By Bob Townsend

For the AJC

Author Nick Hornby will be in Atlanta on Oct. 18 for a special appearance at the Highland Inn’s Ballroom Lounge as part of A Cappella Books' ongoing Ballroom Bash series, which often features writers and musicians.

Hornby is well known for his best-selling novels about the intersections of music and relationships, such as “High Fidelity” and “About a Boy,” both of which were turned into popular films.

His newest book, “Juliet, Naked” (Riverhead Books, $15), is a surprising contemporary love story woven around the Internet, a reclusive musician and an obsessive fan. Recently, Hornby collaborated with musician Ben Folds, writing the lyrics for the just released 12-song album “Lonely Avenue” (Nonesuch).

Last week, Hornby called from his home in London to talk about writing and music.

Q: Was it fun hearing your lyrics put to music by Ben Folds?

A: Really, really fun. You write a Word document and send it off, and it comes back completely transformed. The obvious conclusion is that you can have a good song with bad words, but you can’t have a good song with bad music. Ben disagrees, actually. He thinks you can have a great song with bad words and bad music. I still can’t quite figure that out.

Q: You’ve said that writing doesn’t come easy to you.

A: When I talk to my editor and he says so-and-so has just delivered his book and it’s 100,000 words too long, I think, “How did that happen?” Some people just have a completely different relationship with words.

Q: Reading “Juliet, Naked” and listening to “Lonely Avenue,” there seem to be some points of convergence. Was that purposeful?

A: I was pretty much doing both at the same time. I wouldn’t argue that they're not there, but I’m not sure I’d know where those points are.

Q: Blogs and the Internet come into play in both. Is that something you’re interested in these days?

A: If you sit on your own in front of a computer all day, doing not as much as you want to, you tend to get sucked into what’s going on out there. I navigate it carefully now. But I am curious about how things are kept alive and how they get destroyed and all sorts of things that happen out there.

Q: You worked with Ben Folds via the Internet, right?

A: My relationship with Ben, which has gone a long time now, has been a cyber relationship for most of that time. He wrote me when “Songbook” came out in 2002. And I wrote a song for his William Shatner album in 2004. Years passed before we actually met, though I’d seen some of his shows before we ever spoke.

Q: Your sensibilities seem to mesh quite well.

A: I think we’re very similar in lots of ways. He can be angry or he can be moving in his songs, and he has a lot of humor. And I think Ben leaves room for somebody else. His songs have mostly been character songs. I don’t think he writes autobiographically very often. So I think it was easier for him to vacate the lyrical space than it would have been for some other people.

Q: The song “Belinda,” about the dilemma of a singer/songwriter, is quite a collaboration. The music channels Barry Manilow, and the lyrics manage to be touching and funny and cynical.

A: I think it’s a great song. The music is fantastic. In fact, I think Barry Manilow worked with a lyricist. So we were talking about how there’s an inevitability to a certain kind of lyric, if you divide up the music and lyrics. It just made me laugh when I realized what I’d done with the lyric and what I was asking Ben to do.

Q: Is there some music you’re excited about right now?

A: There’s always music to be excited about. It sort of amazes me that it keeps on coming and the songs keep on being good. This week, I’ve been listening to the new Justin Townes Earle album, which is great. I’ve only played it a couple of times, but the Mavis Staples album sounds good. And there’s an old-fashioned R&B band called Kings Go Forth that I really like.

Q: It’s rumored that you’ll be sharing some songs from your iPod at the Ballroom Bash. Is that true?

A: Oh yeah. We’ll do that. I make playlists quite a lot. And I like that “on-the-go” feature. I like sitting on a train or a plane and having a quick flick through and choosing 30 songs. I do use the “recently added” function quite a lot, too. If I’ve got four or five newish things, I’ll put them on shuffle. Of course, now I’m going to spend too much time thinking about what to play.

Event preview

Ballroom Book Bash, with author Nick Hornby. $15, includes copy of “Juliet Naked,” book signing and music. 7 p.m. Oct. 18, the Highland Inn’s Ballroom Lounge, 644 N. Highland Ave., Atlanta. 404-874-5756, www.thehighlandinn.com/highlandballroom. Advance tickets, A Cappella Books, 484 Moreland Ave., 404-681-5128,  www.acappellabooks.com .