PODCAST

The Virtual Memories Show

Gil Roth

A weekly conversation about books and life, not necessarily in that order.

arts books

All Episodes

01:25:11

Episode 545 - Eddie Campbell

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/07/11

With the publication of The Second Fake Death of Eddie Campbell (Top Shelf), the great cartoonist Eddie Campbell brings his decades-long autobiographical comics project into the COVID era. In this return conversation (go listen to our 2018 episode & our 2020 COVID check-in) we talk about the meta-narratives that haunt his books, the culture of masks that prompted his latest work, how it felt getting back to making long-form comics again, and whose idea it was to publish this one like an Ace Double

10:31

Bonus Episode - Remembering Michael Denneny

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/07/04

No show this week, but here's a bonus episode with my impromptu speech at the remembrance/memorial for the late Michael Denneny, recorded June 19, 2023. Michael & I were supposed to record a podcast on April 15 about his collection, On Christopher Street (U of Chicago), but he was dead when I arrived at his apartment. I recorded a wrenching monologue about that discovery the next day, and a followup a week later, so this piece serves as a sort of coda to that, and a celebration of all Michael meant

01:15:09

Episode 544 - Mitchell Prothero

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/06/27

Investigative journalist & longtime pal Mitchell Prothero joins the show to talk about his new podcast, GATEWAY: Cocaine, Murder, and Dirty Money in Europe (Project Brazen). We get into how the project evolved from his reporting on the global war on terror, how the cocaine trade mirrors the globalization wave, how Colombia's piece deal led to mega-cartel consolidation, why his EU law enforcement sources did not want to talk about the cocaine trade, and whether the Netherlands trial of drug kingpin

01:28:52

Episode 543 - Joseph Monninger

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/06/20

With his new memoir, GOODBYE TO CLOCKS TICKING: How We Live While Dying (Steerforth), writer and professor Joseph Monninger writes through the experience of a stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis, delivered only 3 days into his retirement in 2021. We talk about how he's navigating life on borrowed time (& the drug that's miraculously loaning him that time), his notion of legacy and how it plays out in his books and his students, and what he's learned about impatience and regret. We get into the books that

01:23:42

Episode 542 - Andrew Porter

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/06/13

With his new story collection, The Disappeared (Knopf), Andrew Porter explores the intricacies of loss in day-to-day life, and all that vanishes as we grow into middle age. We talk about how the stories came together for him, why he set (almost) all the stories in The Disappeared in San Antonio and Austin, how he had to adjust his writing life once he became a dad, and why he loves writing about artists. We also get into his path into writing, the moment he discovered contemporary fiction is his

01:27:45

Episode 541 - Jonathan Papernick

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/06/06

Author Jonathan Papernick joins the show to celebrate his fantastic new short story collection, Gallery of the Disappeared Men, and new novel, I am my Beloveds (Story Plant). We talk about his writing life, the weirdness & joy of retracing the footsteps of his characters in Israel, his move into playwriting and how it contrasts with writing novels & stories, and how a failed novel sparked a very successful novella. We also get into his career teaching fiction writing, what he's learned from

01:18:40

Episode 540 - Scott Samuelson

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/05/30

Let's visit the Eternal City! Scott Samuelson joins the show to discuss his wondrous new book, ROME AS A GUIDE TO THE GOOD LIFE: A Philosophical Grand Tour (University of Chicago Press), and we get right into how he fell in love with Rome, what it means to engage with the city philosophically, and how he blended place, history, philosophy, art, poetry, religion and more in his exploration of Rome and the vita beata. We talk about mortality and mercy, the way Roman philosophers remind him of jazz

01:16:25

Episode 539 - Brian Dillon

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/05/15

With AFFINITIES: On Art & Fascination (NYRB), Brian Dillon completes a "loose trilogy" of books revolving around his connections to art, writing & the world, this time through a series of amazing essays about photography, dance, video, and other art forms, as well as the drift-nature of affinity itself. We get into the tendrils of influence (and how he has to shake himself loose of the reticence of Barthes & Sebald), the act of close looking. the way metaphors & images enable to him to explore art,

01:08:01

Episode 538 - John Kropf

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/05/09

With his new book, COLOR CAPITAL OF THE WORLD (U of Akron Press), John W. Kropf explores the history of the American Crayon Co., Sandusky, OH, and his own family, while telling a bigger story about America. We get into the family stories & lore that led him to write the book, the toughest parts of researching it, when he realized that the story would involve the history of American immigration, innovation, chemistry, industry, public education, labor, and the rapaciousness of finance, and why he

01:26:37

Episode 537 - John Wray

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/05/01

With his fantastic new novel, GONE TO THE WOLVES (FSG), John Wray explores the metal scene of the 1990s, from Gulf Coast Florida to LA to the wilds of Norway. We get into his history with metal (starting with AC/DC), why he wanted his lead characters to be fans with no aspirations to be musicians themselves, the coolness fallacy of authors writing about rock music, the brief era where a band like Cannibal Corpse could sell hundreds of thousands of records, and why this was his most fun book to

01:19:02

Episode 536 - Ho Che Anderson

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/04/24

With GODHEAD Vol. 2 (Fantagraphics), Ho Che Anderson has fulfilled a graphic novel science fiction adventure 20 years in the making. He rejoins the show so we can talk about how GODHEAD changed over the years, where the idea of a device that lets users commune with God came from (and how it kinda sorta mirrored his grandmothers' war for his soul), and what the process of making this book taught him about writing and comics storytelling. We get into why he loves science fiction on the screen, his

11:33

Bonus Episode - After Michael

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/04/23

Last week I talked about finding Michael Denneny dead at his apartment when I showed up for our podcast session. This bonus episode covers the week since then, the response from his friends, colleagues, and loved ones, and how I've been doing since then. (It's only 11+ minutes, and I don't cry or shout this time.)

48:12

Episode 535 - Finding Michael Denneny

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/04/16

This week's guest, gay author and editor Michael Denneny, was found dead when I arrived at his apartment to record our session. This episode consists of a monologue of my experience that day, my appreciation of his amazing and important new collection, ON CHRISTOPHER STREET: Life, Sex and Death After Stonewall (University of Chicago Press), my thoughts on legacy, identity, mortality, the AIDS crisis, what it means to bear witness, and more. • More info ;at our site • Support The Virtual Memories

01:04:42

Episode 534 - Noah Van Sciver

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/04/11

Live from MoCCA Fest 2023, it's an Artist's Spotlight feat. Noah Van Sciver! I host a live session with Noah (with audience Q&A) to talk about his career in comics, his return to autobiography with his new Maple Terrace comic (Uncivilized Books), what his graphic biography of Joseph Smith taught him about comics, when he realized/accepted he was Alt and not Mainstream, and the great wisdom his father gave him about comics (and how his dad named one of his sisters about a character from a Conan

01:19:48

Episode 533 - Stevan M Weine

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/04/04

Dr. Stevan M. Weine joins the show to talk about his amazing, illuminating and important new book, BEST MINDS: How Allen Ginsberg Made Revolutionary Poetry From Madness (Fordham University Press). We get into the nexus of poetry, suffering and trauma that enveloped Ginsberg's life, what it took for him to write Howl, and his mother Naomi's schizophrenia and what it meant for him to wrestle with it in Kaddish. We talk about the history of psychiatry, the legacy of some truly terrible practices (like

01:24:20

Episode 532 - Priscilla Gilman

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/03/27

With her new memoir, The Critic's Daughter (Norton), Priscilla Gilman explores her relationship with her father, Theater Critic and Yale Drama professor Richard Gilman (as well as with her mom, literary agent Lynn Nesbit). We get into the perils of literary-kid memoir, the NYC book-scene she grew up in, her parents' divorce and how it led to her learning way too much about her dad's sexuality at 10 years old, and the challenges of capturing her early selves without jarring the reader. We also talk

01:14:34

Episode 531 - Timothy Goodman

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/03/19

Artist (& SO much more) Timothy Goodman joins the show to talk about his gorgeous new graphic memoir: I ALWAYS THINK IT'S FOREVER: A Love Story Set in Paris As Told By An Unreliable But Earnest Narrator (Simon Element). We get into how his murals and online posts coalesced into a memoir, the nature of attachment disorder and heartbreak, Timothy's penchant for social experiment, what drove him to spend a year in Paris in 2019, and why he used a variety of mediums to tell a single story (& in the

01:39:52

Episode 530 - Christopher Bollen

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/03/14

Author, journalist and interviewer Christopher Bollen returns to the show to celebrate his thrilling new crime novel, The Lost Americans (Harper). We talk about his childhood obsession with ancient Egypt and how it led him to set the novel in Cairo, what's gotten easier & tougher after 5 novels, what it was like to write this one while under lockdown, and why he dived into politics and the global arms trade this time around. We also get into our respective (and multiplying) midlife crises, the tarot

01:13:52

Episode 529 - Dean Haspiel

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/03/07

Artist, writer, cartoonist, playwright, director etc. Dean Haspiel rejoins the show to talk why he's launched his first Kickstarter (open through 3/30/23) to support a new comic, COVID Cop (think "unholy but hilarious combo of Judge Dredd, The Toxic Avenger, Sin City, and Marshal Law")! We get into how his approach to storytelling has changed in recent years, how he felt about the COVID-delayed debut of his play The War Of Woo, the thrill of making his short movie There Is No Try, and what it's like

01:38:02

Episode 528 - Willard Spiegelman

The Virtual Memories Show ·

2023/02/27

Author, critic, professor and now biographer Willard Spiegelman rejoins the show to talk about his amazing new book, NOTHING STAYS PUT: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt (Knopf). We get into his winding history with Amy Clampitt, why he thought a biography of her would be impossible and why he decided to write it anyway, what made her poems so special, and what it was like to have such a late-blooming career (she first published at 58). We talk about the learning curve of writing his first (and

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