"A Small, Good Thing" is a podcast about short fiction. In every episode, I get to discuss the short story form with writers, academics, publishers, and anyone who shares a passion for short stories.
A Small, Good Thing
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5.0(1 reviews)
25 episodes
Updated Daily
Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇬🇧
16
Podcast Authority
BetaPoorBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality32
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YouTube0
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Podcast Overview
"A Small, Good Thing" is a podcast about short fiction. In every episode, I get to discuss the short story form with writers, academics, publishers, and anyone who shares a passion for short stories.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/29/2025
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16
Podcast Authority
BetaPoorBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality32
Social0
YouTube0
Engagement0
5
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3
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11
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excellent
Episode Length
30 minutes
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Every 13 days
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Recent Episodes
July 23, 2026
Lauren Groff's Florida (with Valentina Lopez Liendo)
Lauren Groff’s second collection of short stories, <i>Florida</i> (2018), is a powerful reflection on nature and climate. In this episode, Valentina Lopez Liendo takes a closer look at Groff’s representation of the relationship between humans and the environment and how this relationship reflects the inequalities that plague contemporary society. Valentina Lopez Liendo is a postdoctoral researcher at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies. She is the author of the upcoming monograph <i>Colson Whitehead Beyond the Novel</i> (Routledge, 2026). <br /> <br />Works cited: <br />Valentina Lopez Liendo, <i>Colson Whitehead Beyond the Novel</i> (Routledge, 2026). <br />Lauren Groff, <i>Florida</i> (Penguin, 2018). <br />Nicholas M. Kelly, Nicole White, and Loren Glass. 'Squatter Regionalism: Postwar Fiction, Geography, and the Program Era.' <i>Journal of Cultural Analytics</i>, vol. 6, no. 2, Apr. 2021. <a href="https://doi.org/10.22148/001c.22332" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://doi.org/10.22148/001c.22332</a>. <br />Lucie Shelley, ‘My Own Boundaries Seem to Be Fading: An Interview with Lauren Groff’. <i>Paris Review of Books</i>, 5 June 2018. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/06/05/my-own-boundaries-seem-to-be-fading-an-interview-with-lauren-groff/ <br />Matthew Wynn Sivils. 'Introduction: The Proliferation of the Ecogothic.' <i>Studies in American Fiction</i>, vol. 50, nos. 1–2, Mar. 2023, pp. 1–9. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/saf.2023.a923091" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://doi.org/10.1353/saf.2023.a923091</a>. <br />Simon C. Estok, 'Theorizing in a Space of Ambivalent Openness: Ecocriticism and Ecophobia,' <i>ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment </i>16, no. 2 (2009): 203–225. <br />Val Plumwood, <i>Feminism and the Mastery of Nature</i> (Routledge, 2003). <br />Val Plumwood, 'Gender, Eco-Feminism and the Environment.' <i>Controversies in Environmental Sociology</i>, ed. by Robert White (Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 43–60. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511804434.004" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511804434.004</a>. <br />Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock. 'Introduction: The American Gothic.' <i>The Cambridge Companion to American Gothic</i>, ed. by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock (Cambridge University Press, 2017), pp. 1–12. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316337998.001" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316337998.001</a>. <br />Lauren Groff, ‘The Midnight Zone’, in <i>Florida</i> (Penguin, 2018), pp. 68-83. <br />Lauren Groff, ‘Ghosts and Empties’, in <i>Florida</i> (Penguin, 2018), pp. 1-14. <br />Teresa A. Goddu 'Homelessness in Lauren Groff’s Florida Fiction: Climate Change and Displacement.' <i>Cli-Fi and Class: Socioeconomic Justice in Contemporary American Climate Fiction</i>, by Lisa Ottum et al., ed. by Debra J. Rosenthal and Jason de Lara Molesky (University of Virginia Press, 2023) pp. 221–34. <br />Lauren Groff, ‘Flower Hunters’, in <i>Florida</i> (Penguin, 2018), pp. 155-69. <br />Lauren Groff, 'Eyewall', in <i>Florida</i> (Penguin, 2018), pp. 84-100. <br />Lauren Groff. 'Under the Wave.'<i> The New Yorker</i>, 2 July 2018. <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/09/under-the-wave" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/09/under-the-wave</a>. <br />W. E. B. Dubois, 'The Comet', in <i>Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil</i> (Harcourt, 1920), pp. 253-74. <br /><br /><br />Podcast intro and outro credits: Shield, Leroy, Taylor Holmes, and Robert W Service. <i>The shooting of Dan McGrew</i>. 1923. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
July 2, 2026
On winning a short story prize (with William Weightman)
In this episode, I chat with William Weightman about his short story “Green Green Grass”, which won first place in this year’s Bristol Short Story Prize. Listen as William talks about how the story came about, what matters to him when writing short fiction, and how he balances his writing with a full-time job and life as a new dad. <br /> <br />Works cited: <br />William Weightman, ‘Green Green Grass’, in <i>Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology</i>, vol. 18 (Tangent Books, 2026). <br />William Gaddis, <i>J R</i> (Alfred A. Knopf, 1975). <br />William Gaddis, <i>The Letters of William Gaddis</i>, ed. by Steven Moore (Dalkey Archive Press, 2013). <br />Gerald Murnane, ‘In Praise of the Long Sentence’. <i>Meanjin </i>(Autumn 2016). [https://meanjin.com.au/essays/in-praise-of-the-long-sentence/]<br />Donald Barthelme, ‘The School’. <i>New Yorker</i>, 10 June 1974 [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1974/06/17/the-school]<br />Donald Barthelme, <i>Sixty Stories</i> (Penguin Modern Classics, 2005). <br />Donald Barthelme, <i>Forty Stories</i> (Penguin Modern Classics, 2005).<br /><br />Podcast intro and outro credits: Shield, Leroy, Taylor Holmes, and Robert W Service. <i>The shooting of Dan McGrew</i>. 1923. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
June 11, 2026
The Short Story in Midcentury America (with Sam Reese)
Around 1950, the short story genre in America was at the highest and at the same time most delicate moment of its history. While the number of magazines publishing short fiction and of short story collections reached its apex, political and ideological pressures sought to undermine the prestige of the short story in order to promote other literary forms. In this episode, Sam Reese tells the fascinating story of four writers who in those years used the short story as an outlet for countercultural expression. Sam Reese is Senior Lecturer at York St. John University, a short story writer and a jazz music critic. <br /> <br /> <br />Works cited: <br />Sam Reese, <i>The Short Story in Midcentury America: Countercultural Form in the Work of Bowles, McCarthy, Welty, and Williams </i>(Louisiana State University Press, 2017). <br />Sam Reese, ‘Only anecdotal: Diane Williams, loneliness and short story form.’ <i>Short Fiction in Theory & Practice</i>, 12.1 (2022), pp. 19-30. <br />Sam Reese, ‘Eleven Kinds? Loneliness and Reading for Type with Richard Yates.’ <i>American Literature</i>, 94.2 (2022), pp. 357-380. <br />Sam Reese, <i>Blue Notes: Jazz, Literature, and Loneliness</i> (LSU Press, 2019). <br />Sam Reese (ed.), <i>The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins </i>(NYRB, 2024). <br />Ralph Ellison, <i>Invisible Man</i> (Random House, 1952). <br />William Burroughs, <i>The Naked Lunch</i> (Grove Press, 1959). <br />Mary McCarthy, <i>The Group</i> (Harcourt, Brace, 1963). <br />Mary McCarthy, <i>The Company She Keeps</i> (Simon & Schuster, 1942). <br />Tennessee Williams, <i>One Arm and Other Stories</i> (New Directions Publishers, 1948). <br />James Salter, <i>Last Night: Stories</i> (Vintage, 2006).<br /><br />Podcast intro and outro credits: Shield, Leroy, Taylor Holmes, and Robert W Service. <i>The shooting of Dan McGrew</i>. 1923. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
25 total episodes available
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- What is A Small, Good Thing?
- How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
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This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.
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