Brad King

Review: Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place #appalachia #amreading #read #book #author

Crapalachia: A Biography of Place by Scott McClanahan My rating: 3 of 5 stars I’m still trying to wrap my head around Crapalachia. It’s not quite memoir, it’s certainly not a biography of a place, and as we find out at the end of the book it’s not entirely real. The book came recommended as an interesting, and non-traditional, book about Appalachia. if I’m honest: I’m always skeptical of these…

Review: The Arts of Legerdemain as Taught by Ghosts #amreading #read #book @jnaremore #author

The Arts of Legerdemain as Taught by Ghosts by Jim Naremore My rating: 5 of 5 stars I met Jim Naremore in 2016 at the writing events my collective hosts in Indianapolis. He was always very earnest, sitting away from most folks and editing. He was working to finish polishing his first novel, he told us. And so we let him be. And finish that bad boy he did. The Arts of Legerdemain as Taught by…

Review: Watch Me Disappear #amreading #reading #book #author @janelleb #bestseller

Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown My rating: 5 of 5 stars Watch Me Disappear is the best kind of mystery. Author Janelle Brown allows her story to unfold slowly, taking the time to let the characters breathe, and giving the reader the opportunity to invest in the world where the story takes place. What she so deftly does is create complicated characters who can’t easily be pigeon-holed into…

Review: Harriet Said: A Novel #fiction #writer #amreading #read #book #review

Harriet Said: A Novel by Beryl Bainbridge My rating: 5 of 5 stars I came across Beryl Bainbridge’s work after reading about her in the New York Times a few months ago. I was intrigued by the woman, her life, and her writing. And so I picked up Harriet Said: A Novel, which was Bainbridge’s first novel. The book was one of the best I’ve ever read. I’m generally not inclined to go all praise the…

This week on the Jam: Episode 30: Too Black #spokenword #poetry #writer #podcast #Indianapolis #author

Continuing our trip through the vast and interesting Indianapolis writing scene, Indianapolis spoken word artist Too Black stopped by the Jam to talk about how he developed his journey from student journalist to a spoken word performer, how he developed his writing voice, and how he’s gotten comfortable challenging all the assumptions people hold. The Downtown Writers Jam Podcast

Episode 26: Matt Mullins #podcast #amwriting #amediting #poetry #writer #indianapolis

Back from a winter hiatus, the Podcast picks up with more post-election musings between Brad and his guest Matt Mullins, a writer and professor at Ball State. In this episode, the two middle-aged white guys discuss how the election of Donald Trump changed the way they approached writing and storytelling, a theme you’ll see resonating through the next several months. As for Matt, he writes…

Circle City New Play Fest

The Basics 3 days. 4 new plays. Staged readings. Playwrights from across the country. Indy actors. Indy audiences. Playwrights are coming to Indy from across the country to develop their work. The audience is essential to the process at the first annual Circle City New Play Fest. A half hour before each staged reading, doors open for happy hour with the playwrights. After each reading, audiences…

Scripted: Only You… and You… and You by Lou Harry

On Sunday, March 12th, for our fifth edition of Scripted, we will perform Only You… and You… and You by Lou Harry. Lou is an advocate for the arts in Indianapolis. He is a ridiculously accomplished writer – over 25 books, hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles… a Creative Renewal grant from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, plays produced at IndyFringe, TOTS, Phoenix Theatre. And he is a…

Review: Hidden Figures #amreading #book #history #nonfiction #read

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly My rating: 5 of 5 stars Margot Lee Shetterly‘s book Hidden Figures really knocked my socks off. But it wasn’t the writing that got me. No, I was amazed that I’d never heard this story before now since I’ve spent my life in, and around, science and…

Review: The Underground Railroad #amreading #read #book #author #review

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead My rating: 5 of 5 stars Colson Whitehead‘s book is a heart-wrenching, brutal story that follows Cora’s escape from a murderous plantation in Georgia that’s set in an alternative universe where The Underground Railroad is an actual subway run by former slaves and white sympathizers, each of whom are hunted by regulators. I went into the book knowing…

Review: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer #amreading #read #book #author #bookreview #nonfiction

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee My rating: 4 of 5 stars Reading about science is my jam, no doubt. I’m a sucker for books about cognitive science, the history of the universe, and how science evolved. And so I eagerly attacked The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, a biographical history of cancer and the men and women whose pioneering work…

Review: Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks #amreading #reading #book #author

Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston My rating: 5 of 5 stars Generally speaking, I’m nonplussed by books about writing (save for On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within). That said, I do love good style and grammar books, which is ironic as any of my editors or copy editors would…