Right, a fuller bio. I'm 30. I went to Penn State, got a journalism degree, learned to hate j-school, skipped a lot of journalism classes, worked at the Daily Collegian instead. Graduated, took a magazine job in Cincinnati. Moved into a loft apartment in Over-the-Rhine a month or two after the 2001 race riots. Did 40 or 50 police ridealongs, trying to teach myself about the culture of policing in an essentially segregated city. Moved to Philly after two years of this, close to where I grew up. Quit to write a book that some people said some very nice things about. Learned how to give a public reading. Learned how to better present myself on television. To "own my own aura." To press my shoes into the floor and feel rooted and confident, like a tree. To say "great to be here, thanks for having me" and really mean it. Lessons paid for by Random House GMBH. Learned how to sweat off all my TV makeup in the Manhattan greenroom of the Tucker Carlson show. Learned how to chitchat with Jon Podhoretz while sweating off said makeup. Learned how to bomb on British television. Now I live in Philadephia with my beautiful wife and my newborn daughter.

So, awards, credentials, etc: I've won a couple Society of Professional Journalists awards, both in Philadelphia and in Cincinnati, as well as a Clarion award. Two of my feature stories were included in an issue of Cincinnati that was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2002. One of my pieces was a runner-up for inclusion in the 2005 Best American Sports Writing anthology. Back in 2002, I was named one of ten "Writers On the Rise" by the Columbia Journalism Review.

Please buy HORSEMEN OF THE ESOPHAGUS, if not for Jason's sake then for the sake of young gurgitators everywhere: