Podcast - Daniel Friedman "Don't Ever Get Old"

 Stephen Usery interviews Memphis native Daniel Friedman about his debut mystery novel, Don't Ever Get Old. It stars the 87 year-old retired police detective Baruch "Buck" Schatz, who along with his grandson, tries to hunt down the Nazi prison camp officer who tortured him during World War II.

Podcast - Geraldine Brooks "Caleb's Crossing"

Stephen Usery interviews Pulitzer Prize-winner Geraldine Brooks about her novel Caleb's Crossing which is now available in paperback. Drawing inspiration from the life of the first Native American graduate of Harvard, Caleb's Crossing tells the tale of young Bethia Mayfield, daughter of a Calvinist minister trying to bring Christianity to the Wampanoag people on Martha's Vineyard in the mid-17th century.

Podcast - Heidi Julavits "The Vanishers"

Stephen Usery interviews Heidi Julavits, an editor of The Believer Magazine. She has recently published her fourth novel, The Vanishers, which is the story of a young woman who attempts to develop her psychic abilities and is sucked into a web of deceit and confusion where an academic is searching for a believed-to-be-dead filmmaker and there is no such things as coincidence.

Podcast - Ron Rash "The Cove"

Stephen Usery interviews Ron Rash about his new novel, The Cove. Coming on the heels of winning the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, Rash's novel is set in rural North Carolina during World War I, as an adult brother and sister deal with distrust of the people who live in town and a curious, mute stranger who has appeared in this seemingly-cursed area known as The Cove.

Podcast - Amy Franklin-Willis "The Lost Saints of Tennesee"

Stephen Usery interviews Amy Franklin-Willis about her debut novel, The Lost Saints of Tennessee. Zeke Cooper is a Hardeman County, Tennessee native who is having a hard time in the mid-1980s. His marriage has fallen apart, much as he did after his twin brother died ten years earlier. Desperate, he drives east looking for a way out of the regret for a tough past and a life of unfulfilled potential. Plus, a live performance by Andrew Castro, who wrote an album based on the book!

Podcast - Alex George "A Good American"

Stephen Usery interviews English expat Alex George about his new novel, A Good American, which follows Frederick and Henriette Meisenheimer as they emigrate from Germany to the United States in 1903. The story of the family's relationship with their new home in central Missouri spans almost a century, and the many upheavals in their lives mirror America's tumultuous history. many upheavals in their lives mirror America's tumultuous history.

Podcast - Eugenia Bone "Mycophilia"

 Stephen Usery interviews Eugenia Bone about her book Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms. In it we learn about the essential roll of fungi in all areas of life on earth, the wonderful diversity of edible wild mushrooms that one can pick, and the scientific discoveries about the nutritional and medicinal values of the humble mushroom.

Podcast - Patrick deWitt "The Sisters Brothers"

Stephen Usery interviews Patrick deWitt about his bestselling and critically-acclaimed novel, The Sisters Brothers. Set in the midst of the California gold rush, professional killers Charlie and Eli Sisters make their way from Oregon to San Francisco aiming to eliminate a miner who has crossed their powerful employer, The Commodore. Hilarious and melancholy, The Sisters Brothers won two major awards in deWitt's native Canada.

Podcast - Gin Phillips "Come In and Cover Me"

Stephen Usery interviews Gin Phillips, acclaimed author of The Well and the Mine. Her new novel, Come in and Cover Me, is the story of archaeologist whose study of early Southwest cultures is complicated by her own past.

Podcast - Kim Edwards "The Lake of Dreams"

Stephen Usery interviews Kim Edwards (The Memory Keeper's Daughter) about her latest novel, The Lake of Dreams, which is now available in paperback. Lucy Jarrett returns home to upstate New York after working in Asia for almost a decade. Family secrets new and old surface as Lucy is pulled at by loves old and new.

Podcast - Joshilyn Jackson "A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty"

Stephen Usery interviews Joshilyn Jackson about her fifth novel, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty. It's an funny yet tense story of three generation of Slocumb women, eldest Ginny, Liza, and youngest Mosey, who have to deal with secrets coming to light after Liza has a stroke and a mysterious silver box is found in their backyard, exposing many lies in the process.

Podcast - Adam Johnson "The Orphan Master's Son"

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.

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.

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.

Podcast - Stuart Dill "Murder on Music Row"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.