Our new branding is ready and the podcast is now officially named The Unspeakeasy! Thanks for continuing to be along for the ride.
Paid subscribers get early access to my interview with Bruce Wagner. To hear the entire conversation, become a paying subscriber here.
October 5, 2025 edition
Novelist and screenwriter Bruce Wagner returns to discuss his exceptionally timely new novel Amputation—a strange, exuberant, and ultra meta work set against a topic I’ve talked about a lot this year, the January LA wildfires. Bruce, an L.A. native and prominent literary figure in the city, explains how the book came together in less than two months, why he resists “political novels” even when writing inside a political moment, and how language (not legacy) keeps him making art.
We also talk about real-life figures who appear as characters (Stephen Colbert, Mayor Karen Bass, Debra Winger, and a Timothée Chalamet student double, among others), the surrealism of driving through miles of leveled neighborhoods, and the deranged comic-tragic chorus of the Nextdoor app. Bruce also reflects on being an L.A. “outsider who outsided his way inside,” why the book is opera, not noir, and what it means to keep walking the “narrow, burning road to the palace.”
About Bruce Wagner
Bruce Wagner is the author of fifteen novels, including the “cell phone” trilogy, The Marvel Universe, The Met Gala and Tales of Saints and Seekers, Roar: American Master, and now Amputation. A longtime Hollywood insider/outsider, he has written for film and television and is currently published by Arcade.
My January 2021 interview with Bruce Wagner
A few solo episodes about the L.A. wildfires. Find them all here.
Housekeeping
📖 Order my book, The Catastrophe Hour: Selected Essays, on Amazon or directly from the publisher here.
📺 Visit The Unspeakeasy on YouTube.
