The podcast goes back to literature as Grant and Sam discuss the giant of science fiction epics: Dune by Frank Herbert. We know this one is much anticipated and the panel doesn’t hold back with the book, the controversial David Lynch film adaptation, or the 2000 miniseries.

If you have yet to read the novel, it is highly recommended that you do so before listening to this episode, because – A. Spoilers and B. You will probably find yourself completely lost.

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Show Notes & Links

• Dune
  
• Frank Herbert
• Dune (1984 film) – David Lynch
• Dune (2000 miniseries) – John Harrison
• Children of Dune (2003 miniseries) – Greg Yaitanes
• Dune (the whole canon!)
• David Lynch
• Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area
• The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama
• Mahdi
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

“Isolationism is deeply stupid.” So says Sam in this special episode in which he talks to Grant about three books: Present at the Creation by Dean Acheson, Running the World by David Rothkopf, and How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything by Rosa Brooks. He uses these books as a starter course in foreign policy from the end of World War II to the present day – including where we should go from here, because if we are to be informed citizens we have to know these things.

We promise next episode will be back to literature.

PS: Sam has since read Doomed to Succeed by Dennis Ross and highly recommends it. He would also like us to add A Problem From Hell by Samantha Power & George F. Kennan by John Lewis Gaddis to his list, if you’re so inclined.

PPS The quote “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” is attributed Leon Trotsky.

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Show Notes & Links

• Present at the Creation by Dean Acheson
• Running the World by David Rothkopf
• How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything by Rosa Brooks 
• Doomed to Succeed by Dennis Ross
• A Problem From Hell by Samantha Power
• George F. Kennan by John Lewis Gaddis
• Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger
• The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens
• American Dad! “Ollie North” episode
• Iran-Contra Affair
• National Security Council
• National Security Act of 1947
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
• Carl von Clausewitz
• Deep State Radio Podcast

On this episode of Infinite Gestation, Pat and Sam are joined by frequent guest and now permanent panelist Matt Bird (which means I no longer have to type his last name) to discuss White Noise by Don DeLillo. Published in 1985, it has quickly become a classic postmodern novel. The panel discusses the major themes of the work including modern media, the family, consumerism, and the fear of death. Quick! Death is coming! Better learn to deal with it.

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Show Notes & Links

• Don DeLillo
• White Noise
• Post Modernism / Postmodern
• The Proposal (2009 film) – Anne Fletcher
• Freytag’s Pyramid (dramatic structure)
• Sir Richard J. Evans
• Seth Rich
• Philip K. Dick
• Substance D
• A Scanner Darkly
• Calvin and Hobbes
• Bill Watterson
• Dave Eggers
• David Foster Wallace

Smuggled stories from North Korea – On this episode, recorded when the panel was giddy over the French election results, Pat and Sam delve into the recently published short stories of Bandi.

The pseudonym of an unknown North Korean author (which means firefly), Bandi wrote the stories at great personal risk. They were smuggled out of the country by others and have now been published in English as “The Accusation”. The panel discusses their favorites of the stories, the work’s damning portrayal of the North Korean government, and the steps taken to protect the identity of this dissident writer, offering us the first fiction from someone still living in the country.

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Show Notes & Links

• Bandi
• The Accusation
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• Patty Hearst
• Arduous March (North Korean famine)
• North Korea at Night
• Third Reich Trilogy by Richard J. Evans
• The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation, 1933-39 by Charlotte Beradt
• The Train Was on Time by Heinrich Böll
• Love/Hate H.P. Lovecraft – Halloween Special | Episode 016
• The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

Infinite Gestation goes contemporary in this episode featuring John Darnielle’s debut novel, Wolf in White Van, nominated for the National Book Award in 2014. Though many know Darnielle as singer-songwriter and member of The Mountain Goats, he is making a well received foray into fiction. His first novel is in no way a vanity project and despite some flaws, stands as a fine specimen of a freshman novel.

His sophomore effort Universal Harvester was released in February of this year.

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Show Notes & Links

• Wolf in White Van
• John Darnielle
• The Mountain Goats
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (podcast episode)
• Universal Harvester
• Weeds (TV Series)
• We Shall All Be Healed (2004 album)
• Game Systems Inc.
• Middle Earth Play-By-Mail (PBM)
• Briefcase/Suitcase in Pulp Fiction
• MacGuffin
• Larry Norman
• Paul McCartney Death Hoax (Paul is Dead)
• Backmasking
• Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irving Welsh
• The Ice Storm by Rick Moody
• The Garden of the Forking Paths by  Louise Borges
• Luca and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie

Pat reads Jazz, Sam reads Beloved, they discuss both! Departing from the usual format, this episode features both novels by Toni Morrison in a discussion exploring the work of one of American literature’s greatest icons. Highlights include some comparisons to the film Beloved starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover as well as Sam’s definition of magical realism.

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Show Notes & Links

• Toni Morrison
• Jazz
• Beloved
• Beloved (film)
• Kunderafest – The Festival of Insignificance by Milan Kundera | Episode 002
• 40 acres and a mule
• Dred Scott Decision (Dred Scott v. Sandford)
• Paul B is actually Paul D (apologies from Sam)
• Die Blechtrommel – The Tin Drum by Günter Grass | Episode 008
• The Tin Drum by Günter Grass
• Salman Rushdie
• One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Márquez
• Terry Pratchett
• The Exorcist
• Woody Allen
• Sunset Boulevard

Pat and Sam are joined by guest Matt Bird in an episode returning to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. With the success of the series on Hulu, and certain recent political developments, Atwood’s frightening vision of the future has attained a new place in the public consciousness. In this episode the panel compares the novel to the television series and discusses the odd choice of music, the wisdom of softening Gilead’s racist ideology, and the casting of talented actors who are younger than their book counterparts. Check out the earlier “Atwood’s Dystopia” episode from November 2015 in which only the novel is discussed for further commentary on Margaret Atwood’s new classic.

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Show Notes & Links

• The Handmaid’s Tale
• Margaret Atwood
• The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu
• Audiobook Claire Danes performs The Handmaid’s Tale
• Atwood’s Dystopia – The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood | Episode 017
• Monster (2003 film) – Patty Jenkins
• Breakfast Club (1985 film) – John Huges
• Frog in boiling water
• Tammy Fay Baker (or Tammy Faye Messner)
• Phyllis Schlafly
• 11.22.63 By Stephen King – Novel + Miniseries | Episode 032
• The Man in The High Castle by Philip K. Dick – Novel + Series | Episode 022

In an era whereby journalism (and facts in general) have become increasingly important, Scoop reminds us that though the methods, means and technology of news collection and distribution have changed drastically, the story essentially remains the same. This biting satire exposes the timeless woes of sensationalist journalism via a collection of rag tag foreign correspondents living it up in (the fictional East African state of) Ishmaelia. Amid games of ping pong, plenty of drinking and pursuing the occasional newsworthy happening, the journalists essentially await a war that may or may not ever occur. Hilarity ensues.

Lovers of Monty Python, this book is for you. Oh yeah, and Evelyn Waugh is a man.

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Show Notes & Links

• Scoop
• Evelyn Waugh
• Fleet Street
• Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
• Second Italo-Abyssinian War
• Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene – Episode
• “British comedy is based on the question Wouldn’t it be funny IF? whereas American comedy is based on the question Isn’t it funny THAT?” Salman Rushdie. You can watch the interview from which this quote originates here.
•  Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
• My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
• John Oliver’s Bit on newspapers
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• Apocalypse Now (1979 film) – Francis Ford Coppola
• March by Geraldine Brooks

Infinite Gestation welcomes special guest Matt Bird for a discussion on Southern Gothic Literature, and more specifically, three short stories by Flannery O’Connor. “Good Country People”, “Everything that Rises Must Converge” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” all exhibit the craft of a master short story writer at work, while further confirming that the author left us far too soon. These stories take a dark look at the post-bellum American South, with all its complexities. Questions emerge regarding the strange nature of evil, institutional racism, and religion’s place within one’s world view. The presence of O’Connor’s influence can be felt in many places, though it can be seen most recently throughout the work of the Coen Brothers (many of their story-telling sensibilities stand firmly in her shadow).

With two novels and two collections of short stories, the body of Flannery O’Connor’s work can be consumed in a relatively short time. We highly recommend that you do so, and sooner rather than later.

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Show Notes & Links

• Flannery O’Connor
• Southern Gothic Literature
• “Good Country People”
• “Everything that Rises Must Converge”
• “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• “A Rose for Emily”
• William Faulkner
• “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O’Connor
• Iowa Writing Program
• Harry Whittington Apologizes for Getting Shot in the Face by Dick Cheney
• “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” By Peggy McIntosh (not sure where Patrick got “Mavis Essay” but here’s what we were talking about)
• Coen Brothers
• No Country for Old Men (2007 film) – Joel & Ethan Coen
• Blood Simple (1984 film) – Joel & Ethan Coen
• Fargo (1996 film) – Joel & Ethan Coen
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000 Film) – Joel & Ethan Coen
• Instagram post
• Pervious Episode – To Kill to Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
• “Geraldo Moment”

The long-awaited Shakespeare episode has finally arrived! In this episode the panel delves into the question and the many theories of: who was Shakespeare?

Questions as to Shakespeare’s true identity are not new. Over the decades, scholars and enthusiasts alike have presented a wide range of theories to satisfy those who remain unconvinced that William Shakespeare was not simply a man from Stratford-upon-Avon. The Shakespeare authorship question runs the spectrum from informed academic scholarship down to wild conspiracy theories (not unlike those surrounding the case of Jack the Ripper) and in many cases, best filed alongside pop culture urban legends such as posthumous sightings of Elvis Presley and the Paul McCartney Death Hoax. A core group of five alternative candidates (Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford – Christopher Marlowe – Francis Bacon – William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby & Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland) has emerged as the most popular, for various reasons.

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Show Notes & Links

• William Shakespeare
• Shakespeare Authorship Question
• Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? by James Shapiro
• Players: The Mysterious Identity of William Shakespeare by Bertram Fields
• Henry VIII (play)
• Romeo & Juliet (you know, just in case)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Bloody Mary (Mary I)
• Queen Elizabeth I
• Jack the Ripper
• Edmond Malone & The Ireland Shakespeare Forgeries
• Hitler Diaries Hoax
• Nabokov Was Not a Pedophile – Separating Characters from Their Authors | Episode 009
• Richard II (play)
• Hollow Crown (TV series)
• Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
• How ‘Sherlock of the Library’ Cracked the Case of Shakespeare’s Identity – The Guardian
• Christopher Marlowe Credited as One of Shakespeare’s Co-writers – The Guardian
• Shakespeare: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd
• Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
• Christopher Marlowe
• Francis Bacon
• William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby
• Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland
• Anonymous (2011 film) – Roland Emmerich
• Tupac Shakur

It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis made a sudden and dramatic climb on bestseller lists in late fall 2016. Parts of the novel bear some uncanny similarities to the 2016 election –– Donald Trump in particular can be seen vividly in character of Buzz Windrip, demagogue and presidential candidate. Published in 1935 during the rise of fascism in Europe, Lewis’ novel imagines how the United States of America might become seduced by a man promising great things while quickly transitioning the country into a fascist dictatorship.

Though not without its flaws, the book is well worth a read –– especially in light of current events offering it more weight than it had at its initial publication. Many of the parallels are striking.

Stay vigilant.

This episode is part of our Dystopian Novel Series.

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Show Notes & Links

• It Can’t Happen Here
• Sinclair Lewis
• Fascism: /ˈfæʃɪzəm/ is a form of radical authoritarian nationalism that came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe. The first fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I, before spreading to other European countries. Opposed to liberalism, Marxism and anarchism, fascism is usually placed on the far-right within the traditional left–right spectrum.
• Dystopia
• 1984 by George Orwell
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Check out our podcast episode)
• Red Dawn (1984 film) – John Milius
• War with Russia: An Urgent Warning from Senior Military Command by Richard Shirreff
• Nazi Party Marching in Madison Square Garden
• Dystopian Novel Series Part I – We by Yevgeny Zamyatin | Episode 034
• Dystopian Novel Series Part II – Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne | Episode 035