Book Fight

We're joined by fiction writer Sarah Anne Strickley (Incendiary Devices) to talk about what it's like to be one half of a literary power couple. Plus a strange Brian Evenson novella, Sarah's path toward weirdness in her own fiction, and whether the Iowa Writers Workshop will live inside our heads forever.

Check out Sarah's work--including her new book--at her website: https://www.sarahannestrickley.com/

And if you'd like more Book Fight in your life, join our Patreon and get two bonus episodes a month, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by the founding editors of Great Place Books--Emily Adrian and Alex Higley--to talk about why they started a new press, and the kinds of books they're hoping to publish. We also discuss Rivka Galchen's short story, "How I Became a Vet," from a recent issue of The New Yorker.

You can learn more about Great Place Books here: https://www.greatplacebooks.com/

You can read "How I Became a Vet" here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/13/how-i-became-a-vet

Alex on Twitter: https://twitter.com/higley_alex

Emily on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adremily

Join our Patreon, support the show, and get access to fun bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by Nic Brown, author of several books, most recently the memoir Bang Bang Crash, about his life as a rock drummer. Nic was also a grad school classmate of ours at the Iowa Writers Workshop, so we decided to revisit Stop-Time, the famous memoir by Frank Conroy, who was in his final years of running the program when we were students there.

You can find Nic (and his book) here: https://www.nicbrown.net/

If you like the show, and want more of it, you can Subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get exclusive bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by John Cotter, author of the memoir Losing Music, out this week from Milkweed Editions. The book is about an incurable inner-ear disorder that came on suddenly, and inexplicably, and how John has had to reckon with the gradual loss of his hearing, and the host of other issues that brings with it. John picked a famous Maxine Hong Kingston essay for us to read, one that offers an interesting model for writing about what we don't know.

You can learn more about John, and find links to purchase his book, here: https://johncotter.net/

If you like the show, and would like to exchange five of your hard-earned dollars for monthly bonus content--including access to the Book Fight Book Club--you can sign up for our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

Return guest Christopher Gonzalez (I'm Not Hungry But I Could Eat) joins us to talk about the difference between gay stories and queer stories, writing long, and how not to be a creepy weirdo on Twitter.

You can read Alejandro Varela's story, "Carlitos in Charge," here, via Harper's: https://harpers.org/archive/2019/10/carlitos-in-charge-alejandro-varela/

Learn more about Chris and his work here: https://chris-gonzalez.com/

If you want to support the podcast, you can join our Patreon for just $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by fan favorite Laura McGrath, who is back on the show to help us understood the cultural phenomenon that is Colleen Hoover. McGrath, our colleague at Temple University, studies the business of literature--and teaches a class on best-sellers--but she hadn't read any Hoover until we forced her to do it for the podcast. So we hope you're appreciative, listeners!

You can keep up with Laura's scholarly work, including her forthcoming book, at her website, here: https://laurabmcgrath.com/.

You can follow her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/lbmcgrath?lang=en

If you like the podcast, for just $5 you can get two bonus episodes a month, plus help support the show more generally: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We’re joined by the short story writer Art Taylor—winner of multiple Agatha awards, and author of two collections—to discuss an unconventionally structured story by Joyce Carol Oates. Art also teaches creative writing at George Mason University in Virginia, and we spend some time talking about how we approach structure with our students. You can find Art’s books, and everything else he’s up to, at his website: https://arttaylorwriter.com/

If you like the podcast, please consider supporting us! For only $5/month, you'll get two monthly bonus episodes, plus the satisfying feeling that comes from supporting the work you enjoy and would like to see more of in the world. More details here: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by Tod Goldberg, author of more than a dozen books, including Gangsterland and The Low Desert, to talk about what he learned about crime writing from Elmore Leonard. Plus, why are MFA programs still so often biased against writers of genre fiction? And what are the challenges of writing a series of novels with the same lead character?

You can learn more about Tod, and his books, here: https://todgoldberg.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by V.V. Ganeshananthan, author of two critically acclaimed novels, most recently Brotherless Night, which takes place during the Sri Lankan Civil War. Sugi is also a former grad school classmate of ours, and she began Brotherless Night back when all three of us were at Iowa together. So one thing we talk about is that process, and what it's like to write and rewrite a novel over more than fifteen years.

For our reading, Sugi chose Horacio Castellanos Moya's Senselessness, the first of his novels to be translated into English, and which a friend of hers recommended, several years ago, when she was deep in the throes of her own book. Both her own novel novel and Moya's deal with atrocities, and both in some darkly humorous ways. So we talk to her about what she learned from Moya, and how reading this book helped her get her own novel over the finish line.

You can learn more about Sugi, and her new book, here: https://vvganeshananthan.com/.

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by writer and editor Aaron Burch, whose novel Year of the Buffalo came out in November. Aaron is also a long-time literary editor, having founded Hobart in the early 2000s and, more recently, HAD, which has made "skull collecting" the newest badge of literary coolness. For our reading, Aaron chose Chris Bachelder's debut novel from 2001, Bear v. Shark, which he remembered loving and wanted to revisit. We talk about what makes a work of fiction feel dated--which may go against conventional wisdom--as well as risk-taking and having fun as a writer. Plus: humor writing of the early internet; what it means to be a literary-world outsider; and why the revision process can often feel neverending.

You can buy Aaron's new novel here: https://americanbuffalobooks.org/. Or visit his website here: https://www.aaronburch.net/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight