01-08-14 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 141: David Sedaris, 'Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the one-hundred forty-first 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 of 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.
01-06-14:A (Late) 2013 Interview with Tad Williams
Click image for audio link.
"I'm in it, and it's like asking fish about water."
— Tad Williams
Tad Williams is having a lot of fun writing these Bobby Dollar novels, 'The Dirty Streets of Heaven' and 'Happy Hour in Hell.' It's the kind of fun that gets through to the readers, and makes reading the books a real hoot.
But when you're having all that fun, it might be easy to miss the skill that goes into their creation, and that was one of my main interests in speaking with Williams. I have to admit that as I read the books, sentence by sentence, I was pretty much bowled over by the craft and imagination that went into their creation.
First and foremost, I thought that these books were hilarious, and humor is notoriously hard to pull off. William and I talked about getting the rhythm right for humor. As you might expect, he's just letting his inner self out.
But there are also some more somber moments here and balancing the snark, some poignant scenes with demons in hell. This is extremely hard to pull off, but Williams invests his feelings in his characters. That gets right through to the prose.
I also wanted to ask Williams about the business of writing. At the moment, the sort of fantasy that made him famous is very popular. But he's not writing that now. For me, the Bobby Dollar books are much more to my taste. The latest, in particular has a super-cool 80's horror feel that I just loved. I want to see more of these and more of that. I'd like to see him do a one-off here-and-now horror novel, to be honest. But that sort of book might not pay the rent so handsomely as Yet Another Fantasy Novel.
And, as with many interviews, I got some great writing advice from Williams. One of the reasons he's writing so strongly is that he really liked what he's doing. I think writers of any genre can learn from Williams. And with that, I suggest that readers and writers will quite enjoy just bit more than an hour with Tad Williams 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..."
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
