Mix up your favorite cocktail and join us on a trip down memory lane as we discuss the inaugural season of Literary Guise: the highs, the lows, and the lessons we learned through the great (and not so great) works of literature we explored. 

Then stick around for our announcement of the FULL Season 2 selection of books. Head out to your favorite independent bookstore and show them some love by scooping up an entire year's worth of great reads!

Literary Guise: Season 2... coming March 7th!

We finish off our first full season of Literary Guise with another conversation exploring the themes of Brokeback Mountain. Far from just "that gay cowboy story," it's one of the best explorations of masculinity in modern literature. We talk about the  love between Ennis and Jack, but we also explore the powerful female characters existing in the fringes of these men's lives. A special thanks to our favorite drinking locale on earth: The Stardust for allowing us to occupy a booth for hours every week and talk about challenging issues. Stay tuned in early 2022 for a new season of Literary Guise!

We finish up the first season of Literary Guise with one of author Zachary Kellian's favorite works of fiction.  Will co-host Gordon Macallan like it too (yes, yes he will. This is Annie Proulx we're talking about. A living legend in American literature.)

You definitely want to read this piece. It's much more than that "gay cowboy story." It's a masterpiece about masculinity in its coarsest form. And it's one of the most heartfelt and accurate portrayals of love ever put to the page. 

Through a special arrangement with the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, we present a dramatic reading of one of the greatest short stories of all-time: "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," by Papa himself.

Stay tuned for a discussion of its themes (at 8min 33 sec) with author Zachary Kellian and noted bibliophile, Dr. Gordon MacAllan.

Literary legend, James Joyce, had this to say about this month's reading:
"[Hemingway] has reduced the veil between literature and life, which is what every writer strives to do. Have you read 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place'?...It is masterly. Indeed, it is one of the best short stories ever written..."

We take Literary Guise on the road for the first time, visiting the Dune Peninsula in author Frank Herbert's hometown of Tacoma, Washington. We'll talk a bit about the themes in Dune, examine its commentary on masculinity, and review some great blue collar cocktail lounges along the way. Let us know what you think of this special format! We've already got some future trips planned, so let us know if there's a literary locale in your hometown (along with at least two decent cocktail bars) and we might be coming to your neck of the woods soon!

We've finished the novel that inspired "Die Hard," (Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp) and we're more confused than when we started. Who is the hero of this novel? What was the plot? Why are the John McClane/ Officer Al Powell characters total sociopaths? Has the author ever met a real person in his life or even had a human-level thought of his own? HOW DID SUCH A GREAT MOVIE GET MADE FROM SUCH A TERRIBLE BOOK?!?!? While we don't have answers, we do have an expensive ad from an oil company featuring the vocal talents of our audio engineer, Eric Bennett, to share with you. And our contempt for this novel... we've got plenty of that to share, too.

If you're still not sold on skipping "Nothing Lasts Forever" in favor of rewatching the much better movie adaptation, "Die Hard,"  the direct quote from the novel with which we open this episode with will dissuade you for sure. We also touch on the characters who didn't make it into the movie ("Taco" Bill, anyone?), use this novel as a literal textbook to identify toxic masculinity, and we challenge ourselves to say anything nice about the novel. 

In honor of the holiday season, we are reading and discussing the novel that inspired the action move/ Christmas classic: "Die Hard." Roderick Thorp's grisly and unpleasant, "Nothing Lasts Forever." Look at it this way: we read this book so you don't have to. In this episode we'll discuss the key differences between the book and the novel, share which of the shallow female or one-note minority characters made us feel the most uncomfortable, and then just reminisce about the comparatively nuanced and deeply character-driven plotting of the 80s action movie. 

*Bonus at home drinking game: How often will co-host Zachary Kellian confuse the novel's protagonist, "Joe Leeland" with former Detroit Tiger's manager, "Jim Leyland?" Take a shot every time he does.

*SPOILER ALERTS* abound in our final episode of this new American classic. We talk about the amazing "twist" ending, its ramifications on the plot and its startling re-contextualization of the story we thought we were being told. We also grapple with themes about living for others/ living to honor others and the expectations society often places on men to do so. And we try to define the soul of America... you know, just casual conversation over whiskies. 

We go even deeper into what this novel has to say about our country and about the time in which we live. Elwood is one of our favorite literary characters: how can we learn from him and how can we continued to be inspired by him? Not every Literary Guise episode needs to be a boozy snark-fest, sometimes we can get real and talk about real issues. That's something we all need to do more of in American and we hope you'll join us.