Book Fight

This week we're reading a 1934 cult classic (subtitled "An Experiment in Biography") that sees its author on the hunt for information about one Baron Corvo, also known as Frederick Rolfe, writer of several novels and maker of many enemies. Symons, after reading, and loving, Corvo's Hadrian the Seventh, set out to learn as much as she could about the mysterious author. And his efforts were rewarded, with a pretty crazy story of genius, spitefulness and lots and lots of burned bridges. We're still running our annual fund drive: you can contribute, via Indiegogo, here. And for more about the show, including links to things we talked about in this episode, visit our website at bookfightpod.com.

This week we're talking about Kay Boyle's story "Defeat," an O'Henry winner from 1941. We also talk about a number of interesting things that happened in 1941, including: alien sightings, the time-traveling hipster, the first televised Mummers parade, the "state" of Jefferson's attempt to secede from Oregon, and the longest-ever coma. For more, including links to what we talked about on the show, visit us online at bookfightpod.com. Also: We're still running our annual fundraiser. You can donate--and get rewards--here, on our Indiegogo page.

We're back with another book episode, this one about the 1982 National Book Award winner for best debut novel. We talk about "quiet" novels, prickly female protagonists, portrayals of parental anxiety, and the relativity of literary celebrity. We've also got blurbs for a couple more donors to our annual fund drive, which you can contribute to here, if you're so inclined. You can read more, and get links to all the stuff we talked about this week, at our website.

Astute listeners might note that we're supposed to have a book episode this week. Unfortunately, we lost that episode in a technical snafu. Fortunately, we already had the next Winter of Wayback episode ready to go! This week we're reading a story from 1982, the year of Tom's birth. The story, "Dancing Ducks and Talking Anus," appeared in the 1982 Best American Short Stories anthology, selected by John Gardner, but its author, James Ferry, was basically never heard from again. Until a fan of his tracked down his brother, and then shared the story with us. We're also talking about the Commodore 64, the 1982 World's Fair, the Tylenol murders, and "Lawnchair Larry," whose ultimately tragic life makes Mike get a little choked up at the end of the episode. If you want to donate to our fundraising effort, here's the link to our Indiegogo page, including details of this year's donor giveaways. We've also got lots of bonus material on our website this week, bookfightpod.com, including a video of Philly dudes circa 1982, news coverage of "Lawnchair Larry," and links to all sorts of other stuff.

We're kicking off our next seasonal series, the Winter of Wayback, in which we'll read a prize story or essay from a given year and talk about that year's pop culture--movies, music, books, weird news, whatever might help provide some context for the story (or just entertain our listeners, and ourselves). This week we're traveling back to 1977, the year of Mike's birth, to read a story by Ella Leffland called "Last Courtesies" (winner of the 1977 O'Henry Award). For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com.

We're joined by guest Annie Liontas (Let Me Explain You) to discussJames Baldwin's 1974 novel, which is narrated by a young woman whose fiancee has been wrongfully accused of rape. We also talk about Annie's new book, her love for Asbury Park, and why teens named Chad may or may not like James Baldwin's work. For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com.

This is the last week for our Fall of Failure. We're reading a short, unconventional essay by Brian Oliu called "As Is," in which the author attempts to sell his torso via ebay. We're also talking about the psychology of failure. Why do we feel the need to attach a narrative to our personal and collective failures, and what can we learn from the particular narrative we choose? For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com.

Pour yourself some eggnog, light a fire, and curl up with a couple Christmas books of questionable quality. As we have the last two years, we're taking a break from our usual reading list to check out some mass-market Christmas tales. This year's selections: Janet Evanovich's Visions of Sugar Plums, and Jennifer Bernard's It's A Wonderful Fireman.

This week's story is Stefan Zweig's "The Royal Game," which he sent off to his publisher along with the manuscript of his memoir and also his suicide note. We also talk about a variety of failed comebacks, including the rather remarkable story of America's late-19th-century King of Gum. For more, check us out online at bookfightpod.com.

In keeping with our fall theme, this week we're reading a memoir about failure: personal, professional, artistic ... basically all the failures. Greg Baxter moved to Dublin after failing to sell his first novel, got divorced, and wrote a memoir while essentially attempting to destroy his own life. In addition to the book discussion, we've got a new installment of Raccoon News, and we once again delve into the NaNoWriMo forums. For more, visit us at bookfightpod.com.