Otherppl with Brad Listi
A weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Hosted by Brad Listi.
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985. Chelsea Bieker
08/19/2025
985. Chelsea Bieker
is the author of the novel , now available in trade paperback wherever books are sold. Bieker's first novel, , was longlisted for The Center For Fiction’s and her story collection, won the . She is the co-creator of , writes about creative practice at her substack, and is at work on a new novel. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Get the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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A Conversation with a Witch: Amanda Yates Garcia on Empire, Resistance, Contemporary Culture, and Radical Enchantment
08/17/2025
A Conversation with a Witch: Amanda Yates Garcia on Empire, Resistance, Contemporary Culture, and Radical Enchantment
A special Sunday episode featuring , also known as The Oracle of Los Angeles. Amanda is a writer, socially engaged artist, public witch, and doctoral student in the department of World Arts Cultures and Dance at UCLA. Her first book, , received a starred review from Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly and has been translated into six languages. Amanda hosts the Between the Worlds podcast, which looks at the Western Mystery traditions through a mythopoetic lens and has been downloaded over 2.5 million times, with over 1,900 five-star reviews. Amanda is the founder of , a 20k strong online and in-person community on Substack dedicated to eco-somatic ritual practice and cultivating radical enchantment. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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Our Lives Are Brilliant, Our Love is Pure
08/14/2025
Our Lives Are Brilliant, Our Love is Pure
Volume 55 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...Brad's new company, DeepDive, launches, he is now a startup founder...Brad takes his family to see The Naked Gun ...Mira sees Weapons (and gets Chappell Roan tickets)....Brad's strangely intimate knowledge of the James Blount phenomenon...T-Swift announces a new era...the Anna Delvey Brooklyn bunnicide...Katy Perry's masterclass in public relations disasters...and more... *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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984. Michael Clune
08/12/2025
984. Michael Clune
is the author of the debut novel , available from Penguin Press. It is the official August 2025 pick of the . Clune is the critically acclaimed author of the memoirs Gamelife and White Out: The Secret Life of Heroin. His academic books include A Defense of Judgment, Writing Against Time, and American Literature and the Free Market. Clune’s work has appeared in venues ranging from Harper’s Magazine, Salon, and Granta to Behavioral and Brain Sciences, PMLA, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. His work has been recognized by fellowships and awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, and others. He is currently a professor at the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at the Ohio State University and lives in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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983. Jane Borden
08/10/2025
983. Jane Borden
is the author of , available from Atria. Jane's work as a culture journalist has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and other publications. She lives in Los Angeles. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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Mira is Hallucinating Bugs
08/07/2025
Mira is Hallucinating Bugs
Volume 54 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...Brad, age 50, wanders the hills, contemplating mountain lions and death...Mira's ant infestation...Mira in retrograde...Sydney Sweeney's iron domes...Pam and Liam 4ever...Rod Stewart's A.I. necrophilia...Denise Richards' ex euthanizes her dog??...and more... *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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982. Shelby Hinte
08/05/2025
982. Shelby Hinte
is the author of the debut novel , available from Leftover Books. Hinte is the Senior Editor of Write or Die Magazine and teaches writing classes at the Writing Salon and WritingWorkshops.com. She has been a reader and intern for various independent presses and magazines including ZYZZYVA, Split/Lip Press, and No Contact. Her writing has been featured in BOMB Magazine, The Rumpus, ZYZZYVA, Hobart, SmokeLong Quarterly, and elsewhere. Howling Women is her first novel. She lives in Northern California. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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981. Claire Jia
08/03/2025
981. Claire Jia
is the author of the debut novel , available from Tin House. It was the official July pick of the . Jia is a writer from Illinois. Her work has appeared in The New York TimesModern Love column, The Rumpus, Reductress, and more. She writes for television and video games, including the 2024 Peabody Award-winning We Are OFK. She lives in Los Angeles with her friends. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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It's Hot Down Here, Brother
07/31/2025
It's Hot Down Here, Brother
Volume 53 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...Brad approaches 50...the Tesla Diner attacks a woman...the obsession with tall...the triumph of Billy Joel, short king and musical savant...Sydney Sweeney's eugenics commercial...the roasting of Hulk Hogan, an American embarrassment...the Justin Trudeau / Fidel Castro conspiracy theory...and more... *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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980. Hannah Pittard
07/29/2025
980. Hannah Pittard
is the author of the novel , available from Henry Holt & Co. Pittard is the author of the novels Listen to Me and The Fates Will Find Their Way. She is a winner of the Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award, a MacDowell fellow, and the Guy M. Davenport Professor in English at the University of Kentucky. She lives with her boyfriend and stepdaughter in Lexington. Much of her family lives nearby. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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979. Ken Baumann
07/27/2025
979. Ken Baumann
is the author of the novella . Baumann is the author of seven novels and three works of nonfiction. After working as an actor in film and TV, running the publishing company Sator Press, studying canonical texts at St. John's College, and playing competitive Magic: The Gathering, he now lives and works as a writer and coach in Santa Fe, New Mexico. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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52 Weeks of Brad & Mira
07/24/2025
52 Weeks of Brad & Mira
Volume 52 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...a year of podcasting...Mira's longest run of continuous employment...Mira vs. diarrhea...the Tesla Diner opens in Hollywood...Mira does hot yoga to relieve PTSD...Brad watches the new Billy Joel documentary...the '70s smelled bad...Gwyneth talks about technically excellent tea-bagging...Ozzie RIP....Trump and Epstein's "wonderful secrets"...and more... *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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978. Megan Abbott
07/22/2025
978. Megan Abbott
is the author of the novel , available from G. P. Putnam's Sons. Abbott is the Edgar award-winning author of eleven crime novels, including You Will Know Me, Give Me Your Hand and the New York Times bestseller The Turnout, the winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Paris Review and the Wall Street Journal. Dare Me, the series she adapted from her own novel, now streaming on Netflix. Her latest novel, Beware the Woman, is now in paperback. Photo credit: Nina Subin. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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Exploring Hybrid Literary Forms
07/20/2025
Exploring Hybrid Literary Forms
A new Craftwork conversation with and , co-authors of , available from W. W. Norton & Col. Davison is the author of Doubting Thomas and founder of The Lab, a generative writing workshop. He is emeritus faculty in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, and lives in Oakland, California with his husband. LaPlante is the author of the craft book The Making of a Story and the New York Times best-selling novel Turn of Mind. She has taught creative writing at Stanford and San Francisco State University and lives in Mallorca, Spain, with her family. *** is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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Slap Me and Call Me Mommy
07/17/2025
Slap Me and Call Me Mommy
Volume 51 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...Brad's life as a CEO...both Brad and Mira are experiencing burnout and Mira has been burned out since age 4...the Minecraft Movie's pro-child-labor agenda...Brad reviews the new Supermanmovie...celebrities and their obsession with yacht vacations (and Wimbledon)...Diddy reads self-help books...Elon Musk creates an AI Hotwire for his incel army....Britney adopts a baby girl????....and more... *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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977. Kashana Cauley
07/15/2025
977. Kashana Cauley
is the author of the novel , available from Atria Books. Cauley's other novel is called The Survivalists, which was named a best book of 2023 by the BBC, Today, Vogue, and more. She is also a television writer, having worked on The Great North, Pod Save America on HBO, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and more. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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Special Episode: DeepDive Sneak Preview!
07/13/2025
Special Episode: DeepDive Sneak Preview!
In today's episode, I'm sharing an exclusive sneak preview of How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from my new company, , which will be launching soon. How to Write a Novel is hosted by yours truly, and it features more than 50 hours of insight and instruction from dozens of today's leading contemporary authors, including Emily St. John Mandel, Melissa Broder, Stephen Graham Jones, V. V. Ganeshananthan, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Porochista Khakpour, Claudia Dey, Gina Frangello, Tod Goldberg, Antoine Wilson, Vauhini Vara, Madelaine Lucas, Matt Bell, and many more. Today, you'll be hearing the first episode in the course. The episode is called "Why Write a Novel?" and it features a wonderful conversation with Steve Almond, New York Times bestselling author of several books, including the critically acclaimed debut novel All the Secrets of the World, and a superb craft book called Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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Seventy Hot Dogs in Ten Minutes
07/10/2025
Seventy Hot Dogs in Ten Minutes
Volume 50 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...Mira experiences back pain, takes 100mg of THC...Brad recaps his chaotic vacation...the shittiest 4th of July ever...America's obsession with hot dog eating...fireworks...Diddy gets semi-acquitted...baby oil celebrations...the great Epstein cover-up...Denise Richards and her reiki masseuse husband are divorcing...and more... *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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976. Jessa Crispin
07/08/2025
976. Jessa Crispin
is the author of , available from Pantheon Books. Jessa's other books include Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto, The Dead Ladies Project, and My Three Dads. She is the editor and founder of The Culture We Deserve as well as host with Nico Rodriguez of TCWD weekly podcast. In 2002, she launched Bookslut.com, one of the first and most treasured literary websites of the era; it ran for fifteen years. She is originally from Lincoln, Kansas, and currently lives in Philadelphia. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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975. Geoff Dyer
07/06/2025
975. Geoff Dyer
is the author of the memoir , available from Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. Dyer's other books include The Last Days of Roger Federer, Out of Sheer Rage, Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It, Zona,See/Saw, and the essay collection Otherwise Known as the Human Condition (winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism). A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dyer lives in Los Angeles, where he is a writer in residence at the University of Southern California. His books have been translated into twenty-four languages. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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I Will Show You My Body
07/03/2025
I Will Show You My Body
Volume 49 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...Mira accidentally names her PTSD "Darrell"...a complete recap of the Bezos-Sanchez wedding in Venice, Italy...the proud tastelessness...the spectacular tackiness...Leo tries desperately to hide...Brad's Fashion Corner..and more... *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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974. Lynn Steger Strong
07/01/2025
974. Lynn Steger Strong
is the author of the novel , available from Mariner Books. Lynn's other novels include Flight, Want, and Hold Still. Her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, Time, Harper’s Bazaar, Los Angeles Times, The Paris Review, The Cut, New York Magazine, and elsewhere. She teaches writing at Princeton and Columbia University. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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Kirsten, 40, Pen and Ink Artist
06/29/2025
Kirsten, 40, Pen and Ink Artist
Character Study, Vol. 16. 'Character Studies' is a new series on the podcast featuring interviews with 'civilians'—ordinary adult humans of all ages and backgrounds, talking with Brad about their lives, anonymously. In Vol. 16, a conversation with Kirsten, 40, a pen and ink artist from Pittsburgh, PA. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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Foam Party with My New Stepdad
06/26/2025
Foam Party with My New Stepdad
Volume 48 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...fast zombies with erect penises...Jeff and Lauren take Venice...foam parties, Gatsby parties, the ritual humiliation of elites...Emma Thompson's prostate crusade...Scarlet Johansson can't stop mouth-kissing her gay co-star...and more... *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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973. Jess Walter
06/24/2025
973. Jess Walter
is the author of the novel , available from Harper Books. It is the official June pick of the . Walter is the author of seven previous novels, including the bestsellers The Cold Millions and Beautiful Ruins, the National Book Award Finalist The Zero, and Citizen Vince,winner of the Edgar Award for best novel. His short fiction, collected in The Angel of Romeand We Live in Water, has won the O. Henry Prize, the Pushcart Prize and appeared three times in Best American Short Stories. He lives in his hometown of Spokane, Washington. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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Rebecca, 35, Human Being
06/22/2025
Rebecca, 35, Human Being
Character Study, Vol. 15. 'Character Studies' is a new series on the podcast featuring interviews with 'civilians'—ordinary adult humans of all ages and backgrounds, talking with Brad about their lives, anonymously. In Vol. 15, a conversation with Rebecca, 35, a human being from Richmond, Virginia. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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The Little Horny Pop Star Who Could
06/19/2025
The Little Horny Pop Star Who Could
Volume 47 of Brad & Mira For the Culture. In this sleep-deprived yet fully charged episode, Brad and Mira dive into a chaotic mix of meditation-induced existential crises, protest politics, the cultural significance of Sabrina Carpenter’s new album art, and the strange allure of Scrotox. They discuss the absurdity of performative wokeness, the hypocrisies of pop culture outrage, and why no one actually cares about what scrotums look like. Along the way, they cover: The perils of insomnia and overmeditating LA protest sign culture and property damage politics Angry Adam's transformation into Anguished Adam Jack Black at a protest—and the ethics of celebrity selfie requests IKEA cosplay and River’s obsession with big-box stores Sabrina Carpenter's new record (Man’s Best Friend), her controversial album art, and what it really says about sexuality and pop culture Feminism, purity politics, and whether women need to tailor their art for dumb men The supply-and-demand logic of porn and whether Gen Z is too scandalized by sex The Bravo show The Valley, Zach Wickham’s scrotox procedure, and the aesthetics of Botoxed balls The ethics of kink in pop culture and why Mira thinks a Bugs Bunny in drag is more sexually provocative than Sabrina Carpenter Kanye West's recent stint in rehab and cryptic tweets about no longer being a Nazi It’s raw, unruly, and refreshingly unfiltered—exactly what you’ve come to expect from Brad & Mira. 📢 Quotable Highlights “Jesus Christ liked to have his hair pulled by Mary Magdalene, I believe.” – Brad “It’s like when Bugs Bunny is in drag.” – Mira “He kind of looks like a scrotum with Botox in it.” – Mira, about RFK Jr. “If you really want to provoke people, you should be pissing on the album cover.” – Brad “Porn didn’t invent choking. People wanted it, so porn delivered.” – Mira *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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972. S. A. Cosby
06/17/2025
972. S. A. Cosby
is the author of the novel , available from Flatiron Books. Cosby is a New York Times bestselling writer from southeastern Virginia. He is the author of All the Sinners Bleed, which was on more than forty Best of the Year lists, including Barack Obama’s, as well as Edgar Award finalist Razorblade Tears and Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner Blacktop Wasteland. He has also won the Anthony Award, ITW Thriller Award, Barry Award, Macavity Award, BCALA Award, and Audie Award and has been longlisted for the ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is an , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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David, 44, Painter
06/15/2025
David, 44, Painter
Character Study, Vol. 14. 'Character Studies' is a new series on the podcast featuring interviews with 'civilians'—ordinary adult humans of all ages and backgrounds, talking with Brad about their lives, anonymously. In Vol. 14, a conversation with David, 44, a graduate student from London. *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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Cazando Esteban
06/12/2025
Cazando Esteban
Volume 46 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...the Gestapo police state insanity in LA...hunting a nude and terrified Stephen...Katie Perry's album fail is causing "tension"....the perils of the "Hollywood fake passionate love affair marketing scheme"...Tom Cruise at 100...Harrison Ford's ageless libido...and more... *** is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: , , , etc. Subscribe to . Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a , working to support local, independent bookstores.
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