The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life

After taking a year off to recover, Jeff Shuster return again for a May the 4th episode of The Drunken Odyssey, in which we discuss the seldom-discussed Ewoks trilogy. As a result, we might never have another May the 4th conversation. But the conversation was lively.

On this show, John speaks with the literary scholar, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, who writes lucidly about classic American fiction in readable, important, and enjoyable prose. One of Dr. Fishkin's areas of expertise is Mark Twain. Her new book is Jim: The Life and Afterlives of Huckleberry Finn's Comrade .

While John attempts his convalence from his contempible cold, here is a replay of a classic episode from 2013 with the fiction writer Tessa Mellas.

In Margie Sarsfield's debut novel, Beta Vulgaris , a hipster Brooklyn couple take on temporary work at a Minnesota beet farm at harvest time in order to earn extra money to help them maintain their Brooklyn lifestyle. Elise, the protagonist, who suffers from anxiety that she is no longer medicated for, notices that her fellow workers disappear, either because the work is too difficult or else othe...

On this show, correspondent Samantha Nickerson speaks with Sally Wen Mao about her story collection,  Ninetails , plus Samantha speaks with Susan Mauddi Darraj about her new novel, Behind You Is The Sea .

In honor of the passing of David Lynch, John and Stephen McClurg discuss the peculiar mysteries of a screenplay for a legendary project that was never made, Ronnie Rocket .

In this week's show, John speaks with Jaydra Johnson about her new book,  Low: Notes on Art and Trash , and the tensions and connections between class perception, politics, and creation of art.

On today's show, I speak with the poet and editor Rigoberto Gonzales about the curation of the Library of America anthology of Latino Poetry. Then Richard Blanco reads "Como Tú," his poem that is collected in that anthology, and he and I catch up a little bit.

0On #633, Rachael Tillman and I discuss the surreal paradoxes and sullen joys of Bill Knott's debut collection of poetry,   The Naomi Poems: Corpse and Beans , which was recently reprinted by Black Ocean Press.

On today's episode, Samantha Nickerson speaks with fiction writer   Rufi Thorpe   about her striking novel   Margo's Got Money Problems . In this episode, you learn about more than just Margo's money problems. Samantha and Rufi discuss Only Fans, wrestling, creating characters, and motherhood's thorny identity. Samantha then speaks to Susan My-Nutt about erotic obsession, alienation, hyper-thinkin...

In this episode, John interviews the notable flash fiction writer Kathy Fish about the anxious nuances of that medium and genre. Is flash fiction just a very short story, with all the rules of fiction at work? Or is flash fiction a less traditional, immersive fictional happening that takes somewhere between the length of a flash of lightning and the length of time needed to smoke a cigarette? The...

In this episode, John discusses the career of crime novelist John D. MacDonald (1916-1986) in light of a new posthumous short story, "The Accomplice." In this interview, John speaks with with Andrew Gulli, editor of The Strand Magazine about the rigors and ethos of editing and publishing and MacDonald's son and literary executor Maynard about propagating a great writer's legacy without compromisin...

In 659, John talks to poet Duy Đoàn about his latest collection, Zombie Vomit Mad Libs , the poetic provocations of horror films, and experimenting with erasure and fragmentation.

In this week's replay episode, John talks with fellow classmate, the fiction writer Kseniya Melnik.

In this week's show, John talks to the delightful poet Denise Duhamel about the nuts and bolts of poetry, the construction of themed collections, Barbie, and other matters of literary interest.

This week's show collects three interviews with prose writers Daniel Handler, Griffin Dunne, and Ridley Pearson in joyful, fun conversations conducted last November at Miami Book Fair.

John convenes with Loose Lips hosts Dianne Turgeon Richardson for a poetry game in which three friends draw themed cards and read original poems somehow connected to those themes. Alcohol was consumed, too.

On this week's show, John talks to recent Kerouac Project resident Steve Chang about writing humor with vulnerability, complicating the absurdity of the world through grounded fiction, editing fiction for Okay, Donkey , and other literary urgencies.

This week's show collects three interviews with poets David Kirby, Traci Brimhall, and Robert Pinsky in joyful, fun conversations conducted last November at Miami Book Fair.

On this week's show  Chrissy Kolaya  talks to Dobby Gibson about his latest poetry volume, Hold Everything , now out with Graywolf Press.

In this week's show, John speaks with Jonathan Lethem about the pull of Brooklyn and obsession, the craft of guiding the reader through unusual storytelling, and bold balancing acts as storytellers.

This episode features a Drunken Odyssey takeover of Orlando's longest-running, and also only, current-events inspired reading series.

In this week's show, John speaks with debut novelist C. Michelle Lindley's, whose The Nude is a page-turning literary meditation on the madness of the commerce of art and labor and relationships and all sorts of things.

On #649, John speaks with recent writer-in-residence at the Kerouac Project of Orlando, the poet Ezza Ahmed.

In this week's show, John talks to opera director Yuval Sharon about the past and perhaps future rebirths of opera, while advocating for the relevance of this provocative art form. Yuval's new book, A New Philosophy of Opera , is lucid, persuasive, passionate, and fun.