190 - POIR 32

While Page One continues its ever-extending mid-season break, Charles Adrian has popped back onto the mic to let listeners know about a podcast he is making with Lisa Findley called The Rom Com Rewrite. Rom com fans everywhere can find it on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/4D3CW2TnT1tIRorlbqp2kF) and Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-rom-com-rewrite/id1551541870).

Incidentally, you can find a description of the seven major beats of rom com writing here: https://www.well-storied.com/blog/anatomy-of-a-romantic-comedy-seven-essential-story-beats

Also, while he’s here, Charles Adrian would like to recommend the beautiful, 4-part podcast The Fateful Tale Of Chesapeake Bay, which you can find on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-fateful-tale-of-chesapeake-bay/id1541527814 (and a quick google will take you to all the other places that you can find it). Also: Miriam Gould, who is one of the co-hosts, was previously a guest on Page One and you can find that episode here: http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/123-miriam-gould/

More information about Page One is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/

Taking another break from revisiting the books that he has been given by guests on the podcast, Charles Adrian revisits instead what he said in the previous episode about Scottish Country Dancing and talks about three books that he has very much enjoyed.

More information and a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/

Correction 1: This episode was recorded on the 15th December, 2020, and not the 14th December as Charles Adrian says.

Correction 2: Charles Adrian mistakenly pronounces Ivanhoe as Ivinghoe. The first is a novel by Sir Walter Scott; the second is a village in Buckinghamshire.

Correction 3: The novelist Charles Adrian refers to as JY Yang in this episode has been called Neon Yang since September 2020. You can read the announcement on their Twitter here: https://twitter.com/itsneonyang/status/1300790160301461507

The podcast will also be taking a break over festive season and will return with new episodes at some point in the new year.

Also mentioned in this episode are Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, which is discussed in Page One 49 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season-1#/49-page-one-49/), Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, which is discussed in Page One 16 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season-1#/16-cat-james/) and Page One 159 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season-6#/159-poir-3/), and Scottish Fiddlers And Their Music by Mary Anne Alburger, which is discussed in Page One 126 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/126-ms-samantha-mann/) and Page One 191 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season-6#/191-poir-33/).

Cameryn Moore, who is mentioned here, is featured in Page One 98 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season-3#/98-cameryn-moore/).

You can find some information on the Prison Industrial Complex and prison abolition in the UK from the Empty Cages Collective here: http://www.prisonabolition.org/what-is-the-prison-industrial-complex/

Diane di Prima, also mentioned here, is discussed in more depth in Page One 122 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/122-chris-goode/) and Page One 190 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season-6#/190-poir-32/).

The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk is a standalone novel but The Black Tides Of Heaven by Neon Yang is at the beginning of the Tensorate series and A Hero Born by Jin Yong is the first part of The Condor Trilogy. You can read more about The Condor Trilogy on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condor_Trilogy.

Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Black Tides Of Heaven by Neon Yang, published by tor.com in 2017; cover art by Yuko Shimizu; cover design by Christine Foltzer.

Episode recorded: 15th December, 2020.

Book listing:

The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk

The Black Tides Of Heaven by Neon Yang

A Hero Born by Jin Yong

Marked as explicit because of strong language.

Speaking minutes after he had finished recording the previous episode of the podcast, Charles Adrian revisits the last books that were given to him by guests on the 4th season of the podcast.

More information and a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/.

You can find information about London’s National Theatre here: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ and about Liverpool’s Empire Theatre here: https://www.liverpooltheatres.com/venue/liverpool-empire-theatre_liverpool

Also mentioned in this episode is Dracula by Bram Stoker

You can find Phoebe Judge’s podcast Phoebe Reads A Mystery, series 6 of which is a reading of Dracula by Bram Stoker, here: https://thisiscriminal.com/mystery

You can find out more about Charles Adrian’s alter-ego Ms Samantha Mann here: http://www.mssamanthamann.com/ and you can find her advice videos, which were filmed and edited by Polis Loizou, on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/mssamanthamann

You can watch a video trailer for the show Angels’ Share by Nico And The Navigators here: http://navigators.de/index.php?id=338&L=324. It was made in collaboration with a group calling themselves Urban Strings.

You can find out more about Scottish Country Dancing on the RSCDS website here: https://www.rscds.org/

Books discussed in this episode were previously discussed in Page One 124 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/124-polis-loizou/), Page One 125 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/125-natalie-flynn/) and Page One 126 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/126-ms-samantha-mann/).

Episode image is a detail from a photo by Charles Adrian.

Episode recorded: 17th November, 2020.

Book listing:

The Keep by Jennifer Egan (Page One 124)

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (Page One 125)

Scottish Fiddlers And Their Music by Mary Anne Alburger (Page One 126)

Marked as explicit because of derogatory language.

Fleeing from hammering and drilling sounds coming through the wall, Charles Adrian talks about books that were given to him towards the end of the fourth season of his podcast.

More information and a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/.

You can find a handy primer on the limitations of a first-past-the-post voting system, along with links to information about alternative systems, on the Electoral Reform Society’s website here: https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/first-past-the-post/

You can read about Caroline Lucas, who at time of recording this episode was the UK’s first and only Green Party MP, on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Lucas

Revolutionary Letters by Diane di Prima is also discussed in Page One 185.

Rebecca Solnit, mentioned briefly here, is discussed more fully in Page One 135.

The episode of the podcast Reply All that Charles Adrian mentions about the activist barricaded inside his apartment while the police massed outside is here: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/wbhgk9. The episode is from the podcast Resistance, which you can find here: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/resistance

The Sadean Women by Angela Carter is discussed more fully in Page One 123. Other books by Angela Carter discussed on the podcast are Wise Children (Page One 54), The Passion Of New Eve (Page One 76) and The Bloody Chamber (Page One 86, Page One 135 and Page One 141).

The homepage of the Battersea Arts Centre is here: https://bac.org.uk/

Books discussed in this episode were previously discussed in Page One 121 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/121-bettina-john/) and Page One 122 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/122-chris-goode/).

Episode image is a detail from a photo by Charles Adrian.

Episode recorded: 17th November, 2020.

Book listing:

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (Page One 121)

Revolutionary Letters by Diane Di Prima (Page One 122)

The Sadean Women by Angela Carter (Page One 123)

Taking the time to indulge in some discussion of both the Gunpowder Plot and the differences between climbing and bouldering, Charles Adrian starts off the UK’s second national lockdown with three more books from guests on the podcast.

More information and a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/.

A description of the Gunpowder Plot and its aftermath can be found on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot and a round-up of the differences between climbing and bouldering can be found on the Guardian here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/jul/19/healthandwellbeing.

Arlie Adlington is featured in Page One 148, which you can listen to here: http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season5#/148-arlie-adlington/

Another book by Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, is discussed in Page One 16, which features Isbel’s sister Cat James, and in Page One 159, which doesn’t.

A Time Of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Furmor is discussed in Page One 32 and Page One 164.

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov is also discussed in Page One 151 (and particularly in the unedited version of that episode). Other books by Vladimir Nabokov discussed on the podcast are Lolita (Page One 71) and Collected Stories (Page One 162).

Another book by W. Somerset Maugham, The Narrow Corner, is discussed in Page One 66.

The Selected Short Stories Of “Saki” by “Saki” is discussed in Page One 12 and Page One 158.

You can read about the trials of Oscar Wilde for gross indecency on Famous Trials here: https://famous-trials.com/wilde/327-home

Books discussed in this episode were previously discussed in Page One 118 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/118-isbel-james/), Page One 119 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/119-katherine-leedale/) and Page One 120 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/120-a-f-harrold/).

Episode image is a detail from a photo by Charles Adrian.

Episode recorded: 5th November, 2020.

Book listing:

Travels With A Donkey In The Cévennes and The Amateur Emigrant by Robert Louis Stevenson (Page One 118)

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (Page One 119 and Page One 151)

The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham (Page One 120)

Marked as explicit because of strong language.

Still living in a Tier 2 city, Charles Adrian talks about three slim books, all of which feature characters who are children.

More information and a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/.

You can read about The Good Immigrant on Nikesh Shukla’s website here: http://www.nikesh-shukla.com/the-good-immigrant. You can read Darren Chetty on the prevalence of white protagonists in Media Diversified here: https://mediadiversified.org/2013/12/07/you-cant-do-that-stories-have-to-be-about-white-people/ and you can download Beyond The Secret Garden by Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor here: https://www.academia.edu/37977267/Beyond_the_Secret_Garden_Black_Asian_and_Minority_Ethnic_Representations_in_Childrens_Literature

If you, like Charles Adrian, are confused about comic book terminology, there is an article about Trade paperbacks on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_paperback_(comics) If you are near Angoulême in France, meanwhile, and interested in comics and graphic novels, the Cité Internationale de la Bande Dessinée et de l’Image is well worth a visit: http://www.citebd.org/

Books discussed in this episode were previously discussed in Page One 115 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/115-antosh-wojcik/), Page One 116 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/116-joseph-paterson/) and Page One 117 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/117-iskandar-sharazuddin/).

Episode image is a detail from a photo by Charles Adrian.

Episode recorded: 29th October, 2020.

Book listing:

Beside The Sea by Véronique Olmi (trans. Adriana Hunter) (Page One 115)

Cloud Busting by Malorie Blackman (Page One 116)

Saga (Volume One) by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Page One 117)

Talking about two books he remembers very little about and the only book he was given twice, Charles Adrian continues his journey through the books from Season 4 of his podcast and reminisces about a trip to Japan.

More information and a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/.

Correction: Tier 3 of the new restrictions that came into force in the UK on the 14th of October, 2020, is the highest tier, described as “very high risk. Tier 2 is described as “high risk” with tier 1 being “medium risk”. You can find an explanation of the three-tier system on the BBC here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54533924

You can find some information about the setting-up of the Podcasters’ Support Group in London on Helen Zaltzman’s website here: https://helenzaltzman.wordpress.com/podcasters-support-group/

You can read about the spread of Anti-Vaxxer misinformation on social media during the 2020 pandemic in the Lancet here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(20)30227-2/fulltext, you can read about six common misconceptions about immunisation on the WHO website here: https://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/initiative/detection/immunization_misconceptions/en/ and you can read about possible strategies to counteract a reluctance to receive a possible COVID-19 vaccine in the Atlantic here: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/10/how-change-mind-anti-vaxxer/616722/  

Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the UK from 4th May, 1979, until the 28th November, 1990. She was succeeded in office by John Major, who was Prime Minister from 28th November, 1990, until the 2nd May, 1997.

Sum by David Eagleman was also discussed in Page One 34 and Page One 165.

Also mentioned in this episode are Hell, Purgatory and Paradise by Dante Alighieri.

Books discussed in this episode were previously discussed in Page One 112 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/112-iszi-lawrence/), Page One 113 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/113-donna-butlin/) and Page One 114 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/114-satoshi-date/).

Episode image is a detail from a photo by Charles Adrian.

Episode recorded: 16th October, 2020.

Book listing:

How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered The World by Francis Wheen (Page One 112)
Sum by David Eagleman (Page One 113, Page One 34 and Page One 165)

Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata (trans. Edward G. Seidensticker) (Page One 114)

Continuing to feed his own preoccupation with the poem Swimmer by Dennis Cooper, which he has already talked about in both Page One 185 and Page One 186, Charles Adrian hones in on the lines: “Monday Dave calls me/ at a party” and attempts to reconstruct their historical context.

More information and a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/.

The Dream Police by Dennis Cooper was previously discussed in Page One 111 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/111-griffyn-gilligan/) and Page One 185 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season-6#/185-poir-28/)

Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Dream Police by Dennis Cooper, published by Grove Press in 1995; cover design by John Gall, cover art by Nayland Blake.

Extra recorded: 16th October, 2020.

Book listing:

Swimmer from The Dream Police by Dennis Cooper

Marked as explicit because of extensive discussion of death and suicide.

Content note: there is a lot of talk of death and suicide in this episode. If you are in the UK and would like to talk to someone in confidence, you can reach Switchboard LGBT at https://switchboard.lgbt/ or by phone on 0300 330 0630, and you can reach the Samaritans at https://www.samaritans.org/ or by phone on 116 123.

Taking a very personal look at a poem that has been stuck in his head since the previous episode of this podcast, Charles Adrian talks about the poem Swimmer by Dennis Cooper and some of the things that it brings up for him.

Clarification: In the coda to this episode, Charles Adrian talks about queer sexualities having been criminalised only a generation or two ago. He is talking, of course, very parochially, about the situation in the UK, where he lives. In many parts of the world, queer expression in all its forms remains criminalised. You can find a map of countries that criminalise LGBT people here: https://www.humandignitytrust.org/lgbt-the-law/map-of-criminalisation/ although this does not include countries in which attacks against LGBT people are either tolerated or actively encouraged by the state. You can read about the situation in Chechnya, for example, in the Guardian here: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jun/23/welcome-to-chechnya-harrowing-film-regimes-gay-purge-david-france-lgbt .

More information and a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/.

You can find Dennis Cooper’s potentially NSFW blog here: https://denniscooperblog.com/

You can find Charles Adrian’s conversation with Uwern Jong here: http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season-1#/29-uwern-jong/ and you can follow Griffyn Gilligan on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/gillidactyl

The Dream Police by Dennis Cooper was previously discussed in Page One 111 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/111-griffyn-gilligan/) and Page One 185 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season-6#/185-poir-28/).

Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Dream Police by Dennis Cooper, published by Grove Press in 1995; cover design by John Gall, cover art by Nayland Blake.

Episode recorded: 13th and 14th October, 2020.

Book listing:

Swimmer from The Dream Police by Dennis Cooper

Marked as explicit because of sexual imagery.

Beginning with a brief cloudburst and a coda to the previous episode designed to calm Charles Adrian’s esprit d’escalier, the 28th Page One In Review goes on to look at the first five books from the fourth season of the podcast.

More information and a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/.

The Bees by Laline Paull, Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser and Unless by Carol Shields were all discussed at more length in Page One 184. Revolutionary Letters by Diane Di Prima was previously discussed in Page One 122.

You can read an outline of the life of Mary Stewart, a.k.a. Mary Queen of Scots, on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Queen_of_Scots

You can read about Dungeons & Dragons on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons

You can read about Petrópolis, the Brazilian Imperial City, on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr%C3%B3polis

Another book by Dennis Cooper, Guide, is discussed in Page One 72 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season-2#/72-isabelle-schoelcher/).

The books discussed in the main part of this episode were previously discussed in Page One 107 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/107-vera-chok/), Page One 108 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/108-martin-zaltz-austwick/), Page One 109 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/109-helen-zaltzman/), Page One 110 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/110-nancy-crane/) and Page One 111 (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/111-griffyn-gilligan/).

Episode image is a detail from a photo by Charles Adrian.

Episode recorded: 6th October, 2020.

Book listing:

A Traveller In Time by Alison Uttley (Page One 107)

Wolf In White Van by John Darnielle (Page One 108)

Irma Voth by Miriam Toews (Page One 109)

Insomnia and Song For The Rainy Season from Collected Poems by Elizabeth Bishop (Page One 110)

First Sex (excerpt) and Swimmer from The Dream Police by Dennis Cooper (Page One 111)