Unsound Methods

Something a little different for the first pod of 2021: Lochlan and Jaimie get together (remotely) and have a couple of drinks to celebrate the launch of Jaimie's debut novel 'Siphonophore' - which is out now through Valley Press.

The chat covers Jaimie's approach to writing, a bit of his history, sacrilegious suggestions of cuts to Finnegans Wake and a discussion of the fundamental weakness of analogies highlighting unnecessary cruelty to both cats and frogs.

If you are interested in reading Siphonophore (and huge thanks if you are - JB), then you can find the book here: https://www.valleypressuk.com/book/154/siphonophore - by using the discount code 'SAVEMACG' listeners can get 10% off the price.

The documentary that Jaimie refers to is called 'Nothing Changes: Art for Hank's Sake' (2018, dir. Matthew Kaplowitz) about the artist Hank Virgona.

We have a store page on Bookshop, where you can find our books, as well as those of previous guests: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/unsoundmethods

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom

Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan

Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/

We have teamed up with the Institute of English Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. With the current uncertainty in the world, why not check out their Literature in Lockdown page? : https://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/about-us/ies-virtual-community/literature-lockdown

In this month's episode, we caught up with John Englehardt, author of 'Bloomland' (2019, Dzanc Books). John has also written for Vol.1 Brooklyn, Sycamore Review, The Stranger, Seattle Review of Books, Conium Review, Monkeybicycle, and elsewhere.

Bloomland deals with the lead-up and fall-out of a college shooting through three separate narratives, told in the second person. Spanning two decades, Bloomland interrogates the social roots of the shooting and its effect on a community struggling to use violence as a catalyst for self-reflection and change.

John is on Twitter: @johnenglehardt1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.englehardt.7

Instagram: @john.englehardtHis website is: https://johnenglehardt.com/

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom

Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan

Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/

We have teamed up with the Institute of English Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. With the current uncertainty in the world, why not check out their Literature in Lockdown page? : https://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/about-us/ies-virtual-community/literature-lockdown

In this month's episode we took a wild ride with David Keenan. David was born in Glasgow and grew up in Airdrie, in the west of Scotland, in the late-70s and early-1980s. He is the author of three novels, the cult classic This Is Memorial Device, which won the Collyer Bristow/London Magazine Award for Debut Fiction 2018 and was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, For The Good Times, which won the Gordon Burn Prize in 2019, and Xstabeth.

We travelled far and wide in this episode, covering, amongst much else: using faith in your writing as your only compass, performing a DJ set in Tolstoy’s front garden, the beauty of a character from a previous novel turning up unexpectedly in later work and lucky cap disposal.

“Research is an excuse for not inventing.”

If you'd like to take a step into David's personal chill-space, the books he mentioned are: ‘Incised Effigial Slabs’ by F. A. Greenhill (1976) and ‘Monastic Architecture in France’ by Joan Evans (1964).

Xstabeth is published by White Rabbit on 12th November 2020. Pre-order XSTABETH in paperback, ebook or audio before 1 November to access the exclusive digital prequel, THE TOWERS THE FIELDS THE TRANSMITTERS. Full details: bit.ly/XstabethPreOrder

David is on Twitter: @reversediorama

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom

Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan

Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/

We are teaming up with the Institute of English Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. With the current uncertainty in the world, why not check out their Literature in Lockdown page? : https://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/about-us/ies-virtual-community/literature-lockdown

In this month's episode we speak to Gabriel Josipovici. Gabriel's first novel was published in 1968 and his writing career spans over twenty works of fiction, numerous works of criticism and non-fiction, and regular articles in the TLS.

Continuing our current coronavirus set-up, Gabriel joined us remotely from Sussex and our discussion covered how his writing has developed over six decades, the perils of writing an unexpectedly backlash-provoking book on Modernism, the creative possibilities revealed by examining painters & composers and much more.

The 'acceptably long' novel we briefly discussed was George Perec’s ‘Life: A User’s Manual’

The vast majority of Gabriel's work is published by Carcanet: https://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?owner_id=368

Gabriel's website is here: http://www.gabrieljosipovici.org/

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom

Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan

Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/

We are teaming up with the Institute of English Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. With the current uncertainty in the world, why not check out their Literature in Lockdown page? : https://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/about-us/ies-virtual-community/literature-lockdown

“What you push against is as important as what you reach towards”

On this month's episode we speak to Irish-Canadian author Anakana Schofield, author of Malarky (2013), Martin John (2016) and Bina (2020).

Anakana joined us from the West Coast of Canada to discuss representations of older women in fiction, the musical score of the novel and missing out on multiple Christmases to complete her work, plus much else besides.

In the UK, Anakana has written for the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/07/what-we-gain-from-keeping-books-and-why-it-doesnt-need-to-be-joy-marie-kondo
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/20/unsinkable-characters-anakana-schofield-top-10

Her website is here: www.anakanaschofield.com

And she is on Twitter: @anakanaschofiel

Instagram: @anakana.schofield

Bina is published in the UK by Fleet (Little Brown), in Canada by Knopf Canada and will be published in the U.S. by New York Review of Books (out in early 2021). 

There's a great video interview with Anakana courtesy of Toronto Public Library, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxelTvXgzkI

Author photo credit: Arabella Campbell

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom

Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan

Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/

We are teaming up with the Institute of English Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. With the current uncertainty in the world, why not check out their Literature in Lockdown page? : https://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/about-us/ies-virtual-community/literature-lockdown

Something a little different this month as Lochlan and Jaimie pause to review how the COVID-19 lockdown has impacted their reading and writing, and to take a look back at the teenage reading paths that led them to experimental/innovative fiction.

We'd love to hear about your lockdown reading and writing and the reading path you've taken through the fiction forest. Contact us through Twitter, or email us at: [email protected]

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom

Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan

Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/

In episode 30, we speak to writer, translator and musician, Jen Calleja, author of the short story collection 'I'm Afraid that's All We've Got Time For' (2020, Prototype).

We (remotely, respecting social distancing!) discuss bus travel as fertile ground for creativity, writing across different forms - from translation to poetry, novels and short stories, and the insight gained from working with writers whose work you are translating - and plenty more besides.

*** There is a very slight technical glitch with this episode's sound, but we've fixed it as best we can - apologies if the sound isn't quite as clean as it usually is ***

You can buy 'I'm Afraid that's All We've Got Time For' here: https://prototypepublishing.co.uk/product/im-afraid-thats-all-weve-got-time-for/

You can find out more about Jen's writing at her website: www.jencalleja.com

She's on Twitter: @niewview and Instagram: @jencalleja_

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom

Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan

Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/

In episode 29, we speak to writer and broadcaster Hamid Ismailov. Hamid joined us pre-Covid-19-lockdown, on his way to the Faversham Literature Festival.

Hamid's novels include 'the Devil's Dance' and 'of Strangers and Bees', both available through Tilted Axis Press in the UK. More info at: https://www.tiltedaxispress.com/hamid-ismailov

As a writer who works in Uzbek, Russian and English, our discussion took us on a Eurasian tour of societies, cultures and languages. Hamid outlined his 'writing a book during autumn and winter' approach, and we learnt a bit more about what it's like to be banned in your own country (not just his work, Hamid continues to be prohibited from entering Uzbekistan to this day).

Author image credit: Amos Chapple

Hamid is on Twitter: @ismailov_writer

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom

Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan

Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/

This episode is a little different to our usual output as we speak to Jonathan Simons: publisher, writer, editor, musician, occasional translator, and the person behind the Analog Sea Review.

The Analog Sea is an 'offline publisher of printed books', but there's much more to it that that - as you will hear, Jonathan's entire approach involves shunning the online world, almost as a revolutionary act. We discuss the reasons behind this approach, the insights it provides and the contradictions that it inevitably involves.

The Analog Sea's sprawling comprehensive* website (as discussed in the show) is available here: https://www.analogsea.com/

To receive a copy of the latest Analog Sea Bulletin, send a letter to.

PO Box 11670
Austin, Texas 78711
United States

or

Basler Strasse 115
79115 Freiburg
Germany

For obvious reasons, Jonathan is not on social media, but we are:

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom

Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan

Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/

*neither sprawling nor comprehensive

In episode 27 we speak to Caleb Klaces, poet, academic and author of 'Fatherhood' (2019, Prototype). Caleb is also the author of 'Bottled Air' (2013), winner of the Melita Hume Prize and an Eric Gregory Award, as well as two chapbooks: 'All Safe All Well' (2011) and 'Modern Version' (2018). He is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and English Literature at York St John University, and runs the York Centre for Writing Poetry Series.

Fatherhood is available here: https://prototypepublishing.co.uk/product/fatherhood/

The book discussed during the AI chat is 'the Bestseller Code' by Jodie Archer and Matthew Jockers.

You can read some of Caleb's poetry here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/caleb-klaces

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom

Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan

Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/