Mike Thorn's Blog, page 5
July 4, 2024
Craftwork S1E6: False Epiphanies, Productivity, & Existential Dread w/ Niall Howell
Listen to Craftwork Episode 6: False Epiphanies, Productivity, & Existential Dread w/ Niall Howell.
In this interview, Niall Howell talks about crime fiction, creative spontaneity, the magic of public swimming pools (soggy donuts!), and so much more.
Niall Howell lives in Calgary, Alberta with his wife, sons, and pets. His debut noir novel Only Pretty Damned was shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction. His follow-up novel, There Are Wolves Here Too, was shortlisted by the Book Publisher’s Association of Alberta for Mystery and Thriller book of the year. Niall’s short fiction has been featured in The Feathertale Review and FreeFall. He is currently working on his third novel.
Books mentioned in this episode:
City of Margins; Shoot the Moonlight Out – William Boyle
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel – Jessica Brody
Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler – Raymond Chandler; edited by Frank MacShane
The Guest – Emma Cline
Perfidia; This Storm; Widespread Panic – James Ellroy
Our Share of Night – Mariana Enriquez
The Wars – Timothy Findley
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Rage in Harlem – Chester Himes
It; Night Shift; Salem’s Lot – Stephen King
Burnt Offerings – Robert Marasco
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
Peyton Place – Grace Metalious
Devil in a Blue Dress – Walter Mosley
Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus – James Otis
“The Black Cat” – Edgar Allan Poe
The House Next Door – Anne Rivers Siddons
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
In this interview, Niall Howell talks about crime fiction, creative spontaneity, the magic of public swimming pools (soggy donuts!), and so much more.
Niall Howell lives in Calgary, Alberta with his wife, sons, and pets. His debut noir novel Only Pretty Damned was shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction. His follow-up novel, There Are Wolves Here Too, was shortlisted by the Book Publisher’s Association of Alberta for Mystery and Thriller book of the year. Niall’s short fiction has been featured in The Feathertale Review and FreeFall. He is currently working on his third novel.
Books mentioned in this episode:
City of Margins; Shoot the Moonlight Out – William Boyle
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel – Jessica Brody
Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler – Raymond Chandler; edited by Frank MacShane
The Guest – Emma Cline
Perfidia; This Storm; Widespread Panic – James Ellroy
Our Share of Night – Mariana Enriquez
The Wars – Timothy Findley
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Rage in Harlem – Chester Himes
It; Night Shift; Salem’s Lot – Stephen King
Burnt Offerings – Robert Marasco
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
Peyton Place – Grace Metalious
Devil in a Blue Dress – Walter Mosley
Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus – James Otis
“The Black Cat” – Edgar Allan Poe
The House Next Door – Anne Rivers Siddons
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
July 1, 2024
Mike Thorn included in The Bookubus’s “Giallo Film Recommendations – Giallo July” (YouTube)
The Bookubus is doing a month-long survey of giallo movies and literature. Mike Thorn was one of many to offer some film recommendations in her kickoff video.
Watch here.
Watch here.
June 27, 2024
Craftwork S1E5: Romance, Ritual, & the Darkness of Yacht Rock w/ Phoebe Marmura
Listen to Craftwork Episode 5: Romance, Ritual, & the Darkness of Yacht Rock w/ Phoebe Marmura.
In this interview, Phoebe Marmura talks about fear, fairies, set design, and so much more.
Phoebe Marmura is a writer and artist. Her work explores desire, femininity, domestic adventure, and reclusion. Marmura’s writing can be found in Expat Press, D.F.L. Lit, and Orca Literary Journal.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Erotic Interludes: Tales Told by Women – Lonnie Barbach
Naked Lunch – William S. Burroughs
On the Road – Jack Kerouac
Biography of X – Catherine Lacey
Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers
Story – Robert McKee
Portrait of Jennie – Robert Nathan
Junie B. Jones series – Barbara Park
The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman
Pretty Little Liars series – Sara Shepard
Charlotte’s Web – E. B. White
In this interview, Phoebe Marmura talks about fear, fairies, set design, and so much more.
Phoebe Marmura is a writer and artist. Her work explores desire, femininity, domestic adventure, and reclusion. Marmura’s writing can be found in Expat Press, D.F.L. Lit, and Orca Literary Journal.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Erotic Interludes: Tales Told by Women – Lonnie Barbach
Naked Lunch – William S. Burroughs
On the Road – Jack Kerouac
Biography of X – Catherine Lacey
Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers
Story – Robert McKee
Portrait of Jennie – Robert Nathan
Junie B. Jones series – Barbara Park
The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman
Pretty Little Liars series – Sara Shepard
Charlotte’s Web – E. B. White
June 13, 2024
“World Wide Web of Dread: Horror from the Year of the Web, 30 Years Later” (In Review Online)
“English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee began dropping breadcrumbs toward the dark woods of the World Wide Web in 1989. He originally theorized the Web as a means of 'universal access to a large universe of documents" that would combine three key components: hypertext, transmission control protocol, and a domain name system. His vision materialized in 1994, the 'Year of the Web,' when websites began opening to the public. This development set the stage for the 21st century’s postmodern chaos — outsourced cognition leading to progress and disintegration in equal measures, facts and lies entangling in a collective frenzy of paranoia, rage, and disorientation.”
Read the full article.
Read the full article.
June 12, 2024
Craftwork S1E4: Scaffolding, Dionysus, & Mental Bonfires w/ Lindsay Lerman
Listen to Craftwork Episode 4: Scaffolding, Dionysus, & Mental Bonfires w/ Lindsay Lerman.
In this interview, Lindsay Lerman talks about philosophy, procedural knowledge, writing dialogue, and so much more.
Lindsay Lerman is a writer and translator. Her first book, I’m From Nowhere, was published in 2019. Her second book, What Are You, was published in 2022. Her first translation was published in 2023. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. She is working on a novel, a philosophy manuscript, and here and there, some screenplays. She lives in Berlin.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Gothic Metaphysics: From Alchemy to the Anthropocene – Jodey Castricano
James and the Giant Peach; The BFG; Matilda – Roald Dahl
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
Memories, Dreams, Reflections – C. G. Jung
The Cipher – Kathe Koja
The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin
The Seventh Mansion – Maryse Meijer
In this interview, Lindsay Lerman talks about philosophy, procedural knowledge, writing dialogue, and so much more.
Lindsay Lerman is a writer and translator. Her first book, I’m From Nowhere, was published in 2019. Her second book, What Are You, was published in 2022. Her first translation was published in 2023. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. She is working on a novel, a philosophy manuscript, and here and there, some screenplays. She lives in Berlin.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Gothic Metaphysics: From Alchemy to the Anthropocene – Jodey Castricano
James and the Giant Peach; The BFG; Matilda – Roald Dahl
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
Memories, Dreams, Reflections – C. G. Jung
The Cipher – Kathe Koja
The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin
The Seventh Mansion – Maryse Meijer
May 31, 2024
Mike Thorn’s “The Shape of Our Damnation” featured on Tales to Terrify
Listen to Mike Thorn’s new story “The Shape of Our Damnation” on episode 644 of Tales to Terrify.
Also included in the episode: A. M. Symes’ “Chipping Away.”
Also included in the episode: A. M. Symes’ “Chipping Away.”
May 29, 2024
Craftwork S1E3: Magic Realism, Intertextuality, & Making it Beautiful w/ William Ping
Check out episode #3 of Craftwork, featuring William Ping. William talks with Mike Thorn and Miriam Richer about historical fiction, hauntology, Animal Crossing, and so much more.
William Ping is a novelist and journalist, born and raised in St. John’s. His debut novel Hollow Bamboo was published by HarperCollins in 2023 and was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, the BMO Winterset Award, and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award as well as being longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. He has previously been published in ‘Us, Now,’ Hard Ticket and Riddle Fence. William is also known for his contributions to CBC News, where he can most often be heard reading the news.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Waiting for Godot; Molloy; Malone Dies; The Unnamable – Samuel Beckett
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Death on the Ice: The Great Newfoundland Sealing Disaster of 1914 – Cassie Brown and Harold Horwood
The King in Yellow – Robert W. Chambers
The Wapshot Chronicle – John Cheever
Trust Exercise – Susan Choi
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
Less Than Zero; American Psycho; Imperial Bedrooms – Bret Easton Ellis
The Beautiful and Damned; The Great Gatsby; Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Open – Lisa Moore
Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different – Chuck Palahniuk
Son of a Trickster – Eden Robinson
The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio – Pu Songling
William Ping is a novelist and journalist, born and raised in St. John’s. His debut novel Hollow Bamboo was published by HarperCollins in 2023 and was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, the BMO Winterset Award, and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award as well as being longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. He has previously been published in ‘Us, Now,’ Hard Ticket and Riddle Fence. William is also known for his contributions to CBC News, where he can most often be heard reading the news.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Waiting for Godot; Molloy; Malone Dies; The Unnamable – Samuel Beckett
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Death on the Ice: The Great Newfoundland Sealing Disaster of 1914 – Cassie Brown and Harold Horwood
The King in Yellow – Robert W. Chambers
The Wapshot Chronicle – John Cheever
Trust Exercise – Susan Choi
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
Less Than Zero; American Psycho; Imperial Bedrooms – Bret Easton Ellis
The Beautiful and Damned; The Great Gatsby; Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Open – Lisa Moore
Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different – Chuck Palahniuk
Son of a Trickster – Eden Robinson
The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio – Pu Songling
May 23, 2024
Craftwork S1E2: Agency, Microtensions, & Mythic Resonance w/ Randy Nikkel Schroeder
In this interview, Randy Nikkel Schroeder talks about noir, character possession, Biblical frisson, and so much more. Listen here.
Randy Nikkel Schroeder is the author of Arctic Smoke (NeWest), Crooked Timber: Seven Suburban Faerie Tales (Green Magpie), and over fifty published short stories. In his spare time, he is professor of English, Languages, and Cultures at Mount Royal University.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Queenpin; The Turnout; You Will Know Me – Megan Abbott
Poetics – Aristotle
Book of Greek Myths – Ingri d’Aulaire & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel – Jessica Brody
Dave Robicheaux novels – James Lee Burke
The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know – Shawn Coyne
Neuromancer – William Gibson
Attack of the Copula Spiders and Other Essays on Writing – Douglas Glover
Red Dragon – Thomas Harris
Winter’s Tale – Mark Helprin
The Lottery and Other Stories – Shirley Jackson
Rose Madder – Stephen King
Mystic River – Dennis Lehane
The Magician’s Nephew – C. S. Lewis
Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen – Robert McKee
Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different – Chuck Palahniuk
Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
Old Testament – Various authors
Randy Nikkel Schroeder is the author of Arctic Smoke (NeWest), Crooked Timber: Seven Suburban Faerie Tales (Green Magpie), and over fifty published short stories. In his spare time, he is professor of English, Languages, and Cultures at Mount Royal University.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Queenpin; The Turnout; You Will Know Me – Megan Abbott
Poetics – Aristotle
Book of Greek Myths – Ingri d’Aulaire & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel – Jessica Brody
Dave Robicheaux novels – James Lee Burke
The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know – Shawn Coyne
Neuromancer – William Gibson
Attack of the Copula Spiders and Other Essays on Writing – Douglas Glover
Red Dragon – Thomas Harris
Winter’s Tale – Mark Helprin
The Lottery and Other Stories – Shirley Jackson
Rose Madder – Stephen King
Mystic River – Dennis Lehane
The Magician’s Nephew – C. S. Lewis
Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen – Robert McKee
Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different – Chuck Palahniuk
Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
Old Testament – Various authors
May 17, 2024
Craftwork S1E1: Persona Poems, Metacognition, & Vancouver Island Marmots w/ Meghan Kemp-Gee
On the first episode of Craftwork, guest Meghan Kemp-Gee talks about poetry, screenwriting, comics, and so much more.
Meghan is the author of The Animal in the Room (Coach House Books, 2023), as well as three poetry chapbooks, What I Meant to Ask, Things to Buy in New Brunswick, and More. She also co-created the webcomic Contested Strip, recently adapted as a graphic novel, One More Year. She is a PhD candidate at UNB and currently lives in North Vancouver BC.
Listen here.
Books mentioned in this episode:
The Writing Moment: A Practical Guide to Creating Poems – Daniel Scott Tysdal
Walden – Henry David Thoreau
The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron
Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
20th Century Men – Deniz Camp, Stipan Morian, & Aditya Bidikar
The Adversary – Michael Crummey
Meghan is the author of The Animal in the Room (Coach House Books, 2023), as well as three poetry chapbooks, What I Meant to Ask, Things to Buy in New Brunswick, and More. She also co-created the webcomic Contested Strip, recently adapted as a graphic novel, One More Year. She is a PhD candidate at UNB and currently lives in North Vancouver BC.
Listen here.
Books mentioned in this episode:
The Writing Moment: A Practical Guide to Creating Poems – Daniel Scott Tysdal
Walden – Henry David Thoreau
The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron
Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
20th Century Men – Deniz Camp, Stipan Morian, & Aditya Bidikar
The Adversary – Michael Crummey
May 15, 2024
Coming soon! Craftwork, a podcast by writers for writers (co-hosted by Mike Thorn and Miriam Richer)
First episode coming soon!
Co-hosted by Mike Thorn and Miriam Richer this podcast will feature conversations with writers of all narrative genres about craft, technique, and process. Watch this space for updates. Follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Original music by Randy Nikkel Schroeder.
Co-hosted by Mike Thorn and Miriam Richer this podcast will feature conversations with writers of all narrative genres about craft, technique, and process. Watch this space for updates. Follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Original music by Randy Nikkel Schroeder.
