Book Fight

Amy Hempel's first published story was a breakout success, and has gone on to be one of the most anthologized stories of the last few decades. We talk about her path to success, and why this story has resonated. We also discuss some of the mid-to-late 80s backlash to minimalist fiction, which Hempel got caught up in.

In the second half of the show we talk about people who had early career success in writing and the arts, and how (or whether) they followed it up.

For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com.  

Direct download: Spring16_Hempel.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

We talk about DeLillo's forthcoming novel--a meditation on death, love, language and the permanence/impermanence of objects. If that sounds kinda heavy ... well, it is a DeLillo novel. In the second half of the show, we talk about a recent essay from The Walrus called "I Don't Care About Your Life: Why Critics Need To Stop Getting Personal n Their Essays," by Jason Guriel.

 

As always, visit us online for more: bookfightpod.com

Direct download: Ep124_DonDelilo.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Our second installment in the Spring of Success has us considering the breakthrough of Jhumpa Lahiri, who had two stories in The New Yorker within a few months of each other, then a story collection, and then a Pulitzer Prize. How did it happen? What was it that set her stories apart? 

We also talk about musicians and artists who supposedly sold their souls to the devil to earn their success. And whiney white guys who think they're at a publishing disadvantage these days.

For more, including links to some of the things we talked about this week, visit us online at bookfightpod.com

Direct download: Ep123_Spring16_Lahiri.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

One of the most popular mystery novels by one of the world's best-selling mystery novelists. Also: weirdly racist? In America, the title of this Christie novel has always been And Then There Were None. But in Great Britain, the original title featured the n-word. No, we're not making that up. 

This week also features the triumphant return of Fan Fiction Corner, including some very sexy Marco Rubio stories.

For more, check us out online at bookfightpod.com

Thanks for listening!

Direct download: Ep122_AgathaChristie.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

In this free bonus episode, we meet up with poet and essayist Elisa Gabbert on the floor of the AWP conference in Los Angeles. We talk with her about what kind of poetry goes over well at bars, navigating the overwhelming AWP bookfair, her advice column for Electric Literature and whether being an SEO expert and content marketer is a good gig for a poet. 

 

Direct download: AWP16_ElisaGabbert.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:55pm EDT

Welcome to the Spring of Success! During these seasonal episodes we'll be reading writers' breakthrough stories or essays and talking about how they achieved success. We'll also talk about various aspects of artistic success. This week we're talking about Wells Tower, who broke through with the story collection Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned. Also: people who didn't find success until after their death, and why we're so obsessed with those stories.

For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com

Thanks for listening!

Direct download: Ep121_Spring17_Tower.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

This week we're reading the first novel in C.S. Lewis's beloved Narnia series, which Mike loved as a child and somehow Tom missed out on entirely. Will the book hold up to the scrutiny of two skeptical, sometimes cynical adults? Will the Christian elements feel too heavy handed? Or will Mike and Tom find themselves filled with earnest, childlike wonder? Only one way to find out!

For more visit us online at bookfightpod.com

Direct download: Ep120_CSLewis_LionWitchWardrobe.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

It's the last week for our Winter of Wayback episodes this year, and we're investigating 1975. We've got a Harry Crews essay from Playboy about a day spent with some local grits in Johnson City, Tennessee. Plus the beginnings of the men's rights movement, Philadelphia's mayor giving the press the silent treatment, and the inventor of the Pet Rock. 

For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com. 

And if you're going to be AWP, come by the Barrelhouse table and say hello!

Direct download: Ep119_Wayback_1975.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

This week's book is actually two New Yorker profiles of a famous bohemian, writer, poet and all-around Greenwich Village eccentric. Mitchell first wrote about Gould in 1942, then wrote a much longer follow-up in the early 60's about his further dealings with Gould and his growing suspicion that the long book Gould had been working on for years didn't, in fact, exist.

We debate the ethical dimensions of the writer-subject relationship, and whether Mitchell was fair in his treatment of Gould, who clearly suffered from mental illness. We've also got an installment of South Philly News, about an aggrieved parent in a hipster coffee shop. 

For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com

Direct download: Ep118_Mitchell_JoeGould.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

We've zoomed back in time to 1935, a year in which Philly politics got ugly, and monkeys ran wild on the streets of New York City. It was also the "golden age of detective fiction," so we read two stories by John Dickson Carr, considered a master of the form, particularly what's known as "locked room mysteries." 

For more, check us out online at bookfightpod.com

Direct download: Ep117_Wayback_1935.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT