Douglas Lain is the author of dozens of short stories and two novels. His work appeared in nationally distributed literary magazines and journals such as Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet and Amazing Stories since 1999. His first book Last Week’s Apocalypse was a collection of these stories published by Night Shade Books. His first novel, entitled Billy Moon: 1968, tells the story of Christopher Robin Milne’s fictional involvement with the French general strike in May of 1968, and is due out from Tor Books in 2011.

He has hosted the excellent weekly Diet Soap Podcast for more than a year, and is embarking on a new community and writing endeavor he’s calling the Pick Your Battle Project. If you’d like to help support the PYBP, please visit his page on Kickstarter. Find his homepage at: DouglasLain.com.

Douglas and I talked about podcasting, homeschooling, his Pick Your Battle Project, his new short story, Noam Chomsky and the Time Box, and more.

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Juliet Ulman took her first job as an editorial assistant at Bantam Dell in 1998. She edited numerous books including: The Etched City by K.J. Bishop, Light by M. John Harrison, and City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer. In 2009, as a senior editor, she left to pursue other opportunities.

She is now a freelance editor and worked on my upcoming novel, Yarn. Just as I was working my way through her editorial notes, we spoke. Although I had met her before, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but we ended up talking for two hours that afternoon. This podcast is part of that conversation.

Juliet’s company is Paper Tyger.

Her twitter is @papertyger. (Is that a sentence?)

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This week I took my microphone and headed to the Brooklyn apartment of chef and food-blogger James Kenji Lopez-Alt. He is a contributing editor to Cook’s Illustrated and on-screen test cook for America’s Test Kitchen. For SeriousEats.com he has produced a number of Food Lab and Burger Lab pieces that feature his scientific approach to cooking.

James decided to test the old adage: only flip a burger once. Is it true or a myth? Join us as good cooking meets the spread sheet!

We talked about his years cooking in Boston, his name, food and science, grilled pizza, and of course, burgers.

James has a catering and food consulting company, called KACuisine, he has a food blog GoodEater.org. His Food Lab and Burger Lab Posts can be found on SeriousEats.com and their sister site, A Hamburger Today. Read Kenji’s article:
How Often Should You Flip a Burger?

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I met Trevor Corson’s Literary Agent a few years ago. She had the first iPhone I ever saw. And what did she have on it to listen to? The podcast of my novel! When I ran into her last last year, we talked and I asked if she had any clients who would be good for my podcast. She said: Trevor Corson would be great. She was right.

Trevor is the bestselling author of The Secret Life of Lobsters and The Story of Sushi.

Trevor and I talked about lobsters and their odd sex lives, wrong lobster wisdom from Phoebe of “Friends”, Mono Sodium Glutamate, Sushi, and stand-up comedy.

You can find Trevor’s website at trevorcorson.com and follow him on twitter at twitter.com/trevorcorson

Please note: I had a technical difficulty with the first upload of the show. Sorry. You can delete it in iTunes and then right click and select “Show All Available Shows” and try again. Did I mention I’m sorry?

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This is a special edition of If You’re Just Joining Us. I had the pleasure of attending a reading and discussion at a Borders in New York a few weeks ago and recorded the event. This is the discussion part of the program, which was hosted by Ron Hogan. The three members of the discussion panel were: Jeff Vandermeer, Jeffrey Ford, and Geoff Manaugh.

Jeff Vandermeer, who was recently on IFYJJU, had graciously invited me. His website is http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/.

Jeffrey Ford’s is http://users.rcn.com/delicate/ Geoff Manaugh’s is BLDG BLOG

The host was Ron Hogan and his site is Beatrice.

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Richard Wax is a land surveyor who has been helping to design golf courses for decades. We talk about a relatively obscure, yet fascinating golf swing invented in the 70′s by a man named Mindy Blake. Richard met Mindy, became one of his protégés, learned the swing, and has been golfing to great success since.

A forum about Mindy’s Swing can be found at Network54.com. (Richard mention’s a website maintained by Jim in the podcast.) Follow this link to a page of golf videos, including Richard Wax swinging.

An Amazon link to Mindy Blake’s Golf Swing Book ( Golf:The Technique Barrier) where a used copy can be found.

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Cherie Priest is a novelist based in Seattle, Washington. Her novels include: Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Not Flesh Nor Feathers, Fathom, and her newest, Boneshaker. (All Amazon links.) Boneshaker is something of a departure from her Southern Gothic and horror roots. The setting is post Civil War Seattle and combines pulp and steampunk elements.
Cherie and I talked about that novel, the Seattle Underground, the ritual of dressing up, and her writing methods and schedule.

Visit Cherie’s site at CheriePriest.com and follow her on twitter at twitter.com/cmpriest.

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David Antony Durham is the author of Gabriel’s Story: A Novel, Walk Through Darkness, Pride of Carthage, Acacia: The War with the Mein (Acacia, Book 1), and his latest, The Other Lands (Acacia, Book 2). (All Amazon links.) David won the Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer in 2009. We talk about that experience, writing, telling anecdotes, and his new book, Acacia, The Other Lands. If You’re Just Joining Us fans will remember that David has been on before and is the first repeat guest on the podcast. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy! If you’d like to visit David’s website, it’s http://www.davidanthonydurham.com/

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Ginger Clark has been in publishing for eleven years. She has been a literary agent with Curtis Brown since 2005, and has been my agent since 2004.

We talked about how to get an agent, how not to approach an agent, several agent myths, the future of publishing, and a little about how we met.

If you’re an aspiring writer, this podcast is for you. Follow Ginger Clark on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/Ginger_Clark

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Jeff VanderMeer is an award-winning writer, editor, and publisher. His books include: City of Saints and Madmen, Veniss Underground, and Shriek: An Afterword. In this podcast, we talk about his upcoming novel, the fantasy noir, Finch. (All links to Amazon)

Jeff reviews and essays have appeared in The Washington Post Book World, Publishers Weekly, and many others. He is also a regular columnist for the Amazon book-culture blog and has a great blog under his own name: jeffvandermeer.com.

Jeff and I talked about his childhood in Fiji, hiking and animals in Florida, writing, book covers, his new novel Finch, and so much more!

The show’s intro was recorded by blogger and fan, Charles Tan.

Lastly, a word of warning: I believe there is one swear word that may not be appropriate for all listeners.

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