The Process with Jude Brewer

This is about being led down a false path. Not seeing obvious signs. It's about my friend Noé and his journey. All of us, meeting each other along the way. Artwork by Allison Conway. Music by John Fio. Support our show and get access to ad-free versions of all our episodes here: theprocess.supportingcast.fm Transcripts can be found here: judebrewer.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I can hear the rest, but I don't have the rest." A friend shares a song he made using AI. Support us and listen ad-free with bonus episodes here: ⁠theprocess.supportingcast.fm⁠ Music by John Fio. Artwork by Allison Conway. Transcripts can be found here: judebrewer.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Leslie, and the history of sound in 100 years. Transcripts can be found at ⁠https://judebrewer.substack.com/⁠ Street interviews by Paul Kim. Filming by Justin Boswick of Barnegat Studios. Thank you to the Hollywood Theater in Portland. Kevin Senzaki can be found here: https://senzaki.com/ Frank and Cory Make a Story - a videogame about how a story is created Music by ⁠John Fio⁠. Artwork by ⁠Allison Conway⁠. Sources: A History of Musique Concrete and Ulysses The Story of Jack Foley Leslie Shatz Remembers Norman Mailer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anna and John are different in as many ways as they are similar. Especially when it comes to cookies and hamburgers. Transcripts can be found at https://judebrewer.substack.com/ Street interviews by Christopher Olin. Music by John Fio. Artwork by Allison Conway. Sources: Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, by Kim Kelly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A young man finds a second home, and discovers a higher calling. Transcripts can be found at https://judebrewer.substack.com/ Street interviews by Christopher Olin. Music by John Fio. Artwork by Allison Conway. Sources: The War Came To Us: Life and Death in Ukraine, by Christopher Miller The Trilateral Process: The United States, Ukraine, Russia, and Nuclear Weapons Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I think there's a reason why we get into careers that we get into. And I'm not just like making a generalization, but I'm sure that there's a lot of fighters out there that had a really hard childhood." That’s Kimberly Shannon Murphy, she’s Hollywood’s go-to stunt double for premier silver screen actresses. If you’ve seen a movie or a TV show made in the last 20 years, chances are you’ve seen Kimberly without even knowing it. This story contains child abuse. But that is not what it's about. This is a story of survival, hope and healing. If you are experiencing sexual assault, you do not have to suffer alone. You can talk to someone for confidential 24/7 support by calling 1-800-656-4673. And for the 24/7 child abuse hotline, call 1-800-4-A-child, that’s 1-800-422-4453. If you know someone who is experiencing abuse, or if you suspect abuse, please don’t wait. Music created for this show by John Fio. Show artwork by Allison Conway. Transcripts can be found at https://judebrewer.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BANKWAVE is a narrative driven simulator developed during Ludum Dare, an international game jam competition, by indie game company Frabjous Studios. This episode of The Process explores collaboration through the rise of game jams, BANKWAVE's development, the development of the game's engine created by Hajime Hoshi, and finally the role of game testers. Learn more about Alex Mills and his team Frabjous Studios here. The song at the beginning and end of this episode was created for the show by John Fio. Show artwork by Allison Conway. Transcripts can be found at https://judebrewer.substack.com/ Sources: Game Engines as an art form, Hajime Hoshi Why Ludum Dare is so important to indie developers, Vice Video games can never be art, Roger Ebert Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Before you have a kid. I feel like you're sort of going up a roller coaster and you've never been on a roller coaster before and you just like you feel that you're inching towards the top and you just don't know what to expect. And that's kind of like writing a book. I mean, I feel like you shouldn't know what's coming when you enter in a book." - Andrew Lipstein, author of THE VEGAN. Show artwork by Allison Conway. Transcripts can be found at https://judebrewer.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Tommy Davidson reads an excerpt from "Living in Color," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Tommy Davidson started his career as a stand-up comedian in Washington DC, and since then, he's done it all. His standup career has led him to share bills with the likes of Patti LaBelle and Kenny G, and he was a cast-member on the hit show "In Living Color," also starring Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, and Damon Wayans. He's done three specials for Showtime and appeared on Disney's "The Proud Family" and Spike Lee's "Bamboozled." His book, "In Living Color," released in 2020, details his journey in show business and how he found success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Abraham reads an excerpt from "Age of Ash," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Daniel Abraham is the author of the critically acclaimed "Long Price Quartet," "The Dagger and the Coin series," and the "Kithamar Trilogy." He writes with Ty Frank as James S.A. Corey, and as MLN Hanover. He has been nominated for the Nebula and World Fantasy awards, and won the Hugo award and International Horror Guild award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imogen Binnie reads an excerpt from "Nevada," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Imogen Binnie is the author of the novel "Nevada," which won the Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award and was a finalist for the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction. In 2022, "Nevada" was reissued by FSG Books. A writer for several television shows and a former columnist for Maximum Rocknroll, she lives in Vermont with her family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vauhini Vara reads an excerpt from "The Immortal King Rao," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Vauhini Vara started as a journalist, working as a technology reporter at the Wall Street Journal and later launching, editing and writing for the business section of the New Yorker’s website. Since then, her writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The New Republic, Businessweek, Fortune, and elsewhere. She is a contributor to Wired and can sometimes be found working as a story editor at the New York Times Magazine. She has also edited for the website of the Atlantic and for the nonprofit Fuller Project. Her debut novel, "The Immortal King Rao" (W.W. Norton), is an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce selection, and New York Magazine’s Vulture, Esquire, Oprah Daily, the Times of India, and the Observer are among some publications that named it one of their most-anticipated books of the year. Her story collection, "This is Salvaged," is due out in 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Benjamín Labatut reads an excerpt from "When We Cease to Understand the World," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Benjamín Labatut is a Chilean author born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 1980 who spent his childhood in The Hague, Buenos Aires and Lima, before settling in Chile. His first book of short stories, "Antarctica" starts here, won the 2009 Caza de Letras Prize in Mexico, and the Santiago Municipal Prize, in Chile. His second book, "After the Light," consists of a series of scientific, philosophical and historical notes on the void, written after a deep personal crisis. "When We Cease to Understand the World" was published in September 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Chaon reads an excerpt from his new book "Sleepwalk," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Dan Chaon is the author of three novels: "You Remind Me of Me," "Await Your Reply," and "Ill Will." He's also published three short story collections and has been featured in several anthologies, including "Best American Short Stories" and "The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses." Caregiver's (Lindsey Bitson) new track Everything was released in 2021 and her new album is set for release in 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Antoine Wilson reads from his new book "Mouth to Mouth," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Antoine Wilson is the author of the novels "The Interloper" and "Panorama City," and his new novel "Mouth to Mouth" is out from Avid Reader (Simon & Schuster) in the US and Canada, and from Atlantic Books in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. His writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Quarterly West, and Best New American Voices, among other publications. He is a contributing editor at A Public Space. He has received the Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellowship at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and the San Fernando Valley Award for Fiction, and has been a finalist for The National Magazine Award, the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award, and the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award. He has taught writing at the University of Iowa, the University of California San Diego, the University of California Los Angeles Extension Writers’ Program, Stanford Continuing Studies, and the Otis School of Art and Design. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Sherrell reads excerpts from his book "Warmth," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Daniel Sherrell is a climate movement organizer who has led successful campaigns to phase out coal-fired power plants, divest millions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry, and pass a Green New Deal bill for New York State. He is currently the Campaign Director for the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, where he is working with the American labor movement to tackle the climate crisis, reverse income inequality, and win millions of unionized clean energy jobs. He is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in creative writing and has been awarded residencies at the Mesa Refuge and J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephanie Foo reads an excerpt from "What My Bones Know," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Stephanie Foo is a former producer for This American Life and Snap Judgment, and has worked on podcasts for The Cut, Nancy, Reply All and 99% Invisible. She currently produces audio pieces and has had her work featured in The New York Times and Vox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Phil Klay reads his essay "The Citizen-Soldier: Moral Risk and the Modern Military," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Phil Klay is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. His short story collection, "Redeployment" won the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics' Circle John Leonard Prize for best debut work in any genre, and was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times. His nonfiction work won the George W. Hunt, S.J., Prize for Journalism, Arts & Letters in the category of Cultural & Historical Criticism in 2018. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and the Brookings Institution's Brookings Essay series. He currently teaches fiction at Fairfield University. His debut novel, Missionaries, was released in October 2020 with Penguin Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kim Kelly discusses her book "Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Kim Kelly is a labor columnist at Teen Vogue, contributor to the Baffler, correspondent for Means Morning TV, and freelance contributor to all manner of other publications. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, Esquire, GQ, Rolling Stone, the Nation, and NPR. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anna Sale talks about her book "Let's Talk About Hard Things," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Anna Sale is a journalist, author and interviewer, likened to "a therapist at happy hour" by The New York Times. She hosts "Death, Sex & Money," the award-winning interview podcast from WNYC Studios, and her book, "Let's Talk About Hard Things," is available now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melissa Chadburn reads from her essay "The Throwaways," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Melissa Chadburn’s writing has appeared in The LA Times, NYT Book Review, NYRB, Longreads, Paris Review online, and dozens other places. Her essay on food insecurity was published in "Best American Food Writing 2019." She’s done extensive reporting on the child welfare system and appears in the Netflix docuseries "The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez." Her debut novel, "A Tiny Upward Shove," is forthcoming with Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. She is a Ph.D. candidate at USC’s Creative Writing Program. Melissa is a worker lover and through her own work and literary citizenship strives to upend economic violence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Lipstein reads excerpts from "Last Resort," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Andrew Lipstein is a writer based in Brooklyn. His debut novel "Last Resort" is out now from Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the US, and Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK. His second novel will be published in 2023, also by FSG and W&N. He also works on the product design team at Kabbage, a fintech startup, and was previously at Meural, an art tech startup and his writing has appeared in Interview, the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Brooklyn Rail, The Millions, VICE, McSweeney's, The Rumpus, Electric Literature & more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Tomlinson reads an excerpt from "The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man's Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Tommy Tomlinson has written for publications including Esquire, ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Garden & Gun, and many others. He spent 23 years as a reporter and local columnist for the Charlotte Observer, where he was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in commentary, and he is currently working on a new book about the Westminster Dog Show. He is also the host of the podcast “SouthBound” at WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR news station, and he also does weekly commentaries for the station. He has taught at colleges, workshops and conferences across the country. He’s a graduate of the University of Georgia and was a 2008-09 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel A. Olivas reads an excerpt from "How to Date a Flying Mexican," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Daniel A. Olivas is the author of ten books and editor of two anthologies. His latest books are "How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories," "The King of Lighting Fixtures: Stories," and "Crossing the Border: Collected Poems." Widely anthologized, Daniel has also written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Guardian, La Bloga, BOMB, High Country News, Huffington Post, Alta Journal, Los Angeles Times, El Paso Times, and the Jewish Journal. Daniel is also a playwright. He is a member of the Dramatist Guild, and his first full-length play, "Waiting for Godínez," was selected for the Playwrights' Arena Summer Reading Series in 2020, and The Road Theatre's 12th Annual Summer Playwrights Festival in 2021. Daniel was selected for Circle X Theatre's inaugural Evolving Playwrights Group where he adapted his novel, "The Book of Want," for the stage. Daniel's play, "Waiting," had its world premiere with Playwrights' Arena on July 24, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danté Stewart reads an excerpt from "Shoutin’ In The Fire: An American Epistle," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Danté Stewart is a theologian, essayist, and cultural critic. He is author of "Shoutin’ In The Fire: An American Epistle." Named by Religion News Service as one of “Ten Up-And-Coming Faith Influencers”, his work has appeared on CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, ESPN’s The Undefeated, Sojourners, and more. He received his B.A. in Sociology from Clemson University. He is currently studying at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Debbie Millman discusses her book "Why Design Matters," featuring David Byrne, Saeed Jones, Ira Glass, and more, backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Debbie is the author of seven books, including two collections of interviews that have extended the ethos and editorial vision of "Design Matters" to the printed page: "How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer" and "Brand Thinking" and "Other Noble Pursuits." Both books have been published in over 10 languages. Her most recent book, "Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People," was published in 2021. She is also the co-owner and Editorial Director of PrintMag.com. Debbie’s podcast, "Design Matters" is one of the first and longest running podcasts, and as host and founder, Millman has interviewed nearly 500 of the most creative people in the world over the past 17 years. "Design Matters" won a 2011 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, in 2015 Apple designated it one of the best overall podcasts on iTunes, and in 2021 designated it one of their “All Time Favorite Podcasts.” In addition, the show has been nominated for six Webby Awards, and has been listed on over 100 “Best Podcasts” lists, including one of the best podcasts in the world by Business Insider and Vanity Fair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Storybound, from 2021 KCRW Radio Race winner Jude Brewer, returns for a fifth season with new voices, new music, and more conversations on March 8th. Storybound is a radio theater program designed for the podcast age. Hosted by Jude Brewer, the podcast features today’s top literary voices reading their essays, poems, and fiction. Season 5 begins publishing next Tuesday, March 8th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chuck Klosterman reads two stories from "Raised in Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction," backed by an original Storybound remix with Lindsey Bitson, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Chuck Klosterman is the bestselling author of eight books of nonfiction (including "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs," "But What If We’re Wrong?" and "Chuck Klosterman X") and two novels ("Downtown Owl" and "The Visible Man"). He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Esquire, Spin, The Guardian, The Believer, Billboard, The A.V. Club, and ESPN. Klosterman served as the Ethicist for The New York Times Magazine for three years, appeared as himself in the LCD Soundsystem documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits, and was an original founder of the website Grantland with Bill Simmons. Lindsey Bitson is a Sacramento-based indie-rock musician. Her latest album, "Bathing in Yesterday’s Fires," was released in 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brianna Barrett presents "Florence Fane in San Francisco," backed by an original Storybound remix with Jaymay, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Brianna Barrett is a playwright and storyteller whose full-length theatrical work has been developed at Artists Repertory Theater, Theatre33, Fertile Ground Festival, HART Theatre, and UCLA. Her TV work has been developed with Stuber, Farah Films, Hollywood Laundromat and ICM. She's performed at venues such as Pickathon, FolkLife Festival, and her own limited series podcast with Bag&Baggage Productions. Her work has been published by Samuel French/Concord Theatricals, Applause Books and Smith & Kraus. Jaymay is a New York City based anti-folk singer/songwriter who has played shows with everyone from Bon Iver to Bright Eyes. Her music has been featured on "How I Met Your Mother" and Josh Radnor's "Happythankyoumoreplease." Thanks to the Regional Arts & Culture Council for helping make this episode possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tamara Winfrey-Harris reads an excerpt from "Dear Black Girl: Letters From Your Sisters on Stepping Into Your Power," backed by an original Storybound remix, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Tamara is the author of two books: "The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America" (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2015) and "Dear Black Girl: Letters From Your Sisters On Stepping Into Your Power" (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2021). The award-winning Sisters, now in its second edition, has been optioned by Wise Entertainment and Gabrielle Union’s production company I’ll Have Another to be turned into a dramedy for television. Tamara’s work has been published in media outlets, including including The New York Times, The Atlantic, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine and The Los Angeles Times. And her essays appear in The Lemonade Reader: Beyonce, Black Feminism and Spirituality (Routledge, 2019); The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery (Wayne State University Press, 2018); Black in the Middle: An Anthology of the Black Midwest (Black Belt Publishing, 2020); and other books. Tamara is co-founder of Centering Sisters, LLC, an organization that unapologetically addresses the needs and issues of Black women and girls; and the Black Women’s Writing Society, a monthly virtual space for Black femme creatives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jude Brewer is a Portland-based writer, audio producer, actor, and host of Storybound. His piece “Buzzy” finished first in KCRW’s 2021 Radio Race. From KCRW: "In lieu of voicemails, letters, or other tangible keepsakes, the sound of a skateboard remains Brewer’s only tie to his late childhood best friend and neighbor, Buzzy. Beyond the piece’s beautifully crafted audio design and editing, Brewer wields sound as a character unto itself, taking the listener inside its ability to trigger — and sustain — memories of halcyon days spent perfecting kickflips after school and revelling in the unwritten possibilities and potential of youth." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clint Smith reads an excerpt from "How the Word Is Passed," backed by an original Storybound remix with Taber Arias, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of the narrative nonfiction book, "How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America," which was a #1 New York Times bestseller and was longlisted for the National Book Award. He is also the author of the poetry collection "Counting Descent," which won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. Clint has received fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New America, the Emerson Collective, the Art For Justice Fund, Cave Canem, and the National Science Foundation. His essays, poems, and scholarly writing have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, the Harvard Educational Review, and elsewhere. He is a 2014 National Poetry Slam champion and a 2017 recipient of the Jerome J. Shestack Prize from the American Poetry Review. Taber Arias is an artist from Portland, OR who's been making music since 2015. He also makes instrumentals under the name "hi, ily" on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dawnie Walton reads an excerpt from "The Final Revival of Opal & Nev," backed by an original Storybound remix, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Dawnie Walton's work as a fiction writer and journalist explores identity, place, and the influence of pop culture. A MacDowell Colony fellow (2015), a Tin House Scholar (2017), and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (MFA, 2018), she has worked as an executive-level editor for magazine and multimedia brands including Essence, Entertainment Weekly, Getty Images, and LIFE. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she lives in Brooklyn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Brown reads his story, "A Faithful but Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed," backed by an original Storybound remix with Mattias Tell, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Jason Brown is a fiction and nonfiction writer. He has published three books of short stories, "Driving the Heart and Other Stories" (Norton/Random House), "Why the Devil Chose New England For His Work" (Open City/Grove Atlantic), and "A Faithful But Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed", published in the fall of 2019 as part of the short fiction series by Missouri Review Books. His stories and essays have won several awards and appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, Best American Short Stories, The L.A. Times, The Guardian, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, The Missouri Review, and other venues. Several of his stories have been performed as part of NPR’s Selected Shorts, and his collection Why The Devil Chose New England For His Work was chosen as a summer reading pick by National Public Radio. Mattias Tell is a Swedish songwriter and musician. Known for his eclectic and diverse rock guitar and versatile production, he has also started a new record company with comedian and artist Marcus Berggen caled Kode Records. Mattias’ approach to musical composition is that of a painting; all you need is a blank canvas and some colors to create something beautiful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth McCracken reads her short story, "It's Not You," backed by an original Storybound remix with Moon Hound, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Elizabeth McCracken is the author of seven books: "Here’s Your Hat What’s Your Hurry," "The Giant’s House," "Niagara Falls All Over Again," "An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination," "Thunderstruck & Other Stories," "Bowlaway," and "The Souvenir Museum." She’s received grants and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Liguria Study Center, the American Academy in Berlin, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. "Thunderstruck & Other Stories" won the 2015 Story Prize. Her work has been published in The Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, The O. Henry Prize, The New York Times Magazine, and many other places. Moon Hound is a Ridgewood-based baroque rock band. Together, the band sounds like a smattering of different eras of alternative rock. Their latest EP, “Crescent,” was released in 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marian Crotty reads her short story "Halloween," backed by an original Storybound remix with My Son the Doctor, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Marian Crotty's first book, "What Counts as Love," was published through the University of Iowa Short Fiction Awards (John Simmons Award). The book was a semi-finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and received the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for fiction by an American woman. Her short stories have appeared in literary journals such as the Southern Review, the Kenyon Review, and the Alaska Quarterly Review. Her personal essays have appeared in journals such as the Gettysburg Review, the New England Review, and Guernica. She has received funding from the Sewanee and Bread Loaf Writers’ conferences, the Yaddo Corporation, and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing as well as a Fulbright research grant to the United Arab Emirates. She is an assistant professor of writing at Loyola University Maryland and an assistant editor at The Common. She lives in Baltimore and is at work on a novel. My Son The Doctor began prescribing their swaggering new wave punk sound to the Brooklyn scene in 2019. The 4-piece released their debut EP "Dad Time" in 2020 featuring 4 songs in just 9 minutes and 47 seconds. Their 2nd EP, "Taste Those Dreams," is set for release in October 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leigh Newman reads her story "Howl Palace," backed by an original Storybound remix, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Leigh Newman's memoir about Alaska, “Still Points North” was a finalist for the National Book Critic Circle’s John Leonard prize and her new book "Nobody Gets Out Alive" is forthcoming next spring from Scribner. Her short stories have appeared in Harper’s, the Paris Review, One Story, Tin House, Electric Literature, and McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern. She is the winner of the Paris Review’s Terry Southern Prize for “humor, wit, and sprezzatura” and, in 2020, her story “Howl Palace” recognized by the Best American Short Stories, the Pushcart Prize and the American Society of Magazine Editors' fiction award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Thankam Mathews reads her story "Rubberdust," backed by an original Storybound remix, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Sarah Thankam Mathews grew up between Oman and India, and immigrated to the United States at seventeen. She was a Rona Jaffe Fellow in fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and a Margins Fellow at The Asian American Writers' Workshop. Her work has been featured in "Best American Short Stories 2020," and her novel, "All This Could Be Different" is forthcoming in 2022. Mathews is also a co-founder of the Brooklyn-based Bed-Stuy Strong, which was formed during the COVID-19 pandemic to help deliver groceries and other resources to people in need. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jane Pek reads an excerpt from her story “Portrait of Two Young Ladies in White and Green Robes (Unidentified Artist, Circa Sixteenth Century)," backed by an original Storybound remix with Daniel Frankhuizen, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Jane Pek was born and grew up in Singapore, and now lives in New York. She has a BA in History from Yale University, a JD from the New York University School of Law, and an MFA from Brooklyn College. Her short fiction has been anthologized in "The Best American Short Stories," and her debut novel, "The Verifiers," is forthcoming from Vintage/Knopf in February 2022. Daniel Frankhuizen has performed throughout the United States and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, and in several pop groups. He has performed in venues from Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and Storm King Art Center. He has served as principal cellist for the Empire Chamber Orchestra and Opera in the Ozarks Festival Orchestra. Daniel is also a founding member of the Orvieto Piano Trio, a group that over the last ten years, has performed classical piano trio literature throughout the United States, Canada, and Italy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

William Pei Shih reads an excerpt from "The Enlightenment," backed by an original Storybound remix with Modern Diet, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. William Pei Shih has had stories published in "The Best American Short Stories 2020," VQR, McSweeney's, Catapult, The Asian American Literary Review, The Des Monies Register, The Masters Review, and many others. He's received scholarships and support from the Sewanee Writers' Conference, the Sun Valley Writers' Conference, Kundiman, the Napa Valley Writers' Conference, and the Ragdale Residency. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop (MFA, Fiction), where he was a recipient of the Dean's Graduate Fellowship. He currently teaches at NYU. Modern Diet is a Brooklyn based indie-rock band who have played everywhere from Vermont to Nashville. Their latest release, "Post Grad," was released in 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meng Jin reads an excerpt from her story "In the Event," backed by an original Storybound remix, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Meng Jin is the author of the novel "Little Gods," which was a finalist for the NYPL Young Lions Award and LA Times First Fiction Prize. Her next book, "Self-Portrait With Ghost, a Collection of Short Fictions," is forthcoming from Custom House in the summer of 2022, and she is working an a new novel, "Mothers and Girls: A Fake Memoir," for which she received a 2021 Creative Capital Award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Myriam Gurba reads her story "Writing Ourselves Into Bed," backed by an original Storybound remix with Zola Jesus, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Myriam Gurba is a writer and artist. She is the author of the true-crime memoir "Mean," a New York Times editors’ choice. O, the Oprah Magazine, ranked "Mean" as one of the best LGBTQ books of all time. Publishers’ Weekly describes Gurba as having a voice like no other. Her essays and criticism have appeared in the Paris Review, TIME.com, and 4Columns. She has shown art in galleries, museums, and community centers. Zola Jesus a singer and songwriter known for combining elements of electronic, industrial, classical, and goth. Her latest album, Live at Roadburn 2018 was released in 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anna Reeser reads her short story, "Octopus VII," backed by an original Storybound remix with The Bright Light Social Hour, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Anna Reeser’s short fiction is anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 2020 and is published in journals including Fourteen Hills, CutBank, and The Masters Review. She is an alum of the Kenyon Review Writers’ Workshops, the Tin House Winter Workshop, and the One Story Writing Circle. Originally from Ojai, California, she holds a degree from UC Berkeley in English Literature and Art Practice. She is currently at work on a collection of short stories and a novel. The Bright Light Social Hour is an Austin, Texas based band whose music has been featured by Nintendo, HBO, MTV, Fox, Ubisoft, and NBC. They have toured all over the world, including stops at Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza. They composed the theme for Amazon's hit series, "Sneaky Pete," and their latest release, Enter Weed Martyr was released in 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ruth Wariner reads an excerpt from "The Sound of Gravel," backed by an original Storybound remix with Shook Twins, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Ruth Wariner is an internationally renowned speaker and author of the New York Times bestselling memoir, "The Sound of Gravel". At the age of fifteen, Ruth escaped Colonia LeBaron, the polygamist Mormon colony where she grew up, and moved to California. She raised her three youngest sisters in California and Oregon. After earning her GED, she put herself through college and graduate school, eventually becoming a high school Spanish teacher. She remains close to her siblings and is happily married. "The Sound of Gravel" is her first book. Shook Twins is a Portland-based folk group featuring twins Katelyn and Laurie Shook. Mixing traditional folk instruments like mandolin and banjo with looping machines and beatboxing, Shook Twins pays homage to folk's roots, while creating an entirely new sound. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott Nadelson reads his short story "Liberté," backed by an original Storybound remix with Mount Comfort, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Scott Nadelson is the author of three story collections, most recently "Aftermath," a memoir, "The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress," and a novel, "Between You and Me." His stories and essays have appeared in Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, The Southern Review, Crazyhorse, New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and Alaska Quarterly Review, and have been cited as notable in both Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays. Winner of the Oregon Book Award, the Great Lakes Colleges New Writers Award, and the Reform Judaism Fiction Prize, he teaches at Willamette University and lives in Salem, Oregon. Mount Comfort is a Fayetteville, Arkansas based indie band. Melding relaxed beats, guitars, and synths, Mount Comfort serves up chilled slow-burners that will keep you daydreaming. Their latest release, Anymore, came out in 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joseph Fink and Meg Bashwiner read excerpts from "The First Ten Years," backed by an original Storybound remix with Fake Shark, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Joseph Fink is the Creator of the "Welcome to Night Vale" and "Alice Isn't Dead" podcasts, and the New York Times bestselling author of "Welcome to Night Vale, It Devours!" and "The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home" (all written with Jeffrey Cranor), as well as "Alice Isn't Dead." He is also the author of the middle-grade novel, "The Halloween Moon." Meg Bashwiner is a writer, performer, emcee, and producer who plays the roles of "Deb" and "Proverb Lady" on the hit podcast, "Welcome to Night Vale." She is the emcee of the touring show, "Welcome to Night Vale Live," as well as a member of the New York Neo-Futurists, and has toured productions of their shows, "The Infinite Wrench" and "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She is currently the tour manager for the "Welcome to Night Vale" and "Criminal" podcasts, and she co-hosts and produces the podcast "Good Morning Night Vale." Fake Shark is the only indie rock band with a hype man. Their music has been featured in "Tiny Pretty Things," "The Order," "MTV Catfish," "Degrassi," and the major motion picture "Rabid." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tamara Winfrey-Harris reads an excerpt from "Dear Black Girl: Letters From Your Sisters on Stepping Into Your Power," backed by an original Storybound remix with Au Revoir Simone, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Tamara Winfrey-Harris is a writer who specializes in the ever-evolving space where current events, politics, and pop culture intersect with race and gender. She has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times, and has appeared on NPR's "Weekend Edition" and Janet Mock's "So Popular" on MSNBC.com. Tamara's first book, "The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America," was published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers in 2015 and called "a myth-busting portrait of Black women in America" by The Washington Post. The book won the Phillis Wheatley Award, IndieFab Award, Independent Publishers Living Now Award, and the IPPY Award. Her sophomore effort, "Dear Black Girl: Letters From Your Sisters On Stepping Into Your Power," was released in March 2021. Au Revoir Simone is a Brooklyn-based, Casio-centric indie pop outfit that puts the keyboard front and center. They have released four albums, and have been featured in Grey's Anatomy, Vampire Academy, and David Lynch's Twin Peaks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Omar El Akkad reads excerpts from "American War" and "What Strange Paradise," backed by an original Storybound remix, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Omar El Akkad is an author and journalist. He was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, moved to Canada as a teenager and now lives in the United States. The start of his journalism career coincided with the start of the war on terror, and over the following decade he reported from Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and many other locations around the world. His work earned a National Newspaper Award for Investigative Journalism and the Goff Penny Award for young journalists. His debut novel, American War, is an international bestseller and has been translated into thirteen languages. It won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Award, the Oregon Book Award for fiction, and the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. It was listed as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, Washington Post, GQ, NPR, Esquire and was selected by the BBC as one of 100 novels that changed our world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nichole Perkins reads an excerpt from "Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be," backed by an original Storybound remix with Dustin O'Halloran, and sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Nichole Perkins is a writer from Nashville, Tennessee, currently based in Brooklyn. Nichole is a 2017 Audre Lorde Fellow at the inaugural Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat and a 2017 BuzzFeed Emerging Writers Fellow. She is also a 2016 Callaloo Creative Writing Fellow for poetry. She has participated in the Napa Valley Writers' Conference. Her memoir "Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be" will be coming soon from Grand Central Publishing. It will cover black womanhood and sexuality, online messageboard communities, and the effects of pop culture on female desire. She currently hosts "This Is Good For You," a podcast about finding pleasure in life. Dustin O'Halloran is a pianist and composer, as well as a member of the band A Winged Victory for the Sullen with Adam Wiltzie. O'Halloran has scored films for Sofia Coppola and Drake Doremus. He won an Emmy in 2015 for his work on Amazon's "Transparent" and was nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Critics Choice Award for his score to "Lion," written in collaboration with Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices