Podcast appearances and mentions of William T Vollmann

William T. Vollmann Talks About His 3,400-page Novel, A TABLE FOR FORTUNE by Alexander Sorondo

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by National Book Award winner William T. Vollmann, author of Shadows of Love and Shadows of Loneliness, which are published by our friends at An Unnamed Press and Rare Bird Books.  Topics of conversation include mortality, the price of convenience, hearts that are or are not troubled by atrocity, the perception of global warming in Bangladesh, American and Serbian views of Muslims, police with virtual recognition goggles, facing your problems vs. not facing them, writing vs. painting vs. photography, esoteric means of film development, how a photograph never ceases to be a fountain of questions, and much more.  Copies of Shadows of Love and Shadows of Loneliness can be ordered from Explore Booksellers with FREE SHIPPING for members of Explore More+.

Back in the 80s, literary agent Susan Golomb plucked Jonathan Franzen's manuscript from her slush pile. They've worked together ever since. She founded the Susan Golomb Literary Agency in 1988 with Franzen as her first client, and joined Writers House in 2015. Susan represents other notables such as Glen David Gold, William T. Vollmann, Rachel Kushner, Imbolo Mbue, Angie Kim, and Nell Zink. She joined me to talk about the state of publishing and how it's changed, where A.I. is taking the industry, what she looks for in her clients, query letter dos and don'ts, why comp titles frustrate her, her feelings about MFAs, and much more. Along the way, we referenced two articles. The first, a recent New Yorker article about how changes in the publishing industry impact writers. And the second, an essay her client — Vauhini Vara — wrote about her own experiences with artificial intelligence. For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. To listen to past interviews, visit our website. We're also excited to announce the opening of our new bookstore on bookshop.org. We've stocked it with titles from our guests, as well as some of our own personal favorites. By purchasing through the store, you'll support both independent bookstores and our show. New titles will be added all the time (it's a work in progress). Finally, on Spotify you can listen to an album's worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners. (Recorded on November 3, 2023) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music and sound editing: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by New York Times bestselling author Wilton Barnhardt, who discusses his new novel Western Alliances, which is published by our friends at St. Martin's Press.  Topics of conversation include North Carolina, William T. Vollmann, bourbon, travel, photography, the 2008 financial collapse, the bond market, Henry Miller, European elevators, Zelda Fitzgerald, Norway, and much more.  Copies of Western Alliances can be ordered here with FREE SHIPPING for members of Explore More+.

La prosa dello statunitense William T. Vollmann non conosce etichette o confini di genere. La voce del reporter, dello storico, del reietto e del romanziere risultano spesso inestricabili nella sua vasta produzione: dai disperati racconti di prostituzione al centro di Storie della farfalla, all'indagine sulla violenza di Come un'onda che sale e che scende, senza dimenticare l'allucinata saga totalitaria Europe Central, con il quale nel 2005 ha vinto il National Book Award. A Festivaletteratura 2022 Vollmann ha incontrato la scrittrice Claudia Durastanti, da sempre sua appassionata lettrice. Nella loro conversazione i due hanno parlato dei temi che attraversano l'opera-mondo dell'autore americano e del modo in cui ha scavato nelle caotiche profondità della nostra epoca. L'interprete dell'incontro è stata Sonia Folin.

San Diego State, Vikings, William T. Vollmann and meeting up with old friends.

In the first episode of 2023, the Spine Crackers read William T. Vollmann's semi-autobiographical 1996 novel of sex, violence, regret, and loneliness The Atlas!

Insieme allo scrittore William T. Vollmann fotografiamo l'America alla vigilia di elezioni cruciali

In this episode, we're joined by Daniel Lukes to discuss the 1989 collection THE RAINBOW STORIES.Daniel Lukes has a PhD in comparative literature from New York University. He co-edited William T. Vollmann: A Critical Companion (2014) and edited Conversations with William T. Vollmann (2020). His most recent book is Black Metal Rainbows (2023), and he can be found on Twitter at @danielukes.Show Notes:Daniel Lukes and Christopher K. Coffman (eds.), William T. Vollmann: A Critical Companion Daniel Lukes (ed.), Conversations with William T. Vollmann Daniel Lukes & Stanimir Panayotov (eds.), Black Metal Rainbows Jordan Rothacker, The Pit and No Other Stories Mark de Silva, The Logos Mircea Cărtărescu, Sean Cotter (trans.), Solenoid  Credits:Show logo (“An Incomplete Map of Vollmannia”) courtesy of Anna RothMerchMusic: Jeannette Fang, Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 2 'Presentiment of Death' by Frédéric Chopin. Public Domain Mark 1.0 – No Copyright from https://musopen.org; Nature, Do A Krime. BMG Music/ Zoo Entertainment, 1995. Used with permission of Hugh Bonar.  Contact:Email: vollmannia@gmail.comTwitter: @vollmanniaInstagram: @vollmanniaHomepage

In this episode, we're joined by Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder and Miles Liebtag to discuss the 1987 debut novel YOU BRIGHT AND RISEN ANGELS: A CARTOON.Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder produces limited-edition artist's books under the imprint of Coyote Bones Press and teaches at various institutions. Her research-based book works incorporate sculptural book structures and found objects, combining traditional and contemporary bookbinding and printing techniques. Her books are held in prominent collections including UC Berkeley, Bainbridge Island Art Museum, Stanford, RISD, and The British Library.https://www.kerischroeder.com/https://www.instagram.com/coyotebonespress/ Miles Liebtag is an academic leftover who's been working in the beer industry for over a decade. He is an Advanced Cicerone and has an MA in Literature from Miami University of Ohio. His sole academic publication is a contribution to William T. Vollmann: A Critical Companion, in which he discusses representation and power in WTV's first novel, You Bright & Risen Angels. A recovering shitposter, he's been social media free for two years.Show Notes:Daniel Lukes and Christopher K. Coffman (eds.), William T. Vollmann: A Critical Companion https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781611495256/William-T.-Vollmann-A-Critical-Companion Daniel Lukes (ed.), Conversations with William T. Vollmann https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/C/Conversations-with-William-T.-Vollmann William T. Vollmann, “Author's Note” from You Bright and Risen Angels, KCRW Bookworm https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/william-vollmann (begins at 09:28)Speak Sex Podcast Episode 102: True Love, Sex as Transformation, Intellectual Intercourse –Eve Eurydice with William T. Vollmann https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/speak-sex-with-eve-eurydice-778073/episodes/ep-102-eurydice-w-william-t-vo-129028326 WASTE Mailing List, Colonialism Confronted Through Fantasy | You Bright and Risen Angels by William T. Vollmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL0m3zWA1vw&t=348s Jordan in conversation with Tobias Carroll https://brooklynrail.org/2022/05/books/Jordan-A-Rothacker-with-Tobias-Carroll Mircea Cărtărescu, Sean Cotter (trans.), Solenoid https://bookshop.org/books/solenoid/9781646052028 Credits:Show logo (“An Incomplete Map of Vollmannia”) courtesy of Anna Roth Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/strollology/shopMusic: Jeannette Fang, Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 2 'Presentiment of Death' by Frédéric Chopin. Public Domain Mark 1.0 – No Copyright from https://musopen.org.Contact:Email: vollmannia@gmail.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/vollmannia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vollmannia/ Homepage: https://vollmannia.buzzsprout.com 

EAST MIDLANDS / NYC — Jake Hanrahan is a conflict reporter and journalist from East Midlands, England. He hosts the war podcast Popular Front. He is the author of Gargoyle (2021), a collection of his essays. He's a real one. GARGOYLE: https://www.amazon.com/Gargoyle-Reporting-frontlines-cells-houses/dp/B092PG6K13 POPULAR FRONT: https://www.patreon.com/popularfront/posts 3 min - on Hoods Hoods Clan 8 min - on Fuccboi (2022) 14 min - on the Kazinskiite pine tree community https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unabomber-netflix-tv-series-ted-kaczynski from Gargoyle (2021) 19 min - Combat Obscura 22 min - on Heartbreak 23 min - shitty labor jobs 29 min - anti-snobbery media 32 min - on working w Andrew Callaghan 38 min - the state of things in Ukraine 42 min - when things are beyond theory 56 min - Hanrahan's come up 58 min - on Reading and Writing 1 hr 3 min - on Scrapping 1 hr 7 min - on Sincerity 1 hr 13 min - on bouncing back from Grief 1 hr 23 min - “Surviver” Chuck Palaniuk 1 hr 26 min - “Seek” by Denis Johnson, Rainbow Stories by William T Vollmann, Hella Nation by Evan Wright Sean Thor Conroe is the author of Fuccboi: A novel: FUCCBOI: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/sean-thor-conroe/fuccboi/9780316394819/

Seth on Twitter @wastemailing Instagram @wastemailinglist wastemailinglist@gmail.com https://wastemailinglist.substack.com Gateway Books: House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer 2.Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan 3.Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace Currently Reading: 1. Anniversaries: A Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl by Uwe Johnson, translated by Damion Searls 2. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky Anticipated Reads: 1. William T Vollmann 2. Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated by Sean Cotter 3. Blinding: The Left Wing by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated by Sean Cotter 4. A Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine translated by Ralph Manheim 5. Herscht 07769 by László Krasznahorkai, translated by Ottilie Mulzet 6. Devil House by John Darnielle 7. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt 8. Malina by Ingborg Bachman translated by Philip Boehm 9. The Complete Works of Primo Levi compiled by Ann Goldstein Top 10: 10. I'm Thinking of Endings Things by Iain Reid 9. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 8. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt 7. Satantango by László Krasznahorkai, translated by George Szirtes 6. The Burrow by Franz Kafka, translated by Michael Hofmann 5. In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan 4. Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter 3. Story of the Eye by George Bataille, translated by Joachim Neugrochal (Correction (1:11:30) - Seth refers to the narrator's love interest as Marcelle where he meant to say Simone. Marcelle is a secondary character in the story.) 2. The Recognitions by William Gaddis 1. Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

Training my mind for upcoming adventures- but ultimately what is more interesting? The adventure or the person doing it? --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Esta es una muestra de "El fin del fin de la tierra". La versión completa tiene una duración total de 8 h 0 min. Encuentra este audiolibro completo en https://bit.ly/elfindelatierra_sampleNarrado por: Rafael de la Rica HernándezEsta variada serie de artículos, publicados en los más prestigiosos medios norteamericanos, reúne dieciséis piezas que muestran la amplitud de miras de Franzen, en algún caso con claros tintes autobiográficos. Desde vibrantes reseñas sobre novelistas clásicas como Edith Wharton y contemporáneos como William T. Vollmann -con una evocación muy especial de su amigo David Foster Wallace-, hasta ácidos análisis de la política de Donald Trump y punzantes crónicas de viajes por los cinco continentes, sobre todo por la cada vez menos gélida Antártida, ejemplo flagrante de la deriva autodestructiva de nuestra especie. Y todo ello con la presencia constante de las aves más bellas, más curiosas y más raras del planeta, que no son sólo un aderezo de color en el paisaje, sino el reflejo de una honda pasión irrenunciable. Críticas:«Ya sea comentando la belleza de la Antártida o proponiendo diez reglas para los novelistas, Franzen se revela como un guía ameno, a veces mordaz, pero siempre memorable.»Publishers Weekly «Ensayos agudos, reflexivos y tenaces de un escritor con la capacidad de #reír en tiempos sombríos#.»Kirkus Reviews «Franzen hace gala de la precisión que lo caracteriza y de un inconfundible sentido del humor.»Vanity Fair© 2022, Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, S. A. U.#penguinaudio #audiolibro #audiolibros #franzen #jonathanfranzen See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this inaugural episode, hosts Ryan Alexander & Jordan Rothacker discuss the 1992 memoir An Afghanistan Picture Show; Or, How I Saved the World. Specific topics include how the book can be categorized in terms of genre and style, the bipartite identities of The Young Man & William T. Vollmann, the failure of the individual to affect systemic change, and how “the Other” is depicted. They also discuss their backgrounds as Vollmann readers, their favorite Vollmann book(s), and their goals for the show.Show Notes:“The True Story of William T. Vollmann's Research Assistant”: https://heavyfeatherreview.org/2018/06/20/carbon-ideologies/  Excerpt from The Cloud Shirt: http://www.grandstreet.com/gsissues/gs46/gs46c.htmlExcerpt from A Table for Fortune: https://goodtimes.sc/cover-stories/heading-toward-nowhere/The New Yorker's “20 Under 40”: https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1999-06-21/flipbook/KCRW Bookworm – Fathers and Crows: https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/william-vollmannTed Koppel's favorite books: https://theweek.com/articles/587103/ted-koppels-6-favorite-books“Across the Divide”: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/05/15/across-the-divide  “American Writing Today: A Diagnosis of the Disease”: http://www.conjunctions.com/print/article/william-t-vollmann-c15KCRW Bookworm – The Dying Grass:https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/william-t-vollmann-the-dying-grass-part-ihttps://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/william-t-vollmann-the-dying-grass-part-ii“Life as a Terrorist”: https://harpers.org/archive/2013/09/life-as-a-terrorist/The Celestial Bandit: A Tribute to Isidore Ducasse, the Comte de Lautréamont, Upon the 175th Anniversary of His Birth: http://www.kernpunktpress.com/store/p29/celestialbandit.html“Unnatural History of Construction: The Interim by Wolfgang Hilbig (translated by Isabel Fargo Cole)": https://statorec.com/unnatural-history-of-construction-by-ryan-alexander/Show logo (“An Incomplete Map of Vollmannia”) created by, and used with the permission of, Anna Roth Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/strollology/shop Contact:Email: vollmannia@gmail.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/vollmanniaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/vollmannia/Homepage: https://vollmannia.buzzsprout.com

Eve Eurydice speaks with the acclaimed writer William T. Vollmann in a Valentine-special interview. We discuss Creativity as Transgression. Erotica. The Sexual Revolution. The Liberation of Man. Jung's Anima & Animus. The Union of Opposites. Desire as unspeakable freedom from the bounds of the self, connection to timelessness, to the divine, to awe in nature. Love as submission to nature, especially challenging for the male who has been trained to conquer nature. The challenge for those who speak sex is to find balance between nature & culture, to overcome culture's taboo separation between mind & body, to invent a new language that's neither sentimentalism nor smut.⚡️To buy Eurydice's new erotica, titled “Eve's Academy,” follow this link to New Urge Editions: https://blackscatbooks.com/2021/08/17/leave-it-to-eve/⚡️ For more, go to https://Speaksexpodcast.com ⚡️ For books, art, merch by Eurydice, go to https://Eurydice.net ⚡️ For Apple podcast, subscribe to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speak-sex-with-eve/id1448261953 ⚡️Find our video episodes at https://YouTube.com/SpeakSexwithEveEurydice ⚡️ #speaksex #eveEurydice #Eurydice #Eurudice #williamtvollmann #interview #podcast --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/speaksex/message

Wydawnictwo Cyranka w tym roku zaserwowało czytelniczkom i czytelnikom sporo książkowych sztosów. O tym, co warto czytać, jak wydawać dobre tytuły, gdzie leży nadzieja polskiego rynku książki rozmawiają Konrad Nowacki, współzałożyciel wydawnictwa Cyranka i Anna Karczewska. Lista książek do przeczytania (i kupowania w prezencie): David Diop „Bratnia dusza” Cyranka Bil Buford „Między kibolami” Cyranka George Perec „Życie. Instrukcja obsługi” LOKATOR Peter Høeg „Nieprzystosowani” Driada William T. Vollmann „Centrala Europa” W.A.B Maciej Topolski „Niż” Korporacja HaArt! Agnieszka Jelonek „Koniec świata umyj okna” Cyranka Justyna Bargielska „Pij ze mną kompot” Wydawnictwo Wolno Łukasz Barys „Kości, które nosisz w kieszeni” Cyranka Bartosz Sadulski „Rzeszot” Książkowe Klimaty Dorota Kotas „Cukry” Cyranka Olga Hund „Łyski liczą do trzech” Czarne

For our 150th episode, host Jason Jefferies is joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning, National Book Award-winning, and New York Times bestselling author Richard Powers, who discusses his new novel Bewilderment, which is published by our friends at W.W. Norton & Company.  Topics of discussion include medicating children, Physics vs. English, the search for life in outer space, video games, William T. Vollmann, Buddhism, the idea that we are living in a simulation, homeschooling, and much more.  Copies of Bewilderment can be ordered here with FREE SHIPPING.

Episode 23... dedicated to outside the box thinkers... is this becoming a nudist podcast? I'll tell you this... it's never laundry day out here --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We talk with critic Steven Moore, the world's leading scholar on William Gaddis and the man who helped edit David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest." We talk about his approach to criticism; his "hierarchy of reading;" the influence of Stuart Gilbert's book on "Ulysses;" his love of "Finnegans Wake;" the importance of Catholicism to Alexander Theroux; Moore's relationship with David Foster Wallace; Gaddis' connection to the Beat milieu and how Moore reviewed William T. Vollmann's "Rising Up and Rising Down," and more. Please check out Moore's new book on Theroux: http://zerogrampress.com/2020/03/30/alexander-theroux-a-fans-notes/ Music attribution: “Sunday Smooth" by Scott Buckley, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

We discuss a number of books from Roman's library, including 'Ferdydurke' by Gombrowicz; 'Under the Volcano' by Malcolm Lowry; 'The Mass Psychology of Facism' by William Reich; 'The Letters of Rainer Marie Rilke;' 'Hunger' by Knut Hamsun; and 'The String Quartet' by Paul Griffiths. We also touch upon Masha Gessen, William T. Vollmann, Shostakovich and why Milan Kundera and Paul Auster's stars have faded. Music: “Sunday Smooth" by Scott Buckley, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

De negende aflevering van seizoen 3 van Boeken FM is een speciale, want we zitten allemaal noodgedwongen binnen in ons eigen huis. In deze Corona-special bespreken Ellen Deckwitz, Joost de Vries en Bob Kappen het boek ‘De Pest’ van de Franse schrijver en filosoof Albert Camus. Het panel belicht het belang van absurdisme in Camus’ werk en leven, en spreekt over de verschillende hoofdpersonages en hun reactie op de crisis. Daarnaast hoor je van Bob welk boek ideaal is om te lezen tijdens quarantaine, en kom je erachter wie van het panel met balpen in boeken schrijft…Boekentips in deze afleveringObscure boekenEllen: Andreas Burnier - Een tevreden lach Joost: William T. Vollmann - Europe CentralBob: Clare Lennart - Huisjes van kaarten Leestip in tijden van quarantaineBob: Paul de Wispelaere - Een eiland worden

De negende aflevering van seizoen 3 van Boeken FM is een speciale, want we zitten allemaal noodgedwongen binnen in ons eigen huis. In deze Corona-special bespreken Ellen Deckwitz, Joost de Vries en Bob Kappen het boek ‘De Pest’ van de Franse schrijver en filosoof Albert Camus. Het panel belicht het belang van absurdisme in Camus’ werk en leven, en spreekt over de verschillende hoofdpersonages en hun reactie op de crisis. Daarnaast hoor je van Bob welk boek ideaal is om te lezen tijdens quarantaine, en kom je erachter wie van het panel met balpen in boeken schrijft…Boekentips in deze afleveringObscure boekenEllen: Andreas Burnier - Een tevreden lach Joost: William T. Vollmann - Europe CentralBob: Clare Lennart - Huisjes van kaarten Leestip in tijden van quarantaineBob: Paul de Wispelaere - Een eiland worden

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by William T. Vollmann, who discusses his new novel The Lucky Star, which is published by our friends at Viking.  Topics discussed include Judy Garland, pseudo-religious figures, letters from the editor and other editorial decisions, Martina Navratilova, Marijuana brand shampoo (c), and much more.  The Lucky Star can be purchased in-store at Quail Ridge Books and online here.

We talk with Kyle Devine, author of a new book about the environmental impact of music recordings, which raises a number of issues that we had never previously considered. Guest: Kyle Devine (https://www.hf.uio.no/imv/english/people/aca/tenured/kylerd/) Decomposed: The Political Ecology of Music (https://amzn.to/39lSXJX) Show notes: Nightmares on wax: the environmental impact of the vinyl revival (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/28/vinyl-record-revival-environmental-impact-music-industry-streaming) Shellac (Wikipedia) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac) Vinyl Record Production in Peril After Fire at California Plant (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/apollo-masters-fire-vinyl-records-lacquer-production-949648/) What the Vinyl Records Comeback Really Looks Like… (https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/08/15/vinyl-records-comeback-really-looks/) Phtalate (Wikipedia) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalate) William T. Vollmann: Carbon Ideologies (https://amzn.to/2Si4699) Our next tracks: Sir András Schiff plays The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (Visual Album) (https://music.apple.com/us/album/sir-andr%C3%A1s-schiff-plays-well-tempered-clavier-book/1491864032) Cream: Goodbye Tour - Live 1968 (https://amzn.to/38ruiny) If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-next-track/id1116242606) or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.

2019 has been a banner year for xenophobia. Before news broke of lice-ridden migrant children forced to sleep on frigid cement, before the racist jokes Border Patrol officers traded on private Facebook groups were made public, President Trump sowed fear over “migrant caravans” headed for the land of the free—caravans that might've had “Middle Easterners” among their ranks. Such bald-faced lies conspired with long-sublimated national myths to obscure the actual crisis at our border, and to obscure the identities of those suffering the consequences. In the interviews and photographs that compose William T. Vollmann's cover story for the July issue of Harper's Magazine, people on both sides of the border—migrants, volunteers for charitable organizations that seek to help them, Trump fans, merchants, and others—come into focus. Their indivisible testimonies—of coyotes and ankle bracelets, of assaults and soup kitchens—build to a humble but unflinching indictment. In this week's episode, Vollmann—a National Book Award–winning novelist and journalist—sits down with web editor Violet Lucca to talk about covering the region at this crucial moment. Read Vollmann's story here: https://harpers.org/archive/2019/07/just-keep-going-north/ This episode was produced by Violet Lucca and Andrew Blevins.

And we are back with a Happy Fathers Day episode dedicated to everyone whether they are a father or not. Unfortunately we encountered some audio problems for the first fifteen minutes so if it becomes unbearable please jump ahead. We discuss some comics and gifts we've received before jumping into our book club discussion about Michael Chabon's Kavalier & Clay. That led us into talking about the differences that make a book a good story or good art. Michael then jumps into several books he's recently read, Piers Anthony's Sos the Rope, James SA Corey's Tiamat's Wrath from the Expanse series, and William T. Vollmann's The Dying Grass. This naturally leads the guys into The Great British Baking Show and the Kid's Baking Championship, the History Channel's series Alone, ultimate fighting, the NBA, the joy of sports community, nerdiness, and fandom, and the story of Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble and Loyola Marymount's run at an NCAA basketball championship. And that's just the highlights! Enjoy the show and tell a friend. Also, check out our work in progress: https://143podcasts.com/save-the-world/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Bookin', host Jason Jefferies continues his conversation with National Book Award winner William T. Vollmann.  For the second part of this two-part conversation, Vollmann discusses his process narrative The Book of Delores, his historical Seven Dreams series, his National Book Award winning novel Europe Central, his San Francisco Tenderloin novels, his philosophy regarding his non-fiction works Poor People, Imperial and Rising Up and Rising Down, and the books that he is working on right now.  A selection of signed books by William T. Vollmann can be purchased at www.quailridgebooks.com/signedbooks

Host Jason Jefferies is joined by National Book Award Winner William T. Vollmann.  For part one of this two-part episode, they discuss Vollmann's new Carbon Ideologies, which was published by Viking Press in two volumes (No Immediate Danger and No Good Alternative).  Vollmann speaks about the explosions off nuclear reactors in Japan's Fukushima-Daiichi district and the fallout that followed, coal in Nitro, West Virginia, oil in Oklahoma, and secrecy in the United Arab Emirates.  Part two of this interview, which will be published next week, touches on the rest of Vollmann's career.  Signed copies of Vollmann's No Immediate Danger, Europe Central, and Riding Towards Everywhere can be purchased in person at Quail Ridge Books or online here: https://www.quailridgebooks.com/signedbooks

Scot Sothern is the author of Curb Service: A Memoir, Streetwalkers, and Big City. He's also a photographer and his portraits of sex workers have been shown in galleries around […]

A ''genuine artist ... who can render the intricate dazzle of it all and at the same time plumb its philosophical implications'' (Esquire), Richard Powers explores a remarkable range of subject matters in his novels. Among them are The Echo Maker, a story of the precarious brain, mass migrations, and car accidents; Orfeo, the narrative of a falsely accused amateur scientist/composer; and Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, in which a WWI-era photo sends two men on very different quests. His many honors include the National Book Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Lannan Literary Award, and two Pushcart prizes. Powers' new book evokes activism, resistance, and the beauty of the natural world in the tale of disparate people saved and summoned by trees. A writer of ''wide learning, audacious innovation and sardonic wit'' (Washington Post), prolific polymath William T. Vollmann is a novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and war correspondent. His 10 novels include the National Book Award-winning Europe Central, a portrait of Germany and the USSR at war. Two of his works of nonfiction, Rising Up and Rising Down and Imperial, were National Book Critics Circle Award finalists. Vollmann's articles and fiction have appeared in Harpers, The New Yorker, Esquire, and too many other publications to name. With firsthand research, sardonic wit, and far-reaching scope, No Immediate Danger details the ongoing disaster of the Fukushima nuclear plant and the global consequences of climate change.  Watch the video here. (recorded 4/12/2018)

In 2011 a magnitude-9 earthquake shook northeast Japan and wracked the coast with a massive tsunami, devastating towns, destabilizing economies nationwide—and causing meltdowns in nuclear power plants. Nonfiction author William T. Vollmann joined us to share firsthand accounts of the fallout from these disasters, bringing excerpts from his newest book No Immediate Danger, whose title sardonically co-opts the reassuring mantra of official Japanese energy experts. Vollman cautioned against nuclear power, drawing parallels to other sprawling practices such as fossil fuel extraction and industrial manufacturing as contributors to climate change. He invited us to examine the ramifications of nuclear power and evaluate whether the risks it poses are outweighed by the economic demand for electrical power and the justifiable yearning of people all over the world to live in comfort. To illustrate the realities of these risks, Vollmann recounted visits made at significant personal risk over the course of seven years to the contaminated no-go zones and ghost towns of Fukushima, Japan. Equipped first only with a dosimeter and then with a scintillation counter, he measured radiation and interviewed tsunami victims, nuclear evacuees, anti-nuclear organizers, and pro-nuclear utility workers. Vollmann shared the powerful and sobering object lesson of Fukushima—and brought us into a broader conversation on the factors and human actions that will define our relationship with the environment for generations to come. William T. Vollmann is the author of ten novels, including Europe Central, which won the National Book Award. He has also written four collections of stories, including The Atlas, which won the PEN Center USA West Award for Fiction. He is the recipient of a Whiting Writers Award and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His journalism and fiction have been published in The New Yorker, Harpers, Esquire, Granta, and many other publications. Recorded live at Greenwood Senior Center by Town Hall Seattle on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. 

Books recommended in this episode are: Recommended by Jason Sander: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Tibetan Peach Pie by Tom Robbins Riding Toward Everywhere by William T. Vollmann Ready Player One by Ernest Cline The Journey is the Destination by Dan Eldon Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis Recommended by Lynn Vartan: Books for Living by Will Schwalbe Americana: Dispatches From the New Frontier by Hampton Sides The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp A Wine Lover’s Mystery Series by Michele Scott Recommended bu both Lynn and Jason: Voices in the Ocean, The Wave and the Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Lynn and Jason want to read: All The Lights We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost by Peter Manseau Visit the website for a full transcript.

“Do you want to know what happiness is? Happiness is the absence of unpleasant information.”  ― William T. Vollmann, Lupin the III: The Castle of Cagliostro - 1979 - Hayao Miyazaki  Confessions of An Opium Eater - 1962 - Albert Zugsmith Sponsor: subnormality.ca twitter: twitter.com/comeinallunits facebook: facebook.com/comeinallunits email: allunitspodcast@gmail.com

The Dying Grass: A Novel of the Nez Perce War is the fifth book in Vollman's seven-book series about loss and transformation of the North American continent, this novel dramatizes a power grab disguised as a race war between Native Americans and settlers. 

The rise of corporate America begins with the ruthless acquisition of Indian land in this massively researched epic which evokes the language, the food, and the lost customs of the Nez Perce.  This is the first of two conversations about William Vollman's novel of the 1877 war that destroyed the Nez Perce. 

The Dying Grass (Viking) Over the last twenty-five years, National Book Award winner William T. Vollmann has been working on what is arguably one of the most ambitious literary projects currently being undertaken by any living novelist – a seven volume sequence of novels called “Seven Dreams” that examine the repeated collisions between native Americans and European colonizers. This summer, Viking will publish the long-awaited new installment in this acclaimed series, The Dying Grass, which tells the story of the epic fighting retreat of the Nez Perce Indians in 1877. Defrauded and intimidated at every turn, the Nez Perces, whom Lewis and Clark liked best of all the Indians they met, and who were proud that under all provocations they had never killed any white people, finally went on the warpath. The battles they fought (there were eighteen engagements, including four major battles and four fiercely contested skirmishes) and their long (nearly 1200 miles) retreat from Oregon across Montana to the Canadian border before they finally surrendered, have been taught at West Point and poeticized by Robert Penn Warren.  Vollmann’s main character, however, is not Chief Joseph, whom the press dubbed “The Red Napoleon,” but his pursuer, General Oliver Otis Howard, the brave, shy, tormented, devoutly Christian Civil War veteran.  In this novel, we see him as commander, father, son, husband, friend and killer, in an ever altering myriad of relations with soldiers, scouts, and “hostiles.”The Dying Grass teems with many other vivid characters on both sides of the conflict, including Chief Joseph’s twelve-year-old daughter Sound of Running Feet, his two wives Springtime and Good Woman, the shell-shocked Colonel  David Perry, who lost the war’s first battle (and his best friend), the Nez Perce war chief Looking-Glass, who trusted that treaties with the Americans would save him, the Three Red Blankets, who seem invulnerable against the Army, and Howard’s personally loyal but increasingly anti-war aide-de-camp, C.E.S. Wood.In The Dying Grass, Vollmann brings a new chapter of North American history to life with stylistic daring, sardonic wit, rich imagination, and uncompromising intelligence.Praise for The Dying Grass“Peerless… an epic study of the Nez Percé War of 1877…Vollmann restores that history with an onrushing immediacy that takes on all the contours of a good Greek tragedy, complete with hubris born of supposed military superiority and an avenging angel taking wings in the form of the flight of an arrow… Vollmann's vivid reconstruction is believable and achingly beautiful, as often rendered in a kind of poetry as in ordinary prose: ‘he spies out the dark-tipped wings of the otherwise white snow goose, / the black beak and white breast of the long-billed curlew / but no brothers or enemies.’ Telegraphic and episodic—so much so that it recalls the later work of Eduardo Galeano—Vollmann's saga is a note-perfect incantation. Stunning.”—Kirkus ReviewsWilliam T. Vollmann has written nine novels, four collections of stories, six works of nonfiction, and a memoir. He has won the National Book Award for Europe Central, the PEN Center USA West Award for Fiction, and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in California.

Last Stories and Other Stories

William T. Vollmann has authored a wide array of works of nonfiction as well as fiction. Who is this literary chameleon, and where is his life's work going?

Vollmann leads us to the “wall of ill” that separates life from death. We dissect Vollmann's opening remarks to the reader, brimful of images both dark and sweet.

Last Stories and Other Stories (Viking Books) In this magnificent new work of fiction, his first in nine years, celebrated author William T. Vollmann offers a collection of ghost stories linked by themes of love, death, and the erotic. NOTE: We're expecting a big crowd for this event.  As always, our events are free and open to the public, but we will be issuing numbered singing line tickets to keep the line organized (the number is your place in line).  To get a ticket to go through the signing line, you must purchase a copy of Last Stories and Other Stories here at Skylight Books.  Tickets will become available on the day the book is released -- July 10.  You can purchase the book and get a ticket in our store, over the phone (at 323-660-1175), or on our website (just leave a note in the "order comments" field that you'd like a ticket).  Members in our Friends with Benefits program get 20% off the event book and a ticket to the priority signing line, so sign up or mention your membership when you buy. A Bohemian farmer's dead wife returns to him, and their love endures, but at a gruesome price. A geisha prolongs her life by turning into a cherry tree. A journalist, haunted by the half-forgotten killing of a Bosnian couple, watches their story, and his own wartime tragedy, slip away from him. A dying American romances the ghost of his high school sweetheart while a homeless salaryman in Tokyo animates paper cutouts of ancient heroes. Are ghosts memories, fantasies, or monsters? Is there life in death? Vollmann has always operated in the shadowy borderland between categories, and these eerie tales, however far-flung their settings, all focus on the attempts of the living to avoid, control, or even seduce death. Vollmann's stories will transport readers to a fantastical world where love and lust make anything possible. Praise for Last Stories and Other Stories "Vollmann's fiction has always defied easy categorization. Here, he straddles, twists, and morphs action-adventure, horror, political thriller, fantasy, and literary fiction. What gives the book coherence is his singular style: elaborate and picaresque, with a rich vocabulary. . .Mainstays of horror and the supernatural figure prominently, and it's especially exciting to read these pop-fiction conventions treated with Vollmann's narrative richness."--Publishers Weekly "Creatively sourced, boldly imagined, and incandescently written supernatural stories. . . Throughout this ingeniously fabulist, erotic, musing, and satirical treasury, Vollmann gives monstrous and alluring form to the forces that haunt us, from desire and love to regret and loss, as he contemplates with ardor, sorrow, bemusement, and wonder the beauty and terror of life and death and the vast mystery of the hereafter."--ALA Booklist William T. Vollmann is the author of seven novels, three collections of stories, and a seven-volume critique of violence, Rising Up and Rising Down. He is also the author of Poor People, a worldwide examination of poverty through the eyes of the impoverished themselves; Riding Toward Everywhere, an examination of the train-hopping hobo lifestyle; and Imperial, a panoramic look at one of the poorest areas in America. He has won the PEN Center USA West Award for Fiction, a Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize and a Whiting Writers' Award. His journalism and fiction have been published in The New Yorker, Esquire, Spin and Granta. Vollmann lives in Sacramento, California.

durée : 00:58:01 - Les Grandes Traversées - par : Michel Pomarède - invités : William T. Vollmann; Ryuichi Hirokawa photographe, fondateur de la revue Days Japan"

Riding toward Everywhere (Ecco)William Vollmann decided to spend as much time as possible viewing the stars from the flatbed of a moving train. He's a “fauxbo” not a hobo, and he movingly describes his need to find freedom by hopping a train–without any destination in mind.

Rising Up and Rising Down (McSweeney's; abridged, Harper Collins) William Vollmann's mammoth inquiry is a study of the history of violence, which fills seven large volumes...

The Royal Family (Viking) William Vollmann's growing sense of mystical Christianity is bringing him closer to Dostoevsky...

The Ice Shirt and Big Bad Love   William T. Vollmann and Larry Brown discuss their novels: Vollmann's The Ice Shirt is a vast historical fantasy inspired by Icelandic sagas. Widely admired Southern short-story writer Brown is the author of Big Bad Love.