwestern Mystery

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with David Levien : "...this guy went on to be a private investigator for years and years and he still does it..."

08-24-11: Commentary : Juliet Eilperin Meets 'Demon Fish' : Predators, Sharks and Humans

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Juliet Eilperin : "You're asking me to get in the water with sharks?"

08-22-11: Commentary : Michael Harvey Watches as 'We All Fall Down' : 21st Century PI Fiction

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Michael Harvey : "There's always a potential price to pay with any kind of advances."

08-19-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read, Episode 6 : Ernest Cline and Ready Player One

08-17-11: Commentary : Michael Katakis and Kris Hardin 'Photographs and Words' : Lifetimes and World Lines

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Michael Katakis and Kris L. Hardin : "There was still this sense of hope."

08-15-11: Commentary : Ernest Cline Engages 'Ready Player One' : Reality Override

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Ernest Cline : "The name Watts is from a John Hughes movie called Some Kind of Wonderful..."

08-10-11: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews 'Five Degrees of Latitude' : Mesmerized

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Alan Cheuse for 'Song of Slaves in the Desert' : "I had to invent an evolving truth as the story unfolded."

08-09-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read, Episode 5 : Simon Rich and Elliot Allagash

08-08-11: Commentary : Simon Rich Wishes For 'Elliot Allagash' : The Unbottled Genie

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Simon Rich : "My goal as a writer, more than anything is just to write something that people will finish voluntarily."

08-03-11: Commentary : Scott Simon Knows 'Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other' : The Family We Choose

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Scott Simon : "...then of course, our kids will be there too, and that's going to change everything."

08-02-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 4: Mark Seal : The Man in the Rockefeller Suit

08-01-11: Commentary : Glen Duncan Transforms 'The Last Werewolf' : The Literature of Ennui

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview With Glen Duncan and Stephen Coates : "I try and imagine what it would be like to be that person in that situation."

07-28-11: Commentary : Bruce Duffy Proclaims 'Disaster was My God' : Seasoned in Hell

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Five Books With Alan Cheuse : The Lotus Singers edited by Trevor Carolan, Digital Geishas and Talking Frogs, Edited by Helen Mitsios, Disaster Was My God, by Bruce Duffy, Triple Crossing by Sebastian Rotella and We All Fall Down by Michael Harvey

07-27-11: Commentary : Arielle Eckstutt and David Henry Sterry write 'The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It . . . Successfully' : Swiss Army Knife for Would-Be Writers

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Arielle Eckstutt and David Henry Sterry : "Can we use that?"

07-26-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Time to Read Episode 3: David Eagleman : Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain

07-25-11: Commentary : Mark Seal Meets 'The Man in the Rockefeller Suit' : Unmistaken Identity

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Mark Seal : "He said he was the producer and director of a new TV series called Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

07-21-11: Commentary : 'Song of Slaves in the Desert' by Alan Cheuse : Voices, Stories and Songs

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Alan Cheuse Live at Capitola Book Café, July 9, 2011 : "..if any of you have ever spent any time in academia, you can imagine what this meant..."

07-18-11: Commentary : David Eagleman Goes 'Incognito' : Dethronement

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with David Eagleman : "Turns out holding secrets can be bad for you."

07-15-11: Commentary : David Darlington Searches for 'An Ideal Wine' : One Generation's Pursuit of Perfection — and Profit — in California

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Phone Interview with David Darlington : "...the fact that so many wineries mouth this catechism while behind the scenes they are doing something completely different..."

07-13-11: Commentary : Joe R. Lansdale's 'Crucified Dreams' : Urbane Extreme

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Howard V. Hendrix Interviewed at SF in SF on May 9, 2011 : "We're going to bring in people from all different menus who have talked about Mars."

07-12-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report Update : Time to Read, Episode 2 : Erik Larson, In the Garden of Beasts

07-11-11: Commentary : Erik Larson Roams 'In the Garden of Beasts' : Innocents in Evil

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Erik Larson : "...here's this innocent, being thrown into this cauldron..."

07-06-11: Commentary : Ben Loory Writes 'Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day' : Wonder Harder

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Two Books With Alan Cheuse : "In this regard, I'm really about eleven or twelve years old..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Time to Read, Episode 1: Donald Ray Pollock : The Devil All the Time

07-04-11: Commentary : Donald Ray Pollock Sees 'The Devil All the Time' : Flaying Americana

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Donald Ray Pollock :"You need some trouble, you know, for the book to be interesting. I may go a little overboard on the trouble."

06-30-11: Commentary : Melissa Marr Minds the 'Graveminder' : Tending to the Dead

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Melissa Marr :"Everyone knows everyone's business."

06-29-11: Commentary : Angela Slatter Makes 'Sourdough' : Trusting Tartarus

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Andrea Hairston and Pan Morigan Interviewed at SF in SF on May 7, 2011 : "...I think it's real at the same time that's it's magic—" "Sometimes the stories that we tell are more real than a bunch of facts."

06-27-11: Commentary : David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt Fall Under 'Heaven's Shadow' : Faster, Bigger, Better Ideas

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Phone Interview with David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt : "It happened in a very circuitous fashion..."-David S. Goyer

06-23-11: Commentary : Kamala Nair Waits for 'The Girl in the Garden' : Haunted by Memory

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheuse : The Astral by Kate Christensen, Miss New India by Bharati Mukherjee and Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

06-22-11: Commentary : John A. Farrell Subpoenas 'Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned' : The Devils in the Details

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview With John A. Farrell : "I call it loving revisionism...because I still haven't lost my very high regard for him."

06-20-11: Commentary : Brooke Gladstone Fires Up 'The Influencing Machine' : The Master in the Mirror

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview With Brooke Gladstone : "I offer a view of where we may be going ... and it's fraught ... it's dangerous ... and it's thrilling."

06-14-11: Commentary : Charles Stross Cites 'Rule 34' : What You Did Matters

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A Panel Discussion with Howard V. Hendrix, Andrea Hairston and Pan Morigan Moderated by Terry Bisson from SF in SF on May 9, 2011 : "Science is just another myth, in that sense..." Howard V. Hendrix

06-13-11: Commentary : Jo Nesbo Builds 'The Snowman' : Heart of Ice

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Jo Nesbo : "I come from a storytelling family."

06-08-11: Commentary : Andrea Hairston Liberates 'Redwood and Wildfire' : Magic Behind This World

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Andrea Hairston Reads from 'Redwood and Wildfire' Accompanied by Pan Morigan at SF in SF on May 7, 2011 : Words, Music, Magic

06-07-11: Commentary : Michael Cisco Searches for 'The Great Lover' : A Love Affair With the English Language

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Howard V. Hendrix Reads at SF in SF on May 7, 2011 : "...it is in the sense that imagination is dreaming with a purpose..."

06-06-11: Commentary : Daniel H. Wilson Unleashes 'Robopocalypse' : Fine Writing About the Robot Uprising

06-01-11: Commentary : Geoffrey Dunn Exposes 'The Lies of Sarah Palin' : All the Queen's Mendacity

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Geoffrey Dunn : "There needs to be an explanation for that person."

05-31-11: Commentary : Alastair Reynolds Plays a 'Troika' : What We Can Never Decode

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Agony Column Live, June 4, 2011 Preview : Seeing the Future with Kim Stanley Robinson and Rudy Rucker : "It's a good place to set a science fiction novel."

05-30-11: Commentary : Eugene Linden Explores 'The Ragged Edge of the World' : Encounters at the Frontier Where Modernity, Wildlands, and Indigenous Peoples Meet

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Eugene Linden : "While I was there, there was a very dramatic meeting."

05-27-11: Commentary : Lisa Lutz and David Hayward Flip a Coin : 'Heads You Lose'

Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, May 21, 2011 With David Hayward and Lisa Lutz : "...when you got the other person's new chapter you had no idea what it was going to be..."

05-25-11: Commentary : Lisa Lutz Opens 'The Spellman Files' : Writing as Acting

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with David Hayward and Lisa Lutz : "...we called those characters Author Lisa and Author Dave."

05-24-11: Commentary : Clive Barker is 'The Painter, the Creature and the Father of Lies' : Non-Fiction for the Odd, the Off-Kilter and the Threatening

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Michael Blumlein Interviewed at SF in SF on April 16, 2011 : "..I fully expect that it's going to get in the wrong hands, and I fully expect that there's going to be eugenics performed..."

05-23-11: Commentary : E. L. Doctorow Finds 'All the Time in the World' : The State of the Situation

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview With E. L. Doctorow : "I've never been comfortable, as a short story writer with that very compact sense of things."

05-20-11: Commentary : Alta Ifland Unlocks 'Death-In-A-Box' : Fables, Foibles and Family

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Peter S. Beagle at SF in SF on April 16, 2011 : "The fact that I was writing songs forced structure on me and forced economy on me..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE : Radio Broadcast Edit of a 2011 Interview with Keith Thomson : "...his family thought that he was just an aircraft engineer, but he was working for the CIA..."

05-18-11: Commentary : Meg Wolitzer's 'The Uncoupling' : "Heart and Soul, one will burn..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, April 9, 2011 : Behold the Power of Meg Wolitzer and Alta Ifland

05-17-11: Commentary : Madison Smartt Bell 'The Color of Night' : Reviewed by Steve Deeble

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Two Books With Alan Cheuse : You Think That's Bad, Jim Shepard and Kurt Vonnegut: Novels and Stories, 1963-1973, Kurt Vonnegut and Sidney Offit

05-16-11: Commentary : Keith Thomson is 'Twice a Spy' : The Family Tradecraft

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Keith Thomson : "...his family thought that he was just an aircraft engineer, but he was working for the CIA..."

05-13-11: Commentary : Eric Felten Examines 'Loyalty: The Vexing Virtue' : Resolving the Conflicts Between Good and Good

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Eric Felten : "...it's a way in which we maintain our individualism..."

05-11-11: Commentary : Greg Egan Launches 'The Clockwork Rocket' : Orthogonal Book One

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Terry Bisson, Peter S. Beagle and Michael Blumlein at SF in SF on April 16, 2011 : "I disagree—" "Good.." "—that it's all about story..."

05-09-11: Commentary : Ann Packer Sings 'Swim Back to Me' : The Written Life

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Ann Packer : "My research is being alive..."

05-04-11: Commentary : Catherynne M. Valente Aims for 'Deathless' : A World Transformed by Life

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Kruger : "I want to discover the theme..."

05-02-11: Commentary : Daniel Clowes is 'Mister Wonderful' : The Cringe Binge

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Daniel Clowes : "...this character just started yelling at me from my sketchbook..."

04-28-11: Commentary : READ 5 : Why to Read a Book, in this case 'Powers of Darkness' by Robert Aickman as Published by Tartarus Press

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Peter S. Beagle Reads "The Best Worst Monster" and "Up the Down Beanstalk" at SF in SF on April 16, 2011 : "...I'm really not about to follow that story with really any sort of conventional fantasy..."

04-27-11: Commentary : Will McIntosh Engineers 'Soft Apocalypse' : Falling Apart at the Seams

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Michael Blumlein Reads from "22 and You" at SF in SF on April 16, 2011 : "This is from a group of stories I call The Doctor Diaries...."

04-26-11: Commentary : David Thorne Pretends 'The Internet Is A Playground' : License to Annoy

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse: "...A pleasure to read ..." : Brent Hartinger, 'Shadow Walkers' ; Steven Pressfield, 'The Profession' ; Ben Bova, 'The Leviathans of Jupiter'

04-25-11: Commentary : Henning Mankell is 'The Troubled Man' : Forgetting Kurt Wallender

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview With Henning Mankell : "What I try to do always is to tell a story that has something to do with my life and the lives of others that are living together with me in the times that we see today."

04-21-11: Commentary : READ 4 : Taking the Cheap Seats

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Jeff and Ann VanderMeer Chat With Terry Bisson at SF in SF on March 12, 2011 : "For me, it's a way of bringing people together." - Ann VanderMeer

04-20-11: Commentary : Teju Cole Walks the 'Open City' : Closed Books

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (sort of) Read at SF in SF on March 12, 2011 : "There had to be a two-page spread of a flaming submarine." - Ann VanderMeer

04-19-11: Commentary : Jeff VanderMeer Befriends 'Monstrous Creatures' : Essays in Oddness

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Jeff VanderMeer Interviewed at SF in SF on March 12, 2011 : "I don't see monsters as necessarily, by definition, an evil thing."

04-18-11: Commentary : Paul McComas is 'Unforgettable' : Blow it Up and It Can Never Go Back Together

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Paul McComas : "You've got to show them something else when they turn the corner."

04-14-11: Commentary : READ PART 3 : ENJOYABLE READING

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Phone Interview with Ann Packer : What are the sort of behaviors and problems that are happening around the edges of ordinary life?"

04-13-11: Commentary : The Bureau Chiefs Wants You to 'Write More Good' : Lower, Please

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Ann VanderMeer Interviewed at SF in SF on March 12, 2011 : "We're not turning your entire world upside-down."

04-12-11: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews Robert Aickman's 'Dark Entries' and 'Sub Rosa' from Tartarus Press : Master of the Genre

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Patrick Rothfuss Interviewed at SF in SF on March 3, 2011 : "...the sort of culture that develops a Robin Hood myth, that tells you a lot about the time and place that story comes from..."

04-11-11: Commentary : Billy Collins Reads 'Horoscopes for the Dead' : Poetry for the Living

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Billy Collins, featuring the debut of "Orient" : "I guess we're always just talking, poets, about a handful of things..."

04-06-11: Commentary : Frederik Pohl Recounts 'All The Lives He Led' :The Future Past

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Patrick Rothfuss Reads at SF in SF on March 3, 2011 : "The book itself has only been out a couple of days, and I myself have some very strong feelings about spoilers."

04-05-11: Commentary : READ 2 : What, Probably Part One of Many

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Gail Carriger Reads at SF in SF on March 3, 2011 : "The first scene I'm going to read for you starts out with our hero, who is in a bit of a predicament."

04-04-11: Commentary : Michio Kaku Examines 'The Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and our Daily Lives by the Year 2100' : Prototype Prescience

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Michio Kaku : "We are emotionally, socially identical to the caveman of 100,000 years ago, except we have nuclear weapons."

03-31-11: Commentary : Joe Mathews and Mark Paul Chart the 'California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It' : Gaming the System

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Joe Mathews and Mark Paul : "...signature companies are beginning to hire much more aggressive people.." - Joe Mathews "We allow people to write policies into the Constitution, to make them even harder to change..." - Mark Paul

03-30-11: Commentary : Olga Grushin Gets in 'The Line' : Dream Streets

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Ann Harris Reads at SF in SF on February 12, 2011 : "This is a transgender class-warfare romance."

03-29-11: Commentary : Read : How, What, When, Why, Where : Everyman's Meditation

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Terry Bisson, Ann Harris (aka Pearl North) and Lucy Jane Bledsoe at SF in SF on February 12, 2011 : "...the people who go there, pretty much to a person, are passionate about their lives..." - Lucy Jane Bledsoe

03-28-11: Commentary : Jasper Fforde Knows 'One of Our Thursdays is Missing' : Re-Inventing the World

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Jasper Fforde Live at the Capitola Book Cafe on March 12, 2011 : Ten Rules for Writing

03-22-11: Commentary : Alexander Yates Howls With the 'Moondogs' : The Shape-Shifting Novel

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Lucy Jane Bledsoe Reads at SF in SF on February 12, 2011 : "Everyone lives out in front of everyone and it is very, very intense."

03-21-11: Commentary : Kevin Poulsen Captures 'Kingpin' : True Crime for the 21st Century

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Kevin Poulsen : "Max was pretty good at sussing out snitches...He wasn't perfect, if he'd been perfect, he wouldn't be in jail now."

03-17-11: Commentary : 'Crimewave 11: Ghosts' Reviewed by Mario Guslandi : Excellent Stories

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview With Diana Paxson : "Anything that has an identity has a spirit."

03-16-11: Commentary : Kris Saknussemm Returns to Zanesville : 'Enigmatic Pilot'

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three, no, Four Books With Alan Cheuse : E. L. Doctorow, 'All the Time in the World,' Kevin Brockmeir, 'The Illumination,' Tea Obreht, 'The Tiger's Wife, Leslie Daniels, 'Cleaning Nabokov's House'

03-15-11: Commentary : Alex Bledsoe Sheds Light on 'Dark Jenny' : Drink Deep From the Well of Death

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Gail Carriger Interviewed at SF in SF on March 3, 2011 : "I do things like character design boards..."

03-14-11: Commentary : T. C. Boyle Knows 'When the Killing's Done' : Human Nature

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with T. C. Boyle :"I write in order to see what comes next."

03-11-11: Commentary : Jo Walton is 'Among Others' : Book Magic

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Diana Paxson Interviewed at SF in SF on January 15, 2011 :"I served as leader of the Covenant of Goddess for Two Years..."

03-09-11: Commentary : Chris Wooding Reaches 'Retribution Falls' : Airship Fantasy

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Rudy Rucker Interviewed at SF in SF on January 15, 2011 : "These things we like about science fiction, the good old things; the monsters, the time travel, the telepathy, the aliens, the UFOs..."

03-08-11: Commentary : Leslie Daniels is 'Cleaning Nabokov's House' : Including the Kitchen Sink'

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Phone Interview With TC Boyle : "Well, God, when he was writing this book, and I think it was a bestseller in its day, he didn't really take into account the fact that we, ourselves, are animals."

03-07-11: Commentary : Peggy Orenstein Knows 'Cinderella Ate My Daughter' : 'Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture'

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview With Peggy Orenstein : "I didn't want her to think that there was anything she had to do because she was a girl."