Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show

@vmspod

I make a weekly podcast feat. talks w/writers, artists, cartoonists & other culture-making people, at Also: YouTube:

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Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 3d

RIP #JohnCrowley. Go read LITTLE, BIG, the AEGYPT cycle, KA, ENGINE SUMMER, and more. One of the most amazing, inventive writer I ever recorded with. Our talks: 2013 - chimeraobscura.com/vm/podcast-r... 2017 - chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-2... 2022 - chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-4...

photo of author John Crowley in 2013, sitting at a table in a hotel room beside copies of his novel LITTLE, BIG, with a microphone on the right side of the show. He's wearing a white sport coat and green button-down shirt

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 3d

Back before I realized it's okay to make each talk its own episode; I was a pod-baby back then. (Also, now that I look at the pix, it was a small table. . . .)

Photo from 2013 of author Scott Edelman sitting at a table in a hotel room, beside a microphone and a copy of his zombie-story collection, WHAT WILL COME AFTER. He's wearing a black fleece zip-up over a black/gray plaid shirt

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 3d

It’s so sad. I was in Amherst last weekend and saw a signed copy of Engine Summer (as well as the Chinese version of Little, Big, below). I thought about the good Readercon talks we had.

Shrink-wrapped Chinese edition of the novel LITTLE, BIG by John Crowley

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 4d

sweaty af 5k #run this morning in the neighborhood hills, as I try to get back into some sorta running shape

portrait-mode selfie of white man in blue running shirt with white diagonal stripe. He's wearing a black running hat and is very sweaty; there's a brick wall in the background

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 6d

First #run since late May; intended to go 5k, but between heat/humidity, hills, and lunchtime cheesesteak, I packed it in by the CVS, picked up some Gatorade and walked the last 0.75 back. I started with the big-ol' Buena Vista hill, & did okay for that first mile out and back past my house.

Screen cap of Apple Fitness running workout, a 2.38-mi. run over 22:51, with 248' of elevation, a pace of 9:36/mi., and a heart rate you do NOT want to see

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 8d

And FINE, goof on what we all looked like c.1990-91 or thereabouts. Halstead is 2nd from the right; I am dead-face vamping on the left.

photo of 5 college students heading out to some event, circa 1990 or 1991: there's a bearded guy in a tux 2nd from right, with his arm around two lovely women. On the left, there's a guy making a dramatic model face, wearing a wrinkled dress shirt with a goddamned bolo tie. He's got a heck of a jawline, admittedly.

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 8d

And check out @hommestead.bsky.social's #podcast, THE INFLECTION CUT: theinflectioncut.podbean.com + his #Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/hommestead/ & his IG: www.instagram.com/halsteadyork/

Photo of white man with white beard and big sunglasses standing behind a neon cross, which is putting a red tint over everything

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 11d

Update: FUCK YEAH

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 11d

Away we go

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 11d

“A Letter is a joy of Earth- It is denied the Gods-“

Photo of Emily Dickinson’s grave in Amherst, MA

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 11d

4 pix: left Birdy behind, sat in a lot of traffic, stopped in Northampton, made it to my cute little inn in Amherst

Photo of gray Aussiedoodle laying on a rust-colored duvet, looking coquettish

Selfie of good-looking middle-aged white man in a car (WITH HIS SEATBELT ON), sitting in traffic with a slight smirk

Photo of Main Street in Northampton, MA, at a zebra-crosswalk with rainbow bars; Thornes is across the street

photo of quaint room in Amherst Inn, with a queen-sized be and a hardwood frame, radiator, pale yellow walls, rug, ceiling fan and light, and other furnishings

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 14d

My week: WH meeting yesterday, oncology check-in tomorrow, and weekend trip to see my alma mater one last time before it shuts down & (presumably) gets bulldozed.

chapter card from an episode of Frasier reading, "WHY GIL? WHY NOW?"

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 15d

And go get CAROUSEL from the publisher yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... or your fave bookshop bookshop.org/a/4669/97803...

cover of the book CAROUSEL: An Essay On Seeing, by Sarah Minor, feat. a circle of an eye surrounded by 6 circles of other eyes

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 17d

On this morning's walkies with BIRDY! & Amy, we turned the corner behind the CVS strip and found A Very Large Black Bear that had just opened a dumpster. I took this pic as he was lifting a bag of trash out for breakfast, and we turned around and headed home, much to Birdy's disappointment.

Photo of very large black bear beside a dumpster, with a white bag of trash in his mouth. He's about to retreat into a stand of trees for breakfast.

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 17d

Along with all those blades, it looks like Gillette put a time machine in its razors, too; these pix are about 3 hrs. apart, but I somehow look 10 years younger without the beard.

Two selfies side-by-side of the same white man: left is outdoors, wearing a black T-shirt and a thin dark running vest; right is just a black T-shirt, indoors. In the left one, the man is wearing glasses and has a trim mostly silver beard; he is clean-shaven in the right pic and looks a lot younger, though it becomes apparent how thin his lips are

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 18d

don't ask

beginning of registration web page for attendees of White House meetings

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 18d

Went into the city to record a podcast, had lunch & conversation with a pal after, then stopped to visit Dad's grave on the way home (recited Kaddish, talked to the ether about my haircut, noticed a new marker beside his grave, for a couple who's still alive). Good day, I'd say.

Photo of leave-covered tree in memorial park, casting shade on a pair of grave markers.

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 19d

The long & short of it.

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 20d

Re-upping the most important info from this week's newsletter: I'm gonna get a haircut today or tomorrow, for the first time since Jan. 2020. Any witches out there need me to save a couple locks for spells, fetishes, and such?

Selfie of white man in his mid-50s, with very long, curly hair, and a trimmed beard that's going white. He's smiling, and the natural light is pretty good

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 20d

sometimes the morning postcard is a writing prompt (if, after something like this, you still want to be on my postcard-recipient list (I mail one out every day), DM me your mailing address)

Postcard for the Criterion edition of Joan Micklin Silver's movie. CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER, showing an A-frame house, a red car, and a man in a winter coat but no hat in the foreground of a snowy day

Back of a postcard addressed to someone named D., because the actual name & address have been blacked out. The text reads, "There's on A-frame house down the street. When I was growing up, we only visited a couple of times; kids played outdoors. We went one evening so my dad could talk to their dad about radios. Dad's call was WB2ZVS, with the Z pronounced 'Zed.' Their dad had MS, + the radio was an idea to give him something to do as he became homebound + deteriorated. I don't remember if he ever took it up: I remember that he went blind before the end."

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 21d

Looks like **I** gotta go prep for round 3 with Celia this fall; YOU oughtta go listen to our 2 earlier podcasts! 2020 - chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-4... 2022 - chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-4...

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 21d

LOVED getting to see it in May!

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 21d

And subscribe to @alwayscoffee.bsky.social's newsletter buttondown.com/alwayscoffee and follow her on IG www.instagram.com/alwayscoffee7/ & Tumblr www.tumblr.com/always-coffee

Selfie of white man in blue button-down polo w/white trim, and white woman w/honey blonde hair, green tank-top and silver necklace with her head on his shoulder/chest. She’s smiling, but he suspects it’s a case of Stockholm Syndrome.

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 21d

And go get OFFERINGS FOR ORDINARY GODS from the publisher @clashbooks.bsky.social indiepubs.com/products/off... or your fave bookshop bookshop.org/a/4669/97819...

Cover of poetry collection by Ali Trotta: OFFERINGS FOR ORDINARY GODS, feat. a cover painting of a woman wearing a red hood, her lips exposed and parted, her hands before her with smoke rising before her

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 22d

Conference I spoke at in Rotterdam last May just released the latest installment in the "Gil Looks Angry While Public-Speaking" series

Photo from the waist up of a seated white man in a gray suit and light-blue dress shirt, holding a mic and looking angry while speaking

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 28d

And go get his #ConstitutionIllustrated from @dandq.bsky.social drawnandquarterly.com/books/consti... or your fave bookshop bookshop.org/a/4669/97817...

Cover of R Sikoryak's CONSTITUTION ILLUSTRATED, showing a series of comics characters in 18th century garb

page from CONSTITUTION ILLUSTRATED, showing a R Sikoryak parody of a Peanuts comic panel, with Lucy reciting the First Amendment

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· 28d

Go get #DeclarationIllustrated from the publisher, @dandq.bsky.social, drawnandquarterly.com/books/declar... or your fave bookshop bookshop.org/a/4669/97817...

Cover of R Sikoryak's DECLARATION ILLUSTRATED, showing a series of comics characters in 18th century garb

Cover of R Sikoryak's CONSTITUTION ILLUSTRATED, showing a series of comics characters in 19th century garb

Panel from R Sikoryak's DECLARATION ILLUSTRATED, parodying the cover of an issue of the Legion of Super Heroes, feat. Darkseid in a royal wig & crown

Panel from R. Sikoryak's DECLARATION ILLUSTRATED, parodying a cover of Frank Robbins' INVADERS comic

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· Jul 13

I know, I know

Black chapter-card from an episode of Frasier, reading, “WHY GIL? WHY NOW?”

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· Jul 11

After yesterday’s depressing deathiversary stuff, let’s have a palate cleanser of #podcast host & guest, feat. @alwayscoffee.bsky.social

Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show@vmspod· Jul 10

Paid Dad’s grave a visit this afternoon on his deathiversary. His widow came along and brought an orchid. We tried talking a little, but it’s pretty clear we’re mourning two different people.