{"id":165,"date":"2007-08-25T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2007-08-25T17:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/?p=165"},"modified":"2012-02-25T22:42:00","modified_gmt":"2012-02-26T03:42:00","slug":"bss-132-matthew-sharpe-megan-sullivan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/bss-132-matthew-sharpe-megan-sullivan\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Sharpe &#038; Megan Sullivan (BSS #132)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Sharpe is most recently the author of <i>Jamestown<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/matthewsharpe1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"matthewsharpe1\" width=\"324\" height=\"214\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2461\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/matthewsharpe1.jpg 324w, http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/matthewsharpe1-300x198.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 91vw, (max-width: 900px) 600px, (max-width: 1060px) 50vw, (max-width: 1200px) 520px, (max-width: 1400px) 43vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5946\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-165-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3\">http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Listen: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/?powerpress_pinw=165-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"segundo132.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Running Time: 41:13 &#8212; 37.7MB)<\/p>\n<p><b>Condition of Mr. Segundo:<\/b> Denied a toasted bagel with cream cheese.<\/p>\n<p><b>Guests:<\/b> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bookdwarf.com\">Megan Sullivan<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Matthew_Sharpe\">Matthew Sharpe<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p><b>Subjects Discussed:<\/b> Post-apocalyptic novels with a sense of humor, Cormac McCarthy&#8217;s <i>The Road<\/i>, allegorical representations of <i>Jamestown<\/i>, John Barth&#8217;s <i>The Sot-Weed Factor<\/i>, Afghanistan, parallels to Iraq and other military blunders, creation and transposition of vernacular, people named John, <i>Buckaroo Banzai<\/i>, the Bruces <i>Monty Python<\/i> sketch, reluctant communications officers, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bookforum.com\/inprint\/issue=200703&#038;id=290\">Ed Park&#8217;s review<\/a>, the origins of the Internet, communicating into the void, mishearing things, the dangers of writing, New Journalism and the bus ride, <i>As I Lay Dying<\/i>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.conversationalreading.com\/2007\/05\/jamestown_panne.html\">Susannah Meadows&#8217;s tone-deaf review<\/a>, on excluding certain reader sensibilities as a writer, and the plausibility factor.<\/p>\n<p><b>EXCERPT FROM SHOW:<\/B> <\/p>\n<p><b>Sharpe:<\/b> It&#8217;s been pointed out to me quite a number of times that mine is one of a spate of post-apocalyptic novel to hit the stands in 2006, 2007.  And the only one I have read is <i>The Road<\/i> and I actually just read it a couple of weeks ago.  There is really one very funny bit. There are a couple of funny bits.  I actually do think that Cormac McCarthy has a wonderful understated sense of humor.  But it&#8217;s not a laugh riot.  I think &#8212; I suppose I have a number of predecessors or influences, when I don&#8217;t know if they&#8217;re necessarily apocalyptic novelists, but they are certainly war novelists, who I think are very funny.  And Vonnegut and Joseph Heller are two obvious ones.  Haruki Murakami, I think, has a great sense of humor.  Donald Barthelme&#8217;s.  I don&#8217;t even think I would consider them war novelists, but he &#8212; I&#8217;ve been influenced by the way that he writes about history.  Even in short stories like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jessamyn.com\/barth\/cortes.html\">&#8220;Cortez and Montezuma.&#8221;<\/a>  And then Susie-Lori Parks, I think, also is somebody whose hilariously funny and scathing about history.  So I suppose these are my novels more than apocalyptic novels, per se.  I guess Philip K. Dick has written a number of futuristic novels &#8212; again, not a hilariously funny guy.  So I guess I&#8217;m not a terribly well-read person in areas of science fiction or even historical fiction. So I guess I&#8217;m deeply underqualified to be entering the genre.  But I try to make up for it by being somewhat of a clown.<\/p>\n<p>(A co-production of the <a href=\"http:\/\/lbc.typepad.com\">Litblog Co-Op<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\">The Bat Segundo Show<\/a>)<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5947\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-165-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3\">http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Listen: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/?powerpress_pinw=165-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"segundo132.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Running Time: 41:13 &#8212; 37.7MB)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Sharpe is most recently the author of Jamestown. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Denied a toasted bagel with cream cheese. Guests: Megan Sullivan and Matthew Sharpe. Subjects Discussed: Post-apocalyptic novels with a sense of humor, Cormac McCarthy&#8217;s The Road, allegorical representations of Jamestown, John Barth&#8217;s The Sot-Weed Factor, Afghanistan, parallels to Iraq and other military [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5948\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-165-3\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3?_=3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3\">http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Listen: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/?powerpress_pinw=165-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo132.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"segundo132.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Running Time: 41:13 &#8212; 37.7MB)<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1084],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2460,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions\/2460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}