Although most people don't think 'State College' when they think about literature and great authors, two Penn Staters are out to prove them wrong.

Unbridled Books, an up-and-coming publishing company, has recently picked up two authors who both share one thing in common -- Penn State.

William J. Cobb, an English professor, and Carolyn Turgeon, a 1994 alumna, have both signed on with the publishing company.

Turgeon grew up in Happy Valley and later graduated with an English degree.

Both authors unite under a commonality of Unbridled Books and their State College ties, and their individual novels also perpetuate similar writing styles with the element of magical realism.

Cobb's novel, "Goodnight, Texas" was published Sept. 10.

"When people ask me to describe my book, I like to tell them it's a novel about a giant fish with a horse in its mouth," Cobb said.

The book, which takes place in a small coastal Texas town, does carry along the motif of a large fish; however, Cobb said the novel also displays unique characterization along with themes of "Abandoned America."

Cobb, who describes his novel as both "comic and tragic," said the idea of his book came to him in a dream in 2001.

In his dream, he was attending a Viking funeral at sea, where all of the funeral guests were people he had known while growing up in Texas.

The definitive point in the dream came when Cobb saw a giant fish on the sandy coast, and the essential image stuck with him.

Turgeon, who only last week published her first book, "Rain Village" constructed the idea for her novel during an honors creative writing seminar while she was a student. Her novel, which tells of a little misfit girl living in a farming community during the early 20th century, can also be considered magical realism.

"In my novel, this mysterious, beautiful librarian befriends a young girl, and teaches her the trapeze, which ultimately changes her life -- she ends up joining a traveling circus," Turgeon said.

Turgeon said the classes she took at Penn State were very beneficial to her overall progression as a writer and ultimately influenced her style. She specifically remembers her creative writing workshop, where her teacher taught her how to "pay a lot of attention to language and make things as wonderful and imaginative and gorgeous as possible."

Cobb and Turgeon will be doing readings from their novels at the State College Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 365 Benner Pike.

Cobb's reading will be at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3, and Turgeon will hold hers at 7 p.m. on Nov. 10.

"Both authors are such great storytellers," Caitlin Summie, who serves as both Turgeon and Cobb's publicist, said. "Our goal here at Unbridled Books is to nurture careers, and we hope that William Cobb and Caitlin Turgeon will stay with us for a long time."