Updates, Author Lineup, and Reading List!

Marc and John are shocked and awed by the show's lineups of guest authors, past and upcoming!

First a few Updates, from the Read First, Ask Later family:

Douglas James Troxell, guest author of our very first episode, has published a story, "The Working Dead," on DarkFutures.net . . .

Alissa Nutting, besides being poised for her novel to be on end-of-year lists everywhere, has published articles on banned books for Pen America and as part of John Boehner fan fiction on salon.com . . .

and Flavorwire.com named Darin Strauss' "Half a Life" as one of the "50 Books that Define the Past Five Years in Literature."

Upcoming Authors:

Nov. 26:  Jerome Lucido, LCCC English faculty member and writer of the novels, "Cotu" and "Shellfish College."

Dec. 3:  Howard Bryant, of ESPN, and author of the books "The Last Hero," "Shut Out," and "Juicing the Game."

Dec. 10:  Eric Spitznagel, contributor to Esquire, Men's Health, Bloomberg Businessweek, Rolling Stone . . . oh hell, just click on the link.

What We're Reading (or planning to read):

"Tenth of December," by 2013 National Book Award Finalist, George Saunders;  "The Good Lord Bird," by 2013 National Book Award Winner, James McBride;  "Best American Short Stories:  2013," edited by Elizabeth Strout and Heidi Pitlor;  "Bridget Jones's Diary," by Helen Fielding.

Upcoming Authors Include Melville, Jesus

In response to listener requests, we've posted a schedule below of authors to be interviewed on our upcoming shows:

11/5:  C.J. Hribal, author of "The Company Car" (confirmed)

11/12:  Scott Beatty, of DC Comics (confirmed)

11/19:  Darin Strauss, author of "Half a Life" (confirmed)

11/26:  Herman Melville, author of "Moby Dick" (pending)

12/3:  Jesus of Nazareth, author of your redemption (pending)

Stay in touch for book news and discussions of what we're reading!  Marc and John will try to split the list of National Book Award finalists before the winner is announced November 20th.  (Considering there are 5, we'll need to borrow a saw.)  Listen, and call in!