At the Mercy of the Bat.

One of the first stops on the All Over tour was New York, and one of the first projects there was a sit-down with Ed Champion, he of the infamous Bat Segundo Show. Great questions over great sandwiches: a hard combination to beat. And the results are now up for your listening pleasure right here.

November 30, 2007, 1:14 p.m.Categories: Fiction Collections, History, Interviews

Will Focus 580 AM

A very fun radio interview to start things off here in Champaign-Urbana, with David Inge of Will Focus 580 AM. You know the cough button that mutes your mike for as long as you press it down? For reasons I would be hard-pressed to explain, I love that button.

November 5, 2007, 12:37 p.m.Categories: China, Fiction Collections, History, Novellas

Interview at Inside Higher Ed.

Columnist, writer, poet, friend and fellow McSweeney's dispatcher John Griswold on the mound. Me at the plate. Here comes the heat.

October 10, 2007, 6:35 p.m.Categories: China, Fiction Collections, Food, History, Interviews, Novellas

Map.

Julie Sisk, the editor of Map Magazine out of Nanjing, takes her best shot at me in the latest issue. Most of the interview deals with the new cultural/historical guide to the city that I just wrote, but the questions branch out from there.

June 28, 2007, 8:21 p.m.Categories: China, History, Interviews, Nonfiction, Travel

Nanjing.

It's been a long time coming but Nanjing: A Cultural and Historical Guide is at last alive.

May 2, 2007, 11:48 a.m.Categories: China, History, Nonfiction, Travel

Under the abalone.

The trip that my family and I took to Xian back in our first year in China gave me all kinds of good juju. The latest bit of it to find a home is called "Under the Abalone," which can be read in its entirety here in Issue 2 of Salt Flats Annual. It's a great issue, focusing on place, with fiction by Girija Tropp, and nonfiction by Jim Ruland, Jai Clare, Pia Ehrhardt, Carol Novack, and longtime hero of mine Melanie Rae Thon.

January 16, 2007, 12:10 p.m.Categories: China, History, Litmags, Nonfiction, Travel