Jordan and Ryan are back to celebrate the release of A TABLE FOR FORTUNE - coming 3/3/26 from Arcade Publishing - and discuss their thoughts on the first few hundred pages of WTV's long awaited God's Lonely Men-Cold War-War on Terror epic.

Preorder today via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Bookshop.org.

In A Table for Fortune, National Book Award-winner William T. Vollmann depicts from the balcony-level of history the last half-century of American politics, war, and life. At once a family drama, bildungsroman, and national epic, this 3,000+ page, four-part novel may be our most ambitious writer's most ambitious work.   

Parts 1 and 2 gather from the half-forgotten annals of the near-past - Stasi documents, Iraqi newspaper articles, presidential radio addresses - to form a vivid and mesmeric epic centered on Elliott Stevens, or DAVE, a CIA analyst whose glee at winning the Cold War is matched only by the dread that culminates in the nightmares of September eleventh and the resulting War on Terror. The hero of Parts 3 and 4 is Matthew Stevens, Elliott's son, whose efforts to divine the fate of his life and escape his parents result in homelessness, addiction, and perhaps even happiness. 

Spanning from 1968 to 2019, these volumes comb together - with Vollmann's trademark generous wit and Olympian prose - a staggeringly well-researched, definitive history of American post-war foreign policy with a deft, moving chronicle of a family's descent into resentment and gloom. Not since War and Peace have the internal lives of characters and the history of a nation been forged together in so forceful a study of causes, fate, and nationhood. 

Elliott and Matthew Stevens are “passengers within a divine bullet,” which, like Gogol's troika before it, overtakes all flying to its nation's end. This boxed set, with all four volumes in hardcover, allows the book to be read as intended: as one towering novel, the magnum opus of one of the giants of literature. 

Show Notes:

A Reflection of the Public: A Short Story

Heading Toward Nowhere

Drones and Decolonization

Four Men: Keeping Company with Outdoor People

American Writing Today: A Diagnosis of the Disease

Credits:

Show logo (“An Incomplete Map of Vollmannia”) courtesy of Anna Roth.

Music: Jeannette Fang, Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 2 'Presentiment of Death' by Frédéric Chopin. Public Domain Mark 1.0 – No Copyright from https://musopen.org. 

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @vollmannia

Instagram: @vollmannia

http://vollmannia.buzzsprout.com/

William T. Vollmann has partnered with us to sell 10 prints of his painting "Dolores as a Golden Monkey"! Each print will cost $2,500. Bill has provided a full description below. Order yours today (https://square.link/u/IfOW4bYw)!


“Dolores as a Golden Monkey” is one of my transgender self-portraits.  The old-timey lumber shop some two blocks from my studio made me ten 16 x 20” cherrywood panels, with frames to fit, each frame consisting of two L-shaped pieces which I could engrave and paint either before or after seating the painting inside.  In this case the masklike figures on the frame were obviously done first, thereby isolating and commenting on instead of extending the acrylic-painted image, and incidentally almost occluding Dolores’s female parts in proof that I, too, can abase myself to honor “family values.”  The framed size of this painting is 18 x 22”. 

My longterm model Lindsay R. considers this one of her favorites among my paintings. I like it for its bittersweet whimsicality.  Dolores would like to be “real,” and here she hopefully pretends to be, but at any moment she will be disassembled and returned to my meat locker.  (At age 64, I anticipate a similar fate.)  Hence, perhaps, her look of wide-eyed, slightly anxious bewilderment.  Like me, Dolores tries and tries to please, but can never be good enough.

I prepared this panel with three layers of gold gesso over two layers of white.  Gold-colored acrylic was added to the earrings, etc., to sparkle up the old girl.  I am surprised to see how well it shines in this reproduction, which was painstakingly prepared for me by dear friends Jeff and Katherine Cox.  (It speaks especially well of Katherine’s tolerance that she worked so patiently on an image not to her liking.  On her computer screen she made D. less disgusting by superimposing one of those fig leaves called sticky notes.  Thank you for keeping on, Pixel Princess!)

Thanks to Jeff’s high-resolution image capture, I knew that the picture would hold up at larger than life size.  This archival inkjet print (on Canson Arches Aquarelle rag paper, in the heavier weight of 310 gsm) reveals brush strokes and suchlike details.  The painting and its frame are reproduced at a 20 x 24”  —  in area about 121% of the framed original.  The total print dimensions are 24 x 30”.

This edition is limited to 1 trial proof, 2 artist’s proofs and 10 signed, numbered copies.

As I always remind myself, the world does not owe me a living, and if nobody considers this reproduction worth the price, then I will get another of the come-uppances that keep me in trim.  But if the edition sells out, I would like to see what one of my gum bichromate photographs looks like when much enlarged.  Will all the little dots of mineral pigment reveal themselves?

Please write to Jordan if you would like me to reproduce anything else.  (I would need to commission several copies of a given print to justify Jeff and Katherine’s painstaking labor.)

Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the decades.

William T. Vollmann
December 2023


Credits:
Show logo (“An Incomplete Map of Vollmannia”) courtesy of Anna Roth.
Music: Jeannette Fang, Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 2 'Presentiment of Death' by Frédéric Chopin. Public Domain Mark 1.0 – No Copyright from https://musopen.org. 

Contact:
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @vollmannia
Instagram: @vollmannia
Homepage

In Part I of this special episode, we’re joined by William T. Vollmann to discuss SHADOWS OF LOVE, SHADOWS OF LONELINESS, a two-volume retrospective covering his forty years of photography, painting, illustration, and literary enterprise across the globe. These beautiful editions are available 10/24/23 from Unnamed Press and Rare Bird. Order your set today!

William T. Vollmann is the author of ten novels, including Whores for Gloria, The Royal Family, and Europe Central, which won the National Book Award. He has also written four collections of stories (including The Rainbow Stories and The Atlas, which won the PEN Center USA West Award for Fiction), a memoir, and eight works of nonfiction, including Rising Up and Rising Down and Imperial, both of which were finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He is the recipient of a Whiting Award and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in California.

Stay tuned for Part II, where we’ll be joined by some special guests to continue the conversation in a more traditionally-formatted episode.

Show Notes:

Be sure to read Vollmann’s new essay, “Four Men”, in the November issue of Harper’s Magazine. 

Credits:

Show logo (“An Incomplete Map of Vollmannia”) courtesy of Anna Roth. You can buy official merch with all profits going to her studio, Strollology!

Music: Jeannette Fang, Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 2 'Presentiment of Death' by Frédéric Chopin. Public Domain Mark 1.0 – No Copyright from https://musopen.org. 

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @vollmannia

Instagram: @vollmannia

Homepage

In this episode, we’re joined by Sean Spillane to discuss THE ICE-SHIRT, the first entry in Vollmann’s ongoing cycle, Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes.

Sean is a PhD candidate in English in New York City. He specializes in Old Norse literature, and he is currently writing a dissertation that examines various translations from Old French and Latin into Old Norse during the Middle Ages. Sean also runs a YouTube channel called "Travel Through Stories," where he reviews a variety of books with a focus on translated and contemporary literature. He can also be found on Twitter and Instagram.

Show Notes:

Be sure to support Bill’s work by purchasing THE ICE-SHIRT!

Worthwhile supplemental reading includes: 

Larry McCaffrey and Michael Hemmingson (eds.), Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader

Daniel Lukes and Christopher K. Coffman (eds.), William T. Vollmann: A Critical Companion

Daniel Lukes (ed.), Conversations with William T. Vollmann 

Credits:

Show logo (“An Incomplete Map of Vollmannia”) courtesy of Anna Roth. You can buy Merch with all profits going to her studio, Strollology!

Music: Intro/Outro courtesy of Aaron Gwynn; Jeannette Fang, Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 2 'Presentiment of Death' by Frédéric Chopin. Public Domain Mark 1.0 – No Copyright from https://musopen.org. 

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @vollmannia

Instagram: @vollmannia

Homepage

In this episode, we're joined by Daniel Lukes to discuss the 1989 collection THE RAINBOW STORIES.

Daniel Lukes has a PhD in comparative literature from New York University. He co-edited William T. Vollmann: A Critical Companion (2014) and edited Conversations with William T. Vollmann (2020). His most recent book is Black Metal Rainbows (2023), and he can be found on Twitter at @danielukes.

Show Notes:

Daniel Lukes and Christopher K. Coffman (eds.), William T. Vollmann: A Critical Companion 

Daniel Lukes (ed.), Conversations with William T. Vollmann 

Daniel Lukes & Stanimir Panayotov (eds.), Black Metal Rainbows 

Jordan Rothacker, The Pit and No Other Stories 

Mark de Silva, The Logos 

Mircea Cărtărescu, Sean Cotter (trans.), Solenoid 

Credits:

Show logo (“An Incomplete Map of Vollmannia”) courtesy of Anna Roth

Merch

Music: Jeannette Fang, Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 2 'Presentiment of Death' by Frédéric Chopin. Public Domain Mark 1.0 – No Copyright from https://musopen.org; Nature, Do A Krime. BMG Music/ Zoo Entertainment, 1995. Used with permission of Hugh Bonar. 

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @vollmannia

Instagram: @vollmannia

Homepage

In this episode, we're joined by Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder and Miles Liebtag to discuss the 1987 debut novel YOU BRIGHT AND RISEN ANGELS: A CARTOON.

Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder produces limited-edition artist’s books under the imprint of Coyote Bones Press and teaches at various institutions. Her research-based book works incorporate sculptural book structures and found objects, combining traditional and contemporary bookbinding and printing techniques. Her books are held in prominent collections including UC Berkeley, Bainbridge Island Art Museum, Stanford, RISD, and The British Library.

https://www.kerischroeder.com/

https://www.instagram.com/coyotebonespress/ 

Miles Liebtag is an academic leftover who's been working in the beer industry for over a decade. He is an Advanced Cicerone and has an MA in Literature from Miami University of Ohio. His sole academic publication is a contribution to William T. Vollmann: A Critical Companion, in which he discusses representation and power in WTV's first novel, You Bright & Risen Angels. A recovering shitposter, he's been social media free for two years.

Show Notes:

Daniel Lukes and Christopher K. Coffman (eds.), William T. Vollmann: A Critical Companion https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781611495256/William-T.-Vollmann-A-Critical-Companion 

Daniel Lukes (ed.), Conversations with William T. Vollmann https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/C/Conversations-with-William-T.-Vollmann 

William T. Vollmann, “Author’s Note” from You Bright and Risen Angels, KCRW Bookworm https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/william-vollmann (begins at 09:28)

Speak Sex Podcast Episode 102: True Love, Sex as Transformation, Intellectual Intercourse –Eve Eurydice with William T. Vollmann https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/speak-sex-with-eve-eurydice-778073/episodes/ep-102-eurydice-w-william-t-vo-129028326 

WASTE Mailing List, Colonialism Confronted Through Fantasy | You Bright and Risen Angels by William T. Vollmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL0m3zWA1vw&t=348s 

Jordan in conversation with Tobias Carroll https://brooklynrail.org/2022/05/books/Jordan-A-Rothacker-with-Tobias-Carroll 

Mircea Cărtărescu, Sean Cotter (trans.), Solenoid https://bookshop.org/books/solenoid/9781646052028 

Credits:

Show logo (“An Incomplete Map of Vollmannia”) courtesy of Anna Roth 

Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/strollology/shop

Music: Jeannette Fang, Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 2 'Presentiment of Death' by Frédéric Chopin. Public Domain Mark 1.0 – No Copyright from https://musopen.org.

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vollmannia 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vollmannia/ 

Homepage: https://vollmannia.buzzsprout.com 

In this inaugural episode, hosts Ryan Alexander & Jordan Rothacker discuss the 1992 memoir An Afghanistan Picture Show; Or, How I Saved the World. Specific topics include how the book can be categorized in terms of genre and style, the bipartite identities of The Young Man & William T. Vollmann, the failure of the individual to affect systemic change, and how “the Other” is depicted. They also discuss their backgrounds as Vollmann readers, their favorite Vollmann book(s), and their goals for the show.

Show Notes:

“The True Story of William T. Vollmann’s Research Assistant”: https://heavyfeatherreview.org/2018/06/20/carbon-ideologies/  

Excerpt from The Cloud Shirt: http://www.grandstreet.com/gsissues/gs46/gs46c.html

Excerpt from A Table for Fortune: https://goodtimes.sc/cover-stories/heading-toward-nowhere/

The New Yorker’s “20 Under 40”: https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1999-06-21/flipbook/

KCRW Bookworm – Fathers and Crows: https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/william-vollmann

Ted Koppel’s favorite books: https://theweek.com/articles/587103/ted-koppels-6-favorite-books

“Across the Divide”: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/05/15/across-the-divide  

“American Writing Today: A Diagnosis of the Disease”: http://www.conjunctions.com/print/article/william-t-vollmann-c15

KCRW Bookworm – The Dying Grass:

https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/william-t-vollmann-the-dying-grass-part-i

https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/william-t-vollmann-the-dying-grass-part-ii

“Life as a Terrorist”: https://harpers.org/archive/2013/09/life-as-a-terrorist/

The Celestial Bandit: A Tribute to Isidore Ducasse, the Comte de Lautréamont, Upon the 175th Anniversary of His Birth: http://www.kernpunktpress.com/store/p29/celestialbandit.html

“Unnatural History of Construction: The Interim by Wolfgang Hilbig (translated by Isabel Fargo Cole)": https://statorec.com/unnatural-history-of-construction-by-ryan-alexander/

Credits:

Show logo (“An Incomplete Map of Vollmannia”) created by, and used with the permission of, Anna Roth 

Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/strollology/shop

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vollmannia

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vollmannia/

Homepage: https://vollmannia.buzzsprout.com