01-03-14 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 140: Tad Williams, 'Happy Hour in Hell'
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Here's the one-hundred fortieth episode of my series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. Hitting the two-year mark, I'm going to make an effort to stay ahead, so that podcast listeners can get the same sort of "sneak preview" effect that radio listeners get each Friday morning. This week, I seem to be on top opf the game, but who knows what the hell might happen. I am hoping to stay back up and stumbling.
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 one-hundred fortieth episode is a look at Tad Williams and 'Happy Hour in Hell.'
01-03-14: A 2013 Phone Interview with Russell Banks
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"...my dominant interest in writing stories has to do with character." —Russell Banks
I really enjoyed the stories in 'A Permanent Member of the Family,' and a large part of that Banks' focus on ordinary and economically challenged characters. It was an early question and his answer; that he was writing about the 99%, made me like the stories even more.
Having recently spoken to T. C. Boyle about short stories, it was interesting to see the contrasts between the two writers. For Boyle writing short stories and novels at the same time was anathema. For Banks, it was the default setting, but not in this case. When you speak with writers, you quickly learn that everyone makes — and breaks — their own rules.
While I generally try to stay away from talking about the plots of and events in books, it usually seems almost unavoidable. But this time around, it was easy, and I can't really put my finger on the reason why, other than the fact that Banks clearly thinks a lot about how he writes what he writes. That said, we did touch on a couple of stories, "Blue" and "Former Marine."
01-03-14: Three Books With Alan Cheuse, Special Edition : The Horror Genre in 2013
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"It's like a little literary vacation for me; the Bates Motel vacation..."
—Alan Cheuse
Alan Cheuse dropped by to see some very local sights, including the cement boat, and while he was here, I managed to get him behind the microphone to discuss the horror genre in 2013.
To my mind, we're heading into some great times for the genre, the best since the 1980's, with old names and new names both offering readers a selection of outstanding genre fiction. While I think some of the best is yet to come, there was certainly enough to talk about, and to discover some differing opinions on why we're getting this crop of horror fiction.
Alan put forth the idea that bad times inspire happy fiction — musicals at the movies, while for me, it seems that bad economic times inspire horror fiction. I don't think it is as simple as either reade3rs seeking catharsis or schadenfreude. I think it is a lot more complicated and interesting than that.
We're also in the midst of the rise of a new crop of independent publishers, all of whom off readers a selection of work that might not otherwise find publication, but, really, REALLY should.
01-01-14 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 139: Russell Banks, 'A Permanent Member of the Family'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the one-hundred thirty-ninth episode of my series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. Hitting the two-year mark, I'm going to make an effort to stay ahead, so that podcast listeners can get the same sort of "sneak preview" effect that radio listeners get each Friday morning. This week, I seem to be on top opf the game, but who knows what the hell might happen. I am hoping to stay back up and stumbling.
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.
"I'm the type of writer for whom anything can be a story."
—T. C. Boyle
I believe that this is the fourth time I've spoken with T. C. Boyle, and every time we sit down, it seems like more and more fun. This time around we were doing double duty, talking about both his novel from last year, 'San Miguel,' now out in paperback, and his latest collection of story collections, 'T. C. Boyle Stories II.'
Boyle is a brilliant writer, and we really would not want him to be doing anything else. That said, when I have time to sit and speak with him, I'm always struck by his prowess as a performer and a speaker. I feel like he should have his own talk show, and I'm certain that if he did, he would knock everyone else out of the water.
This time, for the first time, we talked about Boyle's short stories, which made for an interesting change of pace. They're a major part of his work, and it was nice to have the excuse to talk about more than his latest collection. We dialed back the focus a bit and discussed short stories in general, and his just a bit further to take in fiction in general. Boyle generously offered up a few fabulous anecdotes, and yes, I asked once again the question about short stories versus novels.
We also discussed 'San Miguel,' a companion piece to 'When the Killing's Done.' It' a bit of a departure for Boyle, in that it is a straightforward, realistic, non-satiric novel set in two separate streams of history on an island close to where Boyle lives in Santa Barbara, California. San Miguel is a tiny rock with a bit of dirt and might be offered up as a definition for bleak and inhospitable, as regards being a place for humans to live.
Boyle's novel manages the neat trick of taking the stories of two families who lived in this semi-hellhole and make them compelling, intertwined reading. He also goes off the Boyle plantation by telling the story from the perspective of the women who lived there. It's a ripping yarn, with a powerful emotional heft, and a portrait of human living in an essentially alien landscape right here on earth.
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]
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..."
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 : 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
