David Leo Rice joins me to pore over the negatives of this novel. We talk the ongoing reverberations of the Vietnam war, Stephen Wright’s mastery of exposition and psychedelia, David’s personal experience studying under Stephen Wright, the consciousness of the jungle, the chaos of total information, James Wood’s notion of hysterical realism w/r/t MiG, the comfort of paranoia, and much, much more.

Subscribe to David’s substack, buy his books, and listen to his brilliant podcast WAKE ISLAND. He is one of the finest writers working today and I count myself fortunate to chat with him.

Check out David’s Vietnam-era story I mentioned at the top of the episode: “The Ward Clerk”

Mallory Smart, writer and impresario of independent literature, joins me for a discussion about the Midwest, parking lot hangs, David Koresh, the history of Maudlin House, the current horror boom, and much more.

First published in 1899, “The Real Right Thing” by Henry James is the shortest of his ghost stories, a subtle and cerebral unraveling of a spectral presence in the library of a great mind.

A wander down just a few of those strange doors underneath the HOUSE OF LEAVES: warps in space-time, exteriorizing the interior, THE SHINING and BACKROOMS, a portal in the desert, and a trillion-ton black pyramid.

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Writer and director Brad Michael Elmore joined me to talk about his films The Wolfman’s Hammer and Can’t Get No (watch both of these free on youtube), the will to just do things, his rollercoaster career in Hollywood, the need to create, and his serialized audiobook Nativity in Black.

A tarot reading on self-possession, bending your frame, and bringing your own carrots. Shout out to Dolly.. DM me with TAROT in the first few words to set up a personal reading for a reasonable fee.

Matthew Fresta and Matthew Sini from Getting Lit join me to talk Italo Calvino’s whirlwind love letter to writing, reading, and the source of stories. We discuss what Calvino’s delightful use of postmodern technique, why the tone of this book might be the secret to its potency, whether there is a Father of Stories, and much, much more.

Getting Lit on Patreon, Substack, Spotify

First published in 1893, The Million Pound Bank Note by Mark Twain is an absolute classic American short story. A farcical rags to riches tale.

J. Reuben Appelman is a celebrated writer of true crime (THE KILL JAR, investigating a notorious serial homicide case in Detroit in the 1970s). His latest, THE CHEATING SIDE, is a classic work of hardboiled fiction firmly set in the modern era.

From the back: When Idaho private investigator Jimmy Chinden’s murder investigation threatens a land deal worth millions, the politically protected Aryan mob comes gunning for his family―but the old money outlaws might be outgunned.

The great John Jay Stancliff joined me to talk about his latest novel, PIERCE, out August 11 from Farthest Heaven. His book is about fatherhood, men, work, and the deep struggle of virtue.

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Follow John on twitter.

A tarot reading on finding home again, growing versus building, and what it means to play the victim. DM me with TAROT in the first few words to set up a personal reading for a reasonable fee.

The great J David Osborne joined me to go deep on the cult classic HOUSE OF LEAVES. We get into what works, what doesn’t, what might have back in 2000, what the house might mean, and why we might never see another book like it in the age of the internet.

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Buy JDO’s books

Listen to Agitator on Apple, Spotify, or Patreon

Well before she became a household name, Willa Cather contributed this piece to McClure’s Magazine, a photo negative of a bildungsroman, and a tragedy about the draw of glitz and glamour.

A tarot reading on trusting your gut, savoring the solace, and willing yourself to find the edge. DM me with TAROT in the first few words to set up a personal reading for a reasonable fee.

Scott Laudati is a renaissance man. A musician, painter, filmmaker, and a true poet. We talk about being on local television, his ceaseless travels across this beautiful country, throwing away the phone, and his powerful new collection of poetry RAINBOW ROAD.

Buy Rainbow Road

Scott’s great travel videos on youtube.

Scott on twitter.

On Elton Manzione and the Third Eye of Vietnam.

For full access, sign up on substack of patreon

Good Morning and please listen to me: TREE OF SMOKE is a Great American Novel, about war, espionage, fathers, sacrifice, depravity, and much more. The book’s central metaphor stands everywhere and nowhere, like a dark wraith unfolding itself across the modern psyche.


The great Kevin Kautzman, from Art of Darkness, joined me in the tunnels beneath this remarkable book.

Author Kenan Meral joined me to talk about books within books, the terror of sublimity, the reality of deepfakery, and his excellent new novel STIGMA OF THE LIVING FLESH.

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Buy STIGMA OF THE LIVING FLESH from New Ritual Press

In this FREE version of the MADNESS episode, I get into hobby tunneling, Gass via Gaston Bachelard, the linguistic and mythic dimension of matter, and what it means that THE TUNNEL is a novel of the Earth.

I’m joined by the Portuguese fiction writer and aphorist Laeth for a conversation about jazz, writing as discovery, listening for the voice, and his singular work, including his most recent novel SKETCHES OF ALICE

Laeth’s website (buy SKETCHES OF ALICE and his other books)

Laeth on substack

Laeth on twitter