EPISODE · Mar 23, 2026 · 1H 1M
A Meal of Thorns 46- THE BIG SLEEP with Max Gladstone
from A Meal of Thorns · host mealofthorns
We’re leaving speculative genres for just a moment! Author Max Gladstone joins to discuss style & structure in Raymond Chandler’s hardboiled classic The Big Sleep, a work that’s been massively influential across SFF literature, games, & film. Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Max Gladstone Title: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler Host:Jake Casella Brookins Music byGiselle Gabrielle Garcia Additional music from David Hilowitz’s “Future Cities”, CC BY-NC 4.0 And a couple of seconds from the end of The Mountain Goats’ “Cadaver Sniffing Dog” Artwork byRob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Nominate for the Hugos! Nominate for the Le Guin Prize! Support Locus Magazine’s Fundraiser! ARB Kickstarter coming soon! Stranger Things Metro City by Kurt Busiec et al. Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky Kieron Gillan Balsam Karam's Event Horizon John Darnielle's This Year Song Exploder episode on the Mountain Goats song “Cadaver Sniffing Dog” 'Pataphysics Waigong & neigong Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” Dorothy Parker William Gibson L.A. Confidential, dir. Curtis Hanson Tracer Bullet in Bill Waterson’s Calvin & Hobbes Snoopy in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts Dashiel Hammett Haruki Murakami'sHard-Boiled Wonderland & The End of the World Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light & The Dead Man's Brother The Raymond Chandler Papers, edited by Tom Hiney & Frank McShane James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity Chandler’s essay “The Simple Art of Murder” Max Payne, directed by Petri Järvilehto & written by Sam Lake Albert Camus & Jean-Paul Sartre Robert A. Heinlein Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun Hammet's The Maltese Falcon Chandler’s The Long Goodbye Fix-ups & “cannibal novels” William Faulkner & Leigh Bracket To Have and To Have Not, directed by Howard Hawks Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall Chandler’s The High Window Rex Stour's Nero Wolfe stories, such as Black Orchids “The CSI effect” Jeffrey Rowland's “Science Cop” bit in Wigu David Lynch Paul Aster Peter Brooks' Reading for the Plot Dead Hand Rule, the latest Craft novel (one more to come!) Max's website & newsletter
What this episode covers
We’re leaving speculative genres for just a moment! Author Max Gladstone joins to discuss style & structure in Raymond Chandler’s hardboiled classic The Big Sleep, a work that’s been massively influential across SFF literature, games, & film. Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Max Gladstone Title: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler Host:Jake Casella Brookins Music byGiselle Gabrielle Garcia Additional music from David Hilowitz’s “Future Cities”, CC BY-NC 4.0 And a couple of seconds from the end of The Mountain Goats’ “Cadaver Sniffing Dog” Artwork byRob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough References: Nominate for the Hugos! Nominate for the Le Guin Prize! Support Locus Magazine’s Fundraiser! ARB Kickstarter coming soon! Stranger Things Metro City by Kurt Busiec et al. Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky Kieron Gillan Balsam Karam's Event Horizon John Darnielle's This Year Song Exploder episode on the Mountain Goats song “Cadaver Sniffing Dog” 'Pataphysics Waigong & neigong Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” Dorothy Parker William Gibson L.A. Confidential, dir. Curtis Hanson Tracer Bullet in Bill Waterson’s Calvin & Hobbes Snoopy in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts Dashiel Hammett Haruki Murakami'sHard-Boiled Wonderland & The End of the World Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light & The Dead Man's Brother The Raymond Chandler Papers, edited by Tom Hiney & Frank McShane James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity Chandler’s essay “The Simple Art of Murder” Max Payne, directed by Petri Järvilehto & written by Sam Lake Albert Camus & Jean-Paul Sartre Robert A. Heinlein Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun Hammet's The Maltese Falcon Chandler’s The Long Goodbye Fix-ups & “cannibal novels” William Faulkner & Leigh Bracket To Have and To Have Not, directed by Howard Hawks Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall Chandler’s The High Window Rex Stour's Nero Wolfe stories, such as Black Orchids “The CSI effect” Jeffrey Rowland's “Science Cop” bit in Wigu David Lynch Paul Aster Peter Brooks' Reading for the Plot Dead Hand Rule, the latest Craft novel (one more to come!) Max's website & newsletter
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A Meal of Thorns 46- THE BIG SLEEP with Max Gladstone
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