Back in the winter, I trekked up to Ithaca in six feet of snow (give or take), and stopped in to visit author J. Robert Lennon, whose novel Castle was released as part of Iambik’s first Literary Fiction collection. I wanted to know the basic reaction to hearing one’s work interpreted by someone else. We ended up covering the need to respect the process, uncovering and resuscitating one’s lost pile of crap, being reviewed alongside hand creams, and other topics of great literary importance.

The sound quality is that of your average punkrock bootleg, between my dying computer’s background death rattle and the occasional but determined plodding up and down Cornell’s hallways.  Hopefully you’ll get the idea, though, and while I can promise you it’s a fine listen despite these things, I can also promise you won’t have as good of a time as I did.  The guy knows how to yap with a booknerd.  Thanks so very much, John!

These things were also discussed and are here for your link-clicking delight:

• The Accursed Items on This American Life
• Ward Six, John’s blog with his wife author Rhian Ellis, which is now-defunct… or defunct-for-now, hopefully, and whose archives you should ply.
• Electric Literature issue 5, which is an Iambik double whammy with stories by J. Robert Lennon and Lynne Tillman.

Which of our authors would you love to see us chat with?  Email me and let me know.

J. Robert Lennon’s Castle, published in print by Graywolf Press, is available from Iambik as an audiobook for only $4.99. You can listen to the first chapter directly on our site. It’s also available as part of our Complete Literary Fiction Collection 1 of 11 titles for $49.99.