Insufferable Bastards

I was a little whiskey tipsy during this episode! I think I said Didion had a son—which she does not. She had an adopted daughter only. Anyway, we also discuss juicy feuds: Norman Mailer v. Gore Vidal, Frost v. Stevens, Peck v. Moody, Ford v. Whitehead, Byatt v. Drabble, Didion v. Babitz, and also Ann Manov, Lauren Oyler, Jia Tolentino, Joan Didion, Play It As It Lays , The Year of Magical Thinkin...

Are you a broke writer, giving away your words for free? Can’t get your excellent novel excerpt published at The Metropolitan Review ? Well, we’re sorry to tell you that your poverty is your fault—just demand to get paid! In episode 6, we laugh about why you’re so poor, and we discuss Harlan Ellison, being broke, making money, the 2012 collapse of paper media, the bicycling editor, Keith Gessen, S...

Topics: Did you know that since 2021 PEN America has documented 23,000 book bans, more than at any other time in US history? In July, Ottessa Moshfegh’s short story “ Bettering Myself ” caused a stir at South Florida State College when a professor was suspended for teaching it by college president and inbred moron Fred Hawkins. We also discuss online pile ons, rightwing v. leftwing censorship, the...

Are you fighting enough? Are you centering yourself? Are you making enough? Hitting the gym? Cracking the whip? Are you high status enough? Are all your enemies dead? Are you cool enough? Are you elite enough? Are you killing it, serving c**t, whipping ass, beating down doors, turning over desks, clasping your dreams by the balls and slaying, crushing, mogging, destroying, annihilating ? This epis...

This episode is for true Insufferable B*****d fans. We issue an important correction regarding the Granta/Commonwealth Prize A.I. scandal. We also discuss why we began the show, Roger Ebert, Lars von Trier, physically going to the damn movie theater, long-ass movies, the standards of art in our time, Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo, commonplace books, Trumbull Stickney, poetry, “rote” memorization, Leo...

To my subscribers: I’ve been working on a few essays. One of them is, in fact, already out at The Republic of Letters . Go have a read. Otherwise, I’m soon to be pitching some book reviews and pieces elsewhere. By the way, The Insufferable B******s is now available on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube . Enjoy! Episode the 2nd Though we had a different recording ready to go, Alanna and I quick...

My friend Alanna Schubach and I have done the impossible: we got Jamir Nazir, winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2026, in the studio for a reading and an interview on our very first podcast. This presentation has been over a year in the making and has involved megamillions in angel investor funding, so we’re banking on you tuning in and hearing from Nazir himself. Please share and commen...