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
07-30-10: Commentary : Subterranean Press and Robert R. McCammon Wake at 'The Wolf's Hour' : The Time Before Cheese
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheus : Allegra Goodman, 'The Cookbook Collector,' Noam Shpancer's 'The Good Psychologist' and Elie Wiesel 'The Sonderberg Case'
07-28-10: Commentary : Rule Britannia, In Space 2 : En Route, RJ Frith and Peter F. Hamilton
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Brian and Wendy Froud at SF in SF on Monday, July 19, 2010: Q & A : "The people you deal with at the publishers ... if they last the end of the week, you're lucky."
07-27-10: Commentary : Rule Britannia, In Space : UK Space Opera Demonstrates Excess is Not Enough (Part one, the Arrived)
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Brian and Wendy Froud at SF in SF on Monday, July 19, 2010 : "Well, I thought if I do faeries then nobody's going to say that I've got it wrong."
07-26-10: Commentary : Brian and Wendy Froud Seek 'The Heart of Faerie Oracle' : Cards, Books and a New Perspective
07-20-10: Commentary : Adam Elenbaas is Caught by 'Fishers of Men' : The Gospel of an Ayahuasca Vision Quest
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, July 10, 2010 : Alan Cheuse and Peter S. Beagle : "There are certain phrases I'm leery of using; one's "the creative process" and the other is "inspiration." ” Peter S. Beagle "Habit is the best thing for you if you're trying to write prose." ” Alan Cheuse
07-19-10: Commentary : Phil Cousineau is the 'Wordcatcher' : A Selectionary for Curious Mind
07-09-10: Commentary : Harlan Ellison's 'Deathbird Stories' : Back from the Dead and Ready to Party
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Everything by Kevin Canty, The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson by Kim Stanley Robinson, and Glorious by Bernice McFadden
07-07-10: Commentary : Kitchen Testing 'The New Vegetarian Epicure' and 'Get Cooking' : Lentil Power
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, June 26, 2010 : Mollie Katzen and Anna Thomas, Part Two : "'You should really write a cookbook,' and I thought, 'Yeah, that's a good idea...'"
07-06-10: Commentary : Anna Thomas Cooks Up 'Love Soup' : Recipes, Menus and Meals
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, June 26, 2010 : Mollie Katzen and Anna Thomas, Part One : Time to Get Cooking Because You Love Soup : "It makes a huge difference really, really, it does, to completely clean up when you're done."
07-05-10: Commentary : Abraham Verghese Will Not Be 'Cutting for Stone' : Stories of Spirit and Words of Comfort
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Abraham Verghese : "Literature has a wonderful ability to restore your imagination for the suffering of others."
07-02-10: Commentary : Sloane Crosley Asks 'How Did Get This Number' : Excellent Essays for the Short of Temper
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Live Interview With Sloane Crosley : We Did Not Mention the Title of Her Essay 'Fuck You, Columbus'
06-30-10: Commentary : Mark Charan Newton Enters 'City of Ruin' : Inspector Jeryd Rides Again
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Panel Discussion at SF in SF on June 12, 2010, with Seanan McGuire, Deborah Grabien and Terry Bisson : "Coke Black was just a horrible thing unleashed on an unsuspecting world."
06-29-10: Commentary : 'Twelve,' 'Thirteen,' Tongues of Serpents,' and 'The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack' : Historical SF & Horror Makes Rousing Summer Reading
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Seanan McGuire Interviewed at SF in SF, June 12, 2010 : "If I have my unbreakables, I can set my conditionals."
06-28-10: Commentary : Jennifer Egan Gets 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' : Revisiting the Novel Genre
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Conversation with Jennifer Egan : "The characters and the action led the way... I was led into the future not so much because I was thinking, 'I want to write about the future,' but more because I wanted to re-visit this particular person."
06-23-10: Commentary : Adam Langer Corrals 'The Thieves of Manhattan' : Lies, Balderdash and the Absolute, Unvarnished Truth
06-21-10: Commentary : Linda Greenlaw is 'Seaworthy' : Back to the Grand Banks in Not-So-Grand Style
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Linda Greenlaw : "Well, I call him up and tell him I'm going to the Grand Banks and he pretty much signs himself right up."
06-17-10: Commentary : Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud Lives 'A Life on Paper' : Translating the Ineffable
06-15-10: Commentary : Donald R. Burleson Whispers 'Wait for the Thunder' : Stories for a Stormy Night
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Lucyby Laurence Gonzalez, Spies of the Balkansby Alan Furst, A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
06-14-10: Commentary : James P. Othmer Drinks the 'Holy Water' : Backing Into the Future
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2009 Interview with Juliet Schor : "...We need to move to much more open, collaborative, sharing knowledge systems."
06-10-10: Commentary : Brett Easton Ellis Peers Inside 'Imperial Bedrooms' : Panic After the Year Zero
06-09-10: Commentary : Dan Dion and Paul Provenza Free the '!Satiristas!' : Bleeding the Comedians
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Conversation with Paul Provenza and Dan Dion : "I was raised to respect the printed word so much, when I was in school, I couldn't highlight books..."
06-08-10: Commentary : China Miéville Unleashes 'Kraken' : Comedy of Tentacles
06-03-10: Commentary : Justin Cronin Enters 'The Passage' : A girl who saves the world
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer, The Passage by Justin Cronin
06-02-10: Commentary : 'Animythical Tales' by Sarah Totton and 'Metrophilias' by Brendan Connell : Better Seeds
06-01-10: Commentary : The Return of The Agony Column : Logic, License and Habit
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Karl Marlantes : "..these are common human foibles and failings, it's just that they get magnified in a combat, war situation..."
