Verbal Exchange

Listen to a hilarious short story by the Italian author Gerolamo Rovetta, about a cowardly armchair warrior who finds himself in a duel with a real soldier, first published in 1898 and translated into English for the first time. Translation by Steve Eaton.

We have a conversation with the Texan-Oregonian author Jonathan Eaton about his new novel, Peter Pegg, Outlaw, by One Who Knew Him. This is the much anticipated third and final instalment of the trilogy that began with A Good Man for an Outlaw and continued with Outlaws and Worse. We talk about frontier circuses, how to get shot by a dead man, and what turns a good man into an outlaw.

In 1881 news of a brutal murder gripped Italy. Six years later, a novel based on that crime, The Priest's Hat by Emilio De Marchi, was published. We discuss the crime, the novel, and the new translation from the original Italian to English.