Scott Dominic Carpenter took part in the recurring column “Books & Booze” over at The Next Best Book Club Blog, where he discussed what drinks would go best with what stories from his debut collection This Jealous Earth:

“Ever hear of scorpion shots? That’s right: at some bars you can order a dose of rum or tequila with one of these critters swimming around in the bottom of your glass. It adds an extra thrill. (Mr. James Bond recently popularized another version of this practice, with a scorpion perched on his knuckle as he drank, in Skyfall.) That’s what “Field Notes” is like, and not just because the kids in that story are fascinated by the venomous wildlife in the Arizona desert. No, the charge they get comes from brushing up against other kinds of danger—not just canyon cliffs and sibling torture, but also the rumbling tension between their parents, whose relationship is in danger of going nuclear.”

Check out the full post here.