Broadcast - February 4, 2012 - Adam Johnson "The Orphan Master's Son"

Tune into Book Talk this week as Stephen Usery interviews Adam Johnson about his critically-acclaimed second novel, The Orphan Master's Son. It's the story of Pak Jun Do, a young man thought to be an orphan, and the incredible path his life takes inside the repressive and mysterious political system of North Korea. It's a harrowing tale that also allows room for love and humanity to bloom in the cracks of this totalitarian regime. Adam Johnson on this week's Book Talk, Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. on FM89.3 WYPL Memphis.

Podcast - John M. Barry "Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul"

Stephen Usery interviews John M. Barry, the New York Times best-selling author of Rising Tide and The Great Influenza. Barry's new book is Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty, which traces America's approach to freedom of religion back to Williams's reaction to supression of Puritans by the English crown and his banishment by early Massachusetts colonists.

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Podcast - Margi Preus "Heart of a Samurai"

Stephen Usery interviews Margi Preus about her debut novel, Heart of A Samurai. This Newberry Honor winner is now in paperback and is based on the true story of John Manjiro, a 14 year-old Japanese boy who survived a shipwreck in 1841 and led to adventures leading him farther away from home than he could have ever imagined.

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Podcast - Tom Piazza "Devil Sent the Rain"

Stephen Usery conducted a special interview with Tom Piazza about his collection of essays, Devil Sent the Rain:Music and Writing in Desperate America, at the Chapter16.org tent, during The Southern Festival of Books. For fans of NPR-style natural sound, there's plenty of wind and sirens to liven up the already fun proceedings.

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Podcast - Rick Gavin "Ranchero"

Stephen Usery interviews Rick Gavin about Ranchero, the first book in his hilarious crime fiction series about Mississippi Delta repo man Nick Reid.

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Podcast - Stuart Dill "Murder on Music Row"

Tune into Book Talk this week as Stephen Usery interviews Stuart Dill about his debut thriller, Murder on Music Row. Drawing on over two decades of artist management, Dill has created a tense, behind-the-scenes look at the country music industry as someone is trying to kill the biggest star in Nashville, Ripley Graham. 23-year-old intern Judd Nix has gotten in over his head and is as concerned about his own survival as solving the mystery.

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Podcast - Hillary Jordan "When She Woke"

 Hillary Jordan comes back to the program to talk about her new novel When She Woke. In a near, dystopian future, Hannah Payne awakes and finds her skin colored red for a committing a crime, which today would be perfectly legal. It's a bit of a riff on The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne that also investigates how our information technology could conspire to deprive us of our basic freedoms. 

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Podcast - William B. Jones, Jr. "Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History"

Stephen Usery interviews William B. Jones, Jr. about his new book, Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History. More than just a beautiful coffee table book, Jones traces the history of Classics Illustrated from their pre-World War II beginnings through through peak of popularity in the 1950s, until their end in the 1960s, and subsequent attempts to revive bringing the great books to young and older readers alike in comic book form.
He'll also be signing his book on Saturday, Dec 10 at The Booksellers at Laurelwood (formerly Davis-Kidd) at 1:00 p.m.

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Podcast - John Jeremiah Sullivan "Pulphead"

Stephen Usery interviews John Jeremiah Sullivan about his collection of essays entitled Pulphead. Sullivan has won two National Magazine Awards and has written for publications like The Oxford American, GQ, and The Paris Review. Time Magazine recently called him the new Tom Wolfe and his book was Just named to the 100 notable books of the year list by the New York Times. 

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Podcast - Donna Johnson "Holy Ghost Girl"

Stephen Usery interviews Donna Johnson about her memoir, Holy Ghost Girl. It recounts her childhood as the daughter of the organ player and mistress of the successful tent revival preacher and end-time prophet Brother David Terrell. It's a fascinating look at the people behind the pulpit and how adulation and power corrupt even the most devout.

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Podcast - Justin Torres "We The Animals"

Stephen Usery interviews Justin Torres about his critically-acclaimed debut novel, We The Animals. It's the story of a very young family with three boys in Upstate New York stuggling with identity on all fronts in addition to economic hardship. Concentrated, unflinching, and impressionistic, We The Animals is one of the most talked about debuts of the year.

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Podcast - Marisa de los Santos "Falling Together"

Stephen Usery interview Marisa de los Santos about her third novel, Falling Together. It's the story of three friends who were inseperable in college, but several years after graduation the friendship disintegrates, and as their ten-year reunion approaches, they must come to grips with this and other losses.

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Podcast - Robert Morgan "Lions of the West"

Stephen Usery interviews acclaimed novelist and poet Robert Morgan. Best known for his novel Gap Creek, Morgan has been branching out into biography recently, and his new book Lions of the West takes a look at ten men who played huge roles in America's expansion from the original thirteen colonies all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

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Podcast - Diana Abu Jaber "Birds of Paradise"

Stephen Usery interviews Diana Abu Jaber about her new novel, Birds of Paradise. Set in southern Florida in 2005, a family struggles with after effects of a runaway daughter who stays in just enough touch to keep the wounds open as her mother, father, and brother all try to move forward in their lives.

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Podcast - Kami Garcia "Beautiful Chaos"

Stephen Usery interviews Kami Garcia, co-author of the Caster Chronicles series about the third installment, Beautiful Chaos. Human high-schooler Ethan Wate and his magical girlfriend Lena Duchannes fight against the ancient evil in her family that threatens to not only ruin the school year, but could also bring about the end of the world.

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Podcast - Mark Greaney "Ballistic"

 

In Ballistic,the third installment of Mark Greaney's The Gray Man series, Court Gentry finds his way to Mexico and gets mixed up with narcotraficantes. We also talk about a possible film version of The Gray Man and his recent collaboration with Tom Clancy.

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Podcast - R.J. Ellory "A Simple Act of Violence"

Stephen Usery interviews R.J. Ellory about his Theakston prize-winning novel, A Simple Act of Violence. Washington D.C. homicide detective Robert Miller is hunting a serial killer whose secrets could shake the foundation of the nation. They also talk about RJ's blues rock band, The Whiskey Poets.

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Podcast - Eoin Colfer "Plugged"

Eoin Colfer, the man behind the Artemis Fowl juggernaut, has decided to get into the adult crime fiction game, as well. In Plugged, Daniel McEvoy is an Irish ex-millitary expat living in New Jersey. Working as a bouncer at the crummiest casino in town, he gives the bum's rush to a lawyer who doesn't respect the law. Hijinks, hilarity, and bloodshed ensue.

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Podcast - Lisa Patton - "Yankee Doodle Dixie"

Stephen Usery interviews former Memphian Lisa Patton about her second novel Yankee Doodle Dixie. A sequel to Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'Easter, Yankee Doodle Dixie finds Leelee Satterfield back in Memphis and having trouble readjusting to home after having run an inn in Vermont for over a year. A new job in radio makes things more interesting than Leelee could have ever imagined.

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Podcast - Robert Olen Butler "A Small Hotel"

Stephen Usery interviews Pulitzer-Prize winner Robert Olen Butler about his new novel, A Small Hotel. It's the story of the end of a marriage between Michael and Kelly Hays, but travels back in time to their first meeting, their childhoods, and other points along their histories that let us know how their marriage came to be so troubled.

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