Welcome to The Interruption, a 49th Shelf–Books on the Radio podcast in which I interview Canadian writers about the surprising things that inform, inspire, and even interrupt their creative process. The Interruption is now generously sponsored by The UBC Creative Writing Program, celebrating 50 years of excellence in creative writing. Programs include undergraduate minor and major degrees, Masters of Fine Arts in Vancouver or by distance education from anywhere in the world! For more information visit creativewriting.ubc.ca.

Today, I chat with Richard Rosenbaum, the author of Raise Some Shell: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ECW Press, 2014). Here's what one reviewer (Vic Sage, at Retroist) had to say about the book:

"The highest praise I can give to Richard Rosenbaum is that while his book is quite educational and smartly written [it is] enormously humorous .... during my first read through I kept imagining the author and I sitting at a restaurant just chatting about characters that we loved very much .... He proudly announces in the first few pages of the book that Donatello is the best character ... and that is an absolute truth."

Natalie Zina Walschots (writing for the National Post) agrees that the book rocks—"intense yet refreshing, and always delivered with humour")—but demurs on one point:

"There’s one thing Rosenbaum is wrong about. He firmly proclaims that Donatello is the best Turtle. Sorry, but Raphael still has his sais lodged deep in my heart."

Richard Rosenbaum is a fiction editor at Broken Pencil (Canada’s magazine of underground arts and independent culture) and a regular contributor to OverThinkingIt.com. Richard published his book, Richard Rosenbaum received his Master’s in communication and culture from Ryerson University, and this is what he’s doing with it. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

The first podcast is my interview with Richard, and the second is his reading from Raise Some Shell.

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Richard Rosenbaum reads from Raise Some Shell.