GrottoPod The Writers Grotto

Jonathan Escoffery (https://jonathanescoffery.com/), Celeste Chan (https://www.celestechan.com/), and T. K. Rex (https://www.tkrex.wtf/) discuss education without a safety net, the intersection of racism, capitalism and belonging, ticking clocks and how to break them, finding Jamaican patties in the Bay Area, the intimacy of the second person, and needing the fear.Stuff we talked about in the episode:* If I Survive You - novel by Jonathan Escoffery (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374605988/ifisurviveyou)* Apex snap judgment panels (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UNLGn8ggBU8XYVy82ICCfHMb-9wenC7)* Paul Beatty (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Beatty) * Percival Everett (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percival_Everett)* Mat Johnson (https://www.matjohnson.info/)* Nicole Dennis-Benn (https://www.nicoledennisbenn.com/)* Marlon James (https://marlonjameswriter.com/)* Jennine Capó Crucet (https://jcapocrucet.com/)* Toni Morrison (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison)* Nella Larsen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nella_Larsen)* Langston Hughes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes)* Zora Neal Hurston (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston)* Frederick Douglass (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass)* The Wallace Stegner Fellowship (https://creativewriting.stanford.edu/stegner-fellowship/wallace-stegner-fellowship)* A Lucky Man - novel by Jamel Brinkley* Boston Writers of Color (https://grubstreet.org/write/bwoc)* The Loft - Minneapolis-based org for writers (https://loft.org/)* The Booker Prizes (https://thebookerprizes.com/)Jonathan's recommendations for Jamaican patties in the Bay Area:* Calabash (https://calabasheats.com/)* Minto’s Jamaican Juice Bar (https://www.instagram.com/mintosjamaicanpattiesjuicebar/)* Level 13 (https://www.instagram.com/level13oakland)

Hugh Ryan (https://www.hughryan.org/), Mark Wallace (https://inlooking.substack.com/archive) and T. K. Rex (https://www.tkrex.wtf/) discuss MFAs, finding out what kind of writer you are, queer history, pitching niche topics, tarantulas, finding the right peers and instructors for your writing, and the punkest thing ever.Stuff we talked about in the episode:* The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison (https://www.hughryan.org/house-of-d)* Bennington workshop (https://www.bennington.edu/writing-seminars)* C. L. Polk's Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/clpolk)* New York Public Library research fellowship (https://www.nypl.org/short-term-research-fellowships)* Pop-Up Museum of Queer History  (https://www.hughryan.org/pop-up-museum)* Hide/Seek: Difference in Desire in American Portraiture (https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/hideseek-difference-and-desire-american-portraiture)* Yaddo residency (https://yaddo.org/)* Watermill residency (https://www.watermillcenter.org/residencies/)* New York Foundation for the Arts (https://www.nyfa.org/)* Hugh’s Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/HughRyan)

Lori Ostlund (https://loriostlund.com/), Doug Henderson (https://www.doughendersonauthor.com/), and T. K. Rex (https://www.tkrex.wtf/) discuss hopeful fiction, metaphor, the Midwest, balancing humor and darkness, crafting characters who feel like real people, the Flannery O’Connor award, and a third addition to the pantser/plotter dichotomy: poet.Stuff we mentioned in the episode:* Lori’s novella Just Another Family (https://www.nereview.com/vol-44-no-3-2023/just-another-family-excerpt/)* flannery o’connor award (https://ugapress.org/series/flannery-oconnor-award-for-short-fiction/)* Flannery winner Iheoma Nwachukwu (https://iheomanwachukwu.com/)* Rainbow Railroad (https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/)

Sam J. Miller (https://samjmiller.com/), Doug Henderson (https://www.doughendersonauthor.com/) and T. K. Rex (https://www.tkrex.wtf/) discuss tapping into who you really are, going too far first, the Clarion writers workshop, writing stories with a structural conceit, filing off the serial numbers, writing from a marginalized point of view, loneliness, climate anxiety, hope, inhale and exhale phases, video games, writing as programming, AI, writing to a specific audience, and writing the gayest sh*t imaginable.Stuff we mentioned in the episode:* Boys, Beasts and Men (https://tachyonpublications.com/product/boys-beasts-men/) (novel by Sam J. Miller)* The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club (https://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/cleveland-heights-lgbtq-sci-fi-and-fantasy-role-playing-club) (novel by Doug Henderson)* Smokefall (https://mailchi.mp/4a76766dbcd7/smokefall) (game by Sam J. Miller, playable demo on itch.io)* The Art of Starving (https://samjmiller.com/books/the-art-of-starving/) (novel by Sam J. Miller)* Samuel R. Delaney (https://www.samueldelany.com/) (author)* Clarion writers workshop (http://clarion.ucsd.edu/)* Clarkesworld magazine (https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/)* Cassandra Clare (https://cassandraclare.com/) (author)* "Liking What You See: A Documentary" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liking_What_You_See:_A_Documentary) (novelet by Ted Chiang)* "There’s a Hole in the City" (https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/theres-a-hole-in-the-city/) (short story by Richard Bowes)* "Inventory" (https://lithub.com/inventory/) (short story by Carmen Maria Machado)* Graham Greene (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Greene) (author)* Pale Fire (novel by Vladimir Nabokov)* The Pogues (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pogues) (band)* What Did You Eat Yesterday (https://kodansha.us/series/what-did-you-eat-yesterday/) (manga)* Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/anarchism-a-very-short-introduction-9780198815617?cc=us&lang=en&) (nonfiction book)* The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi (https://thenewpress.com/books/perfect-nine) (novel by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o)* Shingai Njeri Kagunda (https://www.shingainjerikagunda.com/) (author)* L. P. Kindred (https://linktr.ee/LPKindred) (author)* Baldur’s Gate III (https://baldursgate3.game/)

The GrottoPod is back! In this kickoff episode for the new season, writers T. K. Rex and Doug Henderson discuss upcoming guests, their favorite writing craft tips, the importance of finding local writing community, and writing weird.Stuff we mentioned in the episode:* Classes and Events at the Writers Grotto (https://www.writersgrotto.org/classes-events)* Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses (https://bookshop.org/p/books/craft-in-the-real-world-rethinking-fiction-writing-and-workshopping-matthew-salesses/15013424?ean=9781948226806)* Clarion Writers Workshop at UCSD (http://clarion.ucsd.edu/)* Club Chicxulub (https://clubchicxulub.com/)* Litquake (https://www.litquake.org/)T. K. Rex* Website (https://www.tkrex.wtf/)* Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tharkibo/)* Mastodon (https://wandering.shop/@tkrex)Doug Henderson* Website (https://www.doughendersonauthor.com/)* Twitter/X (https://twitter.com/dugpower)

(https://www.sfgrotto.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Dallas_Woodburn_Horizontal_Headshot-1024x683.jpeg)Novelist Dallas Woodburn (https://dallaswoodburnpr.com/) joins us on the GrottoPod this week to read from her recent book, The Best Week that Never Happened, described as a “captivating, poignant story is perfect for teens on the brink of discovering who they are and what really matters.” Woodburn is a former Steinbeck fellow in creative writing and the author of two earlier books of short fiction, Woman, Running Late, in a Dress and 3 a.m. She is also the host of the popular book-lovers podcast “Overflowing Bookshelves,” (https://anchor.fm/dallas-woodburn) and founder of the organization Write On! Books (http://writeonbooks.org/).