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The Drunken Odyssey

~ A Podcast About the Writing Life

The Drunken Odyssey

Tag Archives: Francesca Lia Block

Buzzed Books #14: Beyond the Pale Motel

21 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Buzzed Books

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Alcoholism, Beyond the Pale Motel, Francesca Lia Block

Buzzed Books #14 by John King

Beyond the Pale Motel

Beyond the Pale MotelFrancesca Lia Block (Episodes 30 and 64) is best known for her work in YA literature, as a revolutionary author whose bohemian gypsy sensibilities meshed with punk rock aesthetics and gave two generations of disenfranchised youth something beautiful and aching and honest to hold onto. Her fans are profoundly loyal. I discovered that work as a middle-aged man and adore it.

Her latest novel is entirely adult in nature. Gone is the occasional magic of the Weetzie Bat stories and the gorgeous, gauzy mysticism of her last adult novel, The Elementals. Instead, Beyond the Pale Motel is a mash-up of dark genres of fiction: a pulp horror novel, an erotic novel, an existential novel, a mystery novel, a serial-killer procedural novel. Overall, the effect of so many genres is that the story itself feels unpredictable. The short, staccato sentences make the pages turn, despite how Beyond the Pale Motel is so startlingly honest in its loneliness and alienation.

The novel is about Catt, a recovered alcoholic whose life unravels when her husband leaves her for the famous lover he has impregnated. A serial killer is hard at work in Los Angeles, curating portions of anatomy from his beautiful, female victims. Catt begins drinking, after sexual misadventures fail to keep the desperation of her emotional vulnerability under control. Considering the intrinsic cruelty of the world, anyone could be a psychotic murderer at heart, especially when coincidences from the murders start to insinuate themselves into Catt’s life.

Sometimes, the dark impulses of her own lust make her doubt her own mental health, long before she unravels, before she falls into the hands of The Hollywood Killer.

At that point even if I thought he was dangerous, I might have decided it was worth it. The possibility dangled by that monster, Love, was better than the slow agony of psychologically hemorrhaging to death alone.

Catt retrospectively explores her family history, the façade of her marriage, her yearnings to create a family of her own, or live vicariously through the family lives of friends. Such vivid reflections while observing the nature of her alcoholism and her extreme erotic responsiveness glimmer without hindering the plot.

The book reads slickly, yet the substance and surprises of this story, of this character, rise well above the normal book of guilty pleasures.

The problem with most serial killer stories is that once the killer is identified—once the last act is set into motion—the pleasure of reading is reduced to a binary joy. Will the main character survive, or no? Will the serial killer survive, or no? (In the case of the killer being killed, there is one more question—if the main character kills the killer, then to what degree is main character herself now a killer?) These limited questions seldom deepen the complex stories they are telling, or at least resonate with psychological depth.

Francesca Lia Block wisely eludes the grind of such a conclusion by making this last act sudden, and unforgettable.

Pair with: Seltzer.

_______

1flipJohn King (Episode, well, all of them) is a podcaster, writer, and ferret wrangler.

Episode 32: Terry Cronin!

19 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in David Foster Wallace, Disney, Episode, Literary rizes, Shakespeare

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Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Crime Fiction, David Foster Wallace, Fiction, Francesca Lia Block, Miami Book Fair International, Writing Podcast

Episode 32 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I interview novelist Terry Cronin,

Terry Cronin

And Jean Davis offers one amazing essay about Write is a Verb.

Jean Davis

Texts Discussed

Skinvestigator Part 1: Tramp Stamp

Skinvestigator Part 2: Rash Guard

Skinvestigator Part 3: Sunburn

Students of the Unusual

Write is a Verb

Notes

Susan Lilley will be reading from her new book of poems, Satellite Beach, on Thursday, January 24th, at Rollins College.  For more info, click here.

Show contributor Alise Hamilton (episode 7) discusses bingers and plodders, and the merits of the former as writers, at Bill and Dave’s Cocktail Hour.

A history of the Coppertone sign.

Episode 32 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 30: Francesca Lia Block!

29 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Drinking, Episode, Francesca Lia Block, Music, Poetry, Recommendation

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Francesca Lia Block, Jazz Poetry, Literature, Poetry, Writing Podcast

Episode 30 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this weeks show, I interview the fabulous Francesca Lia Block,

Francesca Lia Block

Plus Lillian-Yvonne Bertram reads her poem, “You Can’t Outdrink The Moon, O Sestina, Sestina Who Has Been Drinking.”

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram

Texts Discussed

The Elementals
But a Storm is Blowing from Paradise
Crazy Clown Time
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
This is How You Lose Her
Notes

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram’s poem ”You Can’t Outdrink The Moon, O Sestina, Sestina Who Has Been Drinking” is a remix of Steve Davenport’s “The Sestina Has Been Drinking,” which is available in his new book, Overpass.

Overpass

On January 6th, Ashley Inguanta will perform her debut collection, The Way Home, with musicians Mandy Burgan and Benoit Glazer, and with dancer Christin Carlow.  Find out more here.

The greatest new trend in libraries.

Matt Taibbi’s Readers’ list of 10 most pretentious moments in history.

James Franco is, umm, a poet. [Guardian] [The New York Times]

Episode 30 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 8, in which John Says Many Things He Oughtn’t

28 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Craft of Fiction Writing, Episode, Francesca Lia Block, Literature of Florida, Virginia Woolf

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Francesca Lia Block, Literature, Poetry, Writing Podcast

Episode 8 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

This latest show features an interview with Ashley Inguanta,

Randall Burling exhumes what Roger Corman’s films did to Edgar Allen Poe,

Plus John tries to explain masculinity in this week’s male-bag, err, mailbag…

Texts Discussed:

Some masculine thought, which is slightly representative of some things I discuss in the mailbag: Louis CK, Chris Rock, Bill Maher:


Episode 8 of The Drunken Odyssey is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 7: John, Lisa, and Jaroslav Talk about Films about Writers, Plus Alise Hamilton Discusses Francesca Lia Block

21 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Episode, Francesca Lia Block, Shakespeare

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Cinema, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Francesca Lia Block, Literature, Writing Podcast

Episode 7 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

This latest show features an interview with Lisa Claire Roney and Jaroslav Kalfař talk about films about writers,

Alise Hamilton discusses Francesca Lia Block’s Dangerous Angels,

Plus John listens to the swankness of The Tikiyaki Orchestra, and tries to talk about Hemingway and beer.

Texts Discussed

Episode 7 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

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