American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

My comments on Jack London's signature text, The Call of the Wild. Was the original J-Lo talking about dogs, wolves, or us?

Part of a series of 1953-1955 short stories exploring marriage by Philip K. Dick. "Beyond the Door" combines a critique of clock time with a critique of the bourgie marriage.

Dick's first great story of posthumanism and mutants is "The Golden Man." Can humans coexist with Humanity+?

Part two of my overview of Jack London's John Barleycorn. The focus of this episode is the "White Logic" and London's depression. Four essays by Jack London are also briefly explored.

In "Jon's World," Philip K. Dick wrote a followup to "Second Variety." While the humans one the war, the survivors are put in a position of prefering an alterantive timeline where the war never started, even if it means the end of all they knew.

Jack London's brilliant autobiography on alcohol, John Barleycorn, Or Alcoholic Memoirs, is a book about many things, including male socialibility and working class culture. One of my favorite books by London.

Philip K. Dick explores the Biblical story of Noah, the suburban family, and post-traumatic stress in his short story "The Builder."

The final episode on Jack London's Martin Eden. What happens when our lonely writer finds success?

In this episode we examine the Philip K. Dick story "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford." What does this story tell us abour family? Consumerism? Technology? Work? A silly story on first glance acually has a lot to tell us.

Part three of a series on Jack London's Martin Eden. In this part, we explore Eden's frustrations, his new friendships, and the decline of his romantic life.

In "The Crystal Crypt", Philip K. Dick explores the arms race and the "spy v. spy" dynamic of the Cold War. But does Dick have more to say about the city and the state?

In this episode I look at the second hundred pages of Jack London's masterpiece Martin Eden. What are the challenges of becoming a writer in the face of the impersonal publishing industry? How does an artist face poverty?

In this episode of the Philip K. Dick Club we look at "A Present for Pat", cargo cults, and alien gods.

In this episode we meet Martin Eden and the struggles of a working class man to become a published writer.

We look at "The Hanging Stranger," Philip K. Dick's story of lynching and state power. And it has Lovecraftian creatures in it. What happens when we story accepting the cruelities essential to the systerms we live in?

In the second part of The Iron Heel, Jack London takes us to the events surrounding the first uprising, or the Chicago Commune. How does the Oligarchy survive this and other threats? How much of London's novel is true to life? Are we facing our own Iron Heel today?

Is creation just a failed experiment? Do children hold the key to preserving individualism in an increasingly conformist world? These are some of the questions explored in Philip K. Dick's short story "Project: Earth".

The first episode of two on Jack London's dystopian novel, The Iron Heel. In this work, London takes on the role of prophet as he predicts what the future of American capiatalism will be. How much of his prediction has come true?

Philip K. Dick takes on endless war and consumerism in his allegorical tale "Some Kinds of Life". Are wars for resources ever justifiable? What happens when we start to fight wars to keep up with the most banal consumer technologies.  

In this episode I explore Jack London's memoirs on his year as a hobo, The Road. This short book is a great introduction into hobo life and the economic depression of the 1890s. 

Does Earth belong to humans, or to the life that comes after us? Philip K. Dick asks this question in his short story "Planet for Transients."

Part two of my comments on Jack London's People of the Abyss, with more on his socialism and what it means for his social Darwinism.

Once again, a new series. Join me as I explore the worst in human nature with Jack London in London's East End, in The People of the Abyss.

In this episode, Philip K. Dick introduces us to some humans who remember Earth only as a myth. In The Impossible Planet, they try to find Earth to make some quick cash , but who knows what might be out there. Probably contains spoilers for the upcoming television show episode.