Some of world literature’s greatest writers are iconoclasts and rule breakers who subvert the reader’s expectations on every page so that he or she feels lost in the funhouse. Dave Kress is a contemporary outlaw writer and in this show we will be discussing his three works of fiction “Counting Zero,” “Martians,” and “Hush.” As an undergraduate, Dave studied English and Chemistry more or less equally, and for three years after graduation, he worked in industrial R&D. After conquering that field, he moved on to his second area of interest: literature and linguistics. While working on his MA, he fell in with a bad crowd: young, wise-ass fiction writers! After grad school, he worked as an adjunct at colleges in the Boston area while playing guitar in a band. Looking for more job security, he took a job as a technical writer, and it was then that he started writing fiction. After completing his MFA and PhD, he returned to part-time college teaching while his wife began her professional career at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. In 2005, he took a position of professor of fiction writing, contemporary literature, and literary theory at the University of Maine in Orono. If you would like to know more about host Mark Seinfelt’s work visit his website: www.markseinfelt.com . To learn more about Dave visit his faculty page: http://www.umaine.edu/english/faculty/david-kress/. Original music for this episode “Mystery” was composed and performed by Donnie “Turk” Schnars.

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