By Alex Higley
Narrated By Jim D. Johnston
Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
Release Date: 4-12-2018
Print Pub: Tortoise Books

Aging widower Russ Lanaker knows he doesn't know his neighbors--but when he finds out one of them was a witness to, and career expert on, the strange UFO phenomenon known as the Phoenix Lights, he realizes that's a situation he'd like to change. What follows is an odyssey out of his air-conditioned comfort zone, through the sun-baked Arizona suburbs, and onto the franchise-lined (and not-so-great) American road.

In an existential style reminiscent of Don DeLillo, but with the humor and heart of a Coen Brothers film, Alex Higley takes us along as Russ strikes out in search of knowledge about an alien encounter, and perhaps something far more bizarre--genuine human connection.

OLD OPEN

"Alex Higley's Old Open is an adventure and a riddle; a winding tale that's equal parts Coen Brothers and Denis Johnson. A gruff, generous, insightful, very funny book, and I simply loved it." - Lindsay Hunter, author, Eat Only When You're Hungry

"Crisp writing and splendid descriptions of momentous landscapes will carry readers through this journey of loss and learning to live in the moment." - Publishers Weekly

Alex Higley is the author of Cardinal and Other Stories (longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction) and Old Open. He has been previously published by Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, New World Writing, PANK, Fanzine, and elsewhere. He lives in Evanston, Illinois with his wife and dog.

2018 Talking Book