Season 1: How Terry Bisson Made Up Better Worlds

In season one of Our Connected Culture we explore how late science fiction author Terry Bisson’s lifelong activism was central to how he imagined a better world in his 1988 novel  Fire on the Mountain, using previously unreleased and archival audio of Bisson and as well as interviews with friends and comrades including Peter Coyote, Kim Stanley Robinson, Annalee Newitz, Paul Park, Mary Corey, and John Kessel. 

We will also talk about the importance of imagining better futures and building inclusive communities through a virtual book club of Fire on the Mountain, an alternative history centering around a communist utopia emerging in the U.S. South a hundred years after the success of the Harpers Ferry raid led by John Brown sets off a self-emancipating revolution. Our book club will wrap just as Tomorrowing, a collection of Bisson's long-running  "This Month in History" column from the science fiction magazine Locus, is released in May 2024. 

Join the bookclub in the MidMountain Discord for our first live stream covering the first quarter of the book at 1pm ET on April 21, 2024.  You can also check out a curated list of books from people featured in the podcast here. 

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. 

Season One schedule:

• April 15: How Terry Bisson Made Up Better Worlds podcast release

• April 21, 1pm ET: Virtual Fire on the Mountain Book Club meeting 1 in the MidMountain Discord, reading through page 36. 

• April 24: Fire on the Mountain Book Club pt. 1 podcast release

• April 28, 1pm ET: Virtual Fire on the Mountain Book Club meeting 2 in the MidMountain Discord, reading through page 73.

• May 1:  Fire on the Mountain Book Club pt. 2  podcast release

• May 5, 1pm ET: Virtual Fire on the Mountain Book Club meeting 3 in the MidMountain Discord, reading through page 119.

• May 8: Fire on the Mountain Book Club pt. 3  podcast release

• May 12, 1pm ET: Virtual Fire on the Mountain Book Club meeting 4 in the MidMountain Discord, reading through the end.

• May 15: Fire on the Mountain Book Club pt. 4  podcast release

• May 31: Terry Bisson reads "The Left Left Behind" and introducing the Motion Picture Possum Passel release.

Stay tuned for a future virtual book club on Tomorrowing!

Season 2: The MidMountain Motion Picture Possum Passel

The Motion Picture Possum Passel with Katie Hanzalik (Spring 2024 Midmountaineer, new board member and the writer of This Week in the South for Scalawag Magazine) and MidMountain curator Andy "River" Peterson discussing fascism and what it means to work in opposition to it through the lens of film every other week, starting with a virtual film club talking about Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Fando y Lis on June 16 at 1pm EST. 

We also have a broad list of films we hope to cover, including children's animation, more adult animation, documentary, horror, and almost everything in between, so stay tuned!

Join us to chat in the MidMountain Discord and for live virtual discussions every other Sunday at 1pm ET via Google Meet links below. 

• June 16, 1pm EST: Fando y Lis live discussion via Google Meet. 

• June 30, 1pm EST: Harold and Maude live discussion via Google Meet.

Disclosure: MidMountain is an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase on links to books from this page. 

Season 3: Murder, She Sang

Join us for a season focused on reclaiming Appalachian Murder Ballads, our Fall Fellowship, first festival, and finding creative ways to process grief and grow resilience in the shadow of a regional climate disaster. 

• December, 2024: Murder Ballads, Southern Gothic Horror, and Reclaiming Haunted Regional History.

  • The Murder Ballads, Southern Gothic Horror, and Reclaiming Haunted Regional History Panel was hosted at Rockbridge Regional Library Glasgow with moderation by Debi Ratcliff in October 2024. The panel included MidMountain co-curator and creator of the Fatal Femme Agency musical history show Andy “River” Peterson; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill PhD candidate focused on gothic horror and colonization narratives Anna Blackburn; musician and creator of The Ballad of Dena & Andrea podcast+album Becky Poole; regional balladeer Elsa Howell, multimedia artist Marie Anderson, and writer Sarah Gill. 

  • You can view the video for It'll Just Take the One here. 

  • This episode also featured clips from Elizabeth LaPrelle, Andy "River" Peterson, and Betsy Podsiadlo performing during MidMountain Fest in October of 2024, as well as a clip from the Ballad of Dena & Andrea by Becky Poole.

  • This episode was produced with support from Mid Atlantic Arts' Central Appalachian Living Traditions Program. 

• February 2025: Using Creativity to Process Grief from Murder Ballads to Helene Mutual Aid

  • Two threads that wove through all of last year for us: coming together in creative community in the face of looming climate disaster and reclaiming Appalachian murder ballads.

  • Those might seem like radically different subjects, but the overlap – for us, at least – was using art to grow resilience in the face of grief. Especially with the climate disaster that was Helene hitting so many of our neighbors.

  • This episode features interviews with musician Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses), artist and climate organizer Denali Nalamalapu, Jason Duncan from the Wilkes County Historical Museum, and discussions with MidMountain Fellows Heather Adams, Sarah Gill, Katherine Fahey, Dan Van Allen, Becky Poole, Miriam Juliana, Elsa Howell, and Marie Anderson.

  • This episode also featured a clip of the Kingston Trio's version of "Tom Dooley" and instrumentals from Betsy Podsiadlo's performance in Fatal Femme Agency during MidMountain Fest in October of 2024.

  • This episode was produced with support from Mid Atlantic Arts' Central Appalachian Living Traditions Program.