In order to learn to write, Frank Bill broke down the fiction that he loved. The lessons those books taught him have served him through a collection of short stories and two novels, the latest of which is THE SAVAGE. He and James talk about universe building, skipping the middle, and the film adaptation of DONNYBROOK. Plus, Jesse Donaldson on his tour of Kentucky for ON HOMESICKNESS.

Frank Bill

Frank and James discuss:

BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy

DETROIT: AN AMERICAN AUTOPSY by Charlie LeDuff

BEAT TO A PULP

THE MISSOURI REVIEW

“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

Jason Starr

THE KILLER INSIDE ME by Jim Thompson

FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahniuk

Fyodor Dostoevsky

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS by Ernest Hemingway

THE ECSTATIC by Victor LaValle

JOE by Larry Brown

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS by Hunter S. Thompson

Pink Floyd

Jamie Bell

James Badge Dale

Margaret Qualley

Frank Grillo

KINGDOM

James Landry Hebert

Tim Sutton

The Old Testament

DEADWOOD

David Milch

SUTREE by Cormac McCarthy

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN by Cormac McCarthy

Andrew Vachss

TRUE DETECTIVE

JAWS

SCALPED by Jason Aaron

Sean McDonald

Emily Bell

Jackson Howard

Jesse Donaldson

Jesse and James discuss:

Odysseus

The Israelites

Michel de Montaigne

Augusten Burroughs

West Virginia University Press

IN PLACE series

Becca Wadlinger

Danielle Delph

The Wolly Worm Festival

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

Parnassus Books

Square Books

LEXINGTON HERALD LEADER

Carry A. Nation House

Magoffin County Historical Society

Melanie Caine

Larry Flynt

Linda Riley

TUNNELING TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH by Kevin Wilson

Brier Books

Wild Fig Books

Crystal Wilkinson

Morris Books

The Kentucky Headhunters

Brandon Atwell

George Clooney

Nick & Nina Clooney