On this episode of Word, we spotlight horror in numerous ways from banned books to a new novel about a murdered Indigenous woman, as well a murder satire of cozy mysteries.
Guest list
“ Banned Books Week” happens the first week of October.
It’s an annual campaign conducted by the American Library Association (ALA) to bring awareness about demands to censor library books and resources.
In 2022, “the organization’s Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 1,269 examples of such. That’s the highest number of attempted book bans since the ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago,” according to a release.
And while the thought of such is horrific, Carew Papritz, who lives just south of Tucson, believes there’s an ironic twist to people trying to ban books.
He’s author of “The Legacy Letters,” and is also the creator of "National Thank You Letter Day," and the "World’s Largest Thank You Letter," which received a Guinness World Record for the project.
His writing has been published in numerous media outlets.
J.A. Jance grew up in Arizona and is a New York Times bestselling author who has a new murder mystery about the death of an Indigenous woman. It’s called, “Blessing Of The Lost Girls,” and is part of her Brady and Walker Family series.
Her series include: J.P. Beaumont, Joanna Brady, Ali Reynolds and the Walker Family.
Jance has intrigued readers for decades, and wrote on her author bio page, “As a second-grader in Mrs. Spangler’s Greenway School class, I was introduced to Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz series. I read the first book and was hooked. I knew, from that moment on, that I wanted to be a writer.”
She loves to hear from fans and wrote, “It gratifies me to know that by immersing themselves in my stories, people are able to set their own lives aside and live and walk in someone else’s shoes. It tells me I’m doing a good job at the best job in the world.”
In September, Chuck Palahniuk made an appearance at a Valley bookseller to promote his latest, a horror satire of the cozy mystery subgenre, titled, “Not Forever, But For Now.”
He made a beeline from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to the KJZZ studio prior to his appearance to talk about the book.
Palahniuk’s 14 novels include “Snuff,” “Rant,” “Haunted,” “Lullaby,” “Fight Club” (which was made into a film by director David Fincher), “Diary,” “Survivor,” “Invisible Monsters” and “Choke,” (which was made into a film by director Clark Gregg).
He lives in the Pacific Northwest.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of KJZZ's Word podcast about literature, and we’re back with another on Oct. 31.
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