06-27-09: A Podcast Frankenstein : Pat Murphy Reads "Clap If You Believe" in 2008 and 2009
It didn't occur to me until this moment that I'd performed by own Frankensteinian construction in the world of audio. Let me first state that hearing Pat Murphy read is always a pleasure even if she hasn’t got an entire story for you. The readings at SF in SF are live events, and must be viewed in that context. But when she told us last Saturday that she was reading the end of a story he had begun last year, I began to wonder.
It struck me as Murphy read the end of the story now with the working title "Clap if You Believe," that I might have the beginning still available for a bit of cut-and-paste. Fortunately, I have a disk-mirroring system so that when these tings fail, I don’t lose everything. And I structure my archives in a manner in which at least I can find old stuff pretty easily. The upshot is that I was able to Frankenstein the reading of the first half of the story, from 2008 with the reading of the second half of the story, from 2009. The audio quality is pretty much the same, so now for your uninterrupted listening pleasure, I present "Clap if You Believe," the complete story, via this link to the MP3 audio file.
06-26-09: Michaela Roessner Reads at SF in SF : Fish Story
I'd never read Michaela Roessner before hearing her at SF in SF on Saturday, June 20, but that's a date that's going to stick in my memory. Her story, 'Fish Story' told in the second person is truly a command performance that will change forever the way you look at fish — and religion.
Short story writing can seem on the face of it, pretty similar to novel writing. But then something like this story comes along, knocks your socks off, and makes you realize that short form is capable of power that you just can't achieve in the long form. I can't say anything else about this story beyond this: click the link and listen.
06-25-09: Pat Murphy Reads at SF in SF : "Clap If You Believe"
I had a blast at the Brazen Hussies SF in SF show. Everything was superb. And happily, Pat Murphy returned, one day less than a precise year after her reading last year, to read the second half of the story she started then, "Clap If You Believe."
So here's the deal. Today, I'm podcasting Pat Murphy's reading from June 20, 2009. It's the second half of "Clap If You Believe," which was untitled when she read the first half back on June 21, 2008. In this reading, she offers a very effective summary of the first part of the story, so if you missed the first part or heard it and need a recap, you've got, along with the rest of this funny and moving work, at this link to the MP3 audio file.
06-23-09: Agony Column Podcast News Report: Lisa Goldstein Reads at SF in SF : A Family
Saturday — June 20, 2009 — at SF in SF, the Variety Children's Charity and Tachyon Publications played host to the Brazen Hussies that's Lisa Goldstein, Pat Murphy and Michael Roessner. I'll have a lot more to report on all of this, but we're going to start with the beginning, in this case, Lisa Goldstein.
As usual, each writer read, in this case for about 20 minutes (since there were three writers). Lisa Goldstein started off with a reading from an as-yet unpublished novel, which, one hopes, her publishers will hurry and bring to us as soon as she turns it in. In the interim, you can hear her read from this linked MP3 audio file.
Amy Stewart
06-22-09: A 2009 Interview with Amy Stewart : "A very poisonous plant, and that is not to say that you should not grow it in your yard"
Amy Stewart has a poison garden. This is the first thing you need to know about her. The next thing you need to know is that she is a storyteller. So when you pick up 'Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and other Botanical Atrocities,' bet that you’re getting more than a guide to knocking off the neighbors.
I sat down with Am Stewart in my personal bookstore studio, the office at Capitola Book Café to talk about her gripping volume of gruesome plants. I must admit that it takes a few moments to reconcile her sunny personality and her obvious enthusiasm for her subject with her subject itself. You'd be surprised at how inviting she can make the Suicide Tree sound, for example. It' a native of Kerala, where the alien red rain fell last year, and one might well wonder if this tree's origin are not of this earth. It’s certainly friendly only to those who hope to hasten their own or anther's departure from this veil of tears.
Stewsrt and I talked about her resesarch for the book, and the unique format for the book, as well as the outstanding art, done, as she tells us, with a 300 year-old method of copper engraving. For the picture of the nettle pant alone, this book rates buying. But frankly, it's the quality of the stories and the prose that makes this book one worth setting out where others can find it. Stewart doesn't just dish up facts about plants, she finds the people and stories behind the plants she covers. You can hear her dish the dirt, so to speak, on the oh-so-green killers with whom we share the planet by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
New to the Agony Column
02-08-10: Commentary : David Louis Edelman Completes Jump 225 : 'Geosynchron'
02-05-10: Commentary : DC Pierson is 'The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To' : The Insomnia Vibe
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheuse: Too Much Money, Dominick Dunne; The Privileges, Jonathan Dee; Adam Haslett, Union Atlantic; The Forty Rules of Love, Elif Shafak; Wild Child, T. C. Boyle
02-04-10: Commentary : David Grann and 'The Devil and Sherlock Holmes' : An Obsession with Obsession
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Josh Sundquist : "It was a really amazing testament to the power of small-town America and to the power of organized religion at its best."
02-03-10: Commentary : James Rollins Unleashes 'The Altar of Eden' : Monsters at the Zoo
02-01-10: Commentary : 'He Walked Among Us' : Cassandra, John Titor and Norman Spinrad
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Charlie Huston : "The prospect of things becoming deeply unhinged seemed very, very immediate"
01-29-10: Commentary : Henghis Hapthorn Meets 'Hespira' : Matthew Hughes Devolves the Universe
01-27-10: Commentary : Glen Cook Walks the 'Shadowline' : Every Old (Science Fiction) Thing is New (Space Opera) Again
Agony Column Podcast News Report : An Interview with Jeff Carlson at SF in SF on January 16, 2010 : "The bad guys never consider themselves the bad guys..."
01-19-10: Commentary : Gene Wolfe Moves into 'The Sorcerer's House' : Magical Surrealism
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheuse : Don Delillo: 'Point Omega,' Robert Stone: 'Fun With Problems,' Douglas Preston: 'Impact'
01-18-10: Commentary : George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois Bring On 'Warriors' : An Anthology Waiting to Happen
