In which we go deep into the life of John Williams: oil booms, abandonment, tall tales about WW2, booze, women, and three “perfect” novels.

In this clip, I get into the influence of Yvor Winters’ odd brand of classicism on one of the 20th Century’s greatest novelists.

Clark Ashton Smith was a poet once called “The Last of the Great Romantics".” But he is more remembered as one of the three most significant writers of pulp mainstay Weird Tales. H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith who was perhaps even stranger in his vision than either of them.

“The Nameless Offspring” first appeared in Strange Tales in 1932. A tale of family secrets, a haunted manor, and a beast we’d now refer to as a Pale Crawler.

Matt Fresta and Matthew Sini of the Getting Lit Podcast join me to talk about the history of their show, niche literary podcasting, the Australian scene, Sini’s provocative statement that there is no such thing as an atheist fiction writer, and much, much more.

Matt Sini’s substack pieces mentioned:

No Atheists in Plotholes

Current Thing Writing Killed the Literary Journal

Neo-Passeism piece on Australian scene

Matt Fresta’s stories at Apocalypse Confidential:

“A Super Position”

“Black and White and Blue”

“Count Whack-ula”

The ever-insightful Paul Heron joins me to figure out if History is in fact over, what Fukuyama meant by posing the question, cycles of history, nostalgia for the future, and much much more.

Subscribe to Some Private Diagonal and check out Paul’s work at Café Américain

BUTCHER'S CROSSING by John Williams is an unassuming masterpiece. The writer Lake Markham (LO SIENTO) joined me to talk about what makes this book special. We get into the meaning of the Western, the ideas and images that drive this book, buffalo, what Williams has to say about America and Transcendentalism, and some of the things that writers can learn from this potent little volume.

This will be on the free feed next week.

BUY LO SIENTO

Lake on instagram.
Lake on twitter.

Lake’s website.

David Simmons is a genre unto himself. We talk about his unsettling novel ERADICATOR--a white-knuckle book that is part AMERICAN PSYCHO, part THE FLY, and all Simmons. We also get into his upcoming short story collection FETTY ON THE SWITCHES, his creative process, why Baltimore is such rich terrain for fiction, and much, much more.

This will be on the free feed next week.

David’s linktree

Pre-order FETTY ON THE SWITCHES

The dynamic poet Tom Will has yet another modern classic. His new collection, RHYMES out now on Farthest Heaven , a unique exploration of poetic form is the new poetry you need. We talk about the history of the roundel and other poetic forms, the potency of poetry in the age of the algorithm, and much more.

Pre-order RHYMES from Farthest Heaven
Tom on twitter

Grant Wamack is the author and tarot reader. His most recent book is THE SCARECROWS WILL WATCH OVER US, a folk horror thriller about cat people lust-demons stalking a farm in Wisconsin...and the occult practices that have warded them off for years. We also talked about tarot, bigfoot and other cryptids, and Grant’s time working for a psychic hotline.

This episode will be on the free feed next week.

Grant’s twitter

Buy SCARECROWS and Grant’s other books

Get a tarot reading from Grant

A perennial citation of bombastic mid-Century experimentation and different ways of knowing. MUMBO JUMBO is a kaleidoscope, a conspiracy theory, a satire, a thesis statement--but is it a good novel? Glen Rockney of Rare Candy and I sit down to find out.

This recording will remain paywalled and is also available to subscribers of Rare Candy as a Gain of Fiction episode.

Explorations of the labyrinths hidden below the cult classic hoodoo novel MUMBO JUMBO by Ishmael Reed. Talking the real Book of Thoth and the secrets smuggled into the modern day through the Corpus Hermeticum, the identity of Moses, the real deal about Voodoo, and much, much more.

"The Open Boat" is a short story by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). First published in 1898, it was based on Crane's experience of surviving a shipwreck off the coast of Florida earlier that year while traveling to Cuba to work as a newspaper correspondent. Crane was stranded at sea for thirty hours when his ship, the SS Commodore, sank after hitting a sandbar. He and three other men were forced to navigate their way to shore in a small boat;

[PREVIEW]

Down into the labyrinth of THE STRONGHOLD: the curious history of NYRB Classics, theories of literary time, the significance of the barbarian, the dream of Great Tartaria, and much more.

The legendary Ken Layne joins me to talk about how he found the desert, what’s going on with UFOs, our Eldritch Republic, the role of the folklorist, and much, much more.

Follow Ken.

The ever-insightful Jack BC joined me to discuss a paradoxical little masterpiece: THE STRONGHOLD by Dino Buzzati. To some, better known as THE TARTARIAN STEPPE. It’s a homage to Kafka, a beautiful bit of existentialism, and a torturous confrontation with the nature of time in the lives we live.

Check out Jack on his great podcast BOOKCLUB FROM HELL.

Iain Ryan is the author of 8 books. His latest, THE CASINO, is a pulse-pounding crime story about police corruption in Queensland in the 1980s. He joined me to talk about the writing of this book, his overall Gold Coast Quartet--of which this book is just one part, the uneasy appeal of the 1980s, and much, much more.

Buy THE CASINO

Follow Iain

Matt Cardin is the author or editor of 12 books and ranks among the very finest of contemporary writers of Weird fiction and cosmic horror, as well as one of the most consistently interesting contributors to substack. His most recent book, WRITING AT THE WELLSPRING, is a spiritual guide for creative work and a manual for cultivating your relationship with your own daemon muse.

Author and podcaster Frank Kidd joined me to discuss his page-turning Western/frontier novel MEDICINE WOMAN (winner of Ian Barr’s Indie of the Year 2025), what makes a genre, why the Western still matters, and what makes America Weird.

Buy MEDICINE WOMAN.
Follow Frank on twitter.

A preview of the MADNESS presentation on Cormac McCarthy’s THE CROSSING. Here talking about the very, very strange relationship between man, wolf, and the other world.

UTTER GOODNESS is UTTERly GOOD. The writer Audrey Lee joined me to talk about her exciting new collection of short stories, out now via Farthest Heaven, comprehending America, STONER, and the state of confessional writing.

Buy UTTER GOODNESS

The incredible writer Andrew Edwards joined me to talk about Cormac McCarthy’s oft-overlooked masterpiece THE CROSSING. We get technical on McCarthy’s high style, Crossings of all sorts, the spiritual bond of brothers, and what it means to say that the world is but a tale.

Buy Andrew’s latest book: CROWBAR