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In this week’s show, I talk to the novelist Elif Shafak about the importance of the structure of literary novels, the sublime oddity of the mind, how politics deepen literature (so long as politics don’t drive literature), how research itself generates creativity, and how inclusive literature is the richest literature. TEXT DISCUSSED https://youtu.be/KCr8s57hdzY NOTES TDO Listeners can get 20% of a premium subscription to Scribophile. After using the above link to register for a basic account, go herewhile still logged in to upgrade the account with the discount.

This week, I talk to the novelist and graphic novel writer Sarah Kuhn about writing about Cassandra Cain for a YA audience, the demographics of fandom, the fun of the depth of the character pool of DC Comics, and collaborating with an amazing artist.

The poet and memoirist Carolyn Forché discusses elegies, the role of the unconscious in composition, and being willing to avoid plans.

This week, I talk to historian Grace Elizabeth Hale about how Athens, Georgia helped launch an indie music revolution with the B52s, REM, Pylon, and other bands, and the art and college scene that spawned them.

This week, I share a Miami Book Fair panel of poets with debut books: Tommye Blount, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, & Joy Priest!

In this week’s episode, I talk with Julian Chambliss, Leslie Salas, Todd James Pierce, and Jeff Shuster about the legacy of Tron Legacy (2010) and Tron (1982) and Tron Uprising (2010) and many other things.

In this week’s episode, I talk with Vanessa Blakeslee about the excellent new anthology, A Very German Christmas, from New Vessel Press. TEXT DISCUSSED

On #448, Dr. Peniel E. Joseph and I discuss the careers of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X, and how examining them together reveals the complexities of both of their evolving understandings of American history and politics.

Candacy Taylor and I discuss her new book, Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America. We talk about how research can transform a project, and how our understanding of our family’s histories give us windows into understanding our nation’s history, including our own precarious, sometimes alarming moment in it. We also discuss how instrumental color-coded index cards can help us balance the complex work of presenting the long threads of history.

The fiction writer and veteran Phil Klay and I discuss finding the right form for a novel, war literature, the uplift of humor, and winning the National Book Award.

On this week's show, poet and scholar Audi Barnes and I discuss the essays and poetry of Audre Lorde.

On this week’s show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss Jordan Peele's Us, and a lot of other things, too.

On this week’s show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss Richard Stanley's recent film of H.P. Lovecraft's The Color Out of Space.

Photo by Leslie Salas.[/caption] On this week’s show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss the genius of Richard Brake, the superior sound design of Rob Zombie’s films, the paradoxes of carnie victimhood, the nightmare underbelly of The Great Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, mere survival as an inadequate story-goal, likable characters, all while talking about Rob Zombie's overlooked brutal 2016 masterpiece, 31. TEXT DISCUSSED  

On this week’s show, I talk with Jeff Shuster about Cosmos Panatos's 2018 classic horror film, Mandy, as part 1 of our series of discussions on horror films of the last decade.

Photo by Jon Rendell. On this week’s show, I talk to Dmetri Kakmi about existentialism in horror, the performance of identity, the structure of memoir, and many other things.

On this week's show, I talk to novelist Chuck Palahniuk about The Invention of Sound, Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life after Which Everything Was Different, Adjustment Day, the 18-month rule, how to stay productive, how to keep invested in the work, the genius of Ira Levin, the value of mentors, and how to remix Invisible Monsters.

  On this episode, I talk to writer Michael Wheaton about Alfonso Cuaron's 2006 film, Children of Men, while I wait in vain for my ears to stop ringing.

On this episode, I talk to poet Steve Davenport about poetry, collaboration, the body, and many other things. TEXT DISCUSSED NOTES Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.

On this episode, I talk to poet Steve Davenport about poetry, collaboration, the body, and many other things. TEXT DISCUSSED NOTES Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.