Today’s guest is cartoonist, designer, teacher, and Pinball Wizard Ryan Claytor. I’m one of his stops on the digital (and AFK) book tour for his brand-new book, One Bite At a Time: The First 20 years of Elephant Eater Comics. You can purchase the book at OneBiteAtaTimeBook.com along with more of his work

Ryan stopped by to talk about his path from Marvel Comics intern to auto-bio cartoonist to totally unhinged (in a fun way) pinball devotee. We talk about his shiny basketball shorts, but also, in good ol’ Ledger style, existential crises as well, along with whether it's truly possible to bring what's in your head out into the world as a physical object. Ryan says this book is the closest he's ever gotten, so make sure you go to ElephantEater.com and check out all of his work, and again, if you go to OneBiteAtaTimeBook.com you can find yourself right there to buy this very gorgeous volume.

-- -- -- -- --

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

My website also has links to my newest story, Dynasty of Blood, a serialized story set in a fictional 1980s, but one that deals with the historically factual Satanic Panic and its connection to tabletop roleplaying games. Print copies of volumes 1-3 are now available both print-on-demand and print-at-home!

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Thank you so much!

Rana Tahir writes poetry, non-fiction, and fiction, and is the author of Heroes and Monsters, the Stranger Things Choose Your Own Adventure novel as well as SPIES: Noor Inayat Khan, a CYOA tale of the eponymous WWII spy.

During the interview I reference a chat she had on the Books With a Past show, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/live/-0IiY5wkreo?si=JoUvs-FSfzNaqHkl

Rana and I discuss how you never know who is seeing your writing and where it will lead you; the program Scrivener; Harry Styles fan-fic; whether Robin from Stranger Things is tall (she’s not); writing in second person; and a special performance of an early poem by Rana Tahir that you won’t want to miss.

Thank you so much to Rana for stopping by and to you for listening!

-- -- -- -- --

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

My website also has links to my newest story, Dynasty of Blood, a serialized story set in a fictional 1980s, but one that deals with the historically factual Satanic Panic and its connection to tabletop roleplaying games. Print copies of Volume 1 are now available!

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Thank you so much!

Glenn Stout is a writer, editor, consultant, teacher, and more. Perhaps most best known as the series editor of The Best American Sports Writing series, which ran from 1991 to 2020, Glenn has been involved with narrative non-fiction in some form since the late '80s and early '90s. His book The Young Woman and the Sea was recently adapted for Disney, starring Daisy Ridley. It is the tale of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to ever swim the English Channel.

On today's show we discuss what style is within the genre of narrative non-fiction, as well as how Glenn may go about teaching style; whether sports is the actual focus of sportswriting at all; knitting; and what it's like to start a project and see where it all ends up.

Thank you to Glenn for stopping by! Please visit glennstout.com for more info about his work!

-- -- -- -- --

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, all of them - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Head over to DriveThruFiction or Itch.io to read my newest story, Dynasty of Blood, a serialized story set in a fictional 1980s, but one that deals with the historically factual Satanic Panic and its connection to tabletop roleplaying games. Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Thank you so much!

Eugenio Volpe is the author of I, Caravaggio, out now from Clash Books. Go to Clash Books.com or EugenioVolpe.com to grab a copy and find out more about what Eugenio is up to. We cover the warring halves of an artist, Caravaggio's prescient nature as a thinker/creative, Catholicism, and yes also we talk about civets. This one is NSFW in places so heads up!

Thank you so much to Eugenio for stopping by and thank you to Clash Books for putting out wild stuff that is different and absolutely worth your time as a reader.

-- -- -- -- --

Please rate and review the show wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, all of them - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Head over to DriveThruFiction or Itch.io to read my newest story, Dynasty of Blood. Volumes 01 & 02 are live now, with more on the way, including some NEW ORIGINAL art. Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Thank you so much!

Beyond the Bounds of Infinity is a fiction anthology featuring 20 stories from marginalized voices, all inspired by the works and worlds of H.P. Lovecraft. Stephanie Pearre and Vaughn A. Jackson are the anthology's editors and both joined Ledger to chat about the successful Kickstarter launch in 2023 as well as the book's publication on July 10, 2024.

We cover the horrible nature of Lovecraft the person and the ways in which it must be confronted; utilizing Kickstarter for smaller publishers (and managing and/or not managing the stress); maintaining authorial voice while editing; and how to title a story!

Thank you so much to Stephanie and Vaughn for the chat and insights into editing an anthology as a whole versus a story by itself, and so much more. Make sure you swing by Raw Dog Screaming Press and buy a copy of Beyond the Bounds of Infinity - https://rawdogscreaming.com/books/beyond-the-bounds-of-infinity/ - and enjoy the weird tales!

-- -- -- -- --

Please rate and review the show wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, all of them - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction. .

Head over to DriveThruFiction or Itch.io to read my newest story, Dynasty of Blood. Volumes 01 & 02 are live now, with more on the way, including some NEW ORIGINAL art. Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Thank you so much!

Ken Lowery is a tabletop roll-playing game (TTRPG) writer most well-known for writing the fantastic game VOID 1680 AM. He stopped by Ledger to discuss his journey in starting Bannerless Games and the process of writing VOID as well as other games like Lighthouse At the End of the World and Hell Grinders.

We chat about the community aspect of VOID 1680 AM, including how he actually has his own AM radio broadcaster from which he broadcasts player creations, plus the perceptions (and some hesitations) of playing solo tabletop games. His newest game is No-Tell Motel, a more narrative-focused mystery game that is currently on Crowdfundr - https://crowdfundr.com/notellmotel?ref=ab_75SIUaHJrtV75SIUaHJrtV - so make sure you check it out.

Visit Bannerless Games on Itch to find more of what Ken has written - https://bannerlessgames.itch.io/ - and then maybe go play a game tonight!

-- -- --

Please rate and review the show wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, all of them - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

You can also check out my work on Medium, including my weird sci-fi publication Shibboleth, which features aliens, government conspiracies, and maybe even sentient fire.

Head over to my Itch.io page to read my newest story, Dynasty of Blood. Volume one is live now, with more on the way, including some ORIGINAL NEW art. Thank you so much! https://austinrwilson.itch.io/

Brian Allen Carr is a novelist originally from Texas, author of the books Sip; Opioid, Indiana, and his newest book, Bad Foundations, which is out via Clash Books as of January 23, 2024.

It is a peek into a hidden and ignored world beneath the feet of midwesterners, a world that literally supports their entire lives. The narrator is a man named Cook, someone who will essentially become a coworker to readers as they open this book.

Brian chats with Ledger about the importance of setting, how he utilizes and thinks of genre (one of Ledger's favorite topics; but in this case there are sharks leaping out of puddles), and how he is currently working as a foundation inspector like his book’s protagonist.

One of the bigger topics in this episode is success and, specifically, what happens when you win a big short story contest? Brian won the inaugural Texas Observer Short Story Contest in 2011, which was judged by Larry McMurtry.

Make sure you check out Bad Foundations out from Clash books. Thank you so much to Brian for chatting and thank you for listening!

-- -- --

Please rate and review the show wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, all of them - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by AustinRWilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction. You can also check out my work on Medium, including my weird sci-fi publication Shibboleth, which features aliens, government conspiracies, and maybe even sentient fire.

Debut novelist David Connor joins me to chat about his book Oh God, the Sun Goes which is out TODAY, August 1st, 2023 from Melville House.

Although this is his first novel he has in fact always been writing, which we talk about for sure. He has an undergrad degree in neuroscience and during that time in school he took a writing workshop with Maggie Nelson. Things changed after that.

Also, what’s becoming a touchstone for the show, he mentions the genesis of his novel came out in a few sentences on his phone.

We talk about the perspective of the story, specifically how “close” or “distant” the third person narrative hews, how he utilizes the passage of time and our perception of that phenomenon, and whether this is metafiction or not? Is it? IS IT? Well…yeah, is it?

We do tiptoe up to some topics David says he doesn’t want to dive too deeply into, for fear of giving away the magic trick, including psychedelics. His book is a strange, fantastical journey into perception and time featuring noir sensibilities...that was maybe was influenced by psychedelics?

Grab David’s book wherever books are sold, or over at my affiliate link on Bookshop.org. That’s a great way to support the show and get some fantastic new reading material. If I’ve interviewed someone and their work is available via that site, it’s on my list.

-- -- -- --

Please rate and review the show wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, all of them - and tell people you think would like it. Swing by AustinRWilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction. You can also check out my work on Medium, including my weird sci-fi publication Shibboleth, which features aliens, government conspiracies, and maybe even sentient fire.