The Final Thursday Reading Series had its September presentation this last Thursday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Hearst Center for the Arts. The reading showcased two authors, both professors here at UNI.

English Interim Department Head and Professor Jim O’Loughlin, and English professor Grant Tracey both read excerpts from their new books. Tracey opened first and shared the first chapter of “Winsome,” one of the two stories in his new book, the other titled “Bend of the Sun.”

“I guess, with these stories I want to say they’re in limited third. So that’s kind of different from the crime books, which are mainly first person.” said Tracey.

  “I wanted to give you the action story; one’s loud and one’s quiet so I’m going to give you the loud one.”

“Winsome” and “Bend of the Sun” are both noir fiction stories, as are many of Tracey’s other books, including the first two novels of the “Hayden Fuller Mystery series: Cheap Amusements and A Fourth Face.” The Hayden Fuller Mystery series will have a total of four books, the third is in the process of being published but was slowed down due to the coronavirus, and Tracey is currently working on the fourth.

After his reading, Tracey sang two original songs while playing guitar, and Jim O’Loughlin accompanied him on harmonica.

O’Loughlin then shared excerpts from his new book, “The Last Caucus in Iowa,” in which O’Loughlin recounts his experiences visiting as many presidential candidates as possible in the span of a year.

The book is split into two parts, the first being O’Loughlin meeting presidential candidates, and the second being his memories of previous caucuses. O’Loughlin read one chapter on one of the lesser known presidential candidates; John Hickenlooper and another chapter on Jim O Loughlin and his wife taking their children to see Barack Obama back in 2008.