I’ve guest starred on a number of podcasts over the years, but here are original podcasts that I host or cohost. If you love books and deep conversations about them, you may just love what we do.

If you’re looking for writing specific podcasts and con panel recordings, check out the links over at the page Writing & Writing Advice.

Resistance Reads

Literature is a conversation about the human experience. One important facet of that experience is the relationship between power and resistance. In this podcast, Matt Wellstrom and Michael Kilman explore a variety of works of literature pursing questions about the nature of power and how people live with, or fight back against systems of power. So far we’ve covered books such as 1984, V for Vendetta, The Ministry for the Future, and Passing. Our discussions are grounded in social science, history, law, philosophy, and activism.

Episodes are initially livestreamed on YouTube and we love audience questions and thoughts. A few days after the livestream, episodes go up on all your favorite platforms. Come join us at the next livestream here! or listen to the replay of past episodes here.

Resistance Reads E18 A Gentleman in Moscow – Resistance Reads

Matt and Michael dig into Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow, the story of Count Alexander Rostov, an aristocrat placed under house arrest in a five-star Moscow hotel for thirty years. What does it mean to keep your greatest qualities when everything else has been stripped away? They explore the Count's resistance through community and craft rather than power, the extraction logic baked into both capitalism and communism, the tragedy of true believers like Mishka, and why the Bishop is the most recognizable villain in the book. Plus: Napoleon burning Moscow, redundancy versus efficiency as civilizational philosophy, and why the bread was better in Berlin. Next episode: Paradise Lost by John Milton.

1. Resistance Reads E18 A Gentleman in Moscow 01:34:29
2. Resistance Reads Podcast E17 Let the Right One In 01:09:04
3. Resistance Reads Podcast E16 Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 01:15:15
4. Resistance Reads Podcast: Episode 15: James by Percival Everett 01:27:50
5. Resistance Reads Podcast Episode 14: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin 01:20:30
6. Resistance Reads Podcast Episode 13: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter 01:30:20
7. Resistance Reads Podcast: Episode 12 Heavenly Tyrant 01:25:05
8. Resistance Reads Podcast Episode 11: Babel by R.F. Kuang 01:50:15
9. Resistance Reads Episode 10: Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (1818 edition) 01:49:56
10. Episode 9 Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao 01:21:55