1storypod

PHILADELPHIA — Zac, 26, lives in Philadelphia and works at an art gallery. He read The Possibility of an Island (tr. Gavin Bowd) in a week, finishing it hours before this conversation. I read it a couple months back, also fairly quickly. Michel Houellebecq (b. 1956), 61, is a novelist, filmmaker, and poet. He was born on the French island of Reunion, and lives in France. Houellebecq (Michel's gran...

BUSHWICK, N.Y. — Chelsea, 25, was born in Hawaii, grew up in California, and lives, paints, and works in New York City. She first read The Wallcreeper "one or two" years ago; I finished it a week ago. In this episode we consider the present-day relevance (or lack thereof) of traditional marital monogamy, Zink's significance as a female novelist, and how considerations of "female novelists" might d...

AXOLOTL, a ty6e 6eat ta6e in three parts, charts the evolution of the young male axolotl, from the larval to full grown – though sexually immature – adult, fully aquatic, amphibian stage. POV (Official Music Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOKb9m0I8fc ITSCana1s and YaMZ seek no money or clout for the release of AXOLOTL, only to evolve the creative lives of these beats, producers of which a...

PHILADELPHIA — Viva, 25, raps as Yamz, works at a compost company, and makes a mean brown rice bowl (with kraut and stir fry, generally). He first read On Truth and Untruth this morning. Friedrich Nietzsche (d. 1900), the son of Lutheran pastor, was born near Leipzig, Prussia (now Germany). He wrote the titular essays in On Truth and Untruth in 1872–1873, at the age of 28–29, while still a profess...

PHILADELPHIA — Aaron, 26, grew up in Redding, Mass., writes free-verse poetry, and organizes labor unions. He first read Steppenwolf ten years ago, as a sophomore in high school, when recommended it by a mentor. Hermann Hesse (d. 1962) was born in Calw, a Black Forest town in the German Empire, in 1877. He began writing Steppenwolf in 1924, shortly after marrying the singer Ruth Wenger, whom he le...

PHILADELPHIA — Viva, 25, grew up in a treehouse in Santa Cruz, Calif., writes raps (as Yamz), travelogues, and aspires to revolutionize urban composting when not bike-(or skateboard-)couriering. He first read Food of the Gods circa 2014, while living full-time out of a Vanagon. Terence McKenna (1946–2000) first encountered psilocybin mushrooms – & fields of them – at 25, in the Colombian Amazon, o...

WEST PHILADELPHIA — Paul, 27, of Cambridge, Mass., writes literary science fiction, and, until recently, worked as a caretaker in a psychiatric ward. He first encountered The Castle of Crossed Destinies eight years ago. Italo Calvino (1923–1985), was raised in Siena, Italy. He wrote The Castle of Crossed Destinies between 1940 and 1969. Paul writes periodically at: https://ouroborosjormungandr.wor...