Book Fight!

Tough love for literature

Category Archives: Episodes


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Episode 303: Special Guest Steph Cha!

This week we welcome author Steph Cha (Your House Will Pay) to discuss a book she read as a kid and wanted to revisit: Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club. Cha says she first read the novel in large part because she’d seen her mother reading it. Now, having written several books of her own, and having thought more deeply about Asian-American literature, what would she think of Tan’s breakout book?

We also talk about basset hounds, crime novels, Los Angeles in the ’90s, the politics of Nest cameras, and being a top Yelp reviewer.

As always, you can stream the show right here on our site, or download the mp3 file to listen to later. Or check us out in Apple podcasts, where you can subscribe (for free!) and catch up on older episodes. We’re also available on Spotify, Stitcher, or just about any other podcast app. If for some reason you can’t find us in your favorite app, please reach out and let us know!

If you like the show and would like more Book Fight in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For $5/month, you’ll get access to regular bonus episodes, including monthly episodes of Book Fight After Dark, where we read some of the world’s weirdest–and steamiest!–novels. We’ve also recently begun a new series of Patreon-only mini-episodes called Reading the Room, in which we offer advice on how to navigate awkward, writing-related social situations.

Thanks for listening!

Stream Episode 303:

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Episode 302: Ripped From the Headlines

This week we’re looking at two stories that take on current events–in one case, a story about refugees at the American-Mexico border, and in the other, a story about a white college student who gets called out after posting a picture of herself in a Confederate-flag bikini. We talk about the benefits, and potential drawbacks, of teaching stories about current political controversies in a creative writing class, and how we might approach those stories with our students. Also: in a landscape crowded with really compelling narrative nonfiction, what can fiction, specifically, add to the political discourse?

The stories this week are Danielle Evans’s “Boys Go To Jupiter” (you can read it in The Sewanee Review with a subscription; it’s also in the most recent Best American Short Stories anthology) and Cristina Henriquez’s “Everything is Far From Here” (you can read that one in The New Yorker).


As always, you can stream the show right here on our site, or download the mp3 file to listen to later. Or check us out in Apple podcasts, where you can subscribe (for free!) and catch up on older episodes. We’re also available on Spotify, Stitcher, or just about any other podcast app. If for some reason you can’t find us in your favorite app, please reach out and let us know!

If you like the show and would like more Book Fight in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For $5/month, you’ll get access to regular bonus episodes, including monthly episodes of Book Fight After Dark, where we read some of the world’s weirdest–and steamiest!–novels. We’ve also recently begun a new series of Patreon-only mini-episodes called Reading the Room, in which we offer advice on how to navigate awkward, writing-related social situations.

Thanks for listening!

Stream Episode 302:

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Episode 301: Stories That Do Interesting Things With Time

This week, we’re on the hunt for stories that do interesting things with time. More specifically, we talk about how “time” can be a useful angle into talking about story structure in a creative writing class. Our story picks are Stuart Dybek’s “Paper Lanterns” and Raymond Carver’s “Are These Actual Miles?” (or, “What Is It,” depending on what version of the story you’ve got). Also: it’s November, which means it’s National Novel Writing Month, which means it’s time for us to visit the NaNoWriMo forums!

As always, you can stream the show right here on our site, or download the mp3 file to listen to later. Or check us out in Apple podcasts, where you can subscribe (for free!) and catch up on older episodes. We’re also available on Spotify, Stitcher, or just about any other podcast app. If for some reason you can’t find us in your favorite app, please reach out and let us know!

If you like the show and would like more Book Fight in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For $5/month, you’ll get access to regular bonus episodes, including monthly episodes of Book Fight After Dark, where we read some of the world’s weirdest–and steamiest!–novels. We’ve also recently begun a new series of Patreon-only mini-episodes called Reading the Room, in which we offer advice on how to navigate awkward, writing-related social situations.

Thanks for listening!

Stream Episode 301:

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Episode 300: Quest Stories

This week, you might say that we’re on a quest to find the best quest story to teach in a creative writing class. For years, both of us have taught Sherman Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” but for a variety of reasons–including accusations of sexual harassment against the author–we’re looking for something new. Will it be Charles Yu’s story “Fable,” or Chris Offutt’s “Out of the Woods”?

Mike had read (and taught!) another Charles Yu story in the past, and this one was recommended by one of our listeners on Twitter. Tom, meanwhile, has periodically taught Offutt’s story of a man sent on a mission to pick up a body. Both Mike and Tom studied a little with Chris Offutt in grad school, too, and have long been admirers of his writing. So this week’s contest might be a tough one!

As always, you can stream the show right here on our site, or download the mp3 file to listen to later. Or check us out in Apple podcasts, where you can subscribe (for free!) and catch up on older episodes. We’re also available on Spotify, Stitcher, or just about any other podcast app. If for some reason you can’t find us in your favorite app, please reach out and let us know!

If you like the show and would like more Book Fight in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For $5/month, you’ll get access to regular bonus episodes, including monthly episodes of Book Fight After Dark, where we read some of the world’s weirdest–and steamiest!–novels. We’ve also recently begun a new series of Patreon-only mini-episodes called Reading the Room, in which we offer advice on how to navigate awkward, writing-related social situations.

Thanks for listening!

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Episode 299: Setting

This week, we’re continuing our quest for the best stories to use in a creative writing course, with pieces where setting plays a strong role: Tony Earley’s “The Prophet From Jupiter” and “Roots” by Michael Crummey. We talk about how both authors evoke a strong sense of place through small details, and how to discuss that kind of world-building with creative writing students.

As always, you can stream the show right here on our site, or download the mp3 file to listen to later. Or check us out in Apple podcasts, where you can subscribe (for free!) and catch up on older episodes. We’re also available on Spotify, Stitcher, or just about any other podcast app. If for some reason you can’t find us in your favorite app, please reach out and let us know!

If you like the show and would like more Book Fight in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For $5/month, you’ll get access to regular bonus episodes, including monthly episodes of Book Fight After Dark, where we read some of the world’s weirdest–and steamiest!–novels. We’ve also recently begun a new series of Patreon-only mini-episodes called Reading the Room, in which we offer advice on how to navigate awkward, writing-related social situations.

Thanks for listening!

Stream Episode 299:

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Episode 298: Breakup Stories

This week, we’re continuing our quest for the best stories to use in a creative writing course, with pieces about breakups: Courtney Bird, “Still Life, With Mummies” and “Cat Person” by Kristen Roupenian. You might remember the latter as “that story that went viral and briefly broke the internet,” spurring hot takes from a bunch of people who seemingly hadn’t read a short story in a very long time.

We talk about how students write about breakups, and what kinds of models these stories might provide for them. We also discuss strategies for discussing both of these stories in class, including how to approach some of the more uncomfortable sex writing in “Cat Person,” and how the online discourse around that story could be interesting–or frustrating–to get into with a creative writing class.

As always, you can stream the show right here on our site, or download the mp3 file to listen to later. Or check us out in Apple podcasts, where you can subscribe (for free!) and catch up on older episodes. We’re also available on Spotify, Stitcher, or just about any other podcast app. If for some reason you can’t find us in your favorite app, please reach out and let us know!

If you like the show and would like more Book Fight in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For $5/month, you’ll get access to regular bonus episodes, including monthly episodes of Book Fight After Dark, where we read some of the world’s weirdest–and steamiest!–novels. We’ve also recently begun a new series of Patreon-only mini-episodes called Reading the Room, in which we offer advice on how to navigate awkward, writing-related social situations.

Thanks for listening!

Stream Episode 298:

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Episode 297: Magical Realist Stories

This week, we’re continuing our quest for the best stories to use in a creative writing course, with pieces that incorporate magical elements: “The Healer” by Aimee Bender versus a trio of very short stories by Etgar Keret.

We talk about what the term “magical realism” actually means, and how we introduce it in the classroom. We also discuss ways to open up a fiction class to a diversity of styles and genres while still assuring that students are challenging themselves and trying new things. Plus: Are magicians creeps? And Tom revisits the work of Jim Harrison, mostly out of spite.

As always, you can stream the show right here on our site, or download the mp3 file to listen to later. Or check us out in Apple podcasts, where you can subscribe (for free!) and catch up on older episodes. We’re also available on Spotify, Stitcher, or just about any other podcast app. If for some reason you can’t find us in your favorite app, please reach out and let us know!

If you like the show and would like more Book Fight in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For $5/month, you’ll get access to regular bonus episodes, including monthly episodes of Book Fight After Dark, where we read some of the world’s weirdest–and steamiest!–novels. We’ve also recently begun a new series of Patreon-only mini-episodes called Reading the Room, in which we offer advice on how to navigate awkward, writing-related social situations.

Thanks for listening!

Stream Episode 297:

Download Episode 297