Episode 669 - Indefinite Hiatus
The Virtual Memories Show
For his 2025 year-end wrap-up, Gil's putting the podcast & newsletter on hiatus: talk about your crazy New Year's resolutions! He talks about how he recognized It Was Time For A Break, whether or not this podcast is what gives his life meaning, what he might get up to (HINT: it's WAY past time he finishes writing his Instax book), and how months of depression after his dad's death left him feeling like he was out of options. He gets into his 2025 highlights and why he needed to visit his photo library to overcome his amnesia, the hairiness of his professional life, the thrill of receiving...
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Episode 668 - The Guest List 2025
The Virtual Memories Show
It’s time for our year-end Virtual Memories Show tradition, now celebrating its thirteenth anniversary: ! I reached out to 2025’s pod-guests and asked them about the favorite book(s) they read in the past year, as well as the books or authors they’re hoping to read in 2026! Twenty-six guests responded with wonderful, idiosyncratic, and illuminating book recommendations: Jonathan Ames, Kayla E., Dan Goldman, Dean Haspiel, Jennifer Hayden, Rian Hughes, Paul Karasik, Glenn Kurtz, David Leopold, Seth Lorinczi, Sacha Mardou, Kate Maruyama, Whitney Matheson, Josh Neufeld, Lance Richardson, Ari...
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Episode 667 - Jonathan Sandler
The Virtual Memories Show
Let's close out 2025 with graphic memoirist and comics journalist ! We talk about his childhood secret origin in comics, the comics course in 2017 that brought him back to the form, the process of turning his grandfather's WWII memoir into a comic, (with art by Brian Bicknell), and how he really became a comics aficionado after publishing his first graphic novel. We get into how he started the blog and began reviewing comics, interviewing cartoonists, visiting exhibitions, and spreading the comics gospel, and why this very podcast has . We also discuss what he's learned from and about...
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Episode 666 - Morten Hoi Jensen
The Virtual Memories Show
With (Yale University Press), brings us a masterful biography of one of the great novels of the 20th century and shows how it and its author speak to our present moment. We talk about Morten's history with Mann's novel, his weeks of research in the sanatoria of Davos and his discovery of how much of 's world is intact a century later, and how Mann's novel changed for him in the process of writing this book. We get into Mann's political transformation from a nationalist into an antifascist, how art & politics can make for a disastrous mix, Mann's rivalry with his novelist brother...
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Episode 665 - Prue Shaw
The Virtual Memories Show
With her amazing new book, (Liveright), scholar brings us a canto-by-canto journey through Dante's masterwork, interweaving translated verses with her commentary, and serving as a Virgil-like guide to the poem. We talk about how she was inspired by John Carey's , why the Paradiso was her biggest challenge, how the poem has changed for her over the course of her life, and why she went with prose translations of Dante rather than verse. We get into Dante's balance of pride in his art and his humility before God, the modern sound of Dante's verse and the challenge of translating Italian into...
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Episode 664 - Glenn Kurtz
The Virtual Memories Show
Who were the men who built the Empire State Building? returns to the show to tell their story with (Seven Stories Press). We talk about how he accidentally fell into this project, how "turn every page" led him to a key discovery about 's photos of the Empire State construction, how his experience researching and writing helped him with this book, his childhood connection with the Empire State, and how identifying their subjects affects the mythic aura of Hine's photographs. We get into the corporate perspective of the building and how it dehumanizes the workers who built it, and similarly...
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Episode 663 - Jennifer Hayden
The Virtual Memories Show
Who knew that olive oil makes head lice sleepy? rejoins the show to celebrate her new graphic memoir/anti-cookbook, (Top Shelf), share comedic tales of domestic mess, and rebel against the expectations of wife/motherhood. We talk about the lifetime of bad cooking that led to this new book, the revenge of turning her bad experiences into comedy, how she found a unique form to tell her story, and how a youthful reading of Babar left her with a lifelong phobia of mushrooms. We get into how she was reverse-inspired by Lucy Knisley's , how watercolors gave her a color toolbox for her comics, what...
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Episode 662 - Rian Hughes
The Virtual Memories Show
Multi-hyphenate rejoins the show to celebrate his new Kickstarter, (closing November 20, 2025)! We talk about designing and publishing a catalog-collection of every font he ever designed for , how the Kickstarter has proved a lot more successful than he was expecting, seeing one of his fonts showing up on , and how typography means designing a form without content. We get into the history of type design and how he approaches new design with respect for his precursors, the serendipity that led to one of his best-known fonts, how he balances commercial work with pushing the limits of design in...
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Episode 661 - Josh Neufeld
The Virtual Memories Show
Comics journalist joins the show to talk about the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the legacy of his fantastic graphic reporting of the lives upended by that catastrophe, (Pantheon). We talk about his new 'zine followup, , how the storm inspired him to become an emergency response volunteer and what he learned when he was stationed in Biloxi, what it was like to learn journalism and reporting on the fly and integrate those with his comics storytelling skills, and why his goal with A.D. was to make a people's history. We get into how he viewed the anniversary, whether he's gone back...
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Episode 660 - Dean Haspiel and Whitney Matheson
The Virtual Memories Show
Cartoonist-playwright-filmmaker rejoins the show for the homestretch of his new Kickstarter, (finishing Nov. 3, 2025), and brings his studio mate along to talk about her new story collection, . We talk about how Dino got the idea for a one-man anthology to contain all the characters & stories of his Dino-verse, new models for funding creative projects, and how promotion can be tough when you accidentally get banned on . They give me creative advice to help me get through my own book project, talk about their lessons from crowdfunding and self-publishing, and come up with a great idea...
info_outlineWith his phenomenal debut memoir, FRIGHTEN THE HORSES (Roxane Gay Books/Grove Atlantic), Oliver Radclyffe takes us on a journey into trans-selfhood. We talk about the gap between a trans narrator and a cis-het reader, the importance of trans visibility, how his understanding of masculinity and being male have changed, and how he faced down the risks and sacrifices in his life as he transitioned, despite the uncertainty of what lay ahead. We get into how he found the perfect voice for his memoir, the importance of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy on his writing process, his life-defining moment of seeing Justin Vivian Bond, why being raised in privilege explained why he knew so little about the queer world, the surprisingly wonderful support his (conservative Christian) parents gave him throughout his journey, and why the book focuses on his pre-transition life. We also discuss whether he looks at photos of his pre-transition self, how testosterone has affected his life, how gender can shift with age, how the joy of publishing his first book has transformed him (and how he hopes it leads to a long mid-to-late-life writing career), whether he's ready to be an empty-nester, what it means to find validation through performance and defining oneself through relationships, why he identifies as a gender-irrelevant transsexual, and a lot more. Follow Oliver on Instagram and Bluesky and subscribe to his Substack • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter