New Books in Literature

Interviews with Writers about their New Books

Arts
1501
Patricia Leavy and Victoria Scotti, “Low-Fat Lo...
Patricia Leavy and Victoria Scotti‘s Low-Fat Love Stories (Sense Publishers, 2017) is a collection of short stories and artistic portraits focusing on women’s dissatisfying relationships. What makes these stories different from conventional fictions is...
53 min
1502
Annalee Newitz, “Autonomous” (Tor, 2017)
Jack Chen is a drug pirate, illegally fabricating patented pharmaceuticals in an underground lab. But when she discovers a deadly flaw in Big Pharma’s new productivity pill, corporate bosses hire a team of assassins to silence her.
33 min
1503
David Wanczyk, “Beep: Inside the Unseen World o...
We all know baseball as one of America’s fondest pastimes, but did you know there’s a version of the sport designed specifically for the blind? It’s called Beep Ball, and the players, with the exception of the pitcher, are all visually impaired.
40 min
1504
E.J. Swift, “Paris Adrift” (Solaris, 2018)
Paris has a way of resisting history, absorbing change gradually instead of being transformed by it. The same can be said of Hallie, the protagonist of E.J. Swift’s Paris Adrift (Solaris, 2018), who is compelled by the threat of a future apocalypse to ...
29 min
1505
Koritha Mitchell, ed., “Iola Leroy Or, Shadows ...
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s nineteenth-century novel Iola Leroy has not always been considered a core text in the canon of African American literature. Indeed, throughout much of the twentieth century, her work was dismissed as derivate and was eras...
43 min
1506
Patrice Sarath, “The Sisters Mederos” (Angry Ro...
There is something almost sweetly Victorian about the new fantasy novel, The Sisters Mederos (Angry Robot, 2018), by Patrice Sarath, which concerns two young sisters enduring misfortune. The opening chapters reminded me of the childhood classic,
26 min
1507
Adrienne Sharp, “The Magnificent Esme Wells” (H...
At six, Esme Wells has never attended school, but she has already learned how to take care of her father: accompany him to the racetrack, load up on hot dogs when asked, and keep an eye open for stray tickets that may turn out to be winning bets.
42 min
1508
Mur Lafferty, “Six Wakes” (Orbit, 2017)
Rob Wolf interviews Mur Lafferty about Six Wakes (Orbit, 2017), her novel about murdered clones that received nods for this year’s Philip K. Dick and Nebula awards—and, after the interview was recorded, the Hugo Award as well.
28 min
1509
John Richard Bell, “The Circumstantial Enemy” (...
We all imagine that, when put to the test, we will end up on the right side of history, however we define it. Nowhere is that statement more true than in reference to World War II. But sometimes people end up on the wrong side for reasons outside their...
45 min
1510
Tim Pratt, “The Wrong Stars” (Angry Robot, 2017)
Rob Wolf interviews Tim Pratt about his Philip K. Dick Award-nominated space opera The Wrong Stars. Pratt is the author of over 20 novels, picking up a Hugo Award and nominations for the Nebula and many other awards over a productive and varied career....
34 min
1511
Claudia H. Long, “Chains of Silver” (Five Direc...
From the fifteenth through the early eighteenth centuries, the Catholic authorities in Spain and its colonies, including Mexico, took a hard line against the Jewish community. Those who would not convert were banished or killed; officially the communit...
42 min
1512
Ryan Wieser, “The Glass Blade” (Kensington, 2018)
Lean, mean, and a fighting machine. That could describe lovely Jessop, psychologically and physically scarred at the hands of a former Infinity Hunter with the catchy name of Falco Bane. Jessop plots her way into joining the all-male fraternity of the ...
12 min
1513
Henry Jay Przybylo, “Counting Backwards: A Doct...
For many of the 40 million Americans who undergo anesthesia each year, it is the source of great fear and fascination. From the famous first demonstration of anesthesia in the Ether Dome at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1846 to today’s routine proc...
59 min
1514
Jo Woolf, “The Great Horizon: 50 Tales of Explo...
Hello from Gabrielle at the NBN Fantasy and Adventure channel. This podcast will be about adventure, and what could be more adventurous than traveling to a far-away place thats hard to get to, and even more of a challenge to get around in.
52 min
1515
Meg Elison, “The Book of Etta” (47North, 2017)
Born into a world where men vastly outnumber women, Etta is expected to choose between two roles: mother or midwife. And yet the protagonist of Meg Elison‘s eponymous second novel chooses a third: raider, a job that allows her to roam a sparsely popula...
28 min
1516
Thomas Mira y Lopez, “The Book of Resting Place...
We’ve all participated in the rituals of the dead at some time or another in our lives, going to funerals and wakes, visiting loved ones in cemeteries. Some of us may even have a plan for when we pass away, ourselves.
52 min
1517
Interview with Australian Poets Leni Shilton an...
In this special episode of New Books in Australian and New Zealand Studies, we are joined by two fantastic Australian poets. In her new poetic narrative, Walking with Camels: The Story of Bertha Strehlow (UWA Publishing, 2018),
16 min
1518
Robert J. Sawyer, “Quantum Night” (Ace, 2016)
In this episode, Rob Wolf interviews Robert J. Sawyer, the author of 23 novels, about his most recent book, Quantum Night (Ace, 2016). Sawyer is considered, as he puts it, “an optimistic and upbeat science fiction writer.
33 min
1519
Carla M. Wilson, “Curious Impossibilities: Ten ...
In Impossible Conversations: Imaginary Interviews with World-Famous Artists (Black Scat Books, 2015), Carla M. Wilson imagined discussions with (you guessed it) world-famous artists. In this book—Curious Impossibilities: Ten Cinematic Riffs (Black Scat...
56 min
1520
Gwen C. Katz, “Among the Red Stars” (Harper Tee...
Valentina (Valka) Koroleva and her cousin Iskra share a dream: to fly in defense of their Soviet motherland against the Nazi forces that have launched a surprise invasion in violation of Hitler’s nonaggression pact with Stalin.
47 min
1521
Omar El Akkad, “American War” (Knopf, 2017)
Set 50-plus years in the future, Omar El Akkad‘s debut novel American War (Knopf, 2017) has been widely praised, becoming one of those rare books with science fiction themes to make numerous mainstream publications’ Best Books of the Year lists.
37 min
1522
Jason Arnopp, “The Last Days of Jack Sparks” (O...
A modern morality tale lurks under this fast-paced horror novel. Jason Arnopp‘s The Last Days of Jack Sparks (Orbit, 2016) consists of the diary of a fictional character, Jack Sparks, along with a collection of interviews about him.
24 min
1523
Linda Grover, “Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojib...
Onigamiising is the Ojibwemowin word for Duluth and the surrounding area. In this book of fifty warm, wise and witty essays, Linda LeGarde Grover tells the story of the four seasons of life, from Ziigwan (Spring) to Biboon (Winter),
43 min
1524
David Walton, “The Genius Plague” (Pyr, 2017)
Everyone knows that wild mushrooms can be dangerous, but David Walton in his new novel The Genius Plague (Pyr, 2017) raises the dangers to a new plane. While victims of an unusual fungal infection enjoy skyrocketing I.Q.s,
35 min
1525
Angela Davis-Gardner, “Butterfly’s Child” (Rand...
Today I talked with Angela Davis-Gardner, an award-winning North Carolina-based novelist writing about Japan. Her book Butterfly’s Child (Random House, 2011) depicts the journey of a Japanese American boy Benji,
43 min