DBS #120: Rediscovering Dead Book Genres

Meet
Our Hosts

Caleb James K.

Caleb James K. is the former Editor-in-Chief of the literary journal, Drunken Pen Writing, and the host of the DPW Podcast. He’s also a fiction writer, poet, and aspiring novelist.

Spencer Church

A former aspiring comic book artist, Spencer is the cohost of the DPW Podcast as well as a short story writer and avid reader.


We begin today’s episode with some “what if” talk regarding famous writers. For instance, what if Robert E. Howard lived for another 30 or 40 years? How much would his writing style have evolved? What if Stephen King stopped writing in the 1980s? You get the idea.

After that, we cover some defunct (dead) book genres. We discuss whether the mentioned genres are actually dead, why some deserve to be dead, and which ones we want to make a comeback.

In today's cold open, we talk about our current writing progress. After that, we discuss Stephen King's bestselling novel IT. Rather than talk about the story, which almost everyone knows already, we discuss the icky bits that nobody wants to hear about. You know the scene! Also, all the racism and gross nonsense, but we don't dwell on that stuff too much. We break down some of the writing tricks Stephen King used to scare readers, and we end the episode by giving a quick top five of our favorite King novels. You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's work at http://www.calebjamesk.com. 
  1. BOTM #26: IT
  2. A Murakami Minute: 1Q84 Book Three
  3. #230: Literary Masterpieces That Actually Suck
  4. A Murakami Minute: 1Q84 Book Two
  5. #229: How To Fix Bad Writing And A Secret Book Club

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