In my wanderings through the audio landscape, I've spent a fair amount of time at KQED in San Francisco, where I revently had the privilege of meeting the one and only Ian Shoales.
With help of the fine folks at KQED, I am now able to present Ian Shoales' brilliant work as a part of this podcast. This time around, a commentary on NASA.
01-25-12:The Agony Column Live with Laurie R. King : January 21, 2012
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"Conan Doyle was never convinced by Holmes."
—Laurie R. King
It was a full house at the Capitola Book Café when Laurie R. King and I sat down to talk about 'A Study in Sherlock,' the anthology she co-edited with Holmes scholar Leslie S. Klinger. I enjoyed the hell out of this collection, and was really looking forward to speaking with Laurie about the place of Sherlock Holmes in the mystery genre and the world at large.
Laurie is always fun to talk to because while she takes her work very seriously, she does not take herself seriously. The upshot is that she knows her stuff inside out, but also knows how to have fun when she talks about it. When it comes to Holmes, she's like a self-deprecating encyclopedia. She'll aw-shucks her precise knowledge inside a series of jokes that makes that knowledge very entertaining.
The crowd at Capitola Book Café was smart as well, and we got some great audience questions, and with excellent audio. If you are looking for a great introduction into the world of Sherlock Holmes, you need look no farther.
01-24-12 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 28: Sara Paretsky, 'Breakdown'
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Here's the twenty-eighth episode of my new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. The podcasts/radio broadcasts will be of books worth your valuable reading time. I'll try to keep the reports under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format. If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
The twenty-eighth episode is a look at Sara Paretsky and her new book, 'Breakdown'.
"Everything in a courtroom is a story; it's not justice, it's combating narratives."
—Sara Paretsky
It's a cold winter day in Northern California, but the Belmont library is welcoming and warm. Better still, they have a couple of comfortable chairs facing a real hearth and a real (gas) fire, where I get to sit down with Sara Paretsky to chat about her new book, 'Breakdown.' She's at her comfortable best in this book, which means that she's trying — and succeeding — to make some people, at least, very uncomfortable.
Paretsky is well-known for the political and social themes that run through her novels and in the course of the interview, she stops to apologize for a rant. But she's unerringly polite, and sharp as a razor. She's just as comfortable talking about clothing and dresses as she is about the latest injustices being committed in our names. She's quiet and soft-spoken, but it's not the library. It's the fact that her words are precise and intense. Sara Paretsky has no need to shout.
As I listen to her speak, I can see V. I. Warshawski sitting there with her; no, with me. Paretsky occasionally tries to suggest that she's more of a shrinking violet than V. I., but that's clearly not the case. And yes, she is very proud of her correspondence with Bill Clinton.
The original thought (on the part of the publicist) was that we'd need half an hour to talk, but I'm glad I asked for a full hour, most of which we used. Yesterday was the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of the first V. I. Warshawski novel, 'Indemnity Only.' Paretsky claims that she didn't know what she was going to do with V. I. Warshawski when she started her groundbreaking career. It was, not surprisingly, an investigation.
02-14-12: Commentary : Archive Reviews: Jeffrey E. Barlough Awakens 'Dark Sleeper' and 'The House in the High Wood' :Bold, Unique, Horrific, Enchanting
02-08-12: Commentary : Thrity Umrigar Reveals 'The World We Found' : Slow-Burning Loss of Control
Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Thrity Umrigar : "...I walked away from that meeting in 2008 with an old friend of mine and literally saw at least the outline of the book in front of my eyes..."
02-06-12: Commentary : Eric Weiner Posts 'Man Seeks God' : Religious Pilgrimmage and Mordant Wit
Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Eric Weiner : "...by the end, given all the amazing people I met out there, I've changed my views about that."
02-01-12: Commentary : Stan Lee Splashes 'Stan Lee's How to Write Comics' and 'Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics' : Lessons in the Form, From the Master
01-23-12: Commentary : Sara Paretsky Nails 'Breakdown' : The Machine Stops
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Sara Paretsky : "Everything in a courtroom is a story; it's not justice, it's combating narratives."
01-18-12: Commentary : Téa Obreht Conjures 'The Tiger's Wife' : The Grammar of Vision
01-13-12: Commentary : Hard Case Subterranean Block : Not from Bob's Basement Tapes
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Phone Interview with Lisa Randall : "...there seems to be some evidence, especially from one of the experiments."
01-10-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Terry D'Auray Catches Lawrence Block and 'The Burglar on the Prowl' : "A show well worth the price of a ticket."
12-15-11:Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live with Lisa Goldstein and Ayize Jama-Everett, and music by Fenyang Smith, December 10, 2011 : "... let's look at what happens if people have abilities that other people don't have ..."
11-28-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Scott Wallace : "Within months of first contact, these groups experience a huge die-off."
11-22-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier, Part Two : "It's not me telling you, there's this storyteller voice."
11-21-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier : "If we're going in the wrong direction, we could turn around and go back."
11-17-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Gianni Mola : "The only way you can learn, I told them, is to watch me cook it."
11-11-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Karl Marlantes : "...the way I "think" about things, with quotes around think, is I tend to write them down..."
10-31-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Colson Whitehead : "In the Apocalypse, somebody's gonna have to do the grunt work..."
10-17-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Russell Banks : "They are in a sense, permanently marked and thrown into this darkness..."
