Three Percent Podcast

Chad and Brian talk about more vampires, about semen, about senseless scene after senseless scene, about WWII, about masterpieces and mediocre writing, about publisher laments, and about other things. This week's music is "Damn These Vampires" by The Mountain Goats. (The Jordan Lake Sessions version, specifically.) If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with al...

We're in the home stretch, as Archimboldi appears at last. Chad, Katie, and Brian discuss his origin story, vampires, seaweed, the nature of time, various echoes appearing in this final section, what Bolaño might be saying about himself as a writer through Hans Reiter, and masturbation. Here's a link to the blog post Katie references in this episode. This week's music is "Bloodletting (The Vampire...

Chad and Brian tackle the braided narratives that close out "The Part About the Crimes," discussing Michel Butor's thoughts about detective novels (from  Passing Time ) and the "rules" laid out in 20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them  against  2666.  Some interesting observations about what the core "mystery" of the book really is, questions about the chronology of the four parts so far, and som...

Brian's back to talk about dead baby jokes, repetition, the power of reading, snuff films, matriarchal lineage, and much more. Chad didn't sleep before this episode, which explains some of the wackiness. This week's music is "World Gone Deaf" by Bill Baird. If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past episodes . And tune in next Thursday at 9am ET f...

Chad, Brian, and Katie dive into "The Part About the Crimes," talking about the fact that the Penitent gets more detective time than all of the murdered women, about the seer, about ventriloquism, about Lalo Cura, and about the existence of Ciudad Juárez in 2666.  This week's music is "Highlights of 100" by Kiwi Jr. If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with a...

After Chad, Katie, and Brian finish recapping the end of "The Part About Fate"—including the  Twin Peaks  reference, representations of violence, the apocryphal Robert Rodriguez porno, blindness and impaired sight, and much more—they're joined by Dr. Andrew Martino, a massive Bolaño fan who raises more questions and observations as the group read heads into "The Part About the Crimes." This week's...

In the first chunk of this week's episode, Brian, Chad, and Katie break down the first half of "The Part About Fate" and look specifically at Kessler's speech in the diner, the areas of exploitative capitalism, femicide and how it's everywhere, the idea of a system that kills, and much more. (They literally run out of time.) Then, Chad and Katie are joined by Natasha Wimmer to discuss her translat...

This two-part episode opens with Katie, Brian, and Chad talking about madness, the pursuit of knowledge, what great authors "struggle against," and much more. Then, Chad and Katie are joined by Emily Hall ( The Longcut ) to discuss the art works on the covers of the three-volume edition of  2666 , along with Duchamp, Amalfitano's "readymade," and more. Here are links to a number of the artworks th...

One of the brainiest TMRs to date, this episode talks a lot about doubles and mirrors in  2666 , religious iconography, coincidence vs. fate, disappearances and vanishing, the creeping horror found in this novel, the abyss and the void, musicals, and much more. Brian, Chad, and Katie cover the entirely of "The Part About the Critics" and will do all of "The Part About Amalfitano" next episode. Enj...

This week's episode opens with 'Professor Post" poking a bit of fun at academics, then dives headfirst into the first 75 pages of  2666. Brian, Katie, and Chad talk about the representation of Liz Norton, of the voids that exist in  2666 , the religious experience of becoming obsessed with an author, violence, made up books, the covers of the U.S., UK, and Spanish editions, "ennui" vs. "boredom,"...

Season 16 is here! At long last, Bolaño's  2666  takes center stage, and Chad and Brian are joined by translator and Bolaño enthusiast, Katie Whittemore. In this opening episode, they discuss the myth-making of Bolaño's biography, they talk about sudden fame, the grind of the artist, and of the way that  everything  is read as genius once someone is declared a genius. They talk about  Last Words o...

Chad and Brian recap the wild end to  Vernon Subutex , debate whether it was predictable or not, whether Despentes earned it or not, and what to make of the proto-history chapter that rounds out the trilogy. And, in classic TMR fashion, the episode ends abruptly when Chad's wifi suddenly dies. (Technical difficulties for the win.) This week's music is a new cover of Kate Bush's " Running Up That H...

Covering what's probably the most disturbing section of  Vernon Subutex , this is an intense, fairly dark episode of the Two Month Review. They discuss how the most evil character is a manager/agent, about how men are everywhere, ready to ruin things, and much more. On the upside, Chad and Brian recorded early in the morning, so their voices have some extra depth . . . If you'd prefer to watch the...

Chad  almost  had to do this episode solo, but all of you were spared that catastrophe by Kaija Straumanis and David Smith (whose delay makes for some funny moments). The talk about what you would do for $100 million dollars, what most terrifies them, fear in general, Max as Lex Luthor, and much more. This week's music is from the Velvet Underground and, ugh, Korn. Sorry. If you'd prefer to watch...

Following up on last week's catastrophic technical difficulties, Brian recaps some of his conversation with Frank Wynne before he and Chad dive into volume three of Despentes's  Vernon Subutex.  They talk about hippies, Dan Deacon, cults,  Cultish , Vernon's purity, and much more. This week's music is " The Crystal Cat " by Dan Deacon. (Click here to see one of his " convergences .") If you'd pref...

Chad and Brian get into some fun and vengeful parts of  Vernon Subutex 2  this week, talking about Gaëll, the proliferation of diereses in this section, getting revenge, Vernon's magical music, and more. This week's music is "The Modern World" by The Jam. If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along with all our past episodes . You can join us on Thursday, June 10th...

Kaija Straumanis pinch hits this week to talk about Céleste, about spray painting insults, the best forms of revenge, how to upend a system, and whether of not a good dad can be an alcoholic. This episode is a great prelude to one of the major plot points of the trilogy, so listen to this and get ready for next week . . . This week's music is "They'll Never" by Stef Chura. If you'd prefer to watch...

In this special episode, Chad talks with Rachel Cordasco about a new Three Percent project focusing on translators as curators. Over the course of the next month, we'll be posting a number of different types of posts—excerpts, profiles, readings, shorter podcasts, movie clips—using the five works of Italian science fiction Rachel selected as the starting point.  In case it gets lost in the podcast...

Derek Maine returns for his second appearance this season to talk about Alex Bleach's tapes, Vodka Satana's death, how the system is rigged, horrible men, the complications of passing judgement, Motörhead, mushroom powder, and much more. This is a pretty key episode, as the trilogy veers into detective novel territory, and the conflict with Dopalet becomes more well defined. If you'd prefer to wat...

Veronica Esposito joined Chad and Valerie Miles to continue talking about  Granta' s second list of "Best Young Spanish-language Novelists." They talk about some of the recent Spanish reviews—and criticisms—of the list, about writing the periphery, about science-fiction and the differences between the 2010 list and the 2020 one, and much more.  Upcoming  Granta  events include one on May 20th at 5...

Chad and Brian go it alone this week to talk about whether this is one book or three (or three "seasons" of one book), or how Xavier and Patrice are both awful people but in entirely different ways, the breadth of characterization in Despentes's writing, all the jokes you can make knowing "Subutex" is Methadone, how to properly store gasoline in plastic bags, and much more. If you'd prefer to watc...

Translator Frank Wynne joins Chad and Brian to talk about slang, about yummy mummies, about why Vernon's pseudonym is so weird, and much much more. This is an episode as much about translating and reading as it is about the book proper, and is definitely worth listening to. This week's music is " Waiting Room " by Fugazi. If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can find it on YouTube along...

To kick off a month of features on the new  Granta  " Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists " issue, Chad talked with editor/translator Valerie Miles about the process of selecting these 25 authors amid a pandemic, about the shifts in demographics between the first list (from 2010) and this one, about voice and the importance of translators, and much more. Stay tuned all month for coverage of a...

Translator Katie Whittemore ( Four by Four , The Communist's Daughter , World's Best Mother , Last Words on Earth ) joins Chad and Brian to talk about the horrible actions of Patrice, and whether he could be redeemed, about childbirth, about Aïcha and Hyena, and about Disney. Funny and cutting, this episode explores the book's tensions and MacGuffin, the narrative arcs being set up for the various...

Caitlin Luce Baker of Island Books joins Chad and Brian to talk about a very nicely framed section of  Vernon Subutex . We get introduced to Aïcha, who has, through Pamela Kant, just found out that her mom was a porn star before her death. (And had a fling with Alex Bleach.) We also get to see how the Hyena works (kind of), and leave off with her and Aïcha on a trip to Barcelona together. This wee...