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.
Michael Muhammad Knight is most recently the author of Impossible Man and Osama Van Halen. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Expressing forceful words about his distinct identity. Author: Michael Muhammad Knight Subjects Discussed: Knight’s powers of prescience, Muslim punk, fictional suicide as a form of personal critique, the fictional character Mike Knight vs. the real Mike […]
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MoreCatherynne M. Valente is most recently the author of Palimpsest. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Looking for a way into a secret city. Author: Catherynne M. Valente Subjects Discussed: Writing a novel with four character perspectives, how structure influences perspective, the importance of numbers, color theory, thriving on restriction, Neal Stephenson, the importance of flow and […]
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MoreNick Antosca is most recently the author of Midnight Picnic. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Terrified about what his ex-wife does during a midnight picnic. Author: Nick Antosca Subjects Discussed: The lack of picnics in Midnight Picnic, Jackie Corley’s confusion with the title, Midnight Picnic vs. Midnight Panic, dream logic, mouth birth dogs, Mr. Antosca’s lifelong […]
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MoreAzar Nafisi is most recently the author of Things I’ve Been Silent About, as well as Reading Lolita in Tehran. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Reliving transcendent memories. Author: Azar Nafisi Subjects Discussed: Authenticity, W.G. Sebald, photographs and text, Iranian birth certificates, being true to the story when writing a memoir, accuracy and memoirs, the extraordinary […]
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MoreSarah Hall is most recently the author of Daughters of the North (published in the UK as The Carhullan Army). Condition of the Show: Remaining optimistic about a dystopian future. Author: Sarah Hall Subjects Discussed: Daughters of the North vs. The Carhullan Army, writing books that aren’t set in the present day, concern for environmental […]
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MoreElizabeth Crane is most recently the author of You Must Be This Happy to Enter. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Failing to understand why so many people are happy. Author: Elizabeth Crane Subjects Discussed: The unwarranted stigma behind the exclamation mark, what it means to be happy, zombies and reality TV, Max Brooks’s World War Z, […]
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MoreLydia Millet is most recently the author of How the Dead Dream. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Battling upholders of decency. Author: Lydia Millet Subjects Discussed: The “nation” of ideology, empathy as an endangered species, graying hair color compared against graying landscape, obnoxious cell phones, subconsciousness vs. the innate design of a novel, the life cycle […]
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MoreJeffrey Ford is most recently the author of The Shadow Year. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wondering why he isn’t invited to the Bowery Bar. Author: Jeffrey Ford Subjects Discussed: Writing a book representing a congeries of genre, the visceral advantages of not relying upon research, The Shadow Year‘s unnamed year and unnamed narrator, Botch Town […]
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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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