Florida Book Club

Harry Morgan of Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel is probably the worst protagonist ever. But there's possibly more to this novel, which I'd rank as Hemingway's worst. Rebecca Johnston of the Florida Hemingway Society joins me to discuss the positives in this story of Depression-era Key West I may have overlooked.

Fans of Richard Linklater's Slacker or Harmony Korine's Gummo will find a lot to like in Errol Morris' 1981 documentary Vernon, Florida. I'm joined by Wanda Duncan to discuss this quirky little film, which she is really a fan of.

First story with a female narrator set in Florida! First story set in Key West written by a woman! Well, maybe. "The Storm" COULD be those things, but it sat unread in an archive for 150 years. I'll talk about its origins and significance with Keith Huneycutt of Florida Southern College in this episode.

Today we're revisiting "The Strange Country" of Ernest Hemingway (otherwise known as 1930s Florida), tracing the possible route Hemingway might have taken through the state and how it's reflected in the posthumously-published story. Alec Kissoondyal of University of Florida and Henry Johnston of the Rochester Institute of Technology join me to discuss their plans to discover and memorialize Hemingway's Florida road trip.

You probably know Kristen Arnett from her bestselling 2019 novel Mostly Dead Things. But I first discovered her work in the pages of Felt in the Jaw, her 2017 collection of short stories documenting "the lives of queer women and their families in the light of the bleak Florida sun." There's so much more of the grotesque and ominous in these tales, though; they'd do Flannery O'Connor proud. I'll discuss them with the author herself on this first episode of Season 4.

We're back from the beach! The new season of Florida Book Club is coming January 5.

Zaat really might be the worst movie ever. It's definitely down near the bottom of the barrel, if not at the absolute bottom. Join me as I discuss this venerable film with Wanda Suttle Duncan — in whose hometown Zaat was filmed! — and film critic Steve Jarrett on this season's final episode of Florida Book Club.

I can't imagine buying property out-of-state sight unseen. But that's what a lot of shady land "developers" were able to convince people do in the 1950s and 60s, selling unimproved patches of Florida swampland. Join me as I discuss the unsavory and environmentally damaging legacy of some of these companies with Jason Vuic, author of The Swamp Peddlers.

Orlando's Burrow Press has published some of Florida's most well-known and renowned authors -- Kristin Arnett, Laura van den Berg, Sarah Gerard, and John Henry Fleming among them. Today I’m joined by the founder and publisher of Burrow Press, Ryan Rivas, to talk about the early years of the press, how its mission has evolved, and his views on the changing Florida literary scene.

Tragic and violent comeuppance born from hubris is as old as Ancient Greece. Join me as I discuss Lori Roy's sinister Florida noir tale "Chum in the Water," which appears in the Akashic Books collection Tampa Bay Noir, with the author herself on this episode of the Florida Book Club.