Third Person Limited

We had a great time with Nina McConigley, author of the new novel How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder, which hits all the beats you want from a book where a character named Agatha Krishna says, “We blame the British.” Nina shared with us her thoughts on how colonialism divided not only countries but selves, and where characters (and real people) find themselves within those divides. Then, how can you tell if a translated work is good when you don’t know the author’s language? Maybe the translator created something great that isn’t really true to the original version, or brought down a great work with their bad translation. (Note to translators: We think you are cool and the above scenario is purely hypothetical.) How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder is available now.   Works cited this episode: Angels in America, Tony Kushner Cowboys and East Indians, Nina McConigley Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky Sympathy for the Traitor: A Translation Manifesto by Mark Polizzotti The Odyssey, Homer, translated by Emily Wilson Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, translated by Gregory Rabassa Our Share of Night, Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell On the Soul (De Anima), Aristotle, translated by Hugh Lawson-Tancred The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

We were fortunate to have Jared Lemus, author of the story collection Guatemalan Rhapsody, join us to discuss masculinity and empathy in fiction. Jared recently won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for debut story collection, and he was also once Nate’s co-worker. (Which is also a noteworthy achievement.) Plus, what if the author was peering over your shoulder while you read their book? They aren’t, but what if you intentionally imagined that they were, and it was up to you to figure out what they’re doing with their writing? This is all just hypothetical and not a real topic from our podcast. Works cited this episode: How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder, Nina McConigley Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin Paradise Lost, John Milton “The Death of the Author,” Roland Barthes “The Intentional Fallacy,” W.K. Wimsatt Jr. and M.C. Beardsley The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett The Epic of Gilgamesh Beowulf

We’re excited to welcome filmmaker and author John Sayles to the show. John spoke with us about his most recent novel, Crucible, which focuses on the impact that an egocentric automobile magnate’s uninformed plans has on the economy and other populations. Sounds vaguely familiar. We also dove into John’s career, screenwriting vs. writing fiction, and what makes Pittsburgh so great.   Then, our intrepid hosts returned to a topic hinted at last time: how much overlap there is between the books the two of us have read? What a shocker: we both read Moby-Dick!   Crucible by John Sayles is out now   Works cited this episode:   A Moment in the Sun, John Sayles The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs White Teeth, Zadie Smith Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt, John Bellairs Want, Lynn Steger Strong Why We Read Fiction: Theory of Mind and the Novel, Lisa Sunshine Don’t Skip Out on Me, Willy Vlautin The Killer is Dying, James Sallis Pulp Fiction, dir. Quentin Tarantino The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen

  So your manuscript was rejected by another publisher. Will you revise your work to meet the shifting whims of the marketplace, or hold steady to your uncompromising vision, bragging all the while about the rejections you’ve accumulated like tumbleweeds tangled in a barbed wire fence? Meanwhile, we also wonder if one can ever truly read a book alone, or if the various social contexts are inextricable from that experience, like tumbleweeds tangled in a barbed wire fence.     Works cited this episode:   “Why is everyone suddenly obsessed with reframing rejection?” Brittany Allen, LitHub This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy “Host,” David Foster Wallace, The Atlantic “In Defense of the Traditional Review,” Richard Brody, The New Yorker Middlemarch, George Eliot Sundial, Catriona Ward Piranesi, Susanna Clarke She’s Come Undone, Wally Lamb I’m Losing You, Bruce Wagner Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes Moby-Dick, Herman Melville “The Couch,” Seinfeld, created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld Beloved, Toni Morrison

Will Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, or any of the other fictional teen sleuths ever grow up? We spoke with Tom Ryan, whose novel We Had a Hunch throws adult versions of kid detectives into several harrowing grown-up situations, from hunting a serial killer to the slow-dawning realization that they’ve become middle-aged.   Plus: are contemporary works of art too literal? It’s no fun if a novel or a movie tells to your face its theme and meaning. That’s the message of our movie, Movies Should Not Tell You Their Meaning.   We Had a Hunch by Tom Ryan is out now.   Works Cited this episode:   Nancy Drew mysteries, Franklin W. Dixon/the Stratemeyer Syndicate Hardy Boys mysteries, Franklin W. Dixon/the Stratemeyer Syndicate The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie Keep This to Yourself, Tom Ryan The Treasure Hunters Club, Tom Ryan Murder, She Wrote, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, and The Silence of the Lambs, dir. Jonathan Demme “The New Literalism Plaguing Today’s Biggest Movies,” Namwali Serpell, The New Yorker Anora, dir. Sean Baker Cinderella, dir. Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Clyde Geronimi Mad Men, created by Matthew Weiner The Brutalist, dir. Brady Corbet Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison The Trial, Franz Kafka Eradication, Jonathan Miles The Housemaid, Frieda McFadden Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann The Daydreaming Boy, Micheline Aharonian Marcom Outbreak, dir. Wolfgang Peterson Friends, created by David Crane and Marta Kaufman Field of Dreams, dir. Phil Alden Robinson Shoeless Joe, W.P. Kinsella Mikey and Nicky, dir. Elaine May The Parker novels, Richard Stark Tender is the Flesh, Agustina Bazterrica The Jungle, Upton Sinclair Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser

We have too many reviews and not enough interpretive criticism. At least, that’s what Nathan says, and it seems to hold water. A true critique engages your intellect and raises questions, while a review just says whether you should watch that movie/read that book/listen to that podcast. In our second segment, we engage with Ivy Pochoda’s latest novel, Ecstasy, which itself engages with the classical play The Bacchae. We’re not saying a cult of drunken women who kill the men would solve all our problems, but maybe it’s a start. Ecstasy by Ivy Pochoda is available now Works cited this episode: I Know What You Did Last Summer, dir. Jim Gillespie Return of the Jedi, dir. Richard Marquand The Empire Strikes Back, dir. Irvin KershnerFargo, dir. Joel Cohen Siskel & Ebert “Fargo Forum: Minnesota, Masculinity, Mike Yanagita, and more,” Noel Murray, Keith Phipps, Nathan Rabin, Tasha Robinson, Matt Singer, Scott Tobias, The Dissolve “Against Interpretation,” Susan Sontag The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald “In Defense of the Traditional Review,” Richard Brody, The New Yorker Volcano, dir. Mick Jackson “It Lavas L.A.,” Richard Corliss, TIME Capital, Karl Mark The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien Wonder Valley, Ivy Pochoda Sing Her Down, Ivy Pochoda Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen The Bacchae, Euripides Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver David Copperfield, Charles Dickens Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov Liar Liar, dir. Tom Shadyac 30 Rock, created by Tina Fey

Our hosts have ideas about what sort of books should have been included on the Voyager spacecraft, to support its heartwarming mission of spreading humanity to the stars. Would you have just sent the aliens your favorite book? Because maybe they don’t have the context to understand what a “Da Vinci Code” even is. And speaking of putting a lot of pressure on a book, TV creator Michael Schur’s How to Be Perfect put that pressure on itself. Philosophical ethics never sounded so good. How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur   Works cited this episode:   The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, William Shakespeare Bridgerton series, Julia Quinn Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk Twilight, Stephenie Meyer The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien The Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee The Ride of the Valkyries, Richard Wagner “Queen of the Night,” The Magic Flute, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “Johnny B. Goode,” Chuck Berry The Three-Body Problem, CIxin Liu Contact, Carl Sagan The Art of War, Sun Tzu Silo, created by Graham Yost Fox in Socks, Dr. Seuss The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss Galaxy Quest, dir. Dean Parisot The Tragedy of King Lear, William Shakespeare The Office, developed by Greg Daniels Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur The Good Place, created by Michael Schur The Apology of Socrates, Plato Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, dir. Ed Solomon The Simpsons and Philosophy, William Irwin, Mark T. Conrad, Aeon J. Skoble, editors Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, David Baggett, Shawn E. Klein, William Irwin, editors The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy, Luke Cuddy, editor Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy, Erin McKenna, Scott L. Pratt, editors Radiohead and Philosophy, Brandon W. Forbes, George A. Reisch, editors Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig

Author and screenwriter Chris Hauty joined us to discuss his latest thriller, Dead Ringer, which imagines a conspiracy around the JFK assassination—and if you think you’ve heard it all before on this topic, we assure you this novel will take you somewhere you were not expecting. Chris shared his surprising influences and offered insights about where Hollywood and book publishing overlap (and where they don’t). Then, we ponder why books are such popular gifts when they’re actually rather fraught as an item to give someone else. What if they don’t like it? Or don’t even like books? Or you’re trying too hard? Or … what if we’re overthinking this topic. Hmm.   Dead Ringer by Chris Hauty is out now.   Works cited this episode:   Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen Notes of a Dirty Old Man, Charles Bukowski Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, dir. Quentin Tarantino Sniper: Ultimate Kill, dir. Claudio Fäh Three Days of the Condor, dir. Sydney Pollack Winter’s Bone, dir. Debra Granik Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown The Gift, Lewis Hyde “The Gift of the Magi,” O. Henry Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton Dog Man, Dav Pilkey Our Share of Night, Mariana Enriquez Sister Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson, Claire Hoffman They Flew: A History of the Impossible, Carlos Eire Why? The Purpose of the Universe, Philip Goff The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead “Don’t Buy Me Books,” Katherine Marciniak, Bookriot

All those “best books of the year” lists are bogus marketing material that flattens the distinct reading experience that any individual brings to a book they interact with. We tore apart the very concept of those lists in this episode. Then we shared our own Best Books list! Hypocrisy, or nuanced ability to delicately balance competing perspectives? Eh.  Also, what is Author X up to with that crummy novel they released this year? Blind and not-so-blind items on the year’s worst books.   Works cited this episode:   Books We Love, National Public Radio 100 Notable Books of 2025, The New York Times Sunshine on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins Audition, Katie Mitamura Spent, Alison Bechdel “In Defense of the Traditional Review,” Richard Brody, The New Yorker Luminous, Silvia Park Audition, Pip Adam Terrestrial History, Joe Mungo Reed What We Can Know, Ian McEwan The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu Shadow Ticket, Thomas Pynchon Of Monsters and Mainframes, Barbara Truelove The Merge, Grace Walker Severance, created by Dan Erickson Severance, Ling Ma The Unveiling, Quan Barry Will There Ever Be Another You, Patricia Lockwood Bind Me Tighter Still, Lara Ehrlich Old Soul, Susan Barker Metallic Realms, Lincoln Michel Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov Alchemised, SenLinYu

We’re back with more Short Stories We Love, after Nathan scoured the literary mags to find writers who deserve a closer look. Short stories aren’t just for The New Yorker! In this episode, Joey Hedger brings us a tale of cancer and terrible liqueur; Glenn Clifton joins from Canada with a story of viral infamy and relationships; and Patricia Q. Bidar shares an ode to her hometown featuring a massive explosion.  “Her Jesus Year” by Joey Hedger is in HAD “What You Are Looking For Is What Is Looking” by Glenn Clifton is in The Ex-Puritan “Port Town” by Patricia Q. Bidar is in Waxwing    Works cited this episode: No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood Deliver Thy Pigs, Joey Hedger "Bottom’s Dream," Glenn Clifton "Finding the Form," Glenn Clifton "Al Roosten," George Saunders The Circle, Dave Eggers Spaceballs, dir. Mel Brooks The Jetsons, Hanna-Barbera So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson Baywatch, created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bonann "T Rex," Patricia Q. Bidar

We had a great time welcoming writer Amber Sparks to the show and discussing her new novel Happy People Don’t Live Here, which features a girl detective, abusive men, ghosts, a mermaid, and what it means to keep your love for someone alive long after they — or you — are gone. Amber is conflicted about the idea of Virginia Woolf using social media and, like several guests before her, stands up for the unjustly maligned second person POV.  Then, we do a deep dive on We Love You, Bunny, this year’s follow-up to Mona Awad’s cult hit novel Bunny. We are unanimous in our belief that it is both sequel and prequel, which is both interesting and problematic.  Amber Sparks' books can be found on her website, she can be followed on BlueSky, and her story "Your Life in Parties" is in the Substack literary Journal Short Story Long. Works cited this episode:   Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski And I Do Not Forgive You, Amber Sparks Self-Help, Lorrie Moore The Secret History, Donna Tartt The Theory of Everything, dir. James Marsh Dead Poets Society, dir. Peter Weir Babel, R.F. Kuang Katabasis, R.F. Kuang Bunny, Mona Awad Heathers, dir. Michael Lehmann Mean Girls, dir. Mark Waters The Breakfast Club, dir. John Hughes The Craft, dir. Andrew Fleming Blob, Maggie Su A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin The Lost World, Michael Crichton The President is Missing, Bill Clinton and James Patterson The Hardy Boys series, Franklin W. Dixon/The Stratemeyer Syndicate

We sat down with Jason Diamond, bookish man about town and author of Kaplan’s Plot, a multigenerational Jewish gangster saga in bookstores now. He made a strong case for Chicago as a literary city and for not forgetting the immigrant experience in your ancestry. Then, we pull back the curtain on back-of-the-book blurbs and other publicity tactics. “Riveting!” — Stephen King   Works Cited   The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow Humboldt’s Gift, Saul Bellow The Middlesteins, Jami Attenberg The Lazarus Project, Aleksandar Hemon The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros Native Son, Richard Wright The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler The Bear, created by Christopher Storer Chicago Fire, created by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt The Man with the Golden Arm, Nelson Algren See Friendship, Jeremy Gordon The Godfather, Part II, dir. Francis Ford Coppola The Castle, Franz Kafka The Trial, Franz Kafka It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, created by Rob McElhenney We Love You Bunny, Mona Awad The Footprints of God, Greg Iles Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition  

We’re feeling spooky with horror author Kyle Winkler, back to discuss his latest novel, the creepy and horrifying Enter the Peerless, which starts with a private investigator trying to figure out what happened to a bunch of people who went into an abandoned trailer and never came out. Always a thoughtful and fun guest, Kyle gives us some insight into his process for this novel while establishing a mind-meld with Nathan over possible Halloween costumes. Plus, Mason overreacts to an upcoming novel being based on the Faust myth, and demands a moratorium on Faust retellings. Will the literary establishment take note? Enter the Peerless by Kyle Winkler is out now. Works Cited this episode: Moby-Dick, Herman Melville Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence Middlemarch, George Eliot “The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez Jack Reacher books, Lee Child Being John Malkovich, dir. Spike Jonze Suttree, Cormac McCarthy The Road, Cormac McCarthy The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck The Game, dir. David Fincher The School of Night, Karl Ove Knausgaard The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe Faust, Charles Gounod The Devil’s Advocate, dir. Taylor Hackford Devil’s Contract: The History of the Faustian Bargain, Ed Simon The Spanish Tragedy, Thomas Kyd Dark Renaissance, Stephen Greenblatt The Winter of our Discontent, John Steinbeck Ulysses, James Joyce The French Lieutenant’s Woman, John Fowles Paradise Lost, John Milton The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare Warm Bodies, dir. Jonathan Levine Coriolanus, William Shakespeare The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark, William Shakespeare Titanic, dir. James Cameron Clueless, dir. Amy Heckerling Hamlet 2, Andrew Fleming The Epic of Gilgamesh The Odyssey, Homer Spawn, Todd McFarland

The first in an occasional series focusing on short stories we found in various journals, and interviews with those authors. Short stories don't get much love outside of The New Yorker or MFA workshops, but they should! Many of them are incredible. Our guests include writers Billy Irving, Kelly Magee, and Kit McGuire.  Works cited this episode: Alyoshenka legend Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger “The Sound of Thunder,” Ray Bradbury “The Lady or the Tiger,” Frank R. Stockton There is no Antimemetics Division, qntm “The Neighborhood,” Kelly Magee Don't forget to visit our site at thirdpersonlimited.com, find us on Bluesky, and leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast platform. 

We knew Zuck was a fan of the podcast. We didn’t know he would go so far as to dig up our old articles and use them, along with a million other books, to train Meta’s AI. Oh, you say he didn’t do it himself, and maybe it’s not stealing (legal opinions pending)? This may be true, or it may just be a topic we debate on this episode. Plus: We review the novel Luminous, by Silvia Park, a touching story of humans seeking connection in a world where robots walk among us.

Writer Erin Lyndal Martin joins the show to inform us that Saddam Hussein wrote a romance novel, but only after we wondered if Joe Rogan could do it. Other topics include whether men should read more literature, which we think Yes! They should; and whether men doing so would make the world a better place, which we think is debatable. Also, what to do about books that are capital-I Important but maybe not so great?

Bestselling author of The Confessions and bookstore owner Paul Bradley Carr returns for Part 2 of our conversation about artificial intelligence, the power of narratives, drinking blood, and whether vaping is cool (spoiler: it’s not). The AI chatbots kept trying to disrupt our Zoom session with Paul, but for now, humans remain dominant. We also discuss Tom Comitta’s Patchwork, a novella constructed entirely from snippets of text taken from other, previously published works. One of our hosts was turned off by this experimental approach. Try to guess which one! We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Author Kyle Winkler joins this episode to talk about horror fiction and his novel Tone Bone. What's scarier: There's a Wocket in my Pocket or Goodnight Moon? Plus, we review BLOB by Maggie Su, and in the process, we enjoy saying "blob" over and over again. Try it!

We invited former tech journalist and bestselling author Paul Bradley Carr for a rollicking discussion about his new novel, The Confessions. It features an all-knowing Artificial Intelligence that doesn’t want to destroy the world—because it was trained by reading fiction. He also shared his polite and not-at-all derogatory thoughts about several leading tech industry personalities. Plus, our discussion of Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano’s latest novel, Ballerina, inspired Nathan to invent the cool new subgenre Proustian Noir. 

We were joined by author and poet Dan Eastman for a discussion about confessional poetry, second-person POV, and the best memes. I ask you: should poems mention Facebook? Still waiting on our podcast name during this episode. Nice of Dan to not make fun of us for this.

Nate and Mason both have MFAs, but do they go around telling everyone and demanding book deals because of it? Well, yes, if you’re offering. But anyway, a social media firestorm about a take about Sally Rooney not having an MFA got us thinking: Are They Good and Should Anyone Care?

Our first episode, before we even had a name for this podcast. So, it's a big question, whether reading is good. Specifically, is reading fiction inherently good, as well as instrumentally good (meaning, it’s good for some other reason, like making you smarter)? We grapple with this, mostly by talking. Also: Why do so many YA novels use orphans as protagonists?