Otherppl with Brad Listi

I'm not doing a regular show this week. It's the day after the election and I'm not feeling all that great. It seems wrong to do a show. The only thing on my mind is the election. I don't want a guest of mine to appear this week. It's not fair to the guest. I'll be back with a regular episode next week. For now, and maybe against my better judgment, I'm gonna share my thoughts on what just happene...

Michelle Tea is the guest. Her new novel, Black Wave, is available now from Feminist Press. In today's monologue, I talk about Halloween.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meredith Alling is the guest. Her debut story collection Sing the Song is available now from Future Tense Books.  In today's monologue, I talk briefly about wine.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wendy C. Ortiz is the guest. Her new book Bruja—a "dreamoir"—is available now from Civil Coping Mechanisms.  In today's monologue, I basically just get right to the interview.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Roberts is the guest. His debut novel, Cannibals in Love, is available now from FSG Originals. He also wrote the screenplay for the movie Goat, out in theaters now. In today's monologue, I talk about finishing my novel. And the election.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melissa Yancy is the guest. Her debut story collection, Dog Years, is available now from the University of Pittsburgh Press.  In today's monologue, I talk about the good lives and legacies of my Uncle Elmore and my friend Barb.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rich Ferguson is the guest. His debut novel, New Jersey Me, is available now from Rare Bird Books / A Barnacle Book. In today's monologue, I talk about the debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's episode is a bit unorthodox. It's just me talking for an hour. Sorry about that. As most of you know, the podcast has been homeless since June. I've managed to have a guest each week since that time, but this week I finally hit the wall. Couldn't get my shit together. Logistically too difficult.  The good news is, I should have a recording space within the next few days. The new home studi...

Nicole Dennis-Benn is the guest. Her debut novel Here Comes the Sun is available now from Liveright. It is the official September pick of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. In today's monologue, I talk about my novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Garth Risk Hallberg is the guest. His debut novel, City on Fire, is available now in trade paperback from Vintage. In today's monologue, I talk briefly about my weekend trip to Wisconsin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Margaret Wappler is the guest. Her debut novel Neon Green is available now from The Unnamed Press. This is the final conversation recorded in the old garage.   In today's monologue, I catch up on listener mail.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S.J. Watson is the guest. His novel Second Life is available now in paperback from Harper. It was the official July pick of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. In today's monologue, I talk about recording in a crowded house. And I talk with my daughter, who is about to celebrate her sixth birthday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lesley M. M. Blume is the guest. Her new book is called Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway's Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises, available now from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In today's monologue, I talk about Lesley's book and Ernest Hemingway.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Franzen is the guest. His latest novel, Purity, is available now in trade paperback from Picador. It is the official August selection of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. In today's monologue, I discuss being in flux. And my dog Walter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dorthe Nors is the guest. Her new book, So Much For That Winter, is available now in the United States from Graywolf Press. I had a great time talking with Dorthe. She is, I believe, the first Danish author to guest on the program.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sloane Crosley is the guest. Her debut novel, The Clasp, is available now in trade paperback from Picador.  A great pleasure to have Sloane on the program.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chuck Klosterman is the guest. His new book, But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past, is available now from Blue Rider Press. So great to have Chuck on the program.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frances Stroh is the guest. Her new memoir, Beer Money, is available now from Harper. In today's monologue, I talk about the logistics of vacationing with my family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Edison is the guest. He is the former publisher of High Times magazine and was the editor-in-chief of Screw magazine. He is also a musician and a professional wrestler. His new memoir, You Are a Complete Disappointment, is available now from Sterling Books. Great fun talking with Mike. Also heartbreaking. The title of his memoir also happens to be the last thing his father ever said to him. B...

Max Porter is the guest. His debut novel, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, is the official June pick of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club.  Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize, it is available now from Graywolf Press. Max and I spoke by telephone. He was at home in London. It was nighttime for him. I was here in Los Angeles, mid-morning. His publication story is a good one. He wrote a book that isn't...

Viet Thanh Nguyen is the guest. His debut novel, The Sympathizer, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016. It is available now from Grove Press. I want to say that Viet is the first Pulitzer winner ever to appear on the program. I could be wrong. (Am I forgetting someone?) I read The Sympathizer earlier this year when I was a judge for the Tournament of Books at The Morning News. (You c...

Stephen Elliott is the guest. He is the founding editor of The Rumpus, the author of seven books, and the director of three films. His latest film, After Adderall, will be premiering at the Rumpus Lo-Fi Los Angeles Film Festival on July 30th. I can't believe it's taken me this long to meet Stephen Elliott. He just moved out to Los Angeles for the summer and he came over and we sat down and talked....

Claire Hoffman is the guest. Her new memoir, Greetings from Utopia Park, is available now from Harper Books.  Claire is a friend of mine here in Los Angeles. She grew up in Fairfield, Iowa in an intentional community founded by the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Maharishi, for the uninitiated, was a spiritual guru and the progenitor of transcendental meditation, or TM. Claire's memoir deals in family...

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney is the guest. Her debut novel, The Nest, is available now from Ecco Books.  Cynthia is living the dream. Or at least one kind of dream. It's a common dream: write novel, sell novel for big advance, watch as novel becomes New York Times bestseller, do media tour for novel, feel somewhat weird and even at times guilty that novel is doing so well. And so on. Really good time t...

Jung Yun is the guest. Her debut novel, Shelter, is now available from Picador.  Jung's novel has gotten an incredibly warm critical reception. Not surprisingly, it took years to write, the gestation was arduous, the psycho-spiritual agony along the way was often intense. This, I'm finding, is what's called "the creative process." This is what I'm learning as I do this show and have these conversa...