With her debut graphic novel, PRECIOUS RUBBISH (Fantagraphics), artist and designer Kayla E explores and investigates the trauma of her upbringing, the fragments of her memories, and the process of reintegration. We talk about why comics were the perfect form for this project, how she found her iconography and the postwar children's comics style for it, what it was like to uncover her memories and get them on the page, how it feels to give her story to her readers, and how she's learning to respond when her readers share their trauma with her. We get into her comics-roots, what it was like to hit up her comics heroes, how she felt the moment Mark Newgarden told her she had a book on her hands, why Harvard is bad for getting a comics education, how her work as a graphic designer dovetailed with the incredible production of Precious Rubbish. We also discuss her recovery and her conversion experience, why her Bible kinda begins and ends with the Book of Job, her years of worry that she'd turn out as psychopathic as her parents and brother, why the Sopranos is her favorite work of art, what it means to not be loved by one's parents, and more. Follow Kayla on Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

ICU nurse Hunter Prosper joins me this week as we celebrate his wonderful new book, STORIES FROM A STRANGER: Every Person Has a Story (Simon Element). We talk about the ICU experiences that led him to start talking to strangers in public and asking them deep questions about their lives five years ago, how those conversations have changed him, why he started sharing them online, how he figured out the questions he wanted to ask, and how long it takes just talking to someone before they're both comfortable with him recording the questions. Along the way, we get into how we each approach the dance of having a conversation with someone we've never met, what it was like to discover he had an audience, whether people speak differently when the phone comes out, and how it felt to see a book-length version of this project. We also discuss how he wants to explore new ways of making his videos, how it felt to discover there's a group-chat of his past strangers (that he's not invited to), why he'll always be a nurse first and not a 'content creator,' going traveling with his fiancee to do interviews and photos for the book, what he sees when he looks in the mirror, and more. Oh, and things get heavy once I tell him it's okay to ask me some questions. Follow Hunter and Stories From A Stranger on TikTok, Youtube, Instagram and Facebook • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

With her amazing new novel, HOT WAX (Simon & Schuster), author, critic, and inveterate road-tripper M.L. Rio evokes the rock scene of the '80s and the travails of the not-quite-Almost-Famous band GIL AND THE KILLS. We talk about the redemptive & destructive power of rock & roll, how music is inseparable from her writing process, the challenge of writing about live performance, why it makes sense that "the girl with the Shakespeare degree is writing a rock & roll novel," and why she couldn't gloss over the sweatiness of touring and road trips. We get into the literature gap of people in their 30s (esp. women), how this novel evolved with her over a decade, what it's like operating in male-dominated spaces like music criticism, why she's going out on a 34-city book tour and trying to make it as fun as a rock tour (including merch!), what it means to be an ethical eavesdropper, how she stays safe (and well fed) while solo road-tripping around America, and the joy of radio crime drama. We also discuss the obsessiveness of record collectors, the loss of nuance in literature, the warping influence of Catholicism (and the perils of reading Shakespeare and Bret Easton Ellis way too young), our first concerts (her: Green Day, me: Asia), and a lot more. Follow M.L. on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

Curator and archivist David Leopold rejoins the show for a wide-ranging talk centered on the amazing new HIRSCHFELD'S SONDHEIM: A Poster Book (Abrams ComicArts). We talk about David's decades as Hirschfeld's archivist, Sondheim's love of Hirschfeld's work, the process of making his first book of Hirschfeld's art that focuses on a single creator, the connections between Al & Sondheim in David's text pieces for the book, and the joy of getting an intro from Bernadette Peters. We get into the work that the Hirschfeld Foundation does for regional theaters, why the drop-off of arts criticism is a disaster for culture, how younger people experience and appreciate Hirschfeld's art, and the time David held a seance at the Algonquin to promote the Hirschfeld Broadway Tarot. We also discuss our all-time fave Prince songs, what it's like being an archivist in a post-object world, the Steve Cohen magic performance that blew his mind, his new exhibitions at the Studio of Ben Solowey, how the next generation of theater organists (!) is getting trained, how aware Sondheim and Hirschfeld were that they were making history in their lifetimes, and more. Follow David & the Al Hirschfeld Foundation on YouTube, Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

It's been a year since his last episode, so what's artist Dmitry Samarov been up to? Plenty! We talk about his new project of redesigning and illustrating public domain books, why he started off with the White Whale itself, and why Babbitt! was next in line, what the common themes are among the six books he's illustrated since this project began, and how it all ties into his reaction to the 2024 election. We get into what it's like working with publishers after controlling his own books for years, how he discovered James Hogg's The Suicide's Grave on SOME OTHER PODCAST (okay, it was Beyond The Zero), how he's exploring visual interpretation and different tools with each book, and how this project has him reading and rereading differently than he used to. We also talk about how he looks back at his art in the wake of his self-monograph, how he got into a relationship with someone after a long time solo (after a showing of why Cronenberg's not-good The Shrouds), what other books he's considering illustrating, his new series of 'zines about bookselling, the joy of Moby Dick's tangents, and more. Follow Dmitry at his site and through his weekly newsletter, and buy some books from his Ebay shop • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

No guest this week, so it's time for our first Ask Me Anything (AMA) episode since 2019! Past guests and pals peppered me with questions about the podcast, my reading habits, menswear aesthetics, mental health, comics, hair care, keeping a journal, work/life balance or lack thereof, the one episode I think people are sleeping on, Star Trek vs. Star Wars, the superpower I wish I had, and a lot more. I dish some pod-secrets, talk about the episodes that will never air, and tell you where I buy my underwear, so go listen! Follow me on Bluesky and Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

With RED LIGHT PROPERTIES: Unfinished Business (Kinjin Storylab), writer/cartoonist Dan Goldman brings us a wildly entertaining graphic novel of midlife, the afterlife, and the south Florida real estate market. We talk about how the concept for RLP grabbed hold of him 20+ years back & never let go, why the story had to take place in/around Miami, how his work in video games and TV/movies affected his world-building in comics. We get into the peak life experiences of making this book, the transition from digital to print, why he set the book in landscape, the role of the "invisible" elements of comics design, the impact Scott McCloud's Reinventing Comics had on him, why the next season of Red Light Properties — Gut Renovations — will be "singles, not albums," how it felt to work with Kickstarter and control every aspect of Unfinished Business' design & production, all while reveling in our shared comic loves. We also discuss turning 50, whether cocaine is ever a good story device, his sensitivity to hauntings, why he needs to quit comics every so often, the effect The Invisibles had on him (esp. Grant Morrison's letter columns), the paradox of choice and the joy of the analog-hunt, his prose writing and why he tells stories that are 83% true, and plenty more. Follow Dan on Bluesky, Instagram and YouTube • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter

With SONGS FOR OTHER PEOPLE'S WEDDINGS (Abrams Press), writer David Levithan and singer-songwriter Jens Lekman bring the collaborative alchemy, as 20 years of fandom/friendship lead to this wonderful novel about a Swedish singer-songwriter — J — who finds a side-career playing original songs at people's weddings. We talk about the power of a great song, how David & Jens traded writing prompts with each other — a wedding song leading to a chapter, a chapter leading to a wedding song —, discovered how differently they each look at love, and managed to fuse that tension into a story of how love changes over time. We get into the differences between stories and songs, how Jens had fallen out of love with music (blame Spotify) and how this book helped him fall back in love with it, whether they'll write a sequel about funerals, and how Jens' song, "If you ever need a stranger (to sing at your wedding)," led to his side-career as a wedding singer. We also discuss Jens' new album inspired by the book, David's upcoming history of the AIDS era, the ways collaboration helps create new structures, what it means to be alone, how our private lives can get drowned by our public ones, their book/music tour and the importance of face-to-face interaction, the value of emotionally honest fiction, and more, including numerous Nick Cave references. Follow Jens on Bandcamp, Facebook and Instagram, and check out David's FAQs and IAQs • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter