Tim Kreider on writing, W. Bush v. Trump, and the future of the future

Tim Kreider is a cartoonist and essayist. If you’re not familiar with Tim’s work, sign up for his Substack (“The Loaf”), and read his two books of essays, “We Learn Nothing” & “I Wrote this Book Because I Love You.” Tim’s writing is a deadly combination of elegant & original prose, wicked humor, and bare-it-all honesty. He’s my favorite writer. We discuss… With Cormac McCarthy gone, who’s the best living writer of the English language? How a young Tim enjoyed the works of YA / sci-fi writer John Christopher (real name: Christopher Samuel Youd). Books mentioned: The World in Winter and The Death of Grass and the Tripod Trilogy, plus… Moby Dick is strange. The best standalone chapter: “The Line.” It’s possible neither Tim nor I know what “postmodernism” is.Montaigne’s “everyman” tower Is “DEI” the new way of using the “N word?” One of Tim’s first big breaks—commentary on Eyes Wide Shut in Film Quarterly. James Salter, a writer’s writer.Hedy Lamarr Revisiting a few of Tim’s essays and characters — Tim’s peak-oil obsessed friend and the state of Tim’s busyness. Is writing a “nice thing to do?” On how Tim is stylishly homeless. Melville House’s FUTURES Series. Tech utopians: “people who don’t like being people.” Kim Stanley Robinson’s Three Californias Trilogy. Tim’s recommendations: