JOHN BRANDON is one of the nation's most distinguished new fiction writers. He is the author of the novel Arkansas and the forthcoming novel The Semester, both from Sweeney's. His shorter work has been published in Mississippi Review, The Believer, Subtropics, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, and other publications. He received an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently the Grisham Writer-in-Residence at University of Mississippi.