Author Eden Robins loves the Neverending Story

10/30/22 • 66 min

1 Listener

Chicago-based author Eden Robins is celebrating the launch of her debut novel this week and came on Finding Favorites to discuss her favorite book - The Neverending Story. When Franny Stands Up will be available on Tuesday, November 1, 2022 and is available for pre-order.

Follow Eden Robins online @edenrobins on Twitter and MonkeyThumbs.com

Follow @findingfavspod on Instagram and Twitter. Rate and review on Apple Podcasts

53:00 We enter Spoiler Country

59:15 Exit Spoiler Country

----more----

Eden Robins 00:00

Hi, my name is Eden Robbins, and my favorite thing is the book; ”The Neverending Story”.

Announcer 00:06

Welcome to the Finding Favorites Podcast where we explore your favorite things without using an algorithm. Here's your host, Leah Jones.

Leah Jones 00:19

Hello and welcome to Finding Favorites. I'm your host, Leah Jones. I'm recording this on Saturday night, October 29, 2022. You're listening to it hopefully on Sunday, October 30, 2022. It is the big Halloween going out night in Chicago. And I had all the plans and preparations to hit the legendary Huffine Cooper Halloween party, which if you go back into my archives, I interviewed Cinnamon about how they host that party and everything that goes into it. And it's one of the best events of the year. And I have been getting stronger and stronger, and then today I pushed it too far. I went to Stretchlab in the morning, I went to a Meijer in the suburbs, I walked around the Meijer twice. I came back to the city. At some point, I went to third Coast comics to see my friend Terry, pick up a couple of books. And then I went to Target to get the last thing I needed for my costume. And as I was walking into the Target, I realized I didn't have my can with me, but that tonight was going to be a night where I wasn't going to be able to go up a flight up-stairs. And maybe not even after I found parking, walk to my friend's apartment. So sadly, I am at home editing a podcast. But I mean not sadly, I enjoy editing. I also interviewed Eden today. I'm talking to Eden Robbins about her debut novel, which is available called “When Franny Stands Up”. Cowboys give me scratches. I had some pizza for dinner, I'm drinking a huge water. So I'm just you know, I'm sad. Because I had wanted to go to this party for months and months really, since September 2020. When I was walking in my neighborhood and cross the street that my friends live on and I was like, “Oh no, there's not going to be a Halloween party this year”. So I'm sorry, I'm sorry, to the Huffine Cooper and to Veronica, for not being there tonight. And I know, I haven't done intros for a couple of episodes. Again, just trying to get back into the groove of editing®recording®editing®publishing. I love this podcast and the conversations that lets me have, but the work to get it out is not insignificant. And I started this podcast when I had 10 extra hours a week because I wasn't commuting and I'm commuting at least six hours a week. I'm going out and I'm seeing friends which is wonderful and I'm doing things other than sleep and go for chemotherapy. So I'm so grateful for how busy my life is. But also it eats into my time. What else is happening this week? I'm starting a whole new regimen of medicine. I'm starting Methotrexate which you've seen in the news because it's one of the drugs that women with arthritis couldn't get once Roe was overturned because you can't sustain a pregnancy when you're on Methotrexate, so I started that this week. I started Tamoxifen, which is as I understand it as estrogen pacman. Because my cancer was ER positive, I started daily folic acid, a weekly vitamin D. It just started a lot this we...

Follow Eden Robins online @edenrobins on Twitter and MonkeyThumbs.com

Follow @findingfavspod on Instagram and Twitter. Rate and review on Apple Podcasts

53:00 We enter Spoiler Country

59:15 Exit Spoiler Country

----more----

Eden Robins 00:00

Hi, my name is Eden Robbins, and my favorite thing is the book; ”The Neverending Story”.

Announcer 00:06

Welcome to the Finding Favorites Podcast where we explore your favorite things without using an algorithm. Here's your host, Leah Jones.

Leah Jones 00:19

Previous Episode

Benjamin Niespodziany: Intro to Surrealism

Chicago-based poet Benjamin Niespodziany, aka Neon Pajamas, joined Leah to talk about Surreal art including TV, movies, books and paintings. On the fly he designed a four-week community class on surreal appreciation that I think we would all enjoy taking. (Please run it on Zoom, Benjamin!)

His debut collection NO FARTHER THAN THE END OF THE STREET is available through Okay Donkey and already showing up in mailboxes around the country.

Follow Benjamin online everywhere as Neon Pajamas.

Show Notes

Surreal films: Borgman, Holy Motors, The Truman Show
Surreal TV: Atlanta, Maniac, Perpetual Grace LTD
Surreal books: Zachary Schomburg, GennaRose Nethercott, CAConrad
Surreal artists: Leonora Carrington, Wenyi Geng, Rhea, Raysa Fontana
Smino
Farther vs Further
Affect vs Effect
Fewer vs Less
The Truman Show
James and the Giant Peach
Edward Scissorhands
Jasper Fforde
EDtv
The_Real_World_(TV_series)
Big_Brother_(franchise)
Survivor (franchise)
The_Truman_Show
WandaVision
House_of_Leaves
Lobster
The Patriot
The Act of Killing

Surreal Art Benjamin_mixdown

1:22:49

SPEAKERS

Announcer, Leah Jones, Benjamin Niespodziany

00:00

Hello, my name is Benjamin Niespodziany, and my favorite thing is to surrealism.

Announcer 00:05

Welcome to the Finding Favorites Podcast where we explore your favorite things without using an algorithm. Here's your host, Leah Jones.

Leah Jones 00:18

Hello, and welcome to Finding Favorites. I'm your host, Leah Jones, and this is the podcast where we learn about people's favorite things without using an algorithm. It is fall, which means it's my favorite season, the season of new books and authors. So I am very happy this week to be talking with Benjamin Niespodziany. I'm so happy tonight to be talking with Benjamin Niespodziany ahead of his debut of his full-length collection No Farther Than The End Of The Street, which is releasing with Okay Donkey Press in November. Benjamin, how are you doing tonight?

Benjamin Niespodziany 00:58

Doing all right. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited, very nervous and terrified for my book to be out in the world. But I'm also equally as euphoric and giddy to see it out there. So yeah, thank you for having me and chatting with me tonight.

Leah Jones 01:10

Yeah. How long has this book been in the works?

Benjamin Niespodziany 01:15

Well, I think at this point, close to four years. I think the oldest piece in the book is probably 2018. And then a lot of them were written in 2019, and 2020. And then during lockdown, I was really able to sit with all of them, and fine tune them and tinker with them and make them all into one cohesive narrative. So, quarantined didn't allow for too much free writing, because I felt like my brain was mush. But I was really able to look at what I'd already written and work on some edits, and really fine tune and stuff. So it allowed for a lot of great editing practice. So, yeah!

Leah Jones 01:49

And this is a book of poetry and micro flash. Micro flash. That is, overall is a story together or are they of a theme?

Benjamin Niespodziany 02:01

Yeah, it's all one. I guess cinematic universe as the Marvel fans tend to say, but the idea of the book is taking a little bit off of inspiration from the movies The Truman Show and from Pleasantville, where it's this artificial container where you're boxed into this little area. So the whole entirety of the book takes place on one long street. Every poem is either in the front of the person's yard...

Next Episode

Glengarry Glen Ross with Matthew David Brozik

Long Island-based author and humorist Matthew David Brozik is on Finding Favorites to talk about his favorite things - potato chips, sleeping and super heroes. More specifically, the last ten minutes of the 1992 movie Glengarry, Glen Ross. We also talk about REM, XTC and TMBG... and TLC.

Matthew's new book Odder Space is available on Amazon in print and digital (though he'd really rather you choose the print copy). Odder Space is a humorous upper middle grade sci-fi novel with awe-inspiring spaceships, belligerent aliens, phlazer battles, pseudoscientific gobbledygook, and an artificial intelligence with a serious morale problem... but also spunk, heart, and some important life lessons. Mostly it’s just a lot of fun.

Keep up with Matthew at IMDB.name

Show Links

Matthew David Brozik_mixdown

1:25:24

SPEAKERS

Announcer, Leah Jones, Matthew David Brozik

Matthew David 00:00

Hello, my name is Matthew David Brozik and my favorite thing is, Glengarry Glen Ross.

Announcer 00:06

Welcome to the Finding Favorites Podcast, where we explore your favorite things without using an algorithm. Here's your host, Leah Jones.

Leah Jones 00:19

Hello, and welcome to Finding Favorites. I'm your host, Leah Jones. It is Sunday, November 6, 2022. In a couple hours, I'll be sitting down with Matthew David Brozik to interview him about his new book, Odder Space and his favorite things. But in order to get this episode out before midnight, I thought I would record my introduction first. So I don't know what Matthew and I will have talked about. What a week it's been! Last Sunday, after I published my episode with Eden, I went to see; How Did This Get Made, Live. I talked about that a lot in the upfront last week that it was, how did this get live was back at the Chicago theater that I had seen Hrishikesh Hirway, and Jenny Owen Youngs earlier in the week at sleeping village, the tote bag, that joke, my reverse merging two celebrity podcasters and straight up celebrities. And when Jocelyn and I went to How Did This Get Made? We were in the third row, even with Jason Mantzoukas. And throughout the show he talked to me a few times, and ended the show by asking me the name on my podcast and recommending it to everyone, who was left in the Chicago theater as the night wound down. And I've spent the whole week recovering from that it was really exciting. And I don't know, if he'd actually got the tote bag or not? I guess it means enough to me that he knows it exists and probably saw a picture from Hrishi. I did get it on stage, thanks to my friend Jocelyn. When you listen to the Morbius episode, maybe you'll hear a little bit of that interaction. But I doubt it. You might hear my question. I think my question will probably make the episode but that's about it. But it was just really cool. I've been a big fan of, How Did This Get Made, for many years now, five or six years. I just have a really clear memory of being at a happy hour, after a leadership retreat at a previous employer, before I was laid off, which would have made me, I think 39 or 40 at the time. It's such a weird, clear memory, explaining How Did This Get Made and who Jason Mantzoukas wasn't what they knew him from, which at the time was mostly the league. Anyway, that happened, that was huge. I finally got the results of my ADHD evaluation, which I will take to the rest of my medical team and see what we can do w...