An Interview with Sharma Shields

This week, Chérie Newman talks with Spokane author Sharma Shields about the stories in her collection, Favorite Monster, winner of an Autumn House Fiction Prize. Shields also reads two short passages from the book.

"By all rights, these comic tales, with their cyclopses and serial killers, werewolves and writers, medusas and managers, ought to collapse into lighthearted whimsy. Instead they unfold into objects of extraordinary beauty and darkness, rendered in prose that can turn on a dime from the deadpan to the profound. Sharma Shields is a cutup, a sneak, and a badass -- she will crack you up with these charming beasts, and then, in a stage whisper, reveal who the real monster is. (Hint: it's you.)" -- J. Robert Lennon

Sharma Shields’ collection of stories Favorite Monster was chosen by Stewart O’Nan as the winner of the 2012 Autumn House Fiction Prize. Sharma’s short fiction has appeared in The Kenyon Review, The Iowa Review, Fugue, and The Sonora Review. Her numerous awards include the Tim McGinnis Award for Humor, a grant from Artist Trust and the A.B. Guthrie Award for Outstanding Prose. She holds an MFA from the University of Montana and now lives in Spokane with her husband and young son. As an Information Specialist for the Spokane County Library District, Sharma founded T.W.I.N.E. — Teen Writers of the Inland Empire — a writing club for area youth.

This program will be broadcast over the following stations:

• Thursday, May 30, at 8 p.m. on Montana Public Radio
• Thursday, May 30 at 6:30 p.m. on Yellowstone Public Radio
• Sunday, June 2 at 3 p.m. on KSJD 
• Sunday, June 2 at 6 p.m. on Spokane Public Radio
• Via the MTPR podcast 

Or, listen online.  

An Interview with Sherril Jaffe

A homeless woman takes up residence in a man's closet; a detective solves cases by feeling the emotions of the perpetrators; a woman happens upon a swingers' club in the back of a tire shop; a couple struggling with their pets' protracted endgame puts out a hit on them; and a man's mother, newly dead and buried, calls him to ask if she can visit.

The fifteen tales in You Are Not Alone & Other Stories are set in San Francisco. Each uses its own dream logic to illuminate the great human themes of death, love, jealousy, anger, desire, and the nature of the soul.

"These are stories where anything can happen, where we root for characters entangled by both everyday life and fantastical predicaments. Humor and loss weave tightly together through these pages, and Sherril Jaffe's formidable imagination and playful prose shine unexpected light on deep emotional truths." — Caitlin Horrocks

You Are Not Alone & Other Stories is winner of a Spokane Prize for Short Fiction.

Find out more about Sherril Jaffe, and listen to the program, on the radio or online.

• Thursday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. on Montana Public Radio
• Thursday, May 2 at 6:30 p.m. on Yellowstone Public Radio
• Sunday, May 5 at 3 p.m. on KSJD 
• Sunday, May 5 at 6 p.m. on Spokane Public Radio
• Via the MTPR podcast

Marcel Jolley, author of PRIORS

Much like the characters contained within, the four stories and one novella that comprise Priors do their best to explore how we balance the life we want to live with the one that we already have.

Set in the northwest, Marcel Jolley's stories touch on fishing, fathers and sons, death and loss, personal history, hero worship, Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, long-time friendships and relationships, and expectations. Each story is told by a man, a first-person narrator, ranging in age from 18 to mid-life.

Former radio commentator Paul Harvey appears as a "turkey-necked dinosaur" in the title story, which Marcel Jolley reads in its entirety during this program.

"The stories in Marcel Jolley's Priors give shape to the shapeless—namely, the surprises time holds in store for us all, good and bad, but in any case blessed to have been part of the game. In prose both colloquial and charged with the power of parable, Jolley sings of here and there, now and then. In other words, he tells—and returns to us—our stories, ourselves."

—Tracy Daugherty, author of One Day the Wind Changed

During this week's program, Chérie Newman talks with Marcel Jolley about the first-person narrators in Priors and regional writing. Jolley will also read the title story from the collection.

 Find out more about Marcel Jolley and his books, and listen to the program on the radio or online.

• Thursday, December 27, at 7:30 p.m. on Montana Public Radio
• Thursday, December 27, at 6:30 p.m. on Yellowstone Public Radio
• Online, anytime at MTPR.org
• Via the MTPR podcast