Funds for Bookworm are provided in part by Lannin Foundation.

You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed.

Or you are the only animal.

Who can think, who can reason, who can read.

From KCRW in Santa Monica, I'm Michael Silverblatt, and this is Bookworm.

Today I'm very pleased to have us my guest, Stanley Crawford, whose new novel Petroleum

Man has been published by the Overlook Press.

Now, Stanley is a very interesting writer for me because I started reading his books in around

1969 when a teacher of mine gave me his first novel, Gascoigne.

I quickly found travel notes from here to there.

And then the number of people who recommended the log of the SS, the Mrs. Unglanteen included Ann Beattie, any number of writers would speak to me about that book.

His fourth novel, known as Some Instructions, has a long title that I'll ask Stanley to recite.

Okay, here goes.

Some instructions to my wife concerning the upkeep of the house and marriage and to my son and

daughter concerning the conduct of their childhood.

Now, he went on, you know, there would be notes in the book saying that he was a garlic

farmer in New Mexico, which only added to the antic presence of this author about whom so little was known.

His books about those experiences include a garlic testament.

He went on to be the supervisor of irrigation, and he wrote about it in his book, Mayor Domo,

and there is also a river in winter.

But we're here to talk about his fiction.

...