Vancouver Writers Podcast
by Vancouver Writers
Shorts, excerpts from novels and larger works, scripts, poetry and language-based art. The Vancouver Writer's Group meets on Mondays to share work and give support and feedback. Some of us record for this podcast. More info at http://www.meetup.com/Vancouver-Writers-Group.
Episodes
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WE HAVE MOVED to YouTube!
With the advent of Covid-19 and Zoom meetings, we have moved to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCduH-jv0Pmy4GaXyj1l0eyA! We've also updated the name of the podcast. We are now Do the Wrong Thing! Please update your subscription there. Identical material but with video!
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Ep. 145, In Relation to Other Life Forms
In The Second Undoing of Marlowe Pourer, as Marlowe describes his college years, we see an inverse relationship between his considerable powers of observation and his, er, social skills. In Do the Wrong Thing, after Ava declares that she wouldn't go out with Greg if he was the last man on earth,...
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Ep. 144, Lies We Tell Ourselves
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava is convinced that Ben, the most beautiful man in the world, will never talk to her. In sci-fi short, "Baby Shower," MC tries to extort money from a drug dealer, believing that his Polaroid camera, that sends pictures from the future, would never lie. Story Listing…
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Ep. 143, Tears
In The Second Undoing of Marlowe Pourer, Marlowe describes his family, his dead-end job as a literary assistant and how he found himself crying in an office bathroom, determined to escape. In Do the Wrong Thing, Malcolm revisits an earlier section in preparation for an upcoming reading. Ava turns...
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Ep. 142, Bittersweet and Strange
In Do the Wrong Thing, Jonny takes Ava out for dinner—to a soup kitchen—then invites her to beg with him. In The Second Undoing of Marlowe Pourer, Marlowe has a dream about being in an antiseptic library looking for a book that never appears where it should. Finally, a small green tome with no…
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Ep. 141, My Name's Greg
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava is accosted by a drunk when she goes to get a beer at Knird & Doof. *Malcolm's third reworking of this scene. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - Do the Wrong Thing - character driven, narrative novel excerpt - http://malcolmvandelst.com. Works in progress.…
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Ep. 140, Pseudocide
In Do the Wrong Thing, Malcolm revisits part of the piece she read last week, where Ava is accosted by a drunk at Knird & Doof. In The Second Undoing of Marlowe Pourer, Marlowe takes issue with a newspaper report written about his pseudocide. In the process, we learn more about him, including…
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Ep. 139, The Family Unit
In Without Repentance, we learn many new things about Gillian, Jason and the brave new world they are living in. Procreation and colonizing new planets are not what we assumed them to be. In Do the Wrong Thing, 1980's Ava meets two young men while modern day Ava shops for dusting tools. Story...
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Ep. 138, Danarchy
In comedic memoir, Danarchy, a group of punks stage a die-in at a fur store before launching a small, olive-coloured TV off a highway overpass. Note: Malcolm showed video trailers for the upcoming second book of her Do the Wrong Thing series this week instead of reading. She'll be back next week…
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Ep. 137, Yak-Shaving into 2020
In blog post, "Creating 2020, Yak-Shaving Edition" Malcolm outlines her plans for the upcoming year and describes some of the difficulties she foresees. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - "Creating 2020, Yak-Shaving Edition" - blog post - http://malcolmvandelst.com. Works in progress....
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Episode 136, Haunted Happiness
In horror poem, Night Ghost, a mysterious specter haunts decrepit streets and alleys before finding the bedroom of an unsuspecting innocent. In Do the Wrong Thing, modern day Ava contemplates what "happiness" is exactly while in the 1980's, she's overjoyed to show her art at punk cafe, Knird &...
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Ep. 135, Changing the Rules
In Without Repentance, we meet Alister as he prays, or bargains, with his prophet. It is the eve of the Feast of Desirable Dominion and he has just learned that his son is missing from school at a time when children are being abducted and trained for war. In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava turns up her...
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Ep. 134, Alcohol, Again, and a New Pad
Malcolm reworks her piece from last week where modern day Ava frets about an alcoholic friend who can't keep a job. In the 80s, Ava gets a new apartment. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - Do the Wrong Thing - character driven, narrative novel excerpt - http://malcolmvandelst.com. Works in...
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Ep. 133, Alcohol
In Do the Wrong Thing, modern day Ava frets about her alcoholic friend who can barely keep a job. In the 80s, Ava watches a movie with her new friend, Emily. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - Do the Wrong Thing - character driven, narrative novel excerpt - http://malcolmvandelst.com. Works...
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Ep. 132, Patterns of Growth
In Do the Wrong Thing, modern day Ava worries about money, her writing and a friend she's trying to help. 1980's Ava also worries about money, fights with her roommate and makes friends with a girl with a troubled past. In Tethered World, Zephyr finds Granny in the forest vividly communing with...
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Ep. 131, One Foot in Front of the Other
In memoir, Key to Paradise, Mourad gets a job as a server while he finishes school. He buys an apartment without seeing the outside of it, then gets a new job helping refugees who are mystified by things we Canadians take for granted, like toilets. In Paws for Justice, Anthony introduces the...
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Ep. 130, Into the Woods
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava gets together with Jonny, only to find out that he'll date teenagers AND that he has a girlfriend. She helps his sister with a housing protest and meets a mysterious woman at Pedro’s. In memoir, Key to Paradise, Mourad mulls over his mother’s words regarding his...
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Episode 129, Second Guesses
In memoir, Key to Paradise, once back in Turin, Mourad can't stop thinking about Canada. Even buying a house does not make him feel settled. Further, his mother has some shocking news. Malcolm practices a piece she's going to read at the Vancouver Library in October. Ava's new roommate visits her...
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Ep. 128, Objects in Mirror are Different Than They Appear
In memoir, Key to Paradise, Mourad describes his landlady and her young lover; his own battles with sugar and salt addictions; Vancouver, starting with West Van where he is staying and contrasting that with the DTES. He has to decide whether to stay in Canada or go back to Italy. In...
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Episode 127, A Variety of Disturbances
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava learns that she’s in the 0.2% of the population for hand-eye coordination but is too timid to leave Arbour for a graphic design course. Instead, she joins the army. In dystopian novel, Without Repentance, Heather revisits our intro to Chief Investigator, Gillian, as she...
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Ep. 126, Close Calls
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava has an encounter with her roommate's brother, runs into an old flame and attempts to address her depression by writing poetry. In dystopian novel, Without Repentance, Chief Investigator, Gillian, presents to a conference describing the nuclear bomb that destroyed most…
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Episode 125, Displacement
Heather shares a beautiful love poem and continues with her dystopian novel, Without Repentance. We are introduced to AbAn, a man in prison who makes friends with the only thing he can see through a crack in his wall, a tree. In Keys to Paradise, Mourad's friend, Tony, drives him to Rome where…
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Ep. 124, Maybe Future, Maybe No
In Spelled Backwards, a young boy is given a dog after his mother marries an abusive drunk. In Do the Wrong Thing, Malcolm revisits the "egg piss"/Youtuber segment from last week. In Without Repentance, Trout tousles with her lover after getting ready for work. At work, she signs a release of...
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Ep. 123, Adventures Out of Time
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava tries to give William rent and food money but he won't take it. Modern day Ava dreams that she's pouring "egg piss" over an unidentified food stuff before meeting a Youtube celebrity who wants to be her friend. In an untitled short, a young man drives across the…
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Episode 122, Future Imperfect
In dystopian novel, Without Repentance, we meet, Gillian, in front of a bank of computer screens remembering the nuclear blast that destroyed earth's global protective shield; Trout, raging at corrupt police and the cages for humans, and Evan, the evangelist. In Keys to Paradise, Mourad revisits...
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Episode 121, The Dark
In Keys to Paradise, a memoir that melds story and essay, Mourad describes the aftermath of being swindled out of his life savings a few years after his move to Italy. In novel, Grand Boulevard, an affluent man discovers his teenage daughter performing witchcraft in their back yard while his...
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Ep. 120, Moving On
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava moves out from William's while modern day Ava tells a story about meeting a woman in a writing group. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - Do the Wrong Thing - character driven, narrative novel excerpt - http://malcolmvandelst.com. Works in progress. Copyright…
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Ep. 119, The Smell of Bugs
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava comes back from Germany, is told she has to move out by William, spends her welfare cheque on new boots and buys a record that she can't stop listening to. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - Do the Wrong Thing - character driven, narrative novel excerpt -...
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Episode 118, Carnal Knowledge
This combines recordings from Jun. 17 and Jul. 8, 2019. A revisits the scene he read previously from his novel, The Trip. A young man, goes to a job interview at a mega-church. Though he is offered the job, the interviewer abruptly asks him if he has had "carnal knowledge of a woman.” When he...
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Ep. 117, Joella, the View, the Rooming House and... Space!
In Joella, the Fifth, the narrator is having trouble staying awake, Joella even mentioning that she has a drivers license. "You’ll wake up tomorrow and have a leisurely brunch with your husband," he tells her. He dreams of kissing her by a tree. In Grand Boulevard, a woman discovers a “room”…
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Ep. 116, The Weight of Unsaid Things
In short story, Joella, the Fifth, a man attempts to buy snacks from others parked by a bay to watch the July 5th fireworks. He wants the night to be perfect for his childhood friend whom he's secretly in love with. Unfortunately, she's married. In novel, Do the Wrong Thing, Ava "runs away" from...
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Ep. 115, Boundary Flex
In novel, The Trip, a young man, goes to a job interview at a mega-church. Though he is offered the job, the interviewer abruptly asks him if he has had "carnal knowledge of a woman.” When he leaves the interview, Tundi sees a car of policemen with AK47s looking for drivers from whom they can...
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Episode 114, Loss, Love and Faith
In Grand Boulevard, we meet Bruce's teenage daughter who's obsessed with actor, Maxine Cheng. We learn more about Bruce's neighbour, Stephanie: the death of her son and her attachment to the Boulevard. Lastly, the author shares a rewrite of the scene where Stephanie's husband leaves town on the...
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Episode 113, Love and Meaning
In Joella, the Fifth, a man can't take his eyes off his old, married friend as they enjoy an afternoon in the Napa Valley. She hides behind her cherry-tinted sunglasses. In Do the Wrong Thing, 1980's Ava gets a job at a homeless shelter while 2017 Ava fights off headaches and a feeling of...
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Ep. 112, Power Dynamics
Grand Boulevard is a tightly written contemporary novel about the homeless and the homed on Grand Boulevard. This week, we learn more about Bruce, in particular his divorce. We're introduced to his teenage daughter. We learn more about the man who collects Bruce's bottles. We learn that Bruce's...
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Episode 111, Secrets and Scams
If you don't want to get angry, DO NOT listen to Mourad's account of how his neighbour stole $200K, in today's terms, from him. F*ck that guy! In Do the Wrong Thing, Malcolm adds a part to last week's piece that contrasts narrator Ava's current relationship with the one she had with Posey. We…
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Episode 110, Monsters, Here, There and Everywhere
This week we have five fantastic pieces. In Super Girl, Glenn reads 3 flash fiction pieces from a set of 5, each telling the POV of one character in a heart-wrenching tale of a young girl's rape. In Ian's Joella, the Fifth, a man who seemingly has it made, cannot admit to his childhood best…
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Ep. 109, Of Cockroaches and History
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava shows complete disrespect to her customers at Forever and a Day. She cleans Posey's house while Posey has a breakdown and buys a book, something she normally wouldn't read, recommended by Posey. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - Do the Wrong Thing - excerpt from…
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Ep. 108, Lost in Translation
In Ian's poetic The Sea Plant, a South Asian boy becomes a roadside attraction as he lavishes care on seeds sent him by a young girl in Canada. In Key to Paradise, back in Italy, Jose and Alba are unhappy with Mourad's weight gain. He has no choice but to meekly accept their abuse, though when…
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Ep. 107, Grief, Estrangement and More Unerotic Sex
In Talking the Talk, John walks us through his coming-to-terms with his daughter's death. In Key to Paradise, Mourad resides in a state of “familiarity and estrangement” in his Moroccan childhood home. He applies for a new passport and nervously awaits the job offer that will allow him to go back...
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Episode 106, Benefits with Friends
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava "lets" her friend have sex with her--no kissing!--in an attempt to prove that men are as emotional about sex as women are. In Key to Paradise, Michaela drives Mourad to the Spanish port where Mourad will get a ferry back to Morocco, where he'll nervoously await the job...
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Episode 105, Sexuality
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava starts working for a feminist paper, shaves her head and learns that masturbation does not mean that a woman can't get a man. In Key to Paradise, Mourad experiences "three different realities" as he romances Michela, Stephania and Michela and Stephania as a couple--all...
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Episode 104, Unbreakable Habit
In Key to Paradise, Mourad continues with his pursuit of physical pleasure, developing an “unbreakable habit.” In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava gets a job as a waitress at a cafe with a cappuccino machine, is allowed to spend an evening with her younger brother and finally, shaves all her hair off.…
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Ep. 103, The Hell of Average
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava experiences profound alienation in her govt. job. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - Do the Wrong Thing - excerpt from a character driven, narrative novel - http://malcolmvandelst.com. Works in progress. Copyright remains with the authors.
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Episode 102, Paralyzed
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava runs into an ex-boyfriend who won't take no for an answer. "Hurtling through space faster than my awareness can keep up, the blurring landscape spinning before my eyes: trees, sky, trees, sky, rocks, snow. Bang! Then darkness." Mary Jo Fetterley reads from a gripping...
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Episode 101, Party Time
In Do the Wrong Thing, narrator Ava has a dream in which she goes out in youthful clothes, trying to relive her party days. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - Do the Wrong Thing - excerpt from a character driven, narrative novel - http://malcolmvandelst.com. Copyright remains with the...
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Ep. 100, The Very Bad Ride
In Do the Wrong Thing, a ride goes very wrong for Ava, so she decides to cut her trip short and bus back to Rouliesse. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - Do the Wrong Thing - excerpt from a character driven, narrative novel - http://malcolmvandelst.com. Works in progress. Copyright remains...
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Ep. 99, Distance
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava spends a night alone on a cliff overlooking the ocean, then attempts to bond with relatives of relatives. Story Listing: 00:00 Malcolm van Delst - Do the Wrong Thing - excerpt from a stream of consciousness, character driven novel - http://malcolmvandelst.com. Works in...
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Episode 98, Tiffany's, X-rated Movies and Learning to Fight
In Do the Wrong Thing, Ava says goodbye to Eddie, the kind trucker who restored her damaged faith in humanity. In Keys to Paradise, Mourad meets a man at an X-rated movie, who offers to share his wife with Mourad. Soon, Mourad is living with the couple, cleaning and running errands as payment for...
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Episode 97, Bombs, Bullets and... Benevolence
Master storyteller, Linda Lawson, joins us this week with Bombs, Bullets, Bullies and Babies, a piece she's workshopping for The Flame, live, true storytelling event. She recounts how her uppercrust mother teaches her to fight while her union organizer father deals with bomb threats. In Do the...
About this show
Shorts, excerpts from novels and larger works, scripts, poetry and language-based art. The Vancouver Writer's Group meets on Mondays to share work and give support and feedback. Some of us record for this podcast. More info at http://www.meetup.com/Vancouver-Writers-Group.
Hosted by
Vancouver Writers