B.R. Yeager & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-03-01 | Writers, B.R. Yeager and Christopher Zeischegg, discuss Yeager's novels and the success of 'Negative Space,' extreme themes in fiction, the current state of independent cinema, and more.
Ricky Allen & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2026-09-16 | I spoke with writer Ricky Allen about his most recent book, Frail, a novel about faith, desire, sexuality, and the complicated process of figuring out who you are when the beliefs you inherited come into conflict with the life you want to experience.We talked about growing up as a pastor’s kid, Christianity within contemporary literature, the stylistic shifts throughout Frail, and Ricky’s evolution from writing theology and philosophy to poetry and fiction. We also discussed self-publishing, his new independent press Altered, the realities of finding readers outside the traditional publishing system, and the importance of actually participating in a literary community.Toward the end, we get into reading and writing routines, balancing art with work and family, and Ricky’s unusual habit of designing the title and cover of a book before he can really begin writing it.Ricky Allen is the author of Snowflake: Poems, Coyote Brush, and Frail.
Thomas Kendall & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2026-02-18 | Author Thomas Kendall talks with Christopher Zeischegg about his novel How I Killed the Universal Man, science fiction as a philosophical form, and what it means to write against inherited ideas of progress, universality, and cultural coherence.We discuss writing as compulsion rather than ambition, the anxiety of making work for small audiences, and the quiet erosion that happens when creative practice starts to feel like homework. Thomas reflects on curiosity as a guiding principle, the dangers of over-specialization, and how How I Killed the Universal Man interrogates Enlightenment thinking, technological rationalism, and the fantasy of a single, totalizing worldview.We also get into contemporary literature, political and philosophical worldbuilding, interior psychology over plot, and how science fiction can be used to dismantle dominant narratives rather than reinforce them. Other topics include: creative burnout, rediscovering excitement through reading, resisting productivity metrics, the collapse of grand narratives, and why some books matter precisely because they refuse clarity, comfort, or consensus.A thoughtful, searching, and wide-ranging conversation about art, literature, and what remains after the idea of the “universal” has been dismantled.
Audrey Szasz & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2026-01-09 | Author Audrey Szasz talks with Christopher Zeischegg about her books Invisibility: A Manifesto, Tears of a Komsomol Girl, Zealous Immaculate, Counterillumination, and Teleplasm, and what it means to write compulsively without concern for respectability.We discuss extreme subject matter in fiction, interior psychology over plot, high output vs. “slow” writing, and why self-censorship kills the writing process. Audrey also talks about writing as an altered state of consciousness, boredom as a signal, and the difference between discipline and obsession.We also get into the visual language around her work, embodying and performing characters, and why writers rarely treat themselves as aesthetic objects. Other topics include: transgressive literature, why most “shocking” books are boring, manifestos vs. gimmicks, and refusing to explain or justify one’s inner life.A candid, unsettling, and wide-ranging conversation with one of contemporary literature's boldest icons.
Jane Delynn & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2025-11-14 | Author Jane Delynn talks with Christopher Zeischegg about the reissue of her 1982 novel In Thrall (Semiotext(e)), the strange reception of the book upon release, pre-Stonewall coming-of-age stories, the absence of moralizing in literary fiction, and why she has always resisted being categorized as a “lesbian writer.” They discuss the three-book arc that unintentionally became her trilogy (In Thrall, Don Juan in the Village, Leash), Bret Easton Ellis’s blurb on Leash, the evolution of gay liberation, the disillusionment of post-lib movements, and how a writer’s sensibility shifts across decades.They also get into DeLynn’s early career – selling her first novel Some Do, what it meant to be a writer in 1970s New York, rent control, the fading possibility of making a living from novels, and the strange politics of “advocacy literature.” Other topics include: European modernists, the French New Novel, queer literary history, the reality of being an artist in 2025, staying alive long enough to see your books reissued, and the surreal comedy of DeLynn’s unpublished novel.A wide-ranging, funny, and candid conversation with one of the most overlooked and uncompromising literary voices of the last half-century.
Geoff Rickly & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2025-10-19 | Writer and musician, Geoff Rickly, talks with Christopher Zeischegg about Rickly’s debut novel, Someone Who Isn’t Me (Rose Books), hallucination and surrealism as literary form, the difference and overlap between songwriting and prose, why they both love Chelsea Hodson, how “the guy from Thursday” wrote a book, ambiguity in addiction memoirs, how to NOT moralize one’s personal narrative, Don DeLillo, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Scott McClanahan, and more.
Joshua Escobar & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2025-06-23 | Writers, Joshua Escobar and Christopher Zeischegg, discuss Escobar’s debut novel Demons of Eminence, queer nightlife and fantasy in the Inland Empire, poetry as a gateway drug to fiction, music in literature, the messiness of 'real' inclusivity, education and influences, A24 dreams, and more.
Matthew Pegas & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2025-06-03 | Writers, Matthew Pegas and Christopher Zeischegg, discuss Pegas' collection, The Black Album, his founding of New Ritual Press, masculinity in tarot and astrology, the literature and ideologies of the dissident right, the path from David Foster Wallace to Dennis Cooper to Bronze Age Pervert, publishing Los Angeles' rising literary voice Omar King, the channeling of amoral chaos into structure, and more.
Emmalea Russo & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2025-05-04 | Writers, Emmalea Russo and Christopher Zeischegg, discuss Russo's novel, Vivienne, literary controversy, the accidental poetry of the internet, art's anti-utility, how no one actually cares about New York's gallery scene, the spectrum of moralists and provocateurs, astrology, hardbacks versus paperbacks, and more.
Elizabeth Ellen & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2025-04-01 | Writers, Elizabeth Ellen and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Ellen's books, Saul Stories, American Thighs, and Her Lesser Work, boundaries between art and life, subverting literary tropes/expectations around sex and other taboo subject matter, moral ambiguity, stylistic differences between 'literary' and 'commercial' fiction, The 90-Day Novel, seeking control through one's art and writing, cancel culture, how to take a selfie (and live) without a smart phone, and more.
Melissa Broder & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2025-02-17 | Writers, Melissa Broder and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Broder's books, So Sad Today and Death Valley, the scariest thing(s) to write about, vomit fetishes, the differences between putting together a novel and book of essays, how writers might break away from the unbearable monotony of 'readings,' sexual identity, black metal, karaoke, and more.
Mr. Omar King & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation – With Special Guest, Matt Pegas Christopher Zeischegg 2025-01-27 | Writers, Mr. Omar King and Christopher Zeischegg (and writer/publisher, Matt Pegas), discuss King's new collection, An Odyssey of Dingbats, the arrival of King in the Los Angeles alternative literary scene, influences, digital sleuthing, taking the bus to readings, New Ritual Press, outsider visual art, neurodivergence, family response to our literary work, God, and more.
James Nulick & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2025-01-03 | Writers, James Nulick and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Nulick's brilliant new novel, Plastic Soul, literary cover art, the evolution of prose style, playing with tropes in science fiction, loneliness and family alienation, 90's pop culture, and more.
David Leo Rice & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-11-11 | Writers, David Leo Rice and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Rice's new novel, The Berlin Wall, his relationship to genre, the historical Berlin Wall as a metaphor for the divide in contemporary understandings of reality, aesthetic influences, body horror, Reza Negarestani's theory-fiction, and more.
Brittany Menjivar & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-10-13 | Writers, Brittany Menjivar and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Menjivar's new book, Parasocialite, the ability to create community in literary spaces, the process of structuring a short story collection, working in Hollywood, school shootings, incel culture, and more.
OF Cieri & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-09-18 | Writers, OF Cieri and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Cieri's last book, Backmask, record producer Joe Meek, occult influences on 1960's music, daylight horror, comics as an entry point for contemporary literature, and more.
Dennis Cooper & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-08-01 | Writers, Dennis Cooper and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Cooper's new collection, Flunker, writing within relationships, Cooper's film collaborations with Zac Farley, sex in film and literature, the joy and slog of making movies, and more.
Danielle Chelosky & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-07-23 | Writers, Danielle Chelosky and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Chelosky's new book, Pregaming Grief, the attraction and cringe of auto-fiction, contemporary small presses, aspirations in literature, the effect of writing about one's life in regards to romantic relationships, and more.
Richard Cabut & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-07-10 | Writers, Richard Cabut and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Cabut's new book, Looking for a Kiss, positive punk, the nature of work, and more.
Michael Seidlinger & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-05-28 | Writers, Michael Seidlinger and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Seidlinger's new horror novel, The Body Harvest, the difficulty of writing a first draft quickly, the visual aesthetics of social media identities, what inspires writing horror, and more.
Blake Butler & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-04-22 | Writers, Blake Butler and Christopher Zeischegg, talk about Blake's memoir, Molly, the repetition of discussing one's trauma in a public space, the controversy surrounding Molly, writing as an act of grief, writing as an act of love, and more.
Cynthia Pelayo & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-03-26 | Writers, Cynthia Pelayo and Christopher Zeischegg, discuss Cynthia's new novel, 'Forgotten Sisters,' her background in journalism, growing up and going to school in Chicago, 'baby horror,' the differences between indie and major presses, learning to write on a deadline, the toll of social media, and more.
Max Restaino & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-02-21 | Writers, Max Restaino and Christopher Zeischegg, discuss Restaino's new novella, COYOTE, writing with ADHD, structure and the permission to not have to tell a story, horror, meeting Maggie Seibert, the influence of Stephen King and Harmony Korine, and more.
Elle Nash & Christopher Zeischegg in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-02-07 | Writers, Elle Nash and Christopher Zeischegg, discuss Nash's latest book, Deliver Me, setting out to write a 'basic bitch' novel, structure and style, the value of contemporary literature, growing up in the American South, and more.
Christopher Zeischegg & Christopher Norris in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2024-01-16 | Writers, Christopher Zeischegg and Christopher Norris, discuss Norris' new book, The Holy Day, working at Kink (dot) com, "not reading" as inspiration, and more.
Christopher Zeischegg & Chelsea Hodson in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2023-12-04 | Writers, Christopher Zeischegg and Chelsea Hodson, talk about the new press, Rose Books, The Morning Writing Club, iterative writing, making a living as an artist, and more.
Christopher Zeischegg & Thomas Moore in Conversation Christopher Zeischegg 2023-11-01 | Writers, Christopher Zeischegg and Thomas Moore, talk about their work, publishing with Amphetamine Sulphate, the stupidity of transgressive fiction, the visual art of Michael Salerno, and more.
