With an option to renew
New podcast w/Andrew Porter, the six-month ticker, + links & more
Intro
This past Monday was my semi-annual check-in with my oncologist to see if my chronic lymphocytic leukemia has progressed beyond Stage Zero. It hasn’t, so my lease on life has been extended another 6 months!
(Note: my whole CLL thing is NOT a death sentence; there are plenty of treatments for it and they’re getting better.)
I’d been experiencing more anxiety about this check-in than the past couple of them. I’ve had a lot weighing on me in recent months, but no desire to rehash it all here, except to say that I find myself veering from crisis to crisis these past few months, or more accurately I find myself viewing life through a crisis-lens, giving a frantic air to everydamnthing. And even though my oncologist basically told me 2 years ago, “Nothing you do will affect the rate of progression,” I like to think that my subconscious can still try to kill me by inciting crappy leukocytes to flood my system.
Anyway, I cleared that hurdle, and in the evening I got back to mailing out the 2nd issue of my Haiku for Business Travelers ‘zine. (HMU for a copy of issue 1 and/or 2.)
After I made the appointment for my next check-in in December, I got to wondering what I’ll do with the next 6 months. If the rest of my health holds up, will I keep up with the podcast every week, finish another ‘zine, organize & host my conference & attend a bunch of other trade shows, take Amy on a vacation before/after the Europe trade-show, see friends, see the ocean, ease back into running, have friends/family over at Thanksgiving, get through most of my Pynchon re-read, make art, make half a year worthwhile?
You see how I turn good news into a crisis, right?
And now, on with The Virtual Memories Show!
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 542 of The Virtual Memories Show feat. Andrew Porter, whose wonderful new short story collection, THE DISAPPEARED, explores the intricacies of loss in day-to-day life, and all that vanishes as we grow into middle age. We talk about how these stories came together for him, why he set (almost) all the stories in The Disappeared in San Antonio and Austin, how he had to adjust his writing life once he became a dad, and why he loves writing about artists. We also get into his path into writing, the moment he discovered contemporary fiction is his jam, and his lessons learned from teaching fiction for more than 20 years: how student sensibilities around genre have changed, the stories he’s had to retire from teaching, and Marilynne Robinson’s influence of his teaching style. Plus, we discuss stories vs. novels, the changes in literary magazines, his newfound penchant for flash fiction, how he lost all his writing in an apartment break-in 20+ years ago (and my twisted idea for a story about that), and plenty more, incl. whether the arrival of Victor Wembanyama will help nudge Andrew’s kid into cheering for the Spurs rather than Golden State. Give it a listen and go read The Disappeared
Last week, I posted Episode 541 of The Virtual Memories Show feat. author Jonathan Papernick as we celebrate his fantastic new short story collection, Gallery of the Disappeared Men, and new novel, I am my Beloveds (Story Plant). We talk about his writing life, the weirdness & joy of retracing the footsteps of his characters in Israel, his move into playwriting and how it contrasts with writing novels & stories, and how a failed novel sparked a very successful novella. We also get into his career teaching fiction writing, what he’s learned from teaching, how his students have changed and how he learned to appreciate trigger warnings, and the Tobias Wolff story he uses in virtually all of his fiction-writing classes. Plus, we discuss Judaism, multi-generation Canadian roots, the very embarrassing time he met Margaret Atwood, and more! Give it a listen and go read Gallery of the Disappeared Men and I am my Beloveds
Other recent episodes: Scott Samuelson • Brian Dillon • John Wray • Ho Che Anderson
Links & Such
RIP Cormac McCarthy (here’s a brief appreciation by Graeme Wood) . . . RIP George Winston . . . RIP Treat Williams . . . RIP John Romita, Sr. (here’s a 2018 interview with JRSR by the late Tom Spurgeon) . . . Also, James Watt became fertilizer . . . Silvio Berlusconi went to the great bungabunga party in the sky . . . and the Unabomer killed himself (I use FBI spelling for him) . . .
My Unabomer story is not much of a story, but: I was interested in his case once the manifesto got published in 1995. Not out of “sympathy to the cause”, but just in trying to understand the mindset or philosophy behind his murders, like the contradictions in using relatively advanced technology in the name of trying to move society away from advanced technology. Anyway, soon after his capture, I read a hysterically funny column by Mark Leyner that I can’t find online — about people who used to call the FBI to say, “My husband/boss/sibling is the Unabomer,” while knowing full well that was not the case — and had the idea for an anthology of essays by writers not about the Unabomer himself but about what our perceptions of the Unabomer say about us. I was heavily influenced by the great Ron Rosenbaum and his epiphenomenological (?) style. I cold-called Ron but he said he’d already written about him and did not want to go down that alley again. I put together a roster of other writers, and I forget if someone mentioned him or if I just gravitated to him, but Greil Marcus was at the top of the list. This being a (largely) pre-internet world, I got his phone # out of a library set of White Pages, and called him with my pitch. He said, “It’s funny, but I’m not very interested in writing about Kazcynski. ‘Funny,’ because he was my neighbor when we were both living in Berkeley.” I let the project die after that. A few years ago, I did pitch one of his surviving victims, Professor David Gelernter, on a podcast around his latest book, but he never replied.
I don’t have any Cormac McCarthy stories. There was zero chance we’d ever record, so he wasn’t on my Great Spreadsheet That Knows All.
I loved this New Yorker piece about tracking down Rick Meyerowitz’ ’80s-era art for NYC’s recycling campaign logo.
I will take the risk of telling you that I like a contemporary TV show. In this case, it’s The Other Two, and here’s a neat piece by Phillip Macias about it.
I was also a huge fan of the first 2 seasons of South Side (let’s pretend season 3 never happened). Here’s a neat interview with the creators.
I saw Tom Papa perform at a fancy black-tie dinner at a pharma conference (he was the opener; I think the celebrity speaker that year was Will Smith), and my roaring laughter may have embarrassed everyone at the nearby tables. Anyway, here’s an excerpt from his new book.
I enjoyed this piece by Emily LaBarge on the Tate Britain’s rehang. I’m hoping to record w/her next year.
Over on his Substack, Howard Chaykin wrote about comics fandom, the notion of peers, and people’s over-inflated egos. (Getting to record with & subsequently become pals w/Howard is one of the great perks of my pod-life.)
I preferred Mortal Kombat over Street Fighter, but I suspect that was because of the fancier graphics, which makes me wonder if this is similar to my childhood/youthful preference for John Byrne over Jack Kirby.
Simon Critchley wrote about the notion of the narrative self, and what it means to let go of that notion and live in episodes. Gotta get him back on the show again sometime.
I admit to over-narrativizing myself, but I don’t fall for the idea that there’s any arc, redemption or Marvel-style continuity. THAT SAID, when I went to my oncology appt. on Monday, the doctor asked me how I liked their new offices compared to their previous location. I told her the new digs were great, but I missed the narrative resonance of the old location, which was right next to the hospital where I was born. I mean, there were a TON of ironies about my getting diagnosed w/leukemia at 50, but getting the news ~500 feet away from where I was born was at the top of the list.
Current reading
Radical: My Year with a Socialist Senator - Sofia Warren
Gravity’s Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
Art
I didn’t draw much, but I had a really good text-exchange w/my pal & manytime-past-guest Dmitry Samarov yesterday, which has me recharged and ready to make some art, if I can just get off my ass. You should go to the Flickr album of most of the art I’ve made & find something you like.
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
After last week’s disruption, I got back to my 5-day weights/yoga cycle, Friday-Tuesday, which helped my mind a little, too. I need to start mixing in some other weight exercises, as my routine is super-awesome for giving me shoulders, upper arms and a back, but I suspect there are other areas I should work on. That said, it remains funny to finally have some muscles at 52.
Until Next Week
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back next with a new podcast, great links, maybe some art, & maybe a little profundity or something.
When you come around / No more pain and no regrets / Watch the sun go brown / Smoking cobalt cigarettes,
—Gil Roth
Virtual Memories
Mastodon • Instagram • Flickr • YouTube • Twitter • Linktr.ee
On the subject of what our feelings about the Unabomber say about us! (With guest appearances by Paul Kingsnorth and the prophet Elijah)
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/waiting-for-the-end-of-the-world/