Fiction

Fiction by ed

OGIC, Scott Esposito & Edie Meidav (BSS #51)

Guests: OGIC, Scott Esposito and Edie Meidav (LBC Nominee, Summer 2006). Condition of Mr. Segundo: Running away from the Bolsheviks. Subjects Discussed: Dancing about architecture, Humbert Humbert, antiheroes, character names and wordplay, Nabokov, the memory of environment vs. its inevitable change, balancing secondary characters against a complex protagonist, the real-life inspiration for the wastrels, writing […]

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John Updike (BSS #50)

Author: John Updike Condition of Mr. Segundo: Defending himself against obnoxious talk show hosts and ready to move on. Subjects Discussed: Epigraphs, faith and disbelief, starting Terrorist with a Catholic priest, first person vs. third person, on writing upon Americana, post-9/11 symbolism, humanism vs. pessimism, blow jobs, Christopher Hitchens, the state of the September 11 […]

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Dave King (BSS #49)

Author: Dave King Condition of Mr. Segundo: Unknown, replaced temporarily by a shady documentary producer fulfilling a contractual obligation. Subjects Discussed: Modeling, painting, making a transition to writing, ambition, disabilities, self-help, italicized words, iambic pentameter, sincerity in an age of literary realism, Richard Yates, the early ending to The Ha-Ha, getting The Ha-Ha published, Vietnam […]

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Colson Whitehead (BSS #48)

Author: Colson Whitehead Condition of Mr. Segundo: Dismayed by advertising jingle trios and interruptions; more than vaguely litigious. Subjects Discussed: Living in San Francisco, working at CNET, writing on the clock, the importance of names, Theodore Judah, microhistories, the influence of 9/11 upon Apex, metaphors, toes, writing about work, James Wood, didacticism, masculinity, the influence […]

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BEA 2006 Part 4 (BSS #46)

Guests: Eric Reynolds, Mark Binelli, Matt Cheney, Jeremy Lassen, David Axe and George Scithers. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Revealing himself to be a closet poet. Subjects Discussed: Peanuts, Dennis the Menace, Popeye, Fascist Italy, eerie historical similarities, classic comedy teams, journalism vs. novel-writing, free lunches, on being frightened by Bat Segundo, zoot suits, how to […]

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BEA 2006 Part 3 (BSS #45)

Guests: Paul Slovak, C. Max Magee, Carolyn Kellogg, Anne Moore & Dan Sinker, Lauren Landress, Terrie Akers, Camille March and Alan Davis. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Showing an unexpected grasp of history. Subjects Discussed: How Slovak manages Bill Vollmann’s prodigious output, details on Vollmann’s Imperial and the upcoming A.M. Homes memoir, a report on “what […]

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Derik Badman & Jordan Stump (BSS #44)

Authors: Derik Badman and Jordan Stump Condition of Mr. Segundo: Gone, relieved not to be involved with Bolsheviks. Subjects Discussed: French humor, Jacques Tati, how Stump translates, comic beats, auctorial tone and linguistics, the pros and cons of long sentences, the benefits of reading aloud, translating Verne vs. translating Touissaint, why translators get a bad […]

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BEA 2006 Part 2 (BSS #43)

Guests: Chad Post, Dennis Loy Johnson, Laura Kellner, Judith Recke, Eleanor Herman, David Ulin, Cary Goldstein, and Eli Horowitz. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Resistant to party atmospheres, stumbling around for dubious wisdom. Subjects Discussed: Reading the World, multiple badges and Chad Post’s doppelganger, a few unexpected reasons to be a bookseller, torture taxis, minor speculation […]

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BEA 2006 Part 1 (BSS #42)

Guests: Carolyn Kellogg, Steve Saladino, Megan Sullivan, Amanda Darling, Kassia Kroszer, Kirk Biglione, Ron Hogan, Brian Murray, Michelle Wildgen, Mike Webster, Joseph Wortenva, Laurel Snyder and Delia Falconer. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Believing he may have hit the worst point in his life. Subjects Discussed: Dubious podcasting panels, marketing terminology, fisting, Tyler Cowen’s essay, bookstore […]

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Carrie A.A. Frye & Yannick Murphy (BSS #41)

Authors: Carrie A.A. Frye and Yannick Murphy Condition of Mr. Segundo: Missing, last seen packing himself into a suitcase at Dulles. Subjects Discussed: To Kill a Mockingbird, Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle, Here They Come as autobiography, bending spoons with your mind, sleepless nights of inspiration, the similarities between surrealism and realism, hot dog […]

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Harvey Pekar & Dean Haspiel (BSS #40)

Authors: Dean Haspiel and Harvey Pekar Condition of Mr. Segundo: Feeling old age, pining for an old flame named Virginia. Subjects Discussed: How Haspiel hooked up with Pekar, the origin of the American Splendor movie, the origin of The Quitter, growing as a storyteller courtesy of “hieroglyphic rants,” paneling, DC Comics scripts vs. Pekar scripts, […]

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Gina Frangello & Kassia Kroszer (BSS #38)

Authors: Kassia Kroszer and Gina Frangello Condition of Mr. Segundo: Still in the desert, deferring to Mr. Bonasera. Subjects Discussed: Margaret Atwood, violence, Freud’s “Dora” study, Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres, psychoanalytical theories in the 90s, Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying, unreliable narrators, epigraphs, the presence of current events, hysteria, Ayn Rand, the influence of […]

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