I'll throw my hat in the ring, I guess. Two years ago my debut novel was picked up by a publishing company, and although it never really took off (sales were modest as I wasn't able to secure an agent or publicist), I'm still pretty proud of it. It blends some of my grad school experiences with a completely fictional main character who stumbles backwards into a celebrity nightmare. On a stoned lark, my protagonist applies to be part of a contest to decide who will be the first ever time traveller. Once he sobers up and realizes what he's done, he acts out to get thrown out of the contest, yet since the whole thing is televised, he just gets more and more famous. I had intended the story to be a humorous commentary on the pervasiveness of celebrity culture and the shallowness of fame. I also wanted to tell a story that blended my experiences in grad school with a coming of age tale about a mid-20-something who is forced to grow up after a lifetime in school (shielded from any permanent decisions aside from those that kept him in college). It's kind of like Van Wilder-meets-Contact-meets-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Shameless plug to the Amazon book listing here: https://www.amazon.com/Obvious-Child-Warren-Cantrell/dp/161213226X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472681993&sr=1-1&keywords=obvious+child

In scholarly terms, I've only published once (a single essay in a collection), which frankly wasn't very good and wouldn't want to publicize even if I didn't want to remain anonymous on here! I've got a review coming out soon and another chapter plus a journal article in the pipeline, although they're still in the early stages of development.

So although I'm not going to be revealing my identity via publication here, I'll happily share my favorite publications with you here! The basic text which set me down the road to becoming a historian of 'feudalism' and medieval society are the ones which still shape a lot of the way I look at history:

• Susan Reynolds' Fiefs and Vassals, especially the introduction and first 2 chapters, is the classics "Feudalism didn't exist" polemic, and was a real eye-opener for me as a first-year undergrad.

• Chris Wickham's The Inheritance of Rome introduced me to Early Medieval Europe (in which my university had very little courses offered), as well as inspiring me to focus my interests on broader, socio-economical and structural questions. The final chapter, wonderfully titled 'The Caging of the Peasantry' contains ideas which still drive my research today, more than half a decade after I first read it; the book as a whole is probably the historical work I return to most (My five year old paperback copy is nearly falling apart already!), as every single page is enlightening and thought-provoking.

• Thomas Bisson's 'The Feudal Revolution' article in Past & Present 142 (1994), pp. 6-42 and the responses which followed in subsequent issues introduced me to the fascinating controversies of understanding how pivotal the 11th century was in European history.

• Marc Bloch's classic, Feudal Society, which has dated an awful lot, but remains a classic for a reason: it sets out so many assumptions and understandings which have underpinned medieval history for nearly a century. Given how much research has taken place since this book was published in the 30s, it's astonishing how well it holds up, not only for its methodological/historical interest (which is why people like Braudel etc. are usually read today) but for its remarkable insights.

All of these works inspired me to study what I do now, and they continue to inform my research and inspire new questions even to this day!

I produce a (roughly) fortnightly podcast on Chinese history, titled (appropriately enough) The History of China Podcast. We've worked our way from the origins mythos of the culture through the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Warring States, Qin, Han, 3 Kingdoms, 16 Kingdoms, Southern & Northern Period, Sui and are now smack-dab in the middle of the Tang Dynasty of the late-8th century.

We welcome any and all aboard ;)