Crime fiction legend George Pelecanos sat down with us to talk about his latest novel, The Blue Flame, and his approach toward writing for the page and the screen. George’s attention to realism and reflecting the world as it is makes him one of the greats in this genre (even though he killed off so many characters on The Wire).

Then: How dare an expert on The Odyssey (8th Century BCE) have opinions about The Odyssey (2026) that don’t align with those of fans of The Odyssey (2026). We critique the critics criticizing a critic.

The Blue Flame is out now.

Works cited this episode:

Hard Revolution, George Pelecanos

Red Harvest, Dashiell Hammett

Yojimbo, dir. Akira Kurosawa

A Fistful of Dollars, dir. Sergio Leone

Miller’s Crossing, dir. The Coen Brothers

Last Man Standing, dir. Walter Hill

The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett

The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett

“Honaloochie Bookie,” Mott the Hoople

“Cleaning up,” S1E12, The Wire, created by David Simon

“Middle Ground,” S3E11, The Wire, created by David Simon

Treme, created by David Simon

Creed, dir. Ryan Coogler

The Odyssey, Homer

The Odyssey, dir. Christopher Nolan

“An Uncomplicated Man,” Emily Wilson, London Review of Books

“Kicking up Cosmic Dust,” A.O. Scott, New York Times

O Brother, Where Art Thou, dir. The Coen Brothers

Jurassic Park, dir. Steven Spielberg

Blonde, Joyce Carol Oates

Predator Badlands, dir. Dan Trachtenberg

Interview with the Vampire, dir. Neil Jordan

Circe, Madeline Miller

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Interstellar, dir. Christopher Nolan

It’s a books-to-movies summer blockbuster episode! We’re joined by author and (former?) podcaster Mike Vago to talk about what works when translating literature to film, and what falls flat. You will not be surprised to learn that we think this process is pretty successful when Steven Spielberg is the director.

Then, Nate must grapple with the reality that his book was, in fact, published earlier this year, forever changing our relationship with Shakespeare, Descartes, and early modern philosophy.

Mike’s book The Planets are Very, Very, Very Far Away is on Amazon, and his podcast Why is This Not a Movie? can still be streamed almost anywhere.

Nate’s book Cartesian Theaters, Shakespearean Minds is out now

Adaptation, dir. Spike Jonze

Jaws, Peter Benchley

Jaws, dir. Steven Spielberg

Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry

Inside Out, dir. Ronnie Del Carmen and Pete Docter

Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton

Jurassic Park, dir. Steven Spielberg

One Battle After Another, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

Magnolia, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

Frankenstein, dir. Guillermo del Toro

Hamnet, dir. Chloe Zhao

Train Dreams, dir. Clint Bentley

Project Hail Mary, dir. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Wuthering Heights, dir. Emerald Fennell

The Housemaid, dir. Paul Feig

Godfather Part II, dir. Francis Ford Coppola

Earthquake, dir. Mark Robson

If Books Could Kill

He’s Just Not That Into You, dir. Ken Kwapis

What to Expect When You’re Expecting, dir. Kirk Jones

The Miniature Book of Miniature Golf, Mike Vago

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera

Beloved, Toni Morrison

Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Ulee’s Gold, dir. Victor Nuñez

“Much Apu About Nothing,” The Simpsons

The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean

Ghost World, dir. Terry Zwigoff

Ulysses, James Joyce

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, dir. Mel Stuart

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde

Casablanca, dir. Michael Curtiz

The Shining, dir. Stanley Kubrick

Star Wars, created by George Lucas

The Chronicles of Prydain, Lloyd Alexander

“Brush with Greatness,” The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening

Shadowplay: The Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare, Clare Asquith

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

It's the big one here: Sam Spade and The Maltese Falcon. With this classic, Hammett pushed himself and the boundaries of the hardboiled genre he'd already mastered to create a gem of a novel that still resonates today, nearly 100 years after its publication. The inimitable cast of stylized characters swim against an undercurrent of noir cynicism that finally defeats them all. Plus, a statue of a bird.

Works cited this episode:

The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett

The Glass Key, Dashiell Hammett

Reservoir Dogs, dir. Quentin Tarantino

The Maltese Falcon, dir. John Huston

Satan Met a Lady, dir. William Dieterle

The Black Bird, dir. David Giler

Return of the Maltese Falcon,

Monsieur Spade, AMC networks

The Big Sleep, dir. Howard Hawks

The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler

The Da Vinci Code, dir. Ron Howard

"The Big Knockover," Dashiell Hammett

"$106,000 Blood Money," Dashiell Hammett

"This King Business," Dashiell Hammett