A Deadman's Books

Happy 4th of July, America. To celebrate the good ol' U.S. of A., we have put together five books that we think are essential to the American Lit experience. Also, at the end of the episode we play another game: best American author stays. Who does Jason Crockett list as his greatest American author of all time? Thanks for listening! Theme song for A Deadman's Books:Surfing! by automaticbananas #b...

Continuing with our Big Summer Read with Tolkien, we go back to the movies where we examine Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring starring Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortensn, Christopher Lee, and many more. We talk about aesthetic choices, differences, casting choices, and more. Thanks for listening! Resources for today's episode: The Fellowship of the Ring directed by Pe...

After receiving his uncle Bilbo's ring on the occasion of Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday, Frodo soon finds out there is more to this ring than simple tricks. After Gandalf the Grey does his research, they soon find that it is indeed the One Ring created by the dark lord Sauron in the pits of Mt. Doom. Frodo soon finds himself on a journey with eight other companions with the goal of destroying th...

When a peaceful Timucuan chief is gifted a drinking vessel that is made out of an unknown material he soon finds that it possesses power that can lead those who drink from it immortality...and a maddening rage. The chief soon begins to harshly punish those around him and becomes war crazy as he invades surrounding tribes. Those of his village label the vessel "Tinaja" or demon. Flash forward to St...

Margo has her dream life planned, Dream husband, dream job, dream kid, and dream house. So when her coveted house hits the market, she will do whatever it takes to make sure that she obtains the house of her wonder after being denied so many times in the past. We're asking the tough questions: How far is too far when you have become fixated with something? When you should abort a lie if you think...

Norman Maclean looks back on a time in his life in which his family tasked him to "help" his brother-in-law (that he doesn't like) through the Maclean family trade of fly-fishing. Asking his expert younger brother Paul to help provide him company, Maclean talks about how he doesn't even know how to "help" his own brother who needs it. The story culminates in a final fishing trip between a dad and...

After growing up in a strict, fundamental Mormon home, Tara Westover overcame her odds of abuse, mistreatment, distrust, and a home structure that was against her just because she was a woman. We're asking the tough questions: What makes family ties so strong? Can we overcome obstacles laid before us? Is that really what the Westover house looks like? Hannah Randolph joins us as we answer these an...

BIG SUMMER READ IS HERE!. Join us as we look to continue the ADMB annual Big Summer Read. After last year's reading of Stephen King's The Stand, we have decided to read J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Join us and read a long with us. We will have check-ins at the end of every book. Email us or comment your thoughts on the book. We hope that you will join us as we go back to Middle Eart...

This week, academic, poet laureate of Cookeville, Tennessee, and mom Dr. Erin Hoover of Tennessee Tech University sits down to speak with us about her a couple of her poetry selections: her debut Barnburner and No Spare People. Hoover also talks to us about her inspirations as a poet, her life as a single-mother and academic, dealing with generative artificial intelligence in the classroom, and ev...

When Andy Dufresne is wrongly convicted for the double murder of his wife and her lover, he spends the next three decades of his life in The Shank methodically building up the prison library, maintaining a solo cell, and hammering a hole behind a poster for his escape to a dream that awaits him. We're asking the tough questions: Can anyone play it as cool as Andy Dufresne? Does life and literature...

When a school shooting takes place in a small southern town, Sheriff Titus Crown begins to pull a string that unravels a much deeper and sinister plot. S.A. Cosby's All the Sinners Bleed is dark, moody thriller that will have you reading until the very end. This week's curation: Silence of the Lambs (film) Miracle Creek by Angie Kim Double Indemnity by James Cain L.A. Noire (video game) #booktube...

After the NAP is elected into power, Ireland slowly descends into fascism. Suddenly teachers are vilified by the government. Larry Stack, teacher and leader of the teachers union, takes to the streets to lead his fellow teachers in a peaceful protest march. However, Larry is arrested and never heard from again leaving his wife Eilish alone with four children and a father suffering from dementia. P...

Why did F. Scott Fitzgerald make it so hot at the Plaza Hotel? What was Will Andrews really finding on his quest in Butcher's Crossing? Why is Mina Plover reminiscent of a siren in The Land Breakers? Why did it storm the night before Caesar's death in Shakespeare's play? Are Astrophage from Project Hail Mary vampires? Author's use many different devices to craft their stories that we fall for ever...

Alfred Mann was born into slavery. It was the only world that he ever knew. But after marrying Frankie from a nearby plantation, and learning through their first born-child that he has been forced to share his wife with his wife's white masters, Alfred begins to have thoughts of breaking free. Soon, he hears that the Union army is just on the other side of the river, and they are taking any runawa...

Two men are seeking redemption. Both of their hopes intersect and land on the same set of interviews to change their public image and restore them back to the figures that they once were. David Frost thinks that he will be going up against a loser, clumsy ex-president in Richard Nixon. Nixon thinks that he will be going up against softball questions from a British talk show host who is on the verg...

When Julius Caesar dies, he leaves in his will for his adoptive son Octavius to ascend as his heir. Caesar the August comes to Rome, but finds that there are many plots surrounding him in the world of Roman politics. John Williams's epistolary novel AUGUSTUS covers the political rise and life of Octavius Caesar the August through letters, journal entries, and memoirs from those that surrounded him...

When the Ides of March come upon them, Brutus and Cassius decide that they must take the fate of their beloved Rome into their hands. With the assassination of Julius Caesar, Rome is thrown into chaos. With seemingly no plan after they finish the killing, two sides develop between Brutus and Cassius / Marc Antony and Octavius. William Shakespeare walks us through a story of loyalty, betrayal, prid...

The Nazis are rising. They are attempting to dominate Europe through land and through culture. That includes the world of motorsport. Enter American-French heiress Lucy Schell. Her attempts to enter a "mans-world as a driver were met with stiff competition. Undeterred, Schell uses her inheritance to fund a French team to take on the Nazi propaganda machine, and defeat Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union...

John Pearson meets the love of his life, Lucy, and begins his life with her as a preacher and contractor. Unfortunately, John's weakness for women lead him to a tumultuous experience between he and Lucy, and his next wife who captures him through voodoo. This week's curation: Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston Sweat by Zora Neal Hurston Zora Neal Hurston on Zombies (link: https://ww...

Janie Crawford's grandmother has a plan for her life, and it's one that Janie doesn't agree with. After attempting to make the plan happen, she leaves her arranged marriage with Logan Killicks for the sweet talking Joe Starks. Starks takes Janie to Eatonville, Florida where Janie seems to be living her dream life. However, before long, she sees she is still in the same relationship she was before....

Janie Crawford's grandmother has a plan for her life, and it's one that Janie doesn't agree with. After attempting to make the plan happen, she leaves her arranged marriage with Logan Killicks for the sweet talking Joe Starks. Starks takes Janie to Eatonville, Florida where Janie seems to be living her dream life. However, before long, she sees she is still in the same relationship she was before....

When a stranger and his daughter are stranded, single mother Collie Wright welcomes them into her home. Little does she know that those walking up to her house will be the future half of her family, and also reveal a deep secret through an accidental murder that she has been covering up. We're asking the tough questions: What sacrifices are parents willing to make for their children? How should we...

For 25 years, a local television show captured time that defined a region. WBIR's The Heartland Series began as a way to showcase the most beautiful place in the world: The Great Smoky Mountains. However, the show evolved into much more as it expanded in documenting the culture and people of East Tennessee, the Upper Cumberland, and parts of Western North Carolina. On the heels of our fantastic in...

With the heart of an adventurer and the soul of a poet, Bill Landry climbed a ridge and found below him the heartland. Our land. A land of the principal people. A land full of storytellers, deep thinkers, and hard workers. Today, we have a very special guest. The legendary Bill Landry joins us and talks about his life of doing the Heartland Series on WBIR in Knoxville, the people he met, the lesso...

Bootlegger Marion Sylder kills a man on his way home from Atlanta back to East Tennessee. He carries the body with him back to the mountains, and dumps the body in an abandoned concrete pit. Little does he know that he end up crossing paths with the dead-man's son and becoming a mentor type figure. All the while, an old man of the mountains witnessed Sylder dump the body of the man that was murder...