In my wanderings through the audio landscape, I've spent a fair amount of time at KQED in San Francisco, where I revently had the privilege of meeting the one and only Ian Shoales.
With help of the fine folks at KQED, I am now able to present Ian Shoales' brilliant work as a part of this podcast. This time around, a commentary on NASA.
01-25-12:The Agony Column Live with Laurie R. King : January 21, 2012
Click image for audio link.
"Conan Doyle was never convinced by Holmes."
—Laurie R. King
It was a full house at the Capitola Book Café when Laurie R. King and I sat down to talk about 'A Study in Sherlock,' the anthology she co-edited with Holmes scholar Leslie S. Klinger. I enjoyed the hell out of this collection, and was really looking forward to speaking with Laurie about the place of Sherlock Holmes in the mystery genre and the world at large.
Laurie is always fun to talk to because while she takes her work very seriously, she does not take herself seriously. The upshot is that she knows her stuff inside out, but also knows how to have fun when she talks about it. When it comes to Holmes, she's like a self-deprecating encyclopedia. She'll aw-shucks her precise knowledge inside a series of jokes that makes that knowledge very entertaining.
The crowd at Capitola Book Café was smart as well, and we got some great audience questions, and with excellent audio. If you are looking for a great introduction into the world of Sherlock Holmes, you need look no farther.
01-24-12 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 28: Sara Paretsky, 'Breakdown'
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Here's the twenty-eighth episode of my new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. The podcasts/radio broadcasts will be of books worth your valuable reading time. I'll try to keep the reports under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format. If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
The twenty-eighth episode is a look at Sara Paretsky and her new book, 'Breakdown'.
"Everything in a courtroom is a story; it's not justice, it's combating narratives."
—Sara Paretsky
It's a cold winter day in Northern California, but the Belmont library is welcoming and warm. Better still, they have a couple of comfortable chairs facing a real hearth and a real (gas) fire, where I get to sit down with Sara Paretsky to chat about her new book, 'Breakdown.' She's at her comfortable best in this book, which means that she's trying — and succeeding — to make some people, at least, very uncomfortable.
Paretsky is well-known for the political and social themes that run through her novels and in the course of the interview, she stops to apologize for a rant. But she's unerringly polite, and sharp as a razor. She's just as comfortable talking about clothing and dresses as she is about the latest injustices being committed in our names. She's quiet and soft-spoken, but it's not the library. It's the fact that her words are precise and intense. Sara Paretsky has no need to shout.
As I listen to her speak, I can see V. I. Warshawski sitting there with her; no, with me. Paretsky occasionally tries to suggest that she's more of a shrinking violet than V. I., but that's clearly not the case. And yes, she is very proud of her correspondence with Bill Clinton.
The original thought (on the part of the publicist) was that we'd need half an hour to talk, but I'm glad I asked for a full hour, most of which we used. Yesterday was the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of the first V. I. Warshawski novel, 'Indemnity Only.' Paretsky claims that she didn't know what she was going to do with V. I. Warshawski when she started her groundbreaking career. It was, not surprisingly, an investigation.
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
