web01.fireside.fm Wed, 22 Apr 2026 19:15:22 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Weird Era - Episodes Tagged with “Paul Mendez” https://snowy-dew-6832.fireside.fm/tags/paul%20mendez Thu, 10 Jun 2021 21:00:00 -0400 Hosted by Sruti Islam and Alex Nierenhausen Theme Songs by Gino Visconti and Michael Jaworski (@mikejaws) Audio Production by Kyel Loadenthal en-us episodic Dedicated to asking authors the right questions. Weird Era Hosted by Sruti Islam and Alex Nierenhausen Theme Songs by Gino Visconti and Michael Jaworski (@mikejaws) Audio Production by Kyel Loadenthal yes Bookstore, Books, Fiction, Literature, Bookclub, Authors, Interviews, 2024books, Montreal, Montrealbookstore, Indiebooks, Indiebookstore, Bookish, MTL, PulBooks, PulpBooksandCafe, Weirdera, Weirderapod Weird Era sruti.islam@gmail.com Episode 17: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Paul Mendez https://snowy-dew-6832.fireside.fm/17 b16eea9f-aca7-496e-b89e-1f4446ea4e8a Thu, 10 Jun 2021 21:00:00 -0400 Weird Era full 1 Weird Era Alex and Paul sit down to discuss his acclaimed novel, Rainbow Milk, writing as a sensory experience, UK music charts in the early 2000s, and happy endings in queer literature 49:25 yes PAUL MENDEZ was born and raised in the Black Country. He now lives in London and is studying for an M.A. in Black British Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has been a performing member of two theatre companies, and worked as a voice actor, appearing on audiobooks by Andrea Levy, Paul Theroux and Ben Okri, most recently recording Ian Wright's A Life in Football for Hachette Audio. As a writer, he has contributed to the Times Literary Supplement and the Brixton Review of Books. Rainbow Milk is his debut novel. About Rainbow Milk An essential and revelatory coming-of-age narrative from a thrilling new voice, Rainbow Milk follows nineteen-year-old Jesse McCarthy as he grapples with his racial and sexual identities against the backdrop of his Jehovah's Witness upbringing. In the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso is a determined and humble Jamaican who has immigrated to Britain with his wife and children to secure a brighter future. Blighted with unexpected illness and racism, Norman and his family are resilient, but are all too aware that their family will need more than just hope to survive in their new country. At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London, escaping a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community and his depressed hometown in the industrial Black Country. But once he arrives he finds himself at a loss for a new center of gravity, and turns to sex work, music and art to create his own notions of love, masculinity and spirituality. A wholly original novel as tender as it is visceral, Rainbow Milk is a bold reckoning with race, class, sexuality, freedom and religion across generations, time and cultures. Bookstore, Books, Fiction, Literature, Bookclub, Authors, Interviews, 2021books, Montreal, Montrealbookstore, Indiebooks, Indiebookstore, Sthenri, Bookish, MTL, Librairiesthenribooks, LSHB, Weirdera, Weirderapod PAUL MENDEZ was born and raised in the Black Country. He now lives in London and is studying for an M.A. in Black British Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has been a performing member of two theatre companies, and worked as a voice actor, appearing on audiobooks by Andrea Levy, Paul Theroux and Ben Okri, most recently recording Ian Wright's A Life in Football for Hachette Audio. As a writer, he has contributed to the Times Literary Supplement and the Brixton Review of Books. Rainbow Milk is his debut novel.

About Rainbow Milk
An essential and revelatory coming-of-age narrative from a thrilling new voice, Rainbow Milk follows nineteen-year-old Jesse McCarthy as he grapples with his racial and sexual identities against the backdrop of his Jehovah's Witness upbringing.

In the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso is a determined and humble Jamaican who has immigrated to Britain with his wife and children to secure a brighter future. Blighted with unexpected illness and racism, Norman and his family are resilient, but are all too aware that their family will need more than just hope to survive in their new country.
At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London, escaping a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community and his depressed hometown in the industrial Black Country. But once he arrives he finds himself at a loss for a new center of gravity, and turns to sex work, music and art to create his own notions of love, masculinity and spirituality.

A wholly original novel as tender as it is visceral, Rainbow Milk is a bold reckoning with race, class, sexuality, freedom and religion across generations, time and cultures.

]]> PAUL MENDEZ was born and raised in the Black Country. He now lives in London and is studying for an M.A. in Black British Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has been a performing member of two theatre companies, and worked as a voice actor, appearing on audiobooks by Andrea Levy, Paul Theroux and Ben Okri, most recently recording Ian Wright's A Life in Football for Hachette Audio. As a writer, he has contributed to the Times Literary Supplement and the Brixton Review of Books. Rainbow Milk is his debut novel.

About Rainbow Milk
An essential and revelatory coming-of-age narrative from a thrilling new voice, Rainbow Milk follows nineteen-year-old Jesse McCarthy as he grapples with his racial and sexual identities against the backdrop of his Jehovah's Witness upbringing.

In the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso is a determined and humble Jamaican who has immigrated to Britain with his wife and children to secure a brighter future. Blighted with unexpected illness and racism, Norman and his family are resilient, but are all too aware that their family will need more than just hope to survive in their new country.
At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London, escaping a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community and his depressed hometown in the industrial Black Country. But once he arrives he finds himself at a loss for a new center of gravity, and turns to sex work, music and art to create his own notions of love, masculinity and spirituality.

A wholly original novel as tender as it is visceral, Rainbow Milk is a bold reckoning with race, class, sexuality, freedom and religion across generations, time and cultures.

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