Persistence of Vision

The Silmarillion is the Bible of Middle Earth, and Daniel Mennega is our guide through the rarified heights and terrifying depths of Tolkien's mythology. L.B. is joined by special guest host Union Brooks. 

Philosophy, love, history, love, betrayal, tyranny, art, weight, and lightness. These and other themes, torn from the pages of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, animate Lance and L.B.'s discussion with theater star Kelli Bland.

Can a person evolve? Does true love ever stop a man from pursuing his destiny? Is there gold in them thar hills? Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist raises these and other questions. But for the answers, Lance and L.B. turn to none other than Wild Bill, Austin's preeminent rock 'n roll impresario, composer and performer. 

Sometimes the hippest novel of the year is actually an innovative, devastating memoir. Philosopher, shoot fighter and rock hero Mocha Washburn talks about Dave Eggers' legendary debut, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

President Bill Clinton called John Rawls "perhaps the greatest political philosopher of the twentieth century" because of the ideas contained in Rawls' book A Theory of Justice. Author, Legislative Director and master showman Mike O'Connor shares his expertise on the book and pulls back L.B. and Lance's veil of ignorance. 

Recorded live at the North Door Bar Lounge. Halldór Laxness' Nobel-prize winning novel Independent People is the subject of the Persistence of Vision Interview with actor, director and playwright Elizabeth Doss. How much fun can you have with a book about impoverished shepherds in the frozen wastes of Iceland? Plenty. 

The Austin Chronicle's legendary arts editor Brenner joins Lance, L.B. and Union to discuss Charlie Huston's neo-noir showstopper, The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death. 

It's 1953, and the United States has just executed an American couple convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. Everyone is on edge as the Cold War standoff between communism and democracy leads to the rise of Senator Joe McCarthy and his zealous hunt for people he calls subversives or communist sympathizers. Suspicion, loyalty oaths, blacklists, political profiling, hostility to foreigners, and the assumption of guilt by association divide the nation. Lance and L.B. welcome L.M. Elliott to discuss the parallels with today's America.

"Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the music at top volume and at least a pint of ether."

Texas Punk musician and journalist Tim Stegall describes the epochal sensation that is Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and also touches on his own personal journey into the heart of the American dream. 

Jillie is a tale of horror-tinged high adventure, brought to life by Dickensian characters and high-velocity pacing. It's the story of an 11-year-old girl on the run from her brutal step-family in the New Mexico desert.

Novelist Olive Balla discusses her Jillie, and also the process of finding a publisher and releasing the book.