Sherds Podcast

25/05/2024

Will be making parts V & VI of the SherdsTube Q&A video series soon. Ask me your bookish questions here in a comment or write to me at [email protected]

05/05/2024

SherdsTube update:

‘Thomas Ligotti & the Polish Avant-Garde’ recently became the first of my videos to reach 10,000 views. Not much of a milestone for many YouTube channels, but quite a big deal for a small one of limited popularity and appeal like SherdsTube. It took almost three years, but it has reached far more people than I ever imagined would be interested in anything I had to say.

To mark this unlikely event, I thought I’d note a few things here about the video:

1) I haven’t shared this publicly before, but Thomas Ligotti himself has seen the video! Mike Davis of the excellent 'Lovecraft Ezine Podcast' was kind enough to send it to Ligotti and he had this to say:

“Now that’s the kind of commentary I’d never expect to see about my stuff but warms my heart to hear, since I’ve read my share of Polish literature of that era aside from just Bruno Schulz.”

And of my videos more generally:

“His Youtube videos [. . .] are the best examples I’ve seen of video literary criticism formalized as artistic expression in its own right. The scripts alone would make an excellent compilation of essays, though they’re even more effective with film imagery and a music soundtrack.”

Of course, I was extraordinarily flattered to hear this kind of praise from a writer whose work I admire so dearly, and whom I consider to be one of the finest living writers of horror fiction.

2) While I was out filming b-roll for the video, I made my way to Praga, a district of Warsaw on the east bank of the Wisła. After following the train tracks from Wileńska, through paths thick with weeds, ways unused and overgrown, I eventually emerged in a housing estate in Targówek.

I’d had in mind the vague idea of finding something clown-related to shoot for the ‘Circus & Spectacle’ section of the video, but where on earth was I to find something like that while wandering around at random on the wrong side of the river?

I was beginning to feel a little conspicuous in the middle of the estate, strolling around with my camera, and was ready to leave, when something deeply implausible occured. I scarcely believe it myself while writing this, but no sooner had I thought of leaving than there emerged, stalking out of one of the doorways, a man in a hideous, pale clown mask: black, rudely cut eye-holes, a rictus grin revealing yellow, disordered teeth, and a wild shock of neon-orange hair.

The man was walking across the courtyard with such purpose — and, I thought, menace — that I was genuinely quite frightened. His arms were muscular and tattooed, and he very evidently did not want to be disturbed. I may, momentarily, have fumbled for my camera, but fear, shyness, and a palpable sense of being utterly out of place, ultimately got the better of me.

Alas, no shot of the clown man for my video.

But it was a moment beyond coincidence— as though I had myself spontaneously generated this fell clown-figure, forged his very sinews from a stray figment of my own mind.

3) I rarely feel this about my own work, but I find that, despite the fact that it’s my second attempt ever at a video of any kind, I'm still relatively pleaesed about how parts of it turned out. Its shape, its music and imagery are largely what I wanted them to be, and I’m very happy that so many have seemed to enjoy it, too.

Thanks so much to those of you who have watched the channel, and continue to support me. I really means a lot to me.

05/02/2024

New video out today. I filmed this reading diary in Lower Silesia in the summer of last year, but wasn't able to get it finished at the time. I'm very pleased to be able to share it with you now. Hope you enjoy it! https://youtu.be/IvVN5MgM0HM

20/01/2024

My French Reading Diary is out now on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VnJwYmxPrX4

Warning: I attempt to pronounce quite a few French names in this one! 😉

23/12/2023

My end-of-year list is out now on YouTube. 'The Best Books I Read in 2023'
Enjoy! https://youtu.be/SR90QgUQQZc

09/08/2023

New video out today: 'An Andalusian Reading Diary'. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/kVxn7nilfsA

11/07/2023

Listen to Las Bielański by Sherds Music on

09/07/2023

The third installment of my Q&A series is out now. Enjoy: https://youtu.be/uLfbrScL38I

20/05/2023

Hope to make Parts III & IV of my Q&A video series soon. If anyone has anything burningly bookish to ask me, leave a comment. You can also write an e-mail to [email protected] or DM me on Instagram . Look forward to hearing from you.

15/05/2023

Kulchur Kat's new interview with Quentin S. Crisp:

Quentin S. Crisp is one of my favourite contemporary writers. His writing is unique, eccentric even, roughly situated at the intersection of Japanese fiction and the weird tales of Algernon Blackwo…

14/05/2023

My first 'Reading Diary' is out now on YouTube. I wanted to try something new & a bit more casual this time. Don't be too hard on me.

https://youtu.be/SGSd5LKAauI

12/04/2023

New video out today: 'Genesis', Chaos & the Poetic Imagination. Please have a look and let me know what you think:

https://youtu.be/n5KdAImo7zo

02/04/2023

New video out - 'Tel Aviv | Jerusalem | West Bank: Three Novels of Israel & Palestine':

A reflection on three novels set in Israel & Palestine.0:00 Intro1:30 Tel Aviv 11:54 Jerusalem20:47 West Bank Bibliography: 'Ruins of the Present: Yaakov Sha...

23/12/2022

My end-of-year list is out on Youtube now. Have a look, if you feel so inclined:

Here's a countdown of my top reads for 2022 -- Enjoy!0:00 Intro0:30 Criteria1:06 #8 City of Words5:31 #7 Pixelated Future8:52 #6 Fungal Horror13:18 #5 Astral...

21/10/2022

New video out: 'Celestial Symbolism: How Writers Find Meaning in the Sky'

https://youtu.be/vcXlltxjXnY

17/08/2022

New SherdsTube episode out today - 'Three Greek Novels About Women': https://youtu.be/8jiPba0hymQ

24/07/2022

A great little profile of Zagava here!

In March 2022, the German TV book magazine BOOKS UP!_tv visited Zagava‘s headquarter and interviewed the publisher Jonas Ploeger. (www.zagava.de)

23/07/2022

New Video: 'Q&A Part 2 | The Most Disturbing Book I've Read & Other Topics' is up on YouTube now. Have a look, if you feel so inclined:

https://youtu.be/uhAI4J7WYi0

08/07/2022

Part one of the SherdsTube Q&A is out now. Enjoy!

I answer your questions:0:00 Intro0:47 Favourite evocations of cities in literature?7:57 Why Sherds?9:39 Is the podcast coming back?11:33 Who are your favour...

18/06/2022

Planning a Q&A video soon. If you'd like to ask a bookish question, you can do it here, on Instagram or write me an e-mail at [email protected]. Hope to hear from some of you.

19/04/2022

New video out: 'Lampedusa & the Meaning of Mermaids' all about Sicily and Sirens. Enjoy!

A meditation on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s ‘The Professor and the Siren’ (1961).Bibliography:‘The Odyssey’ trans. Robert Fagles‘Ligeia’ (1838) by Edgar A...

18/02/2022

New video sharing a translation of the morbid, poetic sketch, ’Die Sektion’ by the German writer, Georg Heym (1887 - 1912), and reflecting on his tragic, early death on the frozen river Havel.

I feel slightly vulnerable in sharing this translation, but hope it will be viewed - for all its flaws - as an expression of my admiration for the writer. Enjoy!

Presenting a translation of morbid, poetic sketch, ’Die Sektion’ by the German writer, Georg Heym (1887 - 1912), and reflecting on his tragic, early death o...

22/01/2022

Put a new video out today: a personal reflection on an important early reading experience. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/DCEqErpHTuc

A short reflection on an important early reading experience - the first time a poem ever made sense to me. Here is the text of the poem for anyone who hasn...

21/11/2021

I have a new video up on the beauty of convoluted writing. Check it out and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

A meditation on the beauties of 'convoluted' prose and poetry. Sherds Podcast:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ieoXQzzT6wep44ZupLqDKApple Podcasts: ...

30/10/2021

New video up just in time for Halloween 🎃: some thoughts on revisiting 'House of Leaves' by Mark Z. Danielewski for the first time in almost two decades. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/Etk4VXjyzmU

Just in time for Halloween: some thoughts on revisiting 'House of Leaves' for the first time in almost two decades. Sherds Podcast:Spotify: https://open.spo...

13/08/2021

New video is up. I talk about the arc of a reading life via William Wordsworth and Hugh MacDiarmid. Enjoy!

Something slightly more personal this time. Thinking about the arc of a reading life via William Wordsworth and Hugh MacDiarmid. Source for MacDiarmid read...

13/07/2021

So, I started a Sherds YouTube channel. The first video is up already. Let me know what you think!

I talk about why I tend towards books that privilege atmosphere above plot and give my top three recommendations.Some Texts Referenced:The Paris Notebooks (2...

13/02/2021

Sherds Podcast is back with another episode. This time we're talking about Zimbabwean 'enfant terrible', Dambudzo Marechera, and his fiery collection of short stories, 'The House of Hunger' (1978). This book really floored me last year. Have a listen and let us know what you think.

The House of Hunger was originally published in by Heinemann in 1978.   The book is a collection of harrowing, autobiographical short stories in which Marechera’s experiences both in his native Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and as a university student at Oxford, are channeled into a psychedelic