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In our February episode we jump right in with Dick, Moby Dick then ranting about holiday stress and turning fifty. We then do a bit of an exercise based on a bestseller list Jenn sent to find out how much the Big Five Publishers dominate the publishing market. All of it. The answer is all of it, and we’re not at the popular kid’s table. And Jason probably talks too much.    Here is a link to the NY Times article we started with.  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/books/review/2022-reading-picks-from-times-staff-critics.html   You may need to sign up for a free account.    You can read more from Jenn at https://jennzuko.wordpress.com and on her Substack   You can follow Jason at https://www.jquinnmalott.com

This month we continue our topic on story basics, as well as what we’re working on, reading, and what is making us happy. Today we discuss Maria Tartar’s The Heroine with 1,001 Faces.     Jenn is still reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, but has added A Sentimental Education by Hannah McGregor   Jason is reading Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss,  How Minds Change by David McRaney, and The Inferno by Dante.   Other references we make:   Joseph Campbell The Hero with a Thousand Faces Lee Berger, John Hawks Almost Human: The Astonishing Tale of Homo naledi and the Discovery That Changed Our Human Story to read more about the Rising Star cave discovery.    For more on Jenn go to her social media  Substack Twitter Instagram Wordpress   For more on Jason go to his social media website Facebook Instagram Twitter

Welcome to episode 2 of The Outrider Podcast with Jenn Zuko and Jason Quinn Malott   Today, we talk about the core foundation of story and how genre, at least as we understand it in the age of book marketing and mega-publishers, is irrelevant to the quality of the story and is actually a means to ghettoize and segregate readers so that they can be more easily marketed to.      Some of our intake:    Our Idiot Brother and my essay on Medium   Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garci Marquez   Glory Guitars: Memoir of a 90s Teenage Punk Rock Grrrl by Gogo Germaine    The Hellhound Heart, by Clive Barker   Philip Pullman’s Carnegie Medal speech - I cannot find a Pullman-approved version of this. Just an unlinked, unsourced version on blog. Search for it on your own. I don’t like linking to unverified sources.    Apollo Remastered: The Ultimate Photographic Record by Andy Saunders

Welcome back to the Outrider Podcast.  After a long hiatus, I’m back with a new full-time co-host, Jenn Zuko. Jenn was the very first guest on The Outrider Podcast way back in 2013. Since then she’s been on several special episodes as well as our seven part series on Bad Ass Female Tropes and our seven parter on Toxic Masculinity Tropes. We’ll be releasing one regular episode a month where we discuss what we’re working on, what we’re reading, what has made us happy, and finally a craft or business topic that might, sometimes, include a special guest.    For episode one, it’s just the two of us. Once we get past the writing, reading, and happiness, we’ll be discussing Ursula K. LeGuin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. There’s a link below to her essay as well as most of the things we reference in the show.    Follow Jenn at Daily Cross Swords   Keep up with Jason at https://www.jquinnmalott.com   An Incomplete List of Things We Talked About Ursula K. LeGuin: The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction   Jenn Zuko: Three Rules: The Monomyth Revisited  The Aged Hero’s Journey,  Hero’s Journey / Villain’s Journey   Joseph Campbell: The Hero with a Thousand Faces   Maria Tatar: The Heroine with 1001 Faces   Star Trek: TNG episodes  S5:E2 Darmok, & S5:E25 The Inner Light   The Love Boat S5:E15 I Don’t Play Anymore / Gopher’s Roommate / Crazy for You   The Embarrassment   Douglas Rushkoff Survival of Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires   Neal Stephenson Snow Crash.

New Episodes coming soon!

In this mini-series I’m joined by my long-time friend, the poet Delia Tramontina for a lively discussion of Djuna Barnes seminal novel Nightwood.    In Episode 4, since Delia and I struggled to get a handle on Nightwood, we’ve invited Stacey Kohut, a fan of the novel and friend of Delia’s to help us get a better understanding of its charms.    Stacey Kohut is a higher education administrator, received her MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco, and is currently a doctoral student at USF's School of Education.  In addition to her utter failure to maintain work/school/life balance, she is managing her addiction to the printed word.  Stacey has contributed to Backwords Blog and has served as a guest curator for Bay Area Generations.    Delia Tramontina is from Flushing, NY. She earned her MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Her work has appeared in Newtown Literary, Forum, and 1111. Her chapbook CONSTRAINT is available from Dancing Girl Press. For 3.5 years she co-hosted the online show, Poet as Radio, on San Francisco Community Radio. She lives and works in San Francisco.  

In this mini-series I’m joined by my long-time friend, the poet Delia Tramontina for a lively discussion of Djuna Barnes seminal novel Nightwood.    In Episode 3, we’ll discuss the chapters Watchman, What of the Night, Where the Tree Falls, Go Down, Matthew, and The Possessed.   Delia Tramontina is from Flushing, NY. She earned her MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Her work has appeared in Newtown Literary, Forum, and 1111. Her chapbook CONSTRAINT is available from Dancing Girl Press. For 3.5 years she co-hosted the online show, Poet as Radio, on San Francisco Community Radio. She lives and works in San Francisco.  

In this mini-series I’m joined by my long-time friend, the poet Delia Tramontina for a lively discussion of Djuna Barnes seminal novel Nightwood.    In Episode 2, we’ll discuss the chapters Bow Down, La Somnambule, Night Watch, and “The Squatter.”    Delia Tramontina is from Flushing, NY. She earned her MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Her work has appeared in Newtown Literary, Forum, and 1111. Her chapbook CONSTRAINT is available from Dancing Girl Press. For 3.5 years she co-hosted the online show, Poet as Radio, on San Francisco Community Radio. She lives and works in San Francisco.  

In this mini-series I’m joined by my long-time friend, the poet Delia Tramontina for a lively discussion of Djuna Barnes seminal novel Nightwood.  In Episode 1, we’ll read and discuss the preface and introduction to Djuna Barnes' novel Nightwood. The preface is by Jeanette Winterson, and the Introduction is by T.S. Eliot.   Delia Tramontina is from Flushing, NY. She earned her MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Her work has appeared in Newtown Literary, Forum, and 1111. Her chapbook CONSTRAINT is available from Dancing Girl Press. For 3.5 years she co-hosted the online show, Poet as Radio, on San Francisco Community Radio. She lives and works in San Francisco.

Today’s guest is an old friend, Evan Hundhausen. Evan was the first person I met when I arrived at Naropa University. A writer, DJ, entrepreneur, and rebel, he’s carved out a path very different from my own, which just goes to show you, there’s no one right way to be a writer.  One thing I wish we’d talked about was my favorite story about Evan, Naropa, and Bobbie Louise Hawkins, and why Evan is kind of the Buddha.  Evan Hundhausen received his MFA in Creative Writing at Naropa University in 2001 and you can find his self-published short story collection, 'Accelerated Learning Techniques for a Budding Sociopath' on Amazon (along with his other titles). Evan's been a cannabis journalist for national magazines like The Hemp Connoisseur, Dope Magazine, and Herb.co. He's had poetry published in the Asheville Poetry Review, but most recently his short fiction was published in Front Range Tales #3, a comic book anthology, and in TulipTree Review. Visit EvanHundhausen.com to learn more.   Don’t forget, The Outrider Podcast will be on its spring hiatus while I take care of the business of being a writer (revising, submitting), organizing this summer’s live shows, reading, and lining up a few more one-on-one conversations with writers. So, in the meantime, you can go back and check out TOPs series on James Joyce’s Ulysses with Delia Tramontina, or the Bad Business series with Todd Robins and Paul Dee Fecteau, and, of course, our epic 14 part Problematic Badass Female Tropes and Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes series with Jenn Zuko. Then there’s the live shows.    If you’re in to horror movies, you can also fill in the empty space during our hiatus by checking out The Terror Test podcast. It’s co-hosted by an old acquaintance, Eric Jenkins, who used to work with me on Eunoia Solstice, our short lived arts and literature website. 

In the seventh and final episode of our Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes series, Jenn and I and joined again by Paul Bradley to discuss the prevalence and normalization of violence in the depiction of men.   Jenn Zuko is adjunct faculty at DU, MSU, and Regis University. She teaches courses in writing, literature, visual arts, performing arts, movement, and of course stage combat. She is the author of Stage Combat: Fisticuffs, Stunts, and Swordplay for Theatre and Film, out from Allworth Press back in 2006. She can be seen performing on stage and in classrooms in the Boulder/Denver area, and online at Daily Cross-Swords and Writers’ HQ, as well as archived on the defunct sites Nerds in Babeland, Your Boulder, and Sherlock’s Home. Music for this series was created by Paul Bradley. Paul is the author of the Power of Dour blog, where he writes about pessimistic philosophy, politics and culture. He’s also one of those infamous tech guys - a 25-year software industry veteran and startup executive who does weird and interesting things with learning science and artificial intelligence. He is also Jenn Zuko’s administrative assistant. The Outrider Podcast is orchestrated by me, Jason Quinn Malott, and audio production magic is performed by Heather Anne Eden. You can find the show online at jquinnmalott.com and if you would, please, hop on iTunes and give us a rating. We’ll be back later in 2020 with more miniseries, live shows, and one-on-one conversations with writers, editors, and publishers. Thanks for listening. 

In the sixth of our Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes series, Jenn and I discuss the weird notion that men can’t be good parents, and if a man is engaged in the parental duties normally associated with women then he’s somehow less of a man. Fathers who wash diapers unite!   Jenn Zuko is adjunct faculty at DU, MSU, and Regis University. She teaches courses in writing, literature, visual arts, performing arts, movement, and of course stage combat. She is the author of Stage Combat: Fisticuffs, Stunts, and Swordplay for Theatre and Film, out from Allworth Press back in 2006. She can be seen performing on stage and in classrooms in the Boulder/Denver area, and online at Daily Cross-Swords and Writers’ HQ, as well as archived on the defunct sites Nerds in Babeland, Your Boulder, and Sherlock’s Home.     Music for this series was created by Paul Bradley. Paul is the author of the Power of Dour blog, where he writes about pessimistic philosophy, politics and culture. He’s also one of those infamous tech guys - a 25-year software industry veteran and startup executive who does weird and interesting things with learning science and artificial intelligence. He is also Jenn Zuko’s administrative assistant.   The Outrider Podcast is orchestrated by me, Jason Quinn Malott, and audio production magic is performed by Heather Anne Eden. You can find the show online at jquinnmalott.com and if you would, please, hop on iTunes and give us a rating. We’ll be back later in 2020 with more miniseries, live shows, and one-on-one conversations with writers, editors, and publishers. Thanks for listening. 

In the fifth of our Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes series, Jenn and I discuss how gay male characters are often sidelined and diminished and forced to play support roles to the heroes of a story and what that contributes to the strict, and restrictive ideas of masculinity.      Jenn Zuko is adjunct faculty at DU, MSU, and Regis University. She teaches courses in writing, literature, visual arts, performing arts, movement, and of course stage combat. She is the author of Stage Combat: Fisticuffs, Stunts, and Swordplay for Theatre and Film, out from Allworth Press back in 2006. She can be seen performing on stage and in classrooms in the Boulder/Denver area, and online at Daily Cross-Swords and Writers’ HQ, as well as archived on the defunct sites Nerds in Babeland, Your Boulder, and Sherlock’s Home.     Music for this series was created by Paul Bradley. Paul is the author of the Power of Dour blog, where he writes about pessimistic philosophy, politics and culture. He’s also one of those infamous tech guys - a 25-year software industry veteran and startup executive who does weird and interesting things with learning science and artificial intelligence. He is also Jenn Zuko’s administrative assistant.   The Outrider Podcast is orchestrated by me, Jason Quinn Malott, and audio production magic is performed by Heather Anne Eden. You can find the show online at jquinnmalott.com and if you would, please, hop on iTunes and give us a rating. We’ll be back later in 2020 with more miniseries, live shows, and one-on-one conversations with writers, editors, and publishers. Thanks for listening. 

In the fourth of our Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes series, Jenn and I discuss how even the non-manliest of men can fall victim to the social demands of masculinity and turn toxic.    Jenn Zuko is adjunct faculty at DU, MSU, and Regis University. She teaches courses in writing, literature, visual arts, performing arts, movement, and of course stage combat. She is the author of Stage Combat: Fisticuffs, Stunts, and Swordplay for Theatre and Film, out from Allworth Press back in 2006. She can be seen performing on stage and in classrooms in the Boulder/Denver area, and online at Daily Cross-Swords and Writers’ HQ, as well as archived on the defunct sites Nerds in Babeland, Your Boulder, and Sherlock’s Home.     Music for this series was created by Paul Bradley. Paul is the author of the Power of Dour blog, where he writes about pessimistic philosophy, politics and culture. He’s also one of those infamous tech guys - a 25-year software industry veteran and startup executive who does weird and interesting things with learning science and artificial intelligence. He is also Jenn Zuko’s administrative assistant.   The Outrider Podcast is orchestrated by me, Jason Quinn Malott, and audio production magic is performed by Heather Anne Eden. You can find the show online at jquinnmalott.com and if you would, please, hop on iTunes and give us a rating. We’ll be back later in 2020 with more miniseries, live shows, and one-on-one conversations with writers, editors, and publishers. Thanks for listening. 

In the third of our Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes series, Jenn and I are joined by Paul Bradley and Kathleen Barbara to discuss that man’s man of intentional intrigue and what Mr. Bond, James Bond has contributed to the butchy stew of toxic masculinity.  Our guests: Kathleen Barbara has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theatre from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. She obtained her Master of Arts in English Language and Literature from Wichita State University in 2006. She loves writing about and dissecting films, but she has a day job teaching high school theatre.   Paul Bradley is the author of the Power of Dour blog, where he writes about pessimistic philosophy, politics and culture. He’s also one of those infamous tech guys - a 25-year software industry veteran and startup executive who does weird and interesting things with learning science and artificial intelligence. He is also Jenn Zuko’s administrative assistant. - Paul also created the music for this series.   Jenn Zuko is adjunct faculty at DU, MSU, and Regis University. She teaches courses in writing, literature, visual arts, performing arts, movement, and of course stage combat. She is the author of Stage Combat: Fisticuffs, Stunts, and Swordplay for Theatre and Film, out from Allworth Press back in 2006. She can be seen performing on stage and in classrooms in the Boulder/Denver area, and online at Daily Cross-Swords and Writers’ HQ, as well as archived on the defunct sites Nerds in Babeland, Your Boulder, and Sherlock’s Home. The Outrider Podcast is orchestrated by me, Jason Quinn Malott, and audio production magic is performed by Heather Anne Eden. You can find the show online at jquinnmalott.com and if you would, please, hop on iTunes and give us a rating. We’ll be back later in 2020 with more miniseries, live shows, and one-on-one conversations with writers, editors, and publishers. Thanks for listening. 

In the second of our Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes series, Jenn and I discuss the power of testicles as a representation of masculine stoicism—and how if you give them the slightest flick we collapse in pain.   Jenn Zuko is adjunct faculty at DU, MSU, and Regis University. She teaches courses in writing, literature, visual arts, performing arts, movement, and of course stage combat. She is the author of Stage Combat: Fisticuffs, Stunts, and Swordplay for Theatre and Film, out from Allworth Press back in 2006. She can be seen performing on stage and in classrooms in the Boulder/Denver area, and online at Daily Cross-Swords and Writers’ HQ, as well as archived on the defunct sites Nerds in Babeland, Your Boulder, and Sherlock’s Home.   Music for this series was created by Paul Bradley. Paul is the author of the Power of Dour blog, where he writes about pessimistic philosophy, politics and culture. He’s also one of those infamous tech guys - a 25-year software industry veteran and startup executive who does weird and interesting things with learning science and artificial intelligence. He is also Jenn Zuko’s administrative assistant.   The Outrider Podcast is orchestrated by me, Jason Quinn Malott, and audio production magic is performed by Heather Anne Eden. You can find the show online at jquinnmalott.com and if you would, please, hop on iTunes and give us a rating. We’ll be back later in 2020 with more miniseries, live shows, and one-on-one conversations with writers, editors, and publishers. Thanks for listening. 

In the first of our Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes series, size matters, or so we’re told.  Join me, your erstwhile host, and my friend Jenn Zuko as we take the measure of a toxic man. We are joined in this episode by my long suffering producer, Heather Anne Eden.    Jenn Zuko is adjunct faculty at DU, MSU, and Regis University. She teaches courses in writing, literature, visual arts, performing arts, movement, and of course stage combat. She is the author of Stage Combat: Fisticuffs, Stunts, and Swordplay for Theatre and Film, out from Allworth Press back in 2006. She can be seen performing on stage and in classrooms in the Boulder/Denver area, and online at Daily Cross-Swords and Writers’ HQ, as well as archived on the defunct sites Nerds in Babeland, Your Boulder, and Sherlock’s Home.       Music for this series was created by Paul Bradley. Paul is the author of the Power of Dour blog, where he writes about pessimistic philosophy, politics and culture. He’s also one of those infamous tech guys - a 25-year software industry veteran and startup executive who does weird and interesting things with learning science and artificial intelligence. He is also Jenn Zuko’s administrative assistant.   The Outrider Podcast is orchestrated by me, Jason Quinn Malott, and audio production magic is performed by Heather Anne Eden. You can find the show online at jquinnmalott.com and if you would, please, hop on iTunes and give us a rating. We’ll be back later in 2020 with more miniseries, live shows, and one-on-one conversations with writers, editors, and publishers. Thanks for listening. 

The Cookout Show was recorded live on August 17, 2019 in the backyard at my mother’s house because, well, I live in an apartment.    Catherine Dryden earned her MFA in fiction at Wichita State University.  Her short stories have been published in various literary journals, including American Literary Review, So to Speak, Sulphur River Review, Alligator Juniper, and Pocket Rocket.  Several of her stories have been nominated for Pushcart prizes and she was awarded Alligator Juniper’s national prize for creative non-fiction.  After a longish hiatus from writing in order to quit smoking and gain weight, she’s resumed writing with a focus on travel writing and creative non-fiction.  She’s married to John Jenkinson.     John Jenkinson earned his MFA at Wichita State University and his PhD at the University of North Texas. A past winner of an AWP Discovery Award, a Balticon Science-Fiction Poetry Award, John served as Poetry Fellow at the Milton Center and now teaches creative writing and literature at Butler Community College.  His poems have appeared in The Georgia Review, Green Mountain Review, Passages North, Quarterly West, Rattle, 32 Poems, Visions, and three chapbooks.  His full-length book Rebekah Orders Lasagna was published by Woodley Press at Washburn University.  He’s currently reinvented himself as a singer song writer and guitar player specializing in songs for academics (his songs are featured in his daughter’s thesis and his son’s dissertation), children (especially his grandchildren) and lovers. He’s married to Catherine Dryden.   Many thanks to everyone who attended and brought food. Special thanks to Ray and Lauren Clause for the use of an amplifier for the show, and as always, big thanks to Heather Anne Eden.    The live shows are on a temporary hiatus until late November or early December as we begin the recording process for our next series on Problematic Tropes with my friend Jenn Zuko. The Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes shows will be out sometime in late November or early December.    You rock. Thanks for listening. 

In this live episode we feature poet Chandra E. A. Di Piazza and singer/songwriter and rock drummer Rhea Sewell.  Chandra E.A. Di Piazza grew up in Wichita and got her BGS and MFA from Wichita State University. She’s published three collections of poetry and in 2013 won the Kansas New Voices Award for her collection A Short History of Our Love, which was published by Finishing Line Press. Her work has appeared in print and online in journals like The Cimarron Review, The Chiron Review, and Muzzle Magazine. Chandra is the founder and editor of the online journal Poetry for the Masses. Although the journal is dormant at the moment and not accepting work, she plans to start publishing new work from established and emerging poets in 2020. Currently she is working on a new collection that she hopes to complete before the end of the year. Recently married to Anthony Di Piazza, Chandra has a daughter, Lyric, plus some cats and dogs that she is constantly surprised that under her care, haven’t been lost or run away.  Rhea Sewell is originally from Lindsborg, KS but was lured to Wichita by a music scholarship to WSU but mostly studied sociology, women’s studies, and English. On top of working full-time for the WSU Foundation, finishing a BA in 17 years with no student loan debt (what?), She’s been playing in rock bands of one stripe or another since 1994 including such acts as 1/2 Mad Poet, 7/8 Quick, JANET, Aoogah and most consistently False Flag ICT with Jeret Shisler, Tracy Sailer, and Pete Studtman. She played at the 1998 Lilith Fair show, and has opened for Joan Jett . . . twice. False Flag ICT is getting ready to record their fifth collection of songs, and you can get their EPs Rubber Blue Steam Fuck Punk, From the Inside, and Celestial Download on iTunes.  Extra special thanks to my producer, Heather, for the new live show logo. 

The inaugural issue of Vautrin is available now, and features pieces by Scott Phillips, Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Thomas Pluck, and many others.    Vautrin is only available at Watermark Books. Follow this link. https://www.watermarkbooks.com/product/vautrin-volume-1-issue-1-spring-2019   Vautrin is old school. To correspond with editor and publisher Todd Robins, to make a donation to support the magazine, or get a two-issue subscription you’ll have to use the US Postal Service and write to him. For donations and a two-issue subscription, make checks payable to Vautrin. The mailing address is 3418 East English Wichita, KS 67218.