Check This Out kicks off its seventh season of interviews with emerging authors with the time-travel debut novel "Retro" by Jessica Goldstein.
In "Retro," an unemployed actress lands her dream job guiding wealthy clients on luxury time-travel tours through history—until she realizes the past might be about to wreck her present.
"I loved the idea of combining the zaniness of time travel with the corporate absurdities of office life," Goldstein says. "There's so many ways to use that prism....and it brings up all these great juicy questions that make a novel meaningful, like what does it mean to matter? What does it mean to have significance in this life?"
Host Rachel Barenbaum, a self-confessed time-travel geek, says while there's a very fun, zany part to this novel, there's a serious undertone as well.
Goldstein imagines that influencer culture would be “out of control” given the opportunity to travel to any period in time, like the Kennedy assassination: “they would want to put it all over their Insta or TikTok. And that just seems shameful in so many ways.”
Readers can also visit the website Goldstein created for Retro: The Time Travel Agency complete with the retro metro stops found in the novel.
The Red Sox and romantasy on the Book Biz
If you were at the Red Sox game at Fenway Park on September 3, 2025, for "Fourth Wing Night," you witnessed the the start of a phenomenon.
We learn more about this unexpected crossover from Travis Pollio, Red Sox Senior Director of Ticket Strategy & Promotions, on the Book Biz, where we unpack the trends shaking up the publishing world.
Inspired by Rebecca Yarros’s bestselling Empyrean fantasy series, the theme night focus on romantasy helped draw over 10,000 fans, with a large portion attending a game at Fenway Park for the very first time.
"Iron Flame Day" was celebrated this year on Sept. 26, and similar events are now a regular occurrence at athletic stadiums across the country.
Check This Out from NHPR Books airs Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. on NHPR and NHPR.org, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts.
Check This Out is made possible with support from Sourcebooks, an independent, women-led publisher built on the belief that books change lives. It is also sponsored by C&S Wholesale Grocers family of companies, and the podcast Totally Booked with Zibby, the award-winning daily author interview show.
