Mysterious Goings On with Alex Greenwood
Explore the world of creativity and writing with Mysterious Goings On with J. Alexander Greenwood. Named a 2022 Top 5 Literature Podcast by CrowdUltra and a "New & Noteworthy" show by Apple Podcasts in 2016, this show is a magnet for top-selling authors and creative minds. Subscribe to embark on an enthralling journey through the world of creativity and literature. Website: https://mgopod.com/ Become a Paid Subscriber: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/j-alexander-greenwood/subscribe
Episodes
In this reflective piece, Alex challenges the conventional narrative surrounding the holidays as a time for renewal and optimism. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of acknowledging personal loss and the complexities of life. He advocates for clearer thinking, honest conversations, and modest wishes that focus on competence and responsibility rather than empty optimism.
Alex's message is a call to embrace the nuances of life, re...
In this episode, Alex reads his essay, “Tend Your Garden, But Don’t Forget the Gate,” originally published on his Substack, All The Fits That’s News. The piece explores the limits of the old Stoic maxim, “Don’t complain, don’t explain,” and how silence, when taken too far, becomes a form of avoidance rather than strength.
Alex reflects on a difficult period in his professional life, when keeping everything bottled up nearly broke hi...
Alex takes a look at this year’s Spotify Wrapped for Mysterious Goings On and talks through what the numbers say about a small, strange, independent show that refuses to behave like a big studio podcast.
He points out which episodes surprised him, where listeners are tuning in from, and even what kind of music and audiobooks the audience seems to love.
There’s curiosity, a little pride, and plenty of thanks to the folks who keep pre...
What happens when a children’s book is written for adults who know better? Filmmaker and author Cevin Soling joins Alex to talk about his brilliantly twisted storybooks that hide sharp social commentary behind bright illustrations and dark comedy.
His Rumpelville Chronicles wrap heavy themes in playful visuals, inviting adults to laugh, cringe, and think at the same time. Soling’s been poking at cultural absurdities since childhoo...
What keeps an artist going when fame never quite shows up? For songwriter, drummer, and now novelist Douglas Bales, the answer is simple: the people who actually listen.
In this episode, Douglas joins Mysterious Goings On to talk about his 40-year journey through the garage shows, the smoky clubs, the late-night drives, and the long odds that define a life in music.
We get into what it really feels like to be onstage in front of an ...
Author Dennis A. Feece returns to the show to talk about the latest chapter in his TB Stone series, THE PHANTOM GRASP ...which takes place in a world where identity, heritage, and personal history shape every twist.
We get into how his own background fuels the storytelling, why authenticity matters more than ever, and what it takes to balance the pull of the market with the story you actually need to tell.
Feece opens up about the e...
Alex shares a personal essay about a man who lived like he would never hit a red light. His life became a cautionary tale about avoidance, magical thinking, and the cost of confusing motion with progress.
If you have ever watched someone you love floor it toward the inevitable or felt the pull of that habit yourself, this one may land close to home.
Thank you for listening. How about checking out All the Fits That’s News?
I’m excited ...
In this episode, Alex discusses the pervasive tension in today's world, attributing it to various societal pressures and the overwhelming nature of news and social media. He emphasizes the importance of cultivating personal connections and kindness as a means to navigate through negativity and stress.
By focusing on small, positive actions, individuals can create a more supportive environment for themselves and others, despite ...
Welcome to Season 16 of Mysterious Goings On.
Sometimes it takes a hard knock to the head to change how you see time.
After a simple workplace accident led to an ER visit, Alex Greenwood found himself staring at a very different kind of threshold—one marked by uncertainty, health scares, and the quiet reckoning that comes when life reminds you it’s not a dress rehearsal.
In this deeply personal premiere episode, Alex reflects on what ...
In our Season 15 finale, Alex talks about how, in the late Robert Redford’s All Is Lost, survival looks less like fireworks and more like grit, silence, and finally, a single reaching hand.
In this episode, Alex Greenwood reflects on the film’s ending and what it teaches us about endurance, despair, and the ways hope shows up in real life.
***Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen Robert Redford’s 2013 film All Is Lost, we discuss the ...
What does Edith Piaf have to teach us about surviving chaos in 2025? From La Vie en Rose to Marvel blockbusters, I explore why old voices still matter when today’s culture feels hollow.
Plus, a special announcement: get 50% off your first year as a paid subscriber to All the Fits That’s News .
CONNECT:
In 2006, Mike Judge’s Idiocracy was satire. In 2025, it looks like the nightly news. Alex unpacks how anti-intellectualism, corporate dominance, politics as spectacle, and meme-economics echo Judge’s dystopia—and why the joke is starting to feel real.
Plus, a special announcement: get 50% off your first year as a paid subscriber to All the Fits That’s News .
CONNECT:
Is the social media era finally losing its grip on us?
In this episode, Alex reads his essay “Peak Social Media: When the Craze Becomes a Chore,” examining platform fatigue, expert perspectives on digital burnout, and the quiet rise of slower, more intentional spaces like Reddit and Substack.
Plus, a special announcement: get 50% off your first year as a paid subscriber to All the Fits That’s News .
CONNECT:
Join host Alex Greenwood for a conversation with Colonel Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke (U.S. Army, Ret.)—West Point graduate, U.S. Army veteran, and author of the award-winning Jake Fortina military thriller series.
Steinke draws on 28 years in the Army and 14 with the Department of Defense to bring high-stakes realism to his novels.
His latest, Vital Mission—releasing August 26, (note: there will be no pre-orders)—tackles the harrowing ...
What happens when one person wears the hats of author, illustrator, AND designer? You get a book like The Mystery of A Nubbins—a richly imagined adventure that feels like it stepped straight out of the Golden Age of Illustration.
In this episode, I sit down with W.S. Wiist, who brings three decades of creative experience to his dream project. We talk about:
✅ How childhood wonder shaped The Mystery of A Nubbins
✅ The Brandywine Schoo...
What happens when you ask Starfleet’s most logical mind to make sense of modern America? From politics to conspiracy theories, climate denial to social media chaos, Commander Spock doesn’t pull punches.
He even offers his thoughts on the current state of Star Trek—and yes, he has opinions about blowing up the Enterprise, killing off Kirk, and the eyebrow-raising “young Spock.”
No emotion. No spin. Just reason.
🖖 Listen now for a con...
On this special Independence Day episode, Alex steps away from fiction and into the present-day reality of a nation at a crossroads.
Dispirit of ’76 (also published on Substack) is a personal roadtrip through American optimism—what it was, what it’s become, and whether we still have the will to pursue the “beautiful world” promised in Donald Fagen’s 1982 track “I.G.Y.”
Along the way, Alex revisits key moments in U.S. history—from 1...
In this episode, we explore the power of imperfection.
From fictional characters who’ve survived trauma, addiction, grief, and self-sabotage, to real-life reflections on what it means to show up anyway—this is a tribute to the flawed, the functional, and the quietly heroic.
✅ Why competence is its own kind of courage
✅ How storytelling helps us reframe resilience
✅ The link between emotional wounds and meaningful work
✅ ...
Host J. Alex Greenwood riffs on Harlan Ellison’s legendary “Pay the Writer” rant and explains why writing for “exposure” often ends in creative bankruptcy.
📢 Have thoughts? Want to be featured on the show?Record a voice memo and email it to us!
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What can a scrappy Little League C team teach us about courage, accountability, and democracy?
In this episode, Alex steps back into right field—the place where misfit ballplayers and underdogs get benched—only to discover it’s where some of life’s toughest (and truest) lessons are learned.
From a coach who looked more Grateful Dead than gridiron, to a ground ball that literally knocked the wind out of him, Alex unpacks why standing...
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