#2575 - Sam Tallent

“They're objectively, like unequivocally hard to do. Like there's no easy way to climb up a mountain and shoot an elk at 60 yards with a bow and arrow. It doesn't exist. You have to train for it. Every footstep matters, right? Like every little movement you make, or like the way you smell and like the wind blowing.”

“and I took cardio in it. Wow. Yeah. I shoot my bow in the Texas heat for hours every day. Joe, put some roses on my grave, okay? You're going to be around. But my version of that in the hypoxia box is like locking myself in the room.”

“The fact that you don't know who Jack Carr is is crazy. Well, I'm sure my algorithm hasn't showed me Jack Carr. You know what I mean? That's a problem. Have you ever read Rogue Mail? No. Dude, Rogue Mail is a book that was for. M-A-I-L or L-E? M-A-L-E. It's about a guy who's trying to assassinate Hitler on Hitler's compound.”

“he is. And I don't want to ruin the ending, but I think you'd love that book, dude. Okay. Yeah. Rogue Mail is a heater. Okay. A heater. Yeah, man. Nice. And Angels. If anyone out there is listening and they want to read a really good book, Angels by Dennis Johnson is about a bank robbery gone awry, and it might be the most beautiful, ugly, bleak thing.”

“grew up rich and feels bad about it, you know? And it's like so boring. And then the stuff they do champion, like a little life is the most ridiculous hyperbolic bullshit that's never happened to anyone. But since these people never lived and they were all at school, they don't know what the average American is like doing.”

“Okay. Yeah. Rogue Mail is a heater. Okay. A heater. Yeah, man. Nice. And Angels. If anyone out there is listening and they want to read a really good book, Angels by Dennis Johnson is about a bank robbery gone awry, and it might be the most beautiful, ugly, bleak thing.”

“Get someone into Blood Meridian or some of the really Blood Meridian. Start with No Country for Old Men and then get a feeling of how Cormac writes and then finish up when you're done with all of his work and then finish up with Blood Meridian. Which is the best book we've produced.”

“Japan. Oh dude, Japanese fiction is fucked. There's all these books about like women who eat each other. What? Yeah, dude. Yeah. Butter is an insane novel. Um, uh, uh, uh, convenience store girl or dude, Japanese fiction is still publishing stuff that used to be, you know, be okay to write about cause it was weird and it was far out, but it's still fiction.”

“You're doing your act. You're killing. They're laughing. But you're like, you ever play that game City Skylines? You play it, right, Jamie? I've played it. I told you, I haven't played it way too much. It's a city-building game. Way too much. And you have to like put in the pipes to move the water along. Jamie, I've been on stage, dude, like sold out, killing.”

“Like, I know what I do. I just get up and I do it. And I still have that. Like, today, I did not want to get in the cold plunge. I did not want to work out. But my brain is just like, fuck you. You do what I tell you to do. You just go do it. And I got in. I got out. Oh, God, I did it. And then I do my mobility exercises.”

“Not just that. You have to train for it. Like I have a fucking hypoxia box, like a chamber out here that I crank up to 14,000 feet above sea level and I took cardio in it. Wow. Yeah. I shoot my bow in the Texas heat for hours every day.”

“I was a rube, yeah. And Burroughs got you in. What Burroughs' book specifically? Oh, man. Queer and junkie. Those two for sure. Naked Lunch always seemed like he was jerked. Like, I hated it. Really? Yeah, man. It's like, look, I understand that you're like Jackson Pollocking, and you've earned that right as like a master of the form, like as a writer.”

“Well, maybe it should just be a book. Yeah. You know, there's that thought, too, that some books are so good that they have to exist only in literary form. Moby Dick. Yeah. Yeah. They have to exist only in where your imagination fills in the blanks.”

“Oh, man. Queer and junkie. Those two for sure. Naked Lunch always seemed like he was jerked. Like, I hated it. Really? Yeah, man. It's like, look, I understand that you're like Jackson Pollocking, and you've earned that right as like a master of the form, like as a writer.”

“Yeah. You could read a book about like prairie medicine and still be like so much better off than just looking at your phone and just read No Country for Old Men. Get someone into Cormac McCarthy. Get someone into Blood Meridian or some of the really Blood Meridian. Start with No Country for Old Men and then get a feeling of how Cormac writes and then finish up when you're”

“I'm at 120 pounds. That's amazing. Congratulations. What did you do? Did you do the Ozempic or did you do it all naturale? No, I quit drinking first. So I think I went from like... 100% quit drinking? Yeah, yeah. Do you miss it? No. It wasn't my bag. It turns out that's not the drug for me.”

“I was a rube, yeah. And Burroughs got you in. What Burroughs' book specifically? Oh, man. Queer and junkie. Those two for sure. Naked Lunch always seemed like he was jerked. Like, I hated it. Really? Yeah, man. It's like, look, I understand that you're like Jackson Pollocking, and you've earned that right as like a master of the form, like as a writer.”

“This is about a hitman. Like how did this come about? Random House picked up Running the Light, my first novel, and they reissued it and they gave me a two-book deal. And they were like, what do you want to do for the second book? And I was like, I wrote this book kind of about like if I never left my hometown and it's like I'm”

“But it's all about an assassin. Sick. And you would enjoy it. Read Gray Man 1, Mark Graney. He's been on the podcast before. It's all about this guy who was raised by his father.”

“If you tell them about a great, like Jack Carr, do you know who he is? No. Former Navy SEAL wrote the book The The Terminal List that they turned into a show show on Netflix. Another fucking great book. The Terminal List is a fucking great book. And the first one is about a bunch of people that he has to kill after he gets out.”

“And like trying to figure out how to best maintain yours is like, I guess, the human experience. Have you read Pressfield's book, The War of Art? Oh, yeah, for sure. That's a great book for people that are struggling with this. But that's like the whole thing there is like, just do the job. Yes. You're a professional.”