A Roundup (September 2022)

Here is another roundup of the best reads, podcasts, internet people + projects, and anything else I’ve discovered the past month. This month is shorter, with just podcast and reading recs.

Subscribe to my blog (in the footer of this post) or Substack to get these roundups in your email once a month.

Here are the past Roundups: April, May, June, July, and August

Podcast Recommendations

1.) Joyce Carol Oates, The Tim Ferriss Show

I’ve been devouring writer interviews lately. Watching George Saunders, Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, and now Joyce Carol Oates speak about their process and writers they admire. I revisited this particular interview in September, and it really is a gem for any creative.

While on the topic of writer interviews… Tessa and I attended an interview of the Texas author, Adam Soto. Adam’s new short story collection ‘Concerning Those Who Have Fallen Asleep’ comes out next week. It is a collection of stories centered around ghosts. I recommend checking Adam out!

Reading Recommendations

As always, you can keep up with what I am reading here. Here are some recent reads that stood out to me.

1.) 10 Reasons Why I’m Publishing My Next Book on Substack – Ted Gioia

Great article on Ted’s Substack about the shortcomings of traditional publishing, from the perspective of someone who has gone that route before.

2.) Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? – Joyce Carol Oates

A somber and wicked short story with two extremely vivid characters.

3.) Salman Rushdie and the Power of Words – Adam Gopnik

Bravo to Adam Gopnik for this piece.

“The idea—which has sprung to dangerous new life in America as much on the progressive as on the theocratic side of the argument—that words are equal to actions reflects the most primitive form of word magic, and has the same relation to the actual philosophy of language that astrology has to astronomy. Sticks and stones really can break bones. Words can never hurt you, just challenge your mind and categories. (And yes, of course, some words are vile and can be rejected by our calling them so. No one wants to protect authors from bad reviews, even those by autocrats; it is threats from bullies that they need protection from.) Everyone has a right to be offended by whatever offends them, and everyone on earth has a right to articulate their offense. No one has a right to maim or kill someone because our words offend them. Blasphemy is not a mighty category demanding respect but a pitiful invention of those who cannot tolerate having their pet convictions criticized. It demands no respect from anyone; on the contrary, it requires solidarity among all decent people in opposing it. An insult to an ideology is not the same as a threat made to a people. It is the opposite of a threat made to a person. To assume the criticism of ideas as assaults on people is the end of the liberal civilization. The idea that we should be free to do our work and offer our views without extending a frightened veto to those who threaten to harm us isn’t just part of what we mean by free expression—it is close to the whole of what we mean by civilized life.”

That’s all for this month. You can subscribe to my blog here (in the footer of the page) or subscribe to my Substack to get these roundups in your email once a month.