The Outrider Podcast

Episode 17: Laird Hunt

I’ve been excited and thrilled with all of my guests, even Colin Dickey despite the fact that he is on Harper Perennial’s Enemies List (it is a mystery you’ll have to figure out on your own); however, I am over the moon thrilled with my first June guest, Laird Hunt. 

In this episode, I talk with Laird about growing up splitting time between Shanghai and Indiana, almost playing football for the University of Indiana, grad school at Naropa, his time working for the United Nations, and whole bunch of other things we had to cram into about forty-five minutes. If we’d had more time, I’d have talked to him for another hour and fifteen minutes. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. 

Laird Hunt is the author of a short story collection, The Paris Stories, and the novels The Impossibly, Indiana, Indiana, The Exquisite, Ray of the Star and the Pen/Faulkner Award finalist, and Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winning novel Kind One, all from Coffee House Press. His new novel, Neverhome, will be out in September from Little, Brown. 

You can read more about Laird Hunt at his website http://lairdhunt.net and find links to buy his books. 

Episode 16: Dale Bridges

In this episode, I talk to debut author Dale Bridges about growing up in a fundamentalist, evangelical home, the things that finally led him to break away from his family’s religion and become a writer, and why he decided to live in Austin, Texas. 

You can learn more about Dale and his new collection, Justice, Inc, at his website, http://dalebridges.org and you can learn more about his publisher, Monkey Puzzle Press at their website, http://monkeypuzzlepress.com. 

Episode 15 Ed Skoog

In this episode, I talk to poet Ed Skoog about the reason and necessity of poetry, the many mutations of Shakespeare, the desire to be a zookeeper, the usual grad school stuff, and how we experienced K-State in vastly different ways with Ed ending his time there as student body president.

Ed Skoog has taught at several universities and high school arts conservatories. He has received fellowships from Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, Sewanee Writers conference, Richard Hugo House, and the Lannan Foundation. Ed has two collections of poetry, Mister Skylight and Rough Day, both from Copper Canyon Press. You can learn more about Ed at his website http://edskoog.com and check out his podcast co-hosted with the writer J. Robert Lennon “Lunchbox with Ed and John” here http://www.lunchboxpodcast.com

Episode 14: Theresa Romain

This week I talk to romance author Theresa Romain about how she handles the demanding business of series writing, what literary writers can learn from genre writers, and the coming demand for vampire bondage yeti porn. Get on board now. 

Theresa is the author of five books and has two more on the way this year, and a third due out in January 2015. Her first book was published under her mortal name, Theresa St. Romain, that book was Margarita Fischer: A Biography of the Silent Film Star, published by Mcfarland Press in 2012. Since then she had been writing under her pseudo pen name Theresa Romain, because it’s easier to shelve in the bookstores. She has two Regency romance series going, the first is the Seasons series, from Kensington Zebra, Season for Temptation, Season for Surrender, Season for Scandal, and the forthcoming Season for Desire. Her second series is the Matchmaker Trilogy, from Sourcebooks Casablanca with It Takes Two to Tangle, and To Charm a Naughty Countess, which will be released next month, and Secrets of a Scandalous Heiress due in January 2015. 

You can read more about Theresa at her website http://theresaromain.com

Episode 13: Timothy Schaffert

Today’s guest is the charming and talented Timothy Schaffert. I talk, in person this time, with Timothy about the path to becoming a writer when it begins in the barren flatness of midwestern plains states, how important Eudora Welty is, and that its easy to go broke in New York. 

Timothy is the author of five novels. The most recent of which is The Swan Gondola (Riverhead). His four previous novels were all published by Unbridled Books and earned him lots of recognition, including being selected as for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers list, as well as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, among many others. 

You can learn more about Timothy at http://www.timothyschaffert.com 

Episode 12: Shadowboxes: A Short Story by Laura Hawley

Today, we’re trying sometime a bit different. It’s story time! Host Jason Quinn Malott reads a short story called Shadowboxes, which was written by Laura Hawley. Laura earned her MFA in creative writing from Naropa University and was picked by Joyce Carol Oates as the capper story for the 2003 anthology of Best New American Voices. Then, she quietly disappeared. After the story, Jason talks with Laura about what she’s doing now, and her plans for turning out more stories. 

From The Vault (our tiny, tiny vault): Episode 8: Colin Dickey

While I'm still on hiatus, I thought I'd at least reissue a couple of the episodes I really liked, but for one reason or another didn't get launched as well as I would have liked. This week is my conversation with Colin Dickey. Colin, of course, is the author of the books Cranioklepty and Afterlives of the Saints. 

Read more about Colin at his website, http://www.colindickey.com . 

And I’ll be back on March 24th with a brand new episode of some kind. I’ve been working on lining up some new guests, but getting them interviewed is hard since I’m, well, sort of semi-homeless for a few more days. 

FROM THE VAULT (our tiny, tiny vault): Episode 4 redux: Delia Tramontina

While I'm still on hiatus, I thought I'd at least reissue a couple of the episodes I really liked, but for one reason or another didn't get launched as well as I would have liked. First up, is a reissue of Episode 4 with Delian Tramontina, poet, and co-host of the KUSF in Exile show Poet as Radio. 

Don't forget, I'll be back with a new episode on March 24th. 

Episode 11: Eric Barnes

In this episode, I talk with author and newspaper publisher Eric Barnes about the Pacific Northwest, serial killers, graduate school at the birthplace of the Beats (Columbia), and that strange situation of trying to write funny but always seeming to get it wrong. 

Eric is the author of the novels Shimmer from Unbridled Books, and Something Pretty, Something Beautiful from Outpost 19. He’s also the publisher of The Daily News, The Memphis News, and The Nashville Ledger.  He also hosts a show on the PBS station WKNO called Behind the Headlines. You can read more about Eric at his website http://www.ericbarnes.net . 

Reminder: The Outrider Podcast will be taking a short hiatus due to personal changes. The next new episode will be out on March 24th. 

Episode 10: Darren DeFrain

In this episode I talk with author Darren DeFrain about being an army brat, the creative writing Phd, and Mormon hit squads. 

Darren is the author of the cult novel The Salt Palace, published by New Issues Press, and was a finalist for the Best Small Press Novel award from ForeWord Magazine. He also has a short story collection Inside & Out, published by Main Street Rag Publishing. He is a professor of English at Wichita State University.

You can read more about Darren at his website: http://www.darrendefrain.com