Editor and writer Robert Runte joins Mark and Joe on the podcast to encourage everyone to read R. F. Kuang’s satire of the publishing industry, Yellowface.

Before they get into Yellowface, the lads discuss the nature of editing. “Most publishing houses work off the Chicago Manual of Style,” Robert says, “mainly because it was the first style guide for books.”

Robert outlines how he approaches the art of editing with different writers.

He loves R. F. Kuang’s Yellowface, and recommends that everyone listen to the audiobook version of the novel because the actor, Helen Glazer, picks up all the subtleties of the story. Robert says the Glazer does such a good job of showing you the narrator’s point of view that she gets the reader through the most cringe-inducing and tough bits of satire. He says, “If you’re a writer or you want to be a writer, you HAVE to read this book!”

A fun read and a fun conversation!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Joe and Mark invite Tony Schwartz, a veteran freelance first assistant director and line producer for film and television, to make the case for why everyone should watch The Wire.

Tony worked on two of Joe and Mark's favorite shows: Freaks and Geeks and the cult favorite, Firefly, and talks about the heartbreak of working on such fabulous shows only to have them succumb to the whims of how the industry sometimes works.

Tony goes on to make a compelling case for watching his favourite show The Wire, which first aired in 2002.

"It has often been described as the greatest show that nobody saw," he says.

Tony makes his case so well that Mark wound up buying the complete DVD collection while they were still recording this episode!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Mark and Joe are joined by writer and broadcaster Lisa Brandt to discuss a massive environmental art installation by Bulgarian artist Christo Yavacheff and French artist Jeanne-Claude, the artists known jointly as Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Lisa started in radio and has since moved into voice-over work and writing for hire as a freelancer, which she loves. She’s also written several books.

The three discuss The Gates, one of the massive environmental art installations of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The installation was constructed of more than 7,503 steel gates hung with saffron orange cloth, and situated throughout Central Park in New York City. The Gates spanned twenty-three miles in Central Park; it ran from February 12th to the 27th in 2005.

Joe, Mark and Lisa go on to discuss the careers of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the nature of creativity, and explore the question: what does art do for the soul?

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Canadian science fiction writer Hugh A. D. Spencer joins the lads to talk about one of his favorite bits of audio – the original radio play of The War of the Worlds.

The novel by H. G. Wells was written in the 1890s, and adapted by Orson Welles for his Mercury Theatre in 1938. Howard Koch adapted the story for the radio. Koch used the trope of the news flash to tell the story, and this led many listeners who had missed the start of the radio play to think the invasion was real.

It caused a panic.

Joe, Mark and Hugh have a great time talking about the effects of the radio play, science fiction in general, and the impact of the play on Hugh's own work.

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Joe and Mark are joined by the wonderfully original writer Tom Bradley. 3:AM Magazine describes Tom as "... one of the most criminally underrated authors on the planet."

Tom explains what it was like to be a six foot, eight-inch tall red-haired American, living in China and Japan and teaching at a number of English-language universities in both countries.

The peripatetic lifestyle allowed Tom to develop his own writing style and tackle subject matter that was not necessarily mainstream. "I think I've made about $35 in royalties in fifty years of writing," Tom jokes.

He’s worked with the artist that has inspired him: Canada's very own Nick Patterson.

They look at three of the illustrations in Family Romance, one of several books that Nick has worked on with Tom. [see below for the pictures they describe in the podcast]

These illustrations are "breathtaking in a disturbing kind of way" Joe says.

Tom describes the process of working with the artist – Nick created the illustrations and it was Tom's job to create a narrative linking the images.

They have a deep and entertaining conversation about being an exile, teaching abroad, writing, and where writers find their inspiration.

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Blair is a working stage, screen and voice actor and the president of ACTRA Alberta, the acting union for screen and voice performers.

He shares with hosts Joe and Mark some fun acting stories and how various actors pursue their art before talking about the play that still inspires him, Little Shop of Horrors.

Blair got to see the show at the age of 17 on the West End. That version starred Ellen Greene, the original Audrey on Broadway. (She also plays the character in the 1986 movie version of the show.) Blair loved the characters, the songs, the puppet that is the alien, and the chorus, which sings do-wop songs. At the end of the show, tentacles dropped from the ceiling into the audience. The whole thing blew his mind.

"This is what I want to do," Blair said after seeing the show.

For pure fun and laughs, this is an episode not to be missed!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Joe and Mark are joined by the famed cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling, from his studio in Torino (Turin), Italy.

"I don't like doing the same thing over," Bruce says. "So, I don't write trilogies or sequels. I'm writing a lot of short fiction. I do some lecturing and consulting. I'm also the art director of an arts festival here in Turin, which is called Share Festival."

One of Bruce's projects is to re-create a working model of The Versifier, which was originally a 1959 short story by Primo Levi. In the story, a poet is offered the chance to produce more poetry faster with a machine AI. Bruce is assembling a polystyrene model which is the first step to creating a working replica.

What follows is a deep and fascinating conversation that also digs into the work of kinetic sculptor Alexander Calder, AI technology, and the human need to create art.

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Mark and Joe are joined by writer and poet Abigail Grimes to discuss the classic Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451.

Fahrenheit 451, as perhaps you know, is a warning about the dangers of totalitarian thinking and censorship.

"One of the criticisms about the book is the writing is so beautiful that it's hard to take it seriously," Abigail tells us. The gorgeous prose helps the reader get past the worst parts of horror in the book, she says.

Abigail makes a great case for why you should read Fahrenheit 451, if you haven't already. It's a fun conversation about the 1950s, how Bradbury wrote the book, and about the writer himself. We hope you'll listen in!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com