Completely Conspicuous 163: We Call Upon the Author

Special guest Christian Douglass joins me on the podcast as we discuss the story behind his new novel. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



The show notes...

Topics:

- Christian started writing the book in May 2010

- Nearly done; "just checking the verbs"

- Spent three years working for oil industry consulting company

- Collected cost of living info around the world

- Company founder was involved in early research into the Internet

- Company needed to figure out cost of living allowances for oil engineers

- Christian took the job for book material

- Studied journalism in grad school at BU

- On the road six months of the year for three years

- Went to more than 80 countries

- "Talking about spoiled white people abroad"

- Book is like "Catch-22" for global petroleum world

- One protagonist is "diabetic, drug-addicted 40-year-old doing my job"

- Inspired by former co-worker who doesn't know about this book

- Revisit places once or twice a year

- Story opens in Dubai, moves to Lagos, then to Turkmenistan

- "Glands Across America"

- Female character is narrator

- "Absurdist immigration story" about lies

- Christian quit his job to write novel

- Debating the value of journalism school

- Putting yourself in debt to get a low-paying job

- Life got in the way of Christian becoming a reporter

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

PJ Harvey - Written on the Forehead

J. Mascis - Is It Done

Telekinesis - Car Crash

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The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com. Use the following codes to get athletic gear from Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. AFCOMP15 will get you 10% off any order of $50 at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 15% off any order of $75 at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 10% off any order of $50 or more at Footlocker.com.

The PJ Harvey song is on the album Let England Shake on Island Records. Download the song for free at Chromewaves.

The J. Mascis song is on the forthcoming album Several Shades of Why on Sub Pop Records, where you can download the song for free.

The Telekinesis song is on the album 12 Desperate Straight Lines on Merge Records. Download the song for free at Spin.com (right click and "save as").

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.