BIRD's EyeView of Books

About BIRD's EyeView of Books

The podcast that celebrates and discusses books, stories, writing and writers. Writer and Welsh borderlands dweller Math Bird explores some of his books and stories, the books and stories he loves to read and the writers who write them, sharing his take on their themes, narratives, beginnings, endings, and everything else in between. mathbird.substack.com (https://mathbird.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Math Bird

Category

arts · fiction

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Nov 2023

Latest episode

16 Dec 2024

Latest episodes

12 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Dec 2024

   Ep. 11 - Winter Ghosts

   Winter can make us more reflective and susceptible to hauntings, old memories, places, and long-forgotten deeds of the past. In this episode, Math looks at the haunted side of winter with ghosts both real and imagined as explored through three engrossing books. He begins with Miranda Corcoran’s Haunted States (Repeater Books, 2024), which, with its blend of travelogue, history, and cultural criticism, takes us on a journey across America to explore the American Gothic and how its stories and monsters help shape the American landscapes and cultural consciousness. We then delve into the realms of the ghost story anthology and look at two fairly recently published collections: Ghosts of Christmas Past (John Murray, 2017), where tales both humorous and dark give us time for fearful, quiet reflection during those long winter nights. And closing with The Haunting Season (Sphere, 2021), a modern collection of atmospheric, Victorian-inspired gothic tales that explore our darkest traits and fears amid supernatural landscapes and haunted buildings where confinement marries with isolation. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

2. 

   28 Oct 2024

   Ep. 10 - Halloween Haunts: Unnerving Tales by Ray Bradbury & Edith Wharton

   In this Halloween-themed episode, Math delves into two haunting tales, Ray Bradbury’s The October Game and Edith Wharton’s All Souls, and explores Halloween’s long-standing tradition of spine-tingling stories that probe our deepest fears. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

3. 

   25 Sept 2024

   Ep. 9 - Noir Britannia: Unravelling the 70s through UK Crime Fiction

   Part 3 of a special three-part series exploring the core of UK crime fiction in the turbulent, transformative 1970s. The 70s in the UK were a time of economic struggles, political unrest, and cultural shifts. The crime fiction from this decade, and the ones that followed, not only entertain but also serve as a mirror and a critique of these transformations, making it a significant and thought-provoking genre. In Part 3, Math shifts his focus to contemporary crime fiction set in the 1970s. In this final episode of this special three-part series, he explores how one modern author has revisited and reimagined the decade, weaving historical accuracy with modern sensibilities and also takes an in-depth look at his own 1970s-based crime novel, Welcome to Holyhell. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

4. 

   4 Sept 2024

   Noir Britannia: Unravelling the 70s through UK Crime Fiction

   Part 2 of a special three-part series exploring the core of UK crime fiction in the turbulent, transformative 1970s. The 70s in the UK were a time of economic struggles, political unrest, and cultural shifts. The crime fiction from this decade, and the ones that followed, not only entertain but also serve as a mirror and a critique of these transformations, making it a significant and thought-provoking genre. In Part 2, Math delves into some UK crime novels that defined 1970s Britain. He explores seminal works that were not only published during this decade but also encapsulated the essence of the times. From gritty noir and urban realism to police procedurals and detective stories, these novels did more than entertain; they reflected and critiqued the political, social, and cultural atmosphere of 1970s Britain. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

5. 

   23 Apr 2024

   Noir Britannia: Unraveling the 70s through UK Crime Fiction

   Part 1 of a special three-part series exploring the core of UK crime fiction in the turbulent, transformative 1970s. The 70s in the UK were a time of economic struggles, political unrest, and cultural shifts. The crime fiction from this decade, and the ones that followed, not only entertain but also serve as a mirror and a critique of these transformations, making it a significant and thought-provoking genre. In Part 1, Math sets the scene and transports us back to the 1970s to explore the backdrop against which UK crime fiction flourished. From the political unrest and economic turmoil that characterised the decade to the explosion of punk music and groundbreaking television that challenged societal norms, he paints a vivid picture of the era that crime fiction authors were living in and responding to. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

6. 

   15 Mar 2024

   Episode 6 - Roots and Revelations:

   Math spotlights two of Flintshire’s finest literary sons, Emlyn Williams and Emyr Humphreys, and explores the themes that define their literary legacy and the ways in which Flintshire has influenced their storytelling and shaped their national perspectives and contributions to Welsh literature. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

7. 

   9 Mar 2024

   An Unlikely Muse: Inspiration from the Ordinary

   Ever since my early teens, when I first became aware of it, I’ve always struggled with the notion of The Muse. For me, it was as inaccessible as it was cliched. It conjured up images of unshaven, greasy-haired, tortured writers drinking whisky and chain-smoking cigarettes while waiting for divine inspiration. Sadly, I bought into it for a while. I was young, foolish and impressionable, desperate to be seen as a writer, live the writer’s life, and do the things writers were supposed to do. Thankfully, such pretensions didn’t last. Since my early twenties, I’ve been more concerned with craft than childish notions of make-believe personas. Some of the best writing advice ever given to me was: just sit down at the typewriter and get on with it. Replaced by the ubiquitous keyboard, the typewriter might be a relic of a not-so-distant past, but the principle remains unalterable.  It’s a principle I’ve endeavoured to employ. Putting in the hours as with any job, gaining inspiration not from the ethereal, otherwordly muses of old but from everyday, ordinary objects, random encounters, and, dare I say it, the mundane. I once heard that Ernest Hemingway’s minimalist and concise writing style was influenced by his collection of polydactyl cats. As far as the story goes, he was inspired by their ability to communicate volumes with a simple meow or the slight flick of the tail. It was told to me in a Bayswater pub, so I’m unsure whether any of it’s true, but, in essence, at least, I’m happy to believe it. At least it’s an inspiration that’s sustainable and easily acquired: it’s that quiet moment on the train when the rhythmic clatter of the tracks lulls you into a meditative state, a random sentence in a book that jumps out at you like a neon sign in a sea of black text, or that slow trawl home on the bus as you watch the flurry of passing houses and hedgerows through a dust-veiled drafty window, each one a potential setting for your next story. Journeys are renowned for awakening the creative within. I once read that while on a delayed train from Manchester Piccadilly to King’s Cross, J K Rowling stared out the window into the void of a darkened tunnel, and the idea for Harry Potter suddenly came to her. She’s not alone in finding that spark of innovation in the humdrum of life’s sublunary. J.R.R. Tolkien also found his inspiration in the unexpected-ordinary. One scorching summer’s day, while grading exam papers, feeling exhausted and defeated by the pile before him, a blank page caught his attention. Delighted to find nothing to read, Tolkien considered giving the student extra marks for their innovation; he decided to scribble on it instead, writing the famous line, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." He couldn't recall why, but I’m pretty sure he was glad he did. Mundane inspiration isn’t limited to things and circumstances; it can arise from ordinary conversations, too. Picture the scene, 1981, nighttime in West Berlin, Margret Atwood sits down to dinner with a close friend. They chat about the usual things, and, as is always the case, the conversation segues onto the subject of ‘absolutist pronouncement of  right-wing religious fundamentalism.’ ‘No one thinks about what it would be like to actually act it out,’ Atwood, or her friend, adds, and from that, ‘the seeds of’ The Handmaid’s Tale, ‘ [..] took root.’ An interesting conversation, to say the least, although not all verbal exchanges are as intellectually challenging. Many chats can be monosyllabic. A bland chinwag of ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’. Observations of the weather and the price of the weekly shop.  Yet, something quite extraordinary can arise from the ashes of such glum exchanges. The idea for the short story Histories of the Dead, my short story collection's opening and eponymous title, came to me one dull morning while strolling down the Greenfield Valley. Weatherwise, it was a grim day, the valley track deluged with mud and fallen stones, the aftermath of the night’s heavy rain. In the distance unfurled the estuary’s mist, and among the hawthorns lay the gutted remnants of the old factories, their red-bricked, time-worn chimneys standing brazen against an iron-grey sky. There’s beauty to be found in the mundane, and staring at the rusting mill wheels and twists of copper, my mind wandered not to the recorded stories of the Valley’s heritage but to those forgotten histories buried beneath and embroiled within its debris. The muse lurks everywhere. Some might find her draped in flowing robes and speaking in iambic pentameter. But for me, she’s the spilt cup of tea on the moth-eaten carpet, the disgruntled shop attendant, the chance conversation on a trundling double-decker bus. So, whenever we lament our lack of inspiration, let’s give our ordinary world a closer look. The next great story might lurk beneath the sofa cushions, waiting to inspire among the lost pound coins and old newspapers. Or perhaps it's the fridge's hum, the kettle's boil, or the whining staccato of next door’s six-toed cat. BIRD's EyeView is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

8. 

   3 Feb 2024

   Episode 5 - Border Tales: Flintshire's Literary Mosaic

   This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

9. 

   2 Jan 2024

   BONUS Episode 4 - Optimum tui instar esto

   This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit mathbird.substack.com (https://mathbird.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7) A special seasonal episode where Math reads his short story: Optimum tui instar esto: a folk horror tale for Christmas and the New Year or any dark winter's night.

10. 

    6 Dec 2023

    Episode 3 - M. R. James's Ghost Stories - Elements of the Jamesian Tale

    Math explores the ghost stories of M. R. James, what makes a ghost story Jamesian and how recent writers have used these elements in their supernatural fiction. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

11. 

    18 Nov 2023

    Episode 2 - Welsh Crime Fiction

    Math looks at Welsh Crime Fiction, specifically where Crime and Literary fiction converge and where this coming together of genres has been used to explore Wales’s south, west, and northeast regions. By discussing four selected Welsh crime novels, Math looks at each novel’s approach to the Welsh region it represents. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

12. 

    4 Nov 2023

    Episode 1 - Witches Copse and The Signal-Man

    Math shares a preview and some insights on his occult-noir thriller Witches Copse. Then, he shares his take on Charles Dickens’s classic ghost story, The Signal-Man and how the narrator of this eerie tale can be viewed in a different light when we add a little more context. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mathbird.substack.com/subscribe (https://mathbird.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Contact BIRD's EyeView of Books

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.