The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life
John King
Join author John King for eclectic interviews with writers from a variety of genres, including fiction writing, poetry, memoirs, and journalism. From literature to genre writing to the movies, all writing is up for discussion. In particular, The Drunken Odyssey features discussion of all aspects of the writing process—not just the published manuscript, pristinely presented to the entire literate world, but also the scrawled notes and tortured drafts that lead writers there. In long-form interviews, writers discuss their process and the way that writing has influenced their lives. Besides this interview, each episode also features a short memoir essay from a writer about a beloved book, plus John King responds to listener’s questions and observations about the writing (and the drinking) life.
For more information, see our website at www.thedrunkenodyssey.com.
For more information, see our website at www.thedrunkenodyssey.com.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 18, 2024 • 54min
624: Ann Hood!
After discussing World War I with Michael Korda on episode 622, this week I speak with Ann Hood about her newest novel, The Stolen Child, which features a storyline about artists during World War I. During this interview, I may have defended IHOP perhaps too strenuously. Talking with Ann was, as always, charming.
May 11, 2024 • 1h 11min
Replay: Episode 278 with Brittany Perham
Thanks to Brian Salmons for bumpering this replay episode.
May 4, 2024 • 54min
623: Nicholson Baker!
In this week’s show, John talks with Nicholson Baker about the potential sorrows of writing, the drive to discover joy, and the need to explore other creative endeavors besides writing.
Apr 28, 2024 • 50min
622: Michael Korda!
In this week’s show, John talks with prose writer Michael Korda about telling the historical stories of the poets of World War I.
Apr 20, 2024 • 59min
621: Tyler Mills!
In this week’s show, John talks with Tyler Mills about her extraordinary multimedia memoir, a poetic people’s history of America’s secretive relationship to the atomic bomb.
Apr 13, 2024 • 1h 6min
620: A Discussion of Asteroid City, with Jared Silvia!
In this week’s show, John talks with Jared Silvia about the 2023 film, Asteroid City, and look at how Wes Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola counterbalances surges of emotion with layers of artifice, which is a mixed metaphor, we know.
Apr 6, 2024 • 1h 21min
619: Jessie Ren Marshall!
In this week’s show, John talks with Jessie Red Marshall about her extraordinary short story collection, Women! In! Peril! The topics discussed include how story collections are like mixtapes, how thematic unity occurs brilliantly by accident, and how the interesting questions to ask ourselves in writing fiction is often what about ourselves, as writers, is problematic to ourselves.
Mar 30, 2024 • 45min
618: A Book Discussion of Kenneth Patchen's Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer, with Nick Georgoudiou!
In this week’s show, John and Nick Georgoudiou discuss Kenneth Patchen's surreal postmodern novel, Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer, before a small crowd gathered at the Kerouac Project of Orlando.
Mar 23, 2024 • 52min
617: Marie Mutsuki Mockett!
In this week’s show, John talks to Marie Mutsuki Mockett about her exquisite new novel, The Tree Doctor, which leads us to the topics of Japanese literature, The Tale of Genji, and how the ancient world is surprisingly like our own.
Mar 16, 2024 • 1h 48min
616: A Book Discussion of George Saunders's A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, with Rachael Tillman!
On today's show, Rachael and I discuss George Saunders's discussion of seven short stories by Russian authors. Since Saunders's book is the result of teaching these stories in MFA craft courses over multiple decades, this book and today's discussion simulates an important part of the MFA experience, for those who wonder what that might be like. The stories: Anton Chekhov's "In the Cart" (1897) Ivan Turgenev's "The Singers" (1852) Anton Chekhov's "The Darling" (1899) Leo Tolstoy's "Master and Man" (1895) Nikolai Gogol's "The Nose" (1836) Anton Chekhov's "Gooseberries" (1898) Leo Tolstoy's "Alyosha The Pot" (1905)
