The Bat Segundo Show was a long-running cultural radio program devoted to quirky and very thorough long-form interviews with contemporary authors, idiosyncratic thinkers, and other assorted artists. Guests included David Lynch, Octavia Butler, John Waters, John Updike, Stephen Fry, Marilynne Robinson, Karen Russell, Weird Al Yankovic, Robert A. Caro, and more than 500 others. There was also a program called Follow Your Ears, which was a thematic investigative counterpart, in which I pursued a specific subject through several angles. The entire archive of what I did from 2005 to 2014 is included here.
Author: Daniel Handler Condition of Mr. Segundo: Petulant about people who use alter egos. Subjects Discussed: Aub Zam Zam and the legendary bartender Bruno Mooshei, writing in public places, Adverbs as a novel, Nicholas Monsarrat’s Depends What You Mean By Love, how dwelling upon the thematic use of love turned into a 1,000 page first […]
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MoreAuthor: Julia Glass Condition of Mr. Segundo: Concerned with economic developments at the Segundo Studio. Subjects Discussed: Hinging a narrative on a piece of cake, conversations in moving vehicles, the unintended continuation of the Bank Street universe, an urban Yoknapatawpha, family and pregnancies in narrative, whether The Whole World Over is female-centric, Jane Austen, omniscient […]
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MoreAuthor: Alison Bechdel Condition of Mr. Segundo: Revealing his political idiosyncracies. Subjects Discussed: The meaning of “tragicomic,” Nabokov, Charles Addams, on how the funeral home component of Fun Home has been overlooked, on hitting a wall with words, the advantages of “visual writing,” Michael Lesy’s Time Frames: The Meaning of Family Pictures, Fun Home as […]
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MoreAuthor: Robert Birnbaum Condition of Mr. Segundo: Detached but amused by the pair-up. Subjects Discussed: The value of conducting interviews at a cemetery, Ed Champion’s arrest, the current state of the literary world, literary feuds, Richard Ford and Colson Whitehead, Stanley Crouch, Nicholson Baker, Leon Wieseltier, Anthony Burgess, US vs. UK journalism, Cynthia Ozick, the […]
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MoreAuthor: Jeff VanderMeer Condition of Mr. Segundo: Coming to terms with troubling generalizations. Subjects Discussed: Mushrooms as inspiration, writing “Dradin in Love” while suffering from mono, Steve Erickson, the writer as sadistic god, on being perceived as “difficult,” genre as revitilization device, the New Weird, China Miéville, the value of taxonomies, the use of parentheses […]
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MoreAuthor: A.M. Homes Condition of Mr. Segundo: Trying to remember last night’s conquest, relying upon Jorge’s import/export skills. Subjects Discussed: Taking on the “male menopause novel,” idioms appropriated by corporations, Kurt Vonnegut, vernacular, throwing the reader off guard, the dropping of letters, character names, donuts vs. bagels, burgers, on being provocative, novelists as ethicists, maintaining […]
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MoreAuthor: Jonathan Safran Foer Condition of Mr. Segundo: Dismissive of Michael Martone. Subjects Discussed: San Francisco vs. New York, time-shifting as style, invention as experimentalism, the importance of critics (James Wood, B.R. Myers, Sven Birkets), responding to John Updike’s review, visual elements, designing Extremely Loud in Word, the use of conceptual red ink, the post-9/11 […]
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MoreGuests: Daniel Green and Michael Martone (LBC finalist, Summer 2006) Condition of Mr. Segundo: Avoiding his own Contributor’s Note. Subjects Discussed: The entertaining components of experimental fiction, the genesis of contributor’s notes, Edith Hamilton, mythology, the “Michael Martones of the universe,” cultural influence, Hugh Kenner’s The Counterfeiters, how the origin of the word “fact” influences […]
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More[NOTE: This is part two of a two-part podcast.] Author: David Mitchell Condition of Mr. Segundo: Miffed by a grand literary theft. Subjects Discussed: The Simpsons, the ambiguity of Norman Bates, transcontinental reception, the unexpected reception of Black Swan Green, the Stranger review, Haruki Murakami, finding auctorial voice, the “fourth book” breakthrough, avoiding the pitfalls […]
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More[NOTE: This is part one of a two-part podcast.] Author: David Mitchell Condition of Mr. Segundo: Responding to the crazed accusations of a major film director. Subjects Discussed: The similarities between Jason Taylor and David Mitchell, idiosynchratic vernacular, first-person vs. third-person voice, index cards, how Granta unexpectedly kicked off Black Swan Green, the correct pronounciation […]
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MoreGuests: Michael Orthofer and Betsy Wing (translator, LBC nominee, Summer 2006) Condition of Mr. Segundo: In absentia, fleeing the silly hipsters. Subjects Discussed: How to raise awareness of translated fiction, an idea involving Chad Post, on being a designated translator, language adopted by literary critics, a very friendly dog in the Wing household, breaking down […]
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MoreGuests: Dan Wickett and Kellie Wells (LBC Nominee, Summer 2006) Condition of Mr. Segundo: Absent, avoiding his family lineage. Subjects Discussed: Interdependent stories, the perception of a “novel in stories,” “Compression Scars” as the launching pad for the novel, building community consciousness within fiction, setting down distinct vernacular, preserving Midwestern cultural details, Sherwood Anderson, the […]
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