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03-02-12 UPDATE: Ian Shoales: Arizona
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In my wanderings through the audio landscape, I've spent a fair amount of time at KQED in San Francisco, where I recently had the privilege of meeting the one and only Ian Shoales.

With help of the fine folks at KQED, I am now able to present Ian Shoales' brilliant work as a part of this podcast. This time around, a commentary on an encounter in Arizona.




03-02-12: A 2012 Interview with Alex Gilvarry

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"I would check the Homeland Security Website a few times a week."

—Alex Gilvarry

Alex Gilvarry is just one floor down from the top of Hotel Vertigo in San Francisco. I saw the poster downstairs, but I didn't get it until he told me; it's where Hitchcock filmed Vertigo, an appropriate accommodation for the author of 'From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant.'

I'm most curious about Gilvarry's fashion background, because he managed to write about fashion in a manner that I found quite engaging. But there is also the matter of how the novel came together. It's quite intricately written and plotted. One can almost imagine one of those pinboards we see in the cop shows, where the obsessive cop (or criminal) has pinned up hundreds of photos and clippings and then used yard to connect them into some vast conspiracy.

I also asked Gilvarry about his book review website, The Tottenville Review. He keeps it populated and changing, not by virtue of insomnia, but by the wiser and ore expedient process of getting lots of contributors. I asked him if he was going to be interviewed himself for the website, and he gave me an appropriately metafictional answer. To hear our non-fictional conversation about how he created his novel and why, you can follow this link to the MP3 audio file.




02-28-12 UPDATE: Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 33: Michael Gazzaniga, 'Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Mind'

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Here's the thirty-third episode of my new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. The podcasts/radio broadcasts will be of books worth your valuable reading time. I'll try to keep the reports under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format. If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know.

My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.

The thirty-third episode is a look at Michael Gazzaniga and his new book, 'Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Mind'.

Here's a link to the MP3 audio file of Time to Read, Episode 33: 'Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Mind'.




02-27-12: A 2012 Interview with Anne Rice

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"..the potential for tragedy, the potential for redemption..."

—Anne Rice

Anne Rice has the talent to transform darkness into art, but she's lively and just as engaging as any of her creations when she sits down to talk about her work. Her latest novel, 'The Wolf Gift,' is a literate, literally ripping yarn about werewolves in Northern California. She's just as excited about the novel as those who read it will be once they start.

I met with Rice at KQED, and kept the focus on her latest work. This book has the same sense of joyful invention as any of her best works, with a terrific plot and characters we love to be with, even when they are decapitating those in their presence.

Rice talked about the sense of the deep history that informs both her novels and her own literary experience. She's an avid researcher for backgrounds in her novels and an avid reader of Charles Dickens. She can describe his best novels as if they were contemporary horror bestsellers.

Rice's enthusiasm for her latest novel understandable. It certainly leaves room for sequels, and readers will look forward to those sequels. You can hear Anne Rice talk about her take on the werewolf by following this link to the MP3 audio file.


New to the Agony Column

09-18-15: Commentary : William T. Vollman Amidst 'The Dying Grass' : An Epic Exploration of Simultaneity

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with William T. Vollman : "...a lot of long words that in our language are sentences..."

09-05-15: Commentary : Susan Casey Listens to 'Voices in the Ocean' : Science, Empathy and Self

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Susan Casey : "...the reporting for this book was emotionally difficult at times..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 213: Susan Casey : Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins

08-24-15: Commentary : Felicia Day Knows 'You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)' : Transformative Technology

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Felicia Day : "I think you have to be attention curators for audience in every way."

08-22-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 212: Felicia Day : You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]

08-10-15:Agony Column Podcast News Report : In Memory of Alan Cheuse : Thank you Alan, and Your Family, for Everything

07-11-15: Commentary : Robert Repino Morphs 'Mort(e)' : Housecat to Harbinger of the Apocalypse

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Robert Repino : "...an even bigger threat. which is us, the humans..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 208: Robert Repino : Mort(e)

07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 208: Michael Gazzaniga : Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience

06-26-15: Commentary : Neal Stephenson Crafts an Eden for 'Seveneves' : Blow It Up and Start All Over Again

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Neal Stephenson : "...and know that you're never going to se a tree again..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 207: Neal Stephenson : Seveneves

06-03-15: Commentary : Dan Simmons Opens 'The Fifth Heart' : Having it Every Way

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Dan Simmons : "...yes, they really did bring those bombs..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 206: Dan Simmons : The Fifth Heart

05-23-15: Commentary : John Waters Gets 'Carsick' : Going His Way

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with John Waters : "...you change how you would be in real life...”

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 205: John Waters : Carsick

05-09-15: Commentary : Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD and 'Shrinks' : A Most Fashionable Take on the Human Mind

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD : "..its influence to be as hegemonic as it was..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 204: Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD : Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry

04-29-15: Commentary : Barney Frank is 'Frank' : Interpersonally Ours

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Barney Frank : "...while you're trying to change it, don't ignore it..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 203: Barney Frank : Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage

04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 202: Kazuo Ishiguro : The Buried Giant

04-17-15: Commentary : Erik Larson Follows a 'Dead Wake' : Countdown to Destiny

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Erik Larson : "...said to have been found in the arms of a dead German sailor..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 201: Erik Larson : Dead Wake

04-15-15: Commentary : Peter Bell Reflects 'A Certain Slant of Light' : Strange Stories of Modern Scholars

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Peter Bell : "...I looked up some of the old books..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 200: Peter Bell : Strange Epiphanies and A Certain Slant of Light

03-14-15: Commentary : Marc Goodman Foresees 'Future Crimes' : Exponential Potential

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It

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