Writer and publisher Ben Thomas joins me to revel in the pleasures of the first two volumes of Gene Wolfe’s masterpiece tetralogy The Book of the New Sun. We talk science fiction vs. fantasy and why it matters, the linguistic brilliance embedded within the story, and how to savor the joy of not knowing what, exactly, is going on.

Ben’s publishing house House Blackwood

Melee 13

The erudite investigator himself, Dexter De La Paz, joined me to talk about John Keel and his enduring book of living mysteries OUR HAUNTED PLANET. I take a little sidequest from the strictly literary and into the unknown: ultraterrestrial theory, the mystery of the North American Mounds, and much, much more.

This will be on the free feed next week.

Follow Dexter on twitter.

Check out The Scarlet Thread Society

Check out Timeline Earth

Melee 12
Andrew H., the mastermind behind the voluminous Pynchonian project The Exegesis of Thomas Pynchon, joined me to talk Pynchon, literature as history, the political art debate, Pynchon contra DeLillo, and more.


Follow him on substack or on twitter.

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In 1895, American author Robert W. Chambers released a collection of short stories entitled The King in Yellow. Four stories in this collection are connected by play called The King in Yellow and the eponymous malevolent entity. This story cycle would go on to inspire H.P. Lovecraft and many others working in the genre of supernatural horror...right down to today with eerie references to Yellow King in True Detective.

Melee 11
The brilliant moonandmouth joins me to talk about poetry, magic, holes, astral travel, and her magnificent new collection of poetry CATCALYSM MOVES ME I REGRET TO SAY out now from House of Vlad.

Buy the book.

Follow her on substack or on twitter.

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Menagerie #3
An audio recording of Richard Connell “The Most Dangerous Game.” Long considered one of the most popular short stories of all time, Connell’s thriller has influenced countless stories and at least one serial killer.


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Episode 9.2
In this episode, I go in depth on Ellroy’s stylistic forebears, play a little Glass Bead Game between AMERICAN TABLOID and a (not so) very different book, give the quick and very dirty history of CONFIDENTIAL MAGAZINE, and go full-on true crime telling the ‘real’ story of Chuck Rogers.

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Episode 9.1
The brilliant and magnanimous Jacob Everett, the mastermind behind Apocalypse Confidential, joins me to discuss AMERICAN TABLOID by James Ellroy—a masterful classic of paranoia, carnage, and the real deal behind the forces of history. We talk the potency of Ellroy’s style, crime fiction as high art, the resonance of the JFK assassination, Ellroy contra Quentin Tarantino, and figure out which more recent unsolved mystery is prime to spawn its own subgenre in the coming years.

Follow Jacob on Twitter.

Apocalypse Confidential is one the best literary mags out there. You should be reading it closely.

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Cairo Smith is the founder and EIC of Futurist Letters, host of The Futurist Letters Show, filmmaker, and author of the forthcoming novel SCENEBUX, out September 6, 2025 from New Ritual Press.

.We talked about the New Wave, a certain LA literary party that made headlines, what happens when no one puts you in check, the Idaho Basque, some of the books that have been most influential on Cairo and his work, and much, much more.


Pre-order SCENEBUX at Cairo’s website.

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Menagerie #2
An audio recording of Jack London’s “Love of Life” first published in McClure’s Magazine in 1905. All the classic Jack London themes are here: the Yukon, survival, the cold, and wolves.


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Following down just some of the rabbit-holes in THE MAGUS by John Fowles.
Hypnotism, Magic, Cruelty, and the so-called Real World

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Alexandru Constantin joins me to talk in depth on John Fowles’ classic 1965 novel THE MAGUS. A postmodern bildungsroman that’ll remind every former sensitive young man of himself in his cringier days—and a mind-bending trip through a beautiful labyrinth.


https://substack.com/@deceneus

Don’t miss Alex’s podcast, the Black Ibis Social Club: https://blackibissocialclub.substack.com/

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The incredibly talented author Andrew Edwards joins me to talk about his upcoming novel CROWBAR, his absolute banger of a novel KING OF DOGS, the philosophy of survival, and much more.

This will be on the free feed next week.

Support Andrew’s crowdfunding effort for CROWBAR:
https://substack.com/@goldengoatguild/p-166445394

X: x.com/goldengoatguild
Website: https://www.goldengoatguild.net/

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Brian Patrick Eha is a widely-published essayist, journalist and critic. In this expansive conversation we talk Gustave Flaubert as a precursor to Modernism, the method of free indirect discourse in Madame Bovary and the madness of The Temptation of St. Anthony, as well as a few under-appreciated books from Brian’s personal canon.

This will be on the free feed sometime next week.

https://x.com/brianeha

Essays by Brian that we mention:
https://www.city-journal.org/article/madame-bovary-author-gustave-flaubert
https://www.city-journal.org/article/alfred-hayess-fiction-retains-contemporary-relevance

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[PREVIEW}
Gerald Murnane’s THE PLAINS is a novel that opens on vista after vista. I go into the politics of colors, attempts at filming Australia, how Murnane is exploring the Dreamtime (whether he knows it or not), and much, much more.

For the full episode, subscribe to the patreon or substack feed via madmethodpod.com/subscribe

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Jack BC of the always entertaining and enlightening podcast Book Club from Hell, joins me to talk about the singular masterpiece of Australian letters, Gerald Murnane's strange and beautiful book THE PLAINS. A book that is somehow about itself, and everything else. We talk about the many questions Murnane raises on the nature of creativity, subjectivity, and the very form of the novel.

https://bookclubfromhell.substack.com/

bookclubfromhell.com

Jack’s Twitter: https://x.com/supersquat1

Jack’s novel TOWER: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC/dp/0645928208

x/com/bradkelly

Andrew Wittstadt (@andrewwittstadt) joins me to talk about his great podcast on poetry and literature, HEAVY BORED. We also get into the problem of authority in academia and why it’s necessary as well as Andrew’s personal canon and much more.

https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored
x.com/andrewwittstadt

x.com/heavyboredpod

https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/

https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored

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An audio recording of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1840 short story “The Man of the Crowd", in which Poe’s narrator finds that he can read a man’s entire history in his expression—but some things are left better unseen.

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How DeLillo renders visible the invisible, the forces of history, conspiracy theory as literature, and the Discordian weirdness of the JFK assassination.

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I joined Glen Rockney on his monumental Gain of Fiction bookclub show to talk about Don DeLillo’s 1988 pseudohistorical masterpiece LIBRA—arguably THE novel about the JFK assassination.

This one is for premium subscribers ONLY.

Follow Rare Candy: rarecandy.substack.com (where premium subscribers can also get this episode) or wherever you get your podcasts

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