The journalist and author Sean Michaels discusses his debut novel, Us Conductors (Random House, 2014), with Joseph Planta.

Us Conductors by Sean Michaels (Random House, 2014). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Us Conductors

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

Sean Michaels joins me now. The Montreal based journalist and founder of Said the Gramophone is the New Face of Fiction, and has published his first novel, Us Conductors. He joins me now following an appearance in the city with the Vancouver Writer’s Festival last week. I’ll ask him about this book, and the story therein that’s inspired by the life and loves of the Russian scientist, spy and inventor, Lev Termen. I’ll ask Mr. Michaels about the theremin, which Lev invented, and about what the real life Lev gets up to in this novel. We’re taken from New York of the 1930s, and the lively scene there, and then to the Soviet Union as the Cold War heats up. Lev in the first half of the book is a bit of a novelty, a Russian in glamorous Manhattan, then in the second half is imprisoned in a Siberian gulag. This is a story of love, loyalty, invention and intrigue. Sean Michaels is an award winning journalist, who was born in Stirling, Scotland and who was raised in Ottawa. Visit www.byseanmichaels.com for more information. The book is published by Random House. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Sean Michaels; Mr. Michaels, good morning.

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