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This week, we're talking to New York playwright and novelist Matthew Gasda about his new novel, The Sleepers, one of the best treatments of millennial generational malaise. We talk about the Dimes Square New York scene, the internet and culture, ideology vs art, masculinity and femininity, defiantly staging theatre during the lockdowns, and much more.

Buy The Sleepers here: https://www.amazon.com/Sleepers-Novel-Matthew-Gasda/dp/1648211259

And check out Gasda's substack: https://matthewgasda.substack.com/

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This week we're joined by the "Ern Malley of the 21st Century," Jasper Ceylon, who has pranked multiple poetry journals by posing as vogueish identities while submitting terrible poems.

Jasper successfully published poems that were intentionally bad to woke journals more interested in an author's pronouns, sexuality and racial characteristics than talent.

This satirical "performance art" piece has been documented in his new book, Echolalia Review.

We discussed the quality control issues in the publishing industry, and the challenges faced by indie writers, the prevalence of dishonesty in the literary world, particularly in the representation of indigenous cultures, and the challenges of navigating the literary world.

Buy Jasper's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Echolalia-Review-Anti-Poetry-Jasper-Ceylon/dp/1738633926/

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This episode, we talk to Jared Klickstein about his amazing memoir of drug addiction and homelessness, Crooked Smile. We also chat about the underground classic Australian film, Pure Shit (Bert Deling, 1978).

Buy Crooked Smile here: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CWZ1GHLW?ref_=mr_referred_us_au_au

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Reading isn't dead - our attention spans have just been hijacked by phones and social media. Inspired by an essay Fresta wrote on how to read last year, we discuss practical strategies to reclaim your reading habit and rediscover the joy of getting lost in a good book.

Check out Fresta's essay on Rare Candy's substack with more detailed reading tips and strategies: https://rarecandy.substack.com/p/how-to-read-books

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J David Osborne joins us once more, this time to talk about his new psychedelic cyberpunk epic novel, Gods Fare No Better. 

We talked about spirituality, cyberpunk, science fiction, and the impact of various media on JDO's work, as well as book marketing strategies, industry challenges, and the importance of creativity and playfulness in literature and art.

Buy Gods Fare No Better here:

https://ronintrash.bigcartel.com/product/gods-fare-no-better

or here:

https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Fare-Better-David-Osborne-ebook/dp/B0F2GXQGRZ?ref_=ast_author_mpb

And the discussion continues over on Patreon where we talk about one of the novel's main influences, Cyberpunk 2077. To listen, go to https://www.patreon.com/GettingLit

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This week, we chat about an ancient classic, Medea by the Athenian tragedian Euripides. 

We also discuss Lars Von Trier's 1988 TV movie adaptation of the play, written by Carl Theodor Dreyer.

Sini also published a well-received essay on men reading books on podcasts at Unherd, which you can read here: 

https://unherd.com/2025/04/the-literary-man-isnt-dead/

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This week, a triple crosspost collaboration with Agitator and Bistro Californium, where we discuss the remasters of the Legacy of Kain videogame series. We talk about the game's mechanics, story progression, incredible voice acting and sound design, character development, themes of free will, spiritualism, and the liminal space between analog and digital technology and much more.

Subscribe to Agitator here: https://www.patreon.com/c/agitator/

Subscribe to Bistro Californium here: https://www.patreon.com/c/BistroCalifornium/

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For full episode, go to https://www.patreon.com/c/GettingLit

This week, we have compiled all four episodes of our Book of the New Sun series we did in 2023 into one massive 8.5 hour journey. Join Sini, J David Osborne and Kelby Losack as they unpack Gene Wolfe's masterwork of science fiction.

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We're celebrating 100 episodes of the Getting Lit Podcast by talking about a few Jorge Luis Borges stories: The Library of Babel, Three Versions of Judas, The House of Asterion, and Borges And I.

We talk about infinity, intellectualism, mythology. We also touched on the challenges of creating a public persona as a writer, a few movie opinions, and the podcast's 100 episode milestone.

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This week, it's a bit of a buffet!

We chat about two Aleister Crowley short stories: The Drug, and The Stratagem. Before he was a famous occultist, Crowley wrote some fiction, so we thought we'd try it out. To get a much more extensive dive into Crowley, check out Art of Darkness' episode on his life: https://artofdarkpod.com/aleister-crowley-the-sewer-of-creation/

We also chat about "brodernism", the latest literary world concept to cause a fuss in "online lit." The article featuring this hideous portmanteau can be found here: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/against-high-brodernism/

Fresta also lets us know what he thought about the Deadwood movie (2019).

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