Part 1 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we talk about the state of the book industry. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from The Corin Tucker Band, The Raveonettes, Stars and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
Show notes:
Recorded in Beverly, Mass.
In this age of distraction, it's amazing that people read books at all
Christian: Education system may be to blame for lack of reading
Fiction is still a valuable commodity
Jay: Fun to see my kids get into reading
Christian: Treating reading like a workout
Multi-tasking all day makes one less inclined to read later
Authors were once treated like movie stars
"Fifty Shades of Grey" started as Twilight fan fiction
Many best-sellers are autobiographies of celebs
Christian: Historical fiction is exciting
Working on a new project, a "novel in stories"
Looking at African-Americans attracted to Russian promise of equality
Also working on novel about a murder in rural Alaska
All about plot
Success comes at the sentence level
Many parallels to the music industry
Bonehead of the Week
Music:
The Corin Tucker Band - Groundhog Day
The Raveonettes - Observations
Stars - The Theory of Relativity
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Black Mold
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Corin Tucker Band song is from the forthcoming album Kill My Blues on Kill Rock Stars. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The Raveonettes song is from the band's forthcoming album Observator on Vice Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The Stars song is on the forthcoming album The North on ATO Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at StarstheNorth.com.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion song is from the band's forthcoming album Meat and Bone on Boombox/Mom + Pop. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Pitchfork.com.
The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.