Why Is This Good?

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Nine Lives” by Ursula K. Le Guin. What can we learn from another great story from a master of speculative fiction? How can we portray unusual experiences that […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury. What can we learn from this story of dangerous technology? How can a mystery drive a story? How can a future-looking story remain […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “How to Be an Other Woman” by Lorrie Moore. (Read First Section and Second Section.) What can we learn from this mock self-help instructional story? How are emotional […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Daemon Lover” by Shirley Jackson. What can we learn from this psychological thriller? How can anxiety drive a story? How can the prose and details create and […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. What can we learn from this story? How can fiction subtly reveal character motives? How can we use a slippery point of […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Martyr” by Mary Gordon. What can we learn from this story of a character trying to remember and understand their brother? How does foreshadowing structure the unfolding […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “A Visit of Charity” by Eudora Welty. What can we learn from this story about lonely people? How can distinct characters help develop a theme from several directions? […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick. What can we learn from this classic work of science fiction? How can a story keep redefining […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut” by J. D. Salinger. What can we learn from this classic Salinger story? Can a third person point of view be purely external? How […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Unaccompanied Sonata” by Orson Scott Card. What can we learn from this borderline science fiction story? What can happen when a story establishes a system in which the […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Werewolf” by Angela Carter. What can we learn from this quick, little take on a folktale? How can setting help characterize a story? How can the prose […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Zombie” by Joyce Carol Oates. What can we learn from this portrait of a real-life serial killer? How do we feel about a portrait of a monster? Why […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Wind” by Lauren Groff. What can we learn from this tense, action-packed story? How can we make a story so gripping? How can a removed point of […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “These Golden Cities” by K. David Wade. What can we learn from this story about taking an acid trip? How does the story guide us through the character’s […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Non-Zero Probabilities” by N. K. Jemisin. What can we learn from this bit of speculative fiction? How can world-building be personal to a character? Can we set up […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “A Telephone Call” by Dorothy Parker. What can we learn from this intense interior monologue story? How does this nearly 100-year-old story still reflect modern reality? How does […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss Curtis Sittenfeld vs ChatGPT. What can we learn from this experiment in comparing a literary author with an AI-generated story? How would we critique the ChatGPT story? What […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Husband Stitch” by Carmen Maria Machado. What can we learn from this exploration of a familiar horror scenario? How can we expand on a common symbol in […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast On this episode, we discuss “The Celestial Omnibus” by E. M. Forster (starts page 54). What can we learn from this literary version of a fairy-story? How does the story pit pedantry against […]

If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Complete” by Gabriel Smith. What can we learn from this story made up of semi-connected snippets? How can disconnected pieces of narrative connect with one another to […]