Author S.A. Cosby stopped by the Daily Show to discuss his latest novel, All the Sinners Bleed, with guest host Charlamagne Tha God.
Cosby’s novel, published in June by Flatiron Books, follows a Black sheriff in Virginia investigating a school shooting and a serial killer, while also contending with racists who resent him. A critic for Kirkus praised the book as “another provocative and page-turning entry in the Southern noir genre.”
“Barack Obama said you’re one of his favorite authors,” Charlamagne said. “How did that feel?”
“You know what’s funny?” Cosby replied. “It feels like one of those things where it’s like a dream, and you’re like, Please, don’t pinch me. Don’t nobody wake me up. And at least I got my pants on, because a lot of dreams, I don’t, so.”
“When you’re laying in the bed with no pants on, does it freak you out that you have to start thinking like a serial killer?” Charlamagne asked Cosby. “Do you ever think, Damn, I’d be good at this?”
“I really don’t think like a serial killer,” Cosby said. “I had a conversation with Dennis Lehane a couple of years ago…and he was talking about how difficult it is for him to write really dark stuff. I don’t know if it’s something wrong with him or something wrong with me, but it don’t bother me. I’ll chop some people up in a wood chipper and then go play with my cat. It doesn’t faze me.”
“In the book, you mean,” Charlamagne said to laughter from the audience.
“In the book, in the book,” Cosby replied.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
