Month / April 2006

by Edward Champion

The Bat Segundo Show #30

segundo30.jpg

Author: Erica Jong

Condition of Mr. Segundo: Taking care of fish-related housekeeping.

Winner of Philosophical Contest: John Barlow

Subjects Discussed: Maintaining a conversational and confessional tone, finding a voice, being known for Isadora Wing vs. poetry, Pablo Neruda, the current status of poetry, on sleeping with Martha Stewart’s husband, personal mistakes, why Jong wrote about Andy Stewart, sexism in the publishing industry, Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei, reader misconceptions of Fear of Flying, the chick lit ghetto, Jennifer Weiner, Molly Jong-Fast, on the lack of serious reviews of women’s fiction, the 1970s publishing environment vs. the 2000s publishing environment, the gender gap in literary fiction and the Canadian loophole, Mary Gaitskill, Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx, Kelly Link, American vs. international reputation, literary trends over the years, writing Toni Morrison her first fan letter, and Erica Jong the closet linguist.

Listen: Play in new window | Download

by Edward Champion

J-Franz: A DFW in the Making?

Mr. Orthofer is well ahead of us. It looks like Jonathan Franzen has a new book, but it’s not a novel. It’s a memoir. Even worse, the book’s called The Discomfort Zone. We suppose that J-Franz should be extolled for truth in advertising. But we wonder if Franzen is venturing down the same unfortunate road as DFW. Like DFW, Franzen, after a major absence from writing (five years for Franzen, ten for DFW), has failed to write a novel after a well received title. After all, if David Mitchell has the cojones to follow up Cloud Atlas and offer a major departure in form, shouldn’t DFW or J-Franz have similar brass balls to follow up their highly regarded novels? Or perhaps the British have more courage and the American writers are just plain chicken.

by Edward Champion

Written APE, Oral APE

The SFist offers a written APE Report to which we would have offered a parallel, had we not saddled ourselves with nearly four hours of audio to organize and sift through.

Interestingly enough, of our grandiose comics haul, Fart Party Comics, despite its nom des ordures, has proven to be one of our favorites, with its chronicle of twentysomething life and random violence. Fortunately, we did chitchat with Julia Wertz at one point.