A great interview with Perez, and I have to say - I appreciate what you've done to boost the alt-lit/outsider-lit space when it comes to fiction writers. I think you've helped to advance a critique of professionalized MFA fiction culture that's 100% on point - the artistic equivalent of the Overton window has been compressed so radically that it's more of a coffin (I call it the "Purity Coffin" because of how constraining it is). Insofar as fiction is intended to merely capture different strains of human consciousness - to "archive" a certain type of mind from a given era - huge swathes of personalities are precluded from being captured in literary form by the straitjacket that is the existing publishing system.
This is as persnickety a nitpick as it gets, but: Would welcome moar links in shownotes, e.g. to all the writers Steph rattles off at ~16:10. Just so curious listeners don't have to write 'em down. NBD tho.
Love the pixelated thumbnail art, reminds me of arcade games I played as a kid.
A great interview with Perez, and I have to say - I appreciate what you've done to boost the alt-lit/outsider-lit space when it comes to fiction writers. I think you've helped to advance a critique of professionalized MFA fiction culture that's 100% on point - the artistic equivalent of the Overton window has been compressed so radically that it's more of a coffin (I call it the "Purity Coffin" because of how constraining it is). Insofar as fiction is intended to merely capture different strains of human consciousness - to "archive" a certain type of mind from a given era - huge swathes of personalities are precluded from being captured in literary form by the straitjacket that is the existing publishing system.
Possibly, you might like my novel, a dark comedy about a young proto-incel in the early aughts and his gradual journey out of online radicalization. It's free until Friday on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/INCEL-Novel-ARX-Han-ebook/dp/B0CCLTGRMQ/
Great listen as usual.
This is as persnickety a nitpick as it gets, but: Would welcome moar links in shownotes, e.g. to all the writers Steph rattles off at ~16:10. Just so curious listeners don't have to write 'em down. NBD tho.
Love the pixelated thumbnail art, reminds me of arcade games I played as a kid.
Miss TPG but Steph rules.
Good read … Cheers 🍻