Litopia After Dark

Why do we read fiction? Why do we care so passionately about nonexistent characters? And what underlying mental processes are activated when we read? Professor Lisa Zunshine, Bush-Holbrook professor of English at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, aims to answer fundamental questions such as these: she's at the forefront of this pioneering and cross-disciplinary fusion of cognitive science and literature... and she's one of our two special guests tonight. Another pioneer in quite a different field is bestselling author J. A. Konrath. He's blazing a trail doing what many publishers can only dream of - actually making serious money by selling eBooks. After five hundred rejections for nine unpublished novels, his tenth book, Whiskey Sour, was picked up by Hyperion in 2003. But that was just the beginning for Joe - he now makes over $100,000 a year from his Kindle sales alone. And this evening, Joe has a radical message for publishers and authors everywhere - ignore it at your peril! Our regular panelists Eve Harvey and Donna Ballman complete an internationally stellar line-up for you... and not forgetting Lord Bare's bulletin's from a so-sharp-they-might-cut-themselves chatroom... it's a classic show!