05-25-12:SF in SF on March 17, 2012: Claude Lalumière and Richard Lupoff
Performances
SF in SF on March 17, 2012, was an evening of performances. Flat out, no argument about it, and you can hear it. These writers were not reading, they were performing. Each in a very different way.
Claude Lalumière was up first, and if you recall his earlier performance, then you'll know you are in for a treat as he read two very different stories. The first was a sort-of YA story, while the second was a definitely "Not Safe For Work." It night not even be safe for home, who knows!
What I can say is that Lalumière puts so much expression into his work, well he does "read" standing up. Prepare to have your sensibilities kicked into another dimension with his readings from two sections of 'The Door to Lost Pages,' which describes as neither a novel nor a collection, but a mosaic. It's really gorgeous looking; when you see it online you're going to want to buy it immediately.
Dick Lupoff followed a very different tack with his story, "12:03 PM." It's the third in a series of stories. He literally had it performed by two great readers; Gregory Tiede and Lori Leigh Gieleghem, and their performances were out of this world and quite specifically in the world that Lupoff built.
The first story in the series, "12:01 AM," has, as Lupoff comments at the beginning of his reading, legitimately adapted and shameless ripped off. Once you start hearing the story read, you'll instantly recognize the rather good movie that resulted from the rip-off. Of course, much of what made it good was the fact that it was based on an actual story that had real characters, rather than being based on actor's salaries scribbled on a napkin.
Lupoff's second sequel is just as intriguing as the first and takes the story into a great space. You won't need to have read or heard the first two, either. Lupoff's the kind of writer who can make that unnecessary with a couple of throwaway sentences.
Of course what you get here is an outstanding performance by Tiede and Gieleghem. They have just right sense of sunny surrealism. This is one podcast to enjoy again and again — both chapters!
05-22-12 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 45: Marika Blossfeldt, 'Essential Nourishment: Recipes from My Estonian Farm'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the forty-fifth 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.
"It's us, the everyday people who change that world."
—Walter Mosley
Walter Mosley wheels his suitcase into the back office of Borderlands Books as I'm just about finished setting up the recorder. He's come straight from the airport, and he's surprised that he's never been sent to Borderlands to sign before; he'll be there later that night to sign 'The Gift of Fire.'
For a guy who has just stepped off an airplane and is on what one must assume will be an enervating tour, Mosley is chock-full of energy and as we talk, he becomes more animated. I have to admit that I was stoked as well. I loved these stories, and had a book crammed with yellow sticky notes. While we talked about the stories within thoroughly, we also ranged farther afield than I usually do in an interview.
It was a natural progression of course, but it was great to hear Mosley's thoughts on the science fiction genre, which he holds in high esteem, even as he recognizes that the genre itself is not often view thusly. We talked about Philip K. Dick and H. P. Lovecraft, and about the other titles in the series.
Mosley has six short novels in "Crosstown to Oblivion." It was Mosley's idea to package them in the two-fer Ace Double hardcover format. They'll come out regularly, and quickly enough that readers won't be chewing their nails. Ass I type this, it occurs to me that nothing is stopping Tor from giving the paperback versions the truly garish covers they deserve.
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Mary Robinette Kowal Reads "Evil Robot Monkey" at SF in SF on April 20, 2013 : "...not that there's anything remotely Regency about evil robot monkeys..."
05-06-13: Commentary : Glennon Doyle Melton Suggests 'Carry On, Warrior' : Fighting for Life in the Too Much Information Age
05-04-13: Commentary : Reasons Not to Leave the House, Reality Check : The Truth Hurts Edition: 'Down the Up Escalator' by Barbara Garson, 'The Wolf and the Watchman' by Scott C. Johnson,'The Book of Woe' by Gary Greenberg, 'Confessions of a Sociopath' by M. E. Thomas
05-01-13: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews An Emporium of Automata by DP Watt : "...from the bizarre to the grotesque, from the baroque to the uncanny..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : : Rick Klaw Reads at SF in SF on April 20, 2013 : "...those are the kind of people that don't get work anymore..."
04-29-13: Commentary : Ben Katchor Catalogues 'Hand Drying in America' : Subversive Cities of the Heart
04-27-13: Commentary : Mark Morris Introduces 'Toady' : A New World of Horror
Agony Column Podcast News Report : : Thomas Frank from The Easy Chair and Harper's Magazine: TV's DC Fantasies : "... basically, everyone is corrupt ..."
04-22-13: Commentary : Danielle Trussoni Maps 'Angelopolis' : The Afterlife of Angels
04-17-13: Commentary : How Not to Leave the House : Reach for the Recycling
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Matt Richtel, Sophie Littlefield and Terry Bisson at SF in SF on February 9, 2013 : "You cannot do this all day long." Sophie Littlefield
04-16-13: Commentary : Stephen Kessler 'Scratch Pegasus' : Lens of Language
04-08-13: Commentary : Ruth Ozeki Clocks 'A Tale for the Time Being' : Reading is the Future
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Ruth Ozeki : "...through the act of writing, she would somehow conjure the reader into being..."
