Episode 32: 'Every Day' and 'The Woman Upstairs'

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond have decided to dispense with the idle gossip and instead launch straight into their dissection of the books at hand. First up there is Every Day by David Levithan, which Kirstyn has chosen, followed by Ian's recommendation, The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud (beginning around 45:30).



Here are the links for reviews, interviews and articles mentioned during the discussion:

• Every Day reviewed by Sara Polsky on Strange Horizons
• Publishers Weekly interview with Claire Messud
• "A Forum on Likeability" convened by the New Yorker
• "I Like Likeable Characters" by Jennifer Weiner in Slate
• "A Bee Inside a Violin Inside A Pear" by Susan Sheridan in Sydney Review of Books

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please check back in at 1:36:00 for some very brief final remarks.

Kirstyn and Ian would also like to bring your attention to the current fundraising drive being run by Strange Horizons to continue their excellent work in publishing speculative fiction stories, reviews and commentary. Please consider a donation if you can, no matter how small. Every dollar counts!

And finally, a small and friendly plug for an upcoming book you might find relevant to your interests. Trucksong is the debut novel by Andrew Macrae soon to be published by Twelfth Planet Press and is being touted as a "genre-bending work of literary biopunk [that] mixes the mad fun of Mad Max II with the idiosyncratic testimony of works like Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang or Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting." It features rogue, bling-encrusted AI trucks roaming the post-apocalytic highways of Australia, people. What's not to love?

Next month, Kirstyn will be travelling throughout the UK and so there will be a brief hiatus for The Writer and the Critic. Which means you all get an extra month to work your way through the two books up for discussion in November: Sister Mine by Nalo Hopskinson (chosen by Ian) and NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (Kirstyn's pick). Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!