Our guest this week is the series editor for  The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and author of the book  The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos. She had us read an Ursula LeGuin novella about a "generation ship," a science fiction trope involving humans traversing the universe in search of a new planetary home. Did she pick this specifically to troll Mike, who is on the record as a sci fi skeptic? It's entirely possible! We talk about what drew Jaime to science writing, and why she considers herself an essayist, rather than a journalist. Also: what would be on our wish lists for a new planet? And will this LeGuin novella finally be the thing to win Mike over to the side of sci fi? You can learn more about our guest, and her work, at her website: https://www.jaimegreen.net/ And if you like the podcast, and would like more of it in your life, consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight  

Ep 434: Jaime Green

A podcast where writers talk honestly about books, writing, and the literary world. Hosted by Mike Ingram and Tom McAllister, authors and long-time editors for Barrelhouse, a nonprofit literary magazine and book publisher. New episodes every other week, with bonus episodes for Patreon subscribers.

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We welcome writer and editor Michael Tager (Mason Jar Press; Pop Culture Poetry: The Definitive Collection ) to talk about Mindy Kaling's essay collection Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Tager read Kaling's book during a period when he was reading a lot of memoirs and essay collections by comedians, including books by Tina Fey and Chelsea Handler. He talks about what made Kaling's stand out, and how his usual reading habits were interrupted by fatherhood.  You can learn more about Tager's writing and editing projects, including his forthcoming book, at his website: http://www.michaelbtager.com/ If you like our podcast, and would like more of it in your life, please consider subscribing to our Patreon, where $5 a month gets you two monthly bonus episodes, plus access to our entire back catalog: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight Thanks for listening!

Ep 440: Michael Tager

We're joined by Sal Pane--author, most recently, of the short story collection The Neorealist in Winter (winner of the 2002 Autumn House fiction prize) to discuss a pair of novellas by Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg. Plus: writing for video games, surviving winter, and cuffing season. For more about Sal, and his books, visit his website: https://salvatore-pane.com/ If you'd like more Book Fight in your life, consider subscribing to our Patreon, where $5 gets you two bonus episodes each month, including throughout our upcoming hiatus: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight Thanks for listening!

Ep 439: Sal Pane

It's a fan favorite every year: we choose a (possibly terrible) Christmas novel, and we invite some of our fellow Barrelhouse editors on to discuss it. This year the book was  A Christmas Memory, by the "king of Christmas fiction," Richard Paul Evans. And our guests include Dave Housley, Becky Barnard, Chris Gonzalez, and Joe Killiany! Is this book a heartwarming autobiographical tale about a young boy's friendship with an old African-American man in late-1960s Utah? Or is it the story of a little incel boy who will eventually grow up to found a creepy men's rights organization and compare the plight of white men to Jews in Nazi Germany?  Every year we try to take a "fun" trip to Christmas Town, and every year we somehow wind up mired in a terrible shit show. Feliz Navidad!

Christmas Spectacular 2023!

We're joined by Hannah Grieco (writer, editor, recent MFA finisher) to discuss the 2021 novel  Nightbitch, by Rachel Yoder, and its depiction of an overworked mother gone feral.  You can order a copy of Already Gone, the anthology Hannah edited featuring 40 stories of people running away. And if you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us by joining our Patreon, where $5 gets you two bonus episodes each month.

Ep 437: Hannah Grieco

We're joined by Athena Dixon (The Loneliness Files, Tin House Books) to talk about a famous novel she hated when she was first made to read it, and why it spoke to her so much more strongly when she revisited it years later. You can find links to order Athena's new essay collection via Tin House. You can sign up for Mike's Substack here: https://mikeingram.substack.com/ And if you like our podcast, $5/month can help us keep it going, plus give you access to two bonus episodes each month (and a whole slew of back episodes): https://www.patreon.com/BookFight  

Ep 434: Jaime Green

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