This week, we’re talking about D.H. Lawrence’s The Fox, a brilliant, taut novella about two women in post-war England trying to make a go of it on a farm, who are menaced by a fox and a soldier returned from combat.

This week, we discuss the recently departed Australian author, David Malouf. Specifically, his book Remembering Babylon, a strange novel that starts out with a castaway British boy being raised by Aboriginal Australians, and unfurls into something much more mysterious and enigmatic. We talk about historical fiction, how Australian racial history has been Americanised, as well as how colonial history in Australia is often framed (spoiler alert: too often, it is boring!).

As mentioned in this episode, Fresta is selling some records on ebay if you want to take a look:

https://www.ebay.com.au/usr/bukhgalter?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-154756-20017-0&ssspo=sYVxtJU5TYu&sssrc=4675625&ssuid=sYVxtJU5TYu&stype=1&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Also referenced in this episode, Jack Norman’s (THINGOL on Substack) new short story, which also touches on similar themes to Malouf’s work: https://theboroughpoetry.com/2026/06/21/moonlight-upon-our-given-fates/

Paid subscribers now have two options. You can support us either on Substack (here) or on Patreon (here)

This week, we’re joined by Substack essayist, thinker, and fellow Australian Russell Walter who is also host of The Chudstack Review podcast. We talk about his essay on why LARPing (live action role playing) is important and Good Actually, as well as the idea of “quixotic hero”, an archetype that we need in these troubled times.

Read Russell’s LARPing essay here.

This is a free episode. But Getting Lit listeners now have several options to support the show. You can subscribe on Substack here or Patreon here.

Last year, Sini uploaded an episode to the paid feed of his personal Substack podcast, New Mythologies, discussing the oft-mentioned "literary man." Joining him? Glen from Rare Candy, as well as writers J David Osborne and Kelby Losack.

This week, we are resharing it for free with Getting Lit listeners.

Matt, Glen, JDO and Kelby have an exhaustive discussion about the “where are all the literary men?” thinkpieces, male reading habits, what to do if you’re a male writer, why “right wing art” is often a bad alternative, and much more.

Time to put this narrative to bed and start reading and writing, my friends!

To celebrate Easter, we have unlocked our paid episode on Eugene Vodolazkin's Laurus. To access the full archive of episodes and special Back Matter aftershows, got to patreon.com/GettingLit.

This week, we're joined by Brisbane musician and composer, Stevan, to talk about Eugene Vodolazkin's novel Laurus. A strange, luminous novel that follows a 15th-century Russian healer whose life unfolds as a kind of spiritual journey through time, grief, and redemption. This was a fantastic, wide-ranging discussion on everything from music to holy fools, to our concept of time, as well as icons in Eastern Orthodoxy, and much more.

Follow Stevan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c.t.e.b.a.h/

Check out Stevan's label here: https://aktuelan-label.bandcamp.com/album/172?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio

Music: "fugue (shedding)" by sone

Brad Kelly joins us once again to talk about and around his new novel, The Earthen Dark. We discuss why men loves holes in the ground, writing about jobs, why humans are so obsessed with underground, MFA writing, "literary men" and much more.

Buy The Earthen Dark here: https://www.amazon.com/Earthen-Dark-Brad-Kelly/dp/B0GF67226L

And follow Brad on X: https://x.com/bradkelly

And Substack: https://bradkellyesque.substack.com/

"Disgraced anthropology professor Jim Murray has been drawn into the dark. Ousted from his career by the algorithm and mob rule, desperate for money, he joins a shabby crew of repairmen working in the tunnels beneath the City of Detroit. They say their job is to keep the earth from falling in.

One day, waist-deep in the filth, they stumble upon an ancient secret and soon discover that the city above them is no longer home. In time, the sewer will show Jim worlds far stranger: a landscape scourged by fire and insanity, a dystopia ruled by a mad god...To find his way through the labyrinth will prove to be a brutal test of his soul—and a penetration into the nature of reality."

This episode, Ivan Niccolai joins us to talk about his short story collection, Like You Have a Choice. We chat about growing up in a cult, Melbourne, wogs, luxury beliefs, the unfiltered earnestness of open mic nights, loving where you lay your hat, writing craft and much more.

Buy Ivan's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Like-have-choice-Ivan-Niccolai/dp/B0FLTHP5MV

Follow Ivan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artificial_authenticities/

This is a free episode. On the free feed, you're only getting half the content. To get access to all our episodes, bonus shows, and other exclusive benefits, go to https://www.patreon.com/c/GettingLit

This is a preview. To get the full version of this episode and access to subscriber-only content, go to ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/GettingLit

This week, we're covering what T.S. Eliot called "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels." And who better to join us than self-confessed detective fiction fanboy, Alec Mouhibian, of Filthy Armenian Adventures podcast.

We discuss detective fiction's enduring appeal, the sensation novel, Wilkie Collins' bromance with Charles Dickens, the joys of the long sentence, and much more.

Subscribe to Alec's podcast: https://www.patreon.com/filthyarmenian

Follow him on X: https://x.com/FilthyArmenian