Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

In our first segment, comic artist Ben Passmore takes us on a time-bending, darkly funny journey through more than a century of Black resistance in his graphic history Black Arms to Hold You Up. It’s a story of struggle, rebellion, and what liberation really means when the fight never ends.

“We’re in a life-or-death struggle, and I think we need to accept that.” — Ben Passmore

Then, science journalist David Baron joins us to talk about The Martians — the true story of how turn-of-the-(last)-century America fell in love with the idea of life on Mars. From telescopes to tabloid headlines, Baron shows how our dreams of other worlds reveal who we really are.

“It was a time of great unrest… and so the idea that maybe Earth was clearly turning out not to be a very perfect place — and that maybe there was a better civilization on the planet next door — really captured the public’s imagination.” — David Baron

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Key Words: Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon, Ben Passmore, David Baron, Black Arms to Hold You Up, The Martians, graphic novels, civil rights, alien craze, Black resistance, Mars, Percival Lowell, H.G. Wells, podcast author interview,

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Read The Transcript

In his groundbreaking graphic history Black Arms to Hold You Up, Ben Passmore reimagines the past century of Black liberation struggles through his distinctive art and narrative voice.

From the tragedy of Philando Castile to the heroism and contradictions of figures like Robert F. Williams and Assata Shakur, Passmore explores how movements evolve — and how humor, art, and honesty sustain resistance across generations.

Read An Excerpt

Segment Summary:
In The Martians, journalist David Baron revisits the early 1900s, when Americans — including scientists, inventors, and the press — became convinced that life on Mars had been discovered.

At the center of this cultural fever was wealthy astronomer Percival Lowell, whose theory of Martian canals captivated the public and launched both a scientific controversy and a literary genre. Baron traces how imagination, media, and science merged in a story that still shapes our fascination with Mars — and ourselves.