In this week’s episode, I talk to Aaron Angello about his new book, The Fact of Memory: 114 Ruminations and Fabrications, the creative benefits of daily ritual, writing (cough) early in the morning, David Lynch, the mysteries of the word and, and ditching academic rules for the Muses.

In this week’s episode, I talk to Ann Hood about the challenges of writing nonfiction, the intertwining of feminism and women’s rights and the history of aviation before and after deregulation, the value of non-writing jobs for young writers, and so much more.

In this week’s show, I speak with the creative nonfiction writer Nita Noveno about the Peace Corps, having a writing community, the Kerouac House, gators, gators, and more gators, and bears, and all of Florida’s wild charms, including the people.

In this week’s show, I speak with Rachael Tillman about the poetry and practice of Anne Sexton.

In this week’s show, I speak with the poet Marisa Siegel about the value of combining poetry with graphic art, language poetry, discovering poetry early in life, and the Mills College MFA Program in Oakland.

In this week’s show, I speak with the poet Vidhu Aggarwal about humor in poetry, the physicality of laughter, symbology, physics and spirituality, The Mahabharata, Samuel Beckett, and Shakespeare.

In this week’s show, I speak with the poet Kimberly Ann Priest about purposeful ambiguity in poetry and the minor disturbing oddities in Hieronymus Bosch.

 

On #516 Rachel Tillman and I discuss the novels of Sally Rooney.

On #515, I talk to Sara Manning Peskin about the history of the mysteries and discoveries of medical science.

In this week’s show, I talk to Laura Costas about the pleasures of disorientation, the surprises of actual history, the complexity of myth, and postmodernism.

In #513, I talk to Jane-Rebecca Cannarella about genre bending & blending, illustrating literature, and the dialectics of Disney's The Little Mermaid.

In this week’s show, I talk to Lan Samantha Chan about writing a novel over a long period of time, learning and teaching at the Iowa Writers Workshop, the value of writing communities, and balancing teaching, administrative work, and writing.

On today’s show, I talk to TDO's comic book blogger Drew Barth to discuss Walt Simonson's astounding mythical, iconoclastic run on Thorback in the 1980s.

Sandra Lim talks about optimism, editing through the pile of a poem, letting oneself go in the current of the stream, and finding a grounding in the abstractions of mind and word.

On today’s show, co-novelists Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman talk about corporate cults, collaborative writing, and satire.

Memoirist Sonya Huber discusses how to write the way that we think, including the semiotic leapfrogs of memory, and trying to depict the precarious balance of reality.

On #506, Shruti Swarmy talks about calling the reader into a complete, already alive imaginary world, and writing about dance in ways that transcend rational, orderly prose.

On today’s show, I speak with the memoirist Brian Broome, winner of the 2021 Kirkus Prize for nonfiction.

Photo by Annie O'Neill

TEXT DISCUSSED

On today’s show, I speak with fiction writer Zaina Arafat about love, identity, sarcasm, and their complications for storytelling.

Raymond Antrobus, Carlie Hoffman, and Tiana Nobile read & discuss their poetry in this 2021 Miami Book Fair event.

On today’s show, legendary scholars Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar discuss the history of feminism and women's studies, and the turns of current events that make activism more necessary than ever.

On today’s show, I discuss the power of Stephen Crane with novelist Paul Auster.

Photo by by Spencer Ostrander.[/caption]

Back from the dead, I discuss Beckett, Kafka, wry sardonic world-weariness, & other matters of interest with fiction writer & memoirist Saïd Sayrafiezadeh.

On today’s show, I discuss Florida journalism, the tragic side of Florida Man, iguana hunters, bespoke mermaid tales, and other topics of great interest with Craig Pittman.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

 

On #497, I discuss poetry, literary magazines, and The Miami Book Fair with editors Lenny Dellarocca and Michael Mackin O'Mara, of The South Florida Poetry Journal.

On this week’s show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss the sensitive contribution to cinema that is Tokyo Gore Police.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

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.

Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.

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Episode 496 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on Apple podcasts, stitcher, spotify, or click here to stream (right click to download, if that’s your thing).

On this week’s show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss Repo! The Genetic Opera!

On today's show, I talk to science fiction novelist Lindsay Ellis!

On this week’s show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss an underrated adaptation of a Clive Barker short story, the delicately-titled The Midnight Meat Train.

On this week’s show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss an quietly beautiful independent movie from 2005 called The Devil's Rejects. Jeff & I get off track a lot.

On this week’s show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss 2002's classic horror film, Ju-on: The Grudge.

On this week's show, Patrick Jehle and I talk our way through all of Casino. This episode's a long one. Enjoy!

Photo by Mark Miller.

In this week’s show, I talk to fiction writer Aimee Bender about the subterranean connections that literary fiction makes between one and oneself, and between one and others; the difficult epistemology of sanity; the possibility of fiction not driven by interpersonal conflict; and other subjects of interest.

Enjoy.

In this week’s show, I talk to Disney historian Todd James Pierce about how Covid-19 and the home streaming of entertainment might affect the future of visual storytelling, plus we discuss his current historical work on Disney Legend John Hench.

In this week’s show, I talk to the novelist Jan Elizabeth Watson about a great many things.

 

In this week’s show, I talk to Drew Barth about comic book obsessions.

In this week’s show, I interview fiction writer and memoirist, James Tate Hill.

In this week’s show, I interview a writer I'm obsessed with, the prose writer Tim Parks.

We talk about walking and its relationship to composition, plus the historical vision of Garibaldi, and the provoking contradictions of historical record.

In this week’s show, Leslie Salas and I discuss Ziauddan Sardar and Borin Van Loon's Introducing Cultural Studies.

On this episode, I talk to biologist Catherine Raven about her wonderful new memoir, Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship.

TEXT DISCUSSED

 

On this episode, I talk to the poet Tanya Grae about finding surprises in poetry, losing one's hearing at the Hollywood Sportatorium, the solitude of earning a PhD in English, and the sexual politics of American life.

TEXT DISCUSSED

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.

Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.

On this episode, I talk to writer Will Dowd about Martin Scorcese's 2006 film, The Departed.

n this week’s show, journalist & poet Tyler Gillespie & I discuss long-form journalism and the epic wildness and weirdness of Florida.

Photo by Elizabeth Lynch.[/caption]

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Read Brandon Wolfe's essayabout Pulse.

Read John King's essayabout Walt Disney World's tragic alligator incident.

Learn about how Florida's governor will protect freedom at Florida universitiesby policing thought and banning race from all educational discussion.

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.
• Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.

In this week’s show, Jeff Shuster (our glorious Curator of Schlock) kick off summer by discussing two vintage summer camp films released in a two year span, Ivan Reitman's Meatballs (1979) and Tony Maylam's The Burning (1981).

In this week’s show, literary scholar Anahid Nersessian & I discuss John Keats, the potential for personal observations in academic work, the sexual politics of art, theme parks, and academic institutions, the dialectic of the indeterminacy & the permanence of art, & the scope of Keats’s personae.

In this week’s show, I talk to the novelist Kathleen Rooney about finding the spark to begin stories, the shape for long-form narratives, and the whimsy to make discoveries along the way.

In this week’s show, I talk to Nat Segaloff and Thomas Warming about writing for and about Hollywood.

In this week’s show, I bring music blogger Stephen McClurg aboard as we talk about one of the most transformative, dramatic, atmospheric, strange, American pastoral phantasmagorical musical albums of all time, Tom Waits's Swordfishtrombones (1983).

In this week’s show, I talk to the spring 2021 resident of The Kerouac Project of Orlando, playwright Spencer Huffman.

 

In this week’s show, Leslie Salas and I discuss Kurt Vonnegut' and Suzanne McConnell's compendious Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style.

NOTES

This episode is sponsored by the excellent people at Scribophile.

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.

Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.

In this week’s show, I speak with the actor Geoffrey Kent about Shakespeare in performance, how actors make the texts come alive, the modern English translation of Shakespeare plays, the agony of having to cut Shakespeare’s texts down, the scenes that are rehearsal-eaters, -linging steel, how action sequences by themselves tell stories, and other important matters.

In this week’s show, I speak with the poet and translator Alfred Corn about Rainer Maria Rilke's sublime Duino Elegies.

In this week’s show, I speak with Ciara Shuttleworth about poetry, telling factions, limerence, running with the Muses, being open to delight, and the importance of daydreaming.

In this week’s show, I speak with Maxim Loskutoff about Montana and the messy importance of setting, the fecund symbolism of reality, and attending NYU's creative writing program.

In this week’s show, I speak with Samantha Hart about her wonderful debut memoir, Blind Pony,
Plus I speak with Scott Cunningham about the monthlong poetry festival, O, Miami.

Photo by Alexander Ruiz.[/caption]

In this week’s show, Leslie Salas and I discuss Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Halfand Solutions and Other Problems.

In this week’s episode, theater scholar Raphael Cormack and I discuss the allure of Arabian music, the revolutionary times in Egypt between the world wars, and the women who dominated Cairo’s entertainment scene in the 1920s and 30s.

In this week’s episode, I speak with Isaac Fitzgerald and Brigette Barrager and Leigh Hobbs about children's books.

In this week’s episode, fiction writer Gwen Mullins and I discuss many, many things from the front of the Kerouac Project of Orlando's porch.

Nicklaus Rupert and I discuss the PhD in Creative Writing, the creative and professional benefits of working for a literary magazine, how working in a cinema house can turn one into a storytelling curmudgeon, and the responsibilities of using the trope of Floridian tackiness.

 

In this week’s show, Leslie Salas and I discuss Lynda Barry's composition book-inspired musings on art, Syllabus, and how not just craft, but creativity itself is a skill.

TEXT DISCUSSED

Episode 457 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on Apple podcasts, stitcher, spotify, or click here to stream (right click to download, if that’s your thing).

In this week’s show, Ryan Rivas talk about small press publishing, book design, and the value of MFA programs.

Ryan Rivas by Jared Alan Smith.

In this week's show, Janna Benge and I talk to Lily Brooks-Dalton about the experience of having her novel adapted into a prominent Netflix flick, how to enjoy letting a story take a new life with another creator, what the running time of a film means for a film's meaning, what film adaptations can teach a novel writer, and what film and television writing can do for a writer's creative momentum.

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, personal essayist Alex Miller and I talk about the intimate power of the personal essay, pitches, politics, and universities in NYC.

Essays by Alex Miller

• Read "When I Can't Progress in my Love Life, I Level Up in Video Games" over at The Washington Post.
• Read "Facing my Fear: I Was Always Scared of the Dark. Then PTSD Made it Even Worse" over at The Guardian.
• Read "Kanye Made Me Love Being Black. That's Why I Can't Vote for Him" over at The Independent.
• Read "Growing Up in the Shadow of Emmitt Till" over at The New York Daily News.

Photo by Carlie Hoffman.

On this episode, poet Ariel Francisco and I talk about Florida's wildness, Miami, Hollywood (Florida), multilingualism, Anna Nicole Smith, a sinking state, Jack Kerouac, FIU's MFA program, and many other important matters.

Episode 434 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on Apple podcasts, stitcher, spotify, or click here to stream (right click to download, if that’s your thing).

On this episode, Nick Flynn and I talk about memoirs, boundaries, and getting the writing done.

 

Darin Strauss and I discuss the utility of outlines, the utility of abandoning outlines, love, pain, stream-of-consciousness, love, Lucille Ball, Fred Trump, Coney Island, the semiotic intimacy of television, and love.

This week, I talk to podcaster Kyle Eagle about music and everything.

In this week's show, Vanessa Blakeslee and I discuss two online pieces on the subject of sex writing, and the conversation roves from there.

 

In this week’s show, I talk to writer, musician, and producer Jared Silvia about the connections between music and writing, the history of synth-pop, and the role of randomness and patterns to experience.

Photo by Emily VanDerWerf.

In this week’s show, I talk to novelist and video essayist Lindsay Ellis about science fiction; the structure of novels; exploring character interiority; alien invasion narratives; Chomskyian linguistics; the joys of making academic arguments about pop culture outside the academy; Transformers; and author platforms.

Music by Modal Plane, used with permission.

In this week’s show, I talk to my friend David James Poissant about novel-writing, sex scenes, The X-Men, graphic art, focus, and many other things.

This episode is sponsored by the excellent people at Scribophile.

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.

In this week’s show, I talk to my friend, the philosopher Bruce Janz, about how to calm our monkey brains in the time of the pandemic, and what the pandemic can teach us about life before the pandemic.

NOTES

This episode is sponsored by the excellent people at Scribophile.

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.

Learn more about Queerbomb over at its Facebook page.

Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.

 

 

In this week's show, I talk to my friend, the historian Scott Hoffman, about the evolution of Purdue's Outfest, Chicago Pride, Austin Pride, Queerbomb, Orlando pride, respectability politics, and other matters of interest.

NOTES

This episode is sponsored by the excellent people at Scribophile.

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.

Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.