Search

Home > Desert Oracle Radio > Kurt Schauppner’s “The Trick of Singularity” explores the inevitability of everything ending


	Podcast:		Desert Oracle Radio
	Episode:		Kurt Schauppner’s “The Trick of Singularity” explores the inevitability of everything ending
	Category:		Society & Culture
	Duration:		00:00:00
	Publish Date:		2026-04-12 18:13:13
	Description:		Local author and journalist Kurt Schauppner has released his latest book The Trick of Singularity, a fictional novel that follows main character Nathan Lee through the shadow side of love with enough humor to let the light in. Reporter Gabriel Hart sat down with Schauppner and Rich Soos of Cholla Needles to discuss the novel’s introspective themes. Kurt A. Schauppner has written the novels Shards of Broken Glass, The First Book of Exile, and Ghosts of Ide County, along with his story collection Songs Without Words. When asked what sets his new novel The Trick of Singularity apart from his previous work, Schauppner said, “This one has a little more autobiography in it. Although it’s not directly about me, there’s a lot of elements of me in it which I’ve never done before and some of it gets pretty close… so you can learn a lot more about Kurt than you ever wanted to know. It’s fiction but I steal a lot from my real life and my main character Nathan Lee has a lot in common with me. Imagine me about ten years from now, I might end up a lot like Nathan Lee.” Schauppner says the narrative arc begins at the end of Lee’s life in an assisted living home, where he’s contemplating the end of life for himself and his friends. The novel then goes back in time to his life as a working man before it goes even further back to the beginning of why Lee became a “grumpy old fart.” Kurt Schauppner, author of The Trick of Singularity When asked about some of the more glaring similarities between the author and main character, Schauppner explained, “Well we’re both gay. We both had one true love in our life that we lost. We both have spent many years in relationships that turned out to be just shadows of that first relationship and which caused a lot of pain and suffering for all the people who were involved. When you find out that the person you love can never truly love you back, that’s not a good thing, and I did that to a lot of people, and so did Nathan.” Schauppner says the main theme of The Trick of Singularity is that “everything ends and there’s nothing we can go about it.” And while his heavy self-examination through fiction might sound doomed with existential dread, Schauppner is insistent that its tragic elements is not without comedy. “I definitely intended to put some humor into it. No matter what I’m writing I know that I’m going to go dark, and I don’t want to bludgeon the audience too much so I throw some humor in there just to liven things up. There’s a long tradition of doing that in literature,” said Schauppner. Rich Soos, publisher editor at Cholla Needles Schauppner’s publisher Rich Soos of Cholla Needles said it was a no-brainer to do a third book with him. “It did catch my eye, but it was a no brainer. Everything Kurt has sent me has been spot on so that’s good. I have a mother-in-law in an old folk’s home so there were scenes in there that were just perfect. It felt so real. And like Kurt mentioned about the relationships you know we’ve all had those kinds of relationships. It’s just a reality in language and I think it’s a story that anybody will read and understand,” said Soos. Schauppner is also a songwriter who will be performing at this year’s Hi-Desert Fringe Festival on Saturday, April 18, and will have copies of the new novel for sale. The Trick of Singularity is available to purchase through chollaneedles.com The post Kurt Schauppner’s “The Trick of Singularity” explores the inevitability of everything ending appeared first on Z107.7 FM Joshua Tree.
	Total Play:		0