Midland & Odessa, Ep. 5

September 12, 2022 — In our grand return to Midland & Odessa, LDM joined forces with Odessa Arts and Writers' League of Texas for a night of brilliance inside a boxing ring (!) that saw James Wade narrowly win over co-finalist Kathy Valentine in a thrilling battle of Original or Adapted, winning Wade the LDM Midland & Odessa, Ep. 5 crown and literary immortality to go with it. 

Here's the full lineup from the night: 

JUDGES: 

Literary Merit: Becka Oliver, Executive Director of the Writers' League of Texas after spending more than 16 years working in book publishing

Performance: Cameron Ludwick, co-author of My Old Kentucky Roadtrip and publicity and communications manager at the University of Texas Press

Intangibles: Jeramey Kraatz, author of the Cloak Society and Space Runners series, a forthcoming graphic novel about Lizzie Borden, and he also adapts anime series, films, and video games, including scripts for blockbuster franchises like Dragon Ball, My Hero Academia, and Attack on Titan

READERS:
Round 1:
* Stacey Swann, a Stegner fellow, her debut novel Olympus, Texas was a Good Morning America Book Club selection, an Indie Next Pick, and was longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

* Kathy Valentine, author of All I Ever Wanted (which hit #1 on Amazon's Rock Biography chart), and working musician/songwriter who was part of the Go-Go's where she wrote or co-wrote many of the band's most renowned songs (like "Vacation" and "Head Over Heels")

Round 2: 
* James Wade, author of the all-new Beasts of the Earth and All Things Left Wild, winner of the prestigious MPIBA Reading the West Award for Debut Fiction, and a recipient of the Spur Award for Best Historical Novel from the Western Writers of America

* Sarah Bird, author of 11 novels, including the all-new Last Dance on the Starlight Pier, she's also been long-listed for the Dublin International Literary Award, was selected for the Meryl Streep Screenwriting Lab and is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame

Hosted by LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga (author of the award-nominated novel Collision Theory)

Produced by Randy Ham & Becka Oliver

Where: The Ector, 500 N Texas Ave, Odessa