Podcast appearances and mentions of Michael Chabon

We are learning fiction techniques, and we are or soon will be skilled fiction writers.  Does this mean we should design our own book covers?  Also, Michael Chabon's terrific sense of smell.  And the use of details in the haunted house.Support the show

Couch Potato Theater: Be Kind & Rewind - John Carter (2012) Watch: Fandom Podcast Network YouTube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@FandomPodcastNetwork Listen: Fandom Podcast Network Audio Podcast Link: https://fpnet.podbean.com/category/couch-potato-theater Welcome to Couch Potato Theater here on the Fandom Podcast Network. Fandom Podcast Network co-founders Kyle and Kevin welcome back special guests, author and friend of the FPN John Mosby, and one of the original FPN co-founders... Norman! Norman came to us with an excellent idea and twist to Couch Potato Theater. Couch Potato Theater is where we celebrate our favorite movies.... usually. But on this special edition of Couch Potato Theater we look back at films that maybe we, or the public opinion originally didn't like! But now, we may have a different opinion, welcome to Couch Potato Theater: Be Kind & Rewind - John Carter (2012). We also welcome special guest, author and journalist John Mosby. John attended a London 2012 John Carter press conference, and shares his experience on that event and the article he wrote on the movie. That Impact Online article can be found here: https://www.impactonline.co/features/669-john-carter-battling-martians-and-marketing Plot: John Carter, a Civil War veteran, who in 1868 was trying to live a normal life, is "asked" by the Army to join, but he refuses, so he is locked up. He escapes and is pursued. Eventually they run into some Indians, and there's a gunfight. Carter seeks refuge in a cave. While there, he encounters someone who is holding some kind of medallion. When Carter touches it, he finds himself in a place where he can leap incredible heights, among other things. He later encounters beings he has never seen before. He meets a woman who helps him to discover that he is on Mars, and he learns that some kind of unrest is going on. John Carter is a 2012 American science fiction action-adventure film directed by Andrew Stanton, written by Stanton, Mark Andrews, and Michael Chabon, and based on A Princess of Mars, the first book in the Barsoom series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Produced by Jim Morris, Colin Wilson and Lindsey Collins, it stars Taylor Kitsch in the title role, with Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy and Willem Dafoe co-starring in supporting roles. Fandom Podcast Network Contact Information - - Fandom Podcast Network YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/c/FandomPodcastNetwork - Master feed for all FPNet Audio Podcasts: http://fpnet.podbean.com/ - Couch Potato Theater Audio Podcast Master Feed: https://fpnet.podbean.com/category/couch-potato-theater - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fandompodcastnetwork - Email: fandompodcastnetwork@gmail.com - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fandompodcastnetwork/ - X: @fanpodnetwork / https://twitter.com/fanpodnetwork -Bluesky: @fanpodnetwork / https://bsky.app/profile/fanpodnetwork.bsky.social Host & Guest Contact Info: - Kyle Wagner on X: @AKyleW / Instagram & Threads: @Akylefandom / @akyleW on Discord / @Ksport16: Letterboxd / Blue Sky: @akylew - Kevin Reitzel on X / Instagram / Threads / Discord & Letterboxd: @spartan_phoenix / Bluesky: @spartanphoenix Guest: Norman Lao on Bluesky: @laongelizard / website: https://www.missionlogpodcast.com/ Guest: John Mosby on Instagram: @theregoestheday / Bluesky: @theregoestheday #CouchPotatoTheater #FandomPodcastNetwork #FPNet #FPN #CPT #BeKindRewind #JohnCarter #JohnCarter2012 #JohnCarterMovie #AndrewStanton #EdgarRiceBurroughs #Barsoom #TaylorKitsch #LynnCollins #MarkStrong #SamanthaMorton #CiaránHinds #DominicWest #JamesPurefoy #WillemDafoe #JimMorris #ColinWilson #LindseyCollins #DosneyFlop #MichaelGiacchino #APrincessOfMars #KevinReitzel #KyleWagner #NormanLao #JohnMosby

What a long, strange trip it's been...this week, the Book Boys finish up their read-through of the works of Michael Chabon with "Moonglow". Does the Baron of Berkley/Prince of Pittsburgh manage to redeem himself after the missteps of "Telegraph Avenue"? Tune in this week to find out!

This week, the Book Boys lib out and read Michael Chabon's Obama era glaze job: "Telegraph Avenue". Our unbroken streak of bangers comes to an end as we discuss the first book that we straight up just did not like. Still, we hope you enjoy our conversation as always!

PADDING THE RUNTIME. It's been five years since the premiere of Star Trek: Picard and the first season was a bumpy ride for all involved. Patrick Stewart trying to capture Jean-Luc Picard at a different point in his life. A host of executives, producers, and writers being largely unfamiliar with the character or episodic TV; and a first-time showrunner trying to figure out how to pace out an incomplete story. Bryan & Kristen revisit this experiment in brand extension to see how well it's held up. The grades begin at (20:55).

Twenty-five years ago, director Curtis Hanson (8 Mile, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle) followed up his widely acclaimed crime drama classic LA Confidential with this quirky adaptation of the Michael Chabon novel of the same name.  This tells the simple story of Professor Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) who wrote ONE great novel several years and is having.....some difficulties....writing the follow-up.  Beyond that, he has one headmaster's wife (Frances McDormand) who he's been having an affair with, a highly impressionable much younger student (Katie Holmes) who is enamored with him, a nebbishy editor/publisher (Robert Downey Jr.) who keeps hounding him for that next book, and.....a wayward student James Leer (Tobey Maguire) whom he gets mixed up with in some incident involving a dog that gets shot.  James Leer also looks up to Grady and also just might be The Next Great American Writer.  And there's more plot and several more characters to boot....plot is almost incidental as this Pittsburgh-set character comedy has more to it than plot.  How about interesting characters, comical situations, and loads of fun dialogue to boot!Host & Editor: Geoff GershonProducer: Marlene GershonSend us a texthttps://livingforthecinema.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/Letterboxd:https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/

This week, we're wandering through medieval Khazaria with good ol' Mikey C as we read "Gentlemen of the Road". Topics of conversation include Swords & Sorcery vs Historical Fiction, depictions of Jewish identity in Chabon's oeuvre, and serializiation of fiction. As always, we hope you enjoy our conversation!You can follow the show on Bluesky at @infinitelibrarypod.bsky.social

A FLUTE OCCURRENCE. Captain Picard gets zapped into a simulation where he must live out a whole other life as a man on a dying planet. It turns out this has a profound effect on the captain of the Federation flagship, but it's something the franchise barely revisited after what many consider to be the show's finest hour. Do Bryan and guest co-host Michael Baumann agree? The grades begin at (29:03).

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: reading resolutions and reading while being tattooed Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: all things DNF: how we define it, how we do it, etc. The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  1:59 - Our Bookish Moments Of The Week 2:43 - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon 2:59 - Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri 11:17 - Our Current Reads 11:23 - Letters From Cuba by Ruth Behar (Kaytee) 17:33 - Murder Road by Simone St. James (Meredith) 22:41 - The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James 22:44 - The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James 22:47 - The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James 23:12 - The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley (Kaytee) 27:32 - A Bit Much by Lyndsay Rush (Meredith) 27:58 - @maryoliversdrunkcousin on Instagram 36:37 - Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Kaytee) 37:14 - @lizisreading_  on Instagram 38:01 - Packing for Mars by Mary Roach 39:41 - The Safekeep by Yael Van der Wouden 40:21 - Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (Meredith) 45:04 - His & Hers by Alice Feeney 45:06 - Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney  45:34 - Deep Dive: The Art Of The DNF 59:59 - Meet Us At The Fountain 1:00:10 - I wish to hang out with you all at the Tucson Festival of Books in March. (Kaytee) 1:00:13 - Tucson Festival of Books *Send Kaytee and email at currentlyreadingpodcast @ gmail.com or directly message her person instagram @notesonbookmarks 1:01:39 - I wish to let you know about an app I found to track my Agatha Christie reading journey. (Meredith) 1:01:47 - Agatha Christie Reading List app Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. January's IPL is a special episode in partnership with All Things Murderful and a total mystery and thriller stack from Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Texas! Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.  All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

Join Frank Scalise (aka Frank Zafiro) as he takes the driver's seat in this exciting episode of Beyond the Big Screen Podcast! Together with your usual host, Steve Guerra, they dive deep into Michael Chabon's award-winning alternative history novel, the Yiddish Policeman's Union. Discover the rich world of Sitka, Alaska, and its intriguing blend of crime fiction and science fiction elements. Whether you're a fan of intricate world-building, love an engaging mystery, or simply appreciate alternative history, this discussion covers it all. Steve shares why he's revisited this book multiple times, and Frank offers insights into the unique challenges and freedoms of writing crime fiction. Don't miss this engaging episode that promises to delve into the layers of one of the most fascinating blends of genres in modern literature!03:07 Exploring Alternative History05:28 The Slattery Report and Its Implications14:13 The Cultural Impact of Yiddish32:40 Private Investigator vs. Police Detective39:14 Exploring Religious and Cultural Themes44:08 The Power of Science Fiction and Crime Fiction46:48 The Art of Layered Storytelling52:32 The Impact of Alternative History55:38 Reflections on the Book's Ending57:51 Personal Reading Experiences and RecommendationsTranscript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/DtVTBJ6OMfEYou can learn more about Beyond the Big Screen and subscribe at all these great places:https://atozhistorypage.start.pagewww.beyondthebigscreen.comClick to Subscribe:https://www.spreaker.com/show/4926576/episodes/feedemail: steve@atozhistorypage.comwww.beyondthebigscreen.comParthenon Podcast Network Home:parthenonpodcast.comOn Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistoryhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypagehttps://facebook.com/atozhistorypagehttps://twitter.com/atozhistorypagehttps://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/Music Provided by:"Crossing the Chasm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week on The Infinite Library: John and Ben check-in and see how they're feeling about this whole Michael Chabon read-through project, then they continue along the primrose path and discuss "The Yiddish Policeman's Union". Topics of discussion include noir fiction, Filipino-style Chinese donuts, and Messiah.

“You'd be amazed at how far you can get in life having no idea what the subjunctive mood is,” writes Benjamin Dreyer, retired managing editor and copy chief of the Random House division of Penguin Random House. “As if it's not bad enough that English has rules, it also has moods.” Yes, it does. Happily, the mood of the room for writers in Benjamin's good hands as a copyeditor was cheerful and patient and winning… and, for the most part, grammatically correct. Over the course of his 30+ years in publishing, he helped to shepherd the work of writers such as Michael Chabon, Edmund Morris, Suzan-Lori Parks, E.L. Doctorow, Elizabeth Strout, and Shirley Jackson into print. Somewhere in there, he also found time to write a book of his own: The New York Times best-selling stylebook Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style—a “brilliant, pithy, incandescently intelligent book [that] is to contemporary writing what Geoffrey Chaucer's poetry was to medieval English,” according to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham, another Random House author who benefited from our guest's unseen hand.   Join us as Benjamin reflects on the collaborative role of the copyeditor in the publishing process, on the joys of creative footnoting, on the particularly lovely frustration of working with Isabella Rossellini, on a writer's lifetime allotment of exclamation points, and the excesses to be pruned from phrases like “assless chaps,” “slightly ajar,” and “passing fad.”   (Note the ever-popular serial comma in the previous sentence, and the expenditure of one of those allotted exclamation points in this parenthetical aside!)   Learn more about Benjamin Dreyer:  Website Blue Sky Facebook Instagram Substack Please support the sponsors who support our show: Ritani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot Unforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey Jacobellis Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton Everyday Shakespeare podcast A Mighty Blaze podcast The Writer's Bone Podcast Network Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order  Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount

Merry Christmas! John and Ben are flying solo again this week to discuss "The Final Solution" by Michael Chabon. We're officially halfway through our readthrough on Chabon's works, and in this episode, we discuss Sherlock Holmes, Chabon's development as a writer, and genre fiction more broadly. Special Bonus: We return to Movie Land to discuss "The Seven Per-Cent Solution", the 1979 Sherlock Holmes movie where the Great Detective teams up with Sigmund Freud.

It's the big one, the book that won Michael Chabon the Pulitzer Prize, the 600-some page behemoth known as "The Adventures of Cavalier & Clay". The Book Boys knew that they were going to need some backup for this one, so they called in Nat of Collective Action Comics for a Two-Fisted Team-Up! We had so much fun talking about this one that it ended up being our first two-parter. As always, we hope you enjoy the conversation!

Markus Zusak uses words like “challenging” and “ complex” to describe his three dogs, Reuben, Archie and Frosty. In this interview Zusak recounts the joy of remembering his hounds in all their unvarnished glory for this, his first memoir. Also, the challenge of recording his own audio books, the old favourites he likes to read and re-read “forensically”, and which of his favourite books piqued Archie's literary tastebuds! + Our beloved reviewers of literary classics, Kylie Cardell and Lisa Bennett, return to reassess Louisa May Alcott's “Little Women”. Kylie has read it many times and Lisa for the first time this year. The tale has obviously endured in our popular culture, movies and vernacular but is it still a “good read”?   Guests: Markus Zusak, author of “Three Wild Dogs and the Truth”. Also “The Book Thief”, “Bridge of Clay”, “The Messenger” and the young adult trilogy “The Underdog”, “Fighting Ruben Wolfe” and “When Dogs Cry”.   Associate Professor Kylie Cardell teaches and researches life narrative with the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University. Associate Professor Lisa Bennett teaches undergraduate and Honours classes in Creative Writing and English, Flinders University.   Maddie recounts the books she first fell for as a teenager, her passion for Margaret Atwood's dystopian creations and a series that explores indigenous knowledge.     Other books that get a mention:   Annie mentions “Butter” by Asako Yuzuki and “All Fours” by Miranda July.   Michaela mentions “Want; Sexual fantasies by anonymous” edited by Gillian Anderson.   Markus mentions “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver, “All the Pretty Horses” written by Cormac McCarthy and narrated by Brad Pitt, “Cairo” by Chris Womersley, “What's Eating Gilbert Grape” by Peter Hedges, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” by Michael Chabon and “Barbarian Days; A surfing life” by William Finnegan   Maddie mentions young adult author Margaret Clark, “Puberty Blues” by Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette, “The Handmaid's Tale”, “Oryx & Crake”, “The Year of the Flood” and “MaddAddam” by Margaret Atwood, the six-part “First Knowledges” series, in particular “Astronomy” edited by Margo Neale.   INSTAGRAM @markuszusak @macmillanaus @kyliesays @lisahannett ReplyForwardAdd reactionSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Markus Zusak uses words like “challenging” and “ complex” to describe his three dogs, Reuben, Archie and Frosty. In this interview Zusak recounts the joy of remembering his hounds in all their unvarnished glory for this, his first memoir. Also, the challenge of recording his own audio books, the old favourites he likes to read and re-read “forensically”, and which of his favourite books piqued Archie's literary tastebuds! + Our beloved reviewers of literary classics, Kylie Cardell and Lisa Bennett, return to reassess Louisa May Alcott's “Little Women”. Kylie has read it many times and Lisa for the first time this year. The tale has obviously endured in our popular culture, movies and vernacular but is it still a “good read”?   Guests: Markus Zusak, author of “Three Wild Dogs and the Truth”. Also “The Book Thief”, “Bridge of Clay”, “The Messenger” and the young adult trilogy “The Underdog”, “Fighting Ruben Wolfe” and “When Dogs Cry”.   Associate Professor Kylie Cardell teaches and researches life narrative with the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University. Associate Professor Lisa Bennett teaches undergraduate and Honours classes in Creative Writing and English, Flinders University.   Maddie recounts the books she first fell for as a teenager, her passion for Margaret Atwood's dystopian creations and a series that explores indigenous knowledge.     Other books that get a mention:   Annie mentions “Butter” by Asako Yuzuki and “All Fours” by Miranda July.   Michaela mentions “Want; Sexual fantasies by anonymous” edited by Gillian Anderson.   Markus mentions “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver, “All the Pretty Horses” written by Cormac McCarthy and narrated by Brad Pitt, “Cairo” by Chris Womersley, “What's Eating Gilbert Grape” by Peter Hedges, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” by Michael Chabon and “Barbarian Days; A surfing life” by William Finnegan   Maddie mentions young adult author Margaret Clark, “Puberty Blues” by Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette, “The Handmaid's Tale”, “Oryx & Crake”, “The Year of the Flood” and “MaddAddam” by Margaret Atwood, the six-part “First Knowledges” series, in particular “Astronomy” edited by Margo Neale.   INSTAGRAM @markuszusak @macmillanaus @kyliesays @lisahannett ReplyForwardAdd reactionSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode, we continue with our November Writing Challenge, and discuss how outlining can be a helpful tool in writing your novel and building a writing habit. TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 226 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is November the 8th, 2024 and today we are discussing Part 2 of our November Writing Challenge and that will mostly discuss the usefulness of making outlines. Before we get into that, we will have an update on my current writing projects and Question of the Week. We will also close out the episode with a preview of the upcoming audiobook Cloak of Spears, as narrated by Hollis McCarthy. First up, writing progress. The rough draft of Cloak of Illusion is done at about 96,000 words, and I'm about 25% of the way through the first editing pass. I also wrote a short story called Trick or Treat that will be a companion to the book. Newsletter subscribers will get a free ebook copy of that short story when Cloak of Illusion comes out, hopefully before the end of November. So now would be an excellent time to subscribe to my new release newsletter. After Cloak of Illusion is published, my next project will be Orc Hoard, the 4th book in the Rivah Half-Elven series, and I'm about 21,000 words into that. In audiobook news, as you may have already heard, Cloak of Spears is done. That will be narrated by Hollis McCarthy and it is working its way through processing right now. Shield of Conquest narrated by Brad Wills is also still working its way through processing on the various audiobook platforms. So you can get both audiobooks on my Payhip store right now if you don't want to wait. So that is where I met with my writing projects. 00:01:25 Question of the Week Now let's talk about Question of the Week. It's time for Question of the Week, designed to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week's question: what is your favorite book cover (like in terms of the artwork, the design, etcetera)? No wrong answers, obviously. We had a few answers this week. Justin says: For that, I go back to the guilty pleasures of my youth, a teenager on a Burroughs kick at the time, digging for paperbacks in a secondhand bookstore. Savage Pellucidar, cover by Frank Franzetta (the 1974 Ace edition reprint), which I still have stashed away. Franzetta was an incredible artist. I love his Sea Witch and Death Dealer, but we're talking about book covers here. Savage Pellucidar was the one for me. Mary says: Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon. Then, that cover was a work of art with three detachable bands. Surabhi says: Hard to choose one. I personally love those young adult “Book Tok” book covers: Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows, The Cruel Prince. I don't know. Something about such covers immediately sparks interest in me. Randy says he always liked the Heinlein juvenile covers. Gary S. says: This was difficult for me because I like hardcovers, but I like to take the jacket off while I read so it doesn't get torn. Consequently, I seldom look at the covers. Gary B says: Anne McCaffrey's The White Dragon. I've got a poster/artwork of it and pretty much anything by Michael Whelan. Becca says: Stoner by Tad Williams, pretty much tops my list of favorite covers, then maybe The Dragonstone by McKiernan. Catriona says: Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic. MG says: That's quite difficult to answer, but I have a Return of the King copy with this Alan Lee cover, going to have to go with this. For myself, I think I would go with a hardback edition of The Silmarillion from the late 1990s. I think it was published in ‘99. It was illustrated by Ted Nasmith and the cover image shows Maglor throwing the final Silmaril into the sea in despair for his deeds. If you know the context of that scene, it's an amazingly powerful cover. So that is it for Question of the Week and tune in again for next week's Question of the Week. 00:03:22 Main Topic of the Week Now it's time to our main topic for our second week of our November Writing Challenge. This week we're going to talk about building story structure and how outlining can help with this. If you haven't heard of my November Writing Challenge, the idea is that you write 300 words or a similarly small number every day in hopes of building up a small but sustainable writing habit. I was thinking of NaNoWriMo, where you write 1600 words a day in an effort to get to 50,000 words a month, is well and good for someone like me, where I essentially write a book every month unless something comes up. But for someone starting out, it can be a bit like the sort of crash diet where you lose 5 pounds in a month and then gain 10 back over the next two months as your habits snap back. That's because you didn't lose the weight through sustainable means, so that is the goal with the November writing challenge: to build the base of a sustainable writing habit. So let's talk about how story structure can help you do that. In last week's episode, I mentioned that making the outline of your story can help with the process of writing. In this week's episode, we're going to go into more detail about story structure and conflict. Knowing how these work in your stories is essential to building an outline. You will find that having a proper structure to your story makes it easier to write, in the same way that having a proper foundation for your house makes it easier to construct. We'll talk about what I call the five iron laws of storytelling and the importance of your story having conflict and at the end of the episode, we will get a quick update from my podcast transcriptionist, who is following along with the November Writing Challenge. We will see how that is working out for her so far. So first, why write an outline? I think the main value of writing an outline, especially for beginning writers, is that it forces you to think about the story in advance and forces you to work out any potential plot holes in advance, since it's very easy to find yourself writing yourself into a corner and not knowing how to proceed. Obviously, writing an outline is not for everyone, and some writers say it impairs their creativity and they can't write with an outline. And that's fine, if you know that about yourself. But if you're just starting out, you may not be experienced enough to realize that about your writing style, and you may in fact benefit quite a bit from having written an outline in advance. So with that in mind, what does an outline need? First thing you need to understand is the shape of the story. Who is the protagonist? What is the protagonist's goal? What is the conflict, and what will the protagonist have to do to resolve that conflict? You can, if you want, put in the number of chapters in the outline. The way I usually do it is I write a 2,000 word or so synopsis of the book, and then I chop it up into chapters, though lately my final drafts don't have the same number of chapters as the outline because as I go through, I'll think of things to improve or scenes to move around and so forth. You may find a similar experience when writing from an outline yourself. It is nothing to worry about and can happen. It's also important to keep in mind that the conflict does need to escalate, and you do need to have a strong central conflict. So what do I mean by having a protagonist with the conflict that escalates and he takes action to it? This is something I actually have talked about in this podcast quite a bit, and in my nonfiction book Storytelling: How to Write a Novel. I have something I (rather tongue in cheek) call the five iron laws of storytelling, where if you want to write a good, compelling story, you need to have these five rules you should follow. Now, this is not, you know, true at all times in all places. But I do think you will probably get good results by following these five rules. Now what are these five rules, the five iron laws of storytelling? #1: The protagonist must have a problem that results in a conflict. #2: The protagonist's problem and conflict must be consequential and have real stakes. #3 The protagonist must take action and struggle to resolve his or her conflict and problem. #4 The protagonist must face challenges and setbacks, and his or her efforts to resolve the problem may even backfire. #5, The ending must absolutely provide satisfactory emotional resolution to the problems raised in the story. That might be the most important one of all. Where outlining can help you with this is if you see the story laid out in an outline as in a chart in something like Plottr or something like that, you can look it over and see- do I have a protagonist who has a interesting problem? Is the problem consequential for the protagonist? Is the protagonist trying to resolve the conflict? Is the protagonist experiencing setbacks and challenges, and perhaps even unintended consequences as he or she tries to resolve the problem? And finally, is the resolution emotionally satisfying? It doesn't have to be a happy ending. It doesn't have to be a totally sad ending. It can be a bittersweet ending. But whatever the ending, it has to resolve the conflict of the story in an emotionally satisfactory manner. Anything else can be absolutely disastrous. So if you are writing an outline for your novel or story, and you follow these five iron laws of storytelling, then I think you are on good track to have a good, well written story with a conflict and a protagonist that readers will find enjoyable and interesting. It is important to have a good conflict in the story. You can jump back to Episode 222 of the podcast, in which we talked about story conflicts, which offered much valuable advice on introducing conflicts. Some of the key points of that episode are there are many different types of conflict the story can have. The word conflict by its very nature seems to pull up images of like, violent conflict. That's often the word we use to describe conflict, to describe violence as conflict, but it doesn't have to be a violent conflict at all. It can be, you know, certain types of legal thrillers. There's no violence at all. It can be, you know, conflict between a man and a woman who are romantically attracted to each other but are unable to resolve these feelings, which can, you know, that kind of conflict drives a significant portion of the entire publishing industry. Ideally, a story should have multiple conflicts and even different types of conflict. There are numerous ways to add conflict into a story. They include putting characters into an unfamiliar environment, forcing your characters into making decisions, and having different characters face the same conflict in different ways. For more details on that, you can check out Episode 222 of this podcast. For tips and tricks on introducing more conflicts into your novel, I would recommend Episode 110 of this podcast, Three Techniques for Starting Your Novel and Introducing Conflict. In Episode 110, I said that there are lots of fun and exciting ways to introduce the conflict. I say fun and exciting because this is often where the story starts getting quite energetic. In a fantasy novel, it might be when the hero's village is attacked by orcs. In a mystery story, it's when someone stumbles across a dead body. In a thriller novel, perhaps the hero finds that a sinister terror plot is already well underway. The conflict can also be introduced more sedately. In an action-themed book, it is easy to introduce the conflict via sudden violence, the attack of orcs, or a surprise murder. Other kinds of stories may not involve so much physical danger. The central conflict of most romance novels, for example, is whether or not in the heroine and the love interest will get together and whether or not they can overcome the assorted obstacles preventing them from having a relationship. Romance novels might introduce conflict by having the love interest antagonize the heroine in some way, which is a common trope. Perhaps the love interest is a lawyer who represents the heroine's business rival, or the heroine is a local law enforcement official and the love interest is an FBI agent who threatens to take over her case. Regardless of how the conflict is introduced, the most important part of the conflict is that it must compel the protagonist to take action. If the conflict or the antagonist isn't serious enough to force the protagonist to act, then nothing happens and you don't have a story, so that perhaps is the main take away from conflict. The conflict has to be emotionally significant for the protagonist, and the protagonist has to take action to resolve it, even if the action makes things worse or causes setbacks. If you have a passive protagonist, that will very quickly turn off quite a few readers. So to sum up, the advantage of outlining is that it lets you work through potential problems in advance, and what you want in the outline is a protagonist with an emotionally relatable problem, a protagonist who takes action to resolve the problem, and a resolution to the story that is emotionally satisfying in terms of the conflict being resolved. The five iron laws of storytelling are a good checklist to look over your outline and make sure that you have a good, solid story structure. You can use them in fact as a checklist to see whether you think your outline is going to work and whether or not you can write a, you know, satisfying novel off it. So now we come to the update from my transcriptionist. As I mentioned, she was doing our November Writing Challenge and as part of our series of shows on that, she will send in weekly updates with her progress. Here is how she did this past week. “My goal for the challenge is 300 words a day. I picked a number that felt really low to help with the problem I have of not starting something when the goal is too undefined or too big. I also tend to do something intensely or not at all, with most days tending to the latter when in real life or obstacles get in the way. 300 words a day felt like something I could commit to without any worry, provided nothing really major comes up this month. So far I'm averaging 484 words per day and it's taking me an average of 15 minutes per day. I picked a specific chapter from my outline that was not the introduction I've been stuck on and a specific time of day to write. Doing both has made the process easier. In that vein, my questions for you are: do you write chapters or any pieces of the story out of order, or do you stick to the outline order when writing? Do you recommend people try writing out of order if they feel stuck?” So those are both interesting questions. For the first one, do you write chapters or any pieces of the story out of order, or do you stick to outline order when writing? I almost always write in the order of my outline. What changes is that when editing, I will very often split chapters up and move them around because I tend to write long chapters. In the editing for Cloak of Illusion so far, one chapter was like 10,000 words and another was 7,000 words, both of which are too long to be chapters. So the 10,000 word chapter got split up into three smaller ones and rearranged. The 7,000 word one got split into two chapters and moved around. So to give a shorter answer to that question, the answer would be no. When writing I tend to stick to the outline, but during editing I do tend to move things around as I think works best for the story. But editing is a different topic entirely. The second question: do you recommend people try writing it out of order if they feel stuck? You can try that. The pros are if you feel stuck on a particular scene, you can go ahead and write a different scene and then come back to that scene later. Or maybe it will turn out that the reason you're stuck is because the story didn't need the scene. You know, I do know some people who do write from an outline, but then tend to write out of order. The downside of that is if you're not careful, you can get your story's internal continuity mixed up a bit, but then that is another problem to fix in editing once the rough draft is finished, since right now we're at the stage where you get all the words down on the page or the word processor and then worry about fixing them later. So that is it for this week. Thanks for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful and that you are finding our November Writing Challenge series to be useful as well. A reminder that you that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week. 00:15:45 Audio excerpt from Cloak of Spears, as narrated by Hollis McCarthy  

For our second episode of Chabon-a-mania, Ben and John had the rare pleasure of recording in-person, so this episode is a little more meandering than usual. As always, we hope you enjoy the conversation!

John and Ben are back from their summer vacation and ready to get back to work on a new project: reading the collected works of Michael Chabon! We discuss our favorite beach reads from the break, why we're interested in exploring Chabon as an author, and then dig in and talk about “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh”. As always, we hope you enjoy our conversation.   Summer Books! Works Referenced Bartimaeus Sequence by Jonathan Stroud The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands by Michael Chabon Fountain City by Michael Chabon

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The Jokermen are joined by renowned author and certified Beach Boys head Michael Chabon to discuss the greatest record ever made. Side B coming later this week on Patreon // SUBSCRIBE NOW

Our exit today has us trying to finish up our follow up novel that we have been working on for the past 7 years. This week, we are discussing Wonder Boys, written by Steve Kloves based on the book by Michael Chabon and directed by Curtis Hanson. It also happens to be one of Tripp's favorite movies of all time. Along the way, Tripp and Ross get to discuss Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., Gilmore Girls, 70s dad rock, lots of bizarre Spider-Man connections, and why people keep releasing Christmas movies in March. Theme music by Jonworthymusic. Powered by RiversideFM.

The sixth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 2000 features Josh's personal pick, Curtis Hanson's Wonder Boys. Directed by Curtis Hanson from a screenplay by Steve Kloves (based on the Michael Chabon novel) and starring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr. and Katie Holmes, Wonder Boys was nominated for three Oscars and won one.The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wonder-boys-2000), David Ansen in Newsweek (https://www.newsweek.com/meaning-middle-age-162263), and A.O. Scott in The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/23/movies/film-review-marijuana-manuscript-and-marriage-are-a-mess.html).Visit https://www.awesomemovieyear.com for more info about the show.Make sure to like Awesome Movie Year on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/awesomemovieyear and follow us on Twitter @AwesomemoviepodYou can find Jason online at http://goforjason.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JHarrisComedy/, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jasonharriscomedy/ and on Twitter @JHarrisComedyYou can find Josh online at http://joshbellhateseverything.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/joshbellhateseverything/ and on Twitter @signalbleedYou can find our producer David Rosen's Piecing It Together Podcast at https://www.piecingpod.com, on Twitter at @piecingpod and the Popcorn & Puzzle Pieces Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/piecingpod.You can also follow us all on Letterboxd to keep up with what we've been watching at goforjason, signalbleed and bydavidrosen.Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get access to exclusive content from Awesome Movie Year, plus fellow podcasts Piecing It Together and All Rice No Beans, and music by David Rosen: https://www.patreon.com/bydavidrosenAll of the music in the episode is by David Rosen. Find more of his music at https://www.bydavidrosen.comPlease like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for the next 2000 installment, featuring our foreign film pick, Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.About the guest author:Known as “the rescuer of forgotten history,” Jason Roberts' debut work of non-fiction, A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler, was a national bestseller and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Jason writes both fiction and non-fiction and is a contributor to The Village Voice, McSweeney's, The Believer, and other publications. He is also the inaugural winner of the Van Zorn Prize for emerging writers sponsored by Michael Chabon. He lives in Oakland, California, in partnership with the journalist Julia Scott and is a board member of the Community of Writers, and a frequent member of its teaching faculty. His latest book, Every Living Thing: The Great & Deadly Race to Know All of Life is available everywhere you love to find books.About the host:Holly Lynn Payne is an award-winning novelist and writing coach, and the former CEO and founder of Booxby, a startup built to help authors succeed. She is an internationally published author of four historical fiction novels. Her debut, The Virgin's Knot, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book. She recently finished her first YA crossover novel inspired by her nephew with Down syndrome. She lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her dog. To learn more about her books and private writing coaching services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com or find her at Instagram and Twitter @hollylynnpayne.If you have a first page you'd like to submit to the Page One Podcast, please do so here.As an author and writing coach, I know that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So I thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook YOU. After the first few episodes, it occurred to me that maybe someone listening might be curious how their first page sits with an audience, so I'm opening up Page One to any writer who wants to submit the first page of a book they're currently writing. If your page is chosen, you'll be invited onto the show to read it and get live feedback from one of Page One's master storytellers. Page One exists to inspire, celebrate and promote the work of both well-known and unknown creative talent.  You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. Hear past episodes.If you're interested in getting writing tips and the latest podcast episode updates with the world's beloved master storytellers, please sign up for my very short monthly newsletter at hollylynnpayne.com and follow me @hollylynnpayne on Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook. Your email address is always private and you can always unsubscribe anytime. The Page One Podcast is created at the foot of a mountain in Marin County, California, and is a labor of love in service to writers and book lovers. My intention is to inspire, educate and celebrate. Thank you for being a part of my creative community! Be well and keep reading.~Holly~@hollylynnpayne Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast, where master storytellers discuss the stories and struggles behind the critical first page of their books. If you liked this episode, please share it on social, leave a review on your favorite podcast players and tell your friends! I hope you enjoy this labor of love as much as I love hosting, producing, and editing it. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my newsletter at www.hollylynnpayne.com with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. For the love of books and writers,Holly Lynn Payne@hollylynnpaynewww.hollylynnpayne.com

Mark Pracht and Tad discuss She Died in Terrabonne: A Sam Kimimura Mystery by Kevin Church & T.J. Kirsch, with significant tangents on the realities of financial survival for artists and the work of Michael Chabon.Consider becoming a patron!Support the show

We interrupt our regular programming for the first of several periodic check-ins with the X-Men's exploits on the silver screen! This "show within a show" begins with 2000's X-MEN - the movie that put comic book adaptations back on the map. Apropos of the concept itself, X-MEN's path to a theatrical debut was long and hard-fought. Plans to translate the series to film can be traced back to the early '80s, with comics creators Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas collaborating on a prospective screenplay for Orion Pictures. After Orion folded, subsequent efforts would invite interest from the likes of Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron for Carolco Pictures. Carolco's bankruptcy saw the rights revert to Marvel, and development stalled for years with the company unable to make the case for their successful comics franchise. However, impressed with the X-Men's unexpected Saturday morning dominance for Fox's children's television division, producer Lauren Shuler Donner thought it only made sense to option the property for 20th Century Fox's live action slate in 1994. The next two years brought drafts and treatments by 'SEVEN' screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, author Michael Chabon, and filmmaker Ed Solomon. The studio considered Brett Ratner, Robert Rodriguez, and Paul W.S. Anderson, but it was Bryan Singer in whom Fox believed they had found their perfect fit for director. Following Singer's hiring, a finalized script was eventually hammered out, with David Hayter receiving sole screenwriter credit (despite contributions from Solomon, Christopher McQuarrie, and Joss Whedon ending up in the onscreen product). Still, Fox was hedging their bets due to a string of critical and commercial failures by superhero adaptations in recent years, capping X-MEN's budget at $75 million (a paltry sum by today's standards). Despite some shake-ups along the way (Exit Original Wolverine and Cyclops actors Dougray Scott and Jim Caviezel, respectively), what materialized was a lean and efficient picture, brought to life by an incredibly talented - if not entirely star-studded - ensemble cast. X-MEN would overperform to the tune of $300 million worldwide, establishing itself right out of the gate as a blockbuster franchise that would carry Fox to huge box office receipts for years to come. It would likewise serve as a career-defining film series for many of its performers, themselves household names today. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe poised to make a go at recreating the magic, X-Position takes a look back at where it all began! Join Jenny, Tim, and unofficial third co-host Keithie as we break it all down. From the creative choices, the good, the bad, and the ugly one-liners, to the cast that could have been (Glenn Danzig's Wolverine? Bob Hoskins??), and even Magneto's Mutant Cave Rave, no thought shall remain unread (or unsaid).

NOTE: This is an updated replay of my amazing chat with Emma Straub, the New York Times-bestselling author of six books for adults, including her novel This Time Tomorrow … She is also the author of three picture books, the first of which, Very Good Hats, was published in January 2023. Congrats Emma! Enjoy … New York Times bestselling author, Emma Straub, spoke to me about why everything in life is timing, how to write a book for yourself, time travel, and her latest This Time Tomorrow. Emma is the bestselling author of six novels — including All Adults Here, The Vacationers, Modern Lovers, and Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures — the short story collection Other People We Married. Her books have been published in 20 countries.  Her latest, This Time Tomorrow, has been named One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2022 by Vogue, Oprah, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Reader's Digest, Today, Parade, Thrillist, Pop Sugar, Lithub and more. Described as "...a moving father-daughter story and a playful twist on the idea of time travel," author Michael Chabon called the book "...a beautifully made, elegant music box of a novel that sets in motion its clever clockwork of delight—then breaks your heart with its bittersweet, lingering song.” Emma and her husband also own Books Are Magic, a popular independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York.  In this file Emma Straub and I discussed: Why getting an MFA helped her slow down her writing How she met everyone in publishing at an indie bookshop  The unique perspective of Xennials How to find confidence and pages while being off-balance  Why she'd drink less Olde English if she could go back  And a lot more! Stay calm and write on ... emmastraub.net This Time Tomorrow a Novel by Emma Straub 'This Time Tomorrow' is the time travel book millennials need - USA Today Emma Straub on Facebook Emma Straub on Instagram Emma Straub on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Books this month: The Heart of It All, by Christian Keefer; The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon; Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane; Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt; The Wild Ones, by John Mooallem; Foster, by Claire Keegan; The Mysteries, by Bill Watterson and John Kascht; The Last Ronin- The Lost Years, by Kevin Eastman; Doppelganger, by Naomi Kline; Classic X-Men.

Screenwriters and authors, actually 9,000 authors – including bestselling authors Dan Brown, James Patterson, Burl Barer, Lee Goldberg, Magaret Atwood, Suzanne Collins, and Michael Chabon – have signed an open letter to AI companies about compensating writers fairly for their contributions to AI training data. In the letter, the Guild argued that AI output trained on copyrighted work is derivative, and writers should be paid royalties.

This Day in Legal History: Texas Becomes a StateOn December 29, 1845, a pivotal moment in American history unfolded as Texas, after a complex and contentious journey, officially became the twenty-eighth state of the United States. This event was the culmination of a series of political and diplomatic maneuvers, beginning with the U.S. Congress passing the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Texas, with a history as part of Mexico and then as an independent republic, faced a unique path to statehood, marked by debates over territorial claims and national sovereignty.In October 1845, the people of Texas, exercising their democratic rights, voted in favor of the Ordinance of Annexation, setting the stage for the final steps of this historic process. The U.S. Congress, recognizing the strategic and political significance of Texas, ratified the annexation. Finally, on this day in 1845, President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation, officially welcoming Texas into the Union. This act not only expanded the United States territorially but also added to the complex tapestry of its federal structure.However, the story of Texas' statehood did not end there. The post-annexation years brought their share of challenges, culminating in the secession of Texas during the Civil War. This led to a significant legal confrontation in the case of Texas v. White. In this landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that despite Texas' unique history and path to statehood, it did not possess the right to secede from the Union. This ruling reinforced the indissoluble nature of the Union and set a precedent for the legal status of states within the United States.Thus, the annexation of Texas stands not just as a historical event but also as a legal milestone, and a study in the complexities of statehood, federalism, and the nature of the Union. This day in legal history reminds us of the intricate interplay between law, politics, and history in shaping the nation.The New York Times Co. has initiated a significant legal action against Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI Inc., alleging copyright infringements related to the development of AI services. This lawsuit underscores the growing tension between media organizations and emerging AI technologies. The New York Times accuses the technology firms of using millions of its copyrighted articles to train AI chatbots like ChatGPT and other features, causing substantial financial damage. The exact monetary demands of the lawsuit, however, were not specified.OpenAI, known for its popular chatbot ChatGPT, has faced previous lawsuits from authors but this is the first challenge from a major media company. Efforts by OpenAI to secure licensing deals with publishers, similar to those of Google and Facebook, were highlighted. Despite ongoing discussions with the New York Times, which reportedly started in April, an amicable solution was not reached, leading to this legal confrontation. OpenAI expressed surprise and disappointment at this development, stating their respect for the rights of content creators and their intention to work towards mutually beneficial arrangements.OpenAI has previously secured agreements with news agencies like the Associated Press and Axel Springer SE, suggesting a willingness to legally access content for AI training. Despite these efforts, OpenAI continues to face multiple lawsuits, including from cultural figures like Sarah Silverman, George R.R. Martin, and Michael Chabon. These cases, still in early stages, highlight the complex legal terrain AI technology companies must navigate.Amidst this legal challenge, OpenAI is reportedly seeking new financing, aiming for a valuation of $100 billion, which would make it one of the most valuable U.S. startups. Microsoft, OpenAI's primary backer, is implicated in the lawsuit for allegedly using the New York Times' content in its Bing search engine, contributing to a significant increase in its market value. The lawsuit contends that both Microsoft and OpenAI have failed to obtain necessary permissions for the commercial use of the New York Times' work.The New York Times' lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI Inc. over alleged copyright breaches is a multifaceted legal battle that raises questions about the ethical use of AI in journalism. The Times claims that both firms used its vast repository of articles, including news pieces, opinion columns, and reviews, to train their AI systems like ChatGPT without permission, leading to potential financial and competitive harms. This lawsuit, however, extends beyond a straightforward copyright claim, delving into the broader implications and practices in the news and technology sectors.The Times portrays itself as a defender of journalistic integrity, highlighting its 170-year history of providing independent journalism. It argues that the use of its content by AI technologies like GPT not only infringes on its copyright but also threatens the viability of its journalistic model. This stance, however, has been critiqued for potentially leading to an array of legal consequences, not just for OpenAI and Microsoft but for the Times itself. Critics point out that the Times regularly summarizes articles from other sources without credit, a practice that could come under fire if their lawsuit sets a precedent where such summarization is deemed infringing.OpenAI has previously navigated these waters by striking deals with other publishers, such as Axel Springer, suggesting a willingness to find legal avenues for content use. The Times acknowledges its attempts to reach a similar agreement with OpenAI, indicating that the lawsuit might partly be a negotiation tactic. However, OpenAI's recent decision not to strike a deal with the Times, speculated to be due to high cost demands, might have triggered the legal action.The lawsuit also highlights the role of Common Crawl, a resource used in training AI models. The Times' decision to exclude its articles from Common Crawl, combined with its allegations against GPT's use of its content, stirs debate over fair use and the nature of content archiving on the internet. This aspect of the lawsuit underlines the importance of preserving web history and the legality of utilizing such archives for AI training.Furthermore, the Times' complaint includes claims that GPT's responses often mimic or summarize its articles, which could be seen as bypassing its paywall or creating substitutive products. The Times argues that this practice infringes on its copyright, yet this stance is contested on grounds of fair use, especially when considering that summarizing factual information is generally not copyrightable.The lawsuit also opens up discussions about the nuances of AI-generated content. It points out instances where GPT produces outputs closely resembling Times' articles, but critics argue this is due to the way GPT is prompted, rather than an inherent flaw in AI training methodologies. The effectiveness and accuracy of AI in replicating or substituting for human journalism remain a topic of debate.Ultimately, the Times' lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft is not just a legal dispute over copyright infringement. It's a complex case that touches upon the ethics of AI in journalism, the challenges of preserving internet history, and the evolving landscape of fair use in the digital age. The outcome of this lawsuit could have significant implications for AI development, journalistic practices, and the broader relationship between technology companies and content creators.New York Times Sues Microsoft, OpenAI for Copyright Breaches (2)The NY Times Lawsuit Against OpenAI Would Open Up The NY Times To All Sorts Of Lawsuits Should It Win | TechdirtMaine has become the second U.S. state, following Colorado, to bar former President Donald Trump from appearing on a Republican presidential primary ballot for the 2024 election. These actions are based on legal challenges invoking Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits individuals who have engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" from holding public office. This provision was originally enacted in 1868 to prevent former Confederacy members from serving in the U.S. government.These challenges argue that Trump's actions on January 6, 2021, when he encouraged his supporters to stop the certification of the 2020 election results, amounted to insurrection. Following this, his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. In Maine, a group of former state lawmakers successfully argued that Trump, due to these actions, is not qualified to serve as president again under this constitutional provision. Maine's top election official, Democrat Shenna Bellows, ruled to keep Trump off the ballot for the Republican primary, although this decision is on hold pending appeal.Colorado's highest court similarly ruled that Trump engaged in insurrection, but this ruling is also on hold to allow for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump's defense challenges these disqualifications as undemocratic and argues that Section 3 does not apply to presidents and that his actions on January 6 were protected free speech. Additionally, Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges related to the 2020 election but has not been charged with insurrection.While some states like Minnesota and Michigan have rejected these ballot challenges, at least 12 states have pending cases. The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to review the Colorado case due to its significant political and legal implications. The outcome of these cases could have profound effects on the 2024 presidential election and the broader political landscape in the United States.Trump foes turn to Constitution's 'insurrection' ban to keep him off 2024 ballot | ReutersCelsius Network, a cryptocurrency lender, has received approval from a U.S. bankruptcy judge to shift its focus to bitcoin mining as part of its restructuring process. This move comes after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Celsius' original plan to earn fees from validating crypto transactions and start new business lines. The bankruptcy judge, Martin Glenn, ruled that this pivot to bitcoin mining does not adversely affect creditors and customers compared to the previously approved bankruptcy plan.Celsius had filed for Chapter 11 protection in July 2022 amidst a series of bankruptcies in the crypto lending sector, triggered by rapid industry growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. The revised plan involves parting ways with some of the original bidders selected to manage the new company, leaving US Bitcoin Corp, led by Hut 8's Asher Genoot, to run the creditor-owned mining business.The change in the company's direction had raised concerns among some creditors and the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog, who argued that the shift was significant enough to warrant a new vote by creditors. However, Judge Glenn ultimately approved the new mining-focused restructuring plan without requiring a fresh vote.Celsius' interim CEO, Chris Ferraro, expressed optimism about the decision, stating that the company's focus remains on promptly distributing cryptocurrency to its creditors. The revised plan also releases $225 million in cryptocurrency assets, previously allocated for the rejected business lines, increasing the amount of cryptocurrency to be returned to customers. In addition, customers will receive equity shares in the new bitcoin mining business. Celsius anticipates emerging from bankruptcy in early 2024.Celsius Network wins court approval for shift to bitcoin mining | Reuters Get full access to Minimum Competence - Daily Legal News Podcast at www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

The First Part in our Stuck at School Trilogy High above the mucky-muck, castle made of clouds There sits Tobey boy sitting oh so proudly Not much to say when you're high above the mucky-muck. I'd like to continue the show notes in such a fashion but it would be disrespectful to Curtis Hanson's impressive followup to the all-time classic L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. To do so he needed more than just one Wonder Boy by casting a great ensemble that includes Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr, Rip Torn, Katie Holmes and Michael Douglas as one of the title characters in the Michael Chabon adaptation of WONDER BOYS. Oh, and also Tobey Maguire. Enjoy (as much as you can with Mr. Maguire present.) We hope you join us by supporting our Patreon Movie Book Club episodes and not deciding to read! Threads/Instagram/Facebook: @trilogyintheory Letterboxd: @projectingfilm & @webistrying Artwork by: @nasketchs Find out more at https://trilogyintheory.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Nepenthe (PIC S1 E07) was recommended by Lauren Alexis Rivers, who says:"There are so many answers I could give, but I think I would have to say probably Nepenthe. Seeing Riker and Troi together on Picard even though I knew it was coming, it did my heart so much good because I grew up with that cast. I always enjoy seeing them on screen or in person and it's a slow episode in terms of action but the way they interact when Jean Luc first arrives... I really needed that then."Nepenthe first aired on March 5, 2020, written by Samantha Humphrey and Michael Chabon, and directed by Doug AarniokoskiThe Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com | Bluesky | Instagram

In aerodynamics, a “slipstream” is the region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or water) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving object, such as the the wake behind a speeding boat or jet plane. Most do not know though, that the term has another use: a genre of literature originally described by science fiction author Bruce Sterling in his 1989 essay of the same name. Sterling's own description of slipstream as a genre is slippery at best, but it can be summarized as a movement growing out of both science fiction and literary fiction, blending the qualities of both into a stranger amalgamation, unfamiliar to both of its parents. For Sterling, slipstream was the wake behind the accelerating body of mainstream literature at the turn of the millenium, where writers sought to describe the ever stranger conditions of modern existence by transcending the constraints of genre that commercial publishing demands they fit into. At least, that's what Sterling thought. The fact of the matter is that “slipstream” has never exactly caught on as a term and not many of authors have self-conciously associated themselves with it. Despite that fact, the idea of “slipstream” has remained in the substrata of literary criticism: a genre whose name hardly describes what it is and who has no conscious acolytes.  2006's “Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology” sought to bring the genre into wider circulation, providing a smorgasboard of authors (including luminaries like Kelly Link, Ted Chiang, and Michael Chabon) who the editors felt emodied in their words, “21st Century Schizoid Art”. Ben and I sat down to talk about the anthology, the stories therein, the concept of “slipstream” and the strange place the whole concept of genre finds itself in in 2023.  We hope you enjoy the conversation.

We get political this week on the BFG Podcast. Guest Rebecca Kurson joins host Neal Pollack in condemning Hamas, sure, but also offering a lot of disdain for Western intellectuals and actors who refuse to condemn Hamas. Neal is especially angry at a coalition of writers, his former peers perhaps, like Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon, and Ben Lerner, who published an open letter in the Guardian calling for a ceasefire. Lame, and morally weak.Rebecca is quite angry at Tilda Swinton, who is wide-open when it comes to sexual and gender identity, calling for a ceasefire. Does she really think Hamas is her friend? Neal urges her to reconsider her approbation for Sam Heughan from Outlander, who signed an open letter and then publicly apologized on Instagram. She needs to forgive him because there are more episodes of Outlander to come. "They just got off the ship in Scotland," she says. "I have to know what happens."Then we pivot to the less serious. Pablo Gallaga appears to talk about the Five Nights At Freddy's movie, which seems to be popular among the kids, but isn't very popular among the critics, including Pablo. Admittedly, Pablo never played the video games, but he does know horror movies very well, and has a lot of negative stuff to say about the movie's boring plot, and, most damningly, lack of jump scares. How can a movie adaptation of one of the scariest video games ever not be scary? Inquiring minds must know. Also, Neal asks, why does Freddy Fazbear's need a security guard if it's abandoned?Also, why do we have a Buffy the Vampire Slayer audiobook series without Buffy the Vampire Slayer and without Joss Whedon? Well, that is 'Slayers,' and Paula Shaffer is here to talk about this return to the Buffyverse. The show is not entirely successful, but Paula seems to enjoy visiting Spike and Cordelia and all her old Buffyverse friends. Everyone seems to be having fun. Isn't that what we want out of our entertainment?Enjoy your entertaining podcast!

American writer Michael Chabon talks about his 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. From Jewish mysticism to Houdini to the Golden Age of Comic Books and WWII, Chabon's immersive novel deals with escape and transformation through the lives of two Jewish boys in New York. Josef Kavalier makes an impossible escape from Prague in 1939, leaving his whole family behind but convinced he's going to find a way to get them out too. He arrives in New York to stay with his cousin Sammy Klayman, and together the boys cook up a superhero to rival Superman – both banking on their comic book creation, The Escapist, to transform their lives and those around them, which in part he does. Their first cover depicts The Escapist punching Hitler in the face, and they wage war on him in their pages, but the personal impact of WWII is painfully inevitable. The novel touches on the personal scars left by vast political upheaval, and the damaging constraints of being unable to love freely and live a true and authentic life. Chabon's prose is perfectly crafted – sometimes lyrical, sometimes intensely witty, and occasionally painfully heartbreaking. (Picture: Michael Chabon. Photo credit: Ulf Andersen/Getty Images.)

On this day in legal history, September 13, 1971, the Attica Correctional Facility prison revolt came to an end when National Guardsmen took back control of the prison–in so doing 43 people died, all but four from law enforcement's efforts to regain control.The Attica Prison Uprising, a grim milestone in the history of prisoners' rights movement, occurred from September 9 to 13, 1971, at the Attica Correctional Facility in New York. Rooted in a growing wave of prison activism and exacerbated by appalling living conditions and racial brutalization occuring at the prison, the revolt began with approximately 1,281 inmates taking control of the prison and holding 42 staff members hostage. Their grievances encompassed a myriad of issues including overcrowding, racial discrimination, lack of proper medical care, and restrictions on their educational and political engagements.Historian Howard Zinn wrote of Attica, prior to the revolt, in his A People's History of the United States:Prisoners spent 14 to 16 hours a day in their cells, their mail was read, their reading material restricted, their visits from families conducted through a mesh screen, their medical care disgraceful, their parole system inequitable, racism everywhere.Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who communicated with President Richard Nixon during the crisis, adamantly refused to visit the prison or engage in direct dialogues with the inmates. Instead, he authorized a forceful retaking of the prison, which tragically resulted in the deaths of 39 individuals - nearly all by law enforcement gunfire. Post the assault, it was verified that aside from one officer and three inmates, all fatalities were caused by the enforcement's gunfire, contradicting Rockefeller's claim that inmates had committed "cold-blood killings". The incident drew widespread criticism, with many pointing out that the massacre could have been avoided through negotiated settlements.In the aftermath, the New York Corrections Department initiated changes to meet some of the inmates' demands and alleviate tensions within the prison system. Despite these efforts, many improvements were reversed in the 1980s and 1990s. The event remains a somber testament to the harsh realities of prison life during that period, and today, and stands as a significant marker in the broader history of prisoner activism and the fight for better living conditions and political rights in American prisons.PwC, under the guidance of US chairman Tim Ryan, is implementing several measures to enhance the credibility of its audits and foster investor confidence. The initiatives include linking leadership compensation to audit quality and sharing the financial repercussions of any scandalous events within the firm equally, including with top-tier leaders from consulting and tax departments. Beginning in 2024, PwC plans to initiate expanded access to specialists to augment fraud monitoring and business viability assessments during audits. The firm is also reducing potential conflicts of interest by discontinuing certain consulting services for audit clients, worth less than $100 million.Let's read that carefully, they are divesting their consulting services for clients they also provide audit services for … but only their least profitable consulting clients. Regular listeners will remember I, along with many other professionals, have called for a complete divorce of consulting and audit wings among the Big Four. We aren't getting that. A quick excerpt from my column on the problem:An accounting firm often will act as both a consultant on the bulk of transactions entered into by a bank and the auditor of those transactions. If you thought not wanting to lose a sweet auditing gig was motivation to give a thumbs-up on financials, imagine if your firm—your colleagues—were responsible for structuring much of the underlying deals that gave rise to those financials. And perhaps a former colleague is the CEO of that bank.You begin to see the conflict of interest. Anyway, as a part of these reforms, leadership will verify that the firm's internal controls pertaining to audits are operating effectively, aligning with potential new US audit regulations. Ryan emphasized that these transformations, developing over the next three years, aim at adapting to the fast-changing business landscape and are not superficial adjustments. The changes follow the firm's 2021 restructuring and are expected to enhance audit report details, risk management disclosures, and conflict of interest management, to be disclosed in a voluntary audit quality report. Observers anticipate that PwC's strategies may influence other firms in the industry to take similar steps to improve audit quality.PwC Puts Partner Pay on Line in Bid to Boost Faith in Audits (1)PwC partners to be paid £906,000 this yearSam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been denied pretrial release by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, ahead of his October 3rd trial for fraud charges related to the FTX collapse. Bankman-Fried claimed that his current detention conditions have hindered his ability to adequately prepare his defense, as it restricts his access to the evidence presented by the prosecutors. However, Judge Kaplan noted that he had not detailed the specific pieces of evidence he couldn't access and did not request a trial postponement.Earlier in August, Bankman-Fried was incarcerated due to suspected witness tampering, including the alleged sharing of personal writings of his ex-partner and colleague, Caroline Ellison, with a journalist. Ellison, formerly at the helm of Bankman-Fried's Alameda Research hedge fund, has admitted to fraud charges and is slated to testify against him. Despite these developments, Bankman-Fried, who is accused of misappropriating billions from FTX to cover Alameda's losses and other personal expenditures, maintains his innocence, acknowledging only shortcomings in risk management at FTX. His appeal against the detention order will be heard on September 19th.Sam Bankman-Fried loses bid for pretrial jail release | ReutersThe law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is considerably expanding its private equity practice by hiring numerous partners from rival firms Kirkland & Ellis and Linklaters, particularly enhancing its presence in London, New York, and Los Angeles. Last month, they secured the services of renowned debt finance lawyer Neel Sachdev and other partners from London and New York. Adding to this list, Roger Johnson, Andreas Philipson, Timothy Lowe, Cian O'Connor from Kirkland, and William Aitken-Davies from Linklaters are set to join Sachdev in spearheading various global practices at Paul Weiss' London office.Meanwhile, in the US, Ben Steadman, Matthew Leist, and Caroline Epstein from Kirkland are linking up with Eric Wedel to bolster the corporate department in New York and inaugurate a new branch in Los Angeles. Paul Weiss's chairman, Brad Karp, emphasized that the incorporation of these premier teams would notably amplify the firm's global capacities in the private equity and M&A sectors, promising substantial benefits for both current and prospective clients. This massive recruitment drive, characterized as a raid, has sent ripples through the London legal circles, prompting speculation about the future of Kirkland's operations in the UK. It's noted that the departure of Sachdev from Kirkland occurred amidst internal power tensions.Paul Weiss Continues Raid on Kirkland & Ellis in London and USThe National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) has revealed that the upcoming NextGen Bar Exam, set to commence in July 2026, will be approximately three hours shorter than the existing Uniform Bar Exam (UBE). The new format, which will span one-and-a-half days with a total of nine hours of testing time, aims to measure knowledge and skills more accurately, employing a mix of various question types that will enhance efficiency, according to Andreas Oranje, the NCBE's managing director of assessment programs. Despite the reduction in time, the bar exam preparation period will remain extensive, highlighted Amit Schlesinger, executive director at Kaplan. The revamped exam aims to be more skills-oriented, reducing the emphasis on law memorization, a change partly spurred by critiques that the current exam doesn't adequately mirror the real-world practice of law. From July 2027 onwards, only the NextGen test will be available, with jurisdictions being given a choice between the new and existing exams until that time. Initial announcements regarding state adoptions of the new exam are anticipated this fall.New bar exam shaves three hours off testing time | ReutersA group of prominent authors, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon, have filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms, alleging that their works were improperly used to train Meta's artificial intelligence software called Llama. The writers, which also include David Henry Hwang, Matthew Klam, Rachel Louise Snyder, and Ayelet Waldman, claim that datasets containing pirated versions of their writings were used to train the AI in responding to human text prompts. They filed a similar lawsuit against OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, highlighting that books and plays represent premium examples of long-form writing, making them valuable for AI language training. This lawsuit joins a series of copyright cases against AI companies, including a July lawsuit involving comedian Sarah Silverman. While Meta disclosed the datasets used for the initial version of Llama, the details for the recently released Llama 2 have not been revealed. Llama 2, available for commercial use, is viewed as a pivotal release in the competitive generative AI software market. Meta has not commented on the lawsuit as of now.Pulitzer winner Chabon, other authors sue Meta over AI program | ReutersThe 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, located in Cincinnati, has deferred a decision on the $650 million judgment against pharmacy operators CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens, asking the Ohio Supreme Court to provide their input initially. This judgment was made in relation to the pharmacies' role in exacerbating the opioid crisis in certain Ohio regions. The court seeks clarification on the state law pertaining to the public-nuisance claim which forms the basis of this case. Initially, oral arguments were scheduled for October 20 but have been canceled due to the absence of a guiding precedent from the state's highest court. This case, initiated by Ohio's Lake and Trumbull counties, marks the first trial the three companies faced out of the numerous lawsuits filed against them concerning the U.S. opioid crisis. The initial trial concluded that the firms contributed to the public nuisance created by an oversupply and subsequent black market distribution of addictive pain pills. While the companies agreed to a substantial settlement in other cases, they persist in appealing this Ohio ruling, emphasizing the amended Ohio Product Liability Act which, they argue, restricts such public nuisance claims related to product-liability arising from the sale or distribution of products like opioids.Pharmacies' appeal of $650 mln opioid judgment heads to Ohio top court | Reuters Get full access to Minimum Competence - Daily Legal News Podcast at www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

From Dark Academia trends inspired by Donna Tartt's “The Secret History” to other campus novels like Kingsley Amis' “Lucky Jim” and Philip Roth's “The Human Stain,” we delve into the quirks, challenges, and intrigues of university professor characters and campus settings for this week's mini. We also touch on classics like Dorothy L. Sayers' “Gaudy Night” and Mary McCarthy's “The Groves of Academe,” among others. Discussed: Donna Tartt: “The Secret History"Podcast Recommendation: "Once Upon a Time at Bennington College"Kingsley Amis: "Lucky Jim"Michael Chabon: "Wonder Boys"John Edward Williams: "Stoner"Dorothy Sayers: "Gaudy Night" (part of the Lord Peter Wimsey detective novels)Mary McCarthy: Book Mentioned: "The Groves of Academe"David Lodge: Campus Trilogy: "Changing Places,” "Small World", and "Work"“American Vandal”For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Join Riley, Shellie, and Tracy as they discuss dark academia, why they enjoy it, and if not, what they do enjoy that's adjacent. Books Mentioned Blue Angel by Francine Prose Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman The Maidens by Alex Michaelides Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth Possession by A.S. Byatt The Secret History by Donna Tartt A Separate Peace by John Knowles Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessel Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon

Ravage & Son (Bellevue Literary Press, 2023) by Jerome Charyn is a novel set in the Lower East Side of New York City in the early years of the twentieth century when it was America's most crime-ridden and decadent neighborhood. Featuring an alluring cast of heroes, misfits, and monsters, Ravage & Son is part Jekyll and Hyde, part crime noir, part mystery novel, and ultimately an instant classic – a cinematic kaleidoscope that captures both the intense beauty and utter debauchery of humanity in this bygone era. At the heart of the novel is the menacing Lionel Ravage, a heartbroken powerbroker hell bent on making the world pay for the loss of his soul mate, and his illegitimate son Ben, a poor boy educated at Harvard who becomes a downtown detective for the Kehilla, a quasi-police force slapped with the responsibility of cleaning up the Lower East Side's layers of dirt and crime. The younger Ravage fights to protect, while his father yearns to burn it all to the ground. They share a deep wound and savage love that chains them together but is too agonizing to relive. Jerome Charyn's brilliance is in capturing the violence festering behind closed doors and in the streets as forces large and small work in unity to suck the marrow out of the Jewish neighborhood and its inhabitants. The author's magnificent sentence-by-sentence style is marked both by an intensity and sensitivity that makes the dark tale more human and humane. It is as if Charyn is at war with the past, fully committed to its darkness, but delivering a source of light through his unmatched voice, the essential narrative delivered in what he calls his “music.” With touches of magical realism and an aura of mysticism, Charyn turns the Lower East Side into a portal for looking at that era and our own. The author of more than 50 novels, biographies, histories, graphic novels, and collections, Charyn once proclaimed that his ultimate goal in writing novels has been “to make the reader cry...to break the reader's heart.” With its stunning, unforgettable portrayal of the forces of light and darkness, Ravage & Son delivers on the author's aim, presenting humanity in its fully formed depravity, but also capturing life's poignancy. The interview focuses on Ravage & Son, but Charyn and I discuss other aspects of his renowned career, including discussion of writing style, research, literary influences, and more. Charyn is arguably the most famous writer most readers have never heard of, a bestseller in France and other parts of Europe, and a true “writer's writer” who continues to publish acclaimed books while being lauded by major authors including Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Chabon, Don DeLillo, and a long list of others. He is a distinctive voice in American literary history. Bob Batchelor is an award-winning cultural historian and biographer. His latest books are Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties and Stan Lee: A Life. Visit him on the web at www.bobbatchelor.com or email at bob@bobbatchelor.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Ravage & Son (Bellevue Literary Press, 2023) by Jerome Charyn is a novel set in the Lower East Side of New York City in the early years of the twentieth century when it was America's most crime-ridden and decadent neighborhood. Featuring an alluring cast of heroes, misfits, and monsters, Ravage & Son is part Jekyll and Hyde, part crime noir, part mystery novel, and ultimately an instant classic – a cinematic kaleidoscope that captures both the intense beauty and utter debauchery of humanity in this bygone era. At the heart of the novel is the menacing Lionel Ravage, a heartbroken powerbroker hell bent on making the world pay for the loss of his soul mate, and his illegitimate son Ben, a poor boy educated at Harvard who becomes a downtown detective for the Kehilla, a quasi-police force slapped with the responsibility of cleaning up the Lower East Side's layers of dirt and crime. The younger Ravage fights to protect, while his father yearns to burn it all to the ground. They share a deep wound and savage love that chains them together but is too agonizing to relive. Jerome Charyn's brilliance is in capturing the violence festering behind closed doors and in the streets as forces large and small work in unity to suck the marrow out of the Jewish neighborhood and its inhabitants. The author's magnificent sentence-by-sentence style is marked both by an intensity and sensitivity that makes the dark tale more human and humane. It is as if Charyn is at war with the past, fully committed to its darkness, but delivering a source of light through his unmatched voice, the essential narrative delivered in what he calls his “music.” With touches of magical realism and an aura of mysticism, Charyn turns the Lower East Side into a portal for looking at that era and our own. The author of more than 50 novels, biographies, histories, graphic novels, and collections, Charyn once proclaimed that his ultimate goal in writing novels has been “to make the reader cry...to break the reader's heart.” With its stunning, unforgettable portrayal of the forces of light and darkness, Ravage & Son delivers on the author's aim, presenting humanity in its fully formed depravity, but also capturing life's poignancy. The interview focuses on Ravage & Son, but Charyn and I discuss other aspects of his renowned career, including discussion of writing style, research, literary influences, and more. Charyn is arguably the most famous writer most readers have never heard of, a bestseller in France and other parts of Europe, and a true “writer's writer” who continues to publish acclaimed books while being lauded by major authors including Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Chabon, Don DeLillo, and a long list of others. He is a distinctive voice in American literary history. Bob Batchelor is an award-winning cultural historian and biographer. His latest books are Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties and Stan Lee: A Life. Visit him on the web at www.bobbatchelor.com or email at bob@bobbatchelor.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Today we're sharing our (sometimes controversial) opinions about some of the buzziest books of LAST summer. We love it when our reading overlaps off the podcast and gives us a chance to come together for some off-the-cuff book conversation. Of the slew of buzzy books that released in Summer 2022, there were a handful both of us somehow made time to read. We're deep diving into five of those books, sharing what worked for us, what didn't, and why we can love a reading experience even when we don't love a book.  This episode originally aired on our Patreon bonus feed. To hear all about the buzzy books we read THIS summer, sign up to join Classics Club at patreon.com/novelpairings. We would love to see you in our community this semester! Books Mentioned Book Lovers by Emily Henry  Beach Read by Emily Henry People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott  Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine  Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine Lessons in Chemistry by Bonne Garmus  Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin  The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon

It's been nearly 8 months since Bob Iger took the reigns back as CEO of Disney, and overall... things have been good. Until the last couple weeks. Not only did he manage to make MCU and Star Wars fans nervous, he stepped all over his Donald Duck when it came to the strike currently stirring the pot in Hollywood. We dive into all of it right here! Also, we talk about the news about a potential Picard movie, Star Wars Old Republic game news, a bit of Battlestar Galactica trivia, a Dr. Strange cameo that didn't quite sit well, LA Knight (yeah!), and a tweet from the Iron Sheik in this episode's The Week In Geek!   LINKS OF INTEREST: - A Picard movie may not be happening... and that's okay - Star Wars: The Old Republic transfer of ownership - What Idea did Battlestar Galactica drop after just 3 episodes? - Hayley Atwell is a little frustrated with her Doctor Strange cameo - And here's the video where we took this episode's title from: Mickey Fires Bob Chapek   ...AND ANOTHER THING: The Man They Call Tim recommends giving the band R.E.M. a listen with fresh ears Uncle Todd advises you to read The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon immediately   FOLLOW US ON THE SOCIAL MEDIAS: Facebook - http://facebook.com/freerangeidiocy Instagram - http://instagram.com/freerangeidiocy YouTube - http://youtube.com/@freerangeidiocy

This week is the first of a new feature on the podcast: conversations with authors about what indie bookstores mean to them and their careers. I'm joined by Richard Mirabella, whose debut novel "Brother and Sister Enter the Forest" was released earlier this year to critical acclaim. His short stories have appeared in Story Magazine, American Short Fiction online, One Story, Split Lip Magazine, and elsewhere. Richard shares his favorite bookshops and the books he'd recommend to customers. Books We Talk About: The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marissa Crane, Endpapers by Jennifer Savron Kelly, Hawk Mountain by Conner Habib, Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash, and The Turner House by Angela Flournoy.

Thanks to our awesome Patrons, we're proud to present another Booksplode! This month, Josh Flanagan and Conor Kilpatrick take a look at… The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: A Novel by Michael Chabon! What's a Booksplode? It's a bi-monthly special edition show in which we take a look at a single graphic novel or collected edition, something we really just don't have time to do on the regular show. Running Time: 00:43:30 Music: “The Great Escape” Boys Like Girls Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month we discussed The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. We swam in a sea of metaphors and similes so you don't have to. But you might want to, because in spite of itself, this storm of words is good! DM: Amy Big thanks to Lori's cousin Sarah, who did a sensitivity edit for us, and wrote us such a banger of an email that we asked her to turn it into a review! Heck, maybe we do written reviews now! Who knows! Check out our new shop! Transcript Library  Music by Pets of Belonging Lots 'o Links: NY Mag Review NYT Review Tor.com: Is Alternate History SF? Keith Law's Review London Review of Books   Academic Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Happy Indie Bookstore Day! To thank you for listening and supporting The Bookshelf, we have a special treat for you: a recording of our live show from our February Reader Retreat! In this episode, Annie and Hunter chat about the books they wish their favorite authors would write. Ashley joins them to ask them the New York Times' By the Book questions. To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our website: I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld A Place for Us by Fatima Fahreen Mirza The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt The Secret History by Donna Tartt Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Swamplandia by Karen Russell One More Thing by B.J. Novak (unavailable to order) Holes by Louis Sachar The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (unavailable to order) Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff What books are on your nightstand? Annie: This Day by Wendell Berry Little Women by Louisa May Alcott The World-Ending Fire by Wendell Berry (unavailable to order) Hunter: History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund (unavailable to order) Edinburgh by Alexander Chee Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon (unavailable to order) What's the last great book you read? Annie: Stealing by Margaret Verble Hunter: A Frozen Woman by Annie Ernaux What's your favorite book no one has heard of? Annie: Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer Hunter: Monkeys by Susan Minot (unavailable to order) From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.  Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.  Thank you to this week's sponsor, the 102nd Annual Rose Show and Festival in Thomasville, Georgia. Come visit us for the weekend of April 28th-29th and experience the flowers, fun, food, and shopping in Beautiful Thomasville. Plan your visit at ThomasvilleGa.com. If you liked what you heard in today's episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Or, if you're so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff's weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter and follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Our Executive Producers are...Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Donna Hetchler, Kate O'Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins.  

We discuss some of the best books about or set in New York City to recommend to newcomers or longtime residents hoping to learn more about the city they call home. Julie Golia, the associate director of manuscripts, archives, and rare books and the Charles J. Liebman curator of manuscripts for The New York Public Library, shares some of her favorite titles and we take listener suggestions. Also, the library created its own list of 125 books to celebrate their 125th anniversary year. Here's a list of all the NYC books discussed in this conversation: "City of Girls" by Elizabeth Gilbert "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon "The Fortress of Solitude" by Jonathan Lethem "Lush Life" by Richard Price "Let the Great World Spin" by Colum McCann "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith "Another Brooklyn" by Jacqueline Woodson "The Bonfire of the Vanities" by Tom Wolfe "The Colossus of New York" by Colson Whitehead "The New York Trilogy" by Paul Auster "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald "Motherless Brooklyn" by Jonathan Lethem "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara "The New York Nobody Knows" by William B. Helmreich "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger "The House of Mirth" by Edith Wharton

Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road", miniature wargaming, doing "a Jeff" by listening to the audiobook, Robert E. Howard's Middle Eastern adventures, melancholy guys dressed in black, the role of the animals in the story, surviving in a ruined temple, dual power structures, chloroform mini-games, five-page backstories, being rewarded in-game for bringing in aspects of your character, hitting Wikipedia hard, and much more!

In their long-awaited return, Phil & Jake rank patriarchy, the legendary comics creator Jack Kirby, and the soft drink Fanta on the List of Every Damn Thing.If you have something to add to the list, email it to list@everydamnthing.net (or get at us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook).SHOW NOTES: Bully sticks really are made from beef penis. "Work for hire" is the situation that an illustrator like Kirby, or a session musician, might work under. He was paid cash for his work but didn't retain any ownership. At the time, the idea was that the work was ephemeral trash anyways; but now, years later, it's proven to be valuable. The Fourth World was Kirby's set of fantasy/science-fiction stories at DC. He got to do pretty much what he wanted and he went nuts with it. Mister Miracle was maybe the character that's most closely identified with Kirby. He's an escape artist refugee who lives in the suburbs and is married to an action heroine. Star Wars really seems to pull from Kirby's work. Doctor Doom is a very fun comic-book villain created by Kirby (and Stan Lee). Stan Lee worked with Kirby in the 1960s and co-created almost all of the early Marvel characters and stories with him. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is an acclaimed novel by Michael Chabon where one of the characters is based (partly) on Kirby. Here's Kirby's original drawing of Captain America punching-out Hitler. The Banshees of Inisherin is a 2022 film partly about legacy that explores the question “Does being a decent person matter?” Thundarr the Barbarian was a 1980s cartoon about a post-apocalyptic adventurer. Kirby did some design work and by all accounts was paid fairly and treated well. Kamandi was a post-apocalyptic comic about the last boy on Earth, an Earth now populated by talking animals. It seems like it was heavily influenced by Planet of the Apes, even though Kirby hadn't seen the movie when he created the comic. Holy Mountain is a film directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, financed partly by John Lennon, which is difficult to explain. It's surrealistic, absurd and mind-blowing, and it really seems Kirby-influenced. Kirby Krackle is a visual effect that Kirby was known for. If there was energy coursing through something, he might illustrate it with weird dots around it. The Neil Gaiman quote that Jake recites is from the book Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier. O.M.A.C. (One Man Army Corps) is a truly bonkers comic written and drawn by Jack Kirby. It appears as if Glenn Danzig did know Kirby personally, and even worked with him. Here's an interview that Danzig conducted with Kirby. Mezzo Mix is totally the most normal thing in the world. We discuss Kit-Kats in Japan, which have been incredibly successful there, in part because their name sort of sounds like "good luck" in Japanese. There are many, many variations on the traditional Kit-Kat flavor in Japan. Some of these have come to America as well. The Fantanas ads were a throwback to an earlier style of ads. The premise is that sexy babes with soft drinks show up and refresh people. Here's a good example, and here's one in Spanish. Other sodas discussed include Crush, Orangina, Surge & Josta. Jake drank is half-Fanta at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando, which is near Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. He paired it with some Old Florida Original Gourmet Chips. The fever has really passed on hard seltzer. Now that the dust has settled, in the cold light of day we can say it was ranked fairly. Calamari isn't good, it's just a rubbery mass. Hulk Hogan was a boring wrestler who's had a really negative impact on the world. Phil thinks Aerosmith are dire, just absolute bottom level garbage, and he's Phil has banned from his life with a zero tolerance policy. ALSO DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:Marfa, TX * wild pigs * the male gaze * capitalism * Gambit * Steven Seagal * the McRib * Death * Jon Voight * QAnon * transphobia * Marvel Comics * D.C. Comics * the Marvel Method * Gil Kane * Argo * Hank Williams * Britney Spears * Prince * Dolly Parton * bicycles * coffee * Jamaica * Oreos * Bill & Ted Face the MusicBelow are the Top Ten and Bottom Top items on List of Every Damn Thing as of this episode (for the complete up-to-date list, go here).TOP TEN: Dolly Parton - person interspecies animal friends - idea sex - idea bicycles - tool Jack Kirby - person coffee - beverage Clement Street in San Francisco - location Prince - person It's-It - food Doctor Doom - fictional character BOTTOM TEN:297. British Royal Family - institution298. Steven Seagal - person299. McRib - food300. Hoarders - TV show301. death - idea302. war - idea303. cigarettes - drug304. patriarchy - idea305. QAnon - idea306. transphobia - ideaTheme song by Jade Puget. Graphic design by Jason Mann. This episode was produced & edited by Jake MacLachlan. Show notes by Jake MacLachlan & Phil Green.Our website is everydamnthing.net and we're also on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.Email us at list@everydamnthing.net. 

Bill Gosline joins us to discuss Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road", reading books written for adults as kids, Deities & Demigods as Appendix N, elephant-related words, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay", smug afterwords, Ren faire troupes, world-building in epic fantasy, world-building around the characters, historical fiction, when magic is not a technology, the future demise of Twitter, and much more!