Marcopocast: The Frank Marcopolos Podcast, with Frank Marcopolos

What is the purpose of a postmodern literary story? How is it different from storytelling styles of the past? And why should you care? Plus, Frank reads an excerpt from “The Cloak” by Isak Dinesen (pen name of Danish author Karen Blixen) and from the new novel “A Secret History of the American Clash” by modern-day renaissance man Gonzalo Lira. Show notes: Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) A Secret History of the American Crash by Gonzalo Lira Jean Baudrillard as the High Priest of Postmodernism Almost Home: The New Paltz Novel by Frank Marcopolos The Whirligig: 6 Years of a Lit Mag, Edited by Frank Marcopolos The Machinist, starring a scary Christian Bale South by Southwest Real Writers Fiction-Writing Workshop Meetup in Austin, TX *** Music provided by radiotimes, admiralbob77, and lazztunes_07 of ccMixter.org. Outtro courtesy of melodysheep on YouTube. Intro voicework by BelindaJoh.

A podcast with Papa. And other thoughts, theories, things. Show notes/relevant links: In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway Hardcore History – Must-Listen Podcasting The Lost Generation Geniuses Together: American Writers in Paris Teddy Roosevelt – Rough Riders Sexual Sickness Psychology American Psycho

We worship at the altar of the slaughter. We bow down and make sacrifice to its Holy Being. We grace ourselves in its glow. Because in the cathedrals of literature, no other Deity can bestow upon you such Grace. * Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. Carver was a major writer of the late 20th century and a major force in the revitalization of the American short story in literature in the 1980s.Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mill town on the Columbia River, and grew up in Yakima, Washington. His father, a skilled sawmill worker from Arkansas, was a fisherman and a heavy drinker. Carver’s mother worked on and off as a waitress and a retail clerk. His one brother, James Franklin Carver, was born in 1943. Carver was educated at local schools in Yakima, Washington. In his spare time he read mostly novels by Mickey Spillane or publications such as Sports Afield and Outdoor Life and hunted and fished with friends and family. After graduating from Yakima High School in 1956, Carver worked with his father at a sawmill in California. In June 1957, aged 19, he married 16-year-old Maryann Burk, who had just graduated from a private Episcopal school for girls. Their daughter, Christine La Rae, was born in December 1957. When their second child, a boy named Vance Lindsay, was born the next year, Carver was 20. Carver supported his family by working as a janitor, sawmill laborer, delivery man, and library assistant. During their marriage, Maryann worked as a waitress, salesperson, administrative assistant, and high school English teacher. Carver became interested in writing in California, where he had moved with his family because his mother-in-law had a home in Paradise. Carver attended a creative writing course taught by the novelist John Gardner, who became a mentor and had a major influence on Carver’s life and career. His first published story, “The Furious Seasons”, appeared in 1961. More florid than his later work, the story strongly bore the influence of William Faulkner. “Furious Seasons” was later used as a title for a collection of stories published by Capra Press, and can now be found in the recent collections, No Heroics, Please and Call If You Need Me.

From WikiPedia: “Juan Rulfo (16 May 1917 – 7 January 1986) was a Mexican writer, screenwriter and photographer. One of Latin America’s most esteemed authors, Rulfo’s reputation rests on two slim books, the novel Pedro Páramo (1955), and El Llano en llamas (1953), a collection of short stories. Fifteen of these seventeen short stories have been translated into English and published as The Burning Plain and Other Stories. This collection, includes his admired tale “¡Diles que no me maten!” (“Tell Them Not to Kill Me!”).” Buy Pedro Paramo here Buy El Llano en llamas here

In this episode of Saturday Show Podcast, Frank explains how to get free stuff from Amazon.com. Then, he relays the lessons learned from the analysis of "Eventide" by James Purdy by the Real Writers Workshop in Austin, Texas. Show notes: James Purdy Almost Home ***** Music provided by radiotimes, admiralbob77, and lazztunes_07 of ccMixter.org. Liner provided by the lovely and talented Lady Anarchy, Ms. Amanda Billyrock.

A-Rod found guilty! 162-game suspension! An entire career built on ‘roidy fraud! And Frank discusses how this illuminates some of the deepest philosophical concepts of our time. (No, it isn’t a stretch.) Also discussed are “Nirvana” by Pulitzer Prize winner Adam Johnson, and Frank’s novel about fraternal competition, “Almost Home,” available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Relevant links and show notes: A-Fraud ‘Roids His Way to Biggest Suspension Ever “Nirvana” by Adam Johnson “The Many Lives [and Lies?] of Alex Rodriguez” by Selena Roberts “Juiced” by Jose Canseco “Find the Bad Guy” by Jeffrey Eugenides *** Audio player above uses Flash. Here is the iTunes.com link. There is also a Stitcher audio player on the top-right. *** Music provided by radiotimes, admiralbob77, and lazztunes_07 of ccMixter.org. Outtro courtesy of melodysheep on YouTube. Liner provided by the lovely and talented Lady Anarchy, Ms. Amanda Billyrock.

Are we in the American era of the disappearance of men? How does this manifest in literature and the arts? Have men become nothing more than spectators watching other men slap each other on the ass? What can be done about the epidemic of boy-men running around in America? Can men be salvaged? Should they be salvaged? Frank addresses these questions through the prism of the short story “Find the Bad Guy” by Jeffrey Eugenides. Jeffrey Kent Eugenides (born March 8, 1960) is an American novelist and short story writer. He has written numerous short stories and essays, as well as three novels: The Virgin Suicides (1993), Middlesex (2002), and The Marriage Plot (2011). The Virgin Suicides has been filmed, while Middlesex received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in addition to being a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, and France’s Prix Médicis. Show Notes and Relevant Links: 85% of All Purchasing Decisions in U.S. Made by Women NEW STUDY: Half of Black Men, 40% of White Men Arrested by Age 23 “Find the Bad Guy” by Jeffrey Eugenides TIME.com: Men Are Obsolete Joe Konrath’s Publishing Predictions 2014 The Real Writers Group Meet-up Rob Ford Paradise Lost Documentaries * The audio player above uses Flash. If that won’t work for ya, here is the iTunes.com link. Alternatively, the Stitcher player to the above-right is also an option. * Music provided by radiotimes, admiralbob77, and lazztunes_07 of ccMixter.org. Outtro courtesy of melodysheep on YouTube.

@InverseDelirium Thanks, Geoffrey! — Frank Marcopolos (@FrankMarcopolos) December 24, 2013 @FrankMarcopolos LOVE the quote:“It’s not the same. You can’t just tell someone what the meaning of a great book is.Doesn’t work like that.” — Cicily Janus (@jazzwriterchick) December 20, 2013 We—my mom, brother, sister, and I—were enjoying a rare family meal at China New Star Restaurant on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. I was trying to explain to them what was so great about Paolo Coehlo’s international bestselling novel, THE ALCHEMIST, which I’d recently read. As I was going through a litany of praises, my sister, the devoted New Kids on the Block fan, sighed as only little sisters can sigh, and said, “If it has this great message about life and stuff, why not just tell us what it is?” After expressing the exasperation of a big brother exhausted from 30+ years of being exasperated with his younger siblings, I said, “It’s not the same. You can’t just tell someone what the meaning of a great book is. Doesn’t work like that.” “Why not?” my sister said. “Because, that’s why,” I said, big-bro brilliant. The embarrassing fact is, I didn’t know why on that day. But my little sister’s line of questioning stuck with me. As I started thinking more and more about my little sister’s question, I started thinking about the role of fiction in our society, and how it seems that there’s a perception “out there” that fiction is for entertainment purposes only—that it’s not useful for helping us solve the many problems we face. And that is DEAD WRONG. Robert Bly says: “The knowledge of how to build a nest in a bare tree, how to fly to the wintering place, how to perform the mating dance—all of this information is stored in the reservoirs of the bird’s instinctual brain. But human beings, sensing how much flexibility they might need in meeting new situations, decided to store this sort of knowledge outside the instinctual system; they stored it in stories. Stories, then—fairy stories, legends, myths, hearth stories—amount to a reservoir where we keep new ways of responding that we can adopt when the conventional and current ways wear out.” Once it became clear that great fiction could have a distinctly useful purpose, I sought to find out what some of those purposes could be… * The audio player above uses Flash. If that don’t suit ya, here is the iTunes.com link. * Show notes and links: The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho Robert Bly – Iron John David Biddle Nirvana by Adam Johnson Find the Bad Guy by Jeffrey Eugenides Alain Robbe-Grillet REAL Writers Group – Meetup.com Paradise Lost – The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills *** Music provided by radiotimes, admiralbob77, and lazztunes_07 of ccMixter.org. Outtro courtesy of melodysheep on

In this episode of the show, Frank discusses the enigmatic nature of the J.D. Salinger estate. The estate has been silent since the death of the famous author in 2010, even as documentaries come out about him, and some of his unpublished stories are leaked online. Through all of this, the estate remains completely silent, like a straightjacketed mummy with duct tape over its mouth. Discussed as well are the Story Magazine collection at the Princeton University library, Friedrich Nietzsche’s influence on modern philosophy, two members’ stories from the Real Writers’ Group in Austin, TX, and the movie “Being John Malkovich.” The audio player above uses Flash. if that don’t suit ya too good, you can click over to iTunes.com, or use Stitcher. Relevant links and show notes: J.D. Salinger – Nine Stories Princeton University Whit Burnett’s Story Magazine Saving Private Ryan Band of Brothers Wolfgang Borchert The Art of the Tale – Daniel Halpern Being John Malkovich Symbolism Friedrich Nietzsche * Support the show by buying one of my e-books (please?): Almost Home A Car Crash of Sorts The Whirligig * Music provided by radiotimes, admiralbob77, and lazztunes_07 of ccMixter.org. Outtro courtesy of melodysheep on YouTube. Liner provided by the lovely and talented Lady Anarchy, Ms. Amanda Billyrock. Intro voicework by BelindaJoh.

Wake up wake up wake up: Your five senses are extremely limited in what they can perceive. Therefore, there's no way to tell (yet) what reality actually IS. Why does this matter? Frank delves into this philosophical matter due to the storyteller issues...

“Wait. You’re doing WHAT?” she said. “I’m writing a fairy tale… of OUR relationship,” I said. She said… Plus, news about the latest lawsuit filed by Big Publishing Luddites, the Authors Guild, this time against Google Books, and the launch of the super-awesome Tim Ferriss Book Club! It’s a laughfest, a crybonanza, and chock full (as always) of literary fiction techniques and philosophy gleaned from the meetup.com-organized “Real Writers Critique Group” in sunny Austin, Texas. (New members always welcome — if you can handle honest criticism!) Listen to the show on iTunes.com. There’s also a Stitcher player on the top sidebar widget on this page. Relevant show notes and linkages: The Authors Guild The Authors Guild’s Beef Against Amazon.com The Authors Guild Loses Latest Lawsuit Against a Tech-Giant, This Time vs. Google The Authors Guild on Why Everyone Should be Afraid–Very Afraid!!!–of Amazon.com The Tim Ferriss Book Club Launches! (Pure Awesomesauce.) Richard Ford Nick Mamatas – Love is the LAW Staying in “Writing Shape” The Brain and Its Tricky Tricks Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind The Long Island Railroad Jim Carey Charlie Kaufman Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Web Design, Ebook Covers, and MORE: Dandy Lion Studio – Affordable prices, incredible quality, and responsive customer service * Music provided by radiotimes, admiralbob77, and lazztunes_07 of ccMixter.org. Outtro courtesy of melodysheep on YouTube. Liner provided by the lovely and talented Lady Anarchy, Ms. Amanda Billrock. Intro voicework by BelindaJoh.

In this exciting episode, Frank discusses the revelations that the C.I.A. has been in control of American “culture” since the beginning. This includes the funding of The Paris Review and other literary magazines, as well as the global promotion of American Abstract Expressionism in an effort to defeat Communism through the triumph of American (presumably freedom-oriented) art. The audio player above uses Flash. You can also listen to Saturday Show via iTunes by banging this link. Show notes and/or relevant links: Listen to Saturday Show on Stitcher – Radio On Demand

Tony Clifton drops in and out of this podcast, while Frank discusses the vital importance of men reading. 85% of men in prison grew up without a dad. Men who read become leaders and maintain a cohesive family unit, statistically speaking. Men reading more fiction may, in fact, be the solution to all of the world’s most dire problems. (Maybe.) Listen in and find out if this is pure madness or crystalline genius! Tony Clifton has nothing to do with men reading. That’s just for fun. The audio player above uses Flash. For the show on iTunes.com, please click this linky. Show Notes: Tony Clifton The REAL Writers Group in Austin, Texas Bull – Men’s Fiction The Art of Manliness – Why Men Should Read More Fiction Esquire – Men’s Fic E-Book Series Robert Bly The Secret of NIMH Dandy Lion Studio A Car Crash of Sorts Almost Home The Whirligig * The Demise of Guys:

Frank does the unthinkable for this podcast. He goes for 7 days without any caffeine, and then not only functions, not only attends his normal writing group, but he somehow manages to also speak coherently into the recorder in order to bring you this podcast. He should be lauded, he should be commended, he should be regarded as a hero. Or something. The audio player above uses Flash. For the iTunes.com version, please click here. Relevant links and show notes: Caffeine Cessation Subconjunctive Hemorraging Caffeine Withdrawals Austin City Limits Patchoulli The REAL Writing Group on MeetUp.com Follow me on Twitter Yasunari Kawabata Blade Runner * Music provided by radiotimes and admiralbob77 of ccMixter.org. Liner provided by the amazing Lady Anarchy, Ms. Amanda Billyrock.

In episode 38 of Saturday Show Podcast, Frank whimsically muses about ACLs and ACL, the people painting the parking spaces all around him, Austin traffic, and literary fiction techniques galore! The literary fiction discussion includes information on awkward word usage, the importance of details and knowing how specific to get with them, South American literature, and problems with plotting. Also, “Two Gentle People” by former Nazi spy Graham Greene is discussed. Greene’s story is Hemingwayesque in its ability to capture a slice of life, albeit one without an adventurous plot of any kind. Theme and message (as always) are discussed. Briefly mentioned is the movie “Identity,” starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, and some other people. Saturday Show Podcast is the only podcast that comes at you from inside a vehicle, namely, the jet black jet stream Jetta. The audio player above uses Flash. To use iTunes.com to listen to the show, please click on this linkage. From Wikipedia: Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH, (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world. Greene was noted for his ability to combine serious literary acclaim with widespread popularity. Although Greene objected strongly to being described as a Roman Catholic novelist rather than as a novelist who happened to be Catholic, Catholic religious themes are at the root of much of his writing, especially the four major Catholic novels: Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, and The End of the Affair. Several works such as The Confidential Agent, The Third Man, The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana, and The Human Factor also show an avid interest in the workings of international politics and espionage. Greene suffered from bipolar disorder, which had a profound effect on his writing and personal life. In a letter to his wife Vivien, he told her that he had “a character profoundly antagonistic to ordinary domestic life”, and that “unfortunately, the disease is also one’s material”. William Golding described Greene as “the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man’s consciousness and anxiety.” Greene never received the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he finished runner-up to Ivo Andrić in 1961. Show notes and relevant linkages: ACL ACL The REAL Writers Group on Meetup.com Graham Greene The Jetta Amanda Peet Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip Sleeping Independent Media