Method and Madness

Episode 9.2 In this episode, I go in depth on Ellroy’s stylistic forebears, play a little Glass Bead Game between AMERICAN TABLOID and a (not so) very different book, give the quick and very dirty history of CONFIDENTIAL MAGAZINE, and go full-on true crime telling the ‘real’ story of Chuck Rogers.

Episode 9.1 The brilliant and magnanimous Jacob Everett, the mastermind behind Apocalypse Confidential , joins me to discuss AMERICAN TABLOID by James Ellroy—a masterful classic of paranoia, carnage, and the real deal behind the forces of history. We talk the potency of Ellroy’s style, crime fiction as high art, the resonance of the JFK assassination, Ellroy contra Quentin Tarantino, and figure ou...

Cairo Smith  is the founder and EIC of  Futurist Letters , host of The Futurist Letters Show, filmmaker, and author of the forthcoming novel SCENEBUX, out September 6, 2025 from  New Ritual Press. We talked about the New Wave, a certain LA literary party that made headlines, what happens when no one puts you in check, the Idaho Basque, some of the books that have been most influenti...

Menagerie #2 An audio recording of Jack London’s “Love of Life” first published in McClure’s Magazine in 1905. All the classic Jack London themes are here: the Yukon, survival, the cold, and wolves.

Following down just some of the many rabbit holes in John Fowles’ THE MAGUS. Hypnotism, Magic, Cruelty, and the so-called Real World. SUBSCRIBE for full access. x/com/bradkelly SUBSCRIBE FOR EARLY ACCESS AND BONUS CONTENT

Alexandru Constantin joins me to talk in depth on John Fowles’ classic 1965 novel THE MAGUS. A postmodern bildungsroman that’ll remind every former sensitive young man of himself in his cringier days—and a mind-bending trip through a beautiful labyrinth. https://substack.com/@deceneus Don’t miss Alex’s podcast, the Black Ibis Social Club: https://blackibissocialclub.substack.com/ x/com/bradkelly S...

The incredibly talented author Andrew Edwards joins me to talk about his upcoming novel CROWBAR, his absolute banger of a novel KING OF DOGS, the philosophy of survival, and much more. Support Andrew’s crowdfunding effort for CROWBAR: https://substack.com/@goldengoatguild/p-166445394 X: x.com/goldengoatguild Website: https://www.goldengoatguild.net/ SUBSCRIBE FOR EARLY ACCESS AND PREMIUM CONTENT x...

Brian Patrick Eha is a widely-published essayist, journalist, and critic. In this expansive conversation we talk Gustave Flaubert as a precursor to Modernism, the method of free indirect discourse in Madame Bovary and the madness of The Temptation of St. Anthony, as well as a few under-appreciated books from Brian’s personal canon.. https://x.com/brianeha Essays by Brian that we mention: https://w...

or not), and much, much more. Get access to the full episode (and much more) via the patreon or substack feed at madmethodpod.com/subscribe . x/com/bradkelly

Jack BC of the always entertaining and enlightening podcast Book Club from Hell, joins me to talk about the singular masterpiece of Australian letters, Gerald Murnane's strange and beautiful book THE PLAINS. A book that is somehow about itself, and everything else. We talk about the many questions Murnane raises on the nature of creativity, subjectivity, and the very form of the novel. https://boo...

Andrew Wittstadt (@andrewwittstadt) joins me to talk about his great podcast on poetry and literature, HEAVY BORED. We also get into the problem of authority in academia and why it’s necessary as well as Andrew’s personal canon and much more. https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored x.com/andrewwittstadt x.com/heavyboredpod https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/ https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored x/com/...

An audio recording of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1840 short story “The Man of the Crowd", in which Poe’s narrator finds that he can read a man’s entire history in his expression—but some things are left better unseen. SUBSCRIBE AT SUPPORT  for access to bonus content.

How Don DeLillo renders visible the invisible, the forces of history, conspiracy theory as literature, and the Discordian weirdness of the JFK assassination. SUBSCRIBE AT SUPPORT  for access to bonus content.

Jack BC of the great books podcast Bookclub from Hell joins me to discuss his exceptional work of corporate surrealism, TOWER and the origins of Bookclub from Hell, as well as the legacy of literary realism, the exquisite weirdness of JG Ballard, and much much more. Jack’s podcast: https://www.bookclubfromhell.com/, https://x.com/bookclubhell666 Buy TOWER: https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jack-BC/dp/0...

Glen Rockney of Rare Candy joins me to talk about his superb Gain of Fiction bookclub show, bros reading and why they should, and I finally share what happened to the 2024 live Art of Darkness show. Rare Candy on Substack Rare Candy on Twitter SUBSCRIBE AT SUPPORT  for access to bonus content.

[5 Fathoms Special} This is an in-depth presentation on the history of the Tarot, from rudimentary card games of Egypt and Persia all the way to the modern day. Thanks for joining me. Be sure to check out the video version free on youtube, substack, patreon, and twitter.

In the first solo deep dive on Method and Madness, I go into LOLITA contra CRASH, what the hell even is literary Postmodernism, theories of time, and Nabokov’s prophetic dreams. Thanks for joining me. SUBSCRIBE AT madmethodpod.com/support access to bonus content.

More LOLITA. Aaron walks us through the deep narratology behind the concept of the ‘unreliable narrator’ and how Nabokov keeps the reader at just the right distance to make this book a masterpiece. SUBSCRIBE AT madmethodpod.com/support access to bonus content.

In this Melee episode, the brilliant Dustin Cole joins Brad to discuss his new poetry collection AFTER SUNSTONE, writing poetry versus writing novels, what social media does for/to a writer, and W.G. Sebald’s singular book THE RINGS OF SATURN. BUY AFTER SUNSTONE: https://farthestheaven.com/products/after-sunstone SUBSCRIBE AT PATREON AND SUBSTACK for access to bonus content.

The brilliant writer Kat Rosenfield joins us to talk LOLITA and misreadings thereof, the new (and past?) censoriousness in books discourse, love versus terror, and much, much more. SUBSCRIBE AT madmethodpod.com/support for access to bonus content.

In this Melee episode we discuss the recent revival of GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS and some of the very questionable reviews. https://www.thedailybeast.com/review-kieran-culkins-glengarry-glen-ross-is-dangerously-offensive-and-dated/ SUBSCRIBE AT PATREON AND SUBSTACK for access to bonus content.

Ep. 4.3. A [PREVIEW] of our exclusive MADNESS episode on NCFOM for paid subscribers ONLY. We go in-depth on the history of Moss's unit in Vietnam, the metaphysical and poetic implications of the title, and try to figure out just what the hell genre this book is anyway.

Part 2 of our in-depth series on Cormac McCarthy’s NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. We talk about what makes NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN so effective, the subtleties of its structure, McCarthy’s masterclass in visual storytelling, how this book plays at the edges of genre, and much more. x.com/americangwyn x/com/bradkelly SUBSCRIBE AT PATREON AN D SUBSTACK for bonus content.

Part 1 of our in-depth series on Cormac McCarthy’s NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. We’re joined by Ben Avery of the legendary Lemonparty podcast. linktr.ee/benaveryisgood x.com/benaveryisgood SUBSCRIBE AT PATREON AN D SUBSTACK for immediate access to main episodes like this.

In part 3 of our in-depth episode on William Gibson's NEUROMANCER. In the MADNESS portion of this series, we talk hacking in the ‘80s, what this book has in common with Djuna Barnes’ strange 1930s arthouse novel NIGHTWOOD, Rastafarianism, and where AI might be headed. SUBSCRIBE AT PATREON AND SUBSTACK for early immediate access to our entire NEUROMANCER conversation