The Feeler (Tomek) and MarkWillWrite (your favorite author, songwriter, and publisher in permanent exile) were joined this past weekend in the Riverside studio by special guest G.J. Villa for Part 1 of The Textually Deviant Literary Battle Royale a.k.a. The Write-Off. This is our third—yes, third—tournament-style podcast, as Tomek keeps insisting that we do them and I am powerless to refuse. Having determined the greatest musical artist of all time in the first episode of this type (The Textually Deviant Pazz & Jop Tournament) and the most delicious food of all time in the second (The Textually Deviant Pseudo-Mukbang Tournament), we now turn our attention to the greatest writers of all time. Press play above to hear the entire convo as we introduce the 64 contestants (with AI slop generated by a prompt requesting WWF-style descriptions), spin the wheel of fortune to determine the first 8 matchups, debate the merits of each of the 16 contestants in those first 8 matchups, and then vote for our personal favorites. Let us know where we went wrong, who should or should not have been included in our list of 64, why you are more of an authority than we are, etc.
If you have the necessary intestinal fortitude, you can watch the “raw” livestream, which features an impromptu book talk and various technical mishaps (including Villa’s demonic Batman villain mic around the 45-minute mark):
More delicate palates may prefer the “cooked” version (with thumbnail by MW for a change):
Show Notes
our theme song:
If you liked Carrère’s The Kingdom, you’ll love his PKD bio:
Shame on me for not having read this (yet):
a popular selection:
Villa votes for Vargas Llosa!
recommended by The Feeler:
recommended to The Feeler:
The influence of Hemingway runs deep:
Should Mahfouz have made the cut?
first edition:
a good translation:
Wilde at heart:
