Robert Stark is joined with Matt Pegas and Dan Baltic to discuss his new novel, Vaporfornia. Vaporfornia is a surreal dark comedy, a coming of age story set in California, and is the sequel to Robert’s first novel, Journey to Vapor Island. This show is a simulcast with Matt and Dan’s dissident, counter-culture, literary podcast, New Write. Vaporfornia is available for purchase on Lulu publishing. Also check out Matt’s review of Vaporfornia.
Topics:
Contrasting Vaporfornia with Journey to Vapor Island, and how both novels capture the zeitgeists of their respective eras
The niche genre of the satirical moving adventure story
Literary comparisons to a Confederacy of Dunces, William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, Lucky Jim, Voltaire’s Candide, and Gulliver’s Travels
The situational humor and dramatic irony
Vaporfornia as a satire of the themes in Robert’s Substack that delve into California’s social, political, class, and demographic dynamics
Vaporfornia as a travelogue for California
Allegories and symbolism in the book Saudade, a longing for what could have been or nostalgia for lost futures Gio Pennacchietti’s video about how Robert’s literary fiction and visual art complement each other
The protagonist’s personal and political journey
The politics of the “Chad Centrist” presidential candidate Roger Blackstone
Whether Robert Stark will run for California Governor or have a Vaporfornia tour some day
Robert Stark talks to French author Guillaume Durocher about the 2022 French Presidential Election and the campaign of Éric Zemmour. Other topics discussed include Singapore’s politics, rightwing multiculturalism, and biopolitics . Guillaume Durocher has written for a number of dissident publications including The Unz Review and American Renaissance, and is the author of The Ancient Ethnostate: Biopolitical Thought in Classical Greece. Follow Guillaume on Twitter.
Topics:
Éric Zemmour’s background as a political pundit and comparisons to 2016 Trump
How Zemmour is to the right of his challenger Marine Le Pen on both economics and on issues of nationalism and identity
How Zemmour’s demographic of support tends to be older, more well off, and more conservative than Le Pen’s
Zemmour’s policy proposals including an immigration moratorium, natalist bonuses for rural areas, ending hate speech laws, and cutting off funding for woke NGOs
Polling and projections for the runoff and general election and how it is Macron’s election to lose
Zemmour’s strategy of balancing assimilationism with preserving an “ethnic steady state”
A case for the right to embrace multiculturalism as an alternative to nationalism and assimilationismism Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore as a model for successful multi-ethnic nations The Secession of French Elites: The Key to Macron’s Success…and Failures
Robert Stark talks to Calexit founder Louis Marinelli about why he is leaving the cause for California Independence. Louis Marinelli co-founded the Calexit movement with Marcus Ruiz Evans. He was the former president of the Calexit organization, Yes California, he ran for California State Assembly on an independence platform, and he describes himself as a populist with both left and rightwing viewpoints. Subscribe to Louis’ Substack and follow him on Twitter.
Topics:
Louis’ article on leaving Calexit (This post marks the end of the California Independence Movement)
Louis’ background in co-founding Calexit with Marcus’ Ruiz Evans
The controversy over Louis’ stance in support of the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict within Yes California
The Calexit movement’s shift to the left and need for an alternative framework in California
The California National Party, which Louis wrote the original platform for, and the party’s shift to the left
California exceptionalism in the context of problems of income inequality, mass exodus, authoritarian woke culture, and corrupt one-party rule
California’s lack of a rooted identity as a barrier to creating a viable California civic nationalism
The National Divorce and hypothetical partitions between Red and Blue America
Robert Stark talks to Lucas Janse Van Vuuren about the Cape Independence Movement. Lucas Janse Van Vuuren (Twitter) is the youth leader for the Cape Party advocating for an independent Cape Republic, for the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Topics:
The recent civil unrest in KwaZulu Natal, the massive economic setback for South Africa, and the crisis vindicating the Cape Independence cause
Failure of one party rule in South Africa and authoritarian policies such as expropriation without compensation
The legal process for independence and Will NORTHERN CAPE be included in Western CAPE INDEPENDENCE?
2020 Cape Independence poll showing that 1 in 2 Western Cape citizens want a referendum on independence, with support from all races Cape Party’s past election performances and upcoming municipal and provincial elections
The Western Cape’s prosperity compared to the rest of the nation and how it has been economically and culturally robbed
The Cape Party’s advocacy for a decentralized system based upon the Swiss Canton model
Calexit organization Yes California’s speech of SOLIDARITY to the Cape Party