Audioboom logo
Podcast logo
Listen & subscribe
In Head On Fire Don Martin (author of Where Did Everybody Go? & Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire) goes on a search for answers to life’s biggest and smallest questions. 

What is the purpose of anger? Is there a solution for loneliness? How do you write a hit pop song? Don asks experts in fields you didn't even know existed questions you didn't even know you wanted the answers to.

Join Don every other Tuesday for brand new episodes, or catch the full video on YouTube!

Find Don on social media @byDonMartin everywhere or if you'd like to appear on the show email Don@byDonMartin.com.
bydonmartin.com

Head On Fire

Don Martin
Society & Culture
160 episodes
What even is pop culture anymore? with Nadira Goffe
If you are someone who has complained that every new piece of media is a sequel, prequel, remake, reboot, or a studio banking on pre-existing IP (intellectual property) to bring in audiences, this is the episode for you. We are kicking off 2025 with Nadira Goffe, a staff writer at Slate, who helps us contextualize this moment in pop culture as well as looking back at a time when media felt like...
1hr 36m • Jun 10
1hr 36m
Burn 2024 Down! with Robyn Valentine
Grab your wieners, your marshmallows, your bad haircuts, and toss them all on the funeral pyre of 2024. Robyn Valentine (https://tiredwitch.com) , co-host of the Coffee & Cauldrons podcast and author of Magickal Tarot & The Apprentice Witch, joins me to review the highs, lows, personal triumphs, and things we'd love to leave behind as we BURN 2024 DOWN to prepare for a bright new year ahead. ...
1hr 57m • Dec 24, 2024
1hr 57m
What is German Christmas Folklore? with Ella Harrison
Ella Harrison (https://www.youtube.com/c/EllaHarrison) is the author of The Book of Spells (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/706768/the-book-of-spells-by-ella-harrison/) . She has a degree in anthropology and uses her social media platform to educate and entertain audiences on the topics of folklore, folk magic, and the history of holiday traditions. If you've ever wondered about figure...
1hr 5m • Dec 10, 2024
1hr 5m
Is all politics local? with Gregory Royal Pratt
They say all politics is local, but that's difficult to believe when every single topic of conversation at our dinner table seems to have national stakes. From the books on our kids' shelves to who reads those books to them to the statues in our parks to who is allowed in our parks, every issue large and small feels like it's operating on some grand scale. It's hard to gain perspective, hard to...
1hr 7m • Nov 26, 2024
1hr 7m
What's really in our food? with Erin the Food Science Babe
Thanks to the Make America Healthy Again movement, there is a lot of misinformation and disinformation on the rise about food, "chemicals", and whether what we eat is safe. Thankfully, Erin the Food Science Babe is here to help. Subscribe to Erin's channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/FoodScienceBabe Email: contact@headonfirepod.com Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heado...
1hr 4m • Nov 12, 2024
1hr 4m
How do you walk the Witches' Road in real life? with Thorn Mooney, Courtney Weber, and Mawiyah Bomani
The mantel of the witch is one that has been worn by people for all sorts of reasons. There are those who don the black hat for political purposes, as a feminist symbol, or a way for those who find themselves on the margins of society in one way or another to reach for the power they otherwise could never hope to have. Then there are the people call themselves witches because they cast spells...
1hr 36m • Oct 29, 2024
1hr 36m
Why do we politicize hurricanes? with Dr. Sam Montano
Dr. Sam Montano (http://www.disaster-ology.com) is no stranger to combating conspiracy theories regarding emergency management. She’s been doing it since Hurricane Katrina. She holds a BS in Psychology, as well as Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Emergency Management and teaches the subject at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Her book Disaster-ology came out in 2021. I sat down with her to help ...
1hr 4m • Oct 15, 2024
1hr 4m
What is expertise? with AJ Jacobs
A.J. Jacobs is a New York Times bestselling author known for his immersive, year-long experiments, including The Year of Living Biblically, The Know-It-All, and his latest book, The Year of Living Constitutionally. Email: contact@headonfirepod.com Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headon...
57m • Oct 01, 2024
57m
What can rejection teach you? with Victoria Aveyard
By all accounts Victoria Aveyard (https://victoriaaveyard.com) is both an outlier and also as close to the Hollywood version of becoming an author as it gets. While the average age for a debut novelist is around 36, Victoria’s debut novel—Red Queen—was published shortly after graduating from college and went on to become a massive, runaway success. And so did all of the rest of her novels. In ...
1hr 20m • Sep 17, 2024
1hr 20m
Is everywhere really queer? with Charlie Sprinkman
Charlie Sprinkman developed the app Everywhere Is Queer (https://www.everywhereisqueer.com) , which is quickly becoming one of the best, most comprehensive lists of queer owned and operated businesses. Whether you’re looking for a travel agent, a craft store, a bakery, or a horse ranch, the Everywhere is Queer app is helping people realize that supporting queer owned and operated businesses in...
53m • Sep 03, 2024
53m
What is language? with Danny Hieber, PhD
Danny Hieber (https://linguisticdiscovery.com) earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his B.A. in linguistics and philosophy from the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Prior to and during graduate school he worked for Rosetta Stone (https://rosettastone.com/) ’s Endangered Language Program (https://www.rosettastone.com/languages/endan...
1hr 19m • Aug 20, 2024
1hr 19m
What is a storyboard artist? with Chris Copeland
Chris Copeland has worked on some of your favorite things. Invincible, The Witcher, Young Justice, and he made his directorial debut for Dreamworks on the series Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. He’s had a long career that began here in Chicago as a nerd who loved superheroes and now gets to help bring them to life. We talked about how a storyboard artist is one of the first people to visualiz...
1hr 30m • Aug 06, 2024
1hr 30m
Why are MLMs a scam? with Roberta Blevins
Roberta Blevins left the MLM world in 2017 and spent all of her time since then educating the public on the dangers involved in joining these barely legal pyramid schemes. She was a key witness in the case against Lularoe and was featured in the documentary LuLaRich which showcased how the billion dollar clothing company misled thousands of women. These days Roberta educates people via her podc...
1hr 27m • Jul 23, 2024
1hr 27m
How do you take satire seriously? with Clare Brown
Clare Brown is a satirist and author of the new audiobook New Nigeria County. Her social media platform is famous for flipping gender and racial stereotypes while both educating and inviting her audience to laugh. Email: contact@headonfirepod.com Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonf...
1hr 5m • Jul 09, 2024
1hr 5m
How do you bring characters to life? with Jennifer Hale
Even if you don’t play video games, Jennifer Hale is still probably one of your favorite actors…you just didn’t know it. As of this recording she is just shy of 500 acting credits on IMDb including numerous roles in the Star Wars universe, Mortal Kombat, DC, Marvel, Disney. Even Biker Mice from Mars…remember that? She’s been in DuckTales and Rick and Morty and The Little Mermaid and the Big Ban...
1hr 9m • Jun 25, 2024
1hr 9m
What's the danger of censorship? with Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Maggie Tokuda-Hall (https://www.prettyokmaggie.com) is a children’s and young adult author who writes stories that help kids of all types see themselves on the page as the main character. She also writes books that help parents and kids have age appropriate conversations about the world we live in. One of those books, Love In The Library, became the centerpoint for exposing a longtime issue wit...
1hr 16m • Jun 11, 2024
1hr 16m
What is memory? with Dr. Althea Need Kaminske
Dr. Althea Need Kaminske is a cognitive psychologist who teaches at the Indiana University school of medicine interested in the application of human memory research to educational settings. She also helps run The Learning Scientists, an international group of cognitive psychologists who engage in science communication about the science of learning. Her new book, The Psychology of Memory, came o...
1hr 10m • May 28, 2024
1hr 10m
What can dolls tell us about ourselves? with Matthew Keith
Matthew Keith is a Barbie collector, photographer, and doll expert whose work has been featured in The Los Angeles Time, NewNowNext, and on a social media feed near you. Find him at https://www.dollsonthebrain.com Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreo...
58m • May 14, 2024
58m
How do you make cars less scary? with Chaya Milchtein, the Mechanic Shop Femme
Chaya Milchtein is known to the internet as the Mechanic Shop Femme. She uses her platform and her new book Mechanic Shop Femme’s Guide to Car Ownership— to make every facet of car ownership less terrifying—from the day you decide to purchase to doing your own regular maintenance and care—and she’s showing folks in the margins of society who are typically left out of these spaces that we belong...
51m • Apr 30, 2024
51m
What's it like being Out in the NFL? with Kevin Maxen
Kevin Maxen (https://www.instagram.com/kmax3824/) is a strength and conditioning coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He’s also the first male coach in major American men’s professional sports to publicly come out as gay. I sat down to talk to him about what it takes to train some of the world’s best athletes, divorcing yourself from outside criticism, and whether the NFL is finally becoming mor...
47m • Apr 16, 2024
47m
How do you fall in love with poetry? with Dr. Maya C. Popa
Dr. Maya C. Popa (https://www.mayacpopa.com) is a poetry educator, a poetry critic, and a poet in her own right. She is the poetry reviews editor at Publishers Weekly, a professor of poetry at NYU, and her most recent collection, titled Wound is the origin of wonder, was named one of the Guardian’s Best Books of Poetry and has been featured in The Washington Post, The Irish Times, The Harvard R...
58m • Apr 02, 2024
58m
What makes good sex advice? with Dan Savage
Dan Savage (https://savage.love) has done a lot of things in his life. He founded both the It Gets Better project and the Hump porn festival. He popularized the Campsite Rule of relationships. He made Rick Santorum’s name a dirty word. And he’s been one of the country’s foremost sex, dating, and relationship advice columnists since the creation of Savage Love in 1991. He’s a pioneer of podcasti...
1hr 18m • Mar 19, 2024
1hr 18m
Are we cleaning everything wrong? with Melissa Pateras
With spring right around the corner, many people are thinking about cleaning their homes and turning to social media for tips and tricks only to suddenly learn we all seem to be doing everything wrong. That's where Melissa Pateras, the lesbian queen of Laundrytok and author of the new book A Dirty Guide to a Clean Home, comes in. She told me all the secrets of folding a fitted sheet, the magic ...
1hr 2m • Mar 05, 2024
1hr 2m
Why is drag important? with Jinkx Monsoon
Jinkx Monsoon (she/her) is a two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race winner, Broadway breakout star, and soon to be villain on the beloved British sci-fi series Doctor Who coming to Disney+ in 2024. The self-proclaimed “internationally tolerated” drag icon has taken over the entertainment industry as an award-winning stage actress, acclaimed vocalist, stand-up comic, and theatre sensation. Jinkx first gar...
53m • Feb 20, 2024
53m
Why is math a drag? with Kyne Santos
Kyne Santos uses social media to teach math subjects that range from simple addition and subtraction to more esoteric concepts about impossible objects or quantum mechanics. And he does it in drag. Because sometimes Kyne puts on a wig, drops the surname and becomes the Canadian Drag Race superstar alum Kyne who teaches us how math can be a living, breathing, interesting subject that both enrich...
47m • Feb 06, 2024
47m
Burn 2023 down! with Meg Elison
2023 was great and terrible. There were technological marvels, horrible television, phenomenal movies, brilliant books, and more author drama than you ever thought possible. Come around the dumpster fire as Meg Elison and I build the year its funeral pyre. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com...
1hr 40m • Dec 26, 2023
1hr 40m
What is comedy? with Bonnie Klopfer
Bonnie Klopfer is an actress and comedian whose videos have been loved by millions of people around the world. She’s a stand up regular in LA and makes content online about finding the funny in mundane things, including a breakout series of shorts about product packaging. Find her here: https://linktr.ee/boobieklapper Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: h...
1hr 18m • Dec 12, 2023
1hr 18m
Can anger make us better? with Dr. Heather Lench
We are often told to ignore anger, to repress anger, that anger has no value in a polite society. Anger gets us in trouble. Anger removes our ability to think rationally. Anger is always bad all of the time and we should never, ever feel it. Or, at least, that's what we've been told. Some researchers wanted to test that theory, and turns out it might not be true. Dr. Heather Lench is a profe...
38m • Nov 28, 2023
38m
Why are editors so scary? with Hannah Robinson
Hannah Robinson has been an editor at some of publishing’s biggest houses. HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster—where we met—and now Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette. She primarily works with non-fiction, which is a massive slice of the publishing pie that seems to get all but ignored on social media. We had a discussion about what the job of an editor is, what it isn’t, and whethe...
1hr 20m • Nov 14, 2023
1hr 20m
What makes a good critic? with Jerry Saltz
Jerry Saltz is one of the last real critics, the kind of critic that matters, whose voice is held in high esteem both by the art world and by the artists who make the world go round. He’s been the senior art critic for New York Magazine since 2006. He also happens to be one of, if not the most, widely read critics in the world—possibly outranked by his wife. He is a former long-haul truck drive...
1hr 32m • Oct 31, 2023
1hr 32m
Can you become a witch in a year? with Diana Helmuth
My guest today is Diana Helmuth. She is an award-winning author of a book about hiking who decided to take a page, or several, out of the books of people who I look up to: AJ Jacobs, Mary Roach, Elizabeth Gilbert. Authors who spent time approaching a field as a complete novice in order to learn everything they could about it, to see how it might change them, to see what we can learn about ourse...
1hr 36m • Oct 17, 2023
1hr 36m
Why is food so hard? with Alicia Simpson
Alicia Simpson is a registered dietitian and the Executive Director for Pea Pod Nutrition, a nonprofit dedicated to the nutritional health of Georgia families. She holds a Master’s degree in Nutrition from Georgia State University and a PhD in public policy. For years she worked as a professor teaching these issues to college students, but for the past several years she has made it her mission ...
1hr 23m • Oct 03, 2023
1hr 23m
Should we be afraid of fungus? with Dr. Leslie Holland
From best-selling novels like "Mexican Gothic" to blockbuster media hits like "The Last of Us," it seems like everyone is buzzing about fungi these days. Think of it as your houseplant's weirder, spongier, and creepier cousin. Fungi have a significant role in decomposition, which adds to their eerie reputation. However, they can also serve as food, a recreational drug, a source of medicine, and...
46m • Sep 19, 2023
46m
What does the ocean sound like? with Dr. HEATHER SPENCE
When you think about what the ocean sounds like, what does your brain conjure up? Maybe the gentle ebbing and flowing of tides? Maybe you think of marine life? Perhaps the songs of whales or that clicking sound dolphins make. But what about the snapping of air bubbles created by thousands of shrimp in tide pools? What about the ambient noise of both the shallow and deep parts of the ocean? Have...
1hr 2m • Sep 05, 2023
1hr 2m
Can drag queens and gospel music mix? with Flamy Grant
Matthew Blake, better known as Flamy Grant, is a shame slaying, hip swaying drag queen from the Bible Belt who also happens to be a gospel singer. Her debut album Bible Belt Baby came out in 2022 and largely flew under the radar until she came under fire from a conservative preacher that decided to make her the target of an online hate campaign. The campaign backfired. Big time. Instead of send...
59m • Aug 22, 2023
59m
How do you get to Hot City? with Bonnie McKee
Bonnie McKee is a singer, songwriter, director, actor, and world class DIYer. She's written numerous number 1 hits for artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Cher, and Katy Perry. She's also a pop star in her own right, having released the album Trouble, the EP Bombastic, and the single American Girl among many, many other indie hits. After a decade of writing smashes ...
55m • Aug 08, 2023
55m
Can Dungeons & Dragons improve my mental health? with Dr. Megan Connell
As a lifelong geek I will preach the good word of all things niche and nerdy to anyone who will listen and even some who won’t. I’m the kind of person who strongly believes that a good story can change your entire outlook, that a well-crafted game can be a balm for the soul, and that superheroes can save you even if they aren’t real. But there are a lot of aspects of geek culture that are stil...
1hr 11m • Jul 25, 2023
1hr 11m
What is Gender Affirming Care? with Dr. Ashley Brandt
This show is all about overlooked or misunderstood fields, and in 2023 I can think of no more misunderstood field than that of gender affirming care. It is the boogeyman of every conservative talking head and your transphobic aunt’s Facebook feed. There is so much misinformation floating around social media and YouTube, oftentimes masquerading as fact-based or presented by experts. So I wanted...
57m • Jul 11, 2023
57m
How do you find yourself when the world is watching? with David Archuleta
David Archuleta began winning singing contests while many of us were learning how to ride a bike. He won Star Search at the age of 12. When he was 16 he auditioned for American Idol, and by the time it was all over he’d come in second, got a recording contract, and was whirled into a studio to create his debut album and smash single ‘Crush’ at the age of 17. In the blink of an eye he was sudde...
1hr 4m • Jun 27, 2023
1hr 4m
Who can claim the Greek gods? with Angelo Nasios
We are in an era of remakes and reboots and revivals and retellings of stories that were just remade and rebooted and revived and retold less than a decade ago. An era of cinematic universes whose stories sometimes don’t feel like they go together, characters that seem to suddenly change in power and personality. Sometimes it can be enough to make even the most chill movie goer wonder where all...
1hr 7m • Jun 13, 2023
1hr 7m
What is the draw of queer horror? with Ryan La Sala, author of The Honeys
Ryan La Sala is a bestselling, award winning author of multiple queer books. His horror novel, The Honeys, is a love letter to queer folks who thought Clueless and The Craft should have had a crossover film. It was named the best book of 2022 by NPR, New York, public library, school library, journal Barnes & Noble, and publishers weekly. He’s currently serving as executive producer on the film ...
1hr 3m • May 31, 2023
1hr 3m
What's with the WGA strike? with Joshua Conkel
The Writer's Guild of America is currently on strike in a union negotiation that has implications far beyond the city limits of Hollywood. Screenwriter Joshua Conkel (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Dead Boy Detectives) returns to discuss how streaming services are attempting to turn screenwriting into a gig economy job, why in the new "golden age of television" ...
1hr 2m • May 16, 2023
1hr 2m
Why do we love fashion? with Charles Lu
Charles Lu is a Canadian fashion designer whose work has been seen in London, Dubai, and on the hit Netflix show Next In Fashion with Tan France. The child of Vietnamese refugees, he knew his entire life he was going to be a fashion designer. He will make you rethink your relationship to hoodies, and he is my guest today. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitte...
58m • May 02, 2023
58m
Why do we love cheese so much? with Emilia D’Albero
96% of Americans claim to love cheese, according to one survey. The same survey said our love of cheese outranks our love of coffee, social media, national pride, and even our beloved cell phones. Americans’ favorite dish? Mac & cheese. Almost every type of cuisine on the planet features at least one type of cheese. But what do we really know about this most beloved of foods? Emilia D’Albero c...
1hr 7m • Apr 18, 2023
1hr 7m
How is ChatGPT and AI changing science fiction? with Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld Magazine
Clarkesworld magazine is a publisher of short form science fiction with the distinction of providing its prospective authors a quick turnaround on submissions. This uniqueness is compounded by the fact that, unlike most other similar publications, the magazine is always open to submissions. All of that changed earlier this year when the Neil Clarke, the founder of Clarkesworld, made internation...
59m • Apr 04, 2023
59m
Does DEI education...work? with Tanorria Askew
Chances are if you have a racist aunt with access to social media, you've come across the term DEI a lot lately. It's the new conservative boogeyman. It's the reason why SVB closed. The reason why drag queens read books to kids. And it's what happens when big companies get dragged on social media for being run almost exclusively by cisgender, heterosexual white men making 7-figures a year. But...
1hr 6m • Mar 21, 2023
1hr 6m
When does fandom get too extreme? with Sam Aburime
The internet allows all sorts of people to come together to share their love of musicians, actors, tv shows and movies, and...anything. Everything. There are communities who share a love even specific characters from a book series, and I've even recently come across a diehard community of people who share a specific love of Uncrustables - a frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich snack. But wh...
1hr 7m • Mar 07, 2023
1hr 7m
How does your voice do that? with Tawny Platis
Voice acting brings life to everything from corporate training videos to tearjerker holiday commercials to your favorite characters in animated movies or video games. But the daily grind isn't as easy as sitting down and reading a few lines. Tawny Platis is a lifelong actress who has found recent success behind the microphone, and she guides us through what it takes to make it in the cutthroat ...
1hr 13m • Feb 21, 2023
1hr 13m
Are bats as scary as they seem? with Alyson Brokaw, PhD
I think you should confront the things you fear. Not me, of course, but you definitely should. I hear it's great therapy. Me? I talk to experts about the things that I fear, and I cannot think of a creature that inspires for fear, misunderstanding, and general "icky" feelings than bats. But, maybe that's because I don't know enough about them. Alyson Brokaw (https://www.alysonbrokaw.com) is a ...
1hr • Feb 07, 2023
1hr
Why is folklore so captivating? with Dr. Cory Hutcheson
What's the difference between myths, legends, and folklore? Or...is there a difference? The winter holiday season is chock full of magic and monsters and bits of folklore abounding in everything from the colors of the season to the foods that we eat. Folklore itself - as a topic of study and discussion - has had a bit of a moment this year. Plenty of voices have made a bit of a name for themse...
1hr 20m • Dec 27, 2022
1hr 20m

Sorry, your browser isn't supported.

We recommend upgrading to the latest Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

You can visit our support center if you're having problems.