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.
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Scarlett Thomas II (BSS #357)
Scarlett Thomas is most recently the author of Our Tragic Universe. Ms. Thomas previously appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #117. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Unusually pedantic about modifiers. Author: Scarlett Thomas Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: I wanted to address one review. Jessa Crispin in The Smart Set. She said, “Well, […]
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MoreDavid Shields (BSS #326)
David Shields is most recently the author of Reality Hunger. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Settling for a quesadilla or some reality for lunch. Author: David Shields Subjects Discussed: The origins of the novel and the pretense of actuality, Shields’s dismissal of Myla Goldberg’s forthcoming novel based solely on a catalog description, the creative possibilities that […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 54:15 — 49.7MB)
MoreMarilyn Johnson (BSS #324)
Marilyn Johnson is most recently the author of This Book is Overdue! Condition of Mr. Segundo: Hoping to avoid being arrested by Rusty the Bailiff. Author: Marlyn Johnson Subjects Discussed: Why libraries are little regarded by the American public, the preservation of blogs and websites, Josh Greenberg’s efforts at digital preservation, the Firefox extension Zotero, […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 40:50 — 37.4MB)
MoreJustin Taylor (BSS #323)
Justin Taylor is most recently the author of Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Fearful of sanguine book titles. Guest: Justin Taylor Subjects Discussed: Not naming protagonists until well into the stories, dissatisfaction with formality, how characters reveal themselves, gender confusion within “Weekend Away,” Taylor’s aversion to “bright neon signs” […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 48:32 — 44.4MB)
MoreJ. Robert Lennon (BSS #300)
J. Robert Lennon is most recently the author of Castle and Pieces for the Left Hand. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contemplating his surprising longevity after 300 shows. Author: J. Robert Lennon Subjects Discussed: Ending sentences with nouns, how location affects character description, objects and places as the territory of a story, how the land in […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 45:48 — 41.9MB)
MoreGuy Maddin (BSS #293)
Guy Maddin is most recently the author of My Winnipeg, a book version of the film of the same name. For listeners who are fans of reading and watching films, this conversation accounts for all experiences and contains more than a few prevarications. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Reconsidering the veracity of his topography. Guest: Guy […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 48:13 — 44.1MB)
MoreLaura Lippman (BSS #280)
Laura Lippman is most recently the author of Life Sentences. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Frightened of sleazy and opportunistic biographers. Author: Laura Lippman Subjects Discussed: Cassandra Fallows vs. Kathryn Harrison, writers with peculiar personalities, the memoir dictating the memoirist, Hegelian synthesis, the Quarter Pounder and Proustian comparisons, philosophical modifiers, the inauthentic self, stereotypes of NPR […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 58:49 — 53.9MB)
MoreCarl Wilson (BSS #279)
Carl Wilson is the author of Let’s Talk About Love and reports indicate that he is loved, in turn, by the actor James Franco. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Evading the pomp and circumstance of cultural taxonomies. Author: Carl Wilson Subjects Discussed: Celine Dion and incompatible tastes, Elliott Smith, the questioning of canonical knowledge, Paul Valery’s […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 44:38 — 40.9MB)
MoreT.C. Boyle III (BSS #273)
T.C. Boyle is most recently the author of The Women. To listen to our previous interviews with Mr. Boyle, check out The Bat Segundo Show #70 and The Bat Segundo Show #10. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Pondering new author taxonomies. Author: T.C. Boyle Subjects Discussed: How to conquer jet lag, Ellen Key’s The Woman Movement, […]
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MoreTony Stone (BSS #271)
Tony Stone is the director, writer, producer, editor, and actor of Severed Ways, a film about Vikings that opens in limited release on March 13, 2009. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Unsure of whether he wants to be a Viking or not. Guest: Tony Stone Subjects Discussed: The many crew positions that Tony Stone worked, music […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 23:47 — 21.8MB)
MoreNeil deGrasse Tyson (BSS #265)
Neil deGrasse Tyson is most recently the author of The Pluto Files. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Reconfiguring his planetary paradigm, with the aid of minatory electrodes. Author: Neil deGrasse Tyson Subjects Discussed: The Great Planet Debate, sensible classification systems, “reorganizing” the solar system, why the International Astronomical Union wasn’t approached before the Rose Center display […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 26:39 — 24.4MB)
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