Talk Write

In our last day, Smoky Barnacle ends his tale where it all began. Called into the fairy world he never quite believed in to join the family he never quite belonged to, he ventures into the great unknown, apprehensive, but then with growing recognition once he understands his part in the tale. We are, after all, trying only to find our place in the world, and Smoky has found his. Get full access to...

In our second-to-last day, we encounter Auberon Barnacle and his guide, Fred. Lost in the woods, and with Fred having turned into a tree, Auberon begins to doubt everything about himself: who he is, what he’s looking for, why he’s there. It’s only a supreme act of memory that keeps him grounded on the thing he longs for most in the world: finding the love he lost. Get full access to Talk Write at...

We’re entering the final three days of our exploration, and all of our main characters have been called to the forest of Edgegood for a Fairies’ Parliament. What is to happen there, who will be there, and for what reason the parliament has been called—nobody knows. In Crowley’s glistening prose, ambiguities abound. But one thing is clear: a homecoming is being called, after which nobody will ever...

In today’s section, Auberon Barnacle hears from George Mouse what happened to the changeling Lilac (not to be confused with Sophie and Smoky’s actual daughter). A truly explosive story awaits. This is the kind of writing that leaves you slack-jawed and shaking your head in wonder. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s reading, we look at a segment in which Ariel Hawsquill, scion of a famous theosophist, travels to the very depths of time to discover who, in fact, is the lecturer known as Russell Eigenblick. Wild journeys and truly mythic content await, and although we journey millions of miles, we never leave our spot. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s section, Sophie and Smoky’s child, Lilac, stolen by fairies when just a newborn, visits her sleeping mother on the back of a giant stork. It’s moments like this that make this novel feel so crazily alive. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s reading, we look at a segment from Book 3 in which Ariel Hawsquill, scion of a famous theosophist, discusses the mysterious Russell Eigenblick with her group of politicians, bankers and billionaires. At this point in the novel, we take a turn from the surreal and enter a world of secret histories and espionage. The fact that this transition in genres is handled with such aplomb is a tes...

Today, fairies come and kidnap Smoky and Sophie’s b*****d child. Changelings abound in this weird and wild episode, which will see little daughter Lilac living in the world of faerie. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

On today’s talk, we get a look at what it’s like to fall into faerieworld. Smoky and his wife are out for a walk on a rainy afternoon when suddenly Smoky finds himself in the house of the Underhills: faerie people who speak mysteriously about his future. The whole scene is charged with wonder, and, as every good vision should, leaves Smoky and the reader scratching their heads, wondering at what t...

In today’s section, Auberon (Daily Alice’s uncle) ventures into the woods with his camera to take pictures of his nieces…and realizes everything around him is alive. Naturally, he falls back to Darwin to rationalize the existence of this underground kingdom. One thing is for certain: the world is a much wider and weirder place than we imagined. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.su...

In today’s section, we get a speech by Oliver Hawskill, a theosophist out to prove the existence of fairies (elementals, hobgoblins, etc.) by capitalizing on the visions of his daughter. He is also Violet Bramble’s first lover, and their relationship will later produce Auberon. This speech represents a fascinating account for the existence of fairies, and how one might access their world. Get full...

Stormy days, prophecies, weddings…and long sentences! Crowley’s colorful prosody is on full display in this passage from chapter two, which looks ahead to the wedding of Smoky Barnacle and Daily Alice, and foreshadows the dark forces that lie ahead. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In this wonderful little section, we meet Daily’s sister Sophie, who tells Daily about a dream she had in which time was packaged up into little boxes to be saved for later. Once again, Crowley proves an expert at creating these surreal, wonderful little moments so indicative of the novel’s atmosphere, tone, and themes. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Smoky recalls speaking with Daily Alice, the woman who would become his wife. She knows more than she should and tells him that she had known he’d become her husband for years, ever since she crossed through a rainbow and was prophecied to by a talking dog. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today, we begin a three-week series looking at John Crowley’s adult fantasy slash family saga, “Little Big” (1981). Today, Smoky Barnable, en route to meet his bride-to-be, remembers how something as simple as a name or a word can contain worlds. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Capping off this week of poetry we take a look at Alfred Lord Tennyson’s classic “Ulysses” a paean to adventure and globe-trotting everywhere. But Tennyson might have intended a deep irony in this dramatic monologue from one of Western civilization’s greatest heroes… It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole Uneq...

Today, we’re taking a look at Allen Tate’s Aeneid-inspired “Mediterranean.” Although the poem explores similiar ground to Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” its approach is nostalgic and ironic. Where are the great heroes and great adventures of old? Are they still possible today? Quem das finem, rex magne, dolorum? Where we went in the boat was a long baya slingshot wide, walled in by towering stone--Peaked m...

Today, we will consider Romantic poet John Clare’s “I am,” written in 1844, when the poet had already spent considerable time in an insane asylum. What ostensibly appears a typical declaration of identity is actually a much more complex self-study into the nature of self: in his illness, Clare struggled to remember just who he was, and would even confuse his identity with the likes of Byron and Sh...

Today, we’ll be talking about DH Lawrence’s “Shadows,” which he wrote shortly before his death. “Shadows” was written by the poet in anticipation of his death, and looks forward to a time of peace and painlessness, while also bearing witness to the writer’s tremendous faith and courage as he neared the end of his life. And if tonight my soul may find her peace in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,...

Today, we look at Hopkins’s poem “The Caged Skylark” and examine what its vision of a caged bird has to say about the spirit and resurrection of man. As a dare-gale skylark scanted in a dull cage, Man's mounting spirit in his bone-house, mean house, dwells — That bird beyond the remembering his free fells; This in drudgery, day-labouring-out life's age. Though aloft on turf or perch or poor low st...

In our last installment of Lewis’s “Main Street,” we witness Carol’s dramatic coming to terms with the nature of her struggle. In this conversation with a grizzled suffragette, she is able to finally understand herself and her struggle thoroughly enough to get past her distaste for Main Street. She even discovers something about love in the process. Fancy that! Get full access to Talk Write at bra...

Today we’re taking a look at Wallace Stevens’s thorny but brilliant 1934 poem. “Idea of Order” explores ideas of poetry, chaos and order, and the act of creation itself. Be warned: these are the sorts of poems that bear rereading! Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In our excerpt today, Carol has finally realized that Main Street will never be able to offer her what she wants. In an argument with her husband, she is forced to choose between becoming a mediocre Gopher Prairie resident, or following through with her ideals and ambitions. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

In her effort to get over the “Village Virus,” Carol has put together a drama club with the mission of punching through the Gopher Prairie mental malaise. But when the actors finally take to the stage, Carol realizes exactly the strength of the opponent she’s up against. Will she be able to finally start making the change she’s dreamt of, or will she succumb to the humbling of smalltown American m...

Her other schemes having failed, but not yet giving up hope, Carol, inspired by a good time out with friends and the magical landscape, decides to start a drama club. Lewis crystallizes her resolve in luscious winter descriptions. Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe