Joe Bond is the author of "Hope House," his debut novel that is out now from Hub City Press. The novel is set in 1980s Kentucky and told from inside a treatment home for troubled teenagers, where lost boys become more than their pasts and dare to imagine different futures.

There’s AWOL, who won’t stop running away. There’s Smoove, who’s been shot in his feet. There’s Damico, Karvel, Peanut, and Tonyboy Malopelli. Their futures promise prison or worse, but for now they’ve been brought together to see about getting themselves—and each other—right.

Hope House follows its ensemble cast through a five-phase program as the boys search for the one thing none of them have ever really had: a family.

He stopped by Ledger to talk about the genesis of the novel from a short story; figuring out he was "writing about the wrong stuff" before writing the novel, and that revelation's connection to fatherhood; on "reporting the novel" for years, even from his own adolescence; how the good pressure from people he worked with helped shape the novel; and perhaps most importantly, why he refused to cut the dog out of the book!

One big topic that comes up is the idea of getting to writing and/or literature "late in life" - you know, in your 20s! (That's not late, for anyone reading this. Not even close.)

Pick up a copy of "Hope House" from our affiliate link on Bookshop.org to support the show. Thank you to Joe for stopping by, and to you for listening!

Visit Joe Bond on his website - https://joebondwriter.com - and read his Paris Review essay - https://www.theparisreview.org/joe-bond- and his Lit Hub essay as well - https://lithub.com/five-things-i-got-wrong-in-my-first-novel-according-to-my-dad/ .

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I published two flash fiction pieces in April and one in May on my Substack, which you can find here: https://substack.com/@austinrwilson

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Thank you so much!