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The Drunken Odyssey

~ A Podcast About the Writing Life

The Drunken Odyssey

Tag Archives: Craft of Writing

Episode 62: Mailbag Episode 2 (Electric Boogaloo)

17 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Blog Post, David James Poissant, Drinking, Episode

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Christopher Bolton, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, David James Poissant, Jared Silvia, Pussy Riot, The Gallery at Avalon Island, Writing Podcast

Episode 62 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I answer some mail with my friend, David James Poissant,

David James Poissant

Plus Jared Silvia reads his amazing new essay, “City of Ghosts.”
 
Jared Sylvia
 
TEXTS DISCUSSED
 

Archy and Mehitabel

Fun Home

 

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

NOTES

• Think about helping Beating Windward Press fund new art for its Doc Voodoo pulp fiction series. The swag is considerable, like this t-shirt.

DocVoodooT

• Members of Pussy Riot! are serving time in a Russian jail for the charge of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” What they did was perform “Mother of God, Drive Putin Away” in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. While these women are rightly venerated as warriors of free speech, and the phrase “Free Pussy Riot!” is now famous as a movement. What I learned this week, though, is that besides all of that, their music also happens to be fucking wild and should be respected by anyone who has an ear for punk.

Listen to their EP, Kill the Sexist.


Episode 62 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Buzzed Books #1: Mastering the Dinner Party, Dialogue, and First Person Narrators

06 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Buzzed Books, Craft of Fiction Writing, Drinking, Recommendation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alise Hamilton, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Literature

Buzzed Books #1 by Alise Hamilton

Mastering the Dinner Party, Dialogue, and First Person Narrators

Recommendation: Bobcat And Other Stories by Rebecca Lee

Bobcat

Bobcat is a collection of seven short stories so rich and expansive they leave the reader walks away feeling she has read seven novels. Rebecca Lee manages to fit an amazing scope in each story, both through breadth of time and depth of character. Such an ability has earned her (rightful) comparisons to Alice Munro, but I would argue there are stronger similarities to short-story writer Amy Hempel. It is not just Lee’s inclination to use first person (each story in Bobcat is presented in first person, and the vast majority of stories throughout Hempel’s career are written in first person point-of-view as well), but her ability to reveal a kind of truth. Truth with a capital “T.” The undeniable yet often ignored observations of the little things that make us human.

Lee is not afraid to allow her characters to be intelligent—the stories are full of lawyers, professors, writers, architects and students. And since each story is presented through a first-person narrator, one would be correct in assuming the stories are, in fact, smart. This is not to say the work is littered with little-known literary allusions, is unnecessarily convoluted, or is held down by a kind of high-brow, academic snobbery. No, the stories here are both intelligent and accessible. Lee respects her characters (and therefore, her readers) enough to give them actual, working brains.

The collection opens and closes with two very different stories, each revolving around dinner parties. Lee deftly handles multiple characters in the same room, so that the reader is never confused about keeping everyone at the table straight—a feat in itself. Her dialogue is superb. Take these lines, from the title story:

“We’re not prepared at all. We just found out yesterday at our Lamaze class that we’re supposed to have a theme for our nursery.”

“Theme?” Lizbet said. “What do you mean, theme? Like man vs. nature?”

“How about alienation in the technological age?” Ray said.
“Hollywood under McCarthy?”

“It’s going to be Winnie the Pooh,” John said, which was true. Everyone seemed a bit dejected that John was closing down the joke so early, but he made a recovery. “Winnie the Pooh and the Reconstructed South,” he said.

These are not simply stories about people sitting around and talking, although sitting and talking do occur, it is what is brewing and bubbling under the surface—what people don’t say, lies they tell each other and themselves, incorrect assumptions, deep desires, fears and regrets—which are the meat of the stories in Bobcat.

In “Fialta,” a famous and celebrated architect describes what building “ought” to be composed of: “Even the simplest buildings, he said, ought to be productions of the imagination that attempt to describe and define life on earth, which of course is an overwhelming mix of stability and desire, fulfillment and longing, time and eternity.”

It is these characteristics precisely that make Bobcat the beautiful book it is.

To be paired with: Sugar Gin

 Find BOBCAT now at your local independent bookseller or purchase at Powells.com.

___________

Alise Hamilton

Alise Hamilton earned her MFA from Lesley University and holds a BFA in creative writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College. Her short fiction appeared in the Francesca Lia Block-edited anthology Love Magick.

Episode 60: Gilbert King!

03 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Episode

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Crime Fiction, Fiction, Gilbert King, History, Literature, Nonfiction, Pulitzer Prize, Spirituality, Writing Podcast

Episode 60 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

This week, I interview the Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction writer Gilbert King,

Gilbert King

Plus Monty Joynes discusses coming across Talks and Dialogues by J. Krishnamurti

Monty Joynes

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Devil in the Grove

Talks and Dialogues with J Krishnamurti

NOTES

On Tuesday, August 13th, at Urban ReThink in downtown Orlando, I will read with

JOSEFINE KLOUGART,

DAN LAUER, &

DREW JOHNSON

in Jesse Bradley’s series, There Will Be Words, which was just named the best reading series in Orlando by Orlando Weekly.

Two days later, I will be reading an art-inspired piece in this event:

AvalonGalleryPoster

Episode 60 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 59: Alissa Nutting!

28 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Episode, Literature of Florida

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alissa Nutting, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Erotic literature, Fiction, Literature, Short stories, Writing Podcast

Episode 59 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk to the fiction writer Alissa Nutting,

Alissa Nutting cr Aaron Mayes

Plus Graham Liddell talks about reading What is the What.

Graham Liddell

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Tampa

Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls

What is the What

NOTES

Margaret Atwood has penned a libretto about the life of Pauline Johnson, according to The Guardian.

Booksmatter has reposted Jonathan Lethem’s essay “The Squandered Promise of Science Fiction.”

This episode proudly featured music from The Intoxicators and Carlton Melton.

Country Ways

Episode 59 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 58: Philip Raisor!

22 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Episode, James Joyce, Memoir, Poetry, Sports

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Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Literature, Memoir, Poetry, Writing Podcast

Episode 58 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk to the poet Philip Raisor,

Philip Raisor

Plus Melissa Crandall brings us some Xmas in July!

Melissa Crandall and Holly

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Hoosiers the Poems

Swimming in the Shallow End

Outside Shooter

Tuned and Under Tension

A Christmas Carol

NOTES

J.K. Rowling is Robert Galbraith, the author of The Cuckoo’s Calling.

The Cuckoos Calling

Episode 58 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 56: Chuck Klosterman!

04 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Craft of Fiction Writing, Episode, Memoir, Music, Postmodernism, Sports

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Chuck Klosterman, Cinema, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, David Foster Wallace, John King, Literature, Postmodernism, Sports, stephen king, Writing Podcast

Episode 56 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk to the essayist and novelist Chuck Klosterman,

Chuck Klosterman

Plus John McCaffrey discusses Leo Durocher’s Nice Guys Finish Last.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

BOOKS DISCUSSED

I Wear the Black Hat

Downtown owl

Killing Yourself to Live

SexDrugsandCocoaPuffs

Nice Guys Finish Last

NOTES

On July 9th, Mattew Peters will read prose at There Will be Words in Downtown Orlando.

See our kickstarter campaign to travel to Weeki Wachee Springs to interview Lu Vickers about Florida literature and the world famous Weeki Wachee mermaids. We reached our goal on day 1, but we welcome your continued contributions to keep the show going strong!

WeekiWachee

The Drunken Odyssey Deeply Recommends

season2013_coriolanus2

When I complained that Britney Spears was in Esquire back in the early paleolithic days of 2004, I confess I didn’t dwell sufficiently on what Chuck Klosteman’s article said about her cognitive dissonance, although his words were competing with Britney Spears’s anatomy at the time.

Esquire

On May 14th, 1988, Atlantic Records held a 40th Anniversary Concert during which, in my infallible opinion, and it pained me to say this, Debbie Gibson outplayed Led Zeppelin. Want to disagree? Watch the footage:

Debbie Gibson

Led Zeppelin

For the record, Jason Bonham was drumming, although I don’t this Hindenburg of a performance can be blamed on him.

According to a Times profile, Alice Munro is retiring.

According to The Guardian, Neil Gaiman is writing a new Sandman series.

Episode 56 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 54: Bloomsday in Orlando!

22 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Bloomsday, Episode

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Tags

Bloomsday, Cinema, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Fiction, James Joyce, Literature, Shakespeare, Ulysses, Writing Podcast

Episode 54 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I share the live Bloomsday event!

Bloomsday 2013

NOTES

See our kickstarter campaign to travel to Weeki Wachee Springs to interview Lu Vickers about Florida literature and the world famous Weeki Wachee mermaids.

Weeki-Wachee-Mermaids

Richard Peabody, our guest on episode 45, has a new audio book of poems available through Eat Poems.  Sample the poems, then pay what you wish for the download!

Nylon Soul

On Saturday, June 22, from 5 to 8, The Drunken Odyssey will sink anchor here:

Rumfest-Banner-300x120

Here’s this week’s book:

Episode 54 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 53: Cheryl Strayed!

15 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Cheryl Strayed, Craft of Fiction Writing, Episode, Memoir, Poetry

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Cheryl Strayed, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Memoir, Poetry, Writing Podcast


Episode 53 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk to Cheryl Strayed,

Cheryl Strayed

Plus I share the piece that first made me read Cheryl Strayed’s work, Deborah Weaver’s essay about Wild.

Debbie Weaver

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Wild

Torch

Tiny-Beautiful-Things1

Mentors Muses Monsters

NOTES

Pages from Cheryl Strayed’s PCT journal.

Wild journal2

Wild journal3

•

On June 22, The Drunken Odyssey will be here:

Rumfest-Banner-300x120

•

Recent reports about the National Security Agency’s PRISM data collection program have apparently lead to a spike in sales of George Orwell’s 1984 (although PRISM is really only  a minor example of the erosion not only of our privacy, but our reality, according to the philosopher Peter Ludlow).

•

Episode 53 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 52: Nathan Holic!

08 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Drinking, Episode

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Fiction, John King, Literature, Writing Podcast

Episode 52 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk once again to Nathan Holic, who first appeared on this show all the way back on episode 1,

Nathan Holick

Plus Drew Perlmutter discusses the Cannes Film Festival,

Drew Perlmutter

Plus Nicholas Brown discusses Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove.

Nicholas Brown

Texts Discussed

American Fraternity Man

Lonesome Dove 1

NOTES

flyer

Bloomsday 2013
A Drunken Odyssey Exclusive: Matthew Pitt Reading & Talk at UCF, Feb. 19, 2013

Michael Shannon Reads the Insane Detla Gamma Sorority Letter
[youtube http://youtu.be/dngOH9G4UPw]

Episode 52 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 51: Mailbag Episode 1, with David James Poissant

02 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Craft of Fiction Writing, David James Poissant, Episode, Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Fiction, Poetry, Writing Podcast

Episode 51 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I answer some mail with my friend, David James Poissant,

David James Poissant

Plus Cathy Day Addresses The Man Who Called Her On the Phone Asking for Advice About How to Get Published.

Cathy Day

Notes

Cathy Day’s essay first appeared on her blog, right here.

If you are in Central Florida on June 16th, come celebrate Bloomsday with us!

Bloomsday 2013

Book Fight’s Exceedingly Accurate Blurb:

“The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life is a supernova, an interstellar jamboree of colors and lights, like the twirling dresses of a troupe of champion folk dancers, like being imprisoned in Ace Freeley’s amp, throbbing like the veins in Jehovah’s hard-on.  You can look, but you can’t touch, and also, you can’t look, because if you do, you will turn to stone, and your guts will turn to marble.”

According to The Times, there was controversy over the spelling of the word that won the national spelling bee championship.  Is this anti-semitic orthography?

Did Kipling plagiarize some of The Jungle Book?  According to NPR, kinda sorta perhaps.

Episode 51 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

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