Episode Notes

Today I’m joined by Rick Kilby, author of the 2013 book Finding the Fountain of Youth and the 2020 volume Florida’s Healing Waters to discuss the history of Florida's natural springs.

Gabrielle Calise, a Tampa Bay Times life and culture reporter, talks about strip club spaceships, Tampa's hot dog girls, and the role of local media.

White Europeans have always been fascinated by alligators. In this episode, I discuss Alexandre Aja’s 2019 alligator film Crawl through the lens of two centuries-old accounts of Florida explorations.

“The world is less tame than you’d imagined.” So says John Henry Fleming to the unwary visitor arriving to Florida by plane or cruise ship, or as they leave the…

There’s a long tradition of making cheesy promotional videos to lure people to Tampa Bay area. One of them, from the 1960s, even features an alien visitor who decides to…

I’m joined today by Andre Frattino, whose 2018 graphic novel adaptation of A Land Remembered captures in vivid visual detail all the heartbreak and loss of the MacIvey family.

The exciting, glamorous world of independent publishing, it turns out, actually involves a lot of frustration, hard work, and luck. And during a pandemic year, well... it can still be…

Florida was as violent a place as anywhere in the US in the early 1800s as in the 21st century. My guest today is James Michael Denham, author of A Rogue’s Paradise: Crime and Punishment in Antebellum Florida. We’ll discuss the frontier era of Florida and the violent legacy it bequeathed to future generations of criminals and law enforcement.

Will monstrous invasive pythons soon be roaming the streets of suburban Florida? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean they don’t represent a pressing ecological crisis. Larry Perez, a long-time ranger…

“Grotesque, Florida Man-type stories” is how my guest today, Florida College English Association president Christina Connor, describes Vicki Hendricks’ 2010 collection Florida Gothic Stories. Does that appeal to you?