#327 Mark Mustian and the Boy With Wings
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What does it mean to be different? This is the question Bob explores with author and President of the Word of South book and music festival, Mark Mustian, as they discuss his new historical-fiction novel, "The Boy with Wings." Set against the backdrop of a traveling freak show in the American South during the 1930s, the narrative follows the poignant journey of Johnny Cruel, a young man born with a distinctive birthmark that renders him an outcast. Historical fiction is a rarity on The Road to Now, so this is a truly special episode that you do not want to miss. Bob and Mark also discuss the Word of South book and music festival held every April in Tallahassee, Florida.
Boy with Wings is out on March 15 from Köehler Books- click here for links to (pre)order your copy.
This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm Bob Crawford, and this is The Road to Now. |
| 0:05.8 | What does it mean to be different? |
| 0:08.5 | It's a question our guest today, author Mark Muschen, addresses in his new novel, Boy with Wings. |
| 0:16.2 | Now, we have rarely, if ever, welcomed a fiction writer on the road to now, but today there are two |
| 0:22.8 | caveats. Mark is an old friend, in addition to being a great author. He is the president of the |
| 0:30.7 | Word of South Book and Music Festival in Tallahassee, Florida. Ben and I had the pleasure of sharing the stage there with Jonah Goldberg |
| 0:39.5 | last spring. It is truly one of the most unique festivals in the whole country. You should consider |
| 0:45.3 | taking a trip down there if you have a chance. It is our pleasure to welcome Mark Mushton to the |
| 0:50.2 | Road to Now. Mark Mushton, welcome to the Road to Now. Thanks Muschen, welcome to the Road to Now. |
| 0:56.8 | Thanks, Bob. |
| 0:57.7 | Thanks for having me. |
| 0:58.9 | Mark, it's a pleasure to have you. |
| 1:01.5 | I'd like to thank you here publicly for having Ben and I at the Word of South Book and |
| 1:08.8 | Music Festival last year in Tallahassee. |
| 1:12.0 | Yeah, it was great. |
| 1:13.1 | We were pleased to have you guys. |
| 1:14.7 | I thought it was an interesting session with Jonah Goldberg, so thanks for doing it. |
| 1:19.0 | We had the best time, and it was just a great time being there, and I've had a great time |
| 1:23.7 | in the past when the Ava brothers played there several years ago. |
| 1:26.8 | So I was going to tell you that |
| 1:28.4 | the, so the, the, this, this will be our 11th festival this year. And the first festival we did was in |
| 1:34.8 | 2015. And you guys were the, the kickoff act for the festival in April 2015. And, uh, and we had |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Benjamin Sawyer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Benjamin Sawyer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.