In this episode of Audicted, cohosts Katie O’Connor and Kat Johnson share the debuts they’re most excited about this year. Best-selling author Jesse Q. Sutanto (Dial A for Aunties) also joins the program to share her experiences as one of last year’s biggest debut authors. Download or stream the full episode here.
On the debut Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho
Kat Johnson: You're going to be seeing this one everywhere too. What I love about it is it's a friendship story and it's kind of a look at these two young women and their lives as they grow up together, coming apart, coming together again. If you're a fan of like Elena Ferrante or Sally Rooney, definitely [that] kind of female friendship [story]. But also what I really like is that it's kind of interconnected stories, so it's kind of a novel in short story. So it's innovative and the writing is beautiful and brilliant, [and] the two characters are beautiful and brilliant.
Advice from Jesse Q. Sutanto
KJ: Jesse, I'm curious. I can't believe when Katie said you have four new books coming out next year. […] Do you have a top piece of advice you would give to would-be authors who are dreaming of their debut?
Jesse Q. Sutanto: I have so many pieces of advice, but maybe the top one would be to find a community of writers. Because when I first started writing, I thought it was like, a lonely vocation, you know? I kind of had this image in my mind of like, that isolated writer who lives in a cabin in the woods, and never talks to anyone and their work is, like, sacred, and nobody gets to read it until it's published magically. But then I joined an online writers forum and it literally changed my life, because I met all my writing friends through the forum and they've just been such a big help to me.
Also in this episode:
Listen to Middlespace when all the episodes become available on 11/18. Starship Captain George Cottonhammer (Will Forte), bored by his job, stops his ship in middle space and floats, doing nothing. He refuses to answer distress calls, dodges anything that smacks of work, chooses instead to focus on his love life and his idea dujour - opening an intergalactic burger franchise. And while he perfects the art of killing time, his crew moves from baffled to annoyed, to furious, to borderline mutinous. But when an ignored intergalactic distress call turns out to be a trap, the limits of how high someone can fail upwards are stretched, and the captain must, to his dismay, do something.
What happens when you mix one (accidental) murder with 2,000 wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on three generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family? You get four meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue....
Tribulation is a twisted mystery about an end-of-days religious cult manipulating space and traveling across planes of existence on electricity and radio signals. Cult members willingly accept seven brutal years of torture to atone for their earthly sins....
"Olga Dies Dreaming is a love letter to Brooklyn brimming with the best music, with dreams and sorrows—the stuff of real life."
- Jennine Capó Crucet, author of My Time Among The Whites
This intimate coming of age story has been named 'A Most Anticipated Book of 2022' by Time, Vogue, and more.
In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording....
From debut author Chandra Blumberg comes a playful, heartfelt romance about chasing your dreams and finding love in the process....
When Chloe Davis was 21, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth....
When we meet August “Gus” Molloy in the opening chapter of Chevy in the Hole, he’s just overdosed at the Detroit restaurant where he works. Shortly after, he packs it in and returns home to his family for another shot at sobriety....
Ronke wants happily ever after and 2.2 kids. She’s dating Kayode and wants him to be “the one” (perfect, like her dead father). Her friends think he’s just another in a long line of dodgy Nigerian boyfriends....
In Mansi Shah’s stunning debut novel, a family tragedy beckons a first-generation immigrant to the city of her birth, where she grapples with her family’s past in search of where she truly belongs....
When Mitya was two years old, he swallowed his grandmother's sewing needle. For his family, it marks the beginning of the end, the promise of certain death....
This blockbuster debut set in 1960s California features the singular voice of Elizabeth Zott, a scientist whose career takes a detour when she becomes the star of a beloved TV cooking show....
Cutthroat political consultant Thom Morgan is thriving, working on the governor of California’s presidential campaign. If only he didn’t have to deal with Clay Parker, the infuriatingly smug data analyst who gets under Thom’s skin like it’s his job....
A sparkling K-drama inspired debut teen novel by Grace Shim, The Noh Family introduces irrepressibly charming teen Chloe Kang, who is reunited with her deceased father's estranged family via a DNA test, and is soon whisked off to Seoul to join them....
If you're ready to successfully self-publish, then buy this book now....
Nora Spangler is a successful attorney but when it comes to domestic life, she packs the lunches, schedules the doctor appointments, knows where the extra paper towel rolls are, and designs and orders the holiday cards. Her husband works hard, too....
This audiobook - a combination of reworked blog posts and new material - offers practical writing advice for anyone who's ever longed to increase their daily writing output....
As the daughter of a traveling salesman in the Midwest, Attenberg was drawn to a life on the road. Frustrated by quotidian jobs and hungry for inspiration and fresh experiences, her wanderlust led her across the country and eventually on travels around the globe....
Rock god. Justice fighter. Rabble-rouser. Ivy Leaguer. An American renegade and fearless truth teller. Rage Against the Machine’s guitar virtuoso, Tom Morello, is many things, but perhaps he himself sums it up best: a one man revolution....
