The Battler

This week the g**ners chat with poet and flaneuse Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle, about the release of her two new-old books, Autobiography of a Marguerite and Leaves Fall Off to Create Drama. They talk about the legacy of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry; the changes in verse in the last couple of decades; Autofiction and fragmentary writing; cracking open old works and the vicissitudes of life on the scene.
Before that, Putrid Pat and Tumescent Tim discuss JJJ and Raw Comedy aesthetics; revivalism in noughties music; the death of music press; Australian political memoirs; CTE-lit; magic realism v fabulism; the nature of the middlebrow; playfulness in comedy; Masculinity: a gay conspiracy; the BRS Read-a-thon.
Production by “Dictator” Dan Dare.
Song: No Strain by The Southend Rainbows.


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This week the f*dayeen are (finally) flying solo again, like a drone over the red sea; collecting expensive missiles from the haters as they go. They chat Clavicular getting Minutemogged; One Nation’s predator problem and the MILLENNIAL WOMEN supporting them!!!!; Angus Trumpchrist; the papal/presidential 1v1; the motives for Israel’s crimes. They also chat about the “Lowering of the sights”: the running-rampant of “guilty pleasures” in the kidlerite endumbening of the public sphere; the “too-hard” argument against Woke; and the path towards a joyous Left.
Thanks as always to “Dictator” Dan Dare for production. Song is “No Strain by the Southends.”
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebattler.substack.com

This week, the adl*ys chat with Michael Winkler, author of 2021’s Grimmish and the recently-published Griefdogg. Between Pat’s heavy breathing and voluminous outpourings of admiration, they chat about the stakes of aussie lit, the nature of literary style, the lack of it in much of our local literature, and the terror of criticism in a small country.
Before that, the lads talk about their good friend and hero of regular Australia Ben Robert Smith, the inertia of Australian politics and the aesthetics of Trump 2.0.
Glory as always to supreme leader Dan Dare. Song is “No Strain” by the Southend Rainbows.
Go follow Straying for the Morsel and Patrick Marlborough .


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebattler.substack.com

This week the fr*telli speak to Steve Toltz, whose new novel, A Rising of the Lights is out next week from Penguin. He tells them about his theories of comedy, influences from across history, and his resistance to blame the publishing industry for the inveterate dullness of so much of Ozlit. You can catch Steve reading from the novel in Sydney and Melbourne in the coming months, and at various Writers’ Festivals thereafter.Before that, the B*ys talk about the Death of Dezi Freeman, the extreme relatability of the Liberal National Party, run-ins with reactionary writers and more.
Thanks as always to “Dictator” Dan Dare for production. Song is No Strain by the Southend Rainbows.
Subscribe to The Yeah Nah Review and Straying for the Morsel.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebattler.substack.com

This week the fr*telli talk about the strike wave lapping the shores of the island continent, from teachers to uni staff to ABC employees. They also talk about the SA election and Iran, and get caught in a spiral complaining yet again about the state of literature. They take particular umbrage with a particular Melbournian outlet and some of its particular critics.
Thanks as always to “dictator” Dan Dare for production.
Follow Straying for the Morsel and The Yeah Nah Review.
Song is No Strain by Southend Rainbows


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebattler.substack.com