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Episode 418: Surrendering to the Subconscious with John Julius Reel

Hey, CNFers, happy CNFriday, and, boy, what a fun episode we’ve got! It’s John Julius Reel! He’s @johnjuliusreel on the Instagrams and he’s the author of the memoir My Half Orange: A Story of Love and Language in Seville (Tortoise Books).

John is a writer, radio host, and language instructor based out of Spain and My Half Orange (a Spanish idiom for soul mate) bridges his native culture with his adopted one, and it’s the latter where he found a greater place in the world personally and artistically.

In this conversation (Cut down from two hours. I’ll post some of the outtakes for the Patreon gang.) we talk about letting the subconscious in on the joke, how to make memoir relatable, and the never-ending quest to impress your father.

Episode 417: ‘Stories Can Save Us’ and the Enduring Legacy of Matt Tullis

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By Brendan O’Meara

Special episode this week, CNFers, as we celebrate Matt Tullis and his post-humous book Stories Can Save Us: America’s Best Narrative Journalists Explain How (University of Georgia Press).

It’s a collection of transcripts from Matt’s Gangrey the Podcast that includes a special reported afterward written by Justin Heckert (@justinheckert), one of the key ambassadors of this book.

Justin wrote many memorable stories over the last twenty years like a dude inspired by Jackass, Blockbuster Video, the story of an unused ticket, and many, many more. He wrote a great afterward in Walt Harrington’s Artful Journalism and appeared in The Next Wave: America’s New Generation of Great Literary Journalists (The Sager Group).

Episode 416: A Lifelong Search for Voice with Acamea Deadwiler

By Brendan O’Meara

Acamea Deadwiler (@acamea) is here with her debut memoir Daddy’s Little Stranger (Riddle Brook Publishing).

It started as an essay collection, but at the behest of her publisher, she was tasked with making it more of a traditional memoir. The result is a coming-of-age story of a young woman who grew up without a father and how she navigated her early life without that influence. Better put, how she navigated her early life with that absence.

We also talk about her influences, studying inspiration texts, what her basketball career taught her about what it takes to be a writer, and finding that elusive voice. Really rich talk.

Episode 415: Sam Jefferies, Hammering Out Screed

By Brendan O’Meara

Sam Jefferies is a freelance writer and communications specialist and his first book is Legacy on Ice: Blake Geoffrion and the Fastest Game on Earth. Credit The University of Wisconsin Press for publication.

It’s a book that chronicles the college hockey and the rise of hockey in the South. And at the heart of it is the Geoffrion familly whose bloodline in hockey goes back to the formation of the slapshot.

Blake Geoffrion had the pressure to keep the generational NHL lineage alive. And he did, though his career was cut short by a devastating head injury.

This is a story of the weight of that legacy.

Episode 414: John Rosengren on Cuts, Note Taking, and Darkness for The Atavist

Photo credit: Scott Streble

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By Brendan O’Meara

It’s that Atavistian time of the month and, boy, is “Anatomy of a Murder” a dark one. Brilliant, but bleak.

John Rosengren is the reporter behind this gripping story of how a vigilante murder divided a town. The story couldn’t be in better hands than John’s.

He is the author of twelve books including The Greatest Summer in Baseball History, Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid, as well as the novel A Clean Heart.

Episode 413: Young Woman and the Sea, from Book to Movie

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By Brendan O’Meara

Always a treat with the one and only Glenn Stout visits the show be it to talk about new books he’s written or, in this case, to celebrate the cinematic release of Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World (Mariner Books).

Of the many books I’ve read of Glenn’s, this one’s my favorite and it, at long last, is in movie theaters starring Daisy Ridley.

In this episode, we talk about the journey of how this book came to be adapted, the hiccups along the way, how serendipity played a role in the adaptation, and a lot more book-writing stuff you’ll love to hear about.

Episode 412: Leaving the Emotional Moments Unsaid with Lilly Dancyger

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By Brendan O’Meara

As you know, we love repeat guests on the show, and Lilly Dancyger (@lillydancyger) fit the bill with her new book First Love: Essays on Friendship (Dial Press). This is right up there for a CNFy award, my non-existent gala for the best I’ve experienced in creative nonfiction. Maybe the perfect Galentine’s Day gift.

Lilly’s collection, at least to me, doesn’t feel essay-ish. It’s prismatic, but it feels united, these essays about her girlfriends dating all the way back to her first best friend, her first love, her cousin Sabina.

Lilly also is the author of Negative Space and the editor of Burn it Down. She’s the nonfiction acquisitions editor for Barrelhouse Books and a teacher at Columbia University School of Arts. She also does freelance editor, mainly in the memoir/essay realm.

Episode 411: The Heart Part and Big Dreams with Isa Adney

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By Brendan O’Meara

Pretty rad guest here in Isa Adney (@isaadney). She has been a long-time listener of the show and wouldn’t you know she released a killer little book called The Little Book of Big Dreams: True Stories About People Who Followed a Spark (She Writes Press).

The book is a series of thematic profiles about courageous creators who followed their dreams. Isa interviewed more than 100 people for the book, but only a couple dozen made the cut. The book was a nine-year journey for her and a dream come true in and of itself.

Isa is a writer and documentary producer and is a person who takes agency in her creative work, profiling people for her blog as a means to show she has the chops. As Seth Godin says, if you want to be a marketer, do marketing.

Episode 410: Brian Fairbanks and “The Last Shall be First”

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By Brendan O’Meara

Brian Fairbanks is a freelance journalist and author and he is featured in The Atavist Magazine for his piece “The Last Shall be First” about a corrupt New Orleans cop and wreckage he left in his wake.

It’s a wild story and calls into question the structures that are supposed to keep citizens safe, as if we needed any more questioning. History repeats, so what do we do with that?

In this episode, we also hear from editor-in-chief Seyward Darby about the 150th issue of The Atavist, which is crazy, right?

Episode 409: Chain Smoking Book Projects with Earl Swift

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By Brendan O’Meara

Earl Swift is our guest for Ep. 409. He is the author of more books than you have fingers including The Big Roads, Chesapeake Requiem, Across the Airless Wilds, and his most recent book Hell Put to Shame: The 1921 Murder Farm Massacre and the Horror of America’s Second Slavery. It’s published by Mariner Books.

Just when you think this country couldn’t find a way to let you down, well, just give it some time. In the spirt of David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Earl found a troubling story in its wicked cruelty, of a farmer, John S. Williams, who murdered 11 Black laborers rather than face charges for peonage. Earl expands on what this is in the book and in this conversation.

It got me thinking about the hidden histories of this country, atrocities and tragedies buried by the past. And it’s the serendipity of finding reference to these stories — research by catch — that people Earl can then expand and illuminate. Man, what a book.