John Andrew Fredrick is a novelist and musician, and I dare say grossly underappreciated on both counts. Consider “Meg” as exhibit A, and there’s plenty more where that came from:

On the occasion of his new novel, The King of Good Intentions II, I interviewed him for the LA Review of Books.

He shares thoughts on everything from life in a touring band (The King II also has some brilliant portraits of this) to his motivations as a writer and his hopes for his music and fiction. One of the great lines from his new novel is the observation that, “Every band, at any level, believes they should be one level up.” The same is true for writers in many cases. Not every band is right about that, nor is every writer. Fredrick is, I think. Start with the interview, and see if you agree.

– John