In this installment of the Rock is Lit Season 4 Reading Series, Kat Hausler reads an excerpt from her novel ‘What I Know About July’ and discusses its creation.
The novel centers around indie rocker Simon Kemper, fresh out of rehab and riding the wave of moderate success with his band in Berlin. But lurking in the background is his stalker, a mysterious figure present at every show, sending unsettling postcards to his label and acting as though she owns him. When she suddenly vanishes during one of his performances, Simon becomes the prime suspect. What begins as an attempt to clear his name spirals into a deeper psychological journey, as Simon questions whether her obsession could have truly ended—or if it has merely become entangled in the lives of those closest to him: his bandmates, a new romantic interest, an embittered ex, and the person he thought he had left behind. Narcissistic and insecure, Simon's struggle to become a better person is central to this haunting story.
Originally from Virginia, Kat Hausler is a graduate of New York University and holds an M.F.A. in Fiction from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she was the recipient of a Baumeister Fellowship. She is the author of ‘Retrograde’ and ‘What I Know About July’, as well as many shorter pieces. Her work has appeared in ‘Hawaii Pacific Review’, ‘34th Parallel’, ‘Inkspill Magazine’, ‘The Sunlight Press’, ‘The Dalloway’, ‘Rozlyn Press’, ‘Porridge Magazine’, ‘LitReactor’, ‘BlazeVOX’, ‘failbetter’, and’ The Airgonaut’, among others. She lives in Berlin and is also a translator.
MUSIC IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
- Rock is Lit theme music
- [Guitar Instrumental Beat] Sad Rock [Free Use Music] Punch Deck—“I Can’t Stop”
- [Free] Indie Rock x Alternative Type Beat—“Borderline”
- [Free] Lana del Rey Type Beat/“Tell Me You Love Me”/Indie Rock Type Beat
- (Free) Acoustic Guitar Type Beat—“Need You”
- [Guitar Instrumental Beat] Sad Rock [Free Use Music] Punch Deck—“I Can’t Stop”
- Rock is Lit theme music
LINKS:
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Kat Hausler’s website: https://www.kathausler.com/
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Kat Hausler on Twitter: @Kat_Fiction
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It's time to update your wardrobe with JCPenney. Fall has arrived and so have a great range of amazing deals to help you express your style this season. Shop for everyone in the family from suits, trousers, sweaters, denim, jackets and more. And finish off your look with your favorite makeup and skincare brands at JCPenney Beauty. Shop in store or online today. JCPenney, make it count! This episode is brought to you by Jira. Ever wonder how those big marketing campaigns that make headlines get delivered on time? It all starts with Jira, the only project management tool you need to plan and track work across any team. Every step of that campaign is organized in one place, from launching the campaign, all the way back to designing ads and writing creative briefs. It started on your next big marketing campaign idea today in Jira. Listen in. Starbucks, it's a great day for coffee. Rock is lit. Rock is lit. Rock is lit. Rock is lit. Just listening to Rock is lit with Christy Halberg. Rock on. Christy. Rock is lit. Hey there, let listeners. Welcome to Season 4 of Rock is Lit. The first podcast devoted to rock novels and also the 2024 American Writing Awards Podcast of the Year in the categories of music and arts. Rock is Lit is a proud member of the Pantheon Podcast Network. Rock is Lit is hosted, executive produced and edited by me, Christy Alexander Halberg, author of my own rock novel, Searching for Jimmy Page. Big shout out to this season's incredible team, social media intern Keeley Platz and our three production interns, Major Legullen, Tyler Elcock, and Theo Lair. This season we're shaking things up with a fresh new format. Instead of our usual author interviews, we'll be rolling out a weekly reading series, giving you a deeper dive into the world of rock novels through curated readings and literary explorations. To keep up with all things Rock is Lit, follow me on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube at Christy Halberg. For more info, head to ChristyAlexanderHalberg.com, got a rock novel you'd love to see featured? Drop me a line at ChristyAlexanderHalberg@gmail.com, I'd love to hear from you. And don't forget, if you're enjoying the show, please subscribe, leave a comment and give us a five star rating on your favorite podcast platform. Wyatt, the Rock is Lit mascot and I thank you for your support. This is Kat Hausler and you're listening to Rock is Lit. Hi, I'm Kat Hausler. And I'm going to read from my novel, What I Know About July. Rock is Lit is kind of the perfect place for that because the protagonist of my novel is an indie rock musician. I went to so many concerts growing up and in part, this novel grew out of my interest in fan culture in that context. Every artist of any kind has some interaction or dialogue with fans. Fans performing live concerts, I think have one of the most direct relationships, especially through their lyrics, which can be so personal, so emotional, can talk about relationships. There is so much opportunity there for fans to project onto them and imagine some kind of relationship with this person who's actually a stranger to them and has no idea who they are. So in What I Know About July, the protagonist Simon is already anxious, insecure, has imposter syndrome about the success he has achieved with this band, while also thinking he's actually not successful at all, he's never going to make it and so on. So he really has enough going on. Then he has this stalkery creepy number one fan, July, who's so into the band, but really out of all proportion into Simon, she takes that usually internalized thing that fans might do with their favorite band of imagining this intimacy, this emotional interaction going on between them and living that in real life and externalizing it and acting like Simon knows her and he should know who she is. She has a right to interact with him in real life, not just as an audience member, but with him as a person. What increasingly bothers him is that he feels that she's putting this claim on him like she owns what his music is about or even what he as a person is about. That kind of raises the question, who owns the narrative of what a band or a musician is about. Is it just the artists themselves or how much do the fans manipulate that? And this is just very micro focused on July because she is just crossing all the boundaries and going way too far in her fandom to the point that he feels stalked and threatened in a way that he can't really articulate. So as this anxiety about her and this sense of her really intruding into his life is coming to a head, July then disappears and suddenly there's this gap that is also alarming in a way even more alarming than her actual presence. And it becomes almost all that Simon can think about. Is it because he's worried about her? Does he feel some sense of responsibility for his fan? Is it because she disappeared after one of his shows and he blames himself because she was there to see him? Is it maybe because he might have been involved? Or is it because something's missing without her there to worship him? So overall there are these different developments happening in parallel where Simon is becoming more successful as a musician but he's also trying to grow as a person to fill his life with positive things instead of substance abuse or unhealthy thought patterns or hurting the people around him. And his creative work is a big part of that and at the same time his growing fame also gives him a platform for trying to do good but it all gets so wrapped up in finding his missing stalker that everything begins to feel like it's incomplete until he does. So it's kind of a ramped up version of the kind of balance that a lot of artists and musicians strive for or struggle to find between their public and private selves between trying to be successful yet also fulfilled creatively to make things that will sell and be well-liked but also are meaningful to them as an artist and the balance between trying to be a good artist and also a good person yet all along July keeps getting the way of that first through her invasive presence and then even more so through her absence and in trying to find out what happened to her Simon has to look at himself in a new way. He has to try to see himself the way this fan saw him and so he starts to ask himself what were my music what were my lyrics saying to this fan July what was she getting out of me as a musician as a person and as he starts to look for answers he might not like what he finds out about July and also about himself. Thanks for tuning in and I hope you like what you hear. [Music] This stalker was literally the only one of Simon's fans he never thought about sleeping with. No not literally his little sister Franzi was always getting on his case about that you're not literally dying like she'd know but anyway obviously some of his fans were ugly some were men some were too young pedophile bait rather than jail bait and there were the girls who spent his whole show making out with their greasy boyfriends without ever looking up but not the stalker she wasn't even bad looking now that his standards were very high which worried him since his therapist acted like he was some sex addict with zero ability to commit this stalker never even glanced at her phone while he was playing he didn't mean to look but there was something magnetic about the intensity of her gaze as bad as he felt when a woman didn't show interest this was worse his drummer Misha had been the first to call the short brunette with awful taste in lipstick and an endless array of ban shirts the stalker even though only Simon felt threatened by her she hung around before and after shows venue managers made nudge nudge references like she was some exotic pet Simon kept and that was probably what she wanted having her name link to his as often as possible as if they even used her name it was something ordinary like Julia but she always acted like Simon she'd know who she was and he did some little warning light flashing when he saw her maneuvering through the crowd toward him watch out stalker it was this maneuvering and positioning of herself that put him off even more than her postcards piling up in the mailroom of poor dog records he didn't know her or if he did it was only because she'd forced her acquaintance on him he assumed she lived in Berlin since she'd made every show in town since their first album came out she sometimes turned up in nearby cities and had once even accosted him in Munich with a story about visiting relatives it creeped him out to think of her traveling all that way for him with someone else that amount of devotion would have stroked his volatile ego enough for a positive response but seeing her stupid knowing smile on the front row that night it almost cost him his rhythm what gave her the right Nisha laughed himself silly at the slightest hint that Simon was afraid of her and now Tanya had gotten wind of it she played bass and teased Simon and anyone she could get her hands on with the mercilessness of an older sibling Misha had pointed out that in addition to her obvious talent Tanya offered certain demographic benefits Tom their first bassist had quit before they recorded anything after a coke fueled fight over his girlfriend and Simon had gone on to have a crushing relationship and even more crushing breakup with the willowy blonde who replaced him Nadine had left the band when they'd been just popular enough for people to notice since Tanya wasn't it to men Simon couldn't start anything with her she smoked like a chimney but didn't touch drugs she was a godsend the other advantage was her ruthless careerism despite the tough sarcastic impression she made or perhaps because of it she'd soon coerced and charmed the band on to a bigger label I don't plan on dying young she'd said I need something in the bank for when I'm an old hag she worked at a temping agency doing everything from data entry to dishes but had only the usual Berlin savings account a shoebox full of change when you're an old hag Misha had asked they'd gotten close enough to be mean to each other almost right away Simon like Tanya which dr for a while first said was a healthy development and his relationship to women of course he didn't buy into everything she said it had taken him a few sessions to notice she had a doctorate in literature not psychology but that was what you got for picking your therapist based solely on proximity to your apartment between touring recording and making overpriced lattes at his day job he didn't see her that often he should have had the stalker analyze him she got more face time mostly though he went back and forth between worrying that what dr f said was true and he'd never be cured and coming up with reasons why it couldn't be like the sex thing he didn't actually have sex that often in fact he never did except after a show that average shout to less than with Nadine though they'd have their ups and downs and not just in bed right now he happened to be single which meant he had to divide a perfectly normal amount of sex among different women he also happened to be incapable of picking up anyone outside of a concert venue that was another of dr f's suggestions meeting someone the normal way he tried saying it was normal to meet potential partners at work but she'd made it into this whole power thing in actual fact it was just easier on his days off stage he made good coffee and bad small talk if he had a shift at cafe astral read or listen to music and folks park fruit or sign if he didn't a beer with me shed tanya was a big night out for him and when we he was himself simon camper without a guitar or mic surprise surprise women didn't throw themselves at him sure he got occasional darting glances but they always seem to be asking how far gone he was whether the downcast eyes and five o'clock yesterday shadow were intriguing or signs of unemployment addiction a life of crime now that hair versus hedgehog was playing bigger venues people sometimes came up to ask if it was really him but instead of leading to new love interests his minor celebrity status only created more distance he felt slow and clumsy in the harsh light of day and never managed to say anything clever they probably thought he wanted to be left alone he did and he didn't they never even asked for autographs just identified him and drifted away to tell their many loved ones about the slightly famous misanthroped they'd run into the anecdote would be more interesting than the actual encounter it was different at a show beforehand they'd sidle up with breathy compliments and talk of great parties later he didn't party much anymore or at all really but admitting that made him feel old the beauty of these pre-show invitations was the idea that there was some cache and being seen with him he loved to play the person they saw him as afterward he'd scribble signatures on tote bags t-shirts and skin and get photographed with countless devices and overheated fans whose heart rate tripled when he put an arm around them it was easier when you knew you were wanted he specialized in the very bold and very timid when he was exhausted and he almost always was he liked athletic girls with thought ponytails fierce smiles and more self-assurance than he'd had on the best days of his life when he had the energy though he chatted up the skittish ones who stammered in search of replies and gulped when he touched their arms it felt like charity but still on his favor upon those two meeked demanded but in his heart of losery hearts he knew he had more in common with these helpless wallflowers who'd never know they were attractive not even when they were in bed together not even when they did nervous breath holding imitations of sleep as he whispered you're beautiful as hopefully and hopelessly as if he were talking to himself the stalker was neither of these types she put a steady arm around his waist when she demanded a picture and acted like she'd known him before he was famous if he wanted to call it that in a way she had since she'd been at their first show after their first album came out but that wasn't the same she only knew concert him which even if he liked this persona better than his actual personality wasn't the real him and what was she to him her face had the impersonal familiarity of a pop art celebrity Mao Zedong or Marilyn Monroe he didn't feel like he'd always known her but like he'd always known what she was a standard feature of his surroundings like the sticky bars and fall graffiti bathrooms of clubs unpleasant but expected it remained unclear whether she was trying to flirt or so deluded she thought they were friends once she hung around so long a bartender told her how talented her boyfriend was Simon said I don't even know her but she laughed like it was an inside joke being rude to her might backfire since she posted on their website several times a day and was probably all over whatever social network could most effectively spread the word that he was an asshole the only thing he could think to do was leave with the nearest fan if the stalker was disappointed she never let on the fall before their second album they had a local show he knew the stalker would be at not only because she hadn't missed one in the two years since their self-titled but also because he'd spotted her in nearby pot stem the night before she touched his arm as he carried in his guitar hey it's been a while he kept walking he'd managed to avoid her in pot stem by going home with a sainer fan named Ilza before that they toured Austria which seemed to be out of her range Simon it's me it's the new haircut right he couldn't remember what her old one had been she had a nothing hairstyle brown into her shoulders he'd never had a reason to look closer maybe he'd never had the chance it was hard to contemplate someone so busy demanding a reaction from you hey julia no silly it's july remember a lot on your mind huh need a hand no thanks he headed for the concert hall which wasn't open to the public yet and tried to tell the bouncer with his eyes that she was part of that public and not with him behind them he heard me just snickering and then miraculously tanya sang doors weren't open yet he didn't stay to hear the stalkers reply it's my fault he told himself will he impact his guitar if i told her to fuck off but more than his fear of confirming to himself and the world what a jerk he was he was afraid nothing would happen that he'd realize how helpless he was caught in one of those dreams where you scream and scream but nobody can hear you you can't even hear yourself he told himself he wasn't upset she was a minor annoyance like the smoker's cough he was only now getting rid of after months without cigarettes his voice his career and so on having to smoke on the sly at rehab had forced him to cut back until quitting became a possibility plus the facility was in the middle of nowhere so he'd been unable to restock but like that annoying cough which had convinced him every now and again that he was on the fast track to death the stalker sometimes got under his skin and he hated her for it dr f would have said what he really hated was himself for letting her get to him it was so obvious he didn't need to hear it and yet she did get to him and he did hate her for it he wrote down the set list he long since memorized it but rewriting it relaxed him helped him feel ready then tuning the kind of precise concentration that was the only real albeit temporary cure for anxiety other than drinking drugs sometimes sex and those moments of innocent happiness so rare he dismissed them as hearsay tanya finished tuning her first string before she said she's still there who you could always hope there must have been somebody who'd sound like good news nail biting fidgety ulza had said this morning that she couldn't make it what she'd taken is didn't want to he'd only gone home with her to escape july she'd spent half the night apologizing for things he didn't care about she'd only recently gained this weight her place wasn't usually this messy the neighbors weren't usually this loud but by morning she'd become purposeful and confident rushing him out so she could lock up no mention of phone numbers i didn't who else then nadine would be even worse news in the stalker his mom had always been supportive especially since he'd gotten help for his supposed habits but she had yet to come to a show francey was busy saving the world or studying there weren't many people in his life let alone she's the stalker obviously i'll set up the mics if you want to talk to her i don't where's misha getting takeout why not put her out of her misery because i don't want to he hated sounding like a bratty kid stomping his foot and insisting he didn't want to go to bed but he didn't not with july it wouldn't be like with other fans it would mean something she'd make sure it did but she couldn't make him like her tanya laughed coughed and hacked onto the floor maybe lay off the cigarettes the smirk he managed to keep off his face was all over his voice she spat again didn't i tell you i'm down to a pack a day birthday resolution anyway she's your problem he sighed what wasn't listen he said even though she was fixated on him the second he came out it was like when you got stuck talking to a boring party guest and couldn't find anyone else to say hi to we need to get warmed up so so she put a hand on her hip like many of her poses it seemed staged it was strange how fake you could find someone without having any idea what their real looked like we don't have time for anything else sorry he hated himself for always acting like he owed everyone an apology no problem see you later she didn't seem disappointed but it was all part of her just stopping by to see a friend act that made him crazy he hurried backstage she should have felt insecure rejected starstruck at least he didn't consider himself a star but she must or why bother stalking him nadine's nasty stone voicemails about how gray and toxic he was weren't the only reason he changed his number the stalkers perky hey simon had been equally draining the kind of energy suck he didn't need tonight that big-time music critic was supposed to come meaning they were likely to play a shitty show he saw tanya's leather jacket on a music stand and thought about looking for the flask she kept in an inner pocket for an emergency which just definitely wasn't he needed to come down breathe he put two fingers under his chin to feel his pulse da da da still alive he needed air not alcohol he had trouble eating before a show his nerves upset his stomach and that it limited the amount he could drink a cigarette would have been just the thing but he wasn't gonna let her throw him off track tanya came back huffing and puffing and he thought she really should quit before they had to find yet another bassist but who was he to talk he'd written their first album in rehab not the kind for famous people but rural public health insurance rehab for back country addicts and losers like himself the most shameful part was that he hadn't even had a problem with drugs he'd had a problem with reality there was a reason he'd been the only patient without withdrawal symptoms but now he was healthy never taking anything not smoking drinking less just a tad anxious it was a chicken egg situation drinking or smoking or swallowing something to kill the panic the panic bigger when it came back the cure worse than the disease the disease worse after every cure sometimes he thought about giving up even alcohol going vegan yoga religion the whole shebang but he knew he'd feel insincere like he always did she gone hope so should we get warmed up win me she's here chill she ran a hand over the top of her stiff oily massive hair he could never tell whether that coiffer was the result of cosmetic product or complete lack of them she didn't smell like anything but smoke so he liked to think she bathed i'm chill he said in his least convincing most woody allen neurotic voice then cleared his throat i'm still getting used to not smoking i feel jittery yeah i quit once and it sucked but don't fuck up your voice the singer is not replaceable evening ladies misha came in with the bag of takeout he and tanya would wolf down like those kids who grew up in the wilderness and simon would pick at well they philosophized about random shit like they weren't about to go on stage he hadn't heard the door open it made him nervous to think someone could sneak up like that but he knew that was only his anxiety seeking an outlet dr f had said so last month when he admitted to being terrified to sleep alone after watching a movie where a monster comes out of the kid's closet there was always something right now it was the stalker but if it weren't her it'd be the monster or terminal illness or dying alone and being eaten by cats which was a stretch since he didn't even have a cat i saw the stalker misha said she's one of your nicer weirdos although serial killers neighbors always say later on how nice and quiet they were i wish she'd be quieter simon took the donor kebab misha handed him but no matter how much he chewed the bread and meat stuck in his throat tanya snorted and beer came out of her nose that had taken simon a while to get used to and he still wondered whether her nasal passages were hooked up wrong but he shouldn't have said anything now wasn't the time to talk about something stressful not with them that was one thing he missed about nadine she'd been a good listener and had a calming effect on him when they were getting along he could admit now that he hadn't quite been in love with her whatever that was but she'd had such an aura of gentleness before he got to know her better then she'd kissed him while misha was offsetting up the merch stand and even though a lot of him thought oh cool there was one part that already thought no not her it was never going to work of course seeing each other every day writing songs practicing and touring together it had gone well at first because everything stayed the same except they were sleeping together which saved time he'd otherwise have spent picking up fans or worrying about scds dodging around condoms and was more intimate than anything else he'd experienced misha would have told them to break it off if he'd noticed in time but he was a little slow on the uptake they had a few great weeks and a few good months before things got worse then he'd woken up breathless in the middle of the night in a shitty motel room the three of them were sharing and realized he couldn't do it he and nadine had been bickering at a constant low flame ever since they got serious but it wasn't that he couldn't do anything right her voice would freeze over flat and cold as she asked how he could be so thoughtless whether he'd introduced her wrong on a show forgotten to pick up something at the store or misunderstood what she said there was no way he could live up to her expectations what would happen when the glow wore off and she figured out how he really was in what dr f would later call the defining characteristic of his romantic encounters he'd felt sure that everything nadine liked about him was fake put on for her benefit it was an exhausting charade and he was cracking under the pressure according to dr f that was only his insecurity making him think no one could love him for who he was but the feeling had been pretty convincing at the time when he tried to avoid nadine after that tour her iciness had burst into flames of unexpected rage they'd broken up and gotten back together a few times with a layer of affection over their resentment stretched a little thinner each time rehab should have been a clean break but he'd come out lonely with nowhere to go and found her nostalgic and welcoming by the time your album came out this last brief honeymoon phase was already a memory he was the opposite of misha who went with the flow saw a woman as long as she was interested and then forgot her his motto was we'll see but simon couldn't wait and see he lived in the eye of a perpetual storm one false move could wipe out with little stability he had my advice tanya was saying just say yes huh she loves the chase if she doesn't have to stalk you what's the point whoa who invaded friday me she asked yeah simon said it could work like that or the exact opposite like if i encourage her at all she'll stalk me even more what if she finds out where i live you don't have to invite her over just hang out with her you really think it'll help she finished chewing crumple up the paper and rub the crumbs off her hands can't hurt he'd been too nice the first time they talked but it had been hair versus hedgehogs first chance to present their debut album opening for a band is smidge less obscure than they were and he'd been so nervous he would have made small talk with hitler to get his mind off things the album had only been out a few days and he'd only been out of springtime healthy living a few months the stalker approached him before the show and said she loved seeing him solo and was excited to finally see the band live which left him wondering which of the minuscule sets he'd played before the band could have left such a lasting impression was she a friend of a friend someone he should know no he had so few friends if she seemed a little familiar it was probably because the audiences that his solo shows had been small enough for him to make out each individual face in the crowd if you could call it a crowd at least they were only the opener tonight and wouldn't be to blame if no one showed up so how's it feel to be out she was asking out of where she laughed in a put-on coquettish way and he felt the first twinge of the discomfort he would come to associate with her of rehab don't tell me you're high again already no stay friendly she'd bought a ticket and wanted to make conversation it wasn't real to her i actually really don't like to talk about that oh right her hand on his arm was unwelcome but less so than further discussion of the topic i feel you let's forget i ever brought it up and just keep looking ahead yeah cool he backed out from under her touch as she talked about listening to the new album online he wondered why she hadn't been to any other h-verse age shows if she liked his solo work so much they'd been playing concerts long before the album came out before he ruined things and then ducked out to rehab forcing everyone to pity instead of blame him maybe she thought pretending she liked his early work would give her more cred he knew the kind at times he was the kind either way her reference to rehab was a dead giveaway that she'd been hanging out on their site their last post before announcing the album and show had been a sappy picture of misha hugging him captioned welcome back simon he was dying to go back and delete his cringy comments about feeling grateful and pure after rehab but that would only call attention to their having existed in the first place he thanked her again trying not to seem surprised that someone liked him that much at the time that seemed desirable flattering not a source of recurring panic what else had she said something random like have i put on too much weight even though she wasn't heavy he said no you look good which must have been the compliment she was fishing for more than anything about her appearance he realized it was her way of speaking that made her seem familiar not because he recognized her voice her mannerisms but because from the beginning she talked like they knew each other many fans imagined that kind of personal connection to members of their favorite bands but july was the first he'd interacted with and no amount of interactions him to convince her that they were strangers thanks you look better without the beard thanks another reference to that welcome back picture he'd shaved right after sort of a weird thing for a fan to say but the goodness of having a fan still outweighed the weirdness of said fan he didn't say anything to get her hopes up just that he hoped she'd enjoy the show to be honest he might also have said he'd love to hear what she thought but that was all of course she turned up at their little folding table afterward and since they'd spoken before there was this whole recognition vibe but all she said was great show other strangers said that too there was no reason for her to feel special once he agreed to tanya's stupid idea he felt his pulse even out and the blood come back into his icy hands having a plan meant his brain could check the whole thing off until the next danger signal he was used to tricking himself this way and even though he saw through it it almost always worked for a while sometimes he thought about joining one of those cults where they brainwashed you into an unnatural calm in exchange for all your material assets but what if it didn't work like he'd be sitting there chanting his secret mantra in a paper hat and not be taken in besides he hadn't even seen franzy or his therapist let alone his parents and ages who had time to get brainwashed he asked me should he get him a drink so he wouldn't risk seeing july tried picking at his food again tried breathing the rancid air in the courtyard and then settled in to half hear the opener from backstage he felt vague through the first couple songs of his set like when he slept late and woke up heavy to a slower world but it was a gentle feeling better than that hard painful beat of his heart when he couldn't tell whether he was still breathing this was one of the ways in which concerts could be good the clarity of his role the knowledge of the audience wanted him to play had come especially for that purpose it was one of the few situations involving other people where he knew what he was supposed to do so thanks for tuning in lit listeners if you enjoyed the show please subscribe and leave a rating and comment on good pods and apple podcast links in the show notes why it the rock is lit mascot and I really appreciate your support until next time keep rocking and reading and getting lit rock is lit the kimmy kato show featured on panda on podcasts the kimmy kato show is a weekly exploration of japanese pop culture in all its facets kimmy and jeremya as hosts delve into various aspects of japanese culture including music food fashion and film offering listeners a comprehensive and entertaining look at what makes japanese pop culture unique and intriguing it is your invitation to japan hey everybody i'm bann i'm Doug aware of the band who mistake hi i'm takato Miyake walking full sound to the global spirits hello i'm sincere from dusenke oh guys this is masa takomi this is chris heart hi i'm sogizo you are listening to kimmy kato show thank you kimmy kato show is brought to you by evolve entertainment network pantheon podcast and radio candy media
In this installment of the Rock is Lit Season 4 Reading Series, Kat Hausler reads an excerpt from her novel ‘What I Know About July’ and discusses its creation.
The novel centers around indie rocker Simon Kemper, fresh out of rehab and riding the wave of moderate success with his band in Berlin. But lurking in the background is his stalker, a mysterious figure present at every show, sending unsettling postcards to his label and acting as though she owns him. When she suddenly vanishes during one of his performances, Simon becomes the prime suspect. What begins as an attempt to clear his name spirals into a deeper psychological journey, as Simon questions whether her obsession could have truly ended—or if it has merely become entangled in the lives of those closest to him: his bandmates, a new romantic interest, an embittered ex, and the person he thought he had left behind. Narcissistic and insecure, Simon's struggle to become a better person is central to this haunting story.
Originally from Virginia, Kat Hausler is a graduate of New York University and holds an M.F.A. in Fiction from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she was the recipient of a Baumeister Fellowship. She is the author of ‘Retrograde’ and ‘What I Know About July’, as well as many shorter pieces. Her work has appeared in ‘Hawaii Pacific Review’, ‘34th Parallel’, ‘Inkspill Magazine’, ‘The Sunlight Press’, ‘The Dalloway’, ‘Rozlyn Press’, ‘Porridge Magazine’, ‘LitReactor’, ‘BlazeVOX’, ‘failbetter’, and’ The Airgonaut’, among others. She lives in Berlin and is also a translator.
MUSIC IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
Rock is Lit theme music
[Guitar Instrumental Beat] Sad Rock [Free Use Music] Punch Deck—“I Can’t Stop”
[Free] Indie Rock x Alternative Type Beat—“Borderline”
[Free] Lana del Rey Type Beat/“Tell Me You Love Me”/Indie Rock Type Beat
(Free) Acoustic Guitar Type Beat—“Need You”
[Guitar Instrumental Beat] Sad Rock [Free Use Music] Punch Deck—“I Can’t Stop”
Rock is Lit theme music
LINKS:
Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451
Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350
Kat Hausler’s website: https://www.kathausler.com/
Kat Hausler on Facebook: @KatHausler
Kat Hausler on Instagram: @kat_hausler
Kat Hausler on Twitter: @Kat_Fiction
Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/rockislit
Christy Alexander Hallberg on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube: @ChristyHallberg
Rock is Lit on Instagram: @rockislitpodcast
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