In this Hollywood special, we pre-empt awards season adaptation by reading Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel Klara and the Sun, soon to be a major motion picture. An excellent book, it balances literary simplicity with philosophical inquiry into the nature of humanity in a world of artificial intelligence and robots (so

The inimitable Paige Lewis, “poet who wrote a novel,” joins us to discuss their critically lauded and popular-with-this-podcast’s-hosts epic prose poem Canon, as well as their writing processes and Simpsons fanaticism. You don’t want to miss this one, unless you dislike good things.

Crime fiction legend George Pelecanos sat down with us to talk about his latest novel, The Blue Flame, and his approach toward writing for the page and screen. George’s attention to realism and reflecting the world as it is makes him one of the greats in this genre (even though he killed off so many characters on The Wire). 

It’s a books-to-movies summer blockbuster episode! We’re joined by author and (former?) podcaster Mike Vago to talk about what works when translating literature to film, and what falls flat. You will not be surprised to learn that we think this process is pretty successful when Steven Spielberg is the director.

It's the big one here: Sam Spade and The Maltese Falcon. With this classic, Hammett pushed himself and the boundaries of the hardboiled genre he'd already mastered to create a gem of a novel that still resonates today, nearly 100 years after its publication.

We welcomed legendary novelist and short story writer T.C. Boyle to the show, to discuss his latest novel, No Way Home. T.C. also shared some very depressing thoughts about environmental catastrophe, which he has chronicled extensively in his fiction, and some less depressing thoughts about his approach to the craft of writing. 

We launch the Summer of Dashiell Hammett with our deep dive on the hardboiled Continental Op, the unnamed private investigator who changed the face of detective fiction forever. We also dug into Angel Down, the most recent Pulitzer-winning novel.

We were excited to have novelist and musician Willy Vlautin join us for a discussion about his career in both fields and his newest novel, The Left and the Lucky, which John Mulaney called “electric.” Willy covered his influences, why it was great to discover that some random lady hates him, and the interplay between his career as a songwriter and writer of fiction. 

We’re going to Hell with literary man-about-town Ed Simon, founder of the Pittsburgh Review of Books (with which our podcast is affiliated) and author of Devil’s Contract: The History of the Faustian Bargain. Ed helps us figure out why the legend of Faust still feels fresh in our world today, where nobody ever makes short-sighted deals that turn out badly in the end. 

Women everywhere have an indescribable urge to get up and go west. That would be weird if it was real; in the hands of Alice Martin, author of the novel Westward Women, it’s not only weird but an incredible conceit for a thoughtful work of literary fiction that’s among the best books we’ve read this year. We were lucky to get Alice as a guest.