The Bat Segundo Show was a long-running cultural radio program devoted to quirky and very thorough long-form interviews with contemporary authors, idiosyncratic thinkers, and other assorted artists. Guests included David Lynch, Octavia Butler, John Waters, John Updike, Stephen Fry, Marilynne Robinson, Karen Russell, Weird Al Yankovic, Robert A. Caro, and more than 500 others. There was also a program called Follow Your Ears, which was a thematic investigative counterpart, in which I pursued a specific subject through several angles. The entire archive of what I did from 2005 to 2014 is included here.
Sue Miller is most recently the author of The Senator’s Wife. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wary of Washington’s workings. Author: Sue Miller Subjects Discussed: Character names, the New Left, Tom Hayden vs. Tom Naughton, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, setting a story in the early Clinton years, Updike’s Terrorist, the reticence of older writers writing about certain […]
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MoreAmy Bloom is most recently the author of Away. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Momentarily replaced by an obnoxious sportscaster filling in. Author: Amy Bloom Subjects Discussed: Opening a novel with a protagonist immersed within the Yiddish Theater, coloring a story with tragedy vs. getting to know a character, the 57 blocks of the Lower East […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 35:45 — 32.7MB)
MoreThis special podcast is a collection of journalistic experiments carried out on November 14, 2007 at The National Book Awards. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Kidnapped by an army of experimental journalists. Guests: Sherman Alexie, Fran Lebowitz, Levi Asher, Nicholas Delbanco, Jim Shepard, Steve Wasserman, Tayari Jones, Sara Zarr, Joshua Ferris, Jonathan Franzen, and Christopher Hitchens. […]
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MoreDave White is the author of When One Man Dies. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Hostile towards Our Young, Roving Correspondent’s inability to spell “Jack Daniel’s” correctly. Author: Dave White Subjects Discussed: John Donne quotes, first names and hangovers, Billy Martin and the Yankees, war veterans, color blindness, Anthony Burgess, first-person and third-person chapters, having an […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 32:38 — 29.9MB)
MoreHoward Jacobson is the author of Kalooki Nights. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Taking umbrage with card game titles. Author: Howard Jacobson Subjects Discussed: The onus of being on tour, the strange exercise of talking about books, loose trousers, the Jewish relationship with the body, being Jewish in England, jokes and audience reaction, Seriously Funny, Jewish […]
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MoreJess Walter is the author of the 2006 National Book Award-nominated book, The Zero. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Hostile towards definite articles. Author: Jess Walter Subjects Discussed: Writing novels with protagonists groping for an identity, political allegory, growing up in Spokane, authors who fail to address grit and the working class, looking at New York […]
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MoreKen Kalfus is the author of the 2006 National Book Award-nominated book, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country. Condition of Mr. Segundo: On the defensive in relation to disorders and his divorce. Author: Ken Kalfus Subjects Discussed: The outlandish nature of Peculiar in relation with the more realist tone of Thirst, designing an episodic novel, […]
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MoreStewart O’Nan is the author of Last Night at the Lobster. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Permitting authors to depict his sad quotidian life. Author: Stewart O’Nan Subjects Discussed: The anonymous perception of the service sector, avoiding legal clearances from the Red Lobster, personal loyalty and honor vs. corporations, High Noon, the advantages of a setting […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 38:01 — 34.8MB)
MoreWill Self is the author of Psychogeography and The Book of Dave. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Frightened by walking and crosswalk signals. Author: Will Self Subjects Discussed: The overlapping relationship between The Book of Dave and Psychogeography, topographical narrative, Nicholson Baker, Nabokov’s rule about topographical necessity and novels, John Updike’s Brazil, the Post-It notes in […]
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MoreGarth Risk Hallberg is the author of A Field Guide to the North American Family. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Considering alternatives to artsy-fartsy books. Author: Garth Risk Hallberg Subjects Discussed: Authoring a conceptual book with veto power over the designer, family detachment, cross-references, Bay Area literary magazines, the McSweeney’s influence, Em Magazine, book art practitioners, […]
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MoreYannick Murphy is most recently the author of Signed, Mata Hari. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Abdicating any and all Mata Hari dreams for a far more noble ideal. Author: Yannick Murphy Subjects Discussed: The juxtaposition of first person, second person, and third person within Signed, Mata Hari, the loss of Mata Hari’s voice within the […]
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MoreRoy Kesey is most recently the author of All Over and Nothing in the World. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wondering if Roy Kesey is a “real” Roy. Author: Roy Kesey and Dan Wickett Subjects Discussed: Writing stories in Beijing, exotic stories, conversational vs. descriptive stories, Carlo Ginzburg, working from pre-existing conversations, text that kick-starts a […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 39:17 — 36.0MB)
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