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.
Toby Barlow is the author of Sharp Teeth. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Distrusting of certain types of poetry. Author: Toby Barlow Subjects Discussed: The appeal of free verse, genre distinctions, the concern for lycanthropic physiology, Terry Pratchett, deviating from the rules in the werewolf canon, Brian Francis Slattery’s Spaceman Blues, a hyper-giddy version of the […]
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MoreSteve Erickson is most recently the author of Zeroville. He returned to the program for a second conversation with The Bat Segundo Show #447. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Confused by floating point integers. Author: Steve Erickson Subjects Discussed: Approaching a novel with fewer fantastical elements, following the narrative laws of movies, Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, […]
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MoreCharles Baxter is most recently the author of The Soul Thief. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Vengeful towards literary ransackers. Author: Charles Baxter Subjects Discussed: Nathaniel Branden, Ayn Rand, intellectualism and the academic community, reductionist dialogue, being a grad student in the 1970s, Baxter’s recurrent water motif, placing a novel in Buffalo, getting the setting right, […]
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MoreCharles Bock is the author of Beautiful Children. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Reconsidering the last eleven years of his life. Author: Charles Bock Subjects Discussed: Setting a novel in Vegas, writing about a city when living there vs. a more distant approach to learning about the location, Las Vegas and its suburbs as the fastest […]
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MoreCharles Burns is the author and illustrator of Black Hole. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Avoiding conspiracy theorists. Author: Charles Burns Subjects Discussed: Responding to Vanessa Raney’s comparison between Black Hole and Sartre’s No Exit, anatomical closeups, World War II venereal disease films, intuitive artistic choices, the influence of postwar culture vs. personal experience, half-naked girls […]
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MoreEran Kolirin is the writer and director of The Band’s Visit, now playing in theaters. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contending with the inflexible language demands of the Academy. Guest: Eran Kolirin Subjects Discussed: Using a great deal of static shots, Antonioni, the influence of comic books, creating a cinematic fable, contending with too many extras […]
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MoreAdam Langer is most recently the author of Ellington Boulevard. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Scurrying away from Duke-loving hipsters. Author: Adam Langer Subjects Discussed: Topographical narrative, characters that emerge from the environment, being a “method writer,” dialogue and perspective, the use of quotation marks, writing from the perspective of animals, dog science and memory, coincidences […]
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MoreA.L. Kennedy is most recently the author of Day. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Never mind the Bat. Hubba hubba. Author: A.L. Kennedy Subjects Discussed: The relationship between the style and the voice, active thought vs. the subconscious, accidental religious cues, whether Kennedy consciously writes difficult books, bizarre Monty Python interpretations, William Hartnell, Doctor Who, the […]
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MoreThis podcast features a roundtable discussion with contributors for The Best Sex Writing 2008 anthology. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Evading burlesque. Authors: Rachel Kramer Bussel, Rachel Shukert, Lux Nightmare, Miriam Datskovsky, and Liz Langley. Subjects Discussed: The meaning and definitions of sex, whether sex is a codeword, semantics, experimentation, George Michael, the erotic nature of […]
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MoreJami Attenberg is most recently the author of The Kept Man. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Seduced by the Church of Tequilology. Author: Jami Attenberg Subjects Discussed: Adam Sternbergh’s grups article, Terri Schiavo, wondering what people do all day long, the donut girls in Greenpoint, donut shops that stick on the brain, pickup artists, describing objects […]
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MoreSue 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 […]
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