On today's episode, we revisit a recent conversation with one favorite authors on the podcast, George Saunders, whose new story collection Liberation Day is out now.
This episode is brought to you by Bombas, the socks Julia and her family is ALWAYS wearing! Go to bombas.com/disco and use code DISCO for 20% off your purchase!
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Revisiting George Saunders

Today, on Literary Disco, we continue our genre-based season. Each episode of this season, we're diving deep into a particular literary genre, exploring what defines it, what makes it work or not work, interviewing authors, talking to fans, scholars, whomever can help us unlock what it is that makes a genre a genre. And with this, our third episode, we grab a flashlight, head into the dark woods to that house on the hill or just maybe the closet in our own room to creep around the corners, waiting for the tingling sensation in the back of our necks. And we try to find what's in the darkness as we confront the genre of horror.
This episode's special guests include Jeff Jerome, Curator Emeritus of the Poe House and Museum; Susan Scarf Merrell, author of Shirley based on the life of Shirley Jackson; and novelist and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill, who wrote the films Sinister, Doctor Strange, and The Black Phone.
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Episode 204: Horror

Today, we continue our genre-based season where we dive deep into a literary genre exploring what defines it, what makes it work and not work, interviewing authors, talking to fans and scholars, whoever can unlock what makes a genre a genre.
In our second episode, we find a body, a clue or two, maybe even some justice. We'll undoubtedly confront the darkness and the human heart as we talk crime. This week, our special guests are private investigator Lee Lofland, author of Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers; Melissa Chadburn, author of A Tiny Upward Shove; and writer Ross Angelella.
Dum dum dum.
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Episode 203: Crime

Today we launch a new format of the Disco as we begin our "Genre Season."
Each episode of this season, we're going to dive deep into a particular literary genre, exploring what defines it, what makes it work or not work, interviewing authors, talking to fans, scholars, whoever can help us unlock what it is that makes a genre a genre.
With our inaugural episode, we discover our long lost lineage. hop on Pegasus, and fly to the far reaches of fantasy. Joining us is actor and writer Will Friedle, fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, and Dungeons & Dragons game designer Kate Welch.
This is Literary Disco, the last book club you'll ever need.
Explore more of Brandon Sanderson in our Mistborn episode.
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Episode 202: Fantasy

This is a recording of a live episode from Sea Tea Improv in Hartford, Connecticut, back in March. Julia and Rider are joined by special guests curator Mallory Howard of the Mark Twain House & Museum and librarian Gwen Glazer of the Croton Free Library -- and Tod's disembodied head joining virtually.
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Sea Tea (Literary Disco Live!)

Hey, guys! It's been a while. While Julia may have grown a beard, Rider still hasn't cut his hair, and Tod is still up to his old bullshit, we've been still reading books and are ready to start a new season -- with some surprises! Listen in to find out what we're going to be up to in 2022.
We're also coming to a town near you! And by town near you, we mean those of you near Hartford, Connecticut!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/literary-disco-live-with-rider-and-julia-tickets-290492309317
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Episode 201: Where the Hell Have We Been?

It's episode 200. We're going to talk about what's changed over the years, and maybe do a bookshelf revisit. Who knows?! We're getting old.
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Episode 200: Reflections on the Disco

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod head back to school with special guest Bree Rolfe, a teacher from Austin, Texas, where she helps high school students discover literature and creative writing. She is also a poet, whose collection Who's Going to Love the Dying Girl is out now. She is also a dear friend of Literary Disco, a fellow graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars and exactly one semester ahead of the rest of us. Bree was involved in a lot of the late-night drinking and debating sessions that became this very podcast.
For today's discussion, Bree had us read three short stories that she assigns to her students: "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid, "New Boy" by Roddy Doyle, and "Today Is Costa Rica" by Assaf Gavron.
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Episode 199: Back to School

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod tackle the incredibly popular, enduring, and surprisingly diverse world of the horse girl. We have read a classic of the genre, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, and have read a new collection of essays edited by Halimah Marcus entitled Horse Girls, in which female writers go deep on horses and the horse girl phenomenon.
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Episode 198: Horse Girls

On this episode of Literary Disco, Julia, Rider, and Tod take on John Steinbeck's classic epic novel East of Eden, which centers on the Salinas Valley of California and tells the story of several generations of the Trask and Hamilton families.
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Episode 197: East of Eden

On this episode of Literary Disco, while Rider's off camping, Tod and Julia talk about their philosophy of pool reads—and why they'll read books at the pool that they'd never be caught reading anywhere else.
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Episode 196: Pool Reads

On this week's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod read some poetry -- and discuss Lauren Shapiro's poetry collection, Arena, which was published in 2020 to rave reviews.
Lauren Shapiro is the author of Easy Math (Sarabande, 2013), which was the winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize and the Debut-litzer Prize for Poetry, as well as a chapbook of poems, Yo-Yo Logic (DIAGRAM/New Michigan Press, 2011). She is an associate professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University.
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Episode 195: Arena

Today, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss three articles from Alta Magazine, the publication based in California that focuses on news, history, literature, and culture, with a decidedly Western bent. Its founder, William Hearst III, declares it to be "a literate magazine that serves as a counterpoint to the New Yorker."
Articles discussed:

"The Accident on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Louise Farr, about the tragic death of a hiker

"When the Mafia Came to Lodi" by Andrew Dubbins, about the mafia's attempt to infiltrate California and the undercover case that took them down

"The Search of a Lifetime" by Julian Smith, about a woman investigating a cold case of her grandfather's murder


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Scribd. Go to try.scribd.com/literarydisco for a free 60-day trial.
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Episode 194: Alta Magazine

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod talk about all the things human beings never want to talk about: death, pain, sickness, and more, when we discuss Atul Gawande's seminal 2014 book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.
Today's sponsor:
This episode is supported by GreenChef. Go to GreenChef.com/90disco and use code 90disco to get $90 off including free shipping!
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Episode 193: Being Mortal

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Brandon Hobson's new novel, The Removed, that follows a Cherokee family in Oklahoma in the aftermath of their son's death at the hands of a police officer.
Today's sponsor:
This episode is supported by GreenChef. Go to GreenChef.com/90disco and use code 90disco to get $90 off including free shipping!
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Episode 192: The Removed

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider celebrate Literary Disco’s ninth birthday by breaking out some book games. In Judging a Book by Its Cover, Rider reads the first few lines of a book while Tod and Julia try to guess the era, genre, author, and even the book itself. In Game Two, Julia and Rider try to decipher between a poem, a song, a popular song, and something Tod's made up. And in the final game, Julia leads a round of Bookshelf Roulette. Plus, the countless book digressions and recommendations they've been making for nearly a decade.
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Episode 191: Spring Games 2021

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider talk about their favorite crime reads—and why we're so hooked on the genre, anyway.
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Episode 190: Crime Favorites

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider go behind the scenes of Tod’s new book, The Low Desert, out now from Counterpoint.
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Episode 189: The Low Desert

On today's special episode, we are live from LumaCon 2021 — a comic convention brought to you by a cohort of public libraries in Sonoma County, California. Today, we discuss the graphic novel Cruel Summer by Ed Brubaker, and then a Q&A with the live audience.
This episode is brought to you by Literati Kids.
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Episode 188: Cruel Summer

Today, for the first time in a while, Julia, Rider, and Tod tackle a single short story. We solicited our listeners via social media for recommendations, and a couple of you directed us to "The Neighbors" by Shruti Swamy, which is available online at Electric Literature and is part of the collection A House Is a Body.
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