Darrin Doyle

Darrin Doyle teaches fiction writing at Kansas State University.

His short stories have appeared in Puerto del Sol, The Long Story, Cottonwood, Night Train, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Laurel Review, H_NGM_N, Harpur Palate, and other journals.

Revenge of the Teacher’s Pet: A Love Story, Doyle's first novel, is out this month from LSU Press. His second novel, The Girl Who Ate Kalamazoo, will be published by St. Martin's Press in 2010.

I recently asked him what he was reading. His reply:

Christine Schutt’s Florida – Schutt (pronounced skut) is a writer I enjoy for the pure pleasure of reading her amazing sentences. Her line-by-line reinvention of the world through language inspires consistent surprise, joy, and admiration. There’s also a wonderful storyline here, of a 13-year-old girl named Alice whose mother is committed to a sanatorium, after which Alice is sent to live in the loveless, cold environment of her Aunt and Uncle’s home. Really a devastating and beautiful book.

Philip Roth’s Indignation – It’s hard to read this slim, funny, and energetic novel and not recognize the work of a master. Set during the Korean War, it tells the story of 19-year-old Marcus Messner, the son of a New Jersey butcher who goes off to a private liberal arts college in Ohio in part because of his father’s fanatical, irrational fear that his son will die violently and unexpectedly. Through Marcus, Roth skillfully evokes the voice of a young adult – cocky and self-assured yet fragile and insecure – and tackles issues of alienation, fear of death, and sexuality in an entertaining, complex way.

Visit Darrin Doyle's faculty webpage, and read more about Revenge of the Teacher's Pet at the publisher's website.

--Marshal Zeringue