The Virtual Memories Show

Comics journalist Josh Neufeld joins the show to talk about the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the legacy of his fantastic graphic reporting of the lives upended by that catastrophe, A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge (Pantheon). We talk about his new 'zine followup, Beyond A.D., how the storm inspired him to become an emergency response volunteer and what he learned when he was stationed in Biloxi, what it was like to learn journalism and reporting on the fly and integrate those with his comics storytelling skills, and why his goal with A.D. was to make a people's history. We get into how he viewed the anniversary, whether he's gone back to New Orleans since reporting on it, and how he stayed connected with his subjects after the project and what it was like putting the anniversary 'zine together. We also discuss his comics upbringing, what it was like drawing for Harvey Pekar after years of American Splendor fandom, how constraints can lead to greater creativity, how neither of us have the lying gene necessary for fiction, his interest in graphic medicine and how that shapes his recent comics, the difference between journalism and nonfiction, a couple of my Small Press Expo anecdotes, how Michael Jordan's minor league baseball experience helps explain why comics people (usually) treat newbies well, and more. Follow Josh on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

Cartoonist-playwright-filmmaker Dean Haspiel rejoins the show for the homestretch of his new Kickstarter, ANTIMATTER (finishing Nov. 3, 2025), and brings his studio mate Whitney Matheson along to talk about her new story collection, THE FEELING. We talk about how Dino got the idea for a one-man anthology to contain all the characters & stories of his Dino-verse, new models for funding creative projects, and how promotion can be tough when you accidentally get banned on Instagram. They give me creative advice to help me get through my own book project, talk about their lessons from crowdfunding and self-publishing, and come up with a great idea for a new book, while we cope with some technical difficulties. Follow Dean on Instagram, support his Substack, and buy stuff on his Etsy, and follow Whitney on Instagram, support her Substack, and buy stuff on her Etsy • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

One of my fave writers, Ron Rosenbaum, returns to the show to celebrate his amazing new book, BOB DYLAN: Things Have Changed (A Kind Of Biography) (Melville House Press). We talk about how his lifetime fandom of Dylan led to this book, why he opted for a biographical meditation over strict biography, the week he spent with Dylan in the '70s for a Playboy interview, what our response to Dylan's songs say about us, and how he got over his sense of betrayal when Dylan joined a Jesus-cult for a few years. We get into his insight into Dylan's Nobel acceptance and the Rosebud-moment therein, the question of theodicy (radical evil) and Dylan's argument with God, Ron's experience falling in love with someone to Dylan's songs, and how Dylan's post-Jesus songwriting methods became a reflection of his One-Mind consciousness. We also discuss authenticity vs. sincerity, the discontinuity of being, the impact of Salinger & Dylan on American language and outlook, Ron's top 20-ish of Dylan's songs, the 4+-hour movie Dylan made in the '70s and how it may have led to his crack-up (and why Ron thinks it should be reissued), and more. Follow Ron on Twitter • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

Writer Lance Richardson rejoins the show to celebrate his magnificent new biography, TRUE NATURE: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen (Pantheon). We talk about his youthful introduction to Peter Matthiessen via The Snow Leopard, how this project grew beyond his (& his publisher's) original concept, the health risks of following PM's trek through Nepal to the Crystal Monastery and the fleetingness of his time there, and which of PM's many hyphens he focuses on (novelist-naturalist-Zen roshi). We get into Matthiessen's journey into American Zen, the problematic nature of race and gender in PM's life and work, PM's fixation on Bigfoot and how that shifted to the notional, the Paris Review/CIA connection that everyone asks about, and how Matthiessen's widow came to trust Lance with the project. We also discuss his fave of Matthiessen's novels, the financial challenges of long-term writing projects (this one took eight years), getting over self-doubt and learning from his previous biography of Tommy Nutter, enjoying the research-hunt of biography more than the writing, what his literary upbringing in Australia was like, whether he came to like or despite Matthiessen, and more! Plus, I monologue-ramble about my 20,000th day on earth and the pod-retirement of Marc Maron! Follow Lance on Bluesky and Instagram and listen to our 2018 conversation • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

Political cartoonist Tom Tomorrow (a.k.a. Dan Perkins) is back as we celebrate his new Kickstarter project, OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE (closing Oct. 30, 2025, so GO SUPPORT THAT), collecting 5+ years of weekly This Modern World cartoons! We talk about how he keeps his sanity (well, tries to), what it was like to look back at the past half-decade week by week, why he decided not to go down a rabbit-hole of extra material for the project, and what it means to have a bookshelf of his strips (and not just pixels on a screen). We get into the importance of his Sparky's List newsletter as the media landscape keeps withering away, his writing process and how the, um, of this administration compels him to build some flexibility each week, and the realization that he's made a major body of work over the past four decades. We also discuss his major life changes since we last recorded, the good and bad of Being Very Online, his love of Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko mystery novels, what makes him a New Yorker, and the impossibly fraught question of what brings him joy. Follow Tom Tomorrow on Bluesky and Instagram, subscribe to Sparky's List, and check out his merch from Topatoco and Threadless. Oh, and you can follow This Modern World on TinyView and/or Daily Kos • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

With her debut graphic novel, PRECIOUS RUBBISH (Fantagraphics), artist and designer Kayla E explores and investigates the trauma of her upbringing, the fragments of her memories, and the process of reintegration. We talk about why comics were the perfect form for this project, how she found her iconography and the postwar children's comics style for it, what it was like to uncover her memories and get them on the page, how it feels to give her story to her readers, and how she's learning to respond when her readers share their trauma with her. We get into her comics-roots, what it was like to hit up her comics heroes, how she felt the moment Mark Newgarden told her she had a book on her hands, why Harvard is bad for getting a comics education, how her work as a graphic designer dovetailed with the incredible production of Precious Rubbish. We also discuss her recovery and her conversion experience, why her Bible kinda begins and ends with the Book of Job, her years of worry that she'd turn out as psychopathic as her parents and brother, why the Sopranos is her favorite work of art, what it means to not be loved by one's parents, and more. Follow Kayla on Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

ICU nurse Hunter Prosper joins me this week as we celebrate his wonderful new book, STORIES FROM A STRANGER: Every Person Has a Story (Simon Element). We talk about the ICU experiences that led him to start talking to strangers in public and asking them deep questions about their lives five years ago, how those conversations have changed him, why he started sharing them online, how he figured out the questions he wanted to ask, and how long it takes just talking to someone before they're both comfortable with him recording the questions. Along the way, we get into how we each approach the dance of having a conversation with someone we've never met, what it was like to discover he had an audience, whether people speak differently when the phone comes out, and how it felt to see a book-length version of this project. We also discuss how he wants to explore new ways of making his videos, how it felt to discover there's a group-chat of his past strangers (that he's not invited to), why he'll always be a nurse first and not a 'content creator,' going traveling with his fiancee to do interviews and photos for the book, what he sees when he looks in the mirror, and more. Oh, and things get heavy once I tell him it's okay to ask me some questions. Follow Hunter and Stories From A Stranger on TikTok, Youtube, Instagram and Facebook • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

With her amazing new novel, HOT WAX (Simon & Schuster), author, critic, and inveterate road-tripper M.L. Rio evokes the rock scene of the '80s and the travails of the not-quite-Almost-Famous band GIL AND THE KILLS. We talk about the redemptive & destructive power of rock & roll, how music is inseparable from her writing process, the challenge of writing about live performance, why it makes sense that "the girl with the Shakespeare degree is writing a rock & roll novel," and why she couldn't gloss over the sweatiness of touring and road trips. We get into the literature gap of people in their 30s (esp. women), how this novel evolved with her over a decade, what it's like operating in male-dominated spaces like music criticism, why she's going out on a 34-city book tour and trying to make it as fun as a rock tour (including merch!), what it means to be an ethical eavesdropper, how she stays safe (and well fed) while solo road-tripping around America, and the joy of radio crime drama. We also discuss the obsessiveness of record collectors, the loss of nuance in literature, the warping influence of Catholicism (and the perils of reading Shakespeare and Bret Easton Ellis way too young), our first concerts (her: Green Day, me: Asia), and a lot more. Follow M.L. on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

Curator and archivist David Leopold rejoins the show for a wide-ranging talk centered on the amazing new HIRSCHFELD'S SONDHEIM: A Poster Book (Abrams ComicArts). We talk about David's decades as Hirschfeld's archivist, Sondheim's love of Hirschfeld's work, the process of making his first book of Hirschfeld's art that focuses on a single creator, the connections between Al & Sondheim in David's text pieces for the book, and the joy of getting an intro from Bernadette Peters. We get into the work that the Hirschfeld Foundation does for regional theaters, why the drop-off of arts criticism is a disaster for culture, how younger people experience and appreciate Hirschfeld's art, and the time David held a seance at the Algonquin to promote the Hirschfeld Broadway Tarot. We also discuss our all-time fave Prince songs, what it's like being an archivist in a post-object world, the Steve Cohen magic performance that blew his mind, his new exhibitions at the Studio of Ben Solowey, how the next generation of theater organists (!) is getting trained, how aware Sondheim and Hirschfeld were that they were making history in their lifetimes, and more. Follow David & the Al Hirschfeld Foundation on YouTube, Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

It's been a year since his last episode, so what's artist Dmitry Samarov been up to? Plenty! We talk about his new project of redesigning and illustrating public domain books, why he started off with the White Whale itself, and why Babbitt! was next in line, what the common themes are among the six books he's illustrated since this project began, and how it all ties into his reaction to the 2024 election. We get into what it's like working with publishers after controlling his own books for years, how he discovered James Hogg's The Suicide's Grave on SOME OTHER PODCAST (okay, it was Beyond The Zero), how he's exploring visual interpretation and different tools with each book, and how this project has him reading and rereading differently than he used to. We also talk about how he looks back at his art in the wake of his self-monograph, how he got into a relationship with someone after a long time solo (after a showing of why Cronenberg's not-good The Shrouds), what other books he's considering illustrating, his new series of 'zines about bookselling, the joy of Moby Dick's tangents, and more. Follow Dmitry at his site and through his weekly newsletter, and buy some books from his Ebay shop • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter