Host Imelda Wei Ding Lo reviews the video game, Journey (2012), and uses it to reflect on how her life and mindset has changed since taking a break from this podcast (that's why we were on hiatus since January 2023)!
Co-host Teresa joins the conversation.
Hi, everyone. Today, me, Imelda or Fortunus Games, the host of this podcast, will be reviewing Lawrence Grossberg’s “Under the Cover of Chaos: Trump and the Battle for the American Right.”
Lawrence Grossberg is the Morris Davis Distinguished Professor in Communication and Cultural Studies at the University of North Carolina. Additionally, he is an internationally recognized leading figure in Cultural Studies whose work has been translated into 18 languages.
In this book, Grossberg looks at whether Donald Trump’s “irrationality, cruelty, and bombast” are “symptoms of his personality.” He also looks at whether the chaos Trump has caused is a sign of his incompoetence, and whether his populism, nationalism, and illiberalism is an appeal to existing feelings of rage, resentment, and abandonment.
Find out why I gave the book 3.5/5 stars.
In this episode, podcast host Imelda/Fortunus Games reviews Philip Roth's novel, "Operation Shylock: A Confession." Find out what it's about and why she gave it 5/5 stars!
Hi, everyone. This is Imelda or Fortunus Games, the host of this podcast. Hope you had a good winter break and happy new year!
This is just a short announcement about how we are moving on to season three of “The Nuts and Bolts of Writing” podcast. In this season, we’ll continuing interviewing fiction and non-fiction writers and reviewing books. However, we will also be expanding the scope of our podcast to include literary criticism.
Today, host Fortunus Games reviews John D. Wilsey’s “American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea.” Find out why she gave this book 5/5 stars and why she found it a useful resource for understanding Christian Nationalism and other current political trends in the U.S.
You can get this book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/American-Exceptionalism-Civil-Religion-Wilsey/dp/083084094X
Host Fortunus Games reviews one of her favorite books, Philip Roth's "The Counterlife." She had previously reviewed it with co-host Tete DePunk in 2021 (Episode 70 of this podcast), but she wants to give a more streamlined summary and review of the book in this episode. Listen to find out why she gave the book 4/5 stars.
“The Counterlife” is one of Philip Roth’s lesser known works. Written in 1986, it is the fourth novel to feature Roth’s fictional novelist, Nathan Zuckerman. A string of "what-ifs," this novel explores the thin line between reality and fiction and the role of fiction in writers' lives.
In this episode, host Fortunus Games reviews one of her favorite books, Orhan Pamuk's "My Name is Red."
Set in 16th century Ottoman Empire, this book is a murder mystery at its core. The first chapter is from the perspective of a court artist who was murdered, and you have to read through the book to discover who murdered him. There’s a dizziying kaleidoscope of perspectives, including the perspective of a dog and who you could call the protagonists of this work, Black (an administrator who has returned to Istanbul after 12 years abroad) and Shekure, a widow who wants to find a new husband and father for her two boys after her soldier husband went missing four years ago.
Besides its beautiful descriptions of artworks and the political and religious consequences of switching from one art style to another, "My Name is Red" is a riveting read due to Pamuk's ekphrastic writing. Ekphrastic writing describes artworks, and Pamuk uses it effectively to explore history, politics, and human psychology.
Listen to this episode to see why I gave this book 4/5 stars.
Host Fortunus Games reviews Frictional Games' SOMA (2015), a sci-fi horror game that really touched her when she played it in 2016. Find out why she gives the game 4/5 stars.
Fortunus Games, the host of this podcast, reviews one of her favorite books, Philip Roth’s “American Pastoral.”
This book explores how an all-American athlete, veteran, and business owner's life falls apart when his daughter becomes a radical anti-war protestor. A critique of the American dream and the dangers of conventionalism, "American Pastoral" is the first of Roth's American Trilogy and is followed by "I Married a Communist" and "The Human Stain."
Listen to this episode to find out why Fortunus gave the book 4.5/5 stars.
Today, co-hosts Fortunus Games (a.k.a. Imelda) and Tete DePunk talk to artist and writer Carrie Knowles about her novel, “The Inevitable Past,” which I, TeteDepunk, and R.N. Roveleh have had the pleasure of reading.
Check out episodes 211, 212, and 213 for Carrie’s first appearances on this podcast, where she talked about writing fiction, writing non-fiction, and the link between visual art and writing, respectively.
Here’s Carrie’s bio: Carrie Knowles is a prolific award-winning author and arts advocate.
Along with her nine books, she has published short stories, newspaper and magazine articles, and received numerous awards for her writing.
She was named the North Carolina Piedmont Laureate for Short Fiction in 2014.
Carrie has published five novels: Lillian’s Garden, Ashoan’s Rug, A Garden Wall in Provence, The Inevitable Past, and A Musical Affair, as well as Black Tie Optional, a collection of 17 of her short stories. Her memoir: The Last Childhood: A Family Story of Alzheimer's, has been described as a “must read” for family members caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s.
During her time as the 2014 Piedmont Laureate, conducting writing workshops across five counties in North Carolina, she wrote a writing workbook aimed at providing the basic tools a new writer would need to get started: A Self-Guided Workbook and Gentle Tour on Learning How to Write Stories from Start to Finish.
She writes a personal perspectives column for Psychology Today, Shifting Forward, and has recently published a collection of the first 50 stories from her column titled: Shifting Forward: Fifty Reflections on Everyday Life.
To learn more about Carrie, go to her website: www.cjanework.com
As for her novel, “The Inevitable Past,” which is the focus of this podcast, it was published in 2020 by Owl Canyon Press. It is a story of two women: a grandmother and a granddaughter who never knew her, and a timely look at women’s right to vote and have a voice. It challenges the notion of who we are and what compels us to make life-changing decisions.
Tete and I asked Carrie the following questions:
How did you develop a ghost as a strong interactive character? Most stories with ghosts are “ghost stories.”
How did we, the readers, feel about the grandmother’s ghost?
How was it like to publish a story that is out of the “normal” realm of what is popular in publishing today? Did it make it harder to pitch your work?
Balancing a multiple-perspective story can be daunting. Especially when working first-person POV. How did you tackle that challenge?
Tied in with the previous question: how would you advise writers, if they’re writing a multiple POV story, to keep each voice consistent? You did an amazing job keeping each voice of the granddaughter, the grandmother, and the Matron, respectively distinct from each other, yet unified these narratives into a complete story.
The pacing is well-balanced, too. How do you know when to focus on a chapter, and when to move on, for pacing?
What type of research did you have to do to create this story? When is it appropriate to research to incorporate historical facts into fiction?
Buy “The Inevitable Past” from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088JQYJ7G/ref=x_gr_bb_amazon?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_bb_amazon_ca-20&linkCode=as2&camp=15121&creative=330641
Today, co-host Tete DePunk reviews a game that had a large impact on her, Journey (2012) by thatgamecompany. Listen to find out why she loved it!
Co-hosts Tete DePunk and Fortunus Games explore the themes explored in Dear Esther, a 2013 video game created by the acclaimed English video game company, The Chinese Room.
Dear Esther explores the process of grief and emotional transcension through a vague character reflecting on the loss of his wife.
Throughout the game, as the character reveals through mystic soliloquies of science and religious reveries, that the accident is indirectly their own fault. This adds another weight of guilt into the mix of grief and loss.
The game lacks much interaction. Instead, the player is left with no choice, but whisked into the immersion of being drawn across the harsh landscape of a desolate, scrub-bush island. The lack of choice is fatalism played out, much like the character forced to process their own loss and realize, life, like death, is inevitable in its juggernaut of events.
Fortunus and Tete ask each other the following questions to discuss Dear Esther:
What do you think the game’s story is?
What do you think of the biblical references?
Do you consider this a game, since it is just a walking simulator with no action or puzzles?
What can this kind of game offer that other types of game cannot offer?
What do we make of how the character processes grief?
The ending is somewhat vague. Does the character kill themselves and ascend spiritually? Or somehow transcends beyond death? Is this a good ending?
What can we learn from Dear Esther?
Host Fortunus Games reviews a book by one of her favorite authors, Orhan Pamuk - “Silent House.” Written in 1983, “Silent House” is Pamuk’s second novel. It tells the story of three siblings - Faruk, a historian, Nilgun, a sociology student who sympathizes with leftists, and Metin, a high school nerd - visiting their grandmother Fatma in a small town near Istanbul.
Unfortunately, Fortunus Games didn't really enjoy this book and gave it 2/5 stars. Find out why.
Today, Tete DePunk, one of the co-hosts of The Nuts and Bolts of Writing, reviews the 2023 Spiderman movie, Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse.
A colorful, bold, and heartfelt sequel to the innovative 2018’s Spiderman :Into the Spiderverse, Across the Spiderverse surpassed its predecessor in terms of pushing the boundaries with animation, sound design, and pacing.
Despite being an hour longer than its prequel, Across the Spiderverse excelled in its pacing. It covered a layered story, starting and concluding with a poignant yet satisfying arc with Spider-Gwen.
The movie also introduced, like Into the Spiderverse, several fascinating characters with striking personalities and unique animation designs.
But where the movie really made impact was its emotional clarity and ideological conflict.
Listen to this episode to learn why Tete enjoyed this movie!
Bioshock had many problems when it came to portraying several groups. Here’s what co-hosts Tete DePunk and Fortunus Games both noticed when playing the games and watching others’ gameplay videos.
Co-hosts Tete DePunk and Fortunus Games talk about Elizabeth Comstock from the 2013 game, "Bioshock Infinite." They explore the following questions:
Watch the video version which shows scenes of the game.
In this episode, hosts Tete DePunk and Fortunus Games discuss one of their favorite games, "Bioshock Infinite." We discuss the following questions:
In this episode, Tete DePunk (IG: @tete.depunk), one of the co-hosts of The Nuts and Bolts of Writing, interviews writer James Michels, author of novels such as “The Ballad of Johnny Carlo”, “Ice Rising”, and its sequel, “Icebox”. Prolific in the Crime-thriller genre, James michels has also recently released a crime fiction anthology, “Life’s Dark Corners”.
As of 2015, he is an Officer with the Department of Corrections. Crime fiction explores the darker reality of life, often exposing social and personal issues in ways that other genres might not fully show. Its focus on the grittiness of ordinary reality for the individual facing an unfriendly world has made this particular genre a compelling one.
Tete asks James the following questions:
What got you into writing?
You mentioned you always enjoyed the true crime and crime fiction genres. What drew you into these particular genres?
When you set out to write your works, there is certainly some research involved in the creation of these works. How do you go about the research process for your work?
How much fact do you incorporate in your fiction?
How do you know what is the right amount of fact to put in work?
In 2015, you joined the Department of Corrections as an officer - has this influenced your approach in writing your work?
Lastly, what is your goal in your writing work? What do you wish to impart to your readers?
Links:
Today, co-host Tete DePunk will be interviewing author and interviewer Brock Swinson, who reached out to our podcast. Brock Swinson is the author of Ink by the Barrel: Secrets from Prolific Writers.
He is also the interviewer for Creative Screenwriting Magazine, a publication dedicated since 1994 to educating and exploring the field of screenwriting and its creative minds at the helm. Additionally, Swinson hosts the podcast, Creative Principles, a podcast focused on discussion of the creative principle and key figures in the creative world today.
I’ve provided links to the Creative Screenwriting Magazine and the Creative Principle Podcast in the description. Throughout his career, Brock Swinson has gained an impressively thorough knowledge of the screenwriting world. He has had the opportunity to discuss indepth the creative principles and know-how of the field with some of the best minds in the industry.
Tete asks Brock the following questions:
How did you get into the field of creative screenwriting?
What challenges did you face in this particular industry?
How has screenwriting changed throughout the past 10 years?
Does AI, as some purport, threaten the agency and integrity of screenwriters today?
In your view, what were the factors that have led to the recent strikes from the Writers Guild of America? Have these factors been present for a long time standing?
Did you ever face set-backs in your career? If so, how did you overcome them?
How can aspiring screenwriters and writers get into the industry?
What advice would you impart to yourself when you first began in this field?
Links:
Host Imelda Wei Ding Lo (Fortunus Games) interviews author James Mitchell about his upcoming book, which will hit retail on September 19, 2023. His book is called “Musical Chairs: A 76-year-old’s quest to learn every instrument in the orchestra.” Find out more about it on James' website: https://jamesmitchellbooks.com/
James Mitchell was born in New York City, which nurtured his love of classical music from an early age. Professing little to no talent, however, he left the playing of music mostly to others until the writing of Musical Chairs.
For the 67 years that elapsed between music lessons, Mr. Mitchell was an actor, a Sales Manager for a ski company, President of a national advertising agency, a cowboy and wilderness outfitter, an educator, and co-founder of an NGO aiding women in Afghanistan.
Mr. Mitchell is working on two new books, and otherwise occupies his time going to concerts, playing music, tennis, cycling, and riding and driving horses. He lives in the country near Longmont, Colorado with his wife, some zebra finches, an old cat, and a few equines.
He is immensely proud and fond of his two grown offspring and has one very young grandson.
Imelda asks James the following questions (and more):
What prompted you to write this book?
In your bio, you said you always loved classical music. Growing up, how were you exposed to this genre of music and what did you particularly like about it?
Which instruments do you enjoy the most and why?
You mentioned you were an actor. Since acting is a form of art, did it influence how you saw music? Did it also influence your interest in writing?
Why did you have five careers before writing “Musical Chairs?” Sounds like a drifter to me.
Not many people start on a three year project when they are 76. Especially when they know next to nothing about it. Were you trying to prove something? To yourself? To others?
How many times did you think of bagging the whole thing during those three plus years?
You could have tackled something else, like taking just 12 lessons in 11 different languages and then be able to order a meal in each language at an ethnic restaurant. Why music?
The subject is serious, but the book has a lot of humor in it, much of it self-deprecating. Why did you do that?
Playing a classical music excerpt in just 12 lessons is quite a challenge, made more so by the week after week, month after month nature of the book. How much pressure did you feel to do well?
James’ upcoming site: https://jamesmitchellbooks.com/
