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

In this week's show, I talk to the spring 2021 resident of The Kerouac Project of Orlando, playwright Spencer Huffman.

In this week's show, Leslie Salas and I discuss Kurt Vonnegut' and Suzanne McConnell's compendious Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style.

NOTES This episode is sponsored by the excellent people at Scribophile. TDO Listeners can get 20% of a premium subscription to Scribophile. After using the above link to register for a basic account, go herewhile still logged in to upgrade the account with the discount. Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.

In this week's show, I speak with the actor Geoffrey Kent about Shakespeare in performance, how actors make the texts come alive, the modern English translation of Shakespeare plays, the agony of having to cut Shakespeare's texts down, the scenes that are rehearsal-eaters, -linging steel, how action sequences by themselves tell stories, and other important matters.

In this week's show, I speak with the poet and translator Alfred Corn about Rainer Maria Rilke's sublime Duino Elegies.

In this week's show, I speak with Ciara Shuttleworth about poetry, telling factions, limerence, running with the Muses, being open to delight, and the importance of daydreaming.

In this week's show, I speak with Maxim Loskutoff about Montana and the messy importance of setting, the fecund symbolism of reality, and attending NYU's creative writing program.

In this week's show, I speak with Samantha Hart about her wonderful debut memoir, Blind Pony, Plus I speak with Scott Cunningham about the monthlong poetry festival, O, Miami. Photo by Alexander Ruiz.[/caption]

In this week's show, Leslie Salas and I discuss Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Halfand Solutions and Other Problems.

In this week's episode, theater scholar Raphael Cormack and I discuss the allure of Arabian music, the revolutionary times in Egypt between the world wars, and the women who dominated Cairo's entertainment scene in the 1920s and 30s.

In this week's episode, I speak with Isaac Fitzgerald and Brigette Barrager and Leigh Hobbs about children's books.

In this week's episode, fiction writer Gwen Mullins and I discuss many, many things from the front of the Kerouac Project of Orlando's porch.

Nicklaus Rupert and I discuss the PhD in Creative Writing, the creative and professional benefits of working for a literary magazine, how working in a cinema house can turn one into a storytelling curmudgeon, and the responsibilities of using the trope of Floridian tackiness.

In this week's show, Leslie Salas and I discuss Lynda Barry's composition book-inspired musings on art, Syllabus, and how not just craft, but creativity itself is a skill. TEXT DISCUSSED

Episode 457 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on Apple podcasts, stitcher, spotify, or click here to stream (right click to download, if that's your thing). In this week's show, Ryan Rivas talk about small press publishing, book design, and the value of MFA programs. Ryan Rivas by Jared Alan Smith.

In this week's show, Janna Benge and I talk to Lily Brooks-Dalton about the experience of having her novel adapted into a prominent Netflix flick, how to enjoy letting a story take a new life with another creator, what the running time of a film means for a film's meaning, what film adaptations can teach a novel writer, and what film and television writing can do for a writer's creative momentum.

In this week's show, I talk to the novelist Elif Shafak about the importance of the structure of literary novels, the sublime oddity of the mind, how politics deepen literature (so long as politics don't drive literature), how research itself generates creativity, and how inclusive literature is the richest literature. TEXT DISCUSSED https://youtu.be/KCr8s57hdzY NOTES TDO Listeners can get 20% of a premium subscription to Scribophile. After using the above link to register for a basic account, go herewhile still logged in to upgrade the account with the discount.

This week, I talk to the novelist and graphic novel writer Sarah Kuhn about writing about Cassandra Cain for a YA audience, the demographics of fandom, the fun of the depth of the character pool of DC Comics, and collaborating with an amazing artist.

The poet and memoirist Carolyn Forché discusses elegies, the role of the unconscious in composition, and being willing to avoid plans.

This week, I talk to historian Grace Elizabeth Hale about how Athens, Georgia helped launch an indie music revolution with the B52s, REM, Pylon, and other bands, and the art and college scene that spawned them.

This week, I share a Miami Book Fair panel of poets with debut books: Tommye Blount, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, & Joy Priest!

In this week's episode, I talk with Julian Chambliss, Leslie Salas, Todd James Pierce, and Jeff Shuster about the legacy of Tron Legacy (2010) and Tron (1982) and Tron Uprising (2010) and many other things.

In this week's episode, I talk with Vanessa Blakeslee about the excellent new anthology, A Very German Christmas, from New Vessel Press. TEXT DISCUSSED

On #448, Dr. Peniel E. Joseph and I discuss the careers of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X, and how examining them together reveals the complexities of both of their evolving understandings of American history and politics.

Candacy Taylor and I discuss her new book, Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America. We talk about how research can transform a project, and how our understanding of our family's histories give us windows into understanding our nation's history, including our own precarious, sometimes alarming moment in it. We also discuss how instrumental color-coded index cards can help us balance the complex work of presenting the long threads of history.

The fiction writer and veteran Phil Klay and I discuss finding the right form for a novel, war literature, the uplift of humor, and winning the National Book Award.

On this week's show, poet and scholar Audi Barnes and I discuss the essays and poetry of Audre Lorde.

On this week's show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss Jordan Peele's Us, and a lot of other things, too.

On this week's show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss Richard Stanley's recent film of H.P. Lovecraft's The Color Out of Space.

Photo by Leslie Salas.[/caption] On this week's show, Jeff Shuster and I discuss the genius of Richard Brake, the superior sound design of Rob Zombie's films, the paradoxes of carnie victimhood, the nightmare underbelly of The Great Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, mere survival as an inadequate story-goal, likable characters, all while talking about Rob Zombie's overlooked brutal 2016 masterpiece, 31. TEXT DISCUSSED

On this week's show, I talk with Jeff Shuster about Cosmos Panatos's 2018 classic horror film, Mandy, as part 1 of our series of discussions on horror films of the last decade.

Photo by Jon Rendell. On this week's show, I talk to Dmetri Kakmi about existentialism in horror, the performance of identity, the structure of memoir, and many other things.

On this week's show, I talk to novelist Chuck Palahniuk about The Invention of Sound, Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life after Which Everything Was Different, Adjustment Day, the 18-month rule, how to stay productive, how to keep invested in the work, the genius of Ira Levin, the value of mentors, and how to remix Invisible Monsters.

On this episode, I talk to writer Michael Wheaton about Alfonso Cuaron's 2006 film, Children of Men, while I wait in vain for my ears to stop ringing.

On this episode, I talk to poet Steve Davenport about poetry, collaboration, the body, and many other things. TEXT DISCUSSED NOTES Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.

On this episode, personal essayist Alex Miller and I talk about the intimate power of the personal essay, pitches, politics, and universities in NYC. Essays by Alex Miller Read "When I Can't Progress in my Love Life, I Level Up in Video Games" over at The Washington Post. Read "Facing my Fear: I Was Always Scared of the Dark. Then PTSD Made it Even Worse" over at The Guardian. Read "Kanye Made Me Love Being Black. That's Why I Can't Vote for Him" over at The Independent. Read "Growing Up in the Shadow of Emmitt Till" over at The New York Daily News.

Photo by Carlie Hoffman. On this episode, poet Ariel Francisco and I talk about Florida's wildness, Miami, Hollywood (Florida), multilingualism, Anna Nicole Smith, a sinking state, Jack Kerouac, FIU's MFA program, and many other important matters.

Episode 434 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on Apple podcasts, stitcher, spotify, or click here to stream (right click to download, if that's your thing). On this episode, Nick Flynn and I talk about memoirs, boundaries, and getting the writing done.

Darin Strauss and I discuss the utility of outlines, the utility of abandoning outlines, love, pain, stream-of-consciousness, love, Lucille Ball, Fred Trump, Coney Island, the semiotic intimacy of television, and love.

This week, I talk to podcaster Kyle Eagle about music and everything.

In this week's show, Vanessa Blakeslee and I discuss two online pieces on the subject of sex writing, and the conversation roves from there.

In this week's show, I talk to writer, musician, and producer Jared Silvia about the connections between music and writing, the history of synth-pop, and the role of randomness and patterns to experience.

Photo by Emily VanDerWerf. In this week's show, I talk to novelist and video essayist Lindsay Ellis about science fiction; the structure of novels; exploring character interiority; alien invasion narratives; Chomskyian linguistics; the joys of making academic arguments about pop culture outside the academy; Transformers; and author platforms. Music by Modal Plane, used with permission.

In this week's show, I talk to my friend David James Poissant about novel-writing, sex scenes, The X-Men, graphic art, focus, and many other things. This episode is sponsored by the excellent people at Scribophile. TDO Listeners can get 20% of a premium subscription to Scribophile. After using the above link to register for a basic account, go herewhile still logged in to upgrade the account with the discount.

In this week's show, I talk to my friend, the philosopher Bruce Janz, about how to calm our monkey brains in the time of the pandemic, and what the pandemic can teach us about life before the pandemic. NOTES This episode is sponsored by the excellent people at Scribophile. TDO Listeners can get 20% of a premium subscription to Scribophile. After using the above link to register for a basic account, go herewhile still logged in to upgrade the account with the discount. Learn more about Queerbomb over at its Facebook page. Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.

In this week's show, I talk to my friend, the historian Scott Hoffman, about the evolution of Purdue's Outfest, Chicago Pride, Austin Pride, Queerbomb, Orlando pride, respectability politics, and other matters of interest.

NOTES This episode is sponsored by the excellent people at Scribophile. TDO Listeners can get 20% of a premium subscription to Scribophile. After using the above link to register for a basic account, go herewhile still logged in to upgrade the account with the discount. Check out my literary adventure novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame.

Photo by David Whitaker. In this week's show, I talk to novelist Ronan Ryan about the dramatic uses of gallows humor, how loss teaches us about our priorities, how elusive reality is, and how to match style to story.

This week, my intern, Alexander Pate, and I discuss the Salisbury, NC protests that he has participated in, and discuss this point in history. Heavy activity around a confederate statue with an angel.[/caption]