Drunken Pen Writing Podcast

We discuss "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson. We review the book by breaking down the characters and their motivations, the feminist themes throughout, and what we took away from the story.  You can follow us on X, Facebook, and Instagram @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's work at www.calebjamesk.com . 

After an exhausting recording gauntlet, we do a terrible job of reviewing Basketful of Heads by Joe Hill. We constantly interrupt ourselves with giggly nonsense, but we had a great time, which is all that really matters! You can follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's work at www.calebjamesk.com . 

We open the episode with more great publishing news—a trend we hope never ends! After that, we get into the episode proper with a review of L. Stephenson's new horror novella, The Boy at No. 9 Whitlock.  At first it was bad parents, bullies, and budding romances. But the tragic life of young Matthew Rose is about to get much worse...because the boy who lives at No. 9 Whitlock is about to meet a de...

We were so eager to record this episode that we forgot to do a cold open and the introduction! What we did record is an entertaining discussion of Edgar Allan Poe's masterpiece, The Raven.  While we break down the poem in style and structure, we also discuss how it came to be, its influences, the life of Poe after writing The Raven, and some writers he influenced. We also talk about some of his ot...

We discuss a list featuring the best horror authors of all time. Some we know very well, some we've never heard of.  Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and X @dpwpodcast Check out Caleb's work at www.calebjamesk.com . 

After getting our hands on an early copy of Born of Bloodshed by A.D. Jones, we give our honest review of this fun, gory novella just in time for the spooky season. Born of Bloodshed: Nothing exciting ever happens in the border towns of Scotland, and the village of Newcastleton, with a population in the hundreds, is no exception to the rule. That is until kids start going missing and turning up de...

For a slight change of pace, Spencer is the one who opens the episode with some good publishing news! After that, we settle down and read some of the greatest Halloween-time poems. Of course, this leads to instant nonsense things continuously go off the rails.  You can follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's work at www.calebjamesk.com  

We kick things off with even more great publishing news! After that, we attempt to cover a list of great Halloween books. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your view, we succumb to an intense giggle fest and aren't able to take things seriously.  You can follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's work at www.calebjamesk.com . 

We open the episode with more good publishing news! After that, we discuss the greatest "satirical" novels of all time. However, there is some contention on what constitutes satire. Make sure you stick around to the end because we play something especially odd and stupid for your listening pleasure.  You can follow us on Instagram, X, and Facebook @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's work at www....

In our final installment discussing Manga Stories Vol 1, we cover Haruki Murakami's short story and manga adaptation, The Seventh Man."

Caleb opens the episode with his biggest publishing news to date! After that, we discuss our big plans for October, including reading a novel, short story, poem, and graphic novel throughout the month. We also decide to do a special Halloween episode that'll include an excerpt from one of Caleb's newest stories.  You can follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's...

We discuss the short story and manga adaptation of Birthday Girl by Haruki Murakami. 

Caleb opens the episode with some more exciting publishing news! After that, we discuss some of the costs associated with writing. We first dive into the publishing world and what you can expect to get paid for your work. Then we talk about what struggles indie authors face when putting out their own work. A lot of which revolves around hiring other people such as editors and cover artists.  You c...

We discuss Where I'm Likely to Find It by Haruki Murakami, featured in Manga Stories Volume 1 and the prose version in The New Yorker.

Caleb opens the episode with some super exciting publishing news! After that, we discuss speculative poetry, a topic we're both woefully ignorant about. We talk about the various forms of speculative poetry, how they differ from traditional poetry, and how absolutely awesome genres like sword and sorcery poetry are. For a bonus, we read many examples of these kinds of poetry. You can follow us on...

We discuss two versions of Haruki Murakami's short story, Super Frog Saves Tokyo. We compare Murakami's original story to the manga adaptation in Manga Stories Volume 1. 

We open the episode with a bit of housekeeping. After that, we have a fun discussion about cliches and better writing methods. Things go askew fairly quickly but we cover a lot of useful information. To add an element of pure chaos to things, we end the episode by changing some common cliches to much dumber versions.  You can follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook @dpwpodcast You can check out Ca...

We are back with A Murakami Minute! This time, we are covering Haruki Murakami's Manga Stories Volume 1. In this first volume, Jc Deveney has adapted four of Murakami's stories into a manga collection with art by PMGL Pierre-Marie Grille-Liou.  The four stories in this collection are:  Super-Frog Saves Tokyo: A few days after an earthquake, Katagiri discovers a giant frog in this home. The frog pr...

Spencer starts the episode with a grievance against a certain group of people urinating into his breakfast cereal of choice. After that, we have an interesting conversation about lyrical prose. Specifically, what constitutes lyrical prose, how to write it well, and how to realize that you've gone beyond lyrical prose into the dirty category of purple prose.  You can follow us on X, Instagram, and...

We open the episode with a few reviews and some possibly upsetting Neil Gaiman news. After that, we have a fun discussion about the novel NSFW by previous DPW guest David Scott Hay. We talk about the themes of the book and how they reflect our current world, why experimental fiction might not work for all readers, and the dark road our society might be going down.  You can snag a copy of NSFW on A...

We open the episode with a recap of our moonshine-filled weekend. Also, submission grievances! After that, we take a fan suggestion and discuss our writing processes: what software we use, how we get our ideas, the types of outlines we use, and what writing techniques we want to implement in the future.  You can follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook @dpwpodcast Check out Caleb's work at www.cale...

Caleb opens the episode with a rant about the social media generation. After that, we get into a fun discussion about rare literary genres that most people have never heard of.  You can follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's work at www.calebjamesk.com . 

We start the episode with some cool book purchases. After that, we discuss why we suck as writers. Specifically, the things we individually fail at and need to work on. This leads to some interesting shop talk about narrative structure, ways to tell stories, and some other things we could improve upon in our writing.  Follow us on X, Facebook, and Instagram @dpwpodcast Check out Caleb's stuff at w...

We open the episode with an absurd hypothetical question. After that, we discuss what goes into writing a comic book script and how the medium can be used to tell unique stories.  Stick around after the outro if you want to listen to us talk about our book club. You can follow us on Instagram, X, and Facebook @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's work at www.calebjamesk.com . 

Hey, this is a fun episode! We discuss our recent experiences within the publishing world, including the downsides of working with editors, how terrible it is waiting for news about submissions, what kinds of publishers absolutely suck, and plenty of other random nonsense to tantalize your earholes.  You can follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's work at www....