In today’s episode, we meet author Valerie Nieman, author of the novel, “To the Bones,” the poetry collection, “Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse” and three other novels and poetry collections.

The reviews of “To the Bones” call it a “parable on capitalism and environmental degradation,” set in “a strange, disconcerting place populated by thoughtful, articulate people; trigger-happy rent-a-cops; zombies; and residents who can mysteriously evaporate or be stripped to the bone.”

Lisa Schaefer, curator, The Coney Island Museum, calls “Leopard Lady” a “beautifully written book” that is “steeped in sideshow tradition, and addressing issues of race, gender, self-concept, and creative expression.”

We start the show with a reading from “To the Bones,” where we learn in the opening pages that the protagonist was not the first occupant in a pit left for dead.