I thought it might be fun to get Frank on the phone and talk to him about the week's events, which is something that we really can't prepare for, because things are changing so fast, and the outrageous events pile up so quickly that it's hard to keep track of the lies, the truths, the lies about the truths and the truths about the lies. When I scheduled the interview, I must admit, I told him it was conditional on the phones still working. Anyone who remembers the recent outage in northern California when the lines were deliberately cut will know that's no given. (And note that there was never really a satisfactory explantion given for what could well have been an act of terrorism.) You can hear my conversation with Thomas Frank, covering recent events (phone lines permitting) by following the link to the MP3 audio file.
10-01-09: A 2009 Interview With Richard E. Cytowic, M.D. : 'Wednesday is Indigo Blue'
Yes, the second I saw even the title of 1993's 'The Man Who Tasted Shapes' by Richard E. Cytowic, M.D., I knew I had to have the book. The very concept of synesthesia sounded like something out of a science fiction novel. Hearing colors and tasting shapes? It's the very definition of alien.
Cytowic has returned to the subject this year with 'Wednesday is Indigo Blue,' co-written by David Eagleman, author of 'Sum.' When 'The Man Who Tasted Shapes' was released. the idea of synesthesia sounded pretty good to me. Who wouldn’t want to taste shapes or hear colors? But that sort of phenomenon was very hard to document, since it relied on subjective interpretation — until recently. I talked to Cytowic about the ironically changing perception of this perceptual disorder, which, with the advent of brain scanning techniques has become much better understood. We also talked about the cultural perceptions of synesthesia, a disorder that can foster creativity. Is it then truly a disorder? In a science fiction novel, it might be perceived as a precursor to an evolutionary leap; in a comic book, it might be something that one of the X-Men can do. You can hear my conversation with Richard E. Cytowic, M. D., by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
09-30-09: A 2009 Interview with Nick Douglas
"Some of the people in this book are cashiers, college students, homemakers, and they can all be as funny for one sentence as Shakespeare or Dorothy Parker." — Nick Douglas
Nick Douglas will surprise the hell out of you. I frankly did not know what I'd have to say to the editor of 'Twitter Wit,' but it turns out we had quite a bit to talk about and that, as I had hoped, there was quite a bit of very interesting literary thought that can be wrapped around messages of 140 characters or less.
The messages may be 140 characters or less, but the number of characters you can encounter on Twitter, and in print via 'Twitter Wit' are practically endless. Douglas may be young but he's a seasoned Silicon Valley insider who did his time at Valleywag before striking out on his own with 'Twitter Wit.'
I was definitely apprehensive, because while I enjoyed the book, it is, after all, pretty much a book of one-line jokes by writers other than Douglas himself. But as we talked about the process of putting together this book and the implications of the limitations of Twitter, my deliberate ignorance about Twitter (simply put, it's read or tweet, and I go with read) bounced off Douglas' deep knowledge thereof in a most entertaining manner. Instrumental in setting up this interview were the folks over at Booksmith, Christin Evans and Praveen Madan, who went so far as to make their house available for the recording. You can hear our conversation on the future of literature consisting of writing less than 140 characters by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
09-29-09: A 2009 Interview with Jacqueline Winspear : Author of the Maisie Dobbs Series
"It's heartbreaking; you see photographs of this young lad, he's 13 and he's going off to war..." — Jacqueline Winspear
Sometimes, all you need to do is to listen. I met Jackie Winspear at the Book Passage Mystery Conference, and all it took was about a minute of listening to her speak to know, to absolutely know why she was a writer. Her voice was precise and so strong. The stories she told were as well.
I sat down and talked with Winspear about the world of her Maisie Dobbs novels, set in the aftermath of World War One. She evoked not just her research but that world, in the stories she told of combing through archives, of her understanding that she might be the first person to see a particular letter from a soldier in fifty, sixty, eighty years. Like most Americans, I know a bit about WWI; the heroism and the horror, to be sure. But Winspear managed to evoke not just heroes and horrors, but the people in a manner that made them like people I might have met, that turned abstraction in humanity. All in that perfect, powerful voice, which you can hear by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
09-28-09: A 2009 Interview With Karen Armstrong
"At the center of religious life, for all these faiths, was compassion." — Karen Armstrong
As much as I am inclined to distrust organized religion, I still find it a fascination subject to read about. Back in 2006, I read Karen Armstrong's 'The Great Transformation,' an engrossing history of the beginnings of religion. Her latest book, 'The Case for God,' is even more pertinent for these troubled times when religion is such a divisive issue. As I read the book and her elegant, intelligent language unpacked ideas, I could literally feel my ability to think being challenged and changed.
I spoke with Karen Armstrong at KQED studios in San Francisco, on a brilliant autumn afternoon. I had looked a bit into her background and her autobiography 'Up the Spiral Staircase,' and we started at the beginning of her spiritual journey. I wouldn't exactly call her books spiritual, though they explore the ideas of spirituality. Armstrong is a woman with a strong inclination towards logos, which she uses to explore the world of mythos. She's smart and intuitive and utterly compelling. You can hear our conversation by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
New to the Agony Column
07-30-10: Commentary : Subterranean Press and Robert R. McCammon Wake at 'The Wolf's Hour' : The Time Before Cheese
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheus : Allegra Goodman, 'The Cookbook Collector,' Noam Shpancer's 'The Good Psychologist' and Elie Wiesel 'The Sonderberg Case'
07-28-10: Commentary : Rule Britannia, In Space 2 : En Route, RJ Frith and Peter F. Hamilton
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Brian and Wendy Froud at SF in SF on Monday, July 19, 2010: Q & A : "The people you deal with at the publishers ... if they last the end of the week, you're lucky."
07-27-10: Commentary : Rule Britannia, In Space : UK Space Opera Demonstrates Excess is Not Enough (Part one, the Arrived)
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Brian and Wendy Froud at SF in SF on Monday, July 19, 2010 : "Well, I thought if I do faeries then nobody's going to say that I've got it wrong."
07-26-10: Commentary : Brian and Wendy Froud Seek 'The Heart of Faerie Oracle' : Cards, Books and a New Perspective
07-20-10: Commentary : Adam Elenbaas is Caught by 'Fishers of Men' : The Gospel of an Ayahuasca Vision Quest
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, July 10, 2010 : Alan Cheuse and Peter S. Beagle : "There are certain phrases I'm leery of using; one's "the creative process" and the other is "inspiration." ” Peter S. Beagle "Habit is the best thing for you if you're trying to write prose." ” Alan Cheuse
07-19-10: Commentary : Phil Cousineau is the 'Wordcatcher' : A Selectionary for Curious Mind
07-09-10: Commentary : Harlan Ellison's 'Deathbird Stories' : Back from the Dead and Ready to Party
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Everything by Kevin Canty, The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson by Kim Stanley Robinson, and Glorious by Bernice McFadden
07-07-10: Commentary : Kitchen Testing 'The New Vegetarian Epicure' and 'Get Cooking' : Lentil Power
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, June 26, 2010 : Mollie Katzen and Anna Thomas, Part Two : "'You should really write a cookbook,' and I thought, 'Yeah, that's a good idea...'"
07-06-10: Commentary : Anna Thomas Cooks Up 'Love Soup' : Recipes, Menus and Meals
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, June 26, 2010 : Mollie Katzen and Anna Thomas, Part One : Time to Get Cooking Because You Love Soup : "It makes a huge difference really, really, it does, to completely clean up when you're done."
07-05-10: Commentary : Abraham Verghese Will Not Be 'Cutting for Stone' : Stories of Spirit and Words of Comfort
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Abraham Verghese : "Literature has a wonderful ability to restore your imagination for the suffering of others."
07-02-10: Commentary : Sloane Crosley Asks 'How Did Get This Number' : Excellent Essays for the Short of Temper
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Live Interview With Sloane Crosley : We Did Not Mention the Title of Her Essay 'Fuck You, Columbus'
06-30-10: Commentary : Mark Charan Newton Enters 'City of Ruin' : Inspector Jeryd Rides Again
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Panel Discussion at SF in SF on June 12, 2010, with Seanan McGuire, Deborah Grabien and Terry Bisson : "Coke Black was just a horrible thing unleashed on an unsuspecting world."
06-29-10: Commentary : 'Twelve,' 'Thirteen,' Tongues of Serpents,' and 'The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack' : Historical SF & Horror Makes Rousing Summer Reading
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Seanan McGuire Interviewed at SF in SF, June 12, 2010 : "If I have my unbreakables, I can set my conditionals."
06-28-10: Commentary : Jennifer Egan Gets 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' : Revisiting the Novel Genre
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Conversation with Jennifer Egan : "The characters and the action led the way... I was led into the future not so much because I was thinking, 'I want to write about the future,' but more because I wanted to re-visit this particular person."
06-23-10: Commentary : Adam Langer Corrals 'The Thieves of Manhattan' : Lies, Balderdash and the Absolute, Unvarnished Truth
06-21-10: Commentary : Linda Greenlaw is 'Seaworthy' : Back to the Grand Banks in Not-So-Grand Style
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Linda Greenlaw : "Well, I call him up and tell him I'm going to the Grand Banks and he pretty much signs himself right up."
06-17-10: Commentary : Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud Lives 'A Life on Paper' : Translating the Ineffable
06-15-10: Commentary : Donald R. Burleson Whispers 'Wait for the Thunder' : Stories for a Stormy Night
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Lucyby Laurence Gonzalez, Spies of the Balkansby Alan Furst, A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
06-14-10: Commentary : James P. Othmer Drinks the 'Holy Water' : Backing Into the Future
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2009 Interview with Juliet Schor : "...We need to move to much more open, collaborative, sharing knowledge systems."
06-10-10: Commentary : Brett Easton Ellis Peers Inside 'Imperial Bedrooms' : Panic After the Year Zero
06-09-10: Commentary : Dan Dion and Paul Provenza Free the '!Satiristas!' : Bleeding the Comedians
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Conversation with Paul Provenza and Dan Dion : "I was raised to respect the printed word so much, when I was in school, I couldn't highlight books..."
06-08-10: Commentary : China Miéville Unleashes 'Kraken' : Comedy of Tentacles
06-03-10: Commentary : Justin Cronin Enters 'The Passage' : A girl who saves the world
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer, The Passage by Justin Cronin
06-02-10: Commentary : 'Animythical Tales' by Sarah Totton and 'Metrophilias' by Brendan Connell : Better Seeds
06-01-10: Commentary : The Return of The Agony Column : Logic, License and Habit
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Karl Marlantes : "..these are common human foibles and failings, it's just that they get magnified in a combat, war situation..."
I thought it might be fun to get Frank on the phone and talk to him about the week's events, which is something that we really can't prepare for, because things are changing so fast, and the outrageous events pile up so quickly that it's hard to keep track of the lies, the truths, the lies about the truths and the truths about the lies. When I scheduled the interview, I must admit, I told him it was conditional on the phones still working. Anyone who remembers 
