The Chills at Will Podcast

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The Chills at Will Podcast is a celebration of the visceral beauty of literature. This beauty will be examined through close reads of phrases and lines and passages from fiction and nonfiction that thrills the reader, so much so that he wants to read again and again to replicate that thrill. Each episode will focus on a different theme, such as "The Power of Flashback," "Understatement," "Cats in the Cradle," and "Chills at Will: Origin Story."

Episodes

39 minutes ago

Episode 321 with Carolina Ixta, Author of Few Blue Skies and Master of Nuance and the Balance Between Nonfiction Concepts and Real-Life Ossues and Fiction in Her Fictional Work

39 minutes ago

Notes and Links to Carolina Ixta’s Work

Carolina Ixta is a writer from Oakland, California. A daughter of Mexican immigrants, she received her BA in creative writing and Spanish language and literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and obtained her master's degree in education at the University of California, Berkeley. Her debut novel, Shut Up, This Is Serious, was a Morris Award finalist, an LA Times Book Prize finalist, and the winner of the Pura Belpré Award. Few Blue Skies is out now.

Buy Few Blue Skies

Carolina Ixta's Website

Kirkus Review on Few Blue Skies

At about 1:50, Carolina responds to Pete’s question about how she feels with her book at Pub Day

At about 3:35, Carolina shouts out Mrs. Dalloway’s and other bookstores to buy Few Blue Skies

At about 4:25, Carolina talks about her language and reading background

At about 6:00, Pete and Carolina reminisce on taking the challenging Spanish linguistics class

At about 8:25, The two reflect on the unceasing reading list

At about 9:15, Carolina shouts out Pam Munoz Ryan and Esperanza Rising-a transformative book and wonderful person

At about 10:45, Carolina highlights the wonderful evolution of young adult fiction

At about 12:45, The two fanboy and -girl over Jason Reynolds

At about 14:55-RILKE!

At about 16:30, Aria Aber is cited as a great fan and proponent of Rilke

At about 18:10, Carolina gives an intricate and wise explanation of how writing and teaching elementary school and her own schooling have come together in a balance in writing for young people

At about 24:30, Carolina gives information on seeds for Few Blue Skies-an urban education class and references to drinking water in Oakland Public Schools is cited

At about 27:05, Pete compliments the universality and specificity of the book in asking Carolina about the area in which she writes and connections to real-life companies

At about 28:30, The two set the book’s exposition

At about 32:40, Carolina expands on familial connections to the Bracero Program and cites Alejandra Oliva’s Rivermouth as a great source for information about the shocking (or not) racism associated with the program

At about 36:20, Carolina likes to

At about 38:00, Carolina makes interesting points about the “invisible” work done by Paloma’s mother and many women

At about 42:00, The two discuss the strike undertaken in the book and ideas of practicality and idealism

At about 42:40, AQA days are discussed in connection to air quality issues that happen in the book and in real life

At about 44:00, The two discuss grief, and Pete compliments the realism shown by the character in the book after Julio’s father’s death

At about 45:20, Carolina responds to Pete’s question about the significance of a garden envisioned by Julio in the book

At about 47:40, Carolina expands on Julio as a “wholesome character” and drawing his dimensions and his future and romantic life

At about 49:00, Carolina talks about stretching her Bay Area loyalties in writing realistically about the IE and their sports loyalties; she talks about wanting/needing to write something that shows her "range"

At about 51:15, Carolina responds to Pete’s question about the provenance of the book’s Mayor Warner

At about 55:45, Pete and Carolina talk about ideas of ignorance with regard to Paloma, and real-life versions of naivete and idealism

At about 59:00, Carolina talks about anxieties around proving that she can write fiction rooted in nonfiction, and how she so wants kids to go to Wikipedia and do deeper research in enjoying reading

At about 1:01:55, Pete cites the “good and fun awkwardness” in some of the romantic scenes in the book, and Carolina talks about struggling to write those scenes

You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you’re checking out this episode.

Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Jeff Pearlman, a recent guest, is up soon at Chicago Review.

Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete’s one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!

This month’s Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of formative and transformative writing for children, as Pete surveys wonderful writers on their own influences.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.

Please tune in for Episode 322 with Peter Orner, the author of eight books, most recently the novel, The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter, named one of the best books of 2025 by the New Yorker and the Chicago Tribune, as well as the essay collections, Still No Word from You, a finalist for the PEN Award for the Art of the Essay, and Am I Alone Here?, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.

The episode airs February 3, later in the day.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

4 days ago

Episode 320 with Larry Strauss, Author of A Lasting Impact in the Classroom and Beyond Knowledge and Insight for Brave Teachers, and Sage Writer of a Diverse Listing of Opinion Pieces, & (Non)Fiction

4 days ago

Notes and Links to Larry Strauss’ Work

Larry Strauss is the author of five novels, most recently Light Man and Now's the Time—now an Earphone Award winning audiobook—and numerous non-fiction titles, including Students First and Other Lies, a collection of essays mostly about education, and 2025’s A Lasting Impact in the Classroom and Beyond, a guide for new and struggling teachers.

His short fiction has appeared in Streetlight, Extract(s), and elsewhere. Op-eds and other non-fiction have appeared in USA Today, for which he is an opinion columnist, and The Guardian, among others. If you grew up in the 1980s, you might have seen some of the episodes he wrote for the first-generation Transformers cartoons.

Buy A Lasting Impact in the Classroom and Beyond

Larry Strauss' Article Listing

The Chills at Will Podcast, Episode 83, with Larry Strauss

At about 1:45, Larry highlights positive feedback for his book, including a lawyer who found the book so instructive

At about 4:50, Larry recounts a tale from the book’s Preface,

At about 7:40, Larry talks about the “contagion” that is fun that can and should come with teaching, and how this relates to him wanting to write the book

At about 9:20, Larry talks about his first teaching job allowed him to “find [his] way”

At about 10:30, Larry reflects on a Catch-22 that balances systematic change and day-to-day work

At about 13:10, Larry recounts conversations dealing with guilt for teachers in taking days off

At about 15:20, Larry talks about administration and the demands they feel and what they ask of teachers

At about 16:00, The two discuss the travails of teaching during the early days of the Covid pandemic-Larry had an active 40 person class!

At about 20:30, Larry reflects on ideas of “saving kids” as a teacher

At about 23:55, Larry talks about learning, including in literature, as “life-saving” and “writers as the first psychologists"

At about 25:30, The two discuss cinematic displays of teaching and “inspirational” teaching

At about 28:25, The two reflect on early days for teachers and ideas of teaching “authenticity”

At about 33:30, Larry talks about

At about 34:25, Larry references Willy Loman in talking about “salesman” as one of the myriad roles that a teacher plays, and Pete cites extracurriculars like basketball and the difference in working with students in a voluntary situation

At about 36:20, Larry expands on his first year(s) teaching and ways in which students bought in

At about 39:00, The two discuss the importance of passion and enthusiasm and getting to know students

At about 40:40, Larry responds to Pete’s question about how he came to understand that a loud classroom is not necessarily a bad thing

At about 44:10, Larry recounts a story of a former student discovering journalism stories that already existed in his life

At about 45:30, Larry reflects on a revelation he had about never surrendering to resistant learners and about how all/most students want to learn

At about 47:25, the two talk about being adaptable as students both change and remain the same

At about 50:20, Larry draws a distinction between talking about students’ incredible qualities versus complaining to other teachers about the students

At about 52:45, Larry talks about a second-generation student and parent complaints

At about 55:25, Larry and Pete discuss the need for adaptability and “improv” as a teacher, illustrated by a lesson that has become a stalwart

At about 57:20, The two discuss the need for joy and empathy in the midst of sadness and the grind of teaching-a great Cain and Abel story!

At about 58:50, The two discuss the pros and cons of small schools

At about 1:05:15, Pete highlights an early publication of Larry’s as the two talk about supporting the students unconditionally

At about 1:07:00, The two discuss different ways of being an advocate as a teacher

At about 1:08:10, Pete compliments the book’s mixture of art and science

At about 1:08:45, Larry talks about unique new writing assignments for himself

At about 1:11:30, in talking about horrible hires for US Secretary of Education, Larry highlights the way in which John King’s fifth-grade teacher “saved his life” through field trips and other ways

This month’s Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of formative and transformative writing for children, as Pete surveys wonderful writers on their own influences.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 321 with Carolina Ixta, a writer from Oakland, California. Her debut novel, Shut Up, This Is Serious, was a Morris Award finalist, an LA Times Book Prize finalist, and the winner of the Pura Belpré Award. Few Blue Skies is her sophomore novel, forthcoming from HarperCollins on February 3, 2026.

The episode airs on February 3, Pub Day.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Saturday Jan 17, 2026

Episode 319 with Farah Ali, Author of Telegraphy, and Master Finesser of Understated Characters, the Macro Informing the Micro, and Connector of the Past and the Present

Saturday Jan 17, 2026

Notes and Links to Farah Ali’s Work

Farah Ali is from Pakistan. She is the writer of the novels Telegraphy (January 2026, CB editions), and The River, The Town, as well as the short story collection People Want to Live. Her fiction has been anthologized in Best Small Fictions and the Pushcart Prize where it has also received special mention. She is the cofounder of Lakeer, a digital space for writing from Pakistan, and reviews editor at Wasafiri.

Buy Telegraphy

Farah Ali’s Website

2024 Interview with Swetha Amit in Atticus Review

At about 0:25, Farah talks about her mindset as Pub Day approaches

At about 3:25, Farah traces her early reading, writing, and bilingualism

At about 7:30, Farah responds to Pete’s question about the connection between a high volume of British books and Britain's colonial past

At about 9:45, Farah cites Roy’s of The God of Small Things as “transformative”

At about 10:55, Natalie Diaz and Kaveh Akbar, Tom McCarthy, and Shandana Minhas are cited some as some of purveyors of some of Farah’s contemporary thrill-inducing writing

At about 13:20,

At about 15:40, Farah discusses seeds for the book

At about 18:10, Farah reflects on throughlines in the book, and her clarity in knowing what the book was to be about, and not about

At about 19:50, Pete riffs on Farah’s book in comparison to Sigrid Nunez’s The Friend

At about 20:45, Pete lays out the book’s exposition, and Farah gives background on the book’s first character, Andreas Vesalius

At about 23:55, Farah and Pete discuss protagonist Annie’s nostalgia (or lack thereof) and journaling that makes up the bulk of the book

At about 25:35, Farah talks about the epistolary nature of the book

At about 26:20, The main character, Quratulain/Annie, is characterized/given background

At about 28:05, Farah reflects on the importance of Annie as a woman in relation to stereotypes involving women’s physical and emotional health, as well as how she incorporated Adam, the long-lost love/friend of Annie and his POV

At about 30:45, an incident in which Annie and her cousin are involved in childish frivolity is discussed, and Pete asks Farah about Annie as an “observer”

At about 32:45, Farah expands on her views of agency, and expectations of writers connected to that agency

At about 33:40, Annie’s childhood sickness is examined with regard to her father’s warning her against being a maulani, as well as how she sees a man with wings

At about 36:10, Pete highlights important events for high school age Annie, and compliments a resonant line about “taking up space in the world,” which Farah reflects upon

At about 38:15, The two reflect on “awakenings” for Annie in her late adolescence and college, particularly with regard to her writing and meeting Adam

At about 41:40, The two discuss existential issues for Annie, and ways in which she sees hopelessness and hope

At about 43:25, Farah responds to Pete’s questions about Adam and Annie’s views of and performance of spirituality and religiosity

At about 45:10, Farah responds to Pete’s wondering about why Annie gets married and discussions of somatic issues

At about 46:15, The two discuss histories and themes used in the book, and Farah talks about the balance and planning for plot vs. allegory/symbolism, as well as her deep research

At about 48:55, Emerson’s “Transparent Eyeball” is cited by Farah, as she talks of her love for Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and how the book and the theory propelled her writing

At about 50:50, The two discuss ideas of insanity and intellectual achievement

This month’s Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of formative and transformative writing for children, as Pete surveys wonderful writers on their own influences.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 320 with second-time guest Larry Strauss, the author of five novels, most recently Light Man and Now's the Time—now an Earphone Award winning audiobook—and numerous non-fiction titles, including Students First and Other Lies, a collection of essays mostly about education and 2025’s A Lasting Impact in the Classroom and Beyond, a guide for new and struggling teachers, and the focus of the conversation. His short fiction has appeared in Streetlight, Extract(s), and elsewhere. Op-eds and other non-fiction have appeared in USA Today, for which he is an opinion columnist, and The Guardian, among others. If you grew up in the 1980s, you might have seen some of the episodes he wrote for the first-generation Transformers cartoons.

The episode airs on January 27.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Tuesday Jan 13, 2026

Episode 318 with Timothy Welbeck, Esq., Professor for and Creator of "Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of M.A.A.D. City" Class at Temple University, and Devoted and Thoughtful Civil Right Advocate

Tuesday Jan 13, 2026

Notes and Links to Timothy Welbeck’s Work

Timothy Welbeck, Esq., is an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Africology and African American Studies, where he previously served as an Assistant Professor of Instruction. There he teaches an array of popular courses, including a course he developed entitled Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of the m.A.A.d city. More broadly, Timothy’s scholarly work focuses on contemporary issues of racial identity in America, the intersection of racial classifications and the law in the American context, contemporary African American culture, and hip-hop as a microcosm of the Black experience. Timothy has also written several peer-reviewed journal articles including “We Have Come Into This House: The Black Church, Florida’s Stop W.O.K.E., and the Fight to Teach Black History.” He also authored “Specter of Reform: The late Sen. Arlen Specter’s Criminal Justice Reform, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and its Role in Expanding the Modern Prison Industrial Complex,” explores the impact of the infamous 1994 Crime Bill in providing the infrastructure for mass incarceration within the United States. The research, funded by the Arlen Specter Center fellowship, examines how the federalization of criminal law, pursuant to the Commerce Clause, has led to expansive growth in federal law enforcement, imprisonment, and thus setting the foundation for the modern carceral state. Timothy's article “People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths to Rhythms: Hip-Hop’s Continuation of the Enduring Tradition of African and African American Rhetorical Forms and Tropes,” examines hip-hop’s continuation of centuries-old African cultural norms and aesthetic values.

As an attorney, Timothy has long been an advocate for justice, using his legal expertise to defend society’s most vulnerable individuals, including survivors of human trafficking, survivors of police brutality, and the indigent. He has also provided crisis management, guidance, and legal counsel to churches and nonprofit organizations across the globe. In that capacity, Timothy is the Chair of the Board of Directors for The Witness Foundation, and an Advisory Board member of For the Future Organization. Timothy has also served as the Civil Rights Attorney for the Philadelphia Chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), where he defended the constitutionally protected civil rights and liberties of those who experience discrimination and harassment based on their faith, race, ethnicity, and/or national origin, particularly members of the Muslim community within Pennsylvania.

As a hip-hop artist, he has released four full length recordings, shared the stage with national and international acts (Janelle Monáe, Jidenna, EPMD, Dead Prez, and Immortal Technique), won songwriting contests (Session 1 Grand Prize in 2010 John Lennon Songwriting Contest), garnered high compliments from hip-hop legends, industry taste-makers (Sway) and record executives (VP of A&R at Def Jam, Lenny S). His latest work, entitled ‘Trane of Thought, is a live recorded hip-hop album that melds songs from his first two albums the musical style of John Coltrane.

Timothy presently serves as the Pastor of Formation and a Teaching Elder at Epiphany Church of Wilmington, bringing over twenty years of ministry experience. He fosters spiritual growth through expositional and topical preaching, community engagement, trainings, workshops and spiritual counseling. In his role, he equips Epiphany members to live out their faith practically in their communities and prepare others to do the same.

Timothy's work as an attorney and scholar has allowed him to contribute to various media outlets, such as: Axios, BBC Radio 4, CBS, CNN, The Huffington Post, NBC, The New York Times, NPR, The Philadelphia Inquirer, REVOLT TV, The Washington Post, VOX, and 900 WURD AM. He has lectured nationally and internationally at esteemed institutions like: Magdalen College of Oxford University, Georgetown University, Swarthmore College, and provided invited keynote addresses at major corporations like 1Hotels, Campbell Soup, and Merrill Lynch. As a contributing writer, Timothy has bylines in The Huffington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, WHYY, and RESPECT Magazine.

He earned his J.D. from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and his B.A. from Morehouse College, where he graduated cum laude and was awarded the Corella and Bertrand Bonner Scholarship.

Timothy finds his greatest joy and fulfillment at home with his wife and three children.

Timothy Welbeck’s Website

Video: “Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of m.A.A.d City Hiphop Course | Prof. Timothy Welbeck Explains”

Video Conversation with Georgette from XXL: “Inside the Kendrick Lamar College Course Created to Study His Lyrics and Life”

At about 2:50, Timothy highlights some “surreal moments” in his hip hop career and advocacy

At about 4:20, Timothy responds to Pete’s question about declining or rising advocacy in contemporary hip-hop

At about 6:30, Timothy reflects on the balance between a democratization of hip hop and old models of record company control

At about 9:05, Timothy talks about his reading background, including a Tim Follett read (!) and other formative works

At about 12:10, Timothy talks about being a “late bloomer” in his hip hop exposure

At about 13:25, Timothy cites Nas, Lauryn Hill, Blackstar, Outkast, The Roots as some of his favorite rappers and groups

At about 14:45, Timothy talks about friends The Remnant and how they helped him to “understand the power of [his] own voice”

At about 15:30, Timothy responds to Pete’s question about how he listen to music now that he has written about and taught classes so extensively about hip hop

At about 17:00, Timothy breaks down his process for listening to music that he will be writing/teaching about

At about 17:50, Timothy explains the different ways of ordering Kendrick Lamar’s albums/mixtapes, and expands on the class’ contours

At about 20:30, Timothy talks about the class on Kendrick Lamar’s seeds, calling it "serendipitous"

At about 23:10, Timothy talks about the class structure, including the foundation established at the beginning of the class

At about 26:30, Timothy talks about how he goes about establishing Compton as an entity in itself, while at the same time showing its similarities to other casualties of government neglect and racism

At about 28:25, Timothy talks about the "compelling" way in which Kendrick Lamar is both popularly respected and critically-acclaimed

At about 31:55, Pete and Tim discuss an early Kendrick Lamar concert

At about 32:25, Pete and Tim reflect on Kendrick Lamar’s love of Black culture and for important music legends, particularly the way in which he featured titans on To Pimp a Butterfly

At about 34:30, Tim describes the great insights

At about 36:05, Marcus J. Moore’s The Butterfly Effect and Cole Cuchna and his Dissect Podcast are shouted out by Timothy as experts on Kendrick and his work, and DJ Head as well and Curtis King are highlighted as close colleagues of Kendrick’s

At about 38:00, Timothy shares some of his favorite bars from Kendrick Lamar

At about 41:15, Pete and Timothy fanboy over Kendrick’s verse on “Nosetalgia” and Timothy gives kudos to Cole Cuchna’s breakdown of the numerology of the verse

At about 42:10, Timothy talks about a few songs that might be best representative of Kendrick Lamar’s music

You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you’re checking out this episode.

This month’s Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of children’s literature on standout writers from the show, including Robert Jones, Jr. and Javier Zamora, as well as Pete’s cherished relationship with Levar Burton, Reading Rainbow, and libraries.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 319 with Farah Ali, writer of the novel The River, The Town, and the short story collection People Want to Live. Her fiction has been anthologized in Best Small Fictions and the Pushcart Prize where it has also received special mention. She is the cofounder of Lakeer, a digital space for writing from Pakistan, and reviews editor at Wasafiri. Her novel Telegraphy is out on January 16, from CB editions, and the episode airs on Pub Day.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Tuesday Jan 13, 2026

Episode 317 with Kasim Ali, Author of Who Will Remain and Master of Snappy Dialogue, Dynamic Characters, and Resonant and Creative Plot

Tuesday Jan 13, 2026

Notes and Links to Kasim Ali’s Work

Kasim Ali was born and raised in Alum Rock, Birmingham. He is the author of the debut novel Good Intentions, has written fiction for BBC Radio 4 and has a column at The Bookseller. His short fiction has been longlisted for the 4th Estate and Guardian 4thWrite Short Story Prize, and Good Intentions was shortlisted for the Mo Siewcharran (Sue Sharon) Prize. He works as an editor in publishing and now lives in London.

Buy Who Will Remain

Kasim Ali’s Website

Interview from Hyphen Magazine: “Kasim Ali: ‘Some men think that shifting to the right is what’s going to save them’ ”

From The Observer UK: ‘What did we do to make you want to leave?’

At about 1:20, Kasim reflects on his experience since Who Will Remain was released in July 2025

At about 2:45, Kasim responds to Pete’s question about he balances the commercial and the aesthetic

At about 5:00, Kasim discusses his editing process for his own books, especially with regard to the fact that he is an editor

At about 7:20, Kasim expands on why he calls himself “1.5” with regards to generations and immigration, as well as his early language and literature life

At about 13:35, Pete asks about Urdu, and if Kasim can trace any of his writing in English to echoes of his familial language

At about 16:15, Kasim talks about his confidence (or lack thereof) in his writing of dialogue after Pete compliments his dialogue skills

At about 17:40, Kasim expands on “but” and “therefore” in dialogue-interesting and necessary writing advice

At about 20:30, Kasim schools Pete on schooling structures in the UK

At about 21:10, Kasim highlights formative and transformative writing and writers

At about 24:00, Kasim writes about his first novel as a departure from his “usual” writing style

At about 26:00, Does Kasim know Elena Ferrante’s identity????

At about 27:05, Pete asks Kasim about the book’s dedication, and Kasim expands upon his life trajectory

At about 30:05, Kasim riffs on Suella Braverman’s racist and xenophobic comments that became his book’s epigraph

At about 35:00, Kasim reflects on ideas of dealing with stereotypes and reflecting broader Pakistani/immigrant/communities is general and getting past “limiting conversations”

At about 37:05, Pete lays out some of the novel’s exposition

At about 38:15, Kasim expands on ideas of “fitting in” with different familial groups and shifting roles within the family for real-life brothers and Bilal and Amir in the novel

At about 43:05, Kasim reflects on his interest in “duality” and connects to the novel’s opening funeral scene

At about 46:10, Kasim responds to Pete’s question about tropes of masculinity dealt with in the book

At about 47:20, Kasim discusses incorporating real-life violence into the book

At about 50:00, Pete highlights simple and powerful writing (“Then then then”) that he asks Kasim about

At about 51:50, The two discuss arguments and bitterness over money

At about 52:35, Kasim responds to Pete’s noting of the affections between men in the novel

At about 59:40, Pete notes a nice nostalgic moment, and Kasim reflects on Amir’s reintroduction to Adnan, a young man he previously would have avoided; Kasim connects to his own life and seeing ex-classmates

At about 1:03:00, Kasim shares how the book Doppelganger fascinated him and gave him inspiration for his own writing about duality

At about 1:06:20, Kasim responds to Pete’s question about ideas of the “manosphere” and its connection to Amir and his connections with Farrah and the way he and friends talk about women

At about 1:10:35,

At about 1:11:50, Kasim talks about an “easy and boring” job and how it in a strange way leads to nice and welcome conversations between brothers

At about 1:14:50,

At about 1:17:40, Amir “growing into the mask”

At about 1:18:30,

At about 1:18:50, Kasim posits some possible actors for a movie

This month’s Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of formative and transformative writing for children, as Pete surveys wonderful writers on their own influences.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 318 with Timothy Wellbeck, Esquire, a leader in the fight for justice and racial equity. Timothy presently serves as the founding Director of the Center for Anti-Racism at Temple University, where he has led the Center from its inception into becoming one of the leading institutions of its kind. A Civil Rights Attorney by training and practice, Timothy is a scholar of law, race, and cultural studies. He and Pete will be talking about his standing-room only, incredibly popular Temple University classes about Kendrick Lamar and his music.

The episode airs today, Jan 13.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Wednesday Jan 07, 2026

Episode 316 with Kiese Laymon, Author of the Award-Winning Heavy: An American Memoir and Inimitable Writer of Culture, History, and the Personal, and Standout Literary Citizen and Teacher

Wednesday Jan 07, 2026

Notes and Links to Kiese Laymon’s Work

Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard. Laymon is at work on the books, Good God, and City Summer, Country Summer, and a number of other film and television projects. He is the founder of The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative, a program based out of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, aimed at aiding young people in Jackson get more comfortable reading, writing, revising and sharing on their own terms, in their own communities. He is the co-host of Reckon True Stories with Deesha Philyaw. Kiese Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.

Buy Heavy

“The Worst Shot Ever Taken” from Believer Magazine

Review for Heavy from NPR

Kiese Laymon's Website

Kiese Laymon's Wikipedia Page

At about 1:45, the two discuss Kiese’s article from The Believer and word counts and teaching high and college

At about 3:05, Kiese talks about his love of hoops and names some standout and favorite players from back in the day and now

At about 4:10, The two shout out grizzled veterans like Phillip Rivers and LeBron James

At about 5:30, Pete highlights Ernie Barnes’ work and asks Kiese about the significance of Barnes’ paintings

At about 8:45, Kiese shares his memories of and love for basketball and jumpstops and shot fakes-shout out, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

At about 10:40, Pete shouts out Jeff Pearlman’s basketball wiles

At about 11:10, Kiese lays out the exposition for his The Believer article and Pete and Kiese fanboy over Kiese’s writer friends and Sactown’s own, Cydni Matsuoka

At about 14:00, Kiese responds to Pete’s question about the “possibility” of Steph Curry

At about 16:45, Toni Cade Bambara and “Gorilla, My Love” is highlighted, as Pete links Kiese’s penultimate sentence to Bambara’s work

At about 18:20, The two discuss Kiese’s mom as a “public intellectual” and Kiese lists formative reading and listening

At about 20:30, Kiese shouts out Kendrick Lamar as a link to Public Enemy’s activism and consciousness, and marvels at his lasting power

At about 24:20, Kiese reflects on Public Enemy’s methods versus that of others like NWA or Dead Prez

At about 26:25, Kiese highlights Julian Randle, Safiya Sinclair, Deesha Philyaw, and Sarah Aziza’s work as some that resonates with his college students

At about 28:40, Pete calls attention to Heavy’s epigraph and dedication and discusses their significance

At about 31:05, Kiese responds to Pete’s question about so much of the book’s Prologue being centered on his Grandmama

At about 32:45, Kiese outlines his rationale and motivation for ultimately writing a different type of book, not the “safer” book his mom and publishers might have wanted

At about 34:30, Kiese and Pete discuss the echo of his time at Millsap College being censored/edited with an op-ed piece of his

At about 35:40, Kiese recounts stories associated with the book’s opening scene in Las Vegas

At about 38:45, Kiese reflects on his mother as his “best friend” and ideas of mortality and “initation”

At about 40:55, Kiese responds to Pete’s questions about the way his family interacted in his childhood

At about 45:20, Pete sets up an important opening scene involving Layla and asks Kiese about rape/sexual assault in the house of older acquaintances

At about 50:10, Kiese reflects on ideas of power and safety and sexuality

At about 53:15, Pete and Kiese discuss the juxtaposition of his mom as a public intellectual and as someone who struggled with financial and other practical pursuits

At about 55:30, Kiese talks about Malachi Hunter in the book and balancing “reductive and stupid” comments he made with lessons he taught Kiese

At about 57:20, Kiese and Pete trace the different ways in which Malachi and Kiese’s mom and grandmother undertook “reckoning” or didn’t

At about 59:00, Kiese homes in on his grandmother’s life and “reckon[ings}” with history and sexism and racism

At about 1:01:00, Pete and Kiese discuss the ways in which Kiese’s grandmother got by financially and spiritually

At about 1:01:50, Kiese expands on the ways in which he viewed organized religion

At about 1:03:40, The two discuss the ways in which the book’s title was manifested through his grandmother’s love

At about 1:04:10, Abundance! and slang that didn’t catch on is discussed

At about 1:04:50, Kiese reflects on a painful experience in school involving a viewing of Roots without a larger discussion

At about 1:08:55, Kiese expands upon how he saw Mississippi in his year away in Maryland

At about 1:11:05, Kiese discusses an early relationship and its challenges and the conflicting ways in which he viewed his coach and teacher

At about 1:14:10, Kiese regrades a high school essay-it’s an “A!”

At about 1:15:00, Kiese responds to Pete asking about his high school graduation boycott

At about 1:16:50, The two discuss time in college and Kiese’s relationship with a girl and his learning in class and outside of school-Pete highlights a wonderful paragraph on Page 141 that highlights “liberation”

At about 1:18:00, Kiese shares the practical advice Malachi Hunter gave Kiese as he was threatened in college for his writing

At about 1:19:25, Kiese reflects on the ways in which he viewed his writing

At about 1:20:45, Kiese talks about Tate Reeves’ presence at a racist frat event and the ways in which Tate knew Kiese and failed him

At about 1:23:50, Kiese talks about how the book is different/aged since he published it in 2018

This month’s Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of formative and transformative writing for children, as Pete surveys wonderful writers on their own influences.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 317 with Dr. Timothy Wellbeck. a leader in the fight for justice and racial equity. Timothy presently serves as the founding Director of the Center for Anti-Racism at Temple University, where he has led the Center from its inception into becoming one of the leading institutions of its kind. A Civil Rights Attorney by training and practice, Timothy is a scholar of law, race, and cultural studies. We’ll be talking about his standing-room only, incredibly popular Temple University classes about Kendrick Lamar and his music.

The episode airs on January 13.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Wednesday Dec 31, 2025

Episode 315 with Cole Cuchna, Creator and Host of Dissect Podcast and an Intellectually Curious, Master Analyst and Researcher of Sound and Lyrics and the Alchemy of the Great Artists

Wednesday Dec 31, 2025

Notes and Links to Cole Cuchna’s Work

Cole Cuchna graduated from California State University with a degree in music composition. Cuchna graduated in 2015, pursued a short solo career, then worked as a barista. But his desire to bridge the classical and pop worlds persisted. He remembered his love of writing essays and conducting deep research about music. That coincided with the growing popularity of podcasting, which had been around for a decade. It was the perfect medium, he felt, for long-form analysis of an audio art.

Cole is the host and creator of Dissect Podcast, a music podcast which debuted in 2016. The podcast is renowned for its in-depth analysis of contemporary music. Dissect was named "Best podcast of 2017" by Quartz, and the following year was named "Best podcast of 2018" by The New York Times. Additionally, both Time magazine and The Guardian listed Dissect as one of the top 50 podcasts of 2018. 2025 marks the 13th season of Dissect.

Listen to Dissect Podcast

Watch Dissect Podcast on Netflix

Dissect Podcast Homepage

Dissect Podcast Wikipedia

Review of Dissect Podcast

At about 2:55, Cole explains plans for Dissect Podcast on Netflix, coming soon!

At about 4:40, Cole responds to Pete’s question about his own love of hip hop and transformative and formative music for him

At about 6:50, Cole underscores the “shared community” of skating growing up that welcomed “rappers” and “rockers”

At about 8:30, Robin Branson, who put Pete on to Dissect (thanks, Robin), asks Cole about his view of himself as an “educator”

At about 12:35, the two discuss Cole’s research process and ideas of knowing the artist and his/her art

At about 15:45, Pete shares a profound quote from Cole about the essence of music and music fandom

At about 16:15, Cole responds to Pete’s question about how he listens to music differently (or not) since he has become

At about 17:20, Cole expands upon the genesis for the podcast, dealing with Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and his daughter’s birth

At about 19:00, a discussion of possible future hip hop heads alludes to a classic video

At about 20:00, Cole outlines his average research time and his early research in the early days of the podcast

At about 20:45, Cole explains what skills he had already developed in college music composition, and what skills he has learned/used in doing the podcast

At about 22:20, Cole responds to Pete’s question about how he picks an album

At about 25:00, Pete details some of the great “subtlety and nuance” on the podcast

At about 26:45, Cole expands on one of the show’s “inside jokes”

At about 27:45, Pete brings up “syncopation” in Radiohead’s work in asking Cole about he balances sonic and lyrical jargon with digestible information for people who are not necessarily students of music theory

At about 32:15, Cole responds to Pete’s question about what it’s like to work with experts on individual artists in crafting his seasons

At about 34:25, Cole and Pete discuss the “side projects” that Cole has done involving standout artists and songs

At about 36:20, Cole reflects on contemporary artists and his willingness to stay open to new sounds and talents

At about 40:20, Cole talks about cool and beneficial feedback from the artists profiled on the podcast

At about 41:40, Cole responds to Pete asking about “surreal” moments he’s experienced in doing the podcast and offshoot projects

At about 42:40, Manifesting for a future Cole interview with Kendrick!

At about 43:20, Cole shouts out the rapper who has “sealed the deal” for him as the G.O.A.T.

At about 44:25, When’s Frank Ocean gonna drop?

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 316 with Kiese Laymon, a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. He is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times.

The episode airs on January 6.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Tuesday Dec 23, 2025

Episode 314 with Joe McGinniss Jr., Author of Damaged People: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons and Master of Nuance, Resonant Scenes, and Reflection Created by Juxtaposition

Tuesday Dec 23, 2025

Notes and Links to Joe McGinniss’ Work

Joe McGinniss Jr. is the author of DAMAGED PEOPLE, CAROUSEL COURT and THE DELIVERY MAN.

Buy Damaged People: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons

Joe's Wikipedia

Review of Damaged People in Kirkus Reviews

People Magazine Article about Damaged People

At about 1:30, Joe talks about wonderful feedback he’s gotten from readers of his memoir

At about 2:40, Pete and Joe reflect on his father’s work and ideas in relation to the “public intellectual”

At about 4:45, Joe expands on the hard work and determination that led to him being so revered, even by Robert F. Kennedy

At about 8:10, Joe gives purchasing information for Damaged People

At about 9:30, Joe gives seeds and background for his memoir, including a catalyst in a 2016 New Yorker article

At about 10:45, The two discuss the book’s epigraphs and Joe remarks on writing about such personal experiences and close friends and family

At about 13:50, Joe responds to Pete’s questions about the book’s Prologue setting

At about 16:50, Joe expands on the analogy of his father put forth by his brother of their father as a “puppy pissing on the rug”

At about 21:40, Pete references Lorenzo Carcaterra’s A Safe Place and connections to Joe’s book

At about 23:00, Joe expands upon cycles involving sons and fathers and reflects on the line from the book that “progress is being made”

At about 28:00, Joe responds to Pete’s questions about a telling photo opp for a magazine article on Heroes by his father

At about 30:50, Pete and Joe give background on Joe, Sr.’s breakthrough with The Selling of the President, and Joe discusses connections between the events of the book and today’s politics

At about 33:00, the two discuss Joe’s father’s triumphs and the parts he was lacking as a father, in connection to his own father’s treatment of him; Joe emphasizes that his son knew he “was loved” by his grandfather

At about 36:20, Pete lays out some of the book’s flashforward scene to beautiful memories of his growing son and wonderful wife, and then the two talk Rex Chapman and basketball inspiration

At about 40:10, Joe talks about his first book’s tour, and how he built great memories, and he talks about the juxtaposed

At about 41:40, The two discuss the “idyllic” life lived by Joe’s father (and Joe for a while), and Joe shares some amazing anecdotes from those days

At about 44:40, Joe relates the story of his dog Lucy being stolen by a 19-year-old Kiefer Sutherland (!)

At about 45:30, Joe expands on his father’s experience researching Fatal Vision

At about 49:50, Joe gives background on the importance of the saying, “Everything’s blowin’ away” in connection to his father’s energy and ambition and anxiety

At about 52:45, Joe responds to Pete’s questions about his father’s treatment of Jeffrey McDonald in Fatal Vision

At about 53:30, Pete reflects on changes in Joe’s relationship with his son as he grows up

At about 54:30, Joe recounts the story that Janet Malcolm wrote regarding the MacDonald case and how Joe, Sr. was sued

At about 59:20, Joe traces the late 80s and 90s for his father, and his bold decision to turn down an O.J. Simpson trial book and write instead about Italian soccer

At about 1:05:30, Joe shares his perspective on apology letters and confession letters written by his father to him and his siblings

At about 1:08:00, Joe reflects on the times in which he knew he had been too overbearing and strict with his son in his basketball career

At about 1:11:50, Joe reflects on ideas of life and father-son relationships as “process[es]” in connection to his father’s death and “gaps” left behind

At about 1:15:10, Joe responds to Pete’s question about how he now sees sons after these years of writing and reflection

At about 1:17:30, Joe charts his dad’s reactions to hip-hop

Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review.

This month’s Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of flawed characters, protagonists who are too real in their actions, and horror and noir as being where so much good and realistic writing takes place.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 315 with Cole Cuchna, the host and the creator of Dissect, a serialized music podcast that examines a single album per season, one song per episode. Dissect was named "Best podcast of 2017" by Quartz, and the following year was named "Best podcast of 2018" by the New York Times. It has done deep dives on albums by Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Childish Gambino, Tyler the Creator, MF Doom, Radiohead, Frank Ocean, and more.

The episode airs on December 30.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Tuesday Dec 09, 2025

Episode 313 with Jackie Domenus, Author of No Offense: A Memoir in Essays, and Standout Builder of Subtlety and The Macro and Micro, The Societal and the Personal

Tuesday Dec 09, 2025

Notes and Links to Jackie Domenus’ Work

Jackie Domenus (she/they) is a queer writer from South Jersey and the author of NO OFFENSE: A MEMOIR IN ESSAYS (2025), published with ELJ Editions. A 2021 Tin House Winter Workshop graduate, Jackie’s essays have appeared in The HuffPost, The Offing Mag, The Normal School, Variant Lit, Entropy, Watershed Review, Wig-Wag, Philadelphia Stories, and HerStry, among other publications Their poetry has appeared in Hooligan Mag and Giving Room Mag. Her short story “Mirror Image” published in So To Speak, as well as her essay “Two Truths and a Lie” published in Identity Theory, were both nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Jackie has formerly served as a publishing assistant at Guernica Magazine, an associate editor for Glassworks Magazine, and a contest coordinator for Philadelphia Stories. They work as the Program Director for Fellowships at Mid Atlantic Arts.

Buy No Offense: A Memoir in Essays

Jackie's Website

Review of No Offense in The Rumpus: “Misperceptions, Assumptions, and Slurs: Jackie Domenus’s No Offense”

At about 3:45, Jackie talks about ideas of representation and reading as a kid-they highlight The Perks of Being a Wallflower

At about 6:50, shout out to Shel Silverstein’s feet (and writing)!

At about 7:15, Jackie responds to Pete’s questions about their early writing journey

At about 9:45, Jackie reflects on writing as “cathartic” and "therapeutic," in certain conditions, and in some conditions, not so

At about 12:20, Zoe Bossier, Kiese Laymon, Melissa Febos, and K.B. Brookins are shouted out as writers who thrill and challenge Jackie

At about 14:05, Pete asks Jackie about their book’s Foreword and the process in ultimately deciding to include early writing that had them in different and perhaps more privileged places

At about 18:10, Pete and Jackie

At about 20:40, Jackie talks about interesting and fun feedback from readers

At about 24:30, Jackie responds to Pete asking about early on in the book defining “microaggression”

At about 26:15, Pete lays out the book’s exposition in discussing the first essay of the book, and Jackie expands upon the essay’s themes and connecting POVs

At about 30:20, Jackie emphasizes their belief that any memoir, particularly queer and trans memoir, does not need to be linear

At about 31:15, the two discuss the book’s essay meditations on the uses of terms for men and women connected to dogs

At about 33:15, Jackie responds to Pete’s question about the anecdote in the essay where their dad broke down over the loss of the family dog

At about 35:35, Jackie and Pete discuss Mary Poppins and heroes and queer people and their representations in media in Jackie’s formative years

At about 39:00, The two discuss ignorance and ideas of “othering” as reflected in a resonant anecdote in the book about a trip to the OB/GYN

At about 42:45, Pete uses an example from a Simpsons’ episode in asking Jackie about the balance between educating and becoming a crutch for people looking for validation

At about 46:50, Jackie expands upon the line from the book that their “coming out was not really a ‘coming out’ ”

At about 49:10, Jackie reflects on the material from the book’s essay dealing with interpretations of queerness in Jennifer’s Body, Girl, Interrupted, and Black Swan

At about 53:15, Jackie discusses an essay that identifies three “first loves” and traces their outward sexuality

At about 56:20, Pete compliments Jackie’s use of second person, highlighting a beautiful imagined scene on Page 84, and Jackie talks about their mindset and aim for the essay

At about 1:00:35, “Burden of Proof” and a student of Jackie’s, Isaac’s, moving experiences are discussed

At about 1:04:50, Fear and the Trump era are discussed as rendered in the book, as well as Jackie’s continuing "realization"

Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 314 with Mariah Rigg. She is a Samoan-Haole who was born and raised on the island of O‘ahu. She is the author of the short story collection EXTINCTION CAPITAL OF THE WORLD (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2025), which was listed a best book of 2025 by Esquire, Electric Lit, and Debutiful, and received praise from Vulture, Oprah Daily, Chicago Review of Books, Literary Hub, Autostraddle, Ms. Magazine, and more.

The episode airs on December 16.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Wednesday Nov 26, 2025

Episode 312 with Amber Sparks, Author of Happy People Don't Live Here, and Creator of Wonderfully Weird Characters, Resonant Settings, and Clever Page-Turners

Wednesday Nov 26, 2025

Notes and Links to Amber Sparks’ Work

Amber Sparks is the author of the short story collections And I Do Not Forgive You and The Unfinished World. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, Slate, and elsewhere. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, daughter, and cats. Happy People Don’t Live Here was published in October 2025.

Buy Happy People Don't Live Here

Amber’s Website

Kirkus Reviews of Happy People Don't Live Here

At about 1:20, Amber describes the “weird” time about a month after the book’s publication, an in-between time

At about 2:25, Amber talks about the feedback she has received since the book was published, including surprising thoughts shared about the child narrator and the “other” narrator, Alice

At about 5:25, Amber talks about her influences growing up, including fantasy and writers like Dean Koontz

At about 7:40, Amber talks about her inclination to write a book featuring multiple genres, with the result being Happy People Don’t Live Here

At about 9:20, Amber responds to Pete asking about plot and allegory and their balance

At about 11:35, Amber shouts out Kelly Link, Rion Amicar-Scott, Stephen Graham-Jones, and Matt Bell as a few of many contemporary writers she loves

At about 14:35, Amber and Pete discuss the book’s resonant epigraphs, and Amber talks about her interest in ghosts

At about 18:00, Pete shouts out the classic story “Someone Has Been Disarranging these Roses”

At about 19:15, Amber explains her chapters and the rationale in making the book “episodic”

At about 20:50, The book’s beginning and connections to real-life events is discussed

At about 24:35, The two discuss one of the book’s main character, Fern

At about 27:10, Pete compliments the book’s setting, and Amber provides background for the place

At about 30:00, the two discuss the book’s inciting incident, a body discovered by Fern, and Amber expands on the ways she went about populating the book

At about 35:40, some key characters are discussed, including a possible love interest for Alice

At about 36:40, Amber responds to Pete’s question about Alice’s ex-husband as a sort of flat character-she calls him a “cipher”

At about 40:10, Amber reflects on Alice’s ways of avoiding the past and running from this past, and Amber shouts out William H. Macy in Magnolia

At about 43:50, the two discuss the “banal” ghost

At about 47:00, parent-child relationships are discussed

At about 51:20, Pete asks Amber about writing in second-person, as she does for part of her book-shout out to Lorrie Moore!

At about 55:40, Amber talks about exciting new projects

Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 313 with Jackie Domenus, a queer writer from South Jersey and the author of NO OFFENSE: A MEMOIR IN ESSAYS (2025), published with ELJ Editions. A 2021 Tin House Winter Workshop graduate, Jackie’s essays have appeared in The HuffPost, The Offing Mag, The Normal School, Pidgeonholes, Foglifter Journal, Variant Lit, Entropy, and many more. Their poetry has appeared in Hooligan Mag and Giving Room Mag. Her short story “Mirror Image” published in So To Speak, as well as her essay “Two Truths and a Lie” published in Identity Theory, were both nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

The episode airs on December 2.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Tuesday Nov 25, 2025

Episode 311 with Kurt Baumeister, Author of Twilight of the Gods, and Skilled Worldbuilder, Craftsman of the Subtle and Resonant, and Curious Student of History

Tuesday Nov 25, 2025

Notes and Links to Kurt Baumeister’s Work

Kurt Baumeister’s writing has appeared in Salon, Guernica, Electric Literature, Rain Taxi, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, The Weeklings, and other outlets. An acquisitions editor with 7.13 Books, Baumeister holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College, and is a member of The National Book Critics Circle and The Authors Guild. Twilight of the Gods is his second novel.

Buy Twilight of the Gods

Kurt’s Website

Chicago Review of Books Interview Re: Twilight of the Gods

At about 2:45, Kurt talks about the book’s original publication date falling around the 2024 elections

At about 6:15, Kurt reflects on the vagaries of publishing, and interesting and complimentary feedback from readers on the book

At about 11:30, Pete shares a wonderful quote about Kurt’s writing, and Kurt discusses Martin Amis and other influences on his writing

At about 15:45, The two discuss the book’s “Dramatis Personae” to start the book and some tongue-in-cheek descriptions of some Norse gods

At about 17:30, Kurt responds to Pete’s questions about Loki’s historical and mythical evolutions

At about 20:30, Kurt reflects on metafiction and gives background on why he names a main character in the book “Kurt”

At about 23:50, Kurt talks about media representations of Loki in connection to his own

At about 25:30, Kurt describes why he makes Loki as he is

At about 28:20, Kurt gives background on the Norns, of which Sunshine/Sabrina from the book is a member

At about 29:30, Pete compliments the ways the book traces human history, particularly with regard to Hitler’s rise

At about 34:15, Kurt responds to Pete’s question about mixing fiction and fact

At about 37:00, Kurt talks about history repeating itself and connecting disparate eras

At about 39:55, Kurt responds to Pete’s question about the subtleties and the nuances of the book, i.e, plot focus v. allegory focus

At about 42:00, Kurt discusses his mindset in writing the ending(s) of the book

At about 45:00, An intriguing question posed in the book about fate is probed

At about 45:50, Pete cites the book’s ending as highly successful, and Kurt shouts out a shared beloved movie, Training Day, with regard to slowly-creeping evil

At about 47:50, a “reverence and pity” for artists is discussed, as mentioned in the book

Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 312 with Amber Sparks, the author of the short story collections And I Do Not Forgive You and The Unfinished World. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, Slate, and elsewhere. Her book, Happy People Don’t Live Here, was published in October 2025.

The episode drops on November 25, today.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Tuesday Nov 25, 2025

Episode 310 with Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Author of Art Above Everything: One Woman’s Global Exploration...of a Creative Life, and Empathetic Listener, Dogged Researcher, and Curious Learner

Tuesday Nov 25, 2025

Notes and Links to Stephanie Elizondo Griest’s Work

*Content Warning: Please be aware that the book discusses sexual assault

Stephanie Elizondo Griest is a globetrotting author from the Texas/Mexico borderlands. Her six books include Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana; Mexican Enough; All the Agents and Saints; and Art Above Everything: One Woman’s Global Exploration of the Joys and Torments of a Creative Life. She has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, VQR, The Believer, BBC, Orion, Lit Hub, and Oxford American. Her work has been supported by the Lannan Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Princeton University, and the Institute for Arts and Humanities, and she has won a Margolis Award, an International Latino Book Award, a PEN Southwest Book Award, and two Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism prizes. Currently Professor of Creative Nonfiction at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Elizondo Griest has performed in capacities ranging from a Moth storyteller to a literary ambassador for the U.S. State Department. Wanderlust has led her to 50 countries and 49 states. Her hardest journey was to Planet Cancer in 2017, but she’s officially in remission now. She recently endowed Testimonios Fronterizos, a research grant for student journalists from the borderlands enrolled at her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Journalism.

Buy Art Above Everything

Stephanie's Website

Review of Art Above Everything in Southern Review

At about 3:40 Stephanie expands on her creative background and family connections to music and language

At about 10:15, Stephanie talks about formative and transformative texts, including work by and her relationship with her “spiritual madrina,” Sandra Cisneros

At about 11:30, Stephanie discusses similarities and differences in some Mexican Spanish and Tejano Spanish

At about 13:30, Stephanie provides seeds for her book

At about 16:50, The two discuss a dearth of publicity and respect for female travel writers, and generally females writing about art

At about 18:15, Stephanie talks about the formative artist residency in 2014 in India, at Nrityagram

At about 20:30, Stephanie responds to Pete’s question about Sheryl Oring’s inspiration for Stephanie’s creative life

At about 24:45, the two discuss “Art as Reconciliation” and Stephanie’s experiences in Rwanda with therapeutic theater and hard and painful and moving conversations and reconciliations

At about 29:05, Pete and Stephanie discuss post-dictatorship and art done in response to the House of the People in Romania

At about 34:20, Stephanie and Pete discuss similarities between female artists around the world, as seen in Stephanie’s research and travels, regardless of economic status and country of origin; Stephanie cites “callings” at young ages

At about 38:30, Wendy Whelan and her absolute “devotion” to art is discussed, as well as the ways in which domineering males have often abused and defamed artistic women

At about 44:00, Bjork and Iceland’s masterful director Vilborg Davíðsdóttir and “Art as Revenge” are discussed

At about 48:55, Stephanie talks about the process of writing so personally

At about 50:45, “Art as Medicine” and Stephanie’s journey with cancer and ideas of humor and sustenance are discussed, along with Stephanie being “revived” by sharing stories on a mini book tour

At about 54:20, Havana Habibi and its resonance are discussed

At about 56:40, Sandra Cisneros as a “spiritual madrina” to Stephanie and so many others is discussed

At about 1:00:40, Stephanie expands on the “force” that is Mama Mihirangi and her connection to Maori and female liberation

At about 1:04:10, Ayana Evans and her performance and her subverting expectations of Black women are discussed, including the Loophole of Retreat

At about 1:09:00, The two discuss “Art as Immoratality” and ideas of legacy and passing on creativity and art as so meaningful

At about 1:11:20, Stephanie reflects on the book’s 10 year span and its meanings

Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 311 with Kurt Baumeister, whose writing has appeared in Salon, Electric Literature, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, and other outlets. An acquisitions editor with 7.13 Books, Baumeister is a member of The National Book Critics Circle and The Authors Guild, and 2025’s Twilight of the Gods is his second novel.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Tuesday Nov 18, 2025

Episode 309: Kaila Yu, Author of Fetishized: A Reckoning With Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty, and Nuanced Writer of Historical and Contemporary Pop Culture, Misogyny, & Anti-Asian Racist Othering

Tuesday Nov 18, 2025

Notes and Links to Kaila Yu’s Work

Kaila Yu is a singer, songwriter, former model, and freelance journalist for Rolling Stone, CNN, Glamour, and more.

She was formerly the lead singer for the all-Asian-American, female rock band Nylon Pink. Yu is also one of the founders of the jewelry/fashion line "Hello Drama" which is affiliated with the Nylon Pink band and style.

Buy Fetishized: A Reckoning With Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty

Kaila's Instagram

Review of Fetishized for The New York Times

At about 1:10, Kaila responds to Pete’s questions about feedback she has gotten on the book, and how she sees the book now, post-publication

At about 3:15, Pete asks Kaila to share background information on her reading and language life

At about 4:45, Kaila talks about how writing as a profession developed and shouts out Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong and Melissa Febos and Roxane Gay’s greatness

At about 7:05, Kaila talks about the catalysts for her writing her book, largely around the beginning of the Covid pandemic

At about 10:20, Kaila talks about distinctions, or lack thereof, between “fetish” and preference

At about 11:45, Kaila and Pete discuss the book’s opening and hurtful and harmful comments towards Kaila, some in recent years

At about 13:20, Kaila reflects on “mainstreamed objectification” and an observation from the book that “objectification was better than invisibility”

At about 16:35, the two discuss halting attempts at Asian representation in the 90s and early 2000s

At about 18:10, Kaila discusses the evolution of Asian and Asian-American stars and their ability to “make their own lane”

At about 19:05, Kaila talks about ideas of personal “diminish[ment]” growing up in comparison to media portrayals

At about 20:30, Kaila responds to Pete’s questions about the effects of Memoirs of a Geisha and perpetuation of harmful tropes

At about 22:30, more examples of problematic representation of Asian women in pop culture and in Kaila’s schooling are discussed

At about 23:00, Kaila talks about the evolution of “ABGs”

At about 25:30, Kaila talks about the “groundbreaking” Joy Luck Club and also ways that it could have been better in minimizing stereotypes

At about 26:30, Kaila gives background on the start of her pinup model, as well as how rife the industry is with sexualization and sexual crimes

At about 27:45, Kaila gives background on a contemporary San Diego “modeling gig” agency that led to sexual crimes, showing how her experience was sadly not unique

At about 30:05, Kaila responds to Pete’s question about online and in-person hateful and misogynistic comments and how she and bandmates

At about 31:50, Kaila talks about she didn’t connect at the time, but does now, about how she dealt with traumas

At about 33:00, Shoutout to Allen Carr and his anti-smoking books

At about 33:45, Pete asks Kaila about the pitfalls of fame, and her ceaseless battle to remove a defamatory video

At about 35:35, Kaila talks about ideas of a "separation" and the impetus for her name change

At about 36:40, The two discuss ideas of interchangeability and the history of blepharoplasty

At about 38:50, Afong Moy and other exoticism and inhumane conditions for Asian women are discussed, and how this led to a sexualization of these women

At about 41:15, Kaila and Pete discuss some acting and entertainment highlights and struggles; included is some reminiscing about MySpace!

At about 43:50, Kaila responds to Pete’s questions about the end of her music career and performing in multiple ways

At about 45:15, Kaila talks about recent iterations of KPop and patriarchal and feminism in more current music

At about 46:55, Kaila reflects on positive feedback and the legacy involving Nylon Pink

At about 47:10, Kaila talks Guns n Roses and “classic” songs and concerts

At about 49:15, Kaila forecasts what she will be writing about in the future

Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 310 with Stephanie Elizondo Griest, a globetrotting author from the Texas/Mexico borderlands. Her six books include Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana; Mexican Enough; All the Agents and Saints; and Art Above Everything: One Woman’s Global Exploration of the Joys and Torments of a Creative Life. The latter will be the main conversation piece.

This episode airs on November 20.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Tuesday Nov 11, 2025

Episode 308 with Jeff Pearlman, Author of Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur and Dogged Researcher, Master of Story "Layering" and of Both Concepts in "Work of Art"

Tuesday Nov 11, 2025

Notes and Links to Jeff Pearlman’s Work

Jeff Pearlman is the New York Times bestselling author of ten books. His subjects include the ’80s Los Angeles Lakers (Showtime), the 1986 New York Mets (The Bad Guys Won), the ’90s Dallas Cowboys (Boys Will Be Boys), and NFL legends Walter Payton (Sweetness) and Brett Favre (Gunslinger). HBO adapted Showtime into the dramatic series Winning Time, produced and directed by Adam McKay. A former Sports Illustrated senior writer and ESPN.com columnist, Pearlman is the host of the Two Writers Slinging Yang podcast and blogs regularly at jeffpearlman.com.

Buy Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur

Jeff's Website

NPR Coverage of Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur

At about 3:15, Jeff talks about writing against hagiography and how he doesn’t “bring bias” into his writing, whether about Tupac or sports

At about 5:25, Pete compliments the structure of the book, as it examines each of the places that shaped Tupac’s life

At about 5:55, Rapid-fire questions! *Best Tupac collab? Best movie role?

At about 8:45, A beautiful shout-out to friend Curtis Dorsey and Jeff’s dad, Stan

At about 10:20, Jeff shouts out some favorite lines from Tupac’s songs

At about 10:50, Pete and Jeff discuss Tupac’s “layering songs” and wondrous laugh

At about 12:55, Jeff responds to Pete’s question about Jeff’s “in”/entry point for writing about someone who has been written about so much

At about 15:45, Jeff expands on writing his biography of Tupac as a type of "layering" and the importance of specificity

At about 17:00, Jeff talks about how interviewing 652 people for his Tupac book is actually something that “[he] is supposed to do”

At about 19:55, Jeff reflects a bit on book promotion and book release

At about 21:25, Jeff shouts out Dusty Baker as “maybe the coolest human being who’s ever walked the planet”

At about 22:20, Pete asks Jeff about Set Shakur’s quote that Tupac died “alone”; Jeff reflects on the “isolation” of fame

At about 24:00, Jeff talks about Suge Knight and his indifference and his intriguing story

At about 25:45, Jeff talks about Tupac’s connection or lack thereof to the Mob Piru gang

At about 26:45, Pete gives an incomplete and rambling answer to the best Tupac song

At about 28:10, Davonn Hodge and his mother reuniting due to great work by Jeff Pearlman and Michelle Soulli is discussed, as Jeff gives the background on the reunification

At about 30:20, Jeff gives background on Afeni Shakur’s hometown, Lumberton, NC, and he gives a shoutout to Howard Bryant’s book on Ricky Henderson

At about 31:30, Jeff recounts a story about going to Lumberton to use the microfiche, but wound up seeing Tupac’s grave

At about 32:10, Jeff gives background on Afeni Shakur’s amazing life and highlights her accomplishments and travails

At about 33:30, Jeff and Pete discuss “Dear Mama” as aspirational and the sadness of Afeni’s substance abuse and how Tupac dealt with this horrible disappointment and “trauma”

At about 35:15, Jeff talks in awe of Afeni’s defending herself in the “Panther 21” trial

At about 36:20, Jeff discusses Tupac’s name origins

At about 37:45, Jeff responds to Pete’s question about Tupac’s dad Billy Garland and male role models

At about 39:40, The two discuss horrible athletic performances in movies and Tupac’s unfortunate basketball shooting motion

At about 41:00, Jeff gives some background on Tupac’s birth name

At about 41:40, Jeff talks about the impression that New York made on Tupac, musically and personally

At about 43:00, The two discuss Tupac’s time in Baltimore and at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and Tupac as an actor and singer; Jeff calls Baltimore his “favorite Tupac era”

At about 45:10, The two talk about Tupac’s Baltimore time and struggles and how “shapeshifter” didn’t quite fit him

At about 47:10, Jeff traces the Shakurs’ move to Marin City and connections to Geronimo Pratt and his family

At about 48:15, Jeff shares a profound statement from Set Shakur about moving vs. “relocating”

At about 48:50, Jeff talks about Marin City and recreating the Marin City of when Tupac lived there

At about 50:50, Jeff expands on similarities between Tupac’s time in the creative worlds of performing arts high schools in Baltimore and Marin City/ and his mother’s downward spiral

At about 51:55, The two discuss the significance of Marin City’s Festival on the Green 1992 and further reporting on the tragedy as a “turning point”

At about 55:50, Jeff responds to Pete’s observation about Tupac’s first albums not being highly-received and focuses on the changes that led to his second album being disappointing for Tupac

At about 57:20, Jeff traces an almost parallel life for Tupac as a revolutionary leader in Atlanta

At about 58:45, Jeff talks about the awkward time with Tupac working to become a community leader

At about 1:00:20, Jeff responds to Pete’s question about the reactions from people who were wowed by Tupac's raps in person

At about 1:03:00, Jeff shares what he learned in his interviews about Tupac the actor

At about 1:06:00, Jeff shares his thoughts on the alleged second sexual assault by Tupac

At about 1:08:15, Pete and Jeff discuss the “fan[ning] of the hip hop media/media and Tupac’s

At about 1:09:35, Pete compliments the skillful ways in which the last hours and days (the “banal”) were rendered in the way

At about 1:11:10, Pete asks Jeff about how much Death Row changed Tupac/brought out tendencies in him

At about 1:12:55, Jeff shares information from the book on two or three parallel universes where Tupac almost avoided being in Las Vegas

At about 1:13:55, Jeff reflects on Tupac as a 54 year old

Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 309 with Amber Sparks, the author of the short story collections And I Do Not Forgive You and The Unfinished World. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, Slate, and elsewhere. Her book Happy People Don’t Live Here was published in October 2025.

The episode drops on November 18.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Wednesday Nov 05, 2025

Episode 307 with Nicole Cuffy, Author of O Sinners! and Master of Subtlety, Dynamic Characters, and Historical Fiction that Shines a Light on Today

Wednesday Nov 05, 2025

Notes and Links to Nicole Cuffy’s Work

Nicole Cuffy is the author of Dances, longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. Cuffy has an MFA from The New School and is a lecturer at the University of Maryland and Georgetown University. Her work can be found in the New England Review; The Masters Review, Volume VI (curated by Roxane Gay); Chautauqua; and Blue Mesa Review. Her chapbook, Atlas of the Body, won the Chautauqua Janus Prize and was a finalist for the Black River Chapbook Competition. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Buy O Sinners!

Nicole's Linktree

Los Angeles Times Review of O Sinners!

At about 2:20, Nicole talks about O Sinners and the feedback she has gotten on the book since publication

At about 3:45, The two discuss the three POVs/genres of the book and Nicole’s early inspirations, including Toni Morrison and Shirley Jackson

At about 5:25, Nicole responds to Pete’s inquiry about the wonderful “specificity” of Toni Morrison, and Pete brings up the interesting ways that Myriam Gurba sees allegory and specificity

At about 6:40, Nicole talks about Karen Russell and Victor Lavalle and other contemporary favorite writers

At about 8:00, Pete lays out the book’s exposition and asks Nicole about the significance of a groove in the wall at the narrator Faruq’s house

At about 10:05, the two discuss Faruq’s complicated feelings towards his aunties and his deceased father

At about 12:45, Nicole describes the reporting gig that serves as a catalyst for much of the book’s action

At about 14:15, Nicole discusses the significance of an AirPod that says a lot about the way Faruq sees death and his father’s death

At about 15:45, Nicole gives some background on the Nameless’ beliefs

At about 17:05, Pete gives some background on the book’s structure

At about 18:05, Nicole outlines the dynamic between the group of soldiers introduced in the “Before” sections of the book

At about 19:30, Nicole talks about Faruq’s father’s “power[lessness]” in experiencing racism and cites a telling quote from James Baldwin about fathers and sons and racism

At about 23:05, Nicole responds to Pete’s question about the makeup of the cult, the Nameless, and she expands also on the type of person who might be a cult leader

At about 25:00, Nicole talks about envisioning the “rage” that Odo, the leader, would harbor coming home after Vietnam in the first US segregated army and continuing to experience systemic racism

At about 27:45, Nicole traces the rise of Odo in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, while reflecting on what would make him popular

At about 29:00, Nicole reflects on the “charisma” and other qualities that drew people to Odo

At about 31:00, Nicole talks about the Nameless’ move to Texas and the chain of events that led to confrontations

At about 32:30, Nicole talks about being “inspired” by the structure and storyline of “Wild, Wild Country”

At about 34:00, Nicole responds to Pete’s questions about the racism shown by Will Roy and his followers in Texas in response to the Nameless’ move

At about 35:35, the two talk about small discrepancies in the cult’s history and narrative

At about 37:00, Nicole talks about the multiple “reads” of the book’s wolf

At about 40:10, Nicole reflects on the Nameless’ views of death and life and the 18 Utterances doctrines

At about 41:30, Nicole traces the origins of the book in her knowledge of and research into the Vietnam War

At about 47:00, Nicole responds to Pete’s question about the “best” Vietnam War movies

At about 49:00, Nicole reflects on the cult’s theology and its search for transcendence and beauty

At about 50:20, Nicole talks about the similarities of cults’ beliefs and the human conditions connections to cults

At about 53:00, Pete and Nicole talk casting for a future big screen/small screen adaptation (fingers crossed!)

Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review.

Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.

This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he’s convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

Please tune in for Episode 308 with Jeff Pearlman, the New York Times bestselling author of ten books. His subjects include the ’80s Los Angeles Lakers (Showtime), the 1986 New York Mets (The Bad Guys Won), the ’90s Dallas Cowboys (Boys Will Be Boys), and NFL legends Walter Payton (Sweetness) and Brett Favre (Gunslinger). HBO adapted Showtime into the dramatic series Winning Time, produced and directed by Adam McKay. A former Sports Illustrated senior writer and ESPN.com columnist, Pearlman is the host of the Two Writers Slinging Yang podcast. His latest is Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur.

The episode drops on November 11.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.