So Many Damn Books

Mat Johnson launches into the Damn Library Zoom Zone to discuss his new novel, Invisible Things. We get into conspiracies, surprising yourself with your writing, teaching, writing funny, and a bunch of other stuff, including Claire North’s Notes from a Burning Age, and getting your sci-fi terms right.contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic)This week's sponsor: Bombas. Get 20% off your purchase at bombas.com/smdb Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elaine Hsieh Chou drops into the Damn Library Hyperspace Zoom Zone to chat her incredible new campus satire, Disorientation. We get into the world of academia, writing villains, and of course, why she wrote this book three times.Plus, she brings along Matthew Salesses’ Craft in the Real World. and we talk about the wisdom found therein. And lots more!contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are three more interviews with featured readers! So fun to talk about bookstore ownership, how being an agent affects reading, the trials and tribulations of Topo Chico, and bad advice from The Rules, along with many other subjects besides.Many thanks to Moti from Montreal, Canada, Erin from Portland, and Jacob from Pittsburgh for chatting books with me!contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are the first three (of six!) mini interviews with So Many Damn Books Readers, talking favorite recent reads, current reading projects, and giving a book to a famous person, amongst many other bookish subjects.My thanks to Michael for Portland, Daniella from London, Canada, and Noah from NYC for hanging out and chatting books. Part two goes up next week!contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah, partner of Christopher and co-owner of the Damn Library, drops into some of the space she pays rent for to chat about working with the backlist for Penguin Random House, the world of publishing unionization efforts, and of course, what drinking a French 75 feels like.contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sara Nović webcams into the Damn Library Zoom Zone to talk her new novel, True Biz. We discuss the limitations of prose in comparison to ASL, how she tried to mimic ASL on the page, some fantasies of Eyeth, and the propulsive nature of short chapters. Also a lot of other stuff. Plus, Sara brought along The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon, a book that both agree is "a feat of engineering" just like the NYT said.contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sasha Fletcher physically drops in to the Damn Library. In the flesh. Christopher and Sasha are actually in the same room, chatting over cocktails. This is great, because Sasha’s novel Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World is a very fun book to discuss without any zoom lag, and the conversation ranges from the Medicis to the purposes of art to the agony of first drafts. Plus, Sasha brings along When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut, which elucidates the beauty and savagery of math and physics. Giddy up!contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sequoia Nagamatsu, author of How High We Go in the Dark steps into the Damn Library Pocket Universe and covers a lot of ground, both real and metaphysical. We get into why most pandemic novels don't focus on pandemics, how he put together some of the more wild chapters, and of course robot dogs. And then he brings out Brenda Peynado's The Rock Eaters, a collection of short stories that takes the figurative and makes it have weight - so of course Sequoia talks on what makes for a successful short story. Listen up!contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dana Stevens stops into the Damn Library to talk about her new book, Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century, and it allows for lots of subject hopping, from the birth of movie reviews to Buster Keaton's model trains to the trick of describing movies dynamically. Plus, she brings along Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet, a fascinating posthumous tome from a prolific contemporary of Keaton who Dana Stevens is also obsessed with.contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: CDH, Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sara Gran joins Christopher in the Damn Library to talk The Book of the Most Precious Substance, which is wildly exciting - her books are some of the most cited in So Many Damn Books history. They get into plants, and spells, and the lure of rare book buying. Plus, Sara goes into what made her decide to self publish this book after so many years in the industry. And then she brings Generation Lost by Elizabeth Hand to discuss, a novel about not having a camera at the right time, amongst other things, Get into it!(also, some fun news for the Claire DeWitt fans!)contribute! https://patreon.com/smdbfor drink recipes, book lists, and more, visit: somanydamnbooks.commusic: Disaster Magic(https://soundcloud.com/disaster-magic) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.