Mark Ehling

This episode we bring you Mark Ehling’s searchlight to advertising, cola and anxiety. The essay “An Introduction to Slamz,” creates a surreally timed conversation that follows the expected patterns of advertising speak, finding the pangs available in the capsule of a “business narrative.” He takes on the form without abusing its excess of greed or tinheart stereotypes. Instead, he finds a cold portrait of the whimsy of consumption, and the fog of its navigation. It also explores why people smash cans on their heads. Please enjoy Mark Ehling.

Shane Jones

In this episode of Apostrophe Cast, Shane Jones brings us excerpts from his debut novel Light Boxes. These mystifying tableaux of Hummel-like not-so-innocents tearing at the edges of a mad ginger-bread world evoke Henry Darger, Edward Gorey, even Lewis Caroll. But in these excerpts where it is always February, in which hordes of maniacal priests curse flight, and children hope to repair the sky, an originality as unique as the winter light of childhood suffuses an unforgettable space Shane Jones has fashioned out of pure imagination. Please enjoy Shane Jones.

Shanthi Sekaran

This episode we bring you Shanthi Sekaran reading from her debut novel, The Prayer Room. Spanning decades, continents, cultures, sexes, generations, classes, and races, The Prayer Room pairs an unlikely English student with a young woman from a traditional Indian family and plops them in Northern California. How they got there and what ensues is storytelling at its best. Please enjoy Shanthi Sekaran.