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.
[NOTE: The Bat Segundo crew is not responsible for the wretched music (in addition to a cleaner that we processed out in part) playing in the background during the interview. We apologize to our listeners for this. But we had to improvise to talk with Ms. Waters as long as possible.] Author: Sarah Waters Condition […]
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MoreAuthors: Gwenda Bond and Jeffrey Ford (LBC nominee, Spring 2006) Condition of Mr. Segundo: Absent, abstaining from Bolshevik operations. Subjects Discussed: On writing a book with “everything but the kitchen sink,” baroque vs. simple language, the influence of Hammett, Glen David Gold’s Carter Beats the Devil, Rex Stout, creative serendipity, eugenics, on “playing it safe” […]
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MoreAuthors: Mark Sarvas and Sheila Heti (LBC nominee, Spring 2006) Condition of Mr. Segundo: Absent, abstaining from Bolshevik operations. Subjects Discussed: Perspectives, on writing an interior novel, research vs. devising Ticknor’s character, passive protagonists, environmental details, ambiguity, anxiety, on digressing from the historical record, masking fears, Ticknor’s ass fetish, writing an “epic” short novel and […]
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More[NOTE: This is the third of a three-part podcast which tackles Alternative Press Expo. This particular podcast was recorded in front of a live audience on April 9, 2005. Enjoy!] Author: Alex Robinson Condition of Mr. Segundo: Missing, arrested for littering. Subjects Discussed: Why Caprice carried over in all three of Alex’s books, the appeal […]
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More[AUDIO NOTE: At one point, the conversation was interrupted by a vacuum. It only appears for about a minute and we’ve filtered most of it out. But just so you know.] Author: Jay McInerney Condition of Mr. Segundo: Furious and defensive, defending himself against the acrimonious charges from Miss Snark Subjects Discussed: The Bretster and […]
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MoreNOTE: This podcast includes a free book giveaway of Spiotta’s Eat the Document. Listen to the podcast for details. Author: Dana Spiotta Condition of Bat Segundo: Self-important and sleep-deprived, but surprisingly generous. Subjects Discussed: Katherine Ann Power as inspiration, the ambiguities of terrorism, comparisons and similarities between Eat the Document and Lightning Field, witty political […]
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MoreAuthor: William T. Vollmann Condition of Bat Segundo: A bit over his head and not particularly uncentered. Subjects Discussed: Copernicus, the relationship between religion and science, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Ptolemy, Intelligent Design and contemporary parallels, Iraq, life lived according to the “cash nexus” versus life in other countries, the Bush Administration as muse, politics in […]
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MoreAuthors: Dan Wickett and Kirstin Allio Condition of Mr. Segundo: Snubbed and pining for Beelzebub. Subjects Discussed: The ideal of the perfect sentence, Faulkner, research, New Hampshire, 1920s vernacular, the controversy of Mrs. Heald, drafting Garner, agents and literary fiction, literary influences, Wallace Stegner, naming names, cemeteries, the difficulties of writing about girlhood, and being […]
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MoreAuthors: Megan Sullivan, Rupert Thomson, Scott Esposito and Edward Falco. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Looking for answers in British science fiction. Subjects Discussed: How the idea came about, relentlessly cheery Swedish girlfriends, how Rupert Thomson processes his prodigious research, Ian McEwan, inspiration vs. craft, the trappings of being a “speculative fiction writer,” entertaining novels vs. […]
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MoreAuthors: Sam Jones, Ander Monson, C. Max Magee and Elizabeth Crane. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Snubbed and self-righteous. Subjects Discussed: Visceral voice vs. conceptual voice, the book’s origins, the Monson universe of stories, snow, self-help books, postmodernism, the war on ambitious fiction, John Barth, the original expansive form of Other Electricities, Twin Peaks, book design, […]
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MoreAuthor: Aimee Bender Condition of Mr. Segundo: Still missing. A conspiracy theorist has been enlisted to account for his disappearance. Subjects Discussed: Attention to precision, Flann O’Brien, strange logic, Monty Python, first-person voice, Steve Erickson and The Black Clock, Jeffrey Eugenides, multiple personality disorder, grading papers, publishing short stories with dirty titles in literary journals, […]
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MoreAuthor: Octavia Butler Condition of Mr. Segundo: Unknown. We can’t find him this week. Subjects Discussed: Anne Rice, the advantages of writing vampire novels, research, the ambiguities of “persistently repulsive” material, Fledgling as ripping vampire yarn and multilayered quest story, setting vampire rules, naming character names, the influence of the state of Washington upon atmosphere, […]
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