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Today we launch a new format of the Disco as we begin our "Genre Season." Each episode of this season, we're going to dive deep into a particular literary genre, exploring what defines it, what makes it work or not work, interviewing authors, talking to fans, scholars, whoever can help us unlock what it is that makes a genre a genre. With our inaugural episode, we discover our long lost lineage. hop on Pegasus, and fly to the far reaches of fantasy. Joining us is actor and writer Will Friedle, fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, and Dungeons & Dragons game designer Kate Welch. This is Literary Disco, the last book club you'll ever need. Explore more of Brandon Sanderson in our Mistborn episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a recording of a live episode from Sea Tea Improv in Hartford, Connecticut, back in March. Julia and Rider are joined by special guests curator Mallory Howard of the Mark Twain House & Museum and librarian Gwen Glazer of the Croton Free Library -- and Tod's disembodied head joining virtually. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, guys! It's been a while. While Julia may have grown a beard, Rider still hasn't cut his hair, and Tod is still up to his old b******t, we've been still reading books and are ready to start a new season -- with some surprises! Listen in to find out what we're going to be up to in 2022. We're also coming to a town near you! And by town near you, we mean those of you near Hartford, Connecticut! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/literary-disco-live-with-rider-and-julia-tickets-290492309317 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's episode 200. We're going to talk about what's changed over the years, and maybe do a bookshelf revisit. Who knows?! We're getting old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod head back to school with special guest Bree Rolfe, a teacher from Austin, Texas, where she helps high school students discover literature and creative writing. She is also a poet, whose collection Who's Going to Love the Dying Girl is out now. She is also a dear friend of Literary Disco, a fellow graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars and exactly one semester ahead of the rest of us. Bree was involved in a lot of the late-night drinking and debating sessions that became this very podcast. For today's discussion, Bree had us read three short stories that she assigns to her students: "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid, "New Boy" by Roddy Doyle, and "Today Is Costa Rica" by Assaf Gavron. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod tackle the incredibly popular, enduring, and surprisingly diverse world of the horse girl. We have read a classic of the genre, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, and have read a new collection of essays edited by Halimah Marcus entitled Horse Girls, in which female writers go deep on horses and the horse girl phenomenon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Literary Disco, Julia, Rider, and Tod take on John Steinbeck's classic epic novel East of Eden, which centers on the Salinas Valley of California and tells the story of several generations of the Trask and Hamilton families. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Literary Disco, while Rider's off camping, Tod and Julia talk about their philosophy of pool reads—and why they'll read books at the pool that they'd never be caught reading anywhere else. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod read some poetry -- and discuss Lauren Shapiro's poetry collection, Arena, which was published in 2020 to rave reviews. Lauren Shapiro is the author of Easy Math (Sarabande, 2013), which was the winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize and the Debut-litzer Prize for Poetry, as well as a chapbook of poems, Yo-Yo Logic (DIAGRAM/New Michigan Press, 2011). She is an associate professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss three articles from Alta Magazine, the publication based in California that focuses on news, history, literature, and culture, with a decidedly Western bent. Its founder, William Hearst III, declares it to be "a literate magazine that serves as a counterpoint to the New Yorker." Articles discussed: "The Accident on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Louise Farr, about the tragic death of a hiker "When the Mafia Came to Lodi" by Andrew Dubbins, about the mafia's attempt to infiltrate California and the undercover case that took them down "The Search of a Lifetime" by Julian Smith, about a woman investigating a cold case of her grandfather's murder This episode's sponsor: Scribd. Go to try.scribd.com/literarydisco for a free 60-day trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod talk about all the things human beings never want to talk about: death, pain, sickness, and more, when we discuss Atul Gawande's seminal 2014 book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Today's sponsor: This episode is supported by GreenChef. Go to GreenChef.com/90disco and use code 90disco to get $90 off including free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Brandon Hobson's new novel, The Removed, that follows a Cherokee family in Oklahoma in the aftermath of their son's death at the hands of a police officer. Today's sponsor: This episode is supported by GreenChef. Go to GreenChef.com/90disco and use code 90disco to get $90 off including free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices