Maya Goode

A podcast for literary fiction discussions of short stories and novels.

Delira | Hitomi Kanehara | Literary Roadhouse Ep 59

March 23, 2016 Maya Goode Weekly Short Stories 0:47:23 0 Comments

Discussion Notes: Delira

Next week’s story is Queenie by Alice Munro

Rated: Dirty!!!! Adult Themes & Language

So, we don’t read these stories in advance and this week we were a little surprised. Upon starting the story… this happened.

Gerald: Good Lord! This story is a little … ahem … steamy.

Maya: hahahaha! Poor Rammy, no wonder he hasn’t replied. He’s either in shock or… 

So after the necessary laughter, we dove into this story searching for the meaning and artistic merit. Delira is an extremely graphic story about a depressed woman who is molested at her new job. Maya wonders if the icky and non-titillating descriptions of sex have a larger message about abuse, depression and Japanese society. Anais, found the slimy nature of the story difficult to get through and Rammy wondered why we would torture him so. While Gerald was disturbed by the abuse narrative. By the end of the episode one host had a surprising reversal during the rating.

Don’t forget to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate Delira? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode. We are also in desperate need of iTunes reviews. Please search Literary Roadhouse in iTunes and leave reviews for all of our shows.

A podcast for literary fiction discussions of short stories and novels.

Switzerland Today | Michael Chabon | Literary Roadhouse Ep 58

March 22, 2016 Maya Goode Weekly Short Stories 00:42:24 0 Comments

Discussion Notes: Switzerland Today

Next week’s story is Delira by Hitomi Kanehara

Rated: Clean but Gerald does call us dumb asses under his breath

First off, thank you for your patience. This episode and last weeks Bradbury Challenge had major sound issues and took almost a week to edit. It’s okay but not up to our normal sound standards. So again, thank you.

Switzerland Today was a beautifully written but confusing story for us. In this episode, we try to sort out what this story was actually about and on a more basic level… what actually happened. All of our scores shifted after this discussion, 3 of us moved our scores down but one of us lost his sense and raised his score. Listen to find out who! For Maya, the beautiful language made her even more irritated by the ending. The imagery and characterization felt real to both Rammy and Anais, while Anais found the characterization lacking.

Don’t forget to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate Switzerland Today? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode. We are also in desperate need of iTunes reviews. Please search Literary Roadhouse in iTunes and leave reviews for all of our shows.

The Bradbury Challenge

Are Artists Seen Differently Now? The Bradbury Challenge Ep 11

March 17, 2016 Maya Goode The Bradbury Challenge 00:33:51 2 Comments

This weeks episode is not up to our usual audio standards due to some technical difficulties.

Are artists seen differently now? We had a discussion on the opportunities and problems with self publishing, as well as the increased respect for artists.

Crissy also finished her novel! After discovering that she had a problem with one of her finial chapters, she was able to overcome her writer’s block. Maya also took a huge step and sent four short stories to an editor.

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Lynda.com

This Weeks Writing Prompt:

They say if you drop off a building, the whole of your life flashes before you. So if you do that, what is the one thing that flashes before you.

 

Literary Roadhouse Podcast

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere | ZZ Packer | Literary Roadhouse Ep 57

March 9, 2016 Maya Goode Weekly Short Stories 0:38:34 4 Comments

Discussion Notes: Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

Next week’s story is Switzerland Today by Michael Chabon

Rated: Adult themes but does not contain adult language

This week the Literary Roadhouse crew enjoyed discussing, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer. This story was published in 2000 and brought ZZ Packer attention as a debut short story author. In Drinking Coffee Elsewhere ZZ Packer tackles questions of race, class and sexuality through the eyes of a low-income young black woman in her freshman semester at Yale. While Maya and Gerald both enjoyed the story a great deal, Anais and Rammy did have some issues. The more distant writing was a double edged sword. While smooth and well written, the main character is emotionally shut down and this is mirrored in the narrative.

This story made Maya think about the high rates of smart low income minority students that quit college after working for their lifetime to attend high end universities. Anais enjoyed the substance of the story but chafed against the tone. She felt the story was about all the layers of protection we put up and the stories we tell about ourselves.

Talking with Anais and Rammy made Maya lower her rating. While our comments made Rammy’s rating go up. This is an author that Anais, Maya and Gerald want to continue reading.

Don’t forget to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate Drinking Coffee Elsewhere? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode. We are also in desperate need of iTunes reviews. Please search Literary Roadhouse in iTunes and leave reviews for all of our shows.

The Bradbury Challenge

Finding Our Writing Styles The Bradbury Challenge Ep 10

March 8, 2016 Maya Goode The Bradbury Challenge 0:44:48 0 Comments

Finding our writing styles has proved to be a challenging and interesting process. So far Gerald has written over a quarter of a million words and is just now discovering his style after spending time writing in many different genre’s. Maya is finding that doing intentional reading is helping her discover her personal style goals but she’s struggling to maintain that style consistently.

Crissy also discusses her attempts to write to market and why she writes in a niche genre. Maya analyses the pros and cons of traditional versus self-publishing for literary fiction. This was a good discussion that went over in time as we discussed the in’s and out’s of our larger projects and the skills we feel we’re still perfecting. We ended with readings that seem to exemplify each of our individual styles.

This Weeks Writing Prompt:

There is a clock with the hands set at 2 minutes to 12…

 

Literary Roadhouse

Discussing Inheritance by Lan Samantha Chang Literary Roadhouse Bookclub Ep 3

March 4, 2016 Maya Goode Monthly Bookclub 0:46:38 0 Comments

Rated: This episode has adult themes but does not have adult language

Tamara Woods joins us to discuss Inheritance by Lan Samantha Chang

Yay! The Literary Roadhouse Bookclub is here and this month we discussed the novel Inheritance by Lan Samantha Chang. Tamara Woods joins us for this weeks bookclub discussion with wonderful input on the language and intimacy of the story. A poet, writer and founder of the Reverie Journal, Tamara reads deeply and we see that in this show. She is also the future host of our upcoming poetry podcast that will launch this summer. Inheritance was loved by the entire podcast and we enjoyed discussing the themes of family, identity, war and control. For the next month’s episode we will discuss Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist.

If you have any suggestions for the new bookclub please let us know in the comments. We also have a voicemail system on the website; if you would like to leave a voicemail and perhaps have us play your comments about Inheritance, please click the green bar that says voicemail. We air the first Friday of every month and discuss the books on twitter using #LRHBookclub

Literary Roadhouse Podcast

The Lottery | Shirley Jackson | Literary Roadhouse Ep 56

March 3, 2016 Maya Goode Weekly Short Stories 0:48:32 0 Comments

Next week’s story is Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer

Rated: Clean

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson explores the darker side of humanity as a group of Americans make a sacrifice for the good of the community. In this discussion, we analyze the meaning and relevance of this well known story. We discuss group think, murder, sacrifice and religion. It’s a complicated story packed into a short package.

Don’t forget to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate The Lottery? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

The Bradbury Challenge

Getting Real, Finishing, and Expectations – The Bradbury Challenge Ep 9

February 29, 2016 Maya Goode The Bradbury Challenge 0:23:02 0 Comments

This week Crissy got real and overcame a major obstacle. Maya confronted her high expectations and Gerald’s story takes a dark turn. What is it about writing that so few people finish their writing projects. In this episode, we have a great discussion on what it takes to finish a story.

This Weeks Writing Prompt:

Get a friend and each of you create a character:

  • What’s there name
  • What is there Gender
  • age
  • where do they live
  • who lives with them
  • what newspaper do they read or channel do they what
  • what are they afraid of
  • what’s there dream

Now the characters meet.

 

Literary Roadhouse Podcast

In The Act Of Falling | Danielle Mclaughlin | Literary Roadhouse Ep 55

February 24, 2016 Maya Goode Weekly Short Stories 00:47:14 0 Comments

Next week’s story is The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Rated: Adult themes, but does not contain explicit language

This week we discuss In The Act Of Falling, a short story about a family’s emotional struggles after the financial collapse in Ireland. This story lends itself to deep analysis of the characters and themes. Both Anais and Maya enjoyed the symbolism woven throughout the work. We also considered the emotional issues of the son, and debated questions still left unsolved at the end of the story. We found this story well controlled and artfully crafted. How did you answer for yourself the story’s questions that were never answered?

Don’t forget to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate In The Act Of Falling? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

The Bradbury Challenge

Structural Problems and Stories in Gaming The Bradbury Challenge Ep 8

February 23, 2016 Maya Goode The Bradbury Challenge 0:44:23 0 Comments

Pardon the sound issues, we are working on it. This week Maya and Gerald discuss structural problems with their stories. Crissy was sick after catching conference crud, but still managed to start a story. She is a huge gamer and it was interesting to hear her discuss stories in gaming. Then we each read part of our stories. I gotta say, we are loving this new addition to the show. Enjoy!

This Weeks Writing Prompt:

A blinking white light in the dark…

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About Literary Roadhouse

Literary Roadhouse is a literary podcast where avid readers and aspiring writers read and discuss short and long fiction.
Read deeply.