Robin Sloan is the guest. His bestselling novel, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, was the May 2014 selection of the TNB Book Club. It is now available in paperback from Picador. George Saunders calls it “A real tour de force [and] a beautiful fable...The reader is swept along by Sloan’s enthusiasm.” And John Hodgman says “In a time when actual books are filling up tag-sale dollar boxes, along with VHS tapes and old beepers, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore reminds us that there is an intimate, adventurous joy in the palpable papery things called novels, and in the warm little secret societies we used to call ‘bookstores.’ Robin Sloan’s novel is delightfully funny, provocative, deft, and even thrilling. And for reasons more than just nostalgia, I could not stop turning these actual pages." Monologue topics: Episode 300, Stephen King, Lorrie Moore, Teju Cole, angst, Mary Karr, false summits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.