Shawn Shiflett and Jim Fusilli

In the first half, Shawn Shiflett, author of Hey, Liberal! talks to co-host Nicole Nelson about the challenges of humanizing evil characters, writing realistic dialogue, and how being a natural mimic helps him create authentic-sounding voices.

In the second half, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett talks to Jim Fusilli, editor of, and contributor to Crime Plus Music about how being a music critic influenced him as a fiction writer, how he finds short stories more challenging to craft than novels, and why noir seems to work better in short fiction and movies as opposed to longer formats.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: November 9, 2016)

Dana Johnson and Anna Solomon with co-host Nicole Nelson

Dana Johnson, author of the short story collection In the Not Quite Dark talks with co-host Nicole Nelson about how her journalism background informs her documentarian approach to writing about place, the value of reversal in constructing tension, and her affection for the short story form.

In the second half, novelist Anna Solomon, author of Leaving Lucy Pear, talks about her process of having a good idea of the story but not overthinking it in the first draft, the various kinds of research that went into writing a story that takes place in the Prohibition Era, the art of motivating coincidence in a story when a lot is at stake, and how a Post-it note that says, "You will fail," is her key to writing freely.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: August 31, 2016)

Rebecca Schiff and Molly Prentiss with Nicole Nelson

Rebecca Schiff, author of The Bed Moved, talks to co-host Nicole Nelson about finding her voice, revision being the place where much of her characteristic sparseness and humor get sharpened, and her advice to write from a place of being excited rather than to be attached to what you have written.

In the second half, Molly Prentiss, author of Tuesday Nights in 1980, talks about the feelings of doubt that artists face, the conflicts in her story and how they evolved over time, and the value of coincidence in drama.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: June 22, 2016)

Arna Bontemps Hemenway and Patricia Engel with Nicole Nelson

Arna Bontemps Hemenway, author of the short story collection Elegy on Kinderklavier, joins co-host Nicole Nelson to discuss writing about loss, inhabiting his characters emotionally, overcoming a challenging period in his own writing life post-MFA, and how the most important thing you can make a story isn't clever or topical, or anything else besides making it meaningful to you.

In the second half, Patricia Engel, author of The Veins of the Ocean, talks about the origins of this novel as a short story, her strategy for handling plot, doing research as needed, using dialogue sparingly, letting her life by the ocean influence the story, and more.

Download audio.
[Note: Audio begins immediately with the interview with Arna, without a show introduction, due to technical difficulties.]

(Broadcast date: May 18, 2016)

Molly Antopol and Cindy Chupack

Nicole Nelson speaks with Molly Antopol, named one of 5 under 35 by the National Book Foundation, about her new collection of stories The Unamericans, and about using autobiography as an inspiration for fiction. During the second half, Golden Globe award-winning television writer Cindy Chupack, who wrote for HBO's Sex and the City for five years, discusses the art of essay writing and her new comic memoir, The Longest Date: Life as a Wife.

Download audio for Antopol

Download audio for Chupack

(Broadcast date: February 12, 2014)

Claire Vaye Watkins on Short Stories

Claire Vaye Watkins, author of the short story collection "Battleborn," talks with Marrie Stone about family history and how it shapes our stories, her father's time in the Manson family, the importance of physical and emotional distance from your work, how you know where a story should end, and other heavy topics.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: September 26, 2012)

Amy Bloom and Hilary Davidson

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and Marrie Stone interview Amy Bloom, author of Where the God of Love Hangs Out and Hilary Davidson, author of The Damage Done.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: October 6, 2010)

Valerie Trueblood and Caroline Fraser

Marrie Stone interviews Valerie Trueblood, author of Marry or Burn: Stories and Caroline Fraser, author of Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: December 22, 2010)

Amy Bloom and Hilary Davidson

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and Marrie Stone interview Amy Bloom, author of Where the God of Love Hangs Out: Stories and Hilary Davidson, author of The Damage Done.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: October 2010)

Daniyal Mueenuddin and Shawna Ryan

Marrie Stone interviews Daniyal Mueenuddin, author In Other Rooms Other Wonders and Shawna Ryan, author of Water Ghosts.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: August 4, 2010)

Short Story Authors T.C. Boyle and Lydia Millet

Marrie Stone interviews T.C. Boyle, author of Wild Child and Other Stories and Lydia Millet, author of Love in Infant Monkeys: Stories.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: January 20, 2010)

Samantha Peale and Victoria Patterson

Marrie Stone interviews Samantha Peale, author of The American Painter Emma Dial and Victoria Patterson, author of Drift: Stories.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: September 2, 2009)