Ep 177-Spring Fling, William Trevor ("A Bit on the Side")
This week we're talking about a short story that traces the end of a long-running affair. Plus literary gossip, dating advice, and more!
May 15, 2017•1 hr 3 min
Book Fight
A podcast where writers talk honestly about books, writing, and the literary world. Hosted by Mike Ingram and Tom McAllister, authors and long-time editors for Barrelhouse, a nonprofit literary magazine and book publisher. New episodes every other week, with bonus episodes for Patreon subscribers.
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Episodes
Ep 176-Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven (w/ Dave Housley)
We welcome special guest Dave Housley (Barrelhouse founding editor and author of several books, most recently Massive Cleansing Fire, a story collection). Dave chose this week's book, the bestselling Station Eleven, a book that posits a life after a flu pandemic has killed more than 99% of the human population. Dave also brought with him some interesting fan fiction that he reads in the episode's second half. For more, you can visit us online at bookfightpod.com. If you'd like to support the sho...
May 08, 2017•1 hr 5 min
Ep 175-Adrian Tomine, Killing and Dying
Look, these episodes can't all be winners. Sometimes we're tired, and easily distracted, and for some reason we talk about onions a lot? But this week's book--a collection of graphic short stories by Adrian Tomine--is definitely worth checking out.
May 01, 2017•1 hr 7 min
Ep 174-Spring Fling, A.M. Homes ("A Real Doll")
This week we're discussing an A.M. Homes story about an adolescent boy who starts "dating" his sister's Barbie. Also, we revisit the time Robert Olen Butler went viral for the wrong reasons (losing his wife to Ted Turner), we remember HBO's Real Sex, and Mike gives some dating advice, this time on "ghosting." For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com .
Apr 24, 2017•1 hr 2 min
Ep 173-Spring Fling, Mary Gaitskill ("The Secretary")
This week kicks off another special seasonal series: Spring Fling! We'll be reading stories about romance, sex, and affairs of the heart. This week we discuss Mary Gaitskill's story, "The Secretary," which some people may know as the source material for Secretary, the 2002 Maggie Gyllenhaal / James Spader film. But while some of the fundamental DNA is the same, the story and the resulting film are actually quite different. We've also got stories this week of H.G. Wells's sexual proclivities, as ...
Apr 17, 2017•1 hr
Ep 172-George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo
This week we're talking about the new George Saunders book, Lincoln in the Bardo, about a bunch of spooky ghosts who hang out in a graveyard with Abraham Lincoln's son. Also: Cheers fan fiction. Get excited, listeners!
Apr 13, 2017•1 hr
Book Fight Classic: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (first released April 2013)
Hey, listeners! Due to a death in Tom's family, there's no new episode this week. But we're reposting this one from the archives (first released in April 2013) in which Tom's old college roommate joined us for a discussion of Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. We hope you enjoy it! And we'll be back with a new joint next Monday. As always, thanks for listening!
Apr 03, 2017•1 hr 16 min
Ep 177-Evan S. Connell, "Mrs. Bridge" (w/ Lauren Grodstein)
We welcome special guest Lauren Grodstein (author of, most recently, the novel Our Short History) to discuss a 1959 novel that's become something of a cult classic, one which never earned its author widespread acclaim but which is consistently mentioned as a favorite by other writers. We also talk about Lauren's new book, her love of plot, and how she manages to get so much writing done while being a working mother. For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com . Thanks for listening!...
Mar 27, 2017•59 min
Ep 170: Winter of Wayback, 1866 (Silas Weir Mitchell)
We travel back to 1866 to read "The Case of George Dedlow," a story about Civil War amputees (and a seance!) written by Silas Weir Mitchell, the physician who would later become famous for "the rest cure." Also this week: debates over reconstruction; the sex lives of mermaids; racist medical practices; conspiracies about Lincoln's assassination; and a man who was sued for $100k by the woman he failed to marry. For more, including links to further reading, visit us at bookfightpod.com ....
Mar 20, 2017•54 min
Bonus Ep: AWP 2017 with Lyz Lenz
We talk to Lyz Lenz (writer and managing editor of The Rumpus) from inside a wind tunnel at AWP 2017 in Washington, D.C. Topics include: New York pizza vs. Chicago pizza, misandry, Little House on the Prairie, religious faith, and how to not be a creep at a literary conference.
Mar 15, 2017•27 min
Ep 169: Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
This week: a good book for a change! Plus a new segment about impenetrable academic writing, and a brief installment of Fan Fiction Corner. What more could you want?
Mar 13, 2017•56 min
Ep 168: Winter of Wayback, 1961 (Tillie Olsen)
This week we've set the time machine for 1961, and we're reading a story by the author and activist Tillie Olsen. We talk about Olsen's career arc and continued reputation, as well as lots of other 1961 news: racist conspiracies, gigolos, and the J.D. Salinger backlash. Plus: what were poets up to in 1961? For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com .
Mar 06, 2017•59 min
Ep 167-Mary Kubica, Don't You Cry
Spoiler alert: this book kinda blows.
Feb 27, 2017•54 min
Ep 166-Winter of Wayback, 1877 (Deadwood Dick)
We're traveling back in time to 1877 to read a popular, serialized dime-store novel about lots of people shooting guns in the Old West. We talk about the popularity of dime-store novels, and how they correlated to rising literacy rates in the late 19th century. Plus: a story about coal miners being crushed under the boot of Gilded Age capitalism. And all our usual jibber jabber. For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com .
Feb 20, 2017•1 hr 9 min
Ep 165-John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things
This novel combines elements of familiar fairy tales and mythic narratives to create a world that feels pretty original. It's a dark world, and a pretty sad one, yet the book also has a sense of humor, and a strong sense of play. We also talk about raccoons, since that's a thing we do, and we mark the return of a long lost segment that has to do with Tom's pants.
Feb 13, 2017•1 hr 2 min
Ep 164: Winter of Wayback, 1978 (L. H. Sintetos, "Telling the Bees")
L.H. Sintetos had a story featured in the 1978 Best American Short Stories anthology and then seemed to disappear from the literary world. Which is especially surprising, given how good the story is. We talk about why we like "Telling the Bees," and we try to figure out what happened to its author. Plus, plenty of other 1978-themed stuff: political turmoil in Philadelphia, serial killers, a Pope conspiracy, an owl man, and GREASE! For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com.
Feb 06, 2017•1 hr 10 min
Ep 163-Sara Novic, Girl at War
Our book this week is about a young woman whose life was ripped apart by the Yugoslav Civil War, which took her parents and turned her, briefly, into a child soldier, before she made it to Philadelphia, where she tried her best to put her past in the past and move on with her life as an American. In the second half of the show, it's the triumphant return of Fan Fiction Corner. Ever wonder what kind of fan fiction people are writing about HGTV shows? No? Well, you're going to find out anyway!...
Jan 30, 2017•1 hr 7 min
Ep 162-Winter of Wayback, 1988 (Mary LaChapelle)
This week we're traveling back to 1988 to read a story by Mary LaChapelle, who that year won a Whiting Award and had her debut story collection praised in a number of publications, including The New York Times. Since then, LaChapelle has published nothing that we could find. We talk about her story "Anna in a Small Town," about a mime and a giant, and cover some other crucial 1988 news, including a Philadelphia garbage barge that went on a world tour, and why ALF was a lot more fun to watch than...
Jan 23, 2017•1 hr 13 min
Ep 161-Jennifer Weiner, Good in Bed
We've talked about Jennifer Weiner on the show before, usually when she's written (or tweeted) something that's caused a stir in the literary world, or when she and Jonathan Franzen have gotten into one of their famously catty spats. We also read one of her stories back in the Spring of Success. But this is the first time we've dived into one of her novels. She's argued that her work is unfairly pigeonholed, and so we were curious to check it out for ourselves. For more, visit us online at bookf...
Jan 16, 2017•1 hr 14 min
Ep 160-Winter of Wayback, 1966 (Philip K. Dick)
Our first Winter of Wayback episode for 2017! We're time-traveling back to 1966, a year when the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, the Church of Satan was founded, and Philip K. Dick published the short story that would later be the basis for the movie Total Recall.
Jan 09, 2017•1 hr 3 min
Ep 159-Christmas Spectacular 2016
As is our holiday tradition, we've got two Christmas books this week in a jam-packed, super-sized episode of Book Fight. First we talk about a novel ostensibly about Christmas but really more about punching and shooting and also racism towards Native Americans. In the second half of the show we talk about a sexy Christmas romance novella in which an undercover cop and a fake stripper fall in love (and have SO much sex it's a wonder their privates didn't fall right off). We've also got a very spe...
Dec 26, 2016•1 hr 52 min
Ep 158-Karan Mahajan, The Association of Small Bombs
This week, prompted by a book that's been named to a bunch of Best of 2016 lists, we talk about how those lists are constructed, and whether they're a good representation of a given year's literature. We also talk about empathizing with murderous characters, and novels that portray contemporary political events. In the second half of the show, we try out some snacks that were sent to us by a listener in Japan, including some boozy Kit Kats, a drink that looks like watery milk, and some dried and...
Dec 19, 2016•1 hr
Ep 157-Fall of Food, Jack London ("A Piece of Steak")
This week's story is about an aging boxer who just wants one last payday (and a big juicy steak). But first he'll have to use all his wiles to defeat a younger, fitter opponent. We also enjoy a grab bag of snacks that are new to us, including Faygo Red Pop, Chocodiles, and some weird and, frankly, unsettling 7-11 chips.
Dec 12, 2016•1 hr 3 min
Ep 156-Lester Bangs, Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung
We welcome guest Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib (author of, most recently, The Crown Ain't Worth Much) to talk about the collected writings of music critic Lester Bangs, assembled as a book after Bangs's death. We talk about good music writing versus bad music writing, how to make an argument about things you love and things you hate, how to keep nostalgia in its proper place, and why the NBA is a better ethical choice for sports fans than the NFL. For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com....
Dec 05, 2016•1 hr 9 min
Bonus: NaNoWriMo 2016
I know you probably think we forgot, but we did not forget. Here at the close of November, we're bringing you a special bonus episode for National Novel Writing Month 2016. We take our usual dive into the NaNoWriMo forums to see what the Wrimers are struggling with this year. What kinds of food should the characters eat in your fantasy world? Where do robots go on dates? And much, much more.
Dec 01, 2016•41 min
Ep 155-Fall of Food, "Who Owns Southern Food?"
This week we read an essay from The Oxford American co-written by John T. Edge and Tunde Wey, " Who Owns Southern Food ?" The piece was inspired, in part, by an article in Eater called " How Gullah Cuisine Transformed Charleston Food ," which created a bit of a firestorm in Charleston, sparking debate about the economics of cultural appropriation. All of which is a bit afield of what we normally discuss on the show, though it sparked a lot of conversation, and dovetailed with a number of issues ...
Nov 28, 2016•1 hr 14 min
Ep 154-Han Kang, The Vegetarian (guest Sam Allingham)
This week we welcome guest Sam Allingham (author of The Great American Songbook) to discuss the South Korean novel The Vegetarian, which won the Man Booker International Prize. We also talk about Sam's story collection, which recently came out from A Strange Object, and we subject him to our usual tomfoolery. As will be obvious within the first few seconds of this episode, we recorded it before the recent presidential election. If you don't want to hear our dumb election jokes, just skip the fir...
Nov 21, 2016•1 hr 13 min
Ep 153-Fall of Food, Canada Special (Alice Munro, "Family Furnishings")
A listener sent us a big box of Canadian snacks, so we're devoting this episode to our friendly neighbor to the north. We're talking about an Alice Munro story, "Family Furnishings," and specifically how Munro uses food and eating to characterize family members and the relationships between them. In the second half of the show, we dig into those snacks! Ketchup-flavored potato chips. Smarties (of the chocolate variety). Hickory sticks. And some thing called a King Turk that may have scarred us f...
Nov 14, 2016•49 min
Ep 152-W.P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe
You may know the name Kinsella from the Kevin Costner character Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams. But it's also the name of the author who wrote the novel, Shoeless Joe, on which that movie was based. Kinsella was born in Canada, and lived most of his life there, though he did a stint at the Iowa Writers Workshop, near where the book is set. He wrote several other novels, and a bunch of short story collections, most of which dealt with either baseball or First Nations people, another passion of h...
Nov 07, 2016•52 min
Ep 151-Halloween Spooktacular 2016
We're talking about two super-spooky short stories for Halloween this year: Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Joe Hill's "Abraham's Boys." We talk about what scares us, and the qualities that make for a good horror story. It also continues to be the Fall of Food, so this week we're talking Halloween candy. Best treats? Worst treats? And what's up with those candies that seem to exist only on Halloween? Plus: we each rank our top five candy bars, which will no doubt be contentious. Further read...
Oct 31, 2016•1 hr 8 min
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