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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
Monday Nov 30, 2020
Monday Nov 30, 2020
Show Notes and Links to Christian Kiefer's Work
On Episode 28, Part II, Pete is thrilled to speak with Christian Kiefer, master author of among other masterpieces, Phantoms, a 2019 tour de force novel. Pete and Christian discuss Phantoms in greater detail, including the characters' motivations and origins, the book's impeccable ending, the "community of writers"/being a mentor and being mentored, what Christian is reading and writing these days, and much more. The listeners are also gifted by hearing Christian read from the ending of Phantoms.
Dr. Christian Kiefer grew up in the foothills of California (Auburn).
Director of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
- Joined Ashland University as the new director of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in January 2017
- He is the author of The Infinite Tides (Bloomsbury), The Animals (W.W. Norton), One Day Soon Time Will Have No Place Left to Hide (Nouvella Books), and 2019s Phantoms: A Novel (Liveright/W.W. Norton), in addition to other works in poetry, fiction, and drama
- Kiefer's scholarly publications focus on American literature
- As a professional musician, has released a number of albums primarily in the folk rock and avant garde traditions
- Came to Ashland from American River College in Sacramento, California, and has taught fiction in the Sierra Nevada College low-residency MFA
Christian Kiefer's Author Page
Interview with Four Way Review
Dr. Christian Kiefer's Homepage for Ashland
Twitter and IG: @xiankiefer-Twitter and IG
Christian discusses the research and background on the Vietnam War needed to make John Frazier, the narrator of Phantoms, and his experience ring true -at beginning of episode
Christian discusses the generosity and kindness of The OG/Il Padrino of The Chills at Will Podcast, Tobias Wolff-at about 1:20 (and Pete tries to play it cool when Christian says that Pete should have Tobias Wolff as a guest on the podcast)
Pete and Christian discuss Ray Takahashi from Phantoms, and the ironically beautiful writing about war in the novel-at around 3:15
Slight plot spoilers (but not really) about Homer Wilson and others from Phantoms-from around 4:15 to about 7:40
Christian discusses how an innocuous choice about enchiladas speaks to a larger point about full-bodied characters-at around 7:40
Pete asks Christian about the balancing of art and commerce-at around 11:15
Shouts out Katie Adams, his wonderful editor, for cutting some 30K words considered to be “extraneous”-at around 13:30
Pete and Christian talk about the “community of writers” and how he is simply a fan of so many writers who are part of this “Golden Age of Writing,” including Lauren Groff, C. Pam Zhang, Garth Greenwell, Michelle de Kretser, Leslie Jamison, and Michael Ondaaatje-at around 14:45
Christian talks about being mentored and being a mentor-at around 17:40
Christian reads from Phantoms-at around 19:40
Christian discusses his thought process regarding the book’s ending and the interesting idea of
writers as being “in the business of breaking hearts”-at around 22:25
Christian discusses epiphanies and ignorance displayed by John Frazier, narrator of Phantoms, and quotes Viet Thanh Nguyen in describing how John Frazier “fails up” as a white man-at around 24:15
Christian talks about teaching writing/literature-at around 26:55
Chrsitian shouts out American River College and its diversity and wonderful staff and student body-at around 30:15
Christian talks about what he’s reading and writing these days, including work by Timothy Morton and Michelle de Kretser, Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes, and a manuscript by Reyna Grande, who has written an interesting book about the Irish in Mexico-at around 33:05
Pete talks about his connection to excellent writer and generous spirit, Reyna Grande, who often visited Pete’s SoCal high school to speak to his students after they read her page-turner, Across a Hundred Mountains-at around 34:10
Christian talks about the four novels he is currently editing/shopping around-at around 35:10
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