Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Conversation begins at 11:10
With his phenomenal new book, A NATURAL HISTORY OF EMPTY LOTS: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys and Other Wild Places (Timber Press, bookshop.org/a/4669/9781643263366), Christopher Brown (https://christopherbrown.com) shifts from novels into nature-writing/memoir/nonfiction mode and I am HERE for it. We talk about the eco-cosmos of East Austin, TX, the years of observation that opened him to the hidden pockets of wildness in urban environments, why solitude in nature is a myth, what we have to gain from taking a long walk, Long Time vs. the short presence of Anglos in Texas, how 2020's lockdown turned off global capitalism and showed how society might truly change, and how this book mutated from when we talked about it in 2023 (chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-547-christopher-brown). We get into Bruce Sterling's unforgettable critique of his writing, the process of turning a narrative of colonization into one of decolonization, (eco)psychogeography & the Situationists, why he (begrudgingly) brought the personal/memoiristic into the book and how it helped him come to terms with himself, and what a workshop with horror writers taught him about the truth-telling power of non-redemptive storytelling. We also discuss the design flaws of the agricultural revolution, how his readers in different regions respond to his FIELD NOTES newsletter, the nature of mysticism and writing a narrative about transcending the self, hiking a Massachusetts marsh in summer with Jeff VanderMeer, and plenty more. Follow Christopher on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/christopherbrown.bsky.social), Instagram (instagram.com/ebitdada) and Mastodon (https://mstdn.social/@christopher_brown), and subscribe to his FIELD NOTES newsletter (https://fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com) • More info at chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-607-christopher-brown • Support The Virtual Memories Show via patreon.com/vmspod or paypal.me/vmspod and via our e-newsletter, https://buttondown.email/vmspod
And listen to our past conversations
2018 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-271-christopher-brown
2019 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-332-christopher-brown
2020 lockdown chimeraobscura.com/vm/covid-check-in-with-christopher-brown
2020 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-391-christopher-brown
2023 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-547-christopher-brown
Conversation begins at 11:10
With his phenomenal new book, A NATURAL HISTORY OF EMPTY LOTS: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys and Other Wild Places (Timber Press, bookshop.org/a/4669/9781643263366), Christopher Brown (https://christopherbrown.com) shifts from novels into nature-writing/memoir/nonfiction mode and I am HERE for it. We talk about the eco-cosmos of East Austin, TX, the years of observation that opened him to the hidden pockets of wildness in urban environments, why solitude in nature is a myth, what we have to gain from taking a long walk, Long Time vs. the short presence of Anglos in Texas, how 2020's lockdown turned off global capitalism and showed how society might truly change, and how this book mutated from when we talked about it in 2023 (chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-547-christopher-brown). We get into Bruce Sterling's unforgettable critique of his writing, the process of turning a narrative of colonization into one of decolonization, (eco)psychogeography & the Situationists, why he (begrudgingly) brought the personal/memoiristic into the book and how it helped him come to terms with himself, and what a workshop with horror writers taught him about the truth-telling power of non-redemptive storytelling. We also discuss the design flaws of the agricultural revolution, how his readers in different regions respond to his FIELD NOTES newsletter, the nature of mysticism and writing a narrative about transcending the self, hiking a Massachusetts marsh in summer with Jeff VanderMeer, and plenty more. Follow Christopher on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/christopherbrown.bsky.social), Instagram (instagram.com/ebitdada) and Mastodon (https://mstdn.social/@christopher_brown), and subscribe to his FIELD NOTES newsletter (https://fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com) • More info at chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-607-christopher-brown • Support The Virtual Memories Show via patreon.com/vmspod or paypal.me/vmspod and via our e-newsletter, https://buttondown.email/vmspod
And listen to our past conversations
2018 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-271-christopher-brown
2019 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-332-christopher-brown
2020 lockdown chimeraobscura.com/vm/covid-check-in-with-christopher-brown
2020 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-391-christopher-brown
2023 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-547-christopher-brown
