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On today's show, some thoughts on Sam Munson's new novel The Sofa.

From the publisher: "Mr. Montessori and his family return home from a trip to the beach to discover that their sofa is different. Once dark and contemporary, it’s now antique, green and yellow, and smelling faintly of damp.

Its appearance and origins are a mystery. A joke? An inverted theft? A break in the fabric of reality? Yes, the police take the “crime” seriously. But what happens next lies outside their expertise. Strange sounds in the night. A half-bathroom toilet with a mind of its own. Odd, fleeting glimpses of something (or someone) in mirrors. The inexplicable vision of Montessori’s neighbor: He swears he saw a burglar. . . .

Montessori’s quest for answers will take him to a dank highway overpass in decayed upstate New York, a very strange dry-cleaning supply concern in outermost Queens, and into the depths of an eerie, warped forest where time and space no longer connect, all while putting his ever-more-troubled marriage and young family in grave danger. But that’s what it costs to find out if we own our possessions — or if they own us.

Munson emerges as a master stylist in this tense, taut work of surreal humor and psychological horror."

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(from New Directions):

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE

Deep in the wilds of the New World, Antonio de Erauso begins to write a letter to his aunt, the prioress of the Basque convent he escaped as a young girl. Since fleeing a dead-end life as a nun, he’s become Antonio and undertaken monumental adventures: he has been a cabin boy, mule driver, shopkeeper, soldier, and conquistador. Now, caring for two Guaraní girls he rescued from enslavement and hounded by the army he deserted, this protean protagonist contemplates one more metamorphosis.

Based on a real figure of the Spanish conquest, We Are Green and Trembling is a queer baroque satire, a surreal picaresque rich with wildly imaginative language and searing critique of subjugation, colonialism, and tyranny of all kinds. In this masterful subversion of Latin American history, Cabezón Cámara finds in the rainforest a magically alive space where transformation is not only possible but necessary. Lyrical and swashbuckling, tender and surreal, Cabezón Cámara's new novel sees glimmers of hope for the future amidst a brutal history of colonization.

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Today: Vol. 2 of The Coolest Songs in the World. This time, an end of summer edition. Summer is a metaphor, and here are some songs that remind me of summer--or make me think about summer (or a summer past). Some of the songs will seem obvious, while others won't; some of the songs are happy (ish), and others are down right sad. But that's how memory works. A link to the playlist is below. I hope you enjoy the music.

Playlist: The Coolest Songs in the World: End of Summer Edition

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On today's podcast, a review of Issa Quincy's novel 'Absence' (Two Dollar Radio).

From the publisher: "A child is beguiled by a poem read to him by his mother. The poem follows this elusive narrator like a whisper throughout his life, echoing across the years in the stories and lives of others as they are recounted to him: an enigmatic and beloved schoolteacher who leaves behind a dark secret after his death; a woman who lays the table for a son she knows will never return home; a young man shunned by his family, who finds solace and freedom in the letters from an estranged aunt; a black-and-white photograph that tells of another family, afflicted with generations of tragedy."

It's a haunting, beautiful book that examines everyday objects and everyday losses.

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Occasionally a book comes along that takes me way too long to finish. The reason it takes me too, long is that I continue to turn the pages back--I reread sections, passages, phrases. I roll ideas around my head that I've already considered. The books that take me too long are the books that I don't want to finish because they are so good. So good, that when I do finish them, I turn directly back to page one.

Amie Souza Reilly's Human/Animal: A Bestiary in Essays is one of these books. I had the distinct honor of speaking with Amie about her book, about language, aggressive masculinity, and so much more. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Purchase Human/Animal: A Bestiary in Essays

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On today's episode of One More Thing(s), a brief essay on the painting Beta Mu (1961) by Morris Louis.

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Something a little bit different: on today's episode...songs we think are cool, songs from Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, Soccer Mommy, Dilly Dally, Bleached, and Courtney Love.

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As someone who is over 17 years clean and sober, I’m always on the lookout for how addiction and recovery are portrayed in art and popular culture. When I came across Nick Gardner’s collection of linked stories, “Delinquents And Other Escape Attempts,” I thought this was as good a portrait of addiction and recovery as I have read.

On today's show: A conversation with Nick Gardner, author of the linked story collection Delinquents, and other Escape Attempts,

Nick Gardner is a writer, teacher, and recovering addict. He earned his bachelor’s degree in English from The Ohio State University in 2017 and an MFA in fiction writing from Bowling Green State University in 2021. His novella, Hurricane Trinity, is forthcoming from Unsolicited Press in 2023. He has published one book of poetry, So Marvelously Far (2019), through Crisis Chronicles Press , and his chapbook Decomposed (2017) is published through Cabin Floor Esoterica. His poetry and fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Epiphany, Reckon Review, The Atticus Review, Ocean State Review, Fictive Dream, Trampset and other journals. In his ninth year of recovery from opioid addiction, his research involves drug use, abuse, as well as alternative recovery methods. He has won awards in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry from The Ohio State University in Mansfield and received grants from PEN America and The Elizabeth George Foundation. He lives in Ohio and Washington, DC.

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