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Audio Magazine Issue 2: Summer

By Brendan O’Meara

After much deliberation and deep thoughts (haha), I’m taking the audio magazine 100% public.

Why?

Well, it comes down to reach. Writers want to be read (in this case heard). The Patreon audience is going to be significantly smaller than the public feed for the podcast.

Issue 1 was downloaded about 800 times. Issue 2 went out to about 15, 16 people, since it was Patreon-only.

I polled the Patreon audience because I didn’t want to violate their trust and what they signed up for. 100% of them said to take it to the largest possible audience.

They will get other goodies and perks as a result.

That’s a conversation for another time.

So, for now, enjoy original work from Jake Gronsky, whose essay deals with the end of his minor league baseball career, Krystina Wales, whose day at the beach reveals more than she bargained for, Carrie Hagen, whose found a savior in the unlikeliest of places, and Matthew Denis, who takes us to a special place of his childhood summers. Add to that three original poems from Jorah LaFleur, and you have you a summer-themed issue bound to warm you up.

Hope you brought your sunscreen!

The Patreon audience makes it possible to pay writers for their work, so please consider becoming a member and all that comes with it. Lots of bang-for-buck, IMO!

Episode 288: And the Category Is … Ricky Tucker!

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Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

By Brendan O’Meara

Ricky Tucker (@Rick_Tuck_Lit) is a writer, teacher, and voguer. That last one is significant because he’s the author of And the Category Is … : Inside New York’s Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community (Beacon Press).

In it, Ricky takes us into the subculture of ballroom and refuge and freedom it provided the LGBTQ+ community. In this conversation we talk about the fine line between appreciation and appropriation, house mothers and fathers, finding family, writing as service, and how Ricky found his way to being a writer.

Episode 287: Boomerang with Achy Obejas

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Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

By Brendan O’Meara

Achy Obejas is a Cuban American writer, translator, and activist whose work focuses on personal and national identity.

She’s here to talk about her book of poetry Boomerang/Bumeran (Beacon Press), which is English and Spanish.

Achy also is the author of the novel Days of Awe and the story collection The Tower of the Antilles.

In this conversation, we talk about:

Episode 286: Jen Winston on Essay Collection as Memoir

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Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

By Brendan O’Meara

This was a treat, getting to speak with Jen Winston, the debut author behind Greedy: Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much (Atria).

In this episode we talk about:

Episode 285: Tony Perrottet and ‘The Butcher of Havana’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Tony Perrottet is a journalist, historian, and author of six books.

His latest piece is “The Butcher of Havana,” this for The Atavist Magazine.

We talk about the central figure, Herman Marks, an American who became the chief executioner for the Cuban revolutionaries. It’s an incredibly gripping read.

Episode 280: Laura Todd Carns and ‘Searching for Mr. X,’ an Atavist Original

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By Brendan O’Meara

Laura Todd Carns is here to talk about her latest feature for The Atavist Magazine. It’s called “Searching for Mr. X: For eight years, a man without a memory lived among strangers at a hospital in Mississippi. But was recovering his identity the happy ending he was looking for?”

Laura is a novelist, essayist, and journalist whose work has appeared in many places. You can find out more at her website.

She’s @LauraToddCarns on Twitter.

In this episode we talk about approaching a story as fiction vs. nonfiction, the challenge of the structure of the piece, collaborating with an editor and how it’s like a record producer and a musician, and more.

First I talk to Seyward Darby, as she was the lead editor of the piece. Enjoy!

Episode 279: Athena Dixon on Opening Doors, Day Jobs, and the Personal Essay

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Sponsor love: West Virginia m Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing and The Facing Project’s Empathy Prize for Nonfiction

By Brendan O’Meara

What a treat!

It’s Athena Dixon (@AthenaDDixon), the author of the essay collection The Incredible Shrinking Woman (Split Lip Press).

Had a great chat about day jobs and threading the work you want to do around that, how there’s no “writer’s life,” but rather just a “writer living.” That’s a direct quote from her Hippocamp talk this year.

Her essay collection delves into her identity as a Black woman, divorce, relationships, sex, the masks we where, and so on. Highly recommend.

Episode 260: Jordan Michael Smith Spins a True-Crime Yarn for The Atavist

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By Brendan O’Meara

Jordan Michael Smith (@WriterJMS) stops by for this month’s extra podcast to celebrate his piece for The Atavist Magazine.

It’s called “The Snitch,” and details the story around the serial killer Scott Kimball, but, more specifically, the mistakes made by the FBI, thus turning this true-crime yarn on its head.

Jordan talks about:

Episode 234: Lamorna Ash Goes Out to Sea in ‘Dark, Salt, Clear’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Ho! Ho! Ho! CNFers!

What’s that under the tree? It’s Lamorna Ash here to talk about her wonderful debut work of nonfiction Dark, Salt, Clear: The Life of a Fishing Town (Bloomsbury).

Great talk with Lamorna as we dig into how she’s dealing with the pandemic, feeling trapped at sea, drawing inspiration from other forms of art and so much more. She’s 26 years old and you can tell she’s going to be a star. Maybe she already is!

Say hi on social media @CNFPod and, if you have time, leave a kind written review on Apple Podcasts. Almost at 100. Been sitting there for a long, long time.

Being a member on Patreon is HUGE. You’ll be supporting the audio magazine, supporting writers, and making the product possible. No members means no magazine. If you liked Issue 1 of the magazine, consider supporting the next one.

For $4 a month, you’ll get access to new transcripts, the forthcoming audio magazines, and other goodies exclusive to members. Check it out.

Episode 233: Lee Gutkind on Magical Moments, the Rope Test, and ‘My Last Eight Thousand Days’

Lee Gutkind, Brendan O'Meara — Lee Gutkind

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By Brendan O’Meara

Lee Gutkind (@LeeGutkind) has returned to the show after a long, long time, this time to talk about his wonderful new book My Last Eight Thousand Days: An American Male in His Seventies (University of Georgia Press).

We talk about a lot of stuff, like voice. Lee says:

Brendan’s Monthly Newsletter: First of the month! No spam! Can’t beat it!

Brendan’s Monthly Newsletter: First of the month! No spam! Can’t beat it!