Tag: writing

Craftwork Episode 15: Character Case Files, Consecution, & the Acoustics of Language w/ Rod Moody-Corbett

Listen to Craftwork Episode 15: Character Case Files, Consecution, & the Acoustics of Language w/ Rod Moody-Corbett.

In this interview, we chat with Rod Moody-Corbett about tonal dissonance, sponging up influences, writing from memory, and so much more.

Rod Moody-Corbett is an award-winning writer from Newfoundland. His writing has appeared in Socrates on the Beach, The Drift, The Paris Review Daily, and Fiddlehead, among other publications. He is the recipient of the 2022 Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story, a Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Award for Short Fiction, the University of Calgary’s Kaleidoscope Prize, and the CBC Canada Writes Short Story Prize (People’s Choice Award). He serves as a contributing editor for Canadian Notes and Queries.

Books mentioned in this episode:

  • Experience – Martin Amis
  • Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World; The Hundred Brothers; The Verificationist – Donald Antrim
  • Last Evenings on Earth – Roberto Bolaño
  • Save the Cat! Writes a Novel – Jessica Brody
  • My Education – Susan Choi
  • Underworld – Don DeLillo
  • Notes from Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • The Last Samurai – Helen DeWitt
  • Erasure – Percival Everett
  • Bad Behavior; Because They Wanted To; Don’t Cry – Mary Gaitskill
  • A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me; Jernigan – David Gates
  • Airships – Barry Hannah
  • The Road Through the Wall – Shirley Jackson
  • Get Shorty; Rum Punch – Elmore Leonard
  • Last Resort – Andrew Lipstein
  • The Sentence is a Lonely Place – Garielle Lutz
  • Moby Dick – Herman Melville
  • The Ice Storm – Rick Moody
  • Lectures on Literature – Vladimir Nabokov
  • A House for Mr. Biswas – V. S. Naipaul
  • Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas; Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family – Nicholas Pileggi
  • Monkey Beach – Eden Robinson
  • The Life of the Mind – Christine Smallwood
  • The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman – Laurence Sterne
  • The Visiting Privilege – Joy Williams
  • To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
  • Sour Heart – Jenny Zhang
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The Catch-Up Reading Series featuring Chuck Bowie, Alison Taylor, and Mike Thorn (January 26, 3 pm, Westminster Books)

Fredericton’s monthly reading series, ‘The Catch-Up,’ curated and hosted by acclaimed writer Fawn Parker, returns with readings by local authors Alison Taylor, Chuck Bowie & Mike Thorn!

The reading will take place here at the bookshop on Sunday, January 26th, 2025, @ 3pm.

Alison Taylor (they/them) is a writer, editor, and filmmaker based in Fredericton. Taylor’s short stories have appeared in various journals, and their debut novel Aftershock, published by HarperCollins Canada, received the Atlantic Book Awards John and Margaret Savage First Book Award (Fiction), and was shortlisted for the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. They received the 2024 Douglas Adams Richards Prize for Fiction for their work-in-progress, Confessions of a Binge Drinker (working title). They have edited a hundred-plus hours of television and many award-winning short films and music videos, and their own experimental films have screened at festivals internationally. They currently work in the editorial department at Goose Lane Editions and as a freelance editor of both books and film and video, and are working to complete a draft while two cats yell at them and a 70-pound boxer whines in their face.

Mike Thorn is a SSHRC-funded doctoral candidate in the Department of English (Creative Writing) at the University of New Brunswick. He is the author of Shelter for the Damned, Darkest Hours, and Peel Back and See. His writing has appeared in anthologies, magazines, and podcasts, including NoSleep, Vastarien, In Review Online, and American Twilight: The Cinema of Tobe Hooper. He co-hosts Craftwork, a writing-themed podcast, with Miriam Richer. Website: mikethornwrites.com.

Chuck Bowie is both a writer and an author, with thirteen books/novels published and one just underway. While he enjoys writing mysteries: Suspense-Thrillers and Cozy Mysteries, he also writes short stories. All of his books are well-reviewed, and he has sat on the boards of the Writers’ Federation of NB, The Writers’ Union of Canada, is a Fellow of the Kingsbrae International Residency for the Arts, as well as being acknowledged as a member of the Miramichi Literary Trail. His thriller series chronicles the adventures of Donovan, an international thief for hire, while his cozy series (written as Alexa Bowie) follows the adventures of the owner of an arts centre as Emma solves the crimes that swirl around her centre: The Old Manse. http://www.chuckbowie.ca

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Craftwork Episode 14: Debauchery, Plotless Fiction, & the Paranoiac-Critical Method w/ Nour Abi-Nakhoul

Listen to Craftwork Episode 14: Debauchery, Plotless Fiction, & the Paranoiac-Critical Method w/ Nour Abi-Nakhoul.

In this interview, we chat with Nour Abi-Nakhoul about copy editing, creative nonfiction, feverish creations, and so much more.

Nour Abi-Nakhoul is a writer and editor based in Montreal. She is the editor-in-chief of the award-winning quarterly Maisonneuve Magazine. Her short fiction has appeared in Hazlitt and The Walrus. Her debut novel, Supplication, was released by Penguin Random House in 2024.

Books mentioned in this episode:

  • Kilworthy Tanner – Jean Marc Ah-Sen
  • We Are Here to Hurt Each Other – Paula D. Ashe
  • Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
  • The Guest – Emma Cline
  • The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • Autobiography of X; Pew – Catherine Lacey
  • The Apple in the Dark – Clarice Lispector
  • Fever Dream – Samanta Schweblin
  • The Adventures of Ratman – Ellen Weiss
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Craftwork S1E13: Ecstasy, Ruin, & the Talent of the Room w/ Kathe Koja

Listen to Craftwork S1E13: Ecstasy, Ruin, & the Talent of the Room w/ Kathe Koja.

In this interview, we chat with Kathe Koja about balancing simultaneous projects, resisting online distractions, raising the literary dead, and so much more.

Kathe Koja writes novels and short fiction, and creates and produces live and virtual events. Her award-winning books include The Cipher, Skin, Buddha Boy, Under The Poppy and Velocities, and she is currently at work on the Dark Factory immersive fiction project including Dark Factory, Dark Park and Dark Matter. Catherine the Ghost is her newest novel.

You can find her at kathekoja.com and on Instagram, Facebook and Threads.

Books mentioned in this episode:

  • Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
  • Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life – Ruth Franklin
  • Faust – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • The Mouse and His Child; Riddley Walker – Russell Hoban
  • The Default World – Naomi Kanakia
  • Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett – James Knowlson
  • A Place of Greater Safety; Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
  • Doctor Faustus – Christopher Marlowe
  • Rimbaud: A Biography – Graham Robb
  • Frankenstein; The Last Man – Mary Shelley
  • Lost Boy Lost Girl – Peter Straub
  • The Secret Power of Music: The Transformation of Self and Society through Musical Energy – David Tame
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Craftwork S1E12: Cruel Elegance, Cosmic Pessimism, & Rust Belt Vibes w/ Paula D. Ashe

Listen to Craftwork S1E12: Cruel Elegance, Cosmic Pessimism, & Rust Belt Vibes w/ Paula D. Ashe.

In this interview, we chat with Paula D. Ashe about writer’s block, narrative movement, urban legends, and so much more.

Paula D. Ashe (she/her) is an author of dark fiction. Her debut collection We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (Nictitating Books) was a Shirley Jackson Award winner for Single Author Collection and a Bram Stoker Award Finalist for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection. Recently, she received the Joseph S. Pulver Sr. Weird Fiction Award at NecronomiCon Providence. Paula was also an associate editor for Vastarien: A Literary Journal. She lives in the Midwest with her family.

Books and stories mentioned in this episode:

  • Supplication – Nour Abi-Nakhoul
  • The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
  • Books of Blood; The Damnation Game; The Hellbound Heart – Clive Barker
  • Midnight Rooms – Donyae Coles
  • Blood from the Air – Gemma Files
  • “each thing i show you is a piece of my death” – Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer
  • Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke – Eric LaRocca
  • “Abed” – Elizabeth Massie
  • The Scar – China Miéville
  • Beloved; The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
  • Song of the Tyrant Worm – Hailey Piper
  • Flowers for the Sea – Zin E. Rocklyn
  • Cows – Matthew Stokoe
  • The Secret History – Donna Tartt
  • The Color Purple – Alice Walker
  • Where I End – Sophie White
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Craftwork S1E8: Obsession, Transgression, & the Library of Gestures w/ Maryse Meijer

Listen to Craftwork S1E8: Obsession, Transgression, & the Library of Gestures w/ Maryse Meijer.

In this interview, we chat with Maryse Meijer about metaphor, quotation marks, the dubious necessity of author photos, and so much more.

Maryse Meijer is the author of Heartbreaker, Rag, Northwood, and The Seventh Mansion. She lives in Chicago.

Books and stories mentioned in this episode:

  • Samuel Beckett: A Biography – Deirdre Bair
  • Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett
  • About Schmidt – Louis Begley
  • Autobiography of Red – Anne Carson
  • New Grub Street – George Gissing
  • The Children of the Dead; Greed; The Piano Teacher – Elfriede Jelinek
  • Pet Sematary – Stephen King
  • Bad Brains; The Cipher; Kink; Skin; Strange Angels – Kathe Koja
  • The Communicating Vessels – Friederike Mayröcker 
  • All the Pretty Horses – Cormac McCarthy
  • Hurricane Season; Paradais – Fernanda Melchor
  • The Defense; Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
  • Black Water; Blonde; Heat; My Sister, My Love; “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”; Zombie – Joyce Carol Oates
  • With the Animals – Noëlle Revaz
  • Snake Eyes – Rosamond Smith
  • The Custom of the Country – Edith Wharton

Author Photo Credit: Lewis McVey

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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
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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
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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
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