Today, we're joined by novelist Daniel Mason to explore the quietly enchanted world of Country People, his warmest and funniest novel yet.

An academic California family lands in rural Vermont for a year while the father takes up scything and seeks out the “country people” who can maybe inspire him to finish his dissertation.

Daniel talks about the secret society of Hollow Earth believers at the story's heart, what drew him to writing a novel so different from his previous work, and why a man who has spent fourteen years not finishing his dissertation might not be a failure after all.