In this episode, we dive headfirst into the raw, surreal, and unforgettable world of Cruddy by Lynda Barry. Part coming-of-age, part fever dream, Barry’s cult classic is a dark, jagged tale told through the scrawled notebook of a teenage girl named Roberta. We unpack its haunting narrative, twisted humour, and graphic novel-style illustrations—exploring how trauma, truth, and storytelling bleed into each other in this unforgettable text. 

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For this episode it was our utmost pleasure to interview author DC Frost about her debut novel, A Punishing Breed, published by Red Hen Press.

DC Frost is a second-generation Angelino. For almost twenty years, she has worked as a fundraiser at a small private liberal arts college in the heart of Los Angeles, and before that PBS and Variety. Denise has published several literary fiction short stories in journals including UCLA’s Westword. DC loves and respects Southern California, a melting pot of class and culture that is often misrepresented and misunderstood in popular fiction and media. DC lives in Eagle Rock, California, with her husband, who is an NPR journalist and reporter, and three rescue dogs. DC and her husband have an adult son, a filmmaker, who resides in Los Angeles.

A Punishing Breed - A Synopsis
A Punishing Breed, the first in a series of novels featuring Detective DJ Arias, is a murder mystery that takes place in Los Angeles, the city of angels, freeways, Santa Ana winds, and honeysuckle slithering through chain-link fences and perfuming LA’s dark streets and neighbourhoods. Detective Arias hunts for a murderer on a liberal arts campus that prides itself on its progressive curriculum but is rife with jealousy, racial and sexual tensions, and a hierarchy as real and destructive as a medieval fortress. DJ Arias, good at his job because he sees the worst in people, is challenged by the college community, a neighbourhood recluse, and a young Latino gardener he sent to jail ten years ago for a hit-and-run accident. Through the course of his investigation, Arias will find out no one is who they appear to be. He begins to reclaim his humanity by adopting a dog he names Evidence and finding the clues to a crime born from a dark secret not contained in the past but alive in the present, which will cast destruction and murder on the denizens of the small liberal arts campus.

You can purchase a copy of A Punishing Breed from:
1. Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/86470/9781939096173
2. https://www.amazon.com.au/Punishing-Breed-DC-Frost/dp/1939096197

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Here at the Pleasure of the Text, many a time has the topic of translation come up. In this episode we consider the art of translation further, and take a deep dive into the different translations of Albert Camus's, The Outsider. 

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And we are back! At the turn of the new year we sat down with beloved friend and fellow writer Patrick (Writing Solutions) and discussed our writing goals, and solutions, to help us progress forward in 2024.
In this episode, Patrick has returned for a 6-month update on the writing solutions we set out at the start of the year and we went.
This is one of those rare episodes, where the quality of the audio wasn't up to snuff, however the raw and honest sharing of the struggles we all face as writers, and people, was too precious to delete.

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A long time in the coming (and the making); review of Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Two books and two movies (and more), in this episode at The Pleasure of the Text, we talk about the different translations of Solaris, and compare the two. 

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Another fun episode here at the Pleasure of the Text, where talk about our favourite (and worse) book recommendations. 

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"The Darkness is a mouth, and it consumes all."

Our first book review for 2024 is Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, a haunting, thrilling novel full of horror, set in Argentina and spanning the decades of brutal military dictatorship (the Dirty War) and its aftermath. 

Translated from the Spanish to the English by Megan McDowell, Mariana loosens the tight prose found in her short stories (The Dangers of Smoking in Bed and Things We Lost in the Fire) into a meandering epic of cursed inheritances, broken families, and the sacrifices a father will make to help his son escape the all consuming Darkness. 

We at The Pleasure of the Text loved this book, and gave it 4.5 stars! Let us know what you think in the comments. 

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#ourshareofnight  #mariana enriquez

In the first episode of the year, we talk about reading and writing goals, and strategies on how to increase reading and writerly no matter what your current situation is. Enjoy! 

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#writingsolutions  #readingsolutions

Spoilers Alert!! What an amazing book to end the year on! Each short story in this collection of eleven is a stand alone piece, yet each is more than the sum of its parts, twisting together into a sinister, tangled, spider's web. Beware the carrots that grow in the shape of human hands, splattered tomatoes' on a highway that pop like human heads under car tyres, and a tiger-skinned coat that leaves you chilled to the bone. 
Given 5/5 stars by both your hosts this is a book worth reading cover-to-cover, where you end up where you started...

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#writing #yokoogawa #japanesewriters

Ambling thoughts and meandering words are the ilk of the writer. In this podcast, we explore new and interesting topics happening in the writing and publishing space, including; AI finishing people's work, creating continuations, ownership dilemmas and more. This is a new format we've explored, so comment below if you enjoyed this episode of The Pleasure of the Text.

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#writing  #aiwriting