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Waywords Studio Full Slate

Steve Chisnell

This is the full slate of programs offered by Waywords Studio, specializing in literary podcasts whether audio fiction or criticism. Go to WaywordsStudio.com to Follow or Subscribe to individual programs.

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  • 23 episodes
  • Avg 33 min
  • English

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Episodes 23

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  • April 10 · 26 min

    Waypoint – “The Fortune Teller”

    10 April 2026 Waypoint - "The Fortune Teller" by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis is perhaps the greatest writer of Brazil. In “The Fortune-Teller,” a secret affair driven by anonymous threats pushes a committed skeptic toward a dingy attic and a deck of cards. It is a study in how easily we trade our reason for a comfortable prophecy, and a reminder that the future rarely negotiates with the stories we tell ourselves. As a setting for our discussion on the role of chance, fate, and destiny against moral accountability, we might find few better examples. Chapters 00:00 Waypoint Introduction 00:14 Title: "The Fortune Teller" by Machado de Assis 00:33 Reading: "The Fortune Teller" 26:01 Outro Reflection Questions: How does the physical weight of a "secret" alter the way your mind perceives the "random" events of the day? In the moment Camillo enters the fortune-teller's house, is he seeking a discovery of the future, or a sanctuary from the present? How does the "logic" of a skeptic become the primary tool for their own self-deception? If the fortune-teller "guessed" his secret, does that validate the magic, or does it simply expose the transparency of a guilty mind? When we outsource our moral outcomes to "Fate," what part of our own agency and accountability do we leave behind? https://waywordsstudio.com Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords-podcast/ TRANSCRIPT: https://waywordsstudio.com/general/transcript/waypoint-reading-of-the-fortune-teller Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material frequently, with deep-dive examinations of literature surrounded by smaller episodes which explore related texts, topics, and strategies for thinking. Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses. Website: https://waywordsstudio.com Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/ Social Media: @WaywordsStudio YouTube: Waywords Studio CREDITS: Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/) USING THIS WORK: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution. MLA CITATION: Chisnell, Steve. “Reading of ‘The Fortune Teller' by Machado de Assis,’” Waywords Studio, 10 April 2026, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/waypoints/.

  • April 3 · 56 min

    Failures of Imagination: We and Flatland

    The "Hideous Bargain" is no longer just about one child’s pain . . . We investigate the "Euclidean Mind" that seeks to flatten our messy humanity into a spreadsheet of "mathematically infallible happiness." Unsettle the sterile peace of the OneState and the rigid hierarchy of Flatland to ask: Is your imagination a gift, or a disease the state is currently curing?. An interrogation of the "Iron Cage" of rationality and the death of imagination in a social order of mathematical logic. We negotiate the intersection of Weberian sociology and Zamyatin’s thermodynamic dialectic—Energy vs. Entropy—to re-story the act of writing as an inherently subversive, antientropic resistance. Episode 6.30 - Failures of Imagination: We and Flatland Readings & Resources: Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884) Weber, Max. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology (1922) Zamyatin, Yevgeny. We (1924) Dostoevsky, Fyodor. "The Grand Inquisitor." The Brothers Karamazov (1879) (pdf) Some Key Terms from this episode: The Iron Cage - Ideological and cognitive lockdown—the endpoint of extreme rationality—where a society or individual relies solely on the safe, structured pronouncements of authority rather than independent, critical reason. See Max Weber's sociological writings on bureaucracy and rationality. Credulity vs. Credibility - An epistemological distinction about how we acquire knowledge: credulity demands blind faith in the dogma of ruling authorities (the "Circle Priests"), whereas credibility requires that beliefs and leaps of imagination be rigorously tested and anchored by reason. For the historical backdrop of this debate in Abbott's time, see Jonathan Smith, Lawrence I. Berkove, and Gerald A. Baker's "A Grammar of Dissent: Flatland, Newman, and the Theology of Probability." Entropy / Antientropic - Borrowed from thermodynamics, entropy represents the State's desire for blissful, dogmatic stasis and ideological closure. Antientropic is the vital, disruptive force of heretical, imaginative energy that true art and literature must inject into society to prevent its spiritual death. See Yevgeny Zamyatin's essay "On Literature, Revolution, Entropy, and Other Matters." Listener’s Guide Reflection Questions When we prioritize "predictability" in our daily routines or digital feeds, what higher dimensions of experience or thought do we "flatten" out of importance? In what ways does our internal "Iron Cage" make us the principal figures in charge of our own subjugation? If "reason" is used to justify the "Great Operation" on our imaginations, does the bargain remain "rational," or has the language of logic been colonized by power? How does the act of "writing back" disrupt the thermodynamic entropy of a sterile society? If we are "Numbers" in a system that values only efficiency, what "irrational" parts of our humanity are worth preserving as heretical?. Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/ CHAPTERS 00:00 Certainty and Less Than 08:27 Intro Theme 09:03 The Monster "State" 15:23 The Geometry of Bigotry: Geometry 26:19 "We" and the Shattered Conduit 32:37 Glass Cities 41:08 The Treason of Writing 52:02 Aporia and . . . 55:30 Closing Credits === Transcript and Bibliography: https://waywordsstudio.com/general/transcript/6-30-failures-of-imagination-we-flatland New to Literary Nomads? Check out my introductory episodes (0.1-0.3) to find out what's going on here! I've got an episode for readers, for teachers, and for students: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords-podcast/ Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag === Literary Nomads is the main program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas. Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses. Website: https://waywordsstudio.com Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/ Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and BlueSky: @WaywordsStudio === CREDITS: Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/) Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski USING THIS WORK: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution. MLA CITATION: Chisnell, Steve. “6.30: Failures of Imagination: We and Flatland,” Literary Nomads. Waywords Studio, 3 April 2026, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/.

  • March 21 · 49 min

    Utopia’s Spare Parts: Star Trek & Ishiguro

    The "Hideous Bargain" moves from metaphor to the operating table. In this episode, we let loose the bonds of metaphor in Le Guin’s "Omelas" and meet the visceral reality of clinical labor. We examine how the "Sanitization of Language" allows societies—from the United Federation of Planets to modern biotechnology markets—to rebrand human suffering as a "sacred honor" or a "net gain". "We explore the "clinical labor" of Star Trek and Never Let Me Go. We re-story the "Redshirt" trope through the lens of necropolitics and the ethical extractions of the modern bioeconomy. Episode 6.29 - Utopia’s Spare Parts: Star Trek & Ishiguro Readings & Resources: Ishiguro, Kazuo - Never Let Me Go (2005) "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach," Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Season 1, Episode 6 (2022) Mbembe, Achille - Necropolitics (2019) Scarry, Elaine - The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World (1985) Waldby, Catherine & Melinda Cooper - Clinical Labor: Tissue Inventory and the Embodied Economies of Regenerative Medicine (2014) Singer, Peter - Practical Ethics (2011) Haraway, Donna - "A Cyborg Manifesto" (found in Simians, Cyborgs, and Women, 1991) Some Key Terms from this episode: Clinical Labor - The extraction of biological value (tissues, organs, experimental data) from the human body as an economic resource. Habitus - Our "social autopilot," the internalized set of habits and worldviews, shaped by our upbringing, that makes certain paths feel "natural" while others remain literally unthinkable Homo Sacer - [Homo SAH-cher], An individual reduced to "bare life"; excluded from legal protection and able to be killed without it being a crime. Necropolitics - The use of social and political power to dictate how some people may live and how some must die. Sanitization of Language - The use of euphemisms (e.g., "completion" instead of death) to make unethical systems palatable. Listener’s Guide Reflection Questions When we encounter a "sanitized label" like "economic downsizing," what physical extractions are hidden by the syntax? In what ways does our own "habitus" make social sacrifices feel like inevitable "canon events" rather than choices? If a "docile body" accepts its own exploitation/extraction, does that change the nature of the bargain, or just the visibility of our choices? How does the concept of "clinical labor" reframe the human body as a "mathematical" utilitarian equation? If empathy has "limits" within a walled ideological system, what other strategies may help us overcome those walls? Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/ CHAPTERS 00:00 Crewman, We Hardly Knew You 07:43 Intro Theme 08:19 Extractions of Labor 14:49 Star Trek Meets Le Guin 28:10 Ishiguro and the Quiet Bureaucracy 37:16 Utilitarian Defense 43:18 The Flesh and the Machine 48:10 Closing Credits === Transcript and Bibliography: https://waywordsstudio.com/general/transcript/6-29-utopia-spare-parts New to Literary Nomads? Check out my introductory episodes (0.1-0.3) to find out what's going on here! I've got an episode for readers, for teachers, and for students: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords-podcast/ Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag: https://forms.gle/WKGp1YWrazNZ3TLt8 === Literary Nomads is the main program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas. Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses. Website: https://waywordsstudio.com Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/ Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and BlueSky: @WaywordsStudio === CREDITS: Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/) Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski USING THIS WORK: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution. MLA CITATION: Chisnell, Steve. “6.29 Utopia’s Spare Parts: Star Trek & Ishiguro,” Literary Nomads. Waywords Studio, 20 March 2026, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/.

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