Dr. David Mason back today as guest host. Dave is a professor of religious studies at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. This week he speaks with a returning guest, Dr. Vanessa Sasson, who is also a professor of religious studies, but at Marianopolis College in Quebec. They last spoke about her debut novel, Yasodhara, and today they will be discussing her most recent work of historical fiction, The Gathering: A Story of the First Buddhist Women, which is available from Equinox Publishing.

Avery Cunningham joins me to discuss her debut novel, The Mayor of Maxwell Street which is published by Hyperion. A native of Jackson, TN and now a resident of Memphis, Avery has crafted a tale set in the early 1920s in Chicago, as the wealthiest African-American families have gathered for the funeral of the son of the richest black man in the nation. The Sawyer family’s daughter, Nelly, only wants to become a journalist, but her parents have other plans for her future, as she chases after the most mysterious criminal in Chicago’s underworld, The Mayor of Mawell Street.

Fergus M. Bordewich is a former journalist and now a longtime historian. His books include THE FIRST CONGRESS: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government, BOUND FOR CANAAN: The Story of the Underground Railroad, KILLING THE WHITE MAN'S INDIAN: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century. Today we wrap up with the second of our two-part conversation about his latest book, KLAN WAR: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction which is published by Knopf.

Fergus M. Bordewich is a former journalist and now a longtime historian. His books include THE FIRST CONGRESS: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government, BOUND FOR CANAAN: The Story of the Underground Railroad, KILLING THE WHITE MAN'S INDIAN: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century. Today we begin the first of our two-part conversation about his latest book, KLAN WAR: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction which is published by Knopf.

Martin Clark is a retired circuit court judge from Patrick County, Virginia and is the author of six novels, including Plain Heathen Mischief and The Jezebel Remedy. Today is the conclusion of a two-part interview about his newest novel, The Plinko Bounce which is published by Rare Bird Books.

Martin Clark is a retired circuit court judge from Patrick County, Virginia and is the author of six novels, including Plain Heathen Mischief and The Jezebel Remedy. Today is the first half of a two-part interview about his newest novel, The Plinko Bounce which is published by Rare Bird Books.

Laurence Leamer is a journalist and author with quite an accomplished body of work under his belt. His journalism has appeared in publications including Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, and Newsweek. His books have covered gritty topics like coal mining and lynching, political titans like the Kennedys and Ronald Reagan, and the brightest stars in the arts including, Johnny Carson, Ingrid Bergman, Truman Capote and now Alfred Hitchcock, in the recently released Hitchcock's Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director's Dark Obsession which is published by GP Putnam’s Sons.

Maureen Corrigan is the Nicky and Jamie Grant Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism at Georgetown University. She is perhaps bet known as the longtime book critic for the NPR program Fresh Air and is the author of Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading, and So We Read On: How “The Great Gatsby” Came to Be and Why It Endures. Earlier this year continuing education company The Great Courses made available her series of lectures, entitled, Banned Books, Burned Books: Forbidden Literary Works.

Stephan Pastis is best known as the writer and artist for the wildly successful daily comic strip Pearls Before Swine. The latest collection of strips, Pearls Seeks Enlightenment was recently published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. Stephan also writes novels for all ages, but the publisher says that they are great especially for middle schoolers. His Timmy Failure series was successful, even spawning the major motion picture Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. The Trubble Town books followed in 2021 and 22. His new novel, appropriate for middle grade readers and older, is entitled, Looking Up, and it is published by Aladdin, an imprint of Simon and Schuster.

Hayley Arceneaux is a physician's assistant with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. Not only an employee, she is also a successful patient who recovered from pediatric cancer at St. Jude. A couple of years ago, she was offered a seat on a Space X flight to orbit the earth for three days and raise money for St. Jude. In 2022, her Memoir Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships was published, and 2023 sees the young readers' adaptation Wild Ride: My Journey from Cancer Kid to Astronaut, which is published by Convergent Books.