12-01-13 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 135: Susan Stinson, 'Spider in a Tree'
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Photo Credit Jeep Wheat
Here's the one-hundred thirty-fifth episode of my series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. Hitting the two-year mark, I'm going to make an effort to stay ahead, so that podcast listeners can get the same sort of "sneak preview" effect that radio listeners get each Friday morning. This week, I seem to be on top opf the game, but who knows what the hell might happen. I am hoping to stay back up and stumbling.
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 one-hundred thirty-fifth episode is a look at Susan Stinson and 'Spider in a Tree.'
11-27-13:A 2013 Phone Interview with Jeff VanderMeer
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"I'm highly visual as a writer."
—Jeff VanderMeer
Occasionally, I get a bee in my bonnet and decide to get on the phone to talk to some folks. I'm fortunate, extremely so, that they are wiling to talk to me, an d answer the phone. So, with two intense Jeff VanderMeer books to hand; 'Wonderbook' and 'Annhilation,' I called up the Panhandle with my new super-cheapo phone attached.
The upshot was better sound, and Jeff was in fine form — as he always is. First, I took up 'Wonderbook,' given that it was actually published and something of a big thing, though not as big as I believe it will eventually become. To my mind, 'Wonderbook' is perfectly poised to become the go-to how-to textbook for a generation of writers of video games and for the internet and other media old folks like me are just not able wrap their brains around. (I'm not wiling to spend the time to do so, really.) That said, I can imagine droves of high-school kids bringing this home and dog-earing it to the point of absurdity.
There is just so much that is so useful and so much fun to read and look at in 'Wonderbook,' that is seems destined to become a manual for more than writing, but creativity in general. Jeff and I had a fine conversation about this.
We also talked about 'Annhilation,' the idea for which, he told me, came to him in a dream. It shares this with the Ambergris books. VanderMeer manages to be both creepy and insightful in this book. Fortunately for my listeners, he stuck to the insightful side for the conversation, which you can hear by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
11-25-13:A 2013 Interview with Anne and Christopher Rice
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"I wrote with the door open, and he'd see me..."
— Anne Rice
I set up a crowded slate at KQED a couple of weeks ago. Originally, I was just going to talk to Anne Rice, but then heard that her son Christopher was travelling with her, and that he had a new novel out, and that I could schedule an interview. That gave me 'The Wolves of Midwinter' and 'The Heavens Rise' to read one after another, the sort of challenge that is as fun as it sounds.
After speaking with Anne, we brought in Christopher to speak to the two of them together, in a conversation that was deliberately cut loose from the books. The result was that they played off one another, as my listeners and readers might hope — as did I.
One of the things I was interested in was their experience as California writers, and one of the pleasures of this sort of conversation is that their answers play off of one another. As a bonus, Chris got to talk about Ross MacDonald; any chance to discuss one of the greats who does not get enough air time is always a plus.
Mostly, this was just a great time to chat with two pros, and to see the timeline unfold, to hear from both Chris's point of view and Anne's perspective, how young writers whoa re mothers and younger writers who are sons play off of and inform one another.
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
