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

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.

In this week's show, John talks with Jessie Red Marshall about her extraordinary short story collection, Women! In! Peril! The topics discussed include how story collections are like mixtapes, how thematic unity occurs brilliantly by accident, and how the interesting questions to ask ourselves in writing fiction is often what about ourselves, as writers, is problematic to ourselves.

In this week's show, John and Nick Georgoudiou discuss Kenneth Patchen's surreal postmodern novel, Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer, before a small crowd gathered at the Kerouac Project of Orlando.

In this week's show, John talks to Marie Mutsuki Mockett about her exquisite new novel, The Tree Doctor, which leads us to the topics of Japanese literature, The Tale of Genji, and how the ancient world is surprisingly like our own.

On today's show, Rachael and I discuss George Saunders's discussion of seven short stories by Russian authors. Since Saunders's book is the result of teaching these stories in MFA craft courses over multiple decades, this book and today's discussion simulates an important part of the MFA experience, for those who wonder what that might be like. The stories: Anton Chekhov's "In the Cart" (1897) Ivan Turgenev's "The Singers" (1852) Anton Chekhov's "The Darling" (1899) Leo Tolstoy's "Master and Man" (1895) Nikolai Gogol's "The Nose" (1836) Anton Chekhov's "Gooseberries" (1898) Leo Tolstoy's "Alyosha The Pot" (1905)

This ep. features a conversation with Pulitzer prize-winning poet Diane Seuss about her latest book of verse, Modern Poetry. With bursts of internal rhyme about thorny subjects, Modern Poetry awaits the reader with a spirit of mourning and loss and self-creation, which is, for this reader anyway, joyous.

Thanks to Brian Salmons for bumpering this replay episode.

On today's show, Samantha Nickerson interviews the fiction writers Celeste Ng and Ben Fountain!

On #613, Chelsea Alice speaks with Jamel Brinkley about his new short story collection Witness, plus John King speaks with M. Evelina Galang about her new short story collection, When the Hibiscus Falls. Special Thanks to Miami Book Fair.

Samantha Nickerson and I delve into Anaïs Nin's posthumously published slender volume of erotica, Little Birds.

On today's show, John King chats with poet Matt Mason about the poetic necessity of engaging with the popular culture that is part of the fabric of our American life, including rock music and obviously, obviously, the Disney phenomenon.

On today's show, John King chats with journalist Rebecca Renner and poet Major Jackson at Miami Book Fair.

Today's show features novelist Meg Cabot and memoirist Kelle Groom in conversation with TDO correspondent Samantha Nickerson, recorded during Miami Book Fair 2023.

On today's show, John talks to the poet and memoirist Maggie Smith about the complexities of trying to merge reality with narrative structure, and discusses the same, in different ways, with the novelist Michael Cunningham!

On today's show, John talks poet Brian Turner about learning to write the thing we need to write rather than the thing we want to write, the long conversations we have with those we love, and the processes of nature, including grief. His trio of new poetry volumes is out now from Alice James Books.

On today's show, John talks to author, actor, and producer Felicia Day about her new audiobook masterpiece, Third Eye, which is a hysterically funny fantasy epic that deep down has heart. Nerd culture, self-discovery, and creative writing are discussed at length.

On today's show, John talks to the novelist Elle Nash about her breathtaking new novel, Deliver Me. The chief topic is how to write a strange, nearly impossible story about American poverty without wallowing or romanticizing one's characters and finding beauty in their ability to strive to understand a maddening world.

Rachael and I return to the subject of William Gibson to discuss his 1984 classic science fiction novel, Neuromancer, which is wonderful in its fusion of noir style and cyberpunk vision.

On today's show, John talks to Mistie Watkins about her new book of flash essays, Hireath, which might be the most Florida book he's ever read.

On today's show, John talks to best-selling author Walter Mosley about his process, especially when exploring unsettling, psychological science fiction in his new novel, Touched.

On this episode, John talks to best-selling author Stephanie Land about her newest book, Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education.

On today's show, John talks to Tom Lucas about his brand new Lovecraftian YA-ish novel, Research Randy & the The Mystery of Grandma's Half-Eaten Pie of Despair, told by an unreliable narrator about a doomed town.

Jeff Shuster and I discuss the surreal techno-horror allegorical masterpiece that is Shin'ya Tsukamot's Tetsuo: The Iron Man.

On this week's show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss Dario Argento's strange, mid-eighties masterpiece, Phenomena.

Jeff Shuster and I get rather turned around discussion the invo-convolutions of David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983).

Jeff Shuster and I discuss Michael Caine's brilliant acting and deranged hair as they appeared in Oliver Stone's directorial debut, The Hand (1981).

Chelsea Alice and Rebecca Makkai talk about diversity in novels, breaking genre conventions, student-teacher relationships, and how motherhood is represented in literature.

On this week's show, I talk to novelist Jack Houghteling about Modernism, football, and the literary value of gangster movies, among other important topics.

On #593, I speak with the poet Ryler Dustin about creating new forms of sanctification and representing rural landscapes with familiarity without fetishizing or satirizing the setting. We probably digressed into a discussion of David Lynch's Twin Peaks.

On today's show, I speak with Dan Lauer about memoirs, Spalding Gray, depression, the glorious bygone culture of video stores, the less glorious culture of Hollywood, and other matters of dark interest.

On today's show, I speak with comedian Greg Proops about his new comedy album, French Drug Deal, the way time passes when sober and writing scripts and novels, the perfection of Charlotte Rampling, and other keen matters of interest to think-o-philes.

On today's show, I speak with creative non-fiction writer Melanie Farmer about memoir, Brazilian jiu jitsu, the relationship between one's family and one's public, the Hurtson-Wright prize, and other matters to interest.

On today's show, Chelsea Alice interviews Ian Patterson, who translated Finding Lost Time, the final volume of Penguin's new edition of Proust's novel cycle, In Search of Lost Time.

This week, I speak with Samantha Nickerson and I discuss the themes of friendship, relationships, depression, and death, and the craft of Kathleen Alcott in creating stories that are difficult to put down in the new short story collection, Emergency.

This week, I speak with game designer Michael Merriam about the mysterious, recent addition to the world of Doomology that is the Myhouse.wad, a retro-fitted narrative freak out to one of the earliest first person shooters in video game history.

This week, I speak with Sarah Viren about memoir, the social structures of academic work, philosophy, and asking serious questions.

On this week's episode, I speak with Brian Salmons about Leonard Nathan's 1976 book of poems, The Teachings of Grandfather Fox.

This week, New York Times bestselling author David Lipsky discusses journalism, history, inventors, science, and the importance of storytelling to combine all of those ingredients.

On this week's episode, I speak with novelist Blair Hurley about her thrilling new literary novel, Minor Prophets.