The Downtown Writers Jam

Author B.B. Russell stopped by the Bunker to talk about her young adult novel Kindreds. She and Brad have more than just writing in common. B.B. has a PhD in Education, so she and Brad commiserated on the complexities of YA novels (and, let’s face it, YAs!) and the difficulty switching between academic and trade writing.

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Author Amanda Headlee has been thinking about fear and folklore more of her life, which was all Brad needed to hear to have her on the show. She stopped by the Bunker to talk about her love of all things dark fiction and her book Till We Become Monsters. And, this being the Jam, she and Brad talked about bookshelves and adventure racing!

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Award winning author Sergio Troncoso stopped by the Bunker to talk about his eighth book, an edited collection titled Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in Between Worlds. Along with his writing, he's the President of Texas Institute of Letters, board member of the Author's Guild Council, and judge for the PEN/Faulkner Awards. So, obviously, he and Brad spent a ton of time talking about growing up in small towns, and Sergio's propensity to write truths other people didn't necessarily want to hear!

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Author Hannah Tovey popped by the Bunker to talk about her forthcoming novel, Is This Is?, which hits shelves in July and a follow up to her first book The Education of Ivy Edwards. Naturally, she and Brad spent a good deal of time talking about her home country of Wales, a place Brad feels a kinship with!

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Author Greg Larson dropped by the Bunker to talk about one of Brad’s favorite subjects: baseball. Larson spent two years as the a clubhouse attendant for Cal Ripken Jr.’s Aberdeen IronBirds, the short-season single-A affiliate for the Baltimore Orioles. His book Clubbie: A Minor League Baseball Memoir recounts that time.

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Award-winning author and researcher Ross Benes stopped by the Bunker to talk with Brad about one of his favorite topics: the transformation of the Republican party and rural America. Benes' new book Rural Rebellion: How Nebraska Became a Republican Stronghold is both a personal account of the change in his home town and a deep-dive into the political figures who have moved Nebraska far to the political Right.

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Sometimes—ever so rarely—Twitter isn't a dumpster fire. And, a few weeks ago the hellsite brought author and journalist Don Merrill to the Bunker. He's the author of Pledge, a book about nonprofit radio, but he's also one of the most interesting people to join Brad on the Jam. He served in the military, where he discovered his passion for journalism. He's also worked in public affairs, all while keeping one foot in the world of journalism. And after retiring to Portland, he joined a community radio station and helped build out its news operation.

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British author Lucie Elven stopped by the Bunker to talk about her first book, The Weak Spot. She and Brad also talked about the weirdness of book readings, being multilingual (well, one of them!), and...well...there's a lot about language. 

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Buckle up GenX'ers. Author Andy Abramowitz and Brad sat down in the bunker to discuss Baltimore, baseball, David Simon, Phil Collins, music, and weird stuff about writers. In between, we also chatted about Andy's third book, Darling at the Campsite.

Oh, and AA baseball and Michael Jordan as a three-story banner.

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Brad enjoyed having horror-comedy author Lucy Leitner on the first episode of the video podcast so much, he invited her to Jam to talk about her latest book, Outrage: Level 10. But they weren't just talking zombies and comedy! They covered growing up in small towns, playing sports, abandoning journalism, and the joys of striking out on your own as a writer. Plus, zombies.

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