Podcasts about Laird Hunt

Laird is an alumnx of Naropa's MFA Creative Writing program, former Naropa core faculty and Summer Writing Program faculty for 15 years, author of 9 novels, and current professor of writing at Brown University. In this episode, he takes us on the journey of finding his writing voice, the experiences that allowed him to become a published author and teacher, and what he believes about what it takes to make it as a writer. Special Guest: Laird Hunt.

On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: audiobook listening and keeping track of book recs Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: we boss some TBRs The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  :10 - Ad For Ourselves 1:16 - Currently Reading Patreon 5:11 - Our Bookish Moments Of The Week 12:48 - Our Current Reads 13:25 - True Crime by Samantha Kolesnik (Meredith) 14:38 - 100 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered by Sadie Hartmann 18:48 - Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy (Kaytee) 19:05 - CR Season 6: Episode 40 22:08 - Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni (Meredith) 22:50 - The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni 26:54 - The Night Ends with Fire by K.X. Song (Kaytee) 26:58 - Bright Side Bookshop 29:18 - The Dragon Wakes with Thunder by K.X. Song (pre-order, releases Aug 29, 2025) 29:44 - The Hike by Drew Magary (Meredith) 32:21 - The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins 32:57 - Fairy Tale by Stephen King 34:42 - The White Girl by Tony Birch (Kaytee) 34:53 - Garcia Street Books 36:29 - The Dry by Jane Harper 37:47 - Deep Dive: Boss My TBF From Mari M. 38:38 - Life after Life by Kate Atkinson (pick #1) 38:41 - Life of Pi by Yann Martel (pick #2) 38:44 - Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab (pick #3) 38:48 - The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld (pick #4) 38:51 - The Wildest Sun by Asha Lemmie (pick #5) 38:57 - Cold People by Tom Rob Smith 39:00 - Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty From Judith 44:44 - Still Life by Sarah Winman 44:46 - Eve Green by Susan Fletcher 45:14 - The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah (pick #1) 45:17 - The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawking (pick #2) 45:21 - A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan (pick #3) 45:26 - The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (pick #4) 45:29 - Forever Home by Graham Norton (pick #5) 46:03 - Orbital by Samantha Harvey 48:07 - A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos 48:40 - All The Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker 48:55 - Zorrie by Laird Hunt 49:08 - Meet Us At The Fountain 49:21 - I wish to let everyone know that A Journey To Three Pines will be coming in February and Wicked will be discussed on February 22nd. 49:49 - The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny 50:08 - Wicked by Gregory MaGuire 50:12 - Currently Reading Patreon 54:22 - I wish that somehow Louise Penny would see Inspector Goosemache. (Kaytee) Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. February's IPL comes to you from Fables and Fairy Tales in Marinsville, Indiana! Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.  All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Listener Presses: This year we have 20 fantastic titles from our listeners. Our TBRs exploded, and we hope yours do too! Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  .  2:19 - Your Listener Presses 3:48 - The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (pressed by Katie) 6:40 - The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow 7:32 - Poison for Breakfast by Daniel Handler i.e. Lemony Snicket (pressed by Kimberly) 10:30- The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore (pressed by Jessie) 12:38 - @thewilltoread on Instagram 12:41 - Reproduction by Louisa Hall (pressed by Bill) 13:32 - Chouette by Claire Oshetsky 13:33 - Poor Deer by Claire Oshetsky 14:53 - The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard (pressed by Emer) 18:29 - The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin (pressed by Heather) 18:51 - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 21:30 - Go As A River by Shelley Read 22:11 - Zorrie by Laird Hunt 22:49 - The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (pressed by Mirabella) 24:54 - The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers 26:18 - Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Azemien (pressed by Matt) 28:05 - Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro (pressed by Ana) 31:08 - Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer (pressed by Amy) 31:14 - A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer 34:35 - In the Shadow of the Mountain by Silvia Vasquez-Lovato (pressed by Amanda) 35:48 - A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter 35:50 - Breathless by Amy McCulloch 36:45 - The Body in Question by Jill Ciment (pressed by Alana) 40:40 - The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin (pressed by Avery) 44:26 - The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 44:27 - All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle 44:33 - The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher (pressed by Kristen) 45:36 - Roscoe Books 46:12 - Hearts and Daggers podcast 46:43 - @birdbrainbooks on Instagram 46:45 - Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka (pressed by Holly) 49:02 - Leaving Coy's Hill by Katherine A. Sherbrooke (pressed by Aubrey) 50:33 - Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts 51:46 - I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalize Sue (pressed by Hannah) 53:01 - Anxious People by Fredrik Backman 53:02 - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 53:35 - Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt 53:38 - The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel 55:08 - Country Dark by Chris Offutt (pressed by Cindy) 57:25 - Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (pressed by Jessica) 59:46 - What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher (pressed by Abi) 1:01:17 - The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe 1:02:03 - Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. July's IPL comes to us from Booktenders in West Virginia! All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the special insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: talking podcasting with young people and book to film buzz Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: All kinds of bookish overhype The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  .  :10 - Bite Size Intro 1:36 - Currently Reading Patreon 3:48 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week 6:42 - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 7:17 - The Martian by Andy Weir 8:46 - Our Current Reads 8:53 - Olivetti by Allie Millington (Kaytee) 10:40 - Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman 11:54 - Zorrie by Laird Hunt (Meredith) 13:07 - Storybound Subscription from Fabled Bookshop 14:31 - Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry 15:42 - The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May (Kaytee) 16:12 - Wintering by Katherine May 19:31 - No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall (Meredith) 20:21 - What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall 20:23 - Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall 23:17 - James by Percival Everett (Kaytee) 23:36 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 27:01 - Erasure by Percival Everett 27:50 - The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Meredith) 31:12 - @thewilltoread on Instagram 31:47 - The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan 32:18 - The Bookish Overhype 34:15 - The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride 34:20 - Deacon King Kong by James McBride 34:42 - Zorrie by Laird Hunt 35:51 - James by Percival Everett 36:22 - The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 36:41 - The Fury by Alex Michaelides 37:28 - End of Story by A.J. Finn 39:11 - The Women by Kristin Hannah 39:21 - The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah 41:05 - Middle of the Night by Riley Sager 43:25 - Happy Place by Emily Henry  43:38 - Funny Story by Emily Henry 43:40 - People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry 44:34 - The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett 44:47 - Meet Us At The Fountain 44:51 - I wish that books that make you question yourself would give an assessment quiz at the end. (Kaytee) 45:03 - The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May 46:41 - I wish everyone would watch the episode of The Twilight Zone called “Time Enough At Last”. (Meredith) 47:08 - Twilight Zone Season 1: Episode 8 (This is Amazon Prime but you can watch on Paramount + as well!) Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. May's IPL comes to us from Commonplace Books in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Trope Thursday with Kaytee and Bunmi - a behind the scenes peek into the publishing industry All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the special insights of an independent bookseller The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

Welcome to Episode 201 featuring an Author Spotlight with LUANNE RICE recorded at the beautiful and welcoming Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library in Old Lyme, CT. Luanne's new novel, LAST NIGHT, is out now. You've heard us rave about it in recent episodes and we do our best to keep our conversation with Luanne spoiler free. Some highlights of this episode: After recording with Luanne, we headed to Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT to attend her book launch. She was in conversation with new-to-us author, VANESSA LILLIE. It was a great event and the reception afterwards at The Captain Daniel Packer Inne was filled with love, good conversation, and delicious food. Later that night we both started Vanessa's new thriller, BLOOD SISTERS. We binged it and highly recommend you check it out. Other books and stories we've recently read include THE SICILIAN INHERITANCE by Jo Piazza (out 4/2/2024) and RIVER OF THE GODS: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard. Emily read two short stories:“The Irish Wedding” from the story collection THE SOUVENIR MUSEUM by Elizabeth McCracken and “Such Fun” from the story collection LAST NIGHT by James Salter. Chris also declared that she's “finished” reading Emily Wilson's new translation of THE ILIAD by Homer. In Biblio Adventures, Emily went to Charter Books in Newport, RI for the book launch of FLOAT UP, SING DOWN by Laird Hunt. Chris acquired a few more IKEA bookcases and immediately started filling them up with purchases from Barnes & Noble and Blackwell's. Thanks to the sponsor of this episode, Anthony Ausiello, whose new novel, BROOKLYN ‘76, comes out on 2/20/2024. Thanks for listening, and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2024/episode201

Chaque jour, deux chroniqueurs présentent les infos indispensables à connaître en matière de culture : les dernières actus musique, les sorties littéraires ou cinéma, les nouvelles pièces de théâtre et les séries à ne pas manquer… C'est ici !

Nicolas Carreau met la littérature à l'honneur chaque dimanche, de 19h à 20h.

Summary: Pour yourself a mug of warm cider and snuggle under a blanket for this week's episode - we're hanging out in cabins in the woods! Is the wind outside a soothing background to a great makeout session or the cover for clomping feet coming to get us? One thing we're sure of - our hearts sure are racing whenever protagonists end up in rural cabins. Devin and Holly agree that while the outcomes of the stories in their respective wheelhouses differ, the allure is the same - isolated, cozy, and full of the unknown.  Topics Discussed: The Heart (2:31): Devin discussed The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller, a novel following Boston-based pastry chef Olivia Rawlings and she escapes a professional disaster by moving to a tiny Vermont town called Guthrie. Once there, she is hired to work at the Sugar Maple Inn by the owner, Margaret, who has her own apple-pie agenda, thrusting Livvy into a tiny community that makes a big impact on her life. Devin's key takeaways were: Livvy and the other characters in this novel all have their own ambitions, goals, and hang-ups. Some may seem silly on the surface (winning a pie baking contest) but are much more profound once you dig in. This story counteracts the assumptions we make about small towns and reminds us that community, whatever the size, makes us who we are. The descriptions of food in this novel are some of the best I've seen and rival Louise Penny. The sugar, the bread, the kitchen Livvy bakes in every morning and the way she approaches new recipes with us experiencing each ingredient makes this cozy novel delicious as well.  Vermont as the setting also amplifies the cozy happy energy of the story; there's line dancing, small bars, a tiny sugar cabin Livvy moves into that has a woodstove, so many blankets and smells of pine and nature. Every season described is idyllic and enjoyable, even aside from the plot!  The Dagger (16:37): Holly discussed In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt, a historical fiction suspense book set in colonial New England that follows a woman, Goody, who leaves her husband and son for the day to pick berries. She finds herself venturing deeper and deeper into the woods and stumbles upon a house - and much, much more. Holly's key takeaways were: This novel is lyrical but concise and reminded Holly of T.S. Elliott poems; the woods act as a symbol for freedom and dreams, for example. There's tension between the woods, where women can be wild and free, and fear of that from the uptight rules of religion and Goody's society.  The reader encounters many eerie and unknown things through this story; a deep well, a living ship made of human bones, butchering pigs, and “swallowing screams” are a short list. The setting in the woods and in rural cabins gives us a sense of creeping unknown and begs the question - are things what they seem?  A central theme of the story is womanhood and exploring the archetypes of being a woman; Hunt explores how women in history have been limited, abused, and subjugated to the rule of them through the guise of religion. Goody must break out of her traditional roles and learn to rely on the women she encounters who try to help; no one else will.  Hot On the Shelf (37:31): Holly: Linghun by Ai Jiang Devin: The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young What's Making Our Hearts Race (40:37): Holly: Lupin Part 3 on Netflix Devin: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse    Instagram: @heartsanddaggerspod Website: www.heartsanddaggerspod.com   If you like what you hear, please tell your friends and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so that we can find our perfect audience.  

Chris and Emily are happy to welcome back author SHULY CAWOOD to talk about her new poetry collection, SOMETHING SO GOOD IT CAN NEVER BE ENOUGH. Shuly reads a poem and talks about her poetic process, and we ask her to discuss our favorite(s) in the collection. We enjoy Shuly's poetry in part because it is so accessible. Biblio Adventures are always fun and interesting, and we went on one that opened up a huge new-to-us genre, ROMANCE! We recap a conference we attended at Yale, Popular Romance Fiction: The Literature of Hope. Chris watched the Senate Judiciary Committee's Hearing on Book Bans. We also had a great day in NYC with Aunt Ellen visiting The New York Society Library, The Corner Bookstore, and Kitchen Arts and Letters. Oysters were also involved. Some of the books we've read since the last episode include (not surprisingly) two romance novels. Chris read CLEAT CUTE by Meryl Wilsner and Emily read the first in the Hell's Belles series by Sarah MacNeal, BOMBSHELL. Chris finished THE INFERNO by Dante. Emily goes out on a limb and declares that PROPERTIES OF THIRST by Marianne Wiggins might land on her top 10 list this year. She also finished THIN PLACES by Kerri Ní Dochartaigh and loved ZORRIE by Laird Hunt which was one of our BookTube buddy Russell of Ink and Paper Blog's favorites in 2021. So many books! And we are thrilled about it. And also happy that it is Autumn, one of our favorite seasons.

The Mississippi Book Festival 2022 is in-person and we are so excited! Join Tracy and Shellie as they discuss which featured authors' works they've enjoyed and which panels they are most looking forward to. Also, do Tracy or Shellie enjoy books that are described as “fast paced” or “lyrical”? Tune in to find out this and more on this episode of Stacks and Stories. Books mentioned in this episode: The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson The Color Purple by Alice Walker South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist Zorrie by Laird Hunt

Laird Hunt is a 2013 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards winner for “Kind One,” a haunting novel that explores a horrible and uncanny intimacy between slave and master, inspired by a passage in Edward P. Jones' “The Known World.” Hunt's story, which also was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, tells of two sisters who turn tables on their mistress and take her captive after her Kentucky farmer husband dies. Booker Prize winner Michael Ondaatje said of Hunt's work, "There is always a surprise in the voice and in the heart of Laird Hunt's stories, with its echoes of habit caught in a timeless dialect, so we see the world he gives us as if new. 'You hear something like that and it walks out the door with you.'" Hunt joined The Asterisk* in July of 2022 via zoom from his home in Providence, R.I., where he is a professor of literary arts at Brown University. A former United Nations press officer, he was born in Singapore and educated at Indiana University and The Sorbonne in Paris.

Episode 104 Notes and Links to Matt Bell's Work         On Episode 104 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Matt Bell, and the two discuss, among many other topics, his upbringing in semi-rural Michigan, his love of video games and fantasy, his skill in writing in different modes, and his blockbuster success Appleseed, with its myriad pertinent themes and its intricately-crafted narratives and allegorical greatness.          Matt Bell is the author most recently of the novel Appleseed (a New York Times Notable Book) published by Custom House in July 2021. His craft book Refuse to Be Done, a guide to novel writing, rewriting, and revision, will follow in early 2022 from Soho Press. He is also the author of the novels Scrapper and In the House upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods, as well as the short story collection A Tree or a Person or a Wall, a non-fiction book about the classic video game Baldur's Gate II, and several other titles. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, Tin House, Fairy Tale Review, American Short Fiction, Orion, and many other publications. A native of Michigan, he teaches creative writing at Arizona State University.    Buy Matt Bell's Appleseed   Appleseed Review in The New York Times- “A Novel Charts Earth's Path From Lush Eden to Barren Hellscape”   Matt Bell's Website   Book Recommendations from Matt Bell   Buy Matt Bell's Books   New York Times Review of In the House upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods   Alta Journal Review of Appleseed   The Brooklyn Rail Review of Appleseed At about 2:00, Matt talks about the different ways of writing, editing, and publicizing books in the Covid era, noting that his newest book, Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts   At about 4:10, Matt details his childhood in rural Michigan and his relationship with reading and language    At about 6:15, Matt and Pete    At about 7:10, Matt describes the rural/urban combo in his writing   At about 9:10, Matt ponders whether his rural upbringing and reading fantasy, as well as ideas of what is “fantastical”   At about 10:35, Matt mentions formative books for him as an adolescent and college student, and how Fight Club led to other favorite writers as prescribed by Chuck Palahniuk, including Denis Johnson and Raymond Carver   At about 12:40, Matt sings the praises of The Intuitionist and John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead and inspiration for Appleseed   At about 14:30, Pete asks Matt about any “ ‘Eureka' moments” in his path to becoming a professional writer; Matt cites a “poverty of examples”   At about 16:10, Matt describes the “different” feeling that came with an early short story and things started “clicking”   At about 17:30, Matt describes just a few contemporary writers who bring “thrills at will,” including Bryan Evenson, DeLillo, Anne Carson, Christine Schutt, Jeff Vandermeer, Laird Hunt, and Dana Spiotta   At about 18:30, Matt discusses reading a huge quantity of Ursula LeGuin while writing Appleseed   At about 20:00, Pete delivers some good news to Matt regarding his short story output, and Matt responds to Pete's inquiries about Matt's previous short story collection and early publications    At about 21:20, Matt talks about the connection between rural and vast landscapes and the themes of man's relationship with nature from In the House… and other work of his   At about 22:10, Matt discusses differing views across the country of his book Scrapper as dystopian/realistic in various American locales   At about 24:25, Pete asks Matt about connections between Matt's history of gaming and his writing, including his book Baldur's Gate   At about 26:40, Matt talks about “writing with your whole self” and writing authentically for him   At about 27:40, Matt describes the copyediting process after Pete's shouts out an atypical   At about 28:40, Pete asks about the finished feeling seeds for the book Appleseed, and the process of editing with great help from Kate Nintzel and Kirby Kim   At about 32:20-Matt describes inspiration and the impetus for writing his book came from faun myths, myths in general, Dionysus, etc.    At about 33:20-Pete makes Garcia Marquez comparisons with magical realism and the nonchalant and skillful ways in which fantasy is presented in Appleseed, and Matt discusses how myth and research came into play   At about 35:20- Matt talks about the ways in which the storylines developed and about the book as self-propelling   At about 36:30, Matt responds to Pete's wondering about the balance between allegory and moralizing    At about 39:10, Matt and Pete discuss the three major storylines, and Matt responds to Pete's questions about how he made the storylines congeal so nicely    At about 41:50, Matt discusses the essential Chapman storyline from Appleseed   At about 44:40, Matt analyzes Nathaniel, a main character from Appleseed, and his motivations   At about 46:45, Pete shouts out a wonderfully crafted scene and intricately-meaningful from the book   At about 47:20, Pete shouts out a beautiful fraternal relationship and asks Matt about his mindset in crafting the relationship and Matt cites how the faun allowed him freedom    At about 49:20, Matt discusses the John character from his book and themes of the balances between nature and technology, including a real life connection to a detail from the book   At about 52:00, Pete wonders if Yuri is representative of someone in particular   At about 53:00, Pete highlights themes of “collective memory” and learning from history, as seen through the futuristic storyline, and Matt and Pete discuss ideas of “fates” and “furies”   At about 54:30, Matt responds to questions around greater good, and if democracy is up for combating climate change   At about 55:35, Matt cites a quote and books from Derrick Jensen and his memorable A Language Older than Words amid constant questions and urges to act   At about 57:10, Pete mentions a real-time connection to the themes of the conversation   At about 58:10, Pete asks Matt about the ways and places in which the book is being taught, and Matt talks about “think[ing] on top of it/past it”   At about 59:00, Matt describes his latest project, coming out in March 2022, Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts, and how he goes about writing about writing; Pete and Matt also shout Matthew Salesses' wonderful Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping   At about 1:02:30, Matt gives contact info and shouts out Changing Hands and Literati and Bookbug, and Snowbound as good independent places to buy his books   At about 1:03:45, Matt reads from Appleseed You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.  This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for the next episode, Episode 104 with Nikesha Elise Williams. Nikesha is a two-time Emmy award winning producer, an award-winning author, and producer and host of the Black & Published podcast. Nikesha writes full time with bylines in The Washington Post, ESSENCE, and VOX. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida with her family.  The episode will air on February 22. 

It's a poetic novel of rural, small town life. “Zorrie” by Laird Hunt, is the life story of woman born in Depression-era Indiana and a powerful portrait of longing and community of the American Midwest

Join Tracy and Shellie as they discuss the best books they read, but were not necessarily published, during 2021. How well did their reading routines hold up during the ongoing pandemic? Did they find anything that they truly enjoyed, or did they find books they couldn't even finish? Find out the answers to these questions and more by tuning in. Books Discussed 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge Mrs. March by Virginia Feito Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw Truly Like Lightning by David Duchovny Zorrie by Laird Hunt

Not all history is learned - or taught - in school. In today's first interview, Robert Jones Jr. tells NPR's Scott Simon that he wanted to be 'a witness to [those] testimonies that have not made it into the official record.' His novel, The Prophets, is about enslaved Black queer people in America. The second interview is about the seemingly mundane day-to-day that makes up a person's history in Zorrie. Author Laird Hunt told NPR's Scott Simon that just because someone's story seems unremarkable doesn't mean it isn't rich.

December is a great time to look back on your reading year. In this episode of From the Front Porch, Annie, Lucy, and Olivia are talking about their favorite books of 2021. The books mentioned in this episode can be purchased from The Bookshelf: Annie's List Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann Matrix by Lauren Groff Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout Brood by Jackie Polzin Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney Bewilderment by Richard Powers The Guncle by Steven Rowley Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner Lucy's List A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America by Nicole Eustace The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness by Gregory Boyle Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe Zorrie by Laird Hunt (back-ordered) Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles The Slaughterman's Daughter by Yaniv Iczkovits Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain A Ghost in the Throat by Dioreann Ní Ghríofa (not available) Olivia's List Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better by Benjamin Wood Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby Pony by R.J. Palacio Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker Hell of a Book by Jason Mott The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams by Mindy Thompson From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.  A full transcript of today's episode can be found here. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.  Thank you again to this week's sponsor, Visit Thomasville. Whether you live close by or are passing through, I hope you'll visit beautiful Thomasville, Georgia: www.thomasvillega.com. This week, Annie is reading Anastasia's Chosen Career by Lois Lowry. (not available) Lucy is reading Every Good Boy Does Fine by Jeremy Denk. Olivia is reading The Maid by Nita Prose. If you liked what you heard in today's episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you're so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff's weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter and follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Libro.FM: Libro.fm lets you purchase audiobooks directly from your favorite local bookstore (Like The Bookshelf). You can pick from more than 215,000 audiobooks, and you'll get the same audiobooks at the same price as the largest audiobook company out there (you know the name). But you'll be part of a different story -- one that supports the community. All you need is a smartphone and the free Libro.fm app. Right now, if you sign up for a new membership, you will get 2 audiobooks for the price of one. All you have to do is enter FRONTPORCH at checkout or follow this link: libro.fm/redeem/FRONTPORCH Flodesk: Do you receive a weekly or monthly newsletter from one of your favorite brands? Like maybe From the Front Porch (Or The Bookshelf)... Did you ever wonder, ‘how do they make such gorgeous emails?'  Flodesk is an email marketing service provider that's built for creators, by creators, and it's easy to use. We've been using it for a couple of years now, and I personally love it. And right now you can get 50% off your Flodesk subscription by going to: flodesk.com/c/THEFRONTPORCH

Vick Mickunas' 2021 interview with Laird Hunt

This week, Liberty and Vanessa discuss The Gilded Ones, Kink, The Witch’s Heart, and more great books. Pick up an All the Books! 200th episode commemorative item here. Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, iTunes, or Spotify and never miss a beat book. Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news. BOOKS DISCUSSED ON THE SHOW: The Gilded Ones (Deathless #1) by Namina Forna  A Tip for the Hangman: A Novel of Christopher Marlowe by Allison Epstein Zorrie by Laird Hunt   Kink: Stories edited by Garth Greenwell and R.O. Kwon The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida And Now You Can Go by Vendela Vida Voice Lessons: How a Couple of Ninja Turtles, Pinky, and an Animaniac Saved My Life by Rob Paulsen A Lady’s Formula for Love (The Secret Scientists of London, #1) by Elizabeth Everett WHAT WE’RE READING: Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You: Stories by Maurice Carlos Ruffin MORE BOOKS OUT THIS WEEK: Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights by Ayaan Hirsi Ali The Panic Years: Dates, Doubts, and the Mother of All Decisions by Nell Frizzell Loner by Georgina Young  Rafael (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Book 28) by Laurell K. Hamilton  A Song with Teeth: A Los Nefilim Novel by T. Frohock  The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing by Sonia Faleiro  The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles  Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh FEM by Magda Carneci, Sean Cotter (translator) Fragments of an Infinite Memory: My Life with the Internet by Mael Renouard and Peter Behrman de Sinety Bookish Broads: Women Who Wrote Themselves into History by Lauren Marino and Alexandra Kilburn Dreyer’s English (Adapted for Young Readers): Good Advice for Good Writing by Benjamin Dreyer Unfinished: A Memoir by Priyanka Chopra Jonas Ian Fleming’s War: The Inspiration for 007 by Mark Simmons The Rope: A True Story of Murder, Heroism, and the Dawn of the NAACP by Alex Tresniowski A Year with Swollen Appendices by Brian Eno  Eleven Sooty Dreams by Manuela Draeger, J. T. Mahany (translator) The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor Ellis Island by Georges Perec, Harry Mathews (translator) The Velocity of Revolution by Marshall Ryan Maresca  The Power Wish: Japan’s Leading Astrologer Reveals the Moon’s Secrets for Finding Success, Happiness, and the Favor of the Universe by Keiko, Rieko Yamanaka (translator) Summer Brother by Jaap Robben, David Doherty (translator) Come On Up by Jordi Nopca, Mara Faye Lethem (translator) We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza Ladies of the House: A Modern Retelling of Sense and Sensibility by Lauren Edmondson Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad  The Love Proof by Madeleine Henry  Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Children of King Edward Longshanks by Kelcey Wilson-Lee Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas by Sam Maggs and Kendra Wells Reckless, Glorious, Girl by Ellen Hagan City of the Uncommon Thief by Lynne Bertrand Slough House by Mick Herron A Stranger in Town: A Rockton Novel by Kelley Armstrong    Super Host by Kate Russo  A Worse Place Than Hell: How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation by John Matteson  Memory Craft: Improve Your Memory with the Most Powerful Methods in History by Lynne Kelly The Vineyard at Painted Moon by Susan Mallery The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox  Black Widows by Cate Quinn  In the Shadow of the Moon: America, Russia, and the Hidden History of the Space Race by Amy Cherrix American Serial Killers: The Epidemic Years 1950-2000 by Peter Vronsky Game Changer by Neal Shusterman Silent Night by Nell Pattison In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, Sasha Dugdale (translator) The Power Couple by Alex Berenson We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott  The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power by Deirdre Mask Nobody Knows What They’re Doing: The 10 Secrets All Artists Should Know by Lee Crutchley  The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams Possession by Katie Lowe Engines of Oblivion by Karen Osborne Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason The Weak Spot by Lucie Elven As Far As You’ll Take Me by Phil Stamper This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyber Weapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth The Bride Bet (Girl Meets Duke) by Tessa Dare Love and Other Lies by Ben McPherson The Delivery by Peter Mendelsund Rabbit Island by Elvira Navarro, Christina MacSweeney (translator) Bug by Giacomo Sartori, Frederika Randall (translator) Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard  Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City by Rosa Brooks Wild Rain: Women Who Dare by Beverly Jenkins The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell: Speed, Grace, and the Negro Leagues by Lonnie Wheeler Nuestra América: My Family in the Vertigo of Translation by Claudio Lomnitz The Iron Raven by Julie Kagawa Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin A Pho Love Story by Loan Le The Invisible Woman by Erika Robuck  Love and Other Poems by Alex Dimitrov The Girl From Shadow Springs by Ellie Cypher Rain Is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia L. Smith Hot British Boyfriend by Kristy Boyce  Amid the Crowd of Stars by Stephen W. Leigh Crossing the Line: A Fearless Team of Brothers and the Sport That Changed Their Lives Forever by Kareem Rosser Girlhood: Teens around the World in Their Own Voices by Masuma Ahuja Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings by Alan Lightman Doomed Romance: Broken Hearts, Lost Souls, and Sexual Tumult in Nineteenth-Century America by Christine Leigh Heyrman  We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire by Joy McCullough The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold Rebel Daughter by Lori Banov Kaufmann Curse of the Divine by Kim Smejkal Sparring with Smokin’ Joe: Joe Frazier’s Epic Battles and Rivalry with Ali by Glenn Lewis See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Discussion of The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter Six Join Maggie and Cam in their irrational hatred and fear of Tom Bombadil. He shows up at just the right time and offers our heroes exactly what they need. It’s suspicious – and he speaks in nonsense words and sings about himself in third person. Oh and he might be a wizard, whose convenient little house in the clearing of an evil wood gives Cam some strong Hansel and Gretel vibes. Horrifying. In this episode, we break down all of our suspicions about Tom. We also unpack the numerous similarities between this chapter and the spooky journey through Mirkwood in The Hobbit. That adventure was a highlight of Bilbo’s story for us, but this chapter might be the first dud in The Lord of the Rings. We have a great time investigating all the expectations and echoes that led to our mutual disappointment. This episode gets a little silly. In our Second Breakfast segment, Cam tries to figure out why some stories can thrill us while being riddled with callbacks and echoes and limiting their scope to just a few characters and locations. To illustrate this point, we talk about a few plotlines on The Office. These comparisons serve to further our main discussion about why Mirkwood works better than the Old Forest, but Cam also develops a theory about “roads less travelled” in storytelling, and the value of teasing out multiple endings. Maggie reflects on this chapter’s surrealism by comparing it to another freaky and unpredictable story she’s been enjoying lately, In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt. This chapter was a bit of a stinker for us, but don’t worry – the episode is still fun! Plus, we get more of Terrifying Tom next week. Oh joy. Have an observation, comment, or theory on this episode? Email us at secondbreakfastpod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram @secondbreakfastpod

Laird Hunt évoque la vie en confinement, ses lectures pendant cette période inédite et imagine l'acte d'écrire dans le monde d'après. Au micro de Sylvie Tanette. (web-only)

durée : 01:00:06 - Par les temps qui courent - par : Marie Richeux - Après "De bonnes gens", le nouveau roman de l’écrivain américain Laird Hunt "La route de nuit" paraît aux éditions Actes Sud. l'auteur évoque la place des femmes dans ses livres, mais également l’importance de l’histoire, de l’expérience et de l’écoute dans son travail d’écriture. - invités : Laird HUNT - Laird Hunt : écrivain américain

durée : 01:00:06 - Par les temps qui courent - par : Marie Richeux - Après "De bonnes gens", le nouveau roman de l’écrivain américain Laird Hunt "La route de nuit" paraît aux éditions Actes Sud. l'auteur évoque la place des femmes dans ses livres, mais également l’importance de l’histoire, de l’expérience et de l’écoute dans son travail d’écriture. - invités : Laird HUNT - Laird Hunt : écrivain américain

Our Patron Signe chose this book as her once-per-year reward! Check out our Patreon here to get this and other rewards for yourself. In addition to our usual barnyard language, Content Warnings this week include: abuse/assault, captivity, cannibalism, murder, and generalized violence. At long last, we've read another book that we actually didn't hate! I think we're at a rate of liking a book approximately every 18 months or so. The stream-of-consciousness style of writing throughout much of the story could definitely turn people away from the book in addition to the many puzzle pieces it leaves for the reader to assemble themselves. It's honestly a refreshing take on the whole "New-England-Puritan-witches-in-the-woods" concept that's been really overdone. Hunt managed to make something interesting AND didn't spoon-feed the reader, which Paris really appreciates. Chris wanted more clarity from the author, but we would both still recommend it to anyone who is looking for a dark fairy tale that you have to work a little bit for.

Our February 28th selection is In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt. This is part horror story, part fairy tale, set […]

Author Laird Hunt tells us more about the process of writing his latest novel In the House in the Dark of the Woods and the fine line […]

Laird Hunt, author of Neverhome and The Evening Road, talks to Daniel Ford about his new book In the House in the Dark of the Woods.  To learn more about Laird Hunt, follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Also read our review of In the House in the Dark of the Woods in November’s “Books That Should Be On Your Radar.” Today's episode is sponsored by Libro.fm and OneRoom.                   https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/laird-hunt/in-the-house-in-the-dark-of-the-woods/9780316411059/

Laird Hunt is the author of The Evening Road. His previous novel, Neverhome, was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice selection, an IndieNext selection, winner of the Grand Prix de Litterature Americaine and The Bridge prize. A resident of Boulder, CO, he is on the faculty in the creative writing PhD program at the University of Denver.

Laird Hunt is the author of The Evening Road. His previous novel, Neverhome, was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice selection, an IndieNext selection, winner of the Grand Prix de Litterature Americaine and The Bridge prize, and a finalist for the Prix Femina Etranger. A resident of Boulder, CO, he is on the faculty in the creative writing PhD program at the University of Denver. Join the Thorne & Cross newsletter for updates, book deals, specials, exclusives, and upcoming guests on Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE! by visiting Tamara and Alistair at their websites: alistaircross.com and tamarathorne.com This is a copyrighted, trademarked podcast owned solely by the Authors on the Air Global Radio, LLC.  

A TOUR OF AMERICA RACE IN AMERICA Two of the finest writers working in America today take a tour around the dark history of their country. Paul Auster called Laird Hunt's last novel Neverhome 'magnificent'; The Evening Road is his latest, which he discusses today, and it's a novel 'as audacious as it is lyrical'. Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad has already won him the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in fiction - join him to find out why. Chaired by Jenny Niven.

Two of the finest writers working in America today take a tour around the dark history of their country. Paul Auster called Laird Hunt's last novel Neverhome 'magnificent'; The Evening Road is his latest, which he discusses in this event, and it's a novel 'as audacious as it is lyrical'. Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad has already won him the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in fiction - listen to the full event, recorded live at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival, to find out why. Chaired by Jenny Niven.

Though it's long since faded, James confesses his grad school-era jealousy of Matt. Once they clear that up, they discuss how Matt arrived at his voice and how he learned to write his marvelous sentences. They celebrate writing as work and the spaces in their lives that stories occupy. Then, Stephanie Appell from Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, discusses the history of YA books and makes some recommendations.    Matt and James Discuss:  Aimee Bender  Kurt Vonnegut  Amy Hempel  Raymond Carver  JESUS' SON by Denis Johnson REEL by Tobias Carroll  "The Sentence is a Lonely Place" by Gary Lutz   "The Geography of Sentences" by Emily Brisse  ARTFUL SENTENCES: SYNTAX AS STYLE by Virginia Tufte Gordon Lish Sam Lipsyte Christine Schutt Brian Evenson Michael Kimball Diane Williams "Human Behavior" by Bjork, dir by Michel Gondry  Kate Bernheimer  Joyelle McSweeney  Laird Hunt  FENCE  "Where's Iago?" by Susan Neville  Laura van den Berg    Stephanie and James Discuss:   LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott  THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK dir by Ron Howard THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton Horatio Alger   PREP by Curtis Sittenfeld  THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak  James Patterson  SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson  I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN by Jandy Nelson THE ASTONISHING TALE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING by M.T. Anderson  A NORTHERN LIGHT by Jennifer Donnelly  Marcus Sedgwick Nova Ren Suma  Ashley Herring Blake  SEX AND VIOLENCE by Carrie Mesrobian Siobban Vivian  THE RAVEN CYCLE series by Maggie Stiefvater  - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/  

Set in Spain in the late 70s, Gabrielle's debut novel, THE SLEEPING WORLD, represents something deeply personal to her. She tells James about writing through grief, how the novel grew from a short story inspired by a song, as well as world building, dirt, and 'the spaghetti mind.' Plus Janet Geddis, the owner of Avid Bookshop in Athens, GA, shares exciting news and she and James geek out over upcoming fall titles.     James and Gabrielle Discuss:  Keith Waldrop  LADY AND THE TRAMP Jamaica Kincaid  "Runaway", THE NATIONAL SOY CUBA dir by Mikhail Kalatozov  PEPI, LUCI, BOM AND OTHER GIRLS LIKE MOM dir. by Pedro Almodovar  Alberto Garcia-Alix (photographer) NADA by Carmen Laforet  Elena Ferrante  RAY OF THE STAR by Laird Hunt  Toni Morrison  Audre Lorde  Alice Walker  WHAT BELONGS TO YOU by Garth Greenwell    James and Janet Discuss: Deirdre Sugiuchi Al Dixon  WE SHOW WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED by Clare Beams (10/25)* THE MORTIFICATIONS by Derek Palacio (10/4)# HOW TO SHAKE THE OTHER MAN by Derek Palacio  Nouvella Books COMMONWEALTH by Ann Patchett (9/13)* LITTLE NOTHING by Marisa Silver (9/13)# THE REACTIVES by Masande Ntshanga* MERCURY by Margot Livesey (9/27)# BOWIE by Simon Critchley (9/13)# REPUTATIONS by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (9/20)# THE SOUND OF THINGS FALLING by Juan Gabriel Vasquez A FAMILY IS A FAMILY IS A FAMILY written by Sara O'Leary, ill. by Qin Leng*  THE SLEEPING WORLD by Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes*#  *Janet Recommends  #James Recommends - http://tkpod.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK / tkwithjs@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/ / Instagram: tkwithjs MUSIC by: Braainzz (https://soundcloud.com/braainzz) & Sleep Studies (http://sleepstudiesband.com/)     

After some negative pre-publication reviews, Jamie Quatro feared the worst. Then, critic James Wood and the NYTBR (among others) hailed her collection, I WANT TO SHOW YOU MORE, as a classic. Jamie and James talk about conflating writer and subject matter, depicting the female gaze and female sexuality, and writing novels vs short stories. Then, the agent Anna Stein joins the show to go over what an agent does, how to find one, and mistakes writers make along the way.      Jamie and James Discuss:  David Gates  Amy Hempel  Bennington College Low Residency MFA  Princeton University Pepperdine University  Sheila Kohler  E.M. Forster  Franz Kafka  Flannery O'Connor  Margot Livesey  Andre Dubus (II)  PROXIES: ESSAYS NEAR KNOWING by Brian Blanchfield  Sewanee Writers' Conference  RUNNER'S WORLD  INFINITE JEST by David Foster Wallace  QUACK THIS WAY by David Foster Wallace  BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN by David Foster Wallace  BLUETS by Maggie Nelson Tin House Summer Writer's Workshop  THE FUN STUFF: AND OTHER ESSAYS by James Wood  Claire Messud  Wyatt Prunty  Ann Patchett  Urban Waite  Lincoln Michel  George Saunders  Lydia Davis Alice Munro  INTERPRETER OF MALADIES by Jhumpa Lahiri OLIVE KITTERIDGE by Elizabeth Strout  P.J. Mark  Barry Hannah Steven Milhauser  A VERY OLD MAN WITH ENORMOUS WINGS by Gabriel Garcia Marquez  LADIES AND GENTLEMEN by Adam Ross  Yaddo  Sylvia Plath  Ted Hughes Zadie Smith  The Old Testament  THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner  Grove Atlantic    Anna and James Discuss:  Hanya Yanagihara  Ben Lerner  Garth Greenwell  Maria Semple  NEVERHOME by Laird Hunt  THE MOTHER-IN-LAW CURE by Katherine Wilson  THE EVENING ROAD by Laird Hunt  THE STORY OF A BRIEF MARRIAGE by Anuk Aradpragasam  THE CLANCYS OF QUEENS by Tara Clancy  TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT by Maria Semple  THE PARIS REVIEW  Sewanee Writers' Conference  A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Hanagihara  WHAT BELONGS TO YOU by Garth Greenwell    http://tkpod.com  /  tkwithjs@gmail.com  /  Twitter: @JamesScottTK https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/  /  Instagram: tkwithjs     

This week on StoryWeb: Laird Hunt’s novel Neverhome. Last week’s StoryWeb episode featured Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the Confederacy. This week, I am delighted to share Laird Hunt’s 2014 novel, Neverhome, a very rare look at the Civil War from the point of view of one of the 400 women who disguised themselves as male soldiers. Neverhome comes as a refreshing new take on a subject we all think we know: the Civil War. Hunt, a graduate of the MFA program at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and a faculty member in the University of Denver’s creative writing program, has written several other laudable novels, among them Indiana, Indiana, and Kind One. But with Neverhome, he hit it out of the park. The book was quite favorably reviewed in the Sunday Book Review of the New York Times, being named as an Editor’s Choice. His protagonist/narrator is Gallant Ash, AKA Constance Thompson. Before the Civil War, Constance is living in rural Indiana, married to Bartholomew Thompson. As the novel unfolds through flashbacks, we learn that theirs is a marriage of two gender-ambiguous individuals. Certainly, neither meets the stereotype of what a “real man” or a “true woman” should be according to 19th-century ideals. Bartholomew is gentle and soft, where Constance is the firm leader in their marriage and most definitely the one who would head out to war. As Constance/Ash says, Bartholomew was “made out of wool and I was made out of wire.” As the war gets underway, Constance enlists, taking the name of Ash. In a memorable scene near the beginning of the novel, he/she is dubbed “Gallant Ash” and is known by that moniker for the remainder of his service in the Union Army. When I read Neverhome, the story definitely drew me in. Would Gallant Ash pass as a male soldier? How would he/she handle physical necessities? And how would his/her courage stand the trials of the war? Adding to my interest in the novel was the fact that it is modeled loosely on Homer’s Odyssey. As I became aware of that structural element, I began to look for the ways Hunt would play on that epic of a warrior trying to make his way home. But to me, Gallant Ash’s voice was even more compelling than the story. The dialect Laird Hunt creates is rarely heard and is completely captivating. Anyone who knows my work knows that I absolutely love dialect done well. Whether it’s Huck Finn’s rural Missouri dialect or Granny Younger’s rhythmic speech in Lee Smith’s Oral History, Mrs. Todd’s coastal Maine accent in Sarah Orne Jewett’s The Country of the Pointed Firs or Kate Chopin’s capturing of Cajun dialect in Bayou Folk, I love authors who help us hear the way Americans from all regions speak. Until I read Neverhome, I hadn’t thought of rural folks from Indiana as having a dialect – but Hunt brings Gallant Ash’s manner of speaking to life so well that I found it almost impossible to put the book down. And how Gallant Ash spins a yarn! From the first page of this first-person narrative, I was hooked. Hunt says that “the seed for Neverhome was planted . . . when my wife bought me a copy of An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman.” You can learn more about “Lyons” Wakeman and the hundreds of women who fought on both sides of the Civil War by visiting the Civil War Trust website. See also the Smithsonian’s interview with Bonnie Tsui, who wrote She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers in the Civil War. You’ll also find DeAnne Blanton’s three-part article for the National Archives interesting and compelling. And if you want more, read the book Blanton wrote with Lauren M. Cook, They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War. A reading group guide to Neverhome provides additional insight and questions for consideration. Want to get a taste of Neverhome? There’s a lengthy preview at the publisher’s website. If you’re like me, you’ll want to get a copy of the book so you can hear all of Gallant Ash’s story. Visit thestoryweb.com/hunt for links to all these resources and to watch as Laird Hunt reads a scene in which Gallant Ash encounters another woman disguised as a soldier.  

This week on StoryWeb: Mary Chesnut’s Civil War. In her book on the American Civil War, Mary Boykin Chesnut, the wife of a Confederate general, describes a woman seeking a pardon for her husband: “She was strong, and her way of telling her story was hard and cold enough. She told it simply, but over and over again, with slight variations as to words – never as to facts. She seemed afraid we would forget.” This passage is but one of many in the book that signals Chesnut’s desire to tell the story of the South during the Civil War. She wants to document history so that her readers won’t forget. At the same time, she wants to record more than just the facts of history, by telling her story over and over again artfully. Thirty years ago, I first encountered Chesnut’s writing and fell in love (total love!) with her firsthand, play-by-play accounts of the Civil War. Chesnut lived in or visited various locations throughout the South, most notably Montgomery, Alabama, Columbia, South Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, where she came into regular contact with the Jefferson Davises and the Robert E. Lees. In every location, she opened her home to others as a social gathering place. Visiting did not end for Chesnut and the other gentile Southern ladies of her community, but now their conversations turned to war. It was widely known throughout the community that Chesnut kept a detailed diary about her society’s comings and goings and the ladies’ conversations. Because she had had a ringside seat to the Confederacy, friends pressed her to publish the diary after the war. From 1881 to 1884, she worked on a version for publication. She deleted and moved sections, added dialogue and other novel-like detail to create a hybrid of diary, memoir, autobiography, and even to some extent, novel. She wove together accounts of her own experiences with stories that others have told her and created an anthology of anecdotes about members of the Confederate society, a crazy quilt of Civil War lore. Chesnut writes, “History reveals men’s deeds – their outward characters but not themselves. There is a secret self that hath its own life ‘rounded by a dream’ – unpenetrated, unguessed.” What she attempted to give us in her revision was the “unpenetrated, unguessed” “secret self” of the women in the Confederacy. To be sure, her diary gives us an intimate glimpse into the history of the day – the official, public activities of the men of the Confederacy – but it also brings to vivid life the stories and concerns of the women of the Confederacy. Her revised diary is filled with hundreds of pages of women’s talk, gossip, and conversation, suggesting that to understand the true story of the Confederacy one need only listen more attentively to women’s voices. Unfortunately, when Chesnut died in 1886, her manuscript was unfinished. A heavily edited and abridged version was published in 1905 as A Diary from Dixie. Gone are the scenes, the dialogue, much of the story Chesnut tried to bring to life in her 1880s revision. Fast forward to 1981. Eminent Southern historian C. Vann Woodward decided to resurrect the original diaries, creating the Pulitzer-Prize-winning volume, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War. This book is, quite simply, amazing – long and rambling but amazing! Woodward has been praised for meticulously bringing to life an historical account that otherwise would have been lost. He has also been criticized for not honoring Chesnut’s authorial intent. Though I have some misgivings about Woodward’s decision to reinsert passages Chesnut clearly meant to cut, I nevertheless love the more thorough eavesdropping I get to do when reading his version. Suffice it to say, if you want a gripping account of the Civil War from the perspective of the Confederacy, read Mary Chesnut. If you want to learn more about the ideal of the “Southern lady” (the white upper-class Southern lady on her pedestal), read Mary Chesnut. And if you just plain want to listen in on other people’s conversations, read Mary Chesnut. Should you read A Diary from Dixie or Mary Chesnut’s Civil War? Despite my quibbles with Woodward’s editing, I’d recommend reading his version. It’s full, lively, dynamic – and if you are a Civil War buff or a fan of Southern history, you’ll be in heaven! Stay tuned next week for another take on the Civil War, this one also from a woman’s perspective. Laird Hunt’s novel Neverhome features an Indiana woman who disguises herself as a soldier and fights for the Union Army. Listen now as I read Mary Boykin Chesnut’s diary entries from April 1861. These excerpts – which describe the beginning of the Civil War when the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina – are taken from Mary Chesnut’s Civil War (edited by C. Vann Woodward and published in 1981). --- April 12, 1861. Anderson will not capitulate. --- Yesterday was the merriest, maddest dinner we have had yet. Men were more audaciously wise and witty. We had an unspoken foreboding it was to be our last pleasant meeting. Mr. Miles dined with us today. Mrs. Henry King rushed in: “The news, I come for the latest news – all of the men of the King family are on the island” – of which fact she seemed proud. While she was here, our peace negotiator – or envoy – came in. That is, Mr. Chesnut returned – his interview with Colonel Anderson had been deeply interesting – but was not inclined to be communicative, wanted his dinner. Felt for Anderson. Had telegraphed to President Davis for instructions. What answer to give Anderson, etc. He has gone back to Fort Sumter, with additional instructions. When they were about to leave the wharf, A.H. Boykin sprang into the boat, in great excitement; thought himself ill-used. A likelihood of fighting – and he to be left behind! --- I do not pretend to go to sleep. How can I? If Anderson does not accept terms – at four – the orders are – he shall be fired upon. I count four – St. Michael chimes. I begin to hope. At half-past four, the heavy booming of a cannon. I sprang out of bed. And on my knees – prostrate – I prayed as I never prayed before. There was a sound of stir all over the house – pattering of feet in the corridor – all seemed hurrying one way. I put on my double gown and a shawl and went, too. It was to the housetop. The shells were bursting. In the dark I heard a man say “waste of ammunition.” I knew my husband was rowing about in a boat somewhere in that dark bay. And that the shells were roofing it over – bursting toward the fort. If Anderson was obstinate – he was to order the forts on our side to open fire. Certainly fire had begun. The regular roar of the cannon – there it was. And who could tell what each volley accomplished of death and destruction. The women were wild, there on the housetop. Prayers from the women and imprecations from the men, and then a shell would light up the scene. Tonight, they say, the forces are to attempt to land. The Harriet Lane had her wheelhouse smashed and put back to sea. --- We watched up there – everybody wondered. Fort Sumter did not fire a shot. --- Today Miles and Manning, colonels now – aides to Beauregard – dined with us. The latter hoped I would keep the peace. I give him only good words, for herwas to be under fire all day and night, in the bay carrying orders, etc. Last night – or this morning truly – up on the housetop I was so weak and weary I sat down on something that looked like a black stool. “Get up, you foolish woman – your dress is on fire,” cried a man. And he put me out. It was a chimney, and the sparks caught my clothes. Susan Preston and Mr. Venable then came up. But my fire had been extinguished before it broke out into a regular blaze. --- Do you know, after all that noise and our tears and prayers, nobody has been hurt. Sound and fury, signifying nothing. A delusion and a snare. Louisa Hamilton comes here now. This is a sort of news center. Jack Hamilton, her handsome young husband, has all the credit of a famous battery which is made of RR iron. Mr. Petigru calls it the boomerang because it throws the balls back the way they came – so Lou Hamilton tells us. She had no children during her first marriage. Hence the value of this lately achieved baby. To divert Louisa from the glories of “the battery,” of which she raves, we asked if the baby could talk yet. “No – not exactly – but he imitates the big gun. When he hears that, he claps his hands and cries ‘Boom boom.’” Her mind is distinctly occupied by three things – Lieutenant Hamilton, whom she calls Randolph, the baby, and “the big gun” – and it refuses to hold more. Pryor of Virginia spoke from the piazza of the Charleston Hotel. I asked what he said, irreverent woman. “Oh, they all say the same thing, but he made great play with that long hair of his, which is always tossing aside.” --- Somebody came in just now and reported Colonel Chesnut asleep on the sofa in General Beauregard’s room. After two such nights he must be so tired as to be able to sleep anywhere. --- Just bade farewell to Langdon Cheves. He is forced to go home, to leave this interesting place. Says he feels like the man who was not killed at Thermopylae. I think he said that unfortunate had to hang himself when he got home for very shame. Maybe fell on his sword, which was a strictly classic way of ending matters. --- I do not wonder at Louisa Hamilton’s baby. We hear nothing, can listen to nothing. Boom, boom, goes the cannon – all the time. The nervous strain is awful, alone in this darkened room. “Richmond and Washington ablaze,” say the papers. Blazing with excitement. Why not? To use these last days’ events seem frightfully great. We were all in that iron balcony. Women – men we only see at a distance now. Stark Means, marching under the piazza at the head of his regiment, held his cap in his hand all the time he was in sight. Mrs. Means leaning over, looking with tearful eyes. “Why did he take his hat off?” said an unknown creature. Mrs. Means stood straight up. “He did that in honor of his mother – he saw me.” She is a proud mother – and at the same time most unhappy. Her lovely daughter Emma is dying in there, before her eyes – consumption. At that moment I am sure Mrs. Means had a spasm of the heart. At least, she looked as I feel sometimes. She took my arm, and we came in. --- April 13, 1861. Nobody hurt, after all. How gay we were last night. Reaction after the dread of all the slaughter we thought those dreadful cannons were making such a noise in doing. Not even a battery the worse for wear. Fort Sumter has been on fire. He has not yet silenced any of our guns. So the aides – still with swords and red sashes by way of uniform – tell us. But the sound of those guns makes regular meals impossible. None of us go to table. But tea trays pervade the corridors, going everywhere. Some of the anxious hearts lie on their beds and moan in solitary misery. Mrs. Wigfall and I solace ourselves with tea in my room. These women have all a satisfying faith. “God is on our side,” they cry. When we are shut in, we (Mrs. Wigfall and I) ask, “Why?” We are told: “Of course He hates the Yankees.” “You’ll think that well of Him.” Not by one word or look can we detect any change in the demeanor of these negro servants. Laurence sits at our door, as sleepy and as respectful and as profoundly indifferent. So are they all. They carry it too far. You could not tell that they hear even the awful row that is going on in the bay, though it is dinning in their ears night and day. And people talk before them as if they were chairs and tables. And they make no sign. Are they stolidly stupid or wiser than we are, silent and strong, biding their time? So tea and toast come. Also came Colonel Manning, A.D.C. – red sash and sword – to announce that he has been under fire and didn’t mind. He said gaily, “It is one of those things – a fellow never knows how he will come out of it until he is tried. Now I know. I am a worthy descendant of my old Irish hero of an ancestor who held the British officer before him as a shield in the Revolution. And backed out of danger gracefully.” Everybody laughs at John Manning’s brag. We talked of St. Valentine’s Eve; or, The Maid of Perth and the drop of the white doe’s blood that sometimes spoiled all. The war steamers are still there, outside the bar. And there were people who thought the Charleston bar “no good” to Charleston. The bar is our silent partner, sleeping partner, and yet in this fray he is doing us yeoman service. April 15, 1861. I did not know that one could live such days of excitement. They called, “Come out – there is a crowd coming.” A mob indeed, but it was headed by Colonels Chesnut and Manning. The crowd was shouting and showing these two as messengers of good news. They were escorted to Beauregard’s headquarters. Fort Sumter had surrendered. Those up on the housetop shouted to us, “The fort is on fire.” That had been the story once or twice before. --- When we had calmed down, Colonel Chesnut, who had taken it all quietly enough – if anything, more unruffled than usual in his serenity – told us how the surrender came about. Wigfall was with them on Morris Island when he saw the fire in the fort, jumped in a little boat and, with his handkerchief as a white flag, rowed over to Fort Sumter. Wigfall went in through a porthole. When Colonel Chesnut arrived shortly after and was received by the regular entrance, Colonel Anderson told him he had need to pick his way warily, for it was all mined. As far as I can make out, the fort surrendered to Wigfall. But it is all confusion. Our flag is flying there. Fire engines have been sent to put out the fire. Everybody tells you half of something and then rushes off to tell something else or to hear the last news. Manning, Wigfall, John Preston, etc., men without limit, beset us at night. In the afternoon, Mrs. Preston, Mrs. Joe Heyward, and I drove round the Battery. We were in an open carriage. What a changed scene. The very liveliest crowd I think I ever saw. Everybody talking at once. All glasses still turned on the grim old fort. Saw William Gilmore Simms, and did not recognize him in his white beard. Trescot is here with his glasses on top of the house. --- Russell, the English reporter for the Times, was there. They took him everywhere. One man got up Thackeray, to converse with him on equal terms. Poor Russell was awfully bored, they say. He only wanted to see the forts, etc., and news that was suitable to make an interesting article. Thackeray was stale news over the water. --- Mrs. Frank Hampton and I went to see the camp of the Richland troops. South Carolina had volunteered to a boy. Professor Venable (The Mathematical) intends to raise a company from among them for the war, a permanent company. This is a grand frolic. No more. For the students, at least. Even the staid and severe-of-aspect Clingman is here. He says Virginia and North Carolina are arming to come to our rescue – for now U.S.A. will swoop down on us. Of that we may be sure. We have burned our ships – we are obliged to go on now. He calls us a poor little hot-headed, headlong, rash, and troublesome sister state. General McQueen is in a rage because we are to send troops to Virginia. There is a frightful yellow flag story. A distinguished potentate and militia power looked out upon the bloody field of battle, happening to stand always under the waving of the hospital flag. To his numerous other titles they now add Y.F. Preston Hampton in all the flush of his youth and beauty, his six feet in stature – and after all, only in his teens – appeared in lemon-colored kid gloves to grace the scene. The camp, in a fit of horseplay, seized him and rubbed them in the mud. He fought manfully but took it all naturally as a good joke. Mrs. Frank Hampton knows already what civil war means. Her brother was in the New York Seventh Regiment, so roughly received in Baltimore. Frank will be in the opposite camp. --- [No date.] Home again. In those last days of my stay in Charleston I did not find time to write a line. And so we took Fort Sumter. We – Mrs. Frank Hampton etc., in the passageway of the Mills House between the reception room and the drawing room. There we held a sofa against all comers. And indeed, all the agreeable people South seemed to have flocked to Charleston at the first gun. That was after we found out that bombarding did not kill anybody. Before that we wept and prayed – and took our tea in groups, in our rooms, away from the haunts of men. Captain Ingraham and his kind took it (Fort Sumter) from the battery with field glasses and figures made with three sticks in the sand to show what ought to be done. Wigfall, Chesnut, Miles, Manning, etc., took it, rowing about in the harbor in small boats, from fort to fort, under the enemies’ guns, bombs bursting in air, etc. And then the boys and men who worked those guns so faithfully at the forts. They took it, too – their way. Old Col. Beaufort Watts told me this story and many more of the jeunesse dorée under fire. They took it easily as they do most things. They had cotton-bag bombproofs at Fort Moultrie, and when Anderson’s shot knocked them about, someone called out, “Cotton is falling.” Down went the kitchen chimney, and loaves of bread flew out. They cheered gaily, “Breadstuffs are rising.” Willie Preston fired the shot which broke Anderson’s flagstaff. Mrs. Hampton, from Columbia, telegraphed him, “Well done, Willie!” She is his grandmother, the wife or widow of General Hampton of the Revolution, and the mildest, sweetest, gentlest of old ladies. It shows how the war is waking us all up.