American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

Episode 48: John Steinbeck, To a God Unknown (2)

Part two of my reading of "To a God Unknown," an underappreciated novel by John Steinbeck. Let me know what you thought of this novel, if any of you have read it.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 25: The Cosmic Poachers

And we are back to looking at Dick's early short stories. In this episode on "The Cosmic Poachers", we get an alien tale with the most banal invasion strategy.

Episode 47: John Steinbeck, To a God Unknown (1)

In this episode we take a look at the quitessential American rural mystic in John Steinbeck's underappreciated To a God Unknown.

Philip K. Dick Book club: Episode 24.6: Solar Lottery, Part 6

In this final episode on Philip K. Dick's Solar Lottery, I take a closer look at some of the themes of the novel and give my final thoughts. Thanks for listening to this series. It has been fun getting into one of Dick's most thematically rich novels.

Philip K. Dick Book club: Episode 24.5: Solar Lottery, Part 5

In this episode, we finish up with the chapter summaries for Solar Lottery. What will happen to this world when the crisis passes? Dick does not give us easy answers (or really any answers). Like the frontier, the future is unwritten.

Philip K. Dick Book club: Episode 24.4: Solar Lottery, Part 4

I am back from the USA! Thanks for waiting. Here is the next part on Solar Lottery. It is a very action and plot-heavy section, but still has some great Philip K. Dick themes to explore.

Episode 46: John Steinbeck, Pastures of Heaven (2)

In this episode, I look at the second half of John Steinbeck's Pastures of Heaven. Sorry for the delays in publishing these episodes. I am enjoying my summer in Wisconsin. Things will get more regular when I get back to Taiwan.

Philip K. Dick Book club: Episode 24.3: Solar Lottery, Part 3

Part three of Philip K. Dick's Solar Lottery.

Philip K. Dick Book club: Episode 24.2: Solar Lottery, Part 2

Part two (Chapter 4-6) of Philp K. Dick's Solar Lottery. In a  world based on randomness, anything can happen.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 24.1: Solar Lottery, Part 1

And we come to Dick's first novel, Solar Lottery. In this episode we will look at the first three chapters of the book, which does a lot to set up the setting and the world.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 23: The Indefatigable Frog

Philip K. Dick takes on Zeno's paradox in "The Indegatigable Frog".

Episode 45: John Steinbeck, Pastures of Heaven (1)`

In this episode we start a new series on John Steinbeck, beginning with his novel of short stories The Pastures of Heaven.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 22: The Variable Man

In this episode of the Philip K. Dick Book Club we take on one of my favorite early Dick stories (novella to be honest), "The Variable Man".
(I mention that Hollywood never took on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, but I was wrote. There was a 1944 adaptation. I stand by that my claim that this could make a good movie if revisted.)
Let me know what you think? Does "The Variable Man" deserve more love?

Episode 44: Thomas Paine: Age of Reason (2)

In this episode we say goodbye to my favorite founder, Thomas Paine, as we look at the second part of Age of Reason. Next up....John Steinbeck.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 21: Expendable

What happens when the bugs decide to do us in? What if the real ancient old ones are insects? Find out in episode of the Philip K. Dick Book as we look at "Expendable".

Episode 43: Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason (1)

In this episode, we begin to close the book on Thomas Paine with the work that may be his most infamous or his most enduring, The Age of Reason.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 20: Tony and the Beetles

In "Tony and the Beetles", Philip K. Dick provides an allegory of postcolonialism and the impact of white privledge on people as they grow up.

Episode 42: Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (2)

In this episode we examine part 2 of The Rights of Man, where Paine gives some deatils on the functions of democratic societies and governments.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 19: Impostor

"Impostor" is Dick's first published robot story that explored the idea of the machine programmed to think its human.

Episode 41: Thomas Paine: The Rights of Man (1)

In this episide we begin a two-episode series on The Rights of Man, Thomas Paine's defense of the French Revolution. In the first part of this important book, Paine focuses on principles and responses to some of Edmund Burke's most odious critiques of the French Revolution.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 18: The Cookie Lady

In this episode of the Philip K. Dick Book Club we examine "The Cookie Lady," Dicks retelling of the Hansel and Gretel story. But what does a story about the old consuming the young have to do with our time? A lot, it seems.

Episode 40: Thomas Paine: The Crisis and Other Pamphlets

In this episode we look at the remainder of Paine's pamphlets, including the final Crisis articles and "Agrarian Justice."

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 17: Martians Come in Clouds

In "Martians Come in Clouds", Philip K. Dick takes on lynching and race relations in the suburbs. Or maybe he is just writing science fiction.

Episode 39: Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, Part 2

In this episode we continue reading The Crisis and see as Paine begins to think about what kind of nation will come out of the armed conflict with Britain.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 16: Colony

What happens when your toaster is plotting against you? Find out in the episode of the Philip K. Dick Book Club as we look at "Colony."

Episode 38: Thomas Paine: The Crisis, Part One

In this episode, Thomas Paine goes to the front and provides reportage, and trolls the British. Learn what is wrote in The American Crisis.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 15: Paycheck

In this episode of the Philip K. Dick Book Club, we examine "Paycheck," a story of corporate games that remind us of later cyberpunk works.

Episode 37: Thomas Paine: Common Sense

In this episode, we begin a new series on Thomas Paine with his 1776 pamphlet "Common Sense".

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 14: The Preserving Machine

In this episode we see how cultures could be preserved in DNA, and corrupted. We also witness another example of how Dick misunderstood evolution.

Episode 36: Arna Bontemps: Black Thunder (2)

In this final episode on the Harlem Renaissance, I explore the impact of Gabriel's Revolt of 1800 as told by Arna Bontemps in his historical fiction novel Black Thunder. (See Episode 35 for my introduction to this book)

Episode 13: Philip K. Dick Book Club: Second Variety

In "Second Variety", Philip K. Dick explores the future of war at its most brutal.

Episode 35: Arna Bontemps: Black Thunder (1)

In this episode, I examine the first half of Arna Bontemp's novel on Gabriel's Revolt, Black Thunder.

Episode 12: Philip K. Dick Book Club: The Infinities

Energy beings, hamsters, evolution, and unexplored asteroids...it's Philip K. Dick's story "The Infinites".

Episode 34: Rudolph Fisher: The Conjure Man Dies (2)

Part 2 of 2 on Rudolph Fisher's The Conjure Man Dies, a wonderful Harlem Renaissance novel exploring magic and society in Harlem.

Episode 11: Philip K. Dick Book Club: The World She Wanted

In this episode of the Philip K. Dick Book Club we find out how to make the world--and the people in it--our plaything.

Episode 33: Rudolph Fisher: The Conjure Man Dies (1)

Rudolph Fisher's wonderful mystery novel of the Harlem Renaissance, The Conjure Man Dies, examines the people and culture of black Harlem.

Episode 10: Philip K. Dick Book Club: Roog

In "Roog," Dick explores the never ending battle between dog and garbage man, or something.

Episode 32: George Schuyler: "Black No More"

An interesting science fiction novel on race and the color line in America. In George Schuyler's Black No More we discover what happens when science provides a solution to the race problem in America.

Episode 9: Philip K. Dick Book Club: The Piper in the Woods

In "The Piper in the Woods", Philip K. Dick explores work and finds it better to rest and watch the pretty alien girls go by.

Episode 31: Langston Hughes: Not Without Laughter (2)

We continue our study of Not Without Laughter, the only novel written by Langston Hughes. This part follows our hero as he transitions from boy to man in the contet of the momentous early 20th century.