Book Spider

In this episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, which gives an account of the apocrypha surrounding the Christian creation story.

In this special episode, Hans, Chris, and I chat with Daryl Farmer on the topic of his short story collection Where We Land, which examines relationships and death in the context of the American West.

In this episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss the strange and disturbing 1Q84, a huge novel by renowned magical realist Haruki Murakami.

In this episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss The French Lieutenant's Woman, a metafictional novel that explores sexuality and class in Victorian England.

In this episode, Chris, Hans, and I discuss Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, and Hans shakes my faith in her ability to critique her cultural.

In this special episode, the XDB editorial team discusses an album by the experimental rock band Sun City Girls, called Dante's Disneyland Inferno. Most of the focus is on the lyrics, but some musical analysis is offered as well.

In this episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss Camus' most intriguing, but also most baffling, novel, The Fall.

In this episode, Chris, Hans, and I discuss Ottessa Moshfegh's novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation and David Foster Wallace's short novella The Suffering Channel. Check it out.

In this episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss Gilead, the famous epistolary novel by Marilynne Robinson.

In this episode, Hans and Chris interview me on the topic of Xi Draconis Books' most recent publication, my novella Misfit the Wanderer. The novella follows all-around loser Misfit as he tries to escape a city-wide fire.

In this episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss The Goldfinch, an intriguing take on the crime novel.

In this episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss A Brief History of Seven Killings, a novel by Jamaican author Marlon James. The novel is disturbing, harrowing, and inventive.

In this episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss a nonfiction work that explores how Wittgenstein's philosophy of language can be useful for literary critics.

In this episode, Hans and I discuss the quite devilish and engaging Caliban Upon Setebos, a poem that has had personal significance to us for at least a decade.

In this episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss a raunchy, satirical novel that explores sex, death, and Freud. Enjoy.

In this episode, Chris, Hans, and I explore Fran Ross's devilishly cunning novel Oreo. The novel tells the story of sixteen-year-old youth Christine as she leaves her grandmother, who is black, in search of her father, who is Jewish. With links to the myth of Theseus, the novel explores race and identity.

In this episode, I interview Jennifer Lagier, author of Xi Draconis Books' most recent publication, a poetry collection entitled Trumped Up Election. It humorously describes a nightmare world in which a fat, disgusting billionaire molester runs for the presidency and wins.

In this episode, Chris, Hans, and I discuss Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. We touch on the use of fiction techniques in creative nonfiction, portraiture, the ethics of narrative, and (briefly) queer theory. 

In this episode, Chris, Hans, and I discuss John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor, an epic tale that might be an historical novel, a satire of an historical novel, or both. It's witty and hilarious, but also serious and touching. Check it out.

In this episode, Heather, Jedd, and I discuss Vonnegut's third book, a sci-fi novel that satirizes wealth, inequality, and the human sense of purpose. It's hilarious, and it affords me the opportunity to go on a rant against Sam Harris and pirates.

In this episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss the fantastic Zeroville. This novel follows autistic protagonist Vikar as he becomes a film editor in 70s-era Hollywood. It's hilarious, moving, and tragic.

In this episode, I discuss Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed with Jedd Cole and special guest Heather Cole. The Dispossessed is a thought experiment that explores an anarcho-syndicalist society on the moon Anarres, which orbits the planet Urras. Urras is much like Earth, with capitalist nations controlling much of what goes on.

In this special episode, Hans, Chris, and I discuss Janet Frame's strange, mind-boggling novel The Carpathians. Since I found reading it like looking into opaque glass, Hans and Chris discuss the novel at length before we veer off into a larger discussion of language, the technological singularity, and forms of life.

In this episode, Hans and I discuss Cormac McCarthy's novel The Crossing, which details a teenager's confrontation with "the perfect cohesion of darkness," an indifferent world constructed on borders both artificial and natural.

In this episode, author Hans Burger and I discuss A Naked Singularity, a giant, hilarious novel that criticizes the judicial system.