The Left Page

Hello everyone!! For this special birthday month (and day, as it turns out!) for Frank, we have a two-for-one episode on The Witcher books! They are also joined by their friend and co-host of Here Be Media, Leon! Together we dive into the two short story collections by Andrzej Sapkowski of The Witcher: The Last Wish and  Sword of Destiny . We talk about The Witcher's relationship to fantasy and fo...

Welcome everyone! To the first episode of Here Be Media!! Our newest show on a variety of media, especially videogames! Enjoy our first episode on Supergiant's Hades! As Frank and Leon think about mythology, representation and the multitude of relationships that make this game really stand out on all counts! Enjoy!   Please support our Patreon if you're interested and want access to early content...

Hello everyone! For this month's episode I, shamelessly, dive back into Le Guin's fiction, but not only that, and not alone! I am joined by the excellent Chase from Faith and Capital and Mass Struggle, so we can talk about utopias, utopianism and two different short stories:  The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas , by Le Guin, and  The Ones Who Stay and Fight , by N. K. Jemisin. From the titles you c...

Hello everyone! In this second episode with a Kyle, albeit a different one (long live the Kylessaince!), this time Kyle Winkler, academic, writer and fellow podcaster joins me to talk about his latest book Boris Says the Words! It is a fascinating chat on how to think and represent illnesses and misery, the potential power and danger of words, and a lot of sadness. Yet, as I always do, we tend to...

Hello everyone! In this episode I am once again joined by Labor Kyle! As we dive into the magnificent world, or solar system, of Kim Stanley Robinson's  2312 ! We talk of Utopia, History, Xenogenders, Liberation and Emancipation! This special almost double-length episode is certainly one you do not want to miss! Enjoy!   Check out and support Kyle's work! Twitter:  https://twitter.com/laborkyle Yo...

Hello veryone! This is a very special Writer's Desk, as it was originally closed, but now I release it to all, along with the companion piece on the Reading Corner It is, after all, a conversation on the question of the Death of the Author, what it is, and how to think is alongside ethics. In it I both present the concept and try to engage with how to engage in contemporary capitalism and any poss...

Hello everyone! In this month's episode I chatted, once again, with the excellent Dr. Valeria Villegas Lindvall! As we approach Jenny Hvall's Girls Against God, we chat a lot about art, religion, the notions of blasphemy and hate, and how to create something truly radical. It was a wonderful chat on quite a weird book, but a worthwile one regardless, enjoy!   If you can, please support us on Patre...

Hello everyone!! In this new episode of the show I dive into some of the intricacies of how we can approach, understand, and even reconsider the ideas of genre in fiction. Both on their potential and their limitations to criticism and breaking apart gatekeeping efforts and the walls that harm our attempts at writing, reading, and understanding. That's the reason for the provocative title of this e...

Hello everyone! Today I bring you another wonderful story from Ursula K. Le Guin. Word for World is Forest, from 1972, a story of violence, imperialism and colonialism. We go a bit heavier on those, but I still end up considering other points, such as communication, always present in Le Guin. Enjoy!   And if you can, please support us on Patreon, where you can find our Reading Corners and Writer's...

Hello everyone!! It's been 3 years since I've started the show with Bruno!! As a special treat, I look back on the show and its many episodes so far. It was a fun recollection as I think back episode by episode, and behind the scenes stuff, thinking over the show and what has been so interesting and fun to do! Hopefully this is also fun to listen to as I think over these 3 years, some of my favour...

Hello everyone!! We're nearly 3 years old as a pod! And while this isn't the celebration proper, I wanted to make this month's episode just as good. As such, I chat on one of my favourite reads from last year, a collection of short stories by Argentinian writer, Silvina Ocampo. They are weird, fantastic, horrific and amazing stories, and yet very unique. As such, I also make it a point to reflect...

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Left Page in 2022! For this episode I chat a bit about some work I've had to do with Literary Theory, my frustrations and issues. But also some of the positive aspects and good experiences I learned from it. So the usual form of criticism, but also nice things too! And how we can learn, with care and consideration, to also make the theory work for us! Enjoy!   If you...

Hello everyone! In this special solo episode, I dive back into detective stories and make a hell of a journey through them, as I piece back some of the genre's history, what it executes, and its nuances. From Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile", through Andrea Camilleri's Salvo Montalbano, Friedrich Dürrenmatt "The Promise" and even Lucas Pope's videogame "The Return of the Obra Dinn"! It is qui...

In this episode I have on Daniel Pietersen, editor of the collection "I am Stone", part of the British Library Tales of the Weird series. In this series of tales by R. Murray Gilchrist, we talked about the editing process, this fascinating author and his quite weird and fun tales, along with questions of writing, violence and relating to place and time. It was a brilliantly fun and in-depth chat,...

For this year's Halloween episode (a bit early, but hey, you deserve it!) I bring in an expert team and we create something unholy and magnificent. This was nothing short of a masterpiece, as, joined by Jon and Ash of the Horror Vanguard and Labor Kyle from, among many things, AGAB Pod, join me in talking, for the very first time: of Clive Barker!!! We chat, with Mr. B Gone, of gay demons, of love...

Hello everyone! September was my birthday month, so I played around with Science Fiction a lot, as I can! And in this, unlocked Writers' Desk episode I chat about the relationship between creating a Future, and our own views and understanding of Past and Present. It was really fun, and really cool too, enjoy! If you can, please support us on Patreon, where you can find our Reading Corners and the...

Hello everyone! Hope you've been looking forward to this month's full release episode! This time, Solarpunk! In this episode I have an excellent interview and conversation with Justine Norton-Kertson, Editor-in-chief of Solarpunk Magazine.  We had a wonderful chat on imagining the future, solarpunk literature, hope, and how writing a different, better future, is just as good and important, along w...

A brief announcement on a few changes I'm going to make for my own health and care, while preserving the show and making sure it keeps going good and interestingly Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I delve into the Cyberpunk genre for the first time, talking about William Gibson's 1984 novel Neuromancer in particularly! I explore quite bit over how there is much more to Cyberpunk than pure aesthetics. In terms of critique, genre, and possibility, there is more to it being done, and that can be done with it, along with elaborating these questions of the genre and how we can th...

In this incredible episode and collaboration, me and Brett, from Revolutionary Left Radio chat about the Don DeLillo novel "White Noise". We talked about some of its many questions of life, death, along with both the reflections it brings and its issues. We even dive into its genre as a "postmodern novel", matters of climate disaster and on irony as an effective tool, or not, to communication and...

Just a few words on the disasters and the crimes and the losses of Brazilian culture. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello listeners! In this new episode I have an interesting chat about the 1958 Italian novel, "The Leopard", by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa! I make considerations on aristocracy, changes and power, along with some of my own questions of how to do historical interpretation and analysis of fiction.  It's a good chat on a good novel too, and hopefully I shared some interesting elements of those ques...

In this episode I am joined by the excellent Alessandra Pino to talk about the 1958 short story by Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen), Babette's Feast! We talk about food, gothic food, its power as a means of memory and communication, along with the larger matter of the Paris Commune, some of its history and the relationship with food, both in the story and in reality. It's a lot of fun! Enjoy!   You can...

Hello everyone! In this episode I am joined by the incredible scholar Maeva Chargros to talk about the fascinating Nordic Noir, both as a genre and some of its histories and properly diving into not one example, but two! As we talk about Henning Mankell's Before the Frost and Stieg Larsson's first book of the Millenium series! CW for violence, mutilation, sexual assault, rape, animal cruelty Do ta...

Hello all! This is my trial run at the new Patreon content I've been cooking up, The Writer's Desk! Simply put, I want to think about the relationship between fiction and politics from the point of view of a writer well... writing it! It is a question or a larger field that I reflect on a lot, and might be something interesting to work on and share here too! Do let me know what you think and find...