Terry Gross

In Peter Heller's debut novel, The Dog Stars, a man named Hig survives a superflu that kills most of humanity. Heller, a travel and adventure writer, says that when his novel took a post-apocalyptic turn, he found himself relying on his real-life scrapes and survival skills.

The stand-up comedian says it's hard to pull off jokes about being rich, but "just because you're doing well in life doesn't mean you can't complain, too." Rock's latest project is a film called 2 Days in New York, in which he plays half of an interracial, multinational couple hosting relatives from France.

Listen to an in-studio concert and conversation with the Canadian singer and her longtime guitarist, Jordan Officer.

Norris plays DEA agent Hank Schrader in the AMC series about a chemistry teacher turned meth cook. "He's a good cop, he just hasn't put the pieces together yet," Norris says.

The Scummers is the last installment in Maynard's Crum trilogy. Maynard based Crum, his 1988 semi-autobiographical novel, on his small, poor West Virginia hometown. The people of Crum who know the book tend to love it or hate it. Maynard spoke with Terry Gross in 2003.

Moran says that most women who don't want to be called feminists don't understand the term. She writes about high heels, housework and abortion in How to Be a Woman. Originally broadcast Aug. 1, 2012

Moran believes that most women who don't want to be called feminists don't understand what feminism is. Her new book How to Be a Woman is a funny take on housework, high heels, body fat, abortion, marriage and, of course, Brazilian waxes.

New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza profiles Rep. Paul Ryan from Wisconsin, whose radical alternatives to President Obama's economic policies have helped shape the GOP as it enters the final stage of the 2012 presidential campaign.

In December, Congress is poised for another showdown on the deficit and taxes, in what is now being called the fiscal cliff. In his new book Red Ink, David Wessel explains how the federal budget got to the point where it is today -- and where to go from here.

Supermodels open up about aging in a youth-obsessed industry in the HBO documentary About Face: The Supermodels Then and Now. "I really insisted that I not be retouched in Playboy," says Carol Alt. "...I'm 49 years old, and that was the point ... I let every bump and flaw show."