Book Fight

We're joined by novelist and high-school music teacher Daniel DiFranco (Panic Years, Devil on My Trail) to discuss the Margaret Millar novel Do Evil in Return, a staple of the noir genre. We talk about the line between serious and campy, how to move plot forward in a novel, and the difficulty of endings. 

For more about our guest, including where to find his books, check out his website: http://www.danieldifranco.com/

If you like our podcast, and would like more of it in your life, $5 gets you a couple bonus episodes each month plus access to our huge backlog of bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight

Thanks for listening!

Note: This episode is part of our ongoing season on noir novels, but you don't need to listen to the episodes in order, and you don't need to read the books to enjoy the discussion.

We welcome Joanna Pearson (author, most recently, of Bright and Tender Dark), who makes the case that we should put Mary Gaitskill's short stories in the "noir" category--or at least mark them as noir-adjacent. We discuss two specific Gaitskill stories, "The Other Place" and "The Girl on the Plane," as well as the particular darkness of the Gaitskill universe.

We also talk with Joanna about readers' expectations for genre books, and what it's been like to have her own novel placed in various genre boxes. Plus: what's the right way to organize one's bookshelves?

To learn more about Joanna, and her work, visit her website: https://www.joanna-pearson.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it in your life, subscribe to our Patreon ($5) to get two bonus episodes each month: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight

Thanks for listening!

We're joined by Steph Cha (author of Your House Will Pay) to talk about a famous California hardboiled novel none of us had ever read. What will it took us about tramps, insurance fraud, and the relative difficulty of staging a fake car-related murder? And what's the deal with that postman, with his infernal ringing? 

Steph, who has written several acclaimed crime novels herself, helps us to understand the genre we're exploring this season, and its evolution over time. 

To learn more about our guest, and her work, check out her website: http://stephcha.com/

If you like our podcast, and would like to help support it--plus get access to two bonus episodes every month--check out our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight

Thanks for listening!

(Note: this is the 4th episode in our Noir season, but there's no reason you need to listen to them in order. Also, you don't need to read the book to enjoy the show.)

We're joined by comedian and writer Charlie Demers to discuss a novel that the famous crime writer Donald Westlake finished in the early '80s but which wasn't published until after his death. At the time, he apparently worried that the plot--about a famous comedian kidnapped by a Weather Underground-style group of revolutionaries--was too similar to the Martin Scoresese movie The King of Comedy.

We talk about the book's take on politics and comedy, which may have some echoes in our current cultural moment. And also Charlie's relationship to these characters, since he's a stand-up comedian and someone who's quite active in progressive politics. Plus: beatniks, Bob Hope, the fragmentation of popular culture, and our pitch for a show about a detective with ADHD.

To learn more about Charlie, and follow his work, visit his website: https://www.charliedemers.com/

If you like our podcast, and want to exchange a few bucks for two montly bonus episodes, check out our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight

Note: This is the 3rd episode in our Noir season, but you don't need to listen to the episodes in order to enjoy them.

The 1947 Dorothy Hughes novel In a Lonely Place is considered a hallmark of the noir genre, and also something of a feminist reimagining of those genre's tropes. We're joined by Isaac Butler (author of The Method: How the 20th Century Learned to Act) to talk about some of the book's narrative tricks, including an unreliable third-person narrator, and how it subverts the genre's "femme fatale" trope, among others. Plus: What made Dorothy Hughes think that 'Brub' was a good name for a character?

In the second half of the show, we learn about Isaac's relationship to Halloween costumes, which Muppet could play a hardboiled cop, and why Isaac thinks he's too old to read Slaughterhoue Five for the first time.

If you like the podcast, consider joining our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes, plus access to our entire back catalog of bonus content. During our current season, we're watching and discussing noir films, both classics and newer entries to the canon. https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight

Find Isaac on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theisaacbutler/

Or on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/isaacbutler.bsky.social

You can subscribe to Mike's Substack (for free): https://mikeingram.substack.com/

Anc check out the newly revamped Barrelhouse newsletter, which now features an original monthly essay (writers writing about their non-writing obsessions): https://www.barrelhousemag.com/ (scroll down to the bottom of the page)

Thanks, as always, for listening!

Note: This is the second episode in our Noir season. But there's no reason you have to listen to the episodes in order.

We're back! This episode kicks off a new season of the podcast, and this one's all about noir. In our first installment, guest Sarah Weinman (author of Scoundrel, and The Real Lolita) joins us to discuss a Patricia Highsmith novel, The Blunderer, about a rather hapless man who, despite not actually killing his wife, manages to convince nearly everyone that he has.

If you like the show, and want more of it in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon, where during this season we'll be watching a series of noir and neo-noir films, including Double Indemnity, The Third Man, Blade Runner, and more. Five bucks a month gets you those bonus episodes, plus access to our entire back catalog of bonus material: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight

Thanks for listening!

In the final episode of our "marriage plot" season, we welcome fan favorite Dave Housley (author, most recently, of The Other Ones, and founding editor of Barrelhouse Magazine) to talk about a book that updated the 19th-century marriage plot novel for the 1990s: Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary.

Dave had seen the movie version of the novel multiple times. But none of us had ever read the novel, which began as a jokey column in a London newspaper. We talk about the book's quirky voice, which of its jokes still land in 2024, and whether our culture's attitudes toward diet and body image have changed significantly in the last few decades. Plus: Dave's advice to Mike for marital harmony, and is author Matthew Quick part of the sprawling QAnon conspiracy?

You can learn more about Dave, and his books, at his website: https://housleydave.com/. And keep up with all things Barrelhouse here: https://www.barrelhousemag.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it in your life, please consider subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

This is the eighth and final episode in our "marriage plot" season, which means we'll be taking a break until our next season drops, sometime in the fall. But we'll continue to post new episodes every two weeks on our Patreon, including our ongoing Hunt for the Worst Book of All Time, and our deep dive into the fictional portrayal of writers in movies and TV shows. If you have ideas for Patreon episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out!

And, as always, thanks for listening!

We couldn't do a season on "the marriage plot" in literature without reading the Jeffrey Eugenides novel that's literally titled The Marriage Plot. Guest Lucas Mann (author, most recently, of the essay collected Attachments, and co-owner of Riffraff Bookstore and Bar in Providence, Rhode Island) joins us to discuss Eugenides' novel, which contains a "marriage plot" while also being a kind of meta-commentary on marriage plots. Plus: Is the book's clinically depressed, bandana-wearing character meant to be David Foster Wallace? How does Lucas employ "power poses" to sell books? And is there anything worse than a cash-bar wedding?

You can find more info about Lucas, including where to read his work and how to buy his books, at his website: https://www.lucasmann.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it in your life--two bonus episodes each and every month--consider chipping in $5 to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

Note: This episode is the 7th of 8 in our Marriage Plot season (not that you need to listen to them in order!). After next week's episode we'll be taking a break, but we'll continue to post new episodes every other week on our Patreon feed.

Poet and novelist Beth Ann Fennelly (Heating & Cooling, The Tilted World) joins us to talk about an unconventional love story, Harrison Scott Key's How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told. We talk about learning life lessons from memoirs, how to write about difficult relationships--especially when you're still in them--and Beth Ann's experience of writing a novel collaboratively with her husband. Plus: Mike's pre-marriage angst about wedding rental companies, and why it costs so much to rent a chair.

We continue our "marriage plot" season with guest Curtis Sittenfeld (Prep, American Wife, Romantic Comedy) who talks us through one of her favorite Alice Munro stories, why she admires it, and how it's influenced her own work. Plus: Are trains romantic? Is some writing trying too hard to be sexy? And what's the ideal bathroom situation for a marriage?

For more about Curtis, and her books, visit her website: https://curtissittenfeld.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it in your life, consider joining our Patreon, where $5/month gets you lots of bonus content, and helps support the show more generally: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

Thanks for listening!