The Talking Book Podcast

An excerpt from the debut novel by Allie Rowbottom.

Propulsive, dark, and moving, Aesthetica is a Veronica for the age of “Instagram face,” delivering a fresh, nuanced examination of feminism, #MeToo, and mother-daughter relationships, all while confronting our collective addiction to followers, filters, and faux realities.

“This brutal tale of a teenage Instagram model teases out the ugliness of influencer culture against our rather ancient tradition of performative femininity. Under Allie Rowbottom’s patiently literary hand, this novel’s true gem lies in its central mother-daughter relationship—a reminder that our obsession with youth is never too far removed from what binds us to our lineage.”

—Vanity Fair

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709304/aesthetica-by-allie-rowbottom/

https://allierowbottom.com/

THE ENHANCERS follows three teenage friends as they encounter the pleasures and alienation that accompany coming of age in a techno-pharmaceutical society. The Enhancers questions who we are when valued most for our ability to process information. With mental augmentation as a baseline: how do we come to know ourselves and what does it take to break free?

https://meeklingpress.square.site/product/the-enhancers/36

Examining the sanctuary of the home and one of the horror genre’s most frightening tropes, Anybody Home? points the camera lens onto the quiet suburbs and its unsuspecting abodes, any of which are potential stages for an invader ambitious enough to make it the scene of the next big crime sensation. Who knows? Their performance just might make it to the silver screen.

https://michaeljseidlinger.com/latest-book/

MOTHERTHING is a darkly funny take on mothers and daughters, about a woman who must take drastic measures to save her husband and herself from the vengeful ghost of her mother-in-law

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/696773/motherthing-by-ainslie-hogarth/

AINSLIE HOGARTH is the author of the YA novels The Lonely and The Boy Meets Girl Massacre (Annotated). She lives in Canada with her husband, kids, and little dog.

Please enjoy the author Bud Smith reading from his new novel TEENAGER, out now from Vintage.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/679124/teenager-by-bud-smith/

BUD SMITH works heavy construction in New Jersey. His story “Violets” appeared in The Paris Review. His new novel TEENAGER. It’s one of NPR’s best books of 2022. I read it and it’s my number one favorite book of 2022 so far.

Jordan Castro is the author of two poetry books and the former editor of New York Tyrant Magazine. He is from Cleveland, Ohio. The Novelist is his first novel. Get the book:

https://softskull.com/dd-product/the-novelist/

The act of making coffee prompts a reflection on the limits of self-knowledge; an editor’s embarrassing tweet sparks rage at the literary establishment; a meditation on first person versus third examines choice and action; an Instagram post about the ethics of having children triggers mimetic rivalry; the act of doing the dishes is at once ordinary and profound: one of the many small commitments that make up a life of stability.

The Novelist: A Novel pays tribute to Nicholson Baker’s The Mezzanine and Thomas Bernhard’s Woodcutters, but in the end is a wholly original novel about language and consciousness, the internet and social media, and addiction and recovery.

A reading from Maegan Poland, a fiction writer based in Philadelphia. Her debut short story collection What Makes You Think You're Awake? won the Bakwin Award at Blair Press and was featured on The Millions’ Most Anticipated for June 2021.

An excerpt from the new unabridged audiobook BODY HIGH, written and read by Jon Lindsey. Get it now:

https://thetalkingbook.org/body-high

Listen to excerpts from COMMAND AND CONTROL, a new story by Sam Pink, forthcoming in the Southwest Review.

Check out the author's work in the links below:

https://thetalkingbook.org/audiobooks

https://bookshop.org/books?keywords=Sam+Pink

https://www.instagram.com/sam_pink_art/

A portrait of the artist at the brink of self-actualization, Salad Days is a vulnerable and evocative study of identity. Go get Laura Theobald's book right now. https://shop.maudlinhouse.net/#salad-days

“Something about Salad Days reminds me of Emily Dickinson—if Emily were hornier and funnier. The poems have the kind of specificity that allows them to feel universal, like some beautiful, demented collective dream. Laura Theobald really is one of the best poets we have.”

– Juliet Escoria, author of Juliet the Maniac and Black Cloud

“I don’t usually like poetry. 98% of poetry is overwrought and academic and boring. But Laura Theobald is mad (like Sylvia Plath mad, not the other kind) which makes her poetry different, in the way a mad woman’s voice is always a little different. In a way I like. In a way that intrigues me. Listen to her.”

– Elizabeth Ellen, author of Person/a and Her Lesser Work