KELLY J. FORD revised and sharpened her debut novel, COTTONMOUTHS, in Grub Street’s Novel Incubator program with our second guest, MICHELLE HOOVER. She and James talk about crappy drafts, depression, the woods vs. the forest, coming out narratives, and tents full of mannequin parts. She also describes her process, including using formulas and borrowing the scaffolding of other narratives. Then James asks Michelle about novel writing and workshopping.

Kelly J. Ford

Kelly and James discuss: 

Daniel Woodrell (intro)

Sarah Waters (intro)

“Hanging Judge” Parker

Flannery O’Connor

Paula Abdul

FINGERHUT MAGAZINE

Solid Gold Dancers

Lisa Borders

E.B. Moore

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Laura van den Berg

Chip Cheek

Cam Terwilliger

Diane Johnson

THE END OF CALIFORNIA by Steve Yarbrough

FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley

RE JANE by Patricia Park

THE MIDDLESTEINS by Jamie Attenberg

DARK PLACES by Gillian Flynn

LITTLE CHILDREN by Tom Perrotta

WRITTEN ON THE BODY by Jeanette Winterson

THE PASSION by Jeanette Winterson

THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin

Maya Angelou

Sam Cooke

HUNGER by Roxanne Gay

Michelle Hoover

Michelle and James Discuss:

Jay Neugeboren

Noy Holland

BOTTOMLAND by Michelle Hoover

Ian Stansel

Brian Evenson

THRILL ME by Benjamin Percy

HALF IN LOVE WITH DEATH by Emily Ross

Rachel Barenbaum

IDYLL THREATS by Stephanie Gayle

IDYLL FEARS by Stephanie Gayle

Ian Stansel’s fantastic first novel THE LAST COWBOYS OF SAN GERONIMO plays with the genre expectations of Westerns by setting the murder-revenge in northern California wine country. James and Ian discuss storytelling economy, bringing dead characters to life, horse-y literature, and conclude, “There are a lot of books.” Then editor Naomi Gibbs and James discuss her career path working on ‘orphaned’ novels like Ian’s.

Ian Stansel

Ian and James discuss:

SHOTGUN LOVESONGS by Nickolas Butler

Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Graywolf

Roxane Gay

Sherman Alexie

Cormac McCarthy

THE SISTERS BROTHERS by Patrick DeWitt

NEWS OF THE WORLD by Paulette Jiles

Louis L’Amour

Larry McMurtry

The Kentucky Book Fair

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

BLACK BEAUTY by Anna Sewell

THE MARE by Mary Gaitskill

Dick Francis

THE WAKE OF FORGIVENESS by Bruce Machart

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (remake) dir by Antoine Fuqua

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN by Cormac McCarthy

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (film) dir by the Coen Bros

THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Bob Dylan

Daniel Woodrell

HELL OR HIGH WATER dir by David Mackenzie

Naomi and James discuss:

Whitman College

Counterpoint Press

Columbia Publishing Course

Bloomsbury Publishing

Gary Snyder

Jack Shoemaker

Politics & Prose

Craig Johnson

Cormac McCarthy

Larry McMurtry

Edward Abbey