04-17-09 :Agony Column Exclusive : Alan Cheuse : Three Books
Alan Cheuse is the nation's foremost radio book reviewer, and as it happens, one of our best novelists as well. Having interviewed Mr. Cheuse now and again, and having heard his reviews, I decided to see if he was up for a semi-regular feature here in the Agony Column Podcast. I proposed a simple format. I'd ring him on the phone and we'd talk about three books worth reading.
Because the heavens smile upon me, he agreed. This week, we're starting with three books that haven’t been in this column before; 'In Other Rooms, Other Wonders' by Daniyal Mueenuddin; 'The Stalin Epigram' by Robert Littel; and ' A Pocket History of Sex in the Twentieth Century' by Jane Vandenburgh. Worthy of your valuable time and money? You can find out by following this slink to the MP3 audio file.
04-16-09 :'Private Midnight' Soundtrack CD : Kris Saknussemm and Clamon
The music starts early in Kris Saknussemm's 'Private Midnight.' "Wayward heart ... always leads me in danger ... of staring fondly at strangers ..." It's the sort of smoky jazzy thing you hear, "when you're weaving out of a fern bar." Writers use music as cues in their work at their peril; presume that someone has heard a song and if they haven't, you've lost them. Presume that a reader may like a song and if they don't, you've lost them. Kris Saknussemm takes care of that potential problem with a pre-emptive strike — a soundtrack CD for his novel 'Private Midnight.'
In case you were expecting something relatively normal on the 'Private Midnight' soundtrack CD, please allow me to dash those expectations. His band is Clamon, including Saknussemm himself, Paul Nunns, Nel Staite (Lead Vocals),John Davey (Saxophone), Evil Steve, Tortoiseshell Male, Stef Koumouris (Piano/Wayward Heart), David Picone (Drums/Wayward Heart) and Steve Wilfred (Guitar/Let the Creatures Loose). Do note that one of the chapters of 'Private Midnight' received First Prize in the 10 Minute Play Category of The Missouri Review's first Audio Competition.
04-15-09 :Agony Column Podcast News Report : Lou Anders on Steampunk, Victoriana and Elizabethan SF
It had been too song since I last spoke to Lou Anders, editor for Pyr Books. And as I dug through some titles that had been hastily moved out to the garage, I came across some work that jumped out at me as belonging in my Steampunk week. Chris Roberson's 'End of the Century,' for example. Once Lou got out of an apocalyptic traffic jam, I got him on the phone to talk about steampunk, Roberson and whatever else came to our minds.
As the editor of the Pyr imprint, Lou Anders is a busy guy. He's putting out some 30 books this year, and his mucky-mucks want more. And here's the big surprise, because as publishing seems to be collapsing around us, science fiction imprints are springing up all over, and doing quite well thank you very much. I talked to Lou about Pyr, some upcoming titles, steampunk and not-steampunk in a conversation you can hear by following this link to the mp3 audio file.
04-14-09 :Agony Column Radio Broadcast from February 8, 2009 : Nancy Chen and Sarah Powers
Some interviews really surprise me, and I must say that both Nancy Chen and Sarah Powers managed that. Nancy Chen's book' 'Food Medicine and the Quest for Good Health,' seemed like a book and interview that were destined to be. I've been heading down this path for along time, so to meet and speak with her about her synthesis of these three themes was almost like being re-incarnated.
Sarah Powers, on the other hand, offered the pleasures of the completely unknown. I'll admit that I was entirely and pretty much deliberately unfamiliar with yoga until I spoke with her. My wife had attended a yoga class, but that was the extent of my knowledge. So to sit down with Sarah Powers and just ask, straight out, "What's yoga?" was really refreshing. You can hear the MP3 of my broadcast Agony Column Radio show from February 8, 2009 by following this MP3 audio link.
04-13-09 :A 2009 interview with Phil Austin and Nick Danger : "That third eye is real"
It's just a little less than two weeks until the Firesign Theatre shows up here in Monterey to do a live show at the Monterey Golden State Theater, and I was fortunate enough o be able to get Nck Danger himself, AKA Phil Austin, on the phone to talk about the Firesign Theatre and his work as Nick Danger. I was delighted to learn the genesis of Nick Danger — Johnny Dollar.
When you talk to Austin or the rest of the group, it's really clear why the Firesign Theatre's work is amazing as it is. Listening to tracks like "The Further Adventures of Nick Danger" or "Everything You Know is Wrong," you start to wonder just how much background research was done. The flow of the audio is incredibly dense and layered, and on one hand, it sounds as if they made the whole thing up in one swell foop, live in the studio. That's because the alternative is that they spent months researching and rehearsing the work, performing it hundreds of times and doing thousands of takes then carefully assembling these from four track tapes to an audio experience that sounds like a big-budget movie sans visuals. And the best part is that, as when reading, the listener gets to put it all together in the listening experience. Hearing about the origins of their work, such as the story of Johnny Dollar, just makes it that much more interesting. In "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar," Johnny Dollar was an insurance investigator who started the show with a phone call, and went on to solve the crime. But he didn't have the advantage of a Third Eye.
But wait — there's more! Following the interview, I'm podcasting the entire 28-plus minutes of 'The Further Adventures of Nick Danger' from 'Danger Box.' In a sense I should apologize, because as with some of the books I recommend, I suspect some listeners will find themselves compelled to dive into the Firesign Theatre's entire oeuvre. If you get a chance, see them live. If you do, just Don’t Crush That Dwarf — Hand Me the Pliers.
New to the Agony Column
03-11-10: Commentary : Otto Penzler Scans 'The Lineup' : Behind Imaginary Badges
03-09-10: Commentary : Paul McHugh Meets 'Deadlines' : Murdering the California Coast
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Paul McHugh : "..the strengths of good writing go all the way, across all the genres..."
03-08-10: Commentary : Joe Hill Grows 'Horns' : Devil and Detail
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Joe Hill : "Eventually, the wicked and the unworthy will get their just desserts on the business end of the Devil's pitchfork."
03-05-10: Commentary : Henry Porter Calls 'The Bell Ringers' : It Takes The Village
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Four Books With Alan Cheuse : Thrillers! : Henry Porter, The Bell Ringers; Keith Thomson, Once a Spy; Jo Nesbo, The Devil's Star; Hennig Mankel, The Man From Beijing
03-04-10: Commentary : Jo NesbØ Earns 'The Devil's Star' : Rewind
03-01-10: Commentary : Adam Haslett Invests With 'Union Atlantic' : Abstract Power Abstracts Absolutely
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview With Adam Haslett : "With her, and with each character, how does the rhythm create a kind of musical argument?"
02-26-10: Commentary : Dan Simmons Heads for the 'Black Hills' : Unstuck in Life
02-23-10: Commentary : Adam Haslett Knows 'You Are No Stranger Here' : Stories from Strangers' Shoes
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Jedediah Berry Interviewed at SF in SF, February 13, 2010 : "...being at Small Beer has actually introduced whole worlds to me ..."
02-22-10: Commentary : Graeme Gibson's 'The Bedside Book of Birds' and 'The Bedside Book of Beasts' : A Feast for Your Mind, Your Eyes and Your Mind's Eye
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2009 Interview with Graeme Gibson : "Our common humanity, our common culture, will help make the connections."
02-19-10: Commentary : Ralph Waldo Ellison 'Three Days Before the Shooting ...' : One Book, Many Stories
Agony Column Podcast News Report : John Callahan and Adam Bradley and 'Three Days before the Shooting' : "I've moved through the phases of my own life, and I find those phases mirrored in the characters of this novel." — John Callahan "...capable of brilliance, eloquence and power; that's how I understand the second novel, as we see it in Three Days Before the Shooting, and that's certainly how I understand, and I think how Ellison understood, America." — Adam Bradley
02-18-10: Commentary : George Mann Scares Up 'The Ghosts of Manhattan' : Hard Core Pulp Action
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Speaking Frankly With Thomas Frank : From Tea to Shining Tea : "When I think about what I'm saying, it's so depressing..."
02-17-10: Commentary : Thomas More, Clarence Miller and 'Utopia' : Politics, Satire, Fantasy
02-15-10: Commentary : 'Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded' by John Scalzi : A Decade of Whatever
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni : "I have to work through the novel and then it comes to me, how it's going to end."
02-12-10: Commentary : Stephanie Merritt Becomes S. J. Parris : 'Heresy'
02-11-10: Commentary : Max Watman 'Chasing the White Dog' : Home-Made Hooch and Rebellion
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview With Sam Farr : : "The money came from Washington, but the uses for that money came from the local community."
02-10-10: Commentary : Anne Lamott Spots 'Imperfect Birds' : The Ties That Unbind
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Speaking Frankly: Thomas Frank on Re-Populism and Re-Launching The Baffler : "I have never seen 'populist backlash in a headline before."
02-09-10: Commentary : Douglas Clegg Returns to 'Neverland' : Is 1980's Horror Returning from the Grave?
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2009 Interview with David Drake, Part 2 / Complete : "I didn't have governor ... that is ... anything, endgame, was me killing somebody.""
02-08-10: Commentary : David Louis Edelman Completes Jump 225 : 'Geosynchron'
