Skylight Books Podcast Series

In the early 2000s, Marvel Comics decided to create a new line of books that would set aside four decades of continuity and offer modern readers fresh entry points into their classic characters. The Ultimates was their new Avengers title that would prove enormously influential, helping shape the future of the superhero genre - in comics, in movies, and on TV. In this episode, IDW Publishing co-founder Ted Adams discusses his new book, which examines the combined work of Ultimates writer Mark Millar and artists Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, and Paul Neary to revitalize these characters - and their stories - for the 21st Century.

Hosted and produced by Justin Remer. 
Recorded remotely via Zencastr. 

If you like podcasts, maybe you would enjoy audiobooks too. Please check out the Skylight Books Podcast playlist of audiobooks featured in our recent Skylit author interviews, on Libro.fm. 

Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire. 
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band.

This podcast will go down on your permanent record! Novelist Nic Brown joins the podcast to discuss his new nonfiction book on the self-titled debut album, Violent Femmes. This acoustic post-punk landmark is an album that took nearly a decade to go platinum -- and then it appeared briefly on the Billboard Top 200 Albums charts. Tunes like "Blister in the Sun" and "Gone Daddy Gone" have gone from secret rock talismans to mainstream classics. Brown discusses interviewing the band now about the strange and scrappy writing and recording of this early '80s album and the countless unexpected stories he wound up uncovering.

Hosted and produced by Justin Remer. 
Recorded remotely via Zencastr. 

If you like podcasts, maybe you would enjoy audiobooks too. Please check out the Skylight Books Podcast playlist of audiobooks featured in our recent Skylit author interviews, on Libro.fm. 

Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire. 
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band.

Calling all Dornstars! You're going to love this loose and lively chat about Anna Dorn's new novel, American Spirits. It's the story of a superfan who becomes the assistant of her favorite pop star as a stepping stone for her own twisted ambition. Bookseller David Kimbel talks with Anna Dorn about fan cultures, Pitchfork writers, Reddit communities, Millennials who look young, Gen Zers who look old, and much much more. Strap in. 

Pick up a copy of the book at Skylight or order the audiobook version from Libro.fm.

Hosted by David Kimbel.
Produced by David Kimbel and Justin Remer.

Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire. 
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band.

JEOPARDY! champion Buzzy Cohen returns to Better Than the Movie for a third short-story-to-film adaptation discussion. This time it's the tragicomic showbiz/political tale A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957), written by Budd Schulberg and directed by Elia Kazan, based on Schulberg's short story, "Your Arkansas Traveler." Future lovable sitcom dad Andy Griffith stars as Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, a vagabond singer who becomes a TV sensation and fledgling demagogue. It's a film chock full of great performances that also acts as a sad reflection on the times -- both then and now. There are lots of Lonesome Rhodes in the world, at varying points of the good-evil continuum. Some of the Lonesomes the BTTM crew discuss here include Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, Bruce Springsteen, and Dhar Mann. You won't want to miss this one.

Hosted by Tyler Austin, Allan Traylor, and Justin Remer.
Produced by Justin Remer. 
Recorded at the LAPL Octavia Lab.

Check out the "Better Than the Movie" audiobook playlist on Libro.fm - https://libro.fm/playlists/skylight-better-than-the-movie

Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire  
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band

Novelist Hannah Lillith Assadi makes her podcast debut to discuss her new book, Paradiso 17, about a Palestinian man's restless lifelong search for home. Writer and bookseller Sina Grace talks with Assadi, who is a longtime friend, about the process of funneling the grief from the recent passing of her father into a novel that is partly his story and partly her own. They talk character, they talk process, and they even digress into a long tangent on Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights (we just can't stop talking about it on this podcast!).

Pick up a copy of the book at Skylight or order the audiobook version from Libro.fm. 

Hosted by Sina Grace.
Produced by Justin Remer.
Recorded at the LAPL Octavia Lab.

Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire. 
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band.