The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life

In this week's show, John speaks with Jaydra Johnson about her new book, Low: Notes on Art and Trash, and the tensions and connections between class perception, politics, and creation of art.

On today's show, I speak with the poet and editor Rigoberto Gonzales about the curation of the Library of America anthology of Latino Poetry. Then Richard Blanco reads "Como Tú," his poem that is collected in that anthology, and he and I catch up a little bit.

0On #633, Rachael Tillman and I discuss the surreal paradoxes and sullen joys of Bill Knott's debut collection of poetry, The Naomi Poems: Corpse and Beans, which was recently reprinted by Black Ocean Press.

On today's episode, Samantha Nickerson speaks with fiction writer Rufi Thorpe about her striking novel Margo's Got Money Problems. In this episode, you learn about more than just Margo's money problems. Samantha and Rufi discuss Only Fans, wrestling, creating characters, and motherhood's thorny identity. Samantha then speaks to Susan My-Nutt about erotic obsession, alienation, hyper-thinking, and the presentation of dialogue without quotation marks as they appear in her new novel, Don't Be a Stranger.

In this episode, John interviews the notable flash fiction writer Kathy Fish about the anxious nuances of that medium and genre. Is flash fiction just a very short story, with all the rules of fiction at work? Or is flash fiction a less traditional, immersive fictional happening that takes somewhere between the length of a flash of lightning and the length of time needed to smoke a cigarette? The complicated answer is yes and yes in this delightful conversation recorded at The Kerouac Project of Orlando.

In this episode, John discusses the career of crime novelist John D. MacDonald (1916-1986) in light of a new posthumous short story, "The Accomplice." In this interview, John speaks with with Andrew Gulli, editor of The Strand Magazineabout the rigors and ethos of editing and publishing and MacDonald's son and literary executor Maynard about propagating a great writer's legacy without compromising that writer's standards despite the lucrative promise of a classic literary character like Travis McGee.

In 659, John talks to poet Duy Đoàn about his latest collection, Zombie Vomit Mad Libs, the poetic provocations of horror films, and experimenting with erasure and fragmentation.

In this week's replay episode, John talks with fellow classmate, the fiction writer Kseniya Melnik.

In this week's show, John talks to the delightful poet Denise Duhamel about the nuts and bolts of poetry, the construction of themed collections, Barbie, and other matters of literary interest.

This week's show collects three interviews with prose writers Daniel Handler, Griffin Dunne, and Ridley Pearson in joyful, fun conversations conducted last November at Miami Book Fair.

John convenes with Loose Lips hosts Dianne Turgeon Richardson for a poetry game in which three friends draw themed cards and read original poems somehow connected to those themes. Alcohol was consumed, too.

On this week's show, John talks to recent Kerouac Project resident Steve Chang about writing humor with vulnerability, complicating the absurdity of the world through grounded fiction, editing fiction for Okay, Donkey, and other literary urgencies.

This week's show collects three interviews with poets David Kirby, Traci Brimhall, and Robert Pinsky in joyful, fun conversations conducted last November at Miami Book Fair.

On this week's show Chrissy Kolaya talks to Dobby Gibson about his latest poetry volume, Hold Everything, now out with Graywolf Press.

In this week's show, John speaks with Jonathan Lethem about the pull of Brooklyn and obsession, the craft of guiding the reader through unusual storytelling, and bold balancing acts as storytellers.

This episode features a Drunken Odyssey takeover of Orlando's longest-running, and also only, current-events inspired reading series.

In this week's show, John speaks with debut novelist C. Michelle Lindley's, whose The Nude is a page-turning literary meditation on the madness of the commerce of art and labor and relationships and all sorts of things.

On #649, John speaks with recent writer-in-residence at the Kerouac Project of Orlando, the poet Ezza Ahmed.

In this week's show, John talks to opera director Yuval Sharon about the past and perhaps future rebirths of opera, while advocating for the relevance of this provocative art form. Yuval's new book, A New Philosophy of Opera, is lucid, persuasive, passionate, and fun.

On this week's show, John King talks to the two-time former poet laureate Billy Collins about his latest collection, Water, Water, and how, if the window doesn't open up for the composition of poetry, once should strive to find a trampoline in the woods, and how one can learn from the poetic breakers of decorum.

On #646, John talks to Charles Bock about his extraordinary new memoir, how to make grief readable, the everyday struggles of writing and publishing, and the sacred perfection of the film of The Princess Bride.

On #645, Jeff Shuster and John King delve into two miraculously trashy John Waters films from the 1970s, Pink Flamingos (1972) and Desperate Living (1977), to cap off our annual Schloctoberfesting.

On this week's show, Jeff Shuster and I delve into David Lynch's first film feature, Eraserhead. We consider the existential threat of re-animated chickens, hyper-sexual surrealism, and other important matters.

On this week's show, Jeff Shuster and I delve into George Lucas's debut film feature, a science fiction epic that isn't the one you are thinking of. This early '70s work helps us understand what was once called The New Hollywood, and how George Lucas's strengths and weaknesses are on display in this memorable movie.

On this week's show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss the existential provocations of two films called Crimes of the Future, both created by David Cronenberg.

On #641, John and Samantha Nickerson catch up and discuss Miami Book Fair, Celebrity Poetry, the comic mask, and the acting careers of James Franco, Jack Nicholson, and Robin Williams in a totally linear conversation.

In this week's replay episode, John talks with the writer, publisher, and podcaster, Michael Wheaton (from 2022). Thanks to Brian Salmons!

On #640, John talks about poetry and bookselling and MFA programs and AWP conferences and Florida literature with Alex Gurtis, whose latest chapbook, When the Ocean Comes to Me, is now out with Bottlecap Press.

On today's show, John talks about NaNoRiMo's new AI policy, the lameness of relatability as a value, and Elmore Leonard's 10 rules for writing, plus Fred Lambert shares a booze news roundup!

On this episode, John speaks with the screenwriter and novelist Jennifer Manocherian about building characters, planning stories, and the discoveries made while drafting.

On this episode, John speaks with the poet Tiffany Midge about the vibrant, often overlooked roles of humor and entertainment in poetry. They also talk about James Cameron's Aliens, popular culture as metaphor, and serial killers.

On #636, John talks to Jeff Alessandrelli about his new novel, And Yet. They discusse the existentital torment of desire, the problem of overthinking the problem of overthinking, and the role of desire in literature, psychology, and history.

On this week's show, John talks to his friend Michael Wheaton about how to live in think in a media-saturated American life, which is the subject of his new book, Home Movies, available through Bunny Books.

On this week's episode, Rachel Tillman, Samantha Nickerson, and John King join the nocturnal jousting in a conversation about Jewel's A Night Without Armor. This is a taste of what will be coming to my Patreon content, once I launch a Patreon page for this podcast.

On this week's show John speaks with Todd James Pierce about Larry Watkin and his history with Walt Disney as a novelist, screenwriter, and producer. They explore the 1940s to the 1960s of Watkin's career and the common themes present throughout his risky live-action Disney projects such as Darby O'Gill, Robin Hood, and Treasure Island.

In this week's episode, Rachael Tillman and I break some standards of academia as we discuss the poetry insights of Paul Chowder, the narrator of Nicholson Baker's 2009 comic novel, The Anthologist.

On this replay episode, I talk to the late Charles Simic about James Tate, Kansas surrealism, humor in poetry, and embracing the unconscious, plus I talk to Richard Blanco about the accidents that turn us into artists, the grind of editing, and the joys of finding new forms and challenges.

On this week's show John talks to Blake Sanz, author of The Boundaries of Their Dwelling, about the intertwining short stories within the book and the journeys of emotional vulnerability, writing as a grad student, and wooden planks reminiscent of Theseus.

On this week's show, Samantha Nickerson talks to Juli Min about reverse-chronology narratives and the captivation of surprises in following characters over decades.

On this week's show Chrissy Kolaya talks to Li-Young Lee about his latest collection of poems, The Invention of the Darling. Together they explore the rooms of poetry, the systems of the human imagination, and the voice of angels.

On this week's show, John King talks to the novelist Kent Wascom about the continuation of the Woolsack legacy in his new novel, The Great State of West Florida. We discuss the vibrantly chaos of Florida, the postmodern pulp possibilities of the western genre, and the importance of a great book cover.

On this week's show, Johnj talk to the poet David McLoghlin about his newest collection of poems, Crash Centre, and history, religion, rugby, boarding school, trauma, and exiting the comforts of metaphor.

Chelsea Alice interviewed Ian Patterson back on episode 589, but they had much more to talk about, so here is another round of frank, literary conversation, this time about translating Charles Fourier and Patterson's original poetry as well.

In this week's show, John talks with Daniel Handler about the absurd fun of stress-testing reality, the joys of listening to Sun Ra & Prince, the efficacy of writing on ordinary writing pads, and the importance of waiting for the good stuff to come to us as writers.

After discussing World War I with Michael Korda on episode 622, this week I speak with Ann Hood about her newest novel, The Stolen Child, which features a storyline about artists during World War I. During this interview, I may have defended IHOP perhaps too strenuously. Talking with Ann was, as always, charming.

Thanks to Brian Salmons for bumpering this replay episode.

In this week's show, John talks with Nicholson Baker about the potential sorrows of writing, the drive to discover joy, and the need to explore other creative endeavors besides writing.

In this week's show, John talks with prose writer Michael Korda about telling the historical stories of the poets of World War I.

In this week's show, John talks with Tyler Mills about her extraordinary multimedia memoir, a poetic people's history of America's secretive relationship to the atomic bomb.

In this week's show, John talks with Jared Silvia about the 2023 film, Asteroid City, and look at how Wes Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola counterbalances surges of emotion with layers of artifice, which is a mixed metaphor, we know.