Carly Hallman, author of the YEAR OF THE GOOSE, joins Cate Dicharry, author of THE FINE ART OF F$#KING UP for a conversation

YEAR OF THE GOOSE

As China's economy booms, so do its corporations, but none are as successful as the Bashful Goose Snack Company. Founded by Papa Hui, the company is a national treasure, as is his inspiration and beloved pet: the goose. Papa Hui's daughter, Kelly, isn't quite as adored, but she has a new and exciting post in her dad's company: head of the corporate responsibility department. There she is tasked with helping solve the obesity problem plaguing the country's children.

Kelly founds a "fat camp," where a series of gruesome accidents take place. While Kelly fears for her job, the government views the project as a success — the province is no longer the nation's leader in childhood obesity. Kelly returns to the city where she meets hair tycoon Wang Xilai, and we are introduced to the grotesque life of a modern day Gatsby.

When Papa Hui is brutally murdered, chaos ensues. Wang Xilai's muse Lulu flees to a hipster idyll, and she is soon joined at the oasis for millionaires by an insane Wang and desperate Kelly. Out of the absurdist satirical tradition of Mo Yan comes a hard-hitting yet whimsical portrayal of China's new "tycoon culture."

THE FINE ART IF FUCKING UP

It’s war at the School of Visual Arts, and nobody’s art is safe. Not even Jackson Pollock’s!

Your archenemy taunts you with clandestine bacon frying. Your boss feverishly cyberstalks an aging romance novel cover model. Your husband unexpectedly takes in a wayward foreign national. Your best friend reveals a secret relationship with your longstanding workplace crush.

Welcome to the life of Nina Lanning, lone and floundering administrator of a prestigious Midwestern art school. Her colleagues are pioneers of contemporary art movements, inspirational orators, creative virtuosos and the source of constant headaches as they rage against the authority Nina represents. They also happen to be her closest friends.

When once-a-century flooding threatens to destroy the art building, and the priceless Jackson Pollock trapped inside, Nina and her ragtag band of faculty members undertake to rescue the early work of the splatter master. Propelled by disasters both natural and personal, Nina must confront her colleagues, her husband, and most importantly, herself. Cate Dicharry’s debut novel is a painfully hysterical examination of what is truly worth saving, and mastering the art of letting go.

Cate Dicharry lives in Iowa City, Iowa, with her husband and two small sons. The Fine Art of Fucking Up is her first novel.