Season 2, Episode 9: No Place Like Home

In this episode, co-hosts Sara Dixon and Daniel Pewewardy close out Season 2 of the podcast by exploring category 12: A Book by An Author Visiting Wichita in 2022. Joining them is author Silas House, who visited Wichita in late October to promote his most recent novel, Lark Ascending. Silas talks about what inspires him to write about climate catastrophes, how music and poetry influence his writing, his favorite authors and more.

Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcription. Some errors may occur. If you find a transcription error, please contact us with any corrections and we will make those corrections as quickly as possible.

[MUSIC]

SARA DIXON, VOICEOVER: Hello friends. Thanks for joining us for this episode of Read. Return. Repeat. : A ReadICT Podcast. This episode is titled "No Place Like Home." I'm Sara Dixon.

DANIEL PEWEWARDY, VOICEOVER: And I'm Daniel Pewewardy. Today's episode, which is the final episode of our second season, we are talking about category 12, an author visiting Wichita in 2022. With us today is Silas House, an author who was here in Wichita back in October.

SARA, VOICEOVER: Silas is a nationally best-selling author, music journalist, columnist, and environmental activist. He was born and raised and currently lives in rural Kentucky and is known for writing fiction that focuses on the natural world, working class characters, and the plight of rural communities and rural people.

DANIEL, VOICEOVER: His last novel, Lark Ascending, published in September, was an immediate indie bestseller and a finalist for the Southern Book Award. We are very excited to have him here with us to wrap up season two of the podcast.

SARA: Welcome, Silas. Thank you so much for joining us today.

DANIEL: It's so awesome to meet you.

SILAS HOUSE: Thank you.

SARA: Daniel and I both really liked your book, Lark Ascending.

SILAS: That's good to hear.

DANIEL: It's great. Yeah, I'm a big dog person. So yeah, it's like one of my favorite dog reads in a while.

SARA: Yes. We were a little bit concerned about how that was gonna end up. We won't give away any spoilers to our listeners, but it is a good dog book.

DANIEL: It's a good dog book. Yeah.

SILAS: Yeah, I have been telling readers just because some people are afraid to read it because the dog -- the dog does not get killed, okay? But it does take place over a long period of time and we all know dogs don't live long enough, but the dog is not killed.

SARA: We actually did our own spoiler alert, I have to say because we, Daniel and I both are big dog people and may not have been able to finish it if I didn't know that.

DANIEL: Yeah, needed to get that out of the way.

SARA: But before we go too far, Silas, can you tell your listeners a little bit about your newest book in case they haven't read it yet? Because it just came out, what, in October, right?

SILAS: Late September.

SARA: Okay. Yeah. Can you give them a brief overview?

SILAS: Well, it takes place about 20 years in the future and a climate catastrophe has happened in the United States, and sort of this fundamentalist insurrectionist group has used the climate catastrophe to take control of the government. So the book centers on Lark and his family, who are sort of representative of most Americans that are on the run from these forest fires, and from this sort of new regime that wants everybody to live only one way, according to their rules. And so they eventually found themselves on a crowded refugee boat headed for Ireland. And once there, Lark walks across Ireland with a dog, and they're seeking a place of sanctuary. So to me, the book is very much about community, created family, and blood family. It's a, the book is a lot about grief, not only grieving the loss of people who you love, but grieving the loss of your country.

When I was writing the book, I was sort of drawing on what was happening in my own life. I lost my aunt who was a third parent to me, very close to me. And so I was just in deep grief. At the same time, for many years now, I've been feeling as if I'm losing the country that I've known. All of the hatred and vitriol, there was a real demise of our democracy. Just, you know, these waves of sadness that keep hitting us as a people. And so I wanted to write about that and have, you know, a few characters who could represent that experience that a lot of us have been going through.

SARA: That definitely comes out in the book. That's, I'm glad to know where you're where you're coming from with it because I think it does kind of inform how I think I understand it a little bit better. But definitely all those themes are present.

DANIEL: The loss of country I don't think I thought too much about but yeah, like thinking back, that was a big part of it and things.

So in the blog and speaking of like loss of country in the book, the characters are American and they emigrate to Ireland escape the circumstance, circumstances back home. Why did you choose Ireland as a refuge for your characters?

SILAS: Well, it makes logistical sense in this sort of climate crisis scenario, you know, because in this, in my climate crisis scenario, the world has been overtaken by wildfires. And that's sort of rooted in a few years ago when Australia, you know, such a large portion of Australia burned. And it made me thinking about -- it made me think about how easily that could happen in other places. I read that a billion animals died in the Australia fires, and that was just so overwhelming that I wanted to write about it. And so, you know, if this were to happen -- and this is one of the climate projections that could happen -- Ireland would be one of the places that was safe from that sort of thing, you know, just because of the way the... the jet stream and the climate and things like that. And so that combined with the fact that I know Ireland really well. I don't want to write about a place unless I feel I've really been immersed in it and understand it culturally and historically and... you know, and have real experience with it. I thought it also worked well thematically because Ireland is a place that has been fighting for its autonomy for centuries. And in this scenario, you know, Americans are fighting against these opposing forces that want to take away, you know, the roots of all the freedoms that we hold so dear. So it worked. It just, you know, it works on lots of levels.

DANIEL: I like the idea of Glendalough in the story. Like not just being as, like, given its history, and like the whole idea of it being a thin place, and I thought it was better that it took place in Ireland, with that like with that being kind of like the utopian like place to go, because I felt like the American surrogate of that place would be Sedona, Arizona. And I was like, it's way more romantic for the book to take place in Ireland and they're going to this place called Glendalough.

Do you have a Glendalough and in your own life, some Utopia once you're in there, you know, everything will be all right? Is there a place like that for you?

SILAS: Well, I mean, I have a favorite place. I grew up near this lake, Dale Hollow Lake. And it's just the place where I feel most at peace and there's just a sense of timelessness there. There are thin places throughout the world and, you know, you name Sedona. That's definitely one that people, a lot of people that was the consensus that Sedona is a thin place, a thin place meaning a place where it feels like the veil is thinner between the natural world and the supernatural world. Some people might say that the world, the veil is thinner between our world and heaven, you know, or something like that.

DANIEL: Yeah.

SILAS: But there are power places, you know? I think the one that I have felt most strongly is Glendalough, which is a real place.

People throughout the world feel that way about Glendalough. And some people think it's because of there's mineral deposits under it. Some people think it's because people have been praying there consistently for 1300 years. You know, who knows why? But when you're there, you can feel it. It's a powerful place.

SARA: Well, I looked it up while I was reading it because he, it's this most this one point where if he can just get to Glendalough, you know, everything's gonna be okay. So I looked it up and then I was able to... it's beautiful. I've never been to Ireland, but like, it looks like what I would imagine a refuge would look like.

DANIEL: Yeah.

SILAS: Yeah, it's... I just did an Instagram post all about it today. So if anybody is on Instagram, you can find me on there. And I did post a few pictures of it and it's a place that I revisit a lot. You know? I think about it a lot. I think once you go to Ireland and really experience it, you think about it all the time, you know? Having traveled there a few times, you just never get over it.

SARA: Okay, I want to ask about the dog. I know we talked a little bit about it just as we were getting started, now that people have a better feel for what they can expect out of your book. After Lark arrives in Ireland, we're introduced to this wonderful Beagle named Seamus. We get to learn a little bit more about him. I found it particularly interesting that after such a dark passage on that overcrowded boat, crossing the Atlantic and all of the treachery or... treachery, but all of the danger and like people are dying, it's... it's very dark. And then we switch over to this, like, beautiful little dog who's experiencing life and he's chasing seagulls. And he gets to live out, you know, with his... with his man friend that's on the Ireland -- on the island. So it's, it was very interesting that it was so different, right? You're so dark, dark, dark, and then we switch over and it's innocent and pure. What did Seamus represent in the story?

SILAS: Well, I think you know, it's very much about design, you've hit the nail on the head is it's a dark story. There's a lot of unnecessary violence in the book. And Sheamus inserts some joy into the book and some life and some hope. And you know, when Lark is at his lowest, he's all alone. And it takes him a long time to trust the other main character that he encounters in Ireland, Helen. It's pretty much right up to the end before they can really trust each other. But he can trust Seamus right from the get go. And so Seamus, you know, represents a lot of hope for him, hope in humanity.

I always felt like Lark's main driving force is that he wants to be able to survive these extraordinary circumstances, but while also retaining his humanity. And I think Seamus reminds him of his own humanity and his own empathy. And, you know, Seamus brings up the best in him in a really... in a really trying time. And also, you know, as far as we know, dogs are not aware of their impending demise the way we are. They're not, you know, having these existential crises in the midst of apocalypse the way Lark is. And so it does give some balance to the darkness in life.

SARA: Well, mission accomplished. I thought it was great. I love dogs.

SILAS: Yeah, I love writing about dogs. You know, of course, in writing about a dog, I had to focus a lot on the sense of smell. It's a very olfactory book. And so what I decided to do was, when I'm writing from Seamus's point of view, I'm relying a lot on aromas. But I also decided to do that when I'm writing from Lark's point of view as well. So for instance, the aroma of cedar is something that Lark is thinking about throughout the book. And it's a scent that, you know, most of us can conjure that scent for ourselves, that muskiness and all that. And so there, you know, it's sort of a parallel for these two characters to have the overwhelming scent.

SARA: It's actually my favorite, favorite line in the book, I wrote it down. And it was about how if as long as there are dogs and cedar smells, like I guess it's all right, we'll just keep going. Yeah, that was... that moved me.

DANIEL: That was moving. I liked when you talk about Seamus, and he's like smelling and he's like checking where the entrails were eaten to see... that's really accurate because dogs totally do that, they will go back to the same spot. I was like really impressed with the detail on that.

SILAS: Well, yeah, I have a beagle. He's asleep right here behind me. And so you know, I've really studied him. And you know, they... beagles especially love smells of things that we consider disgusting. You know, like he... he finds a big pile of fox manure, he's gonna want to roll around it or eat it.

DANIEL: Lark Ascending does a really good job of exploring humanity during a time of crisis and also seems to reflect the worst fears of what... what can happen if political extremism and climate catastrophe were to go unchecked. What inspired you to explore such a heavy topic?

SILAS: I tend to write about what I'm worried about, or what I have a question about. There have been lots of times over the last few years that I felt pretty hopeless. And so I wanted to write a book where things are as bad as they can get, yet the main character is holding onto hope. And it was a way for me to conjure hope for myself in a really sad time, not only for myself personally losing my aunt, but also witnessing, you know, the demise of so much of our American way of life, you know, a... not only, you know, what I see as a real demise of democracy, but also a fundamental shift in our ethics, what is considered acceptable behavior. You know, whether that be like, people in the highest points of power openly making fun of a disabled person, or being openly racist, or transphobic, or homophobic, you know, openly bigoted, in a way that people at least tried to hide that for a while. You know, it never went away, of course, the bigotry, but there was a while where it wasn't so acceptable to be open about, you know, and now you're seeing it in the, you know, from, you know, the most visible politicians and celebrities, etc. And I just think that's terribly sad. And so I'm grieving for that as well. You know? I'm not sure I answered the question. Sorry.

DANIEL: That's fine.

SARA: It's fine. I honestly, I think we kind of addressed it a little bit earlier when you were talking about your inspiration for writing the book. They go hand in hand.

DANIEL: I did want to ask more about the apocalypse itself in your book, Lark Ascending, shows you an ecological collapse. The characters endure, that seems very real, like very, like real. I actually had nightmares after reading a little bit, which is fine. I mean, it's part of experiencing. You've written a lot about climate science and have been a vocal advocate against mountaintop removal mining and, you know, advocating for the existence of global warming, and other ecological harms. What were some of your influences, books, documentaries for your version of the apocalypse? Like was there anything that you looked at, like, directly on how things would happen if things keep going the way they are?

SILAS: I looked at scientific studies, and, you know, projections for different things that could happen. I've been really inspired by routers like Wendell Berry and Barbara Kingsolver. You know, Barbara Kingsolver wrote a book about climate change years and years ago called Flight Behavior. That way before it was part of the national conversation, that book was a warning. You know, and so there's just so many, also just so many people fighting for the environment. People we know, you know, really well, like Greta Thunberg, or, you know, just people in their local, small, you know, small, small town who's standing up and fighting back against environmental devastation. So I'm really inspired by all those people from the really well known to the people you never hear about.

In a way, I'm more inspired by the people you never hear about. You know, I think that most of these movements really, the real progress is made by the people behind the scenes. And so, you know, I was just looking at a lot of that and thinking about the way that just everyday working-class people are the ones who, and people in deep poverty are the ones who pay the real price in climate change. You know, and when... when these huge climate migrations happen in bigger ways, it will of course affect the poorest people the most. And so I was thinking a lot about that.

DANIEL: I like the part in your book where you talked about how it's the few -- they say, we like destroyed our world, but I don't believe that. It's a few. And then it's the rest of the like, the facts and things point to that. And so like, that's kind of like an interesting point of view you don't typically see because everyone thinks that, hey, if we all recycle or whatever -- And like, yeah, I think that's interesting that about like pollution and things.

SILAS: I think so many of us just feel so powerless, you know, in the face of so much widespread destruction that we're not participating in, and even like when we're trying to make a difference by turning off our lights or recycling or whatever, it's just such a huge entity that we're up against.

SARA: There's still giant fires in, you know, California that turning off your lights is probably not going to make a huge difference against, so yeah. It's dark. But don't worry, there's dogs.

Go ahead.

SILAS: I was just gonna say I did also, you know, I did try to inject lots of moments of beauty in the book too, to balance that out. Also to sort of go, my main theme was, as long as hope remains, you can keep going. You know, if you can just have that glimmer of hope, that's what carries us through. And that's one thing that I really learned by experiencing profound grief is you get through profound grief by thinking, if I can just make it through this moment where I feel so hopeless, if I can just make it through this, I can keep going, you know, so it's like one step at a time. It's sort of like, I quit smoking 15 years ago, such an incredibly hard thing to do. And the way I did it was, every time I would have a craving, you know, these incredible cravings that just take your control away, I would think, "If I can push through this one craving, the next one will be just a tiny little bit easier. And that'll keep accruing until finally one will be easy to get through." You know, it's a sort of thinking.

And so as much as I was thinking about grief, I was also thinking about hope and beauty. So, you know, he's in the middle of the ocean and things seem pretty hopeless. But then he sees this incredibly blue sky. And he thinks, you know, everything can be terrible at a total loss when there's still such beauty in the world to witness, you know? And also the fact that that beauty keeps going in the midst of such turmoil. You know, that the world keeps going on that, that conjures some hope for him as well.

SARA: Yeah, that passage was just pretty dark. I don't even remember the blue sky. But I do remember that he -- well, we won't give away all the plot points of the book. Suffice to say, it's worth reading, if you haven't figured that out by now. But let's talk about the poetry in the book, because I feel like that was also a big kind of thread that weaves through the whole thing. The title comes from a poem by George Meredith, which you talk a little bit about in the book, and then -- which was an inspiration by a song, for a song by Robert William -- Vaughan Williams. And then you use quotes from Yeats. And Seamus Heaney is presumably the inspiration for the dog's name. So well, and I'll just say, like, I think that the writing itself is rather poetic. And so why do you think poetry is so important in this apocalypse?

SILAS: Well, for one, one thing, you can't think about Ireland without thinking about poetry because it's such a bastion of poetry. And, you know, probably the most beloved contemporary poet is Seamus Heaney, who died pretty recently. And then one of the main poets that shaped the 20th century was Yeats. So both of them being Irish, and both of them also writing a lot about parable and apocalypse and things like that, you know, it just made sense. At the same time, anytime that I am working on a novel, one way that I sort of build the novel's world for myself is that I find poetry that feeds that novel. So for instance, my last novel was set up mostly in Key West. So I read a lot of poetry that's about Key West or was written in Key West. You know, it helps me to build the world that I'm writing with them. It also was an easy way for me to get into the book. So let's say that I'm going to sit down to write a scene set in Irish countryside, I'll read a poem by an Irish poet about the Irish countryside and it just puts me in the right mind space, you know? And so then I just like to have those little allusions to the poetry that has served me as a writer. So all those reasons.

The other thing that I use a lot of music. I use a lot of musical references to build that world as well. So the main theme for this book music was -- is the title of the book, "The Lark Ascending," which is a 14 minute, one movement piece of classical music, Transcendent, one of the most incredibly emotional pieces music ever written. But also you know, the characters are thinking about R.E.M. and U2 and John Prine and Brandi Carlile and Adele. And yeah, I was thinking a lot about this is a post-electric world, you know, so they don't have any way of playing recorded music. All of them, it's just what they play on instruments, they're singing. And so I thought what songs right now would people maybe still no 20 years from now you know when they're sitting around a fire/ And so that's why somebody sings like "Someone Like You" by Adele or "The Story" by Brandi Carlile or "Angel from Montgomery" by John Prine. You know, these are songs that I hear people singing all the time at gatherings. And I add that I think we'll carry on. And also just thematically or tonally it creates the world for you as the reader and you feel like you can sort of hear the world as well as, you know, know about it when you get those references.

DANIEL: I liked the YouTube playlist to me that was kind of a Lark Ascending soundtrack. I went through that.

SILAS: Yeah. Yeah, I hope everybody will look. I have a YouTube channel. It's just "Silas House." And the playlist for Lark is on there.

SARA: Cool. I did not know that that was a thing so I'll definitely check it out.

DANIEL: I've been noticing it a lot more. Spotify does a good job of making novel soundtracks, but it's cool it actually came from the author. I was like, "Oh, that's cool. That's really neat."

SARA: Well, if you will bear with us, we're gonna take a short break. And then when we come back, we have a lot more to dive into with Silas House on Read. Return. Repeat.

DANIEL: All right.

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SARA: All right, we're back. Thank you so much again to Silas House for joining us, author of Lark Ascending. We're having a great time. But let's transition more into like a broad spectrum of southern writing.

DANIEL: Yeah. So you're often considered a Southern writer. A lot of your books take place in the south, particularly Appalachia where the setting is just as much a character as the protagonist. Lark Ascending is the first novel you've written that isn't set in the region, what was it like moving out of your literary comfort zone?

SARA: Is it Appalachia ["lay"] or Appalachia ["latch"]? Isn't that supposed to be like a dialectal thing?

SILAS: It's according to where you're from.

SARA: Okay.

SILAS: If you're from central or southern Appalachia, you tend to say, like "latch" instead of "lay." I would say Appalachia ["latch"], but I don't think it's incorrect however you say it.

I forgot the question, I'm sorry.

SARA: I'm so sorry!

DANIEL: How was it writing a book, having a book like take place, like, outside of that area, the area that you're you live?

SILAS: I don't... you know, I don't, I didn't even think about that because I'm familiar, you know, with so many different places. My first three books are very much set right where I grew up. And so I don't think I'll ever run out of things to write about the place I'm from, but I also want to write about other places that I know well, you know? I guess what's different about it is talking about it moreso because when people have a lot of questions... Appalachia is a really misunderstood place. And so when you write a novel about it, people tend to have a lot of questions about it, you know, things they didn't quite understand or vernacular questions. And that's one of the main things, you know, not writing about it, I'm not using as much vernacular, like that I grew up, what I would call home language, you know, and things like that. So I did, even though I've been to Ireland a lot and all that, for Lark Ascending, I had to consult Irish friends to make sure I was getting the vernacular right. Because, you know, unless you've lived somewhere a long time, you run the risk of not getting it right, and just getting that little bit wrong can come off as really, really bad. You know?

With that said, Appalachian culture is a thread of three cultures: Native American, African, and Scots-Irish. And so there's a lot of similarities between Irish culture and Appalachian culture, you know, that I use in the book. Does that make sense?

DANIEL: Yeah.

SARA: Yeah, that's interesting to think about. I guess I had never like... well, I'm from Kansas and I know very little of the Appalachian culture except for some music, right? Bluegrass and stuff comes out of there, doesn't it?

DANIEL: Yeah.

SARA: No, yes? Sorta?

SILAS: Yeah.

DANIEL: I kind of, I kind of know, like... so my family lives in Nova, northern Virginia so we've driven through Appalachia a lot and like, I have some experience with it and stuff. And yeah, it's... it's my favorite part of the trip, once we hit like... once we like, hop through... once we get past St. Louis. And then it's just like, we normally hit it at night. And so it's kind of really cool nighttime drive.

SARA: Speaking of regional writing and authors, who are some regional authors that you might recommend to our listeners who are not familiar with the genre?

SILAS: You mean the South?

SARA: I think? Because isn't that, we looked it up and there's a genre for regional authors, for people who write about a region specifically where you do with the South. So yeah, why not?

DANIEL: Yeah, why not?

SILAS: Well, I mean, the writer who really shaped me so much as a young writer who's Appalachian regional writing would be Lee Smith, L-E-E Smith. She wrote one of the best novels of the last 100 years. It's called Fair and Tender Ladies, a beautiful epistolary novel. Some people might call Willa Cather a regional author. You know, she's mostly known for Nebraska. Her novel, My Antonia, is one of my favorite novels ever. But she also wrote you know, a great novel set in the southwest called Death Comes to the Archbishop. So she's sort of moved around from region to region as well.

SARA: I feel like as a plains state we kind of claim Willa Cather as well, even though she is from Nebraska, I feel like.

SILAS: The first author I think of with Kansas is Sarah Smarsh. So I guess you know, for contemporary that's who I most identify with Kansas. Who would be the other ones. Kansans?

SARA: Well, I didn't expect for the question to get turned around on me.

DANIEL: Who wrote the Heart of Junk book? That one kind of picked up --

SARA: Oh, we were going to read it for my book club and then we didn't.

DANIEL: Well, Zack McDermott I guess counts. We had him on the show. He has that book, Gorilla and the Bird was a... takes place a lot in Wichita.

SILAS: Maybe Ben Lerner, The Topeka School?

SARA: Oh, The Topeka School? Uh-huh.

SILAS: There's that one. Anyway, yeah --

SARA: I'm not great at that off the top of my head.

DANIEL: I can name Oklahoma authors, like N. Scott Momaday's from my hometown. I'm from Lawton, Oklahoma. You know, like, Tulsa has the lady that wrote The Outsiders and --

SARA: Oh, S.E. Hinton?

DANIEL: Yeah.

SILAS: Yeah, love S.E. Hinton. Yes.

DANIEL: Yeah.

So you're a country music fan. And like you've written -- I saw a lot of interviews with like Tyler Childers and other country artists. I've actually been going through and listening to a lot of country music. So I was like, "Oh, this is great research for me because I get to listen to like..." and you've also like... you've also written, or I've seen... do you perform or write songs?

SILAS: A little bit of both. Yeah.

DANIEL: I saw that you did something for the south -- I don't know what area it is but like where Paducah is at, when they got hit by storms really bad, I saw you perform. I have a friend that's from, that lives in Paducah. So but it was really cool that you helped with the fundraising efforts there. Anyway, so you're you're a country music fan. You mentioned a lot of country music in the book or a little bit, John Prine, in your most recent book. There's a lot of storytelling aspects with country. Do you feel that influences your writing at all? And what is your favorite country music ballad?

SILAS: Oh, I mean, I totally grew up in country music. My aunt that I talked about earlier, she had you know, every record you could buy, country music. And I really came up on people like Don Williams. He's one of my favorites. And you know, maybe my favorite country ballad is by him. You know, "Lord, I Hope This Day is Good" by Don Williams. Of course, I love Loretta Lynn. If you're watching this on video, you can see behind me a Loretta Lynn sign. I'm wearing a Dolly Parton shirt. And I was raised right between where they were raised, like halfway between both of them is where I was raised. Of course, you know, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood. I love a lot of '90s country especially.

DANIEL: Oh yeah. Reba was just here.

SILAS: Oh yeah. Keith Whitley, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris. I mean, I could go on and on and on. Just you know, Brooks and Dunn. I love a lot of those. The country artists that I like more now tend to be the ones you don't hear on the radio as much. They're more like Americana artists, you know, people like Tyler Childers that you mentioned, I think he's doing amazing work. Just such smart songwriting. Great play picking. Charley Crockett is from Texas. He's one of my favorites right now. Look him up if you love good classic country music. So I mean --

SARA: We can include those in the show notes, I think, for "Silas House recommends country music."

SILAS: I just... you know, I grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry and the first time I went to the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, I was in tears. Every time I'm in there, I still get emotional because it just meant so much to my family. And we felt represented by country music in a way that we weren't represented on TV or in the movies, you know, as rural people. Country music was the one thing in media that gave us some real complexity and didn't just make caricatures of us.

DANIEL: Yeah, I grew up watching -- Dan from southwest Oklahoma, like I have mixed feelings about a lot of the... my friends like, well, King of the Hill, I feel like King of the Hill did a pretty good job of representation, how they represented Oklahoma in particular is like those episodes I'm just not a fan of. But I grew up watching TNN and like, Crook & Chase in the morning, so like, but that's kind of how like... I don't think people think about that as for like Southern representation, how important that channel was.

SARA: So in the week of COVID-19, we've seen a lot of decentralization of -- this is totally switching gears, by the way -- but a lot of decentralization of industries with people working from home, and they're migrating out of big cities like New York and Los Angeles to less crowded and more affordable places like Appalachia ["lay"], Appalachia ["latch"]. So I saw, like, I saw one where people were being offered, like $10,000, to move to West Virginia for like two years. And they had one community and then a couple years later, they had another community. So I'm just wondering if you're seeing that there in where you're from? Do you think that this will... what kind of changes would that have on the culture of Appalachia?

SILAS: Well, I mean, I'm not seeing that, first of all, where I'm from. There's a great exodus happening right now. Some of that is because we had really historic flooding last summer. We've had some pretty catastrophic weather events over the last few years. We're seeing the effects of climate change here, you know? But some projections say that places like Appalachia will be a place of refuge during climate crisis. So, you know, it could go either way. I think, you know, we're in a real transitional place with our economy. Coal mining is no more the way it used to be and for so long it supported a lot of our economy. And so the region is really trying to find ways to transition economically. And it's an uphill battle.

SARA: Okay.

DANIEL: Yeah.

SARA: It's just we were wondering if you were seeing it there so --

DANIEL: We're dealing with that too, like rural Kansas agriculture is shrinking. Not so much climate change, but just kind of like factory farming.

SARA: I think it is also climate change. We're in a severe drought. We have been for years and years.

DANIEL: So you're seeing like schools close and kids -- yeah, it seems like that's part of like rural America is just like shrinking. And you did visit Wichita recently to promote Lark Ascending. What do you think? Was there anything about Wichita that surprised you? Did you have a chance to check out any of the local sites?

SILAS: Well, I got... I was there for like, 16 hours total so I didn't get... I stayed at a hotel around the river. So I walked on the river and I loved that. It was... you know, I'd never been to Kansas before. And I just, I ate at a couple of local places that were really great.

SARA: Where'd you go?

SILAS: I can't remember now. But I had dinner at a place. It's right across from Watermark's bookstore.

SARA: That's the Wine Dive.

DANIEL: Mike's Wine Dive? Okay.

SILAS: It was excellent. And, you know, the bookstore there is just one of the best in the country. And I just love being there, such a great staff and just such a beautiful bookstore. So well curated, made me feel so welcomed. So I was just appreciate all the hospitality. Everybody was wonderful.

SARA: Good. Well, next time you visit, you'll have to come to the Library so we can show you around.

DANIEL: Yeah, give you a big old tour.

And we've got, we've actually got a history walk tour that you can do right there along Main Street. Well, not Main Street. Douglas Avenue, but all intents and purposes, it's Main Street.

SILAS: Most of book tour is you know, you fly in, you go to your hotel, you go to the bookstore, you eat, you go to the hotel, you go to the airport. So you get to go to all these wonderful places that you don't get to see.

SARA: Yeah. Well, I'm just saying, we are very happy about Wichita, and we can tell you all the great places to go. So when you're ready to visit for fun --

DANIEL: Yeah, for funsies.

SARA: Uh-huh. We'll make an itinerary for you. I'm just kidding, we won't do that. We'll let you explore it on your own.

Okay, so I think we have one more time, we have time for about one more question. And we just wanted to give you an opportunity to shout out any other projects you're working on, where our listeners can go to check out more of your work. You had mentioned a YouTube channel. Daniel, and I found several articles that will include in the show notes that you wrote. Are there any other things that you want to give a shout out to?

SILAS: I just had an essay that came out in Time magazine. So if you go to Time and just enter my name, you'll... that'll come up. Next week, I have a piece coming out in a magazine called Lit Hub, L-I-T H-U-B. And it's about talking about grief on book tour and how much audiences have talked to me about their own grief at not only losing people, but also that sort of national sense of grief that so many of us have felt for the last few years. And particularly the way the pandemic shaped grief, like family members dying alone, because of COVID, not being able to have, you know, memorial services because of COVID, things like that. I think it's a real paradigm shift in the way that we grieve was caused by the pandemic. And so I'm writing a little bit about that.

There, we're getting really close on the film of my last novel, Southernmost, so everybody send good vibes out to Hollywood that that happens, because they're casting right now.

SARA: Okay.

SILAS: You know, you never know until it's on the screen if it's really going to happen or not. But I'm really... the script is beautiful and so I've been working pretty closely with them on that. I didn't write the script, somebody else did. But I've been lucky that they've included me in the process. So that's the main thing that I'm thinking about right now. I'm putting together a collection of short stories that I hope will be published. I'm always working on short stories. And those are the main things, yeah.

SARA: Okay, awesome.

DANIEL: That's awesome.

SARA: Well, thank you so much for joining us for this is actually our last episode of season two. And so we're really excited that you could be our author who visited Wichita even if it was only for 16 hours.

DANIEL: Thank you so much from every part of our season finale.

SILAS: I couldn't thank y'all enough for spending time with the book. I really appreciate it.

Stretch your legs while learning about Wichita's rich history with the Wichita History Walk. Download the Pocketsights app and experience a guided audio tour of local landmarks that can be enjoyed at your own pace. The tour features three routes: Wild West Delano, historic downtown, and East Douglas heritage. The Pocketsights app is available for free on both Android and iOS. Download the app today and start exploring.

DANIEL, VOICEOVER: And now here are a few staff recommendations for category 12, a book by an author visiting Wichita or hosted remotely by a Wichita organization.

CONNIE: Hi, I'm Connie from circulation and interlibrary loan. I read Devil House by John Darnielle who visited Wichita in February for category 12, author visiting Wichita. I thought this would be a horror story because of the cover and the title, but it wasn't. Devil House is about a true crime author who has had some success in the past. He's given a lead by his agent on this house for sale in California, the devil house, where a supposedly satanic double murder took place in the '80s. He moves into the house that had been an adult video store to immerse himself in the crime and do extensive research. I liked how it became more about what is the truth, how true is true crime? Everyone has a story, how much of it is real? If you enjoy true crime, you might like this one. This has been my recommendation for category 12. For more reading recommendations, go to wichitalibrary.org/readict.

JENNY: My name is Jenny. I'm an adult programming librarian at the Advanced Learning Library. My recommendation for category 12, a book by an author visiting Wichita, is The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams, who visited Wichita this past June. This book is the first of a young adult fantasy trilogy. It has been described as The Babysitters Club meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I couldn't think of a more apt description. This story is set in a small Kansas town. The main character, Esme, a high school junior, has her rather mundane life turned upside down when strange things begin happening around her. And then a new girl comes to town who asks her to join her babysitting club, which isn't even much of a babysitting club to begin with. With this new friendship, Esme discovers that there is more than meets the eye with this strange new girl, and that they both share a connection to unanswered questions about her mother, who was institutionalized under mysterious circumstances when she was little.

Soon she is pulled into a bizarre new world she never knew existed, where she's called to protect not only the children she babysits but also her new friend and even the quiet little town she calls home. This was a very fun, lighthearted read despite some occasionally heavy moments. I loved the '90s nostalgic feel to the book, which will please many of our Gen X and millennial listeners. I found myself laughing a lot. I loved the author's witty way of describing things. For example, this passage: "I talk a lot of crap on Kansas, but backwards politics and lack of good shopping options aside, it's pretty okay sometimes, like now. The sky is huge and close, as if you could touch it if you just found the right tree to climb. And the landscape is as subtle as no makeup makeup. There are no mountains intimidating you into appreciating them and there's no ocean throwing itself on rocks to demand your attention. The plains are just like we're here and we're chill." This has been my recommendation for category 12, a book by an author visiting Wichita in 2022. For more reading recommendations, visit wichitalibrary.org/readict.

KATIE: Hello there. My name is Katie and I'm in the collection development division of the Library. This is my recommendation for category 12, a book by an author visiting Wichita. I chose the book Life on the Mississippi by Rinker Buck, who visited Wichita last August. Rinker Buck has lots of curiosity and imagination. In his previous book The Oregon Trail, he built a covered wagon and attempted to follow the Oregon Trail. In this book, he's decided to go down the Mississippi on a flat boat trying to replicate Mark Twain's book Life on the Mississippi. He does a tremendous amount of research before embarking on this journey. He builds a flat boat and he hires a motley crew of people to help him on this trip. As he makes his way down the Mississippi, he brings us along for an adventurous ride. We're there as he learns to navigate the Mississippi. We learn about a piece of history that has been forgotten but was crucial in its day. The role of the flatboat came about when farmers realized that it would be more profitable for them to transport goods down the river to New Orleans rather than going overland, even though the journey would take months. The river became a superhighway.

Not only is this a history of flat boating, it is also a book about economics, geography, and nature. You read how he learned to captain a flat boat, manipulating around larger boats. He also learned about the hazards of submerged trees, floater logs, sandbars, and how low water could ground a boat. You learn about the industries which used to dominate the river and that are disappearing with the changes in energy production. Coal production has made way for other forms of energy and the plants that used to be on the river are closing and disappearing along with the jobs. You also learn how the banks of the Mississippi constantly changes as water flows through it. Over time, the river has changed its course. He watched nature up close and personal and observes that man is an invader of nature space. This is a leisurely book about a more leisurely lifestyle. Just as you can't be in too much of a hurry when floating down the river, I encourage you to read this book at a leisurely pace. I will leave you with Rinker Buck's own words. He described his river journey as hypnotic with the sun on his face and the murmuring of the water against the side of the boat, making him feel lazy, romantic, freed from the bonds of land. I hope you will take time to read this book about a fascinating piece of American history. This has been my recommendation for category 12. And for more recommendations, visit wichitalibrary.org/readict.

DANIEL, VOICEOVER: Sara, it was really awesome to talk with Silas and talk about Lark Ascending, which honestly was one of my favorite books of the year.

SARA, VOICEOVER: Yes, I thought it was so great and it's really kind of a dream come true to be able to interview authors this season. But I do feel like maybe we were a little bit heavy on the fan-girling and -boying.

DANIEL, VOICEOVER: Yeah, just little bit, yeah. Luckily, Zoom separated us.

A list of the books discussed in today's episode can be found in the accompanying show notes. To request any of the books heard about in today's episode, visit wichitalibrary.org or call us at (316) 261-8500.

SARA DIXON: To end out the show, staff member Ian will read a submission from our local short story program. To find out how you can submit your own work to be distributed through our short story dispensers, visit wichitalibrary.org/shortstory.

DANIEL PEWEWARDY, VOICEOVER: This is one of the many short stories and poems you can get from one of our short story dispensers located at Reverie Roasters coffee shop, Evergreen community library, and the Eisenhower airport.

IAN: "Balloon" by Eden Penny.

Every night I reach inside and find my balloon.
I whisper all my secrets in, my problems, my desires and watch them float away until the night consumes them whole.
The sun comes up, the balloon is gone, and all the words inside.

DANIEL, VOICEOVER: Thank you to Silas House for talking with us today. We'd also like to thank Katie, Connie, and Jenny for sharing their book recommendations for category 12, a book by an author that visited Wichita in 2022. And thanks to all of you for sticking with us through season two of Read. Return. Repeat.

SARA, VOICEOVER: This has been a production of the Wichita Public Library and a big thanks goes out to our production crew and podcast team. Team members include me and Daniel but also Kelly Fabrizius, Jennifer Durham, and Ian Bailey. Jenny also makes sure we have show notes for every episode. Kyle Holly is our audio and video editing expert. Greg Nordyke handles our website and makes sure each episode comes with a transcript. And Sean Jones is our marketing specialist.

DANIEL, VOICEOVER: To participate in the ReadICT challenge, please visit wichitalibrary.org/readict. Stay connected with other ReadICT participants on the ReadICT challenge Facebook page, find out what's trending near you, post book reviews, look for local and virtual events, and share book humor with like-minded folks. To join the group, search #ReadICT challenge on Facebook and click join.

SARA, VOICEOVER: You can follow this podcast through the Anchor app or stream episodes on whatever platform you use to listen to podcasts. If you liked what you heard today, be sure to subscribe and share it with all your friends.

DANIEL, VOICEOVER: Categories for the 2023 challenge will be announced January 1, 2023. We'll see you all for season three.