Seasons of Rick Roderick

Thomas Zigal is an award-winning novelist whose work spans fiction, short stories, and essays. His novels have received top honors including the Jesse Jones Award for Best Book of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Fiction Award from the Philosophical Society of Texas, and the Violet Crown Award from the Writers' League of Texas. Known for his vivid storytelling and deep sense of place, Zigal captures the landscapes and complexities of Texas life. He lives in Austin, Texas.

"Thomas Zigal's memoir is a literary double helix. It's an engaging tale of entwined lives that manages to plumb the depths of a remarkable friendship while capturing what it was like to come of age during a tumultuous era in American history." —Joe Holley, Pulitzer Prize recipient and author of the award-winning Sutherland Springs: God, Guns, and Hope in a Texas Town"In his compelling new book, The Seasons of Rick Roderick, novelist Thomas Zigal brings needed attention to the fascinating life and career of his late good friend, native Texan Rick Roderick. A gifted educator, brilliant intellectual, and humorist, Roderick’s lectures for the Teaching Company inspired and influenced a national audience by his unusual ability to explain, in a comprehensible way, complex philosophical theories such as postmodernism and existentialism. Zigal masterfully combines the text of Roderick’s never completed autobiography with Zigal’s own heartfelt, thoughtful, and candid recollections and insights. This book is a joy to read." —Don Carleton, historian and director of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin