James Brush, author of A Place without a Postcard

Our next guest is Austinite James Brush, the author of the novel A Place Without a Postcard. James is hard at work on his second novel and he tells me that it captures a lot of what makes Austin special.

If you're a supporter of the local arts scene, I'd encourage you to buy James' first novel, just so we can then ensure that his second novel will be added to our pantheon of local literature.  (Novel writing can be a lonely thing, so send James some Paypal encouragement!)

According to his website, James' first novel, A Place without a Postcard, is:

"...an unusual story about a man who gets lost. That's about as simple as it can be put. It's about more than that, though. It's about friendship, redemption, belief, and self-discovery. It is part science fiction and part murder mystery and part myth. It takes place in west Texas. Not so much the western part of Texas, but the mythical West Texas where one might run into a coyote named Mercury or a man who dreams of invisibility."

Here's the first paragraph of the book:

"On a dry and empty expanse of desert highway, two cars sat close to one another beneath a weather-beaten billboard. One of the large vertical panels had fallen in a freak windstorm that howled out of Mexico several years earlier, and no one ever cared enough, or found the billboard profitable enough, to replace the panel, just another forgotten scheme in the dilapidated west. Though a phone number stretched across the remaining panels and whispered in faded red letters, '55-3872',  a passing motorist in search of lonely ad space would have to stop his car, get out and walk under the sign in order to read the '5' that the wind had blown down."

If you'd like to read more, James has posted several sample chapters here.  Or directly purchase your own copy of the book from his publisher, iUniverse.

And please come back later to hear our podcast interview with James.