Three Percent Podcast

We did it! Chad and Rachel Cardasco (with an assist from Tom Flynn of Volumes) talk about the last sections of Sjón's CoDex 1962. It's been quite the season and they bring it home in old school TMR style with a lot of Twin Peaks talk, many many digressions, acknowledging motifs and ideas that may or may not actually be in the text, and having a lot of fun. This is the most sci-fi section of the novel, which makes it a lot of fun. (THE ROBOTS ARE ALWAYS GOING TO TAKE OVER.) Season 9 of the Two Month Review will kick off at the end of July and will feature Monsterhuman by Kjersti Skomsvold. Get your copy now! And Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included: Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts on Sjón and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. And foll0w Rachel Cordasco on Twitter and at Speculative Fiction in Translation. And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this

Chad shares his stupid dreams, Tom questions translators who work for AmazonCrossing and then want indie bookstores to help them out, and they both marvel over Deep Vellum's acquisition of Phoneme Media and A Strange Object (and the launching of the La Reunion imprint). It's a short episode, but filled with great moments, really lukewarm takes, and a revisiting of James Wood's takedown of Paul Auster.  This week's music is Sault's "Foot on Necks." As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you’d like us to read and analyze (or just make fun of), send those along as well. And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes! You can also follow Open Letter, Riffraff, and Chad and on Twitter and Instagram (OL, Riffraff, Chad) for book and baseball talk. If you don’t already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and other places. Or you can always subscribe by ad

Things start to come clear in this penultimate episode of this season of the Two Month Review. We get a new story about Joséf's birth, along with some absolutely incredible writing by Sjón. Lots of parallels and mirroring in this section, and the discussion helps set up next week's conclusion. The next episode will focus on the first eight chapters of this third volume (pages 345-406). The complete schedule can be found here. Season 9 of the Two Month Review will kick off at the end of July and will feature Monsterhuman by Kjersti Skomsvold. Get your copy now! And Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included: Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts on Sjón and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions. You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTun

As part of "Norwegian Month" here at Three Percent, translator Becky Crook (The Black Signs, Monsterhuman, Silence: In the Age of Noise, and many more) came on the podcast to talk about her first cover letter, in which ways she's become a better translator over the past half-decade, what to watch out for in contracts, the difficulties in translating intentional mistakes, Norwegian dream projects, and much more. Emerging and experienced translators are sure to get something out of this, even if it's just the desire to rush out and get ahold of the wild, absurd The Black Signs by Lars Mørch Finbourd.  You can follow Open Letter and Chad on Twitter and Instagram (OL, Chad) for book and baseball talk, and for information about other podcasts and Three Percent articles.  This episode's music is "You're My Excuse to Travel" by Baths. If you don’t already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and other places. Or you can always subscribe by adding our feed directly into your fa

We're into the homestretch! Today episode, featuring special guest Katie Whittemore, kicks off the discussion of the third and final volume of Sjón's CoDex 1962, "I'm a Sleeping Door: A Science-Fiction Story." More origin myths in this volume, ranging from the epic and literary, to the mundane and realistic. A woman gives birth to a daughter made up of sperm from four men, and we get to see the fate of all four thousand Icelandic children born during 1962, many of whom have mutated. We find out who's been talking to whom and (kind of) why. And we find out about a mysterious geneticist. All of these threads are interwoven in a detailed, intricate way that Brian, Katie, and Chad unwind in a fun, intelligent ways. The next episode will focus on the first eight chapters of this third volume (pages 345-406). The complete schedule can be found here. Season 9 of the Two Month Review will kick off at the end of July and will feature Monsterhuman by Kjersti Skomsvold. Get your copy now! And Season 10 will be the firs

Chad and Tom talk about a number of interrelated issues related to the costs of bookstore ownership and being a bookseller. They talk about the recent letter from Chris Doeblin at Book Culture, The Book Diaries, Human Rights for Translators,  the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Internet and Book Culture, and the new "Translators on Books That Should Be Translated" feature at Reading in Translation.  This week's intro music is "I'll Believe in Anything" by Wolf Parade, and the outro music is "I Feel Emotion" by Operators.  As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you’d like us to read and analyze (or just make fun of), send those along as well. And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes! You can also follow Open Letter, Riffraff, and Chad and on Twitter and Instagram (OL, Riffraff, Chad) for book and baseball talk. If you don’t already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast

In this special bonus episode, Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer and Effectively Wild talks with Chad about his new book, The MVP Machine. They talk about the premise of the book—how player development is the new "Moneyball" and is being driven by players and technology—about the process of co-writing, feedback loops for writing, and the mysteries of publishing and its lack of empirical data gathering. Oh, and Willians Astudillo makes a last minute appearance. There's even mention of an influential book on pitching that a pitching guru paid to get translated . . . You can follow Ben on Twitter and you can purchase The MVP Machine from any and all retail outlets. (Also, Chad highly recommends listening to the Effectively Wild podcast.)  You can also follow Open Letter and Chad on Twitter and Instagram (OL, Chad) for book and baseball talk. This week's intro music is "Stats" by The Baseball Project, and the outro music is "Can You Deal?" by Bleached. If you don’t already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast you

This week, Tobias Carroll joined Chad and Brian to talk about werewolves, puns that don't exactly work in translation, evil baseball card shop owners, weird Masonic rituals, Party Down South, and Fred Durst and John Travolta's The Fanatic. They also have a lot of praise for Sjón and the wild, fun nature of the second volume in CoDex 1962, and set up volume three: "I'm a Sleeping Door: A Science-Fiction Story." The next episode will focus on the first eight chapters of this third volume (pages 345-406). The complete schedule can be found here. Announcements! Season 9 of the Two Month Review will kick off at the end of July and will feature Monsterhuman by Kjersti Skomsvold. Get your copy now! And Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included: Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts on Sjón and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. And follow Tobias Carroll for information about all his writing, including

This week's episode covers a lot of ground, from disturbing American racism circa 1917 to codswallop; from werewolves to parliamentary fights, from ghosts to crime/heist narratives. It's a really fun episode that has a good take on this section of the book mixed with some really fun segues and digressions. The next episode will focus on pages 303-344 (to the end of the second volume of the trilogy, "Iceland's Thousand Years"). The complete schedule can be found here. Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts on Sjón and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. And follow Hailey Dezort to improve your PetSmart reading series. And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions. And preorder Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann so that you're prepared for a future TMR. You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the po

Chad and Tom are joined by Mark Haber from Brazos Bookstore and author of the forthcoming Reinhardt's Garden (October 1, Coffee House Press). They talk a bit about Translation Bread Loaf (two thumbs up) and about a special poster for anyone who buys the First 100 from Open Letter, before trying their best to breakdown a nonsensical metaphor that Chad heard at this weekend's The Ladder Literary Conference. They also talk about Reinhardt's Garden, Mark's influences, the voice of the main character, and Chad's "Five Tools for Authors" post. (Also: See the "Five Tools for Translators.") Then, they recommend a slew of books to check out: Hold Fast Your Crown by Yannick Haenel, trans. by Teresa Lavender Fagan Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman  The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán, trans. by Sophie Hughes The Incompletes by Sergio Chejfec, trans. by Heather Cleary The Dreamed Part by Rodrigo Fresán, trans. by Will Vanderhyden Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai, trans. by Ottilie Mulzet "The Revi

Chad and Tom took some time off on Memorial Day to bring you this little podcast about the Best Translated Book Award finalists (winner will be announced at 5pm on 5/29 at BEA/NYRF, and there will be an informal afterparty at The Brooklyneer on Houston starting at 7), about the Man Booker International winner, about the quality of book production, anchoring with regard to book prices, and Chad's new obsession with saunas and Norwegian fiction. (He includes a lot of data about Norwegian books in the U.S. that's definitely worth the price of admission.) This week's music is "raging river" from Sebadoh's new, very muscular and surprising, album, Act Surprised. ("celebrate the void" is a great song as well.) As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you’d like us to read and analyze (or just make fun of), send those along as well. And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes! You can also foll

One of the calmest podcasts to date featuring two controversial topics: the new Open Letter cover design, and the side-effects of suddenly doubling (or quadrupling) the number of translations published every year.  In terms of recommendations, this week Chad is all about the completely wild Bred from the Eyes of a Wolf by Kim Kyung Ju, translated from the Korean by Jake Levine. Tom's in love with This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else: Joy Division: The Oral History by Jon Savage. This week's music is "Bike Dream" by Rostam. As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you’d like us to read and analyze (or just make fun of), send those along as well. And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes! You can also follow Open Letter, Riffraff, and Chad and on Twitter and Instagram (OL, Riffraff, Chad) for book and baseball talk. If you don’t already subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast

Chad's just back from a 7 hour train ride. Brian is inebriated. Tom Flynn is . . . Tom Flynn? It's a classic episode of the Two Month Review about horny avenging angels, chamber pot dumps, how many books actually last for a hundred years, the name "Karl," whatever Bumble is, and much more. A fun, loose podcast about a brilliant books. As always, you can watch these episodes live on our YouTube channel the day before they’re released in podcast form. The next episode will focus on pages 110-155 (chapters 12-15 of "Thine Eyes Did See My Substance: A Love Story"). The complete schedule can be found here. Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, Brian Wood, and Tom Flynn for more thoughts on Sjón and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests And be sure to preorder Brian's book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions. And preorder Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann so that you're prepared for a future TMR. You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And

Chad and Tom are back to talk about Independent Bookstore Day (and Free Comic Book Day and Record Store Day), the Indie Playlist Initiative, fascists storming Politics & Prose, Alex Shephard's Mueller Report article, how much money Stanford (the Duke of the West?) is wasting on their crappy football program instead of supporting their University Press, and a future of publishing article that might just be an advertorial for a live-streaming conference? (Wait, WAIT: "emoji activist" is a valid inclusion in your bio?) Chad also thanks Louis Lüthi for sending along A Die with Twenty-Six Faces, and there's a tiny little bit of Avengers: Endgame talk. (Although no baseball! Possibly because Chad doesn't want to jinx the Cardinals, who have the best record AND best run differential in the National League.)  Finally: Nominate writers for the International Writers Hall of Fame! A post including the results will go up later this week, so make your recommendations now.  This week's music is "Something Soon" by p

The new season of the Two Month Review kicks off with a pretty wide-ranging discussion. Sure, there is a bit about Sjón (pronounced SYOHN, which is not how Chad says it) and a few things about his earlier books and CoDex 1962, but a good part of this introductory episode is about patterns in narrative, cinematic realism, the imaginative nature of international literature, boxes and small rooms, Game of Thrones, and Iceland. As always, you can watch these episodes live on our YouTube channel the day before they’re released in podcast form. The next episode will focus on pages 1-57 (chapters 1-6 of "Thine Eyes Did See My Substance: A Love Story") and will be an audio only release. (Chad's graduate students will be the guests.) Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for more thoughts on Sjón and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the

Best Translated Book Award fiction judge Kasia Bartoszynska joins Chad and Tom to talk about the recently released longlists. After providing some insight into the committee's thinking and discussions (and confirming that Chad had no knowledge of the lists beforehand, while not 100% confirming that Chad isn't Adam Hetherington), Kasia returns to her drive through Peoria and Chad and Tom read through all thirty-five longlisted books, commenting on the titles they're familiar with, and projecting the shortlists.  They also recommend two other titles: Ways of Hearing by Damon Krukowski and Meander, Spiral, Explode by Jane Alison.  This week's music is "Tugboat" by Galaxie 500.  As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you’d like us to read and analyze (or just make fun of), send those along as well. And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes! You can also follow Open Letter, Riffraff, and

  As part of Nonfiction in Translation Month at Three Percent, Polish translators Antonia Lloyd-Jones and Sean Bye came on the podcast to explain Polish Reportage, talk about some key figures and forthcoming books, and more or less introduce Open Letter's new nonfiction line. Some of the titles mentioned on this podcast include: Dancing Bears by Witold Szablowski (trans. by Antonia) Foucault in Warsaw by Remigiusz Ryziński (trans. by Sean) Nobody Leaves: Impressions of Poland by Ryszard Kapuscinski (trans. by ?? not on Penguin's site or Amazon) Chasing the King of Hearts by Hannah Krall (trans. by Philip Boehm) Roosters Crow, Dogs Whine by Wojciech Tochman (Antonia is working on a sample) History of a Disappearance by Filip Springer (trans. by Sean) You can find Antonia here, and Sean on the Cedilla & Co. website. The intro/outro music on this episode is from "On the Luna" by Foals. You can also follow Open Letter and Chad on Twitter and Instagram (OL, Chad) for book and baseball talk. If you don’t

On this atypically subdued episode, Chad recounts some of his adventures in Portland at the AWP conference, and speculates about why this was his favorite one to date. Tom helps illuminate some of the mysteries behind IndieBound and what might be next for independent stores trying to capture some online sales. (And how this relates to customers and ABA's overall mission.) Finally, Chad tries to do the self-promotion Tom should be doing by highlighting a recent feature on Riffraff and the release of The Boy by Marcus Malte, which Tom and Emma translated.  This week's music is "Bodys" by Car Seat Headrest.  As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you’d like us to read and analyze (or just make fun of), send those along as well. And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes! You can also follow Open Letter, Riffraff, and Chad and on Twitter and Instagram (OL, Riffraff, Chad) for book and ba

Chad and Brian finish off Radiant Terminus and talk about possible interpretation of the ending, whether anyone came out of this book OK, the balance between humor and horror, written vs. oral culture, possible readings or approaches to the novel, and a desire for a "Post-Exotic" journal. They also revisit Volodine's two-part series, "Post-Exotic Novels, Novelles, and Novelists" from The New Inquiry, and mention McKenzie Wark's "The October Revolution of Antoine Volodine." As always, you can watch these episodes live on our YouTube channel the day before they’re released in podcast form. Season Eight will launch in mid-April (details TK) and will focus on Sjón's CoDex 1962. Get your copy now! Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, Brian Wood, and Rachel Crawford for more thoughts on Volodine and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast. Th

On this week's podcast, Chad and Tom talk laugh about how HarperVia conceives of itself, praise this year's National Book Award for Translation judges, give some spotty analysis of the Man Crankstart (?) Booker International longlist, the idea of an International Writers Hall of Fame (vote here), the one NCAA Basketball Bracket Pool you should join, and Christian Lorenzen's "Like This or Die." Again, vote for who you think should make the International Writers Hall of Fame now (full results are forthcoming). This week's music is "Summon the Fire" by The Comet Is Coming. As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you’d like us to read and analyze (or just make fun of), send those along as well. And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes! You can also follow Open Letter, Riffraff, and Chad and on Twitter and Instagram (OL, Riffraff, Chad) for book and baseball talk. If you don’t already