Podcast - Jim Shepard "You Think That's Bad"

Stephen Usery interviews National Book Award Finalist Jim Shepard about his newest collection of short stories, You Think That's Bad. Not one to limit himself historically or geographically, Shepard's stories range from Joan of Arc's compatriot Gilles de Rais, to the man responsible for the first Godzilla suit, and black ops scientists who work at Area 51.

Podcast - Rita Mae Brown "Hiss of Death"

Stephen Usery interviews Rita Mae Brown about her newest Mrs. Murphy mystery, Hiss of Death. Strange things are afoot at the new medical center in Crozet, Virginia and our feline detective Mrs. Murphy, corgi Tucker, and the somewhat rotund cat Pewter, all try to help their human Harry track down who is behind a string of suspicious deaths.

Podcast - Daniel J. Sharfstein "The Invisible Line"

Stephen Usery interviews Vanderbilt Law School professor Daniel J. Sharfstein about his book The Invisible Line: Three American Families and The Secret Journey From Black to White. It's a fascinating look at the evolution of America's legal views of people who have both Caucasian and sub-Saharan African ancestors and the implications it had on them when dealing with slavery, reconstruction and Jim Crow.

Podcast - River Jordan "Praying for Strangers"

 
Stephen Usery interviews novelist and playwright River Jordan about her memoir, Praying for Strangers. It's a look at the year when Jordan undertook a New Year's resolution to pray for a different stranger each and every day and the impact that it it made on her normally introverted tendencies.

Broadcast - May 7, 2011 - River Jordan

Tune into Book Talk this week as Stephen Usery interviews novelist and playwright River Jordan about her memoir, Praying for Strangers. It's a look at the year when Jordan undertook a New Year's resolution to pray for a different stranger each and every day and the impact that it it made on her normally introverted tendencies. River Jordan on this week's Book Talk, Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. on FM89.3 WYPL Memphis.