All right. Okay. Hey there. How's it going? Welcome to The Other People Show. I'm not doing the music today. I decided unilaterally. I just was standing here, getting ready to do the show, and I thought to myself, do I need this music? Is it necessary? Do I even like it? Have I ever liked it? Does anybody like it? Isn't a theme song just a waste

of time? We know what show this is. You're not listening to this program by accident. I think

in some ways I might be having a crisis of confidence about the music. The fact that I picked it,

whether or not I liked the song, what the song might say about me,

the fact that I chose it, it's possible that I'll go back to it, or maybe I won't.

I don't know.

So in lieu of using the music, I did use like some nature sounds instead, which I realize

is also a little bit strange, but could possibly be more enjoyable in a more efficient way

to enter the realm of this program.

If you have thoughts on this, you can email me.

My address is Letters at OtherPPL.com.

Letters at OtherPPL.com. Letters at OtherPPL.com.

On the program today, I have Duping Chen as my guest. Her debut story collection, Land of Big Numbers,

is out there now from Houghton Mifflin-Harkourt. It is generating buzz and earning rave reviews.

It also happens to be the official January pick of the Nervous Breakdown Book Club.

The Nervous Breakdown.com is my online culture magazine and literary community.

Perhaps you're aware of it.

It has its own monthly book club.

And I interview book club authors on this program each

month. For more on The Nervous Breakdown Book Club, just go to the Nervous Breakdown.com and

click on Book Club in the menu bar. So, Deping Chen, in addition to being an excellent

fiction writer, is also an accomplished journalist. She is currently a Wall Street

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