T.C. Boyle has written 19 novels and hundreds of short stories, and is a winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award. In the Fall issue of Ojai Quarterly, Kit Stolz reviewed his latest, "Blue Skies," the comically dystopian misadventures of a family on the brink of catastrophes, both environmental and personal.

Boyle covers a wide range of topics on the podcast, including growing up in impoverished circumstances, his musical career, the way his characters live on and off the page, doing the deep research that goes into his work, especially "Blue Skies," and how he came to the Ojai-Santa Barbara area. He also talked about living in Frank Lloyd Wright's final "Prairie Style" house, insect cuisine, and a Filipino billionaire's (fictional) scheme to cool down the planet with sulphur dioxide. And a ghost.

We did not talk about Mars travel, tire tread wear or the Battle of Marathon.

Check out more on T.C. Boyle on his website at tcboyle.com or his comically inspired twitter (X?) account at @tcboyle.