Rick Kleffel:Narrative Species–The Agony Column
Episodes
1129: A 2011 Interview with Juliet Eilperin
25 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"You're asking me to get in the water with sharks?"
1128: A 2011 Interview with Michael Harvey
22 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"There's always a potential price to pay with any kind of advances."
1127: Time to Read, Episode 6: Technostalgia
20 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Ernest Cline, Ready Player One
1126: A 2011 Interview with Michael Katakis and Kris L. Hardin
18 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"There was still this sense of hope."
1125: A 2011 Interview with Ernest Cline
15 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"The name Watts is from a John Hughes movie called Some Kind of Wonderful..."
1124: A 2011 Interview with Alan Cheuse for 'Song of Slaves in the Desert'
11 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I had to invent an evolving truth as the story unfolded."
1123: Time to Read, Episode 5
10 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Simon Rich, Elliot Allagash
1112: A 2011 Interview with Simon Rich
08 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"My goal as a writer, more than anything is just to write something that people will finish voluntarily."
1111: A 2011 Interview with Scott Simon
04 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...then of course, our kids will be there too, and that's going to change everything."
1110: Time to Read Episode 4: Mark Seal
03 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit
1109: A 2011 Interview With Glen Duncan and Stephen Coates
02 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I try and imagine what it would be like to be that person in that situation."
1107: A 2011 Interview with Arielle Eckstutt and David Henry Sterry
28 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Can we use that?"
1106: Time to Read Episode 3: David Eagleman
27 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
1105: A 2011 Interview with Mark Seal
25 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"He said he was the producer and director of a new TV series called Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
1104: Alan Cheuse Live at Capitola Book Cafe, July 9, 2011
22 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"..if any of you have ever spent any time in academia, you can imagine what this meant..."
1103: A 2011 Interview with David Eagleman
19 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Turns out holding secrets can be bad for you."
1102: A 2011 Phone Interview with David Darlington
16 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...the fact that so many wineries mouth this catechism while behind the scenes they are doing something completely different..."
1101: Howard V. Hendrix Interviewed at SF in SF on May 9, 2011
14 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"We're going to bring in people from all different menus who have talked about Mars."
1100: Podcast Update: Time to Read
12 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 2: Erik Larson, In the Garden of Beasts
1099: A 2011 Interview with Erik Larson
11 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...here's this innocent, being thrown into this cauldron..."
1098: Podcast Update: Time to Read
08 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 1: Donald Ray Pollock, The Devil All the Time
1097: Two Books With Alan Cheuse
08 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"In this regard, I'm really about eleven or twelve years old..."
1096: A 2011 Interview with Donald Ray Pollock
08 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"You need some trouble, you know, for the book to be interesting. I may go a little overboard on the trouble."
1095: A 2011 Interview with Melissa Marr
01 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Everyone knows everyone's business."
1094: Andrea Hairston and Pan Morigan Interviewed at SF in SF on May 7, 2011
30 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...I think it's real at the same time that's it's magic–" "Sometimes the stories that we tell are more real than a bunch of facts."
1093: A 2011 Phone Interview with David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt
27 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"It happened in a very circuitous fashion..."
1092: Three Books With Alan Cheuse
24 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
'The Astral' by Kate Christensen, 'Miss New India' by Bharati Mukherjee and 'Robopocalypse' by Daniel H. Wilson
1091: A 2011 Interview with John A. Farrell
23 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I call it loving revisionism...because I still haven't lost my very high regard for him."
1090: A 2011 Interview With Brooke Gladstone
20 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I offer a view of where we may be going ... and it's fraught ... it's dangerous ... and it's thrilling."
1089: A Panel Discussion with Howard V. Hendrix, Andrea Hairston and Pan Morigan Moderated by Terry Bisson from SF in SF on May 9, 2011
15 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Science is just another myth, in that sense..." Howard V. Hendrix
1088: A 2011 Interview with Jo Nesbo
13 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I come from a storytelling family."
1087: Andrea Hairston Reads from 'Redwood and Wildfire' Accompanied by Pan Morigan at SF in SF on May 7, 2011
09 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Words, Music, Magic
1086: Howard V. Hendrix Reads at SF in SF on May 7, 2011
08 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...it is in the sense that imagination is dreaming with a purpose..."
1085: A 2011 Interview With Daniel H. Wilson
05 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I had a great time being able to explore all those different viewpoints."
1084: A 2011 Interview with Geoffrey Dunn
01 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"There needs to be an explanation for that person."
1083: Agony Column Live, June 4, 2011 Preview : Seeing the Future with Kim Stanley Robinson and Rudy Rucker
31 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"It's a good place to set a science fiction novel."
1082: A 2011 Interview with Eugene Linden
29 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"While I was there, there was a very dramatic meeting."
1081: The Agony Column Live, May 21, 2011 With David Hayward and Lisa Lutz
27 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...when you got the other person's new chapter you had no idea what it was going to be..."
1080: A 2011 Interview with David Hayward and Lisa Lutz
26 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...we called those characters Author Lisa and Author Dave."
1079: Michael Blumlein Interviewed at SF in SF on April 16, 2011
25 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"..I fully expect that it's going to get in the wrong hands, and I fully expect that there's going to be eugenics performed..."
1078: A 2011 Interview With E. L. Doctorow
23 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I've never been comfortable, as a short story writer with that very compact sense of things."
1077: Radio Broadcast Edit of a 2011 Interview with Keith Thomson
21 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...his family thought that he was just an aircraft engineer, but he was working for the CIA..."
1076: A 2011 Interview with Peter S. Beagle at SF in SF on April 16, 2011
21 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"The fact that I was writing songs forced structure on me and forced economy on me..."
1075: The Agony Column Live, April 9, 2011
19 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Behold the Power of Meg Wolitzer and Alta Ifland
1074: Two Books With Alan Cheuse
18 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
You Think That's Bad, Jim Shepard and Kurt Vonnegut: Novels and Stories, 1963-1973, Kurt Vonnegut and Sidney Offit
1073: A 2011 Interview with Keith Thomson
16 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...his family thought that he was just an aircraft engineer, but he was working for the CIA..."
1072: A 2011 Interview with Eric Felten
13 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...it's a way in which we maintain our individualism..."
1071: Terry Bisson, Peter S. Beagle and Michael Blumlein at SF in SF on April 16, 2011
12 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I disagree—" "Good.." "—that it's all about story..."
1070: A 2011 Interview With Ann Packer
09 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"My research is being alive..."
1069: A 2011 Interview with Charles Kruger
04 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I want to discover the theme..."
1068: A 2011 Interview with Daniel Clowes
02 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...this character just started yelling at me from my sketchbook..."
1067: Peter S. Beagle Reads "The Best Worst Monster" and "Up the Down Beanstalk" at SF in SF on April 16, 2011
29 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...I'm really not about to follow that story with really any sort of conventional fantasy..."
1066: Michael Blumlein Reads from "22 and You" at SF in SF on April 16, 2011
28 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"This is from a group of stories I call The Doctor Diaries...."
1065: Three Books With Alan Cheuse: "...A pleasure to read ..."
27 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Brent Hartinger, 'Shadow Walkers' ; Steven Pressfield, 'The Profession' ; Ben Bova, 'The Leviathans of Jupiter'
1064: A 2011 Interview With Henning Mankell
25 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"What I try to do always is to tell a story that has something to do with my life and the lives of others that are living together with me in the time...
1063: Jeff and Ann VanderMeer Chat With Terry Bisson at SF in SF on March 12, 2011
21 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"For me, it's a way of bringing people together." - Ann VanderMeer
1062: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (sort of) Read at SF in SF on March 12, 2011
21 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"There had to be a two-page spread of a flaming submarine."
1061: Jeff VanderMeer Interviewed at SF in SF on March 12, 2011
20 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I don't see monsters as necessarily, by definition, an evil thing."
1060: A 2011 Interview with Paul McComas
18 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"You've got to show them something else when they turn the corner."
1059: A 2011 Phone Interview with Ann Packer
16 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"What are the sort of behaviors and problems that are happening around the edges of ordinary life?"
1058: Ann VanderMeer Interviewed at SF in SF on March 12, 2011
14 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"We're not turning your entire world upside-down."
1057: Patrick Rothfuss Interviewed at SF in SF on March 3, 2011
13 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...the sort of culture that develops a Robin Hood myth, that tells you a lot about the time and place that story comes from..."
1056: A 2011 Interview with Billy Collins, featuring the debut of "Orient"
11 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I guess we're always just talking, poets, about a handful of things...I've never read it before, let me see if I even have it here."
1055: Patrick Rothfuss Reads at SF in SF on March 3, 2011
07 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"The book itself has only been out a couple of days, and I myself have some very strong feelings about spoilers."
1054: Gail Carriger Reads at SF in SF on March 3, 2011
06 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"The first scene I'm going to read for you starts out with our hero, who is in a bit of a predicament."
1053: A 2011 Interview with Michio Kaku
04 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"We are emotionally, socially identical to the caveman of 100,000 years ago, except we have nuclear weapons."
1052: A 2011 Interview with Joe Mathews and Mark Paul
01 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...signature companies are beginning to hire much more aggressive people.." - Joe Mathews "We allow people to write policies into the Constitution, ...
1050: Terry Bisson, Ann Harris (aka Pearl North) and Lucy Jane Bledsoe at SF in SF on February 12, 2011
30 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...the people who go there, pretty much to a person, are passionate about their lives..." - Lucy Jane Bledsoe
1049: Jasper Fforde Live at the Capitola Book Cafe on March 12, 2011
28 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Ten Rules for Writing
1051: Anne Harris Reads at SF in SF on February 12, 2011
23 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"This is a transgender class-warfare romance."
1048: Lucy Jane Bledsoe Reads at SF in SF on February 12, 2011
23 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Everyone lives out in front of everyone and it is very, very intense."
1047: A 2011 Interview with Kevin Poulsen
21 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Max was pretty good at sussing out snitches...He wasn't perfect, if he'd been perfect, he wouldn't be in jail now."
1046: A 2011 Interview With Diana Paxson
17 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Anything that has an identity has a spirit."
1045: Three, no Four Books With Alan Cheuse
16 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
E. L. Doctorow, 'All the Time in the World,' Kevin Brockmeir, 'The Illumination,' Tea Obreht, 'The Tiger's Wife, Leslie Daniels, 'Cleaning Nabokov's H...
1044: Gail Carriger Interviewed at SF in SF on March 3, 2011
15 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I do things like character design boards..."
1043: A 2011 Interview with T. C. Boyle
14 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I write in order to see what comes next."
1042: Diana Paxson Interviewed at SF in SF on January 15, 2010
11 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I served as leader of the Covenant of Goddess for Two Years..."
1040: A 2011 Phone Interview With TC Boyle
09 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Well, God, when he was writing this book, and I think it was a bestseller in its day, he didn't really take into account the fact that we, ourselves,...
1039: A 2011 Interview With Peggy Orenstein
07 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I didn't want her to think that there was anything she had to do because she was a girl."
1038: A 2011 Phone Interview with Peggy Orenstein
05 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"The thing about Bella is that she is completely ... bland."
1037: Panel Discussion from SF in SF, January 15, 2011, with Terry Bisson, Diana Paxson and Rudy Rucker
03 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I was very much into Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs." - Rudy Rucker "I said there were five sequels." - Diana Paxson
1036: The Agony Column Live, February 12, 2011 with Matt Stewart and Joshua Mohr
02 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...if we all see the same thing, we're all seeing entirely different things..." - Josh Mohr "It's much rarer these days that everybody reads the sam...
1035: A 2010 Interview with Richard Matheson
28 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I'm a disbeliever in genre...I think there should just be stories."
1034: The Agony Column Live, February 12, 2011: Matt Stewart and Joshua Mohr Read From Their Work
25 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Esmerelda is in an underground extreme food training ground compound in Marin ..." - Matt Stewart "This will not help your appetite, whatsoever..." ...
1033: Diana Paxson Reads at SF in SF on January 15, 2011
24 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Our hero, who is from Greece, has been faced with the problem of how to turn a lump of meteor iron into a sword."
1032: Rudy Rucker Reads at SF in SF, on January 15, 2011
23 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"The Birth of Transrealism"
1031: A 2011 Interview with Deborah Harkness
21 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"So often that's what scholars feel when they open a book for the first time, 'Oh no, this isn't what I thought it would be.'"
1029 : A 2011 Interview with Sam Sax
18 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"It's like walking around the city and talking to myself."
1030: Two Books Alan Cheuse : 'While Mortals Sleep' by Kurt Vonnegut and 'Caribou Island' by David Vann
17 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I read for a couple of years and this family came into my mind..."
1028: A 2011 Interview With Evan Karp
16 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"We try to replicate the experience of what the show was like."
1027 : A 2011 Interview with David Vann: Readings
14 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"There can be this awful sense of momentum."
1026: A 2011 Interview with David Vann: Full Sequence
14 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"There can be this awful sense of momentum."
1025: A 2011 Interview with David Vann
14 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"There can be this awful sense of momentum."
1024: Steve R. Boyett Interviewed at SF in SF on November 13, 2010
10 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"I'm like a magician who is distracting you with these details and what you haven’t questioned is, 'There's a talkin' horse.'"
1023: Panel Discussion from SF in SF on November 13, 2010, with Terry Bisson, Steven R. Boyett and Dale Pendell
09 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"...the wounds are so fresh, the blood is scarcely dry..." - Dale Pendell
1022: A 2011 Interview with Siobhan Fallon
07 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"Soldiers like to tell stories ... and I'm a good listener."
1021: KUSP On-Air Promo for Sunday, February 6: Siobhan Fallon
04 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"It becomes its own strange kind of normal..."
1020: Speaking Frankly: Thomas Frank on The Easy Chair
04 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
A Moment of Disregard
1019: Dale Pendell Interviewed at SF in AF on November 13, 2010
03 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
"The Pharmako books go way back to a vision I had of something I was going to call 'The Poet's Guide to Drugs'...."
1018: The Agony Column Live, January 8, 2011
02 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Lisa Desrochers and Karen Joy Fowler