Sam Mills on The Complete Cosmicomics

Do we all go through a Will Self phase?

Maybe.

But only one writer I know turned their enjoyment of Will Self into a brilliant, mildly mind-bending, and wholly entertaining detective-ish novel.

Enter Sam Mills.

And welcome to The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast, with me, your host, Glenn Fisher.

In each episode, I'm joined by a guest from the world of books to talk about a specific book they'd like to put in the library.

There's no plan and no agenda, just two people lazily thinking about literature.

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In this episode, my very special guest is the wonderful Sam Mills discussing her pick for the library: The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino.

(We had some audio problems on this one—with the recording missing some frequencies, but hopefully, you’ll be able to listen and enjoy Sam’s thoughts.)

About Sam

Sam Mills graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English Language and Literature. She is the author of 3 young adult novels published by Faber & Faber, including the award-winning Blackout. Her debut novel for adults, The Quiddity of Will Self (Corsair, 2012) was described by The Sunday Times as 'an ingenious, energetic read' and The Guardian as 'an extraordinary novel of orgiastic obsession.' In 2020, Fourth Estate published her memoir about being a carer, The Fragments of my Father, which was shortlisted for the Barbellion Prize. Her most recent novel, The Watermark, was published by Granta in 2024. Sam has written for a number of publications, including The Guardian, The Independent, 3am Magazine, and The London Magazine. She is the co-founder of indie press Dodo Ink and lives in London looking after her father and cat.

About Italo

Italo Calvino was an Italian writer and journalist. His best-known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952–1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If on a winter's night a traveler (1979). Admired in Britain, Australia, and the United States, Calvino was the most translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death. He is buried in the garden cemetery of Castiglione della Pescaia in Tuscany.

Links to obscure (and not so obscure) things mentioned in this episode

* Order The Complete Cosmicomics and Sam’s book The Watermark from my local independent bookshop in Sheffield here.

* Find Sam Mills on Instagram here.

* Find Glenn Fisher on Instagram here.

About the Library

The Library of Lazy Thinking is a place to hang out and learn more about books. The library is free—like all libraries should be. But if you’d like to support the library, you can make a small monthly donation by becoming a paid member (and get an exclusive The Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark). All donations go back into the library, helping to organize live events, exclusive merchandise, and more podcasts.

About Glenn

Glenn Fisher is a writer—wait, Glenn Fisher is me. I’m the one writing this. Let’s drop the third-person act. My writing has been published in online literary journals Lunate, The Paris Bitter Hearts Pit, 3am Magazine, Dogmatika, and Litro Magazine. I write about books and interview other writers and creatives here in The Library of Lazy Thinking. I live in Sheffield and work as a freelance copywriter. I have had a best-selling non-fiction book published on the subject called The Art of the Click. It was published by Harriman House and shortlisted for Business Book of the Year. It has been translated into Simplified Chinese and Korean. I also have a dog called Pablo. He is harder to translate. Indeed, most of my life revolves around trying to understand his often unreasonable demands.

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