We’re joined by John Kell (freelance journalist, PR rep for Chobani) to talk about why the pandemic inspired him to read more books featuring gay male characters, which he recently wrote about in a piece for Fortune. We discuss one of those books, Edmund White’s Our Young Man, and why John felt somewhat ambivalent about its main character, a gorgeous male model who is trying not to age out of the industry. We also talk about what kinds of gay lives get represented in fiction, which fictional universes we’d like to see get COVID updates, and what it’s like to make the move from journalism to public relations.

If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get access to our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our new Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, which so far has included Ethan Frome, The Christmas Shoes, Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and The Scarlet Letter

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We welcome special guest Christopher Gonzalez (I’m Not Hungry But I Could Eat) to discuss a novel that taught him a lot about flash fiction. Also discussed: the Netflix show Marriage or Mortgage, why flash fiction isn’t just about word count, and book titles that give critics an easy talking point.

If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get access to our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our new Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, which so far has included Ethan Frome, The Christmas Shoes, Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and The Scarlet Letter

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In celebration of the nine-year anniversary of our podcast, we’re bringing back some of our favorite segments from the show’s history! We also discuss some exciting changes coming down the pike.

If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get access to our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our new Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, which so far has included Ethan Frome, The Christmas Shoes, Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and The Scarlet Letter

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This week we’re wrapping up our Winter of Wayback season by reviewing what we’ve learned. Which stories and essays did we love? Which pieces did we hate? What did we learn about 1968, and how did it compare to our previous presuppositions? Also, as a special bonus, Tom reviews a famous 1968 movie he’d never seen before, and Mike eats a Big Mac.

If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get access to our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our new Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, which so far has included Ethan Frome, The Christmas Shoes, Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and The Scarlet Letter

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This week we continue our exploration of 1968 by checking out a Bernard Malamud story, “Man in the Drawer,” which won the O’Henry prize that year. Also: what were hippies up to in 1968? We take a deep dive into newspaper archives to learn how that term was being used, and what it could tell us about the state of the counterculture (and the attitudes of squares).

If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get access to our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our new Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, which so far has included Ethan Frome, The Christmas Shoes, Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and The Scarlet Letter

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Download Episode 368

This week we continue our Winter of Wayback season by checking out a couple stories from the Best American Short Stories anthology. We intentionally chose authors we didn’t know anything about, though it turns out both writers went on to fairly celebrated careers, albeit in different genres. Norma Klein was a beloved YA author, often compared to Judy Blume, though she died at the tragically young age of 50. Jack Cady, meanwhile, won numerous awards for his horror and sci fi novels and spent a couple decades teaching in the Pacific Northwest.

Also this week: The poetry of 1968 gets political, in a way that feels very similar to 2021.

If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get access to our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our new Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, which so far has included Ethan Frome, The Christmas Shoes, Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and The Scarlet Letter

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This week we continue our Winter of Wayback season by reading a dispatch about the 1968 Democratic National Convention written for Esquire by William S. Burroughs. The convention itself was famously contentious, and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was criticized for allegedly allowing the cops to run roughshod over protesters outside the convention hall. Burroughs, meanwhile, brings to the party a politics we’d describe as “confusing.”

Also this week: The poetry of 1968 presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. And the return of Raccoon News!

If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get access to our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our new Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, which so far has included Ethan Frome, The Christmas Shoes, Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and The Scarlet Letter

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Download Episode 366

This week, we’re continuing our Winter of Wayback trip to 1968 by reading a story, “Boys and Girls,” from Alice Munro’s first story collection. We revisit arguments about Munro’s stories from our grad school years, and consider the unique structure of her stories, which often rely less on plot trajectory than on a kind of synthesis, looking at a character’s life from a variety of angles. Plus: a new game, Munro or No!

If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get access to our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our new Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, which so far has included Ethan Frome, The Christmas Shoes, Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and The Scarlet Letter

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This week we’re continuing our Winter of Wayback season, in which we’ve been reading books, stories and essays from 1968, a year that parallels our current moment in a number of ways. Writer Lyz Lenz (God Land, Belabored) joins us to discuss a writer she admires from that era: Ellen Willis, who began her career as a music journalist but did some of her most important work on misogyny within the progressive movement.

Also discussed: internet hate, why men love The Maltese Falcon, and the harassment Lyz has gotten in the wake of her recent profile of famous tweet thread guy Seth Abramson.

If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get access to our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our new Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, which so far has included Ethan Frome, The Christmas Shoes, and Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.

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Download Episode 364

This week we’re continuing our trip through 1968 by checking out the very first issue of a literary journal that still exists, and has published lots of famous writers: The South Carolina Review. The debut issue includes an essay on race relations in South Carolina, by an esteemed journalist, as well as a short story by Max Steele, who had one of the best names in the literary game.

Also this week: 1968 was a big year for children’s lit and YA. The National Book Awards started a category for children’s lit, and publishers began to invest in books that offered more realistic portraits of teen life.

If you like the show, and would like to have more of it in your life, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month and get access to our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our new Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, which so far has included Ethan Frome, The Christmas Shoes, and Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.

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Download Episode 363