We're joined by John Cotter, author of the memoir Losing Music, out this week from Milkweed Editions. The book is about an incurable inner-ear disorder that came on suddenly, and inexplicably, and how John has had to reckon with the gradual loss of his hearing, and the host of other issues that brings with it. John picked a famous Maxine Hong Kingston essay for us to read, one that offers an interesting model for writing about what we don't know. 

You can learn more about John, and find links to purchase his book, here: https://johncotter.net/

If you like the show, and would like to exchange five of your hard-earned dollars for monthly bonus content--including access to the Book Fight Book Club--you can sign up for our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

Return guest Christopher Gonzalez (I'm Not Hungry But I Could Eat) joins us to talk about the difference between gay stories and queer stories, writing long, and how not to be a creepy weirdo on Twitter. 

You can read Alejandro Varela's story, "Carlitos in Charge," here, via Harper's: https://harpers.org/archive/2019/10/carlitos-in-charge-alejandro-varela/

Learn more about Chris and his work here: https://chris-gonzalez.com/

If you want to support the podcast, you can join our Patreon for just $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by fan favorite Laura McGrath, who is back on the show to help us understood the cultural phenomenon that is Colleen Hoover. McGrath, our colleague at Temple University, studies the business of literature--and teaches a class on best-sellers--but she hadn't read any Hoover until we forced her to do it for the podcast. So we hope you're appreciative, listeners! 

You can keep up with Laura's scholarly work, including her forthcoming book, at her website, here: https://laurabmcgrath.com/. 

You can follow her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/lbmcgrath?lang=en

If you like the podcast, for just $5 you can get two bonus episodes a month, plus help support the show more generally: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We’re joined by the short story writer Art Taylor—winner of multiple Agatha awards, and author of two collections—to discuss an unconventionally structured story by Joyce Carol Oates. Art also teaches creative writing at George Mason University in Virginia, and we spend some time talking about how we approach structure with our students. You can find Art’s books, and everything else he’s up to, at his website: https://arttaylorwriter.com/

If you like the podcast, please consider supporting us! For only $5/month, you'll get two monthly bonus episodes, plus the satisfying feeling that comes from supporting the work you enjoy and would like to see more of in the world. More details here: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by Tod Goldberg, author of more than a dozen books, including Gangsterland and The Low Desert, to talk about what he learned about crime writing from Elmore Leonard. Plus, why are MFA programs still so often biased against writers of genre fiction? And what are the challenges of writing a series of novels with the same lead character?

You can learn more about Tod, and his books, here: https://todgoldberg.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by V.V. Ganeshananthan, author of two critically acclaimed novels, most recently Brotherless Night, which takes place during the Sri Lankan Civil War. Sugi is also a former grad school classmate of ours, and she began Brotherless Night back when all three of us were at Iowa together. So one thing we talk about is that process, and what it's like to write and rewrite a novel over more than fifteen years.

For our reading, Sugi chose Horacio Castellanos Moya's Senselessness, the first of his novels to be translated into English, and which a friend of hers recommended, several years ago, when she was deep in the throes of her own book. Both her own novel novel and Moya's deal with atrocities, and both in some darkly humorous ways. So we talk to her about what she learned from Moya, and how reading this book helped her get her own novel over the finish line.

You can learn more about Sugi, and her new book, here: https://vvganeshananthan.com/.

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by writer and editor Aaron Burch, whose novel Year of the Buffalo came out in November. Aaron is also a long-time literary editor, having founded Hobart in the early 2000s and, more recently, HAD, which has made "skull collecting" the newest badge of literary coolness. For our reading, Aaron chose Chris Bachelder's debut novel from 2001, Bear v. Shark, which he remembered loving and wanted to revisit. We talk about what makes a work of fiction feel dated--which may go against conventional wisdom--as well as risk-taking and having fun as a writer. Plus: humor writing of the early internet; what it means to be a literary-world outsider; and why the revision process can often feel neverending.

You can buy Aaron's new novel here: https://americanbuffalobooks.org/. Or visit his website here: https://www.aaronburch.net/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by several of the Barrelhouse editors for our annual holiday episode. This year we're reading the David Baldacci novel The Christmas Train, which follows a salty, Mark Twain-loving writer on a cross-country train trip filled with heartwarming hijinks. There's a boa constrictor. There's an Aretha Franklin stand-in. There's an old guy who loves to lecture people about the magic of train travel. And maybe ... love?

You can learn more about Barrelhouse here: https://www.barrelhousemag.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by Siân Griffiths (author of Scrapple, and The Heart Keeps Faulty Time) to discuss a short story she regularly teaches and that her students often dislike, in large part because it involves killing cats. And it turns out Mike might be on Team Siân's Students, though for somewhat different reasons (not that he cares for cats being killed, either!). We talk about the pedagogical benefits of having your students read something they may not like, and debate where the line is between a good description and an overwrought, show-offy one. Plus: horse stuff!

You can read the story, "Breatharians," here, via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/22/breatharians

And learn more about our guest, and her work, here: http://www.sbgriffiths.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by Shannon Wolf, a British writer and poet currently making her home in the U.S., who picked this episode's book after hearing us on a previous episode ask, hypothetically, whether there might be a novelization of the movie Legally Blonde. Shannon, a superfan of the film, knew it was actually based on a novel, though the story of that novel's publication is a bit of a twisty one. And while Amanda Brown's book lays out the basic plot and character arcs that we all know and love from the film, the tone of the novel is a lot less cheerful and winning.

You can learn more about this episode's guest, and her work, at her website: https://helloshanwolf.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight