Month: March 2020

Twenty years ago tomorrow a book was published that broke rules, set new boundaries, redefined fiction. It was a groundbreaking novel by Mark Z. Danielewski. It was his first book, called “House of Leaves.”

It’s a book you don’t just read, you see it. The pages are an art form in themselves.

It took six more years for him to write his second book, called “Only Revolutions.”

That’s the book that I interviewed him for, a year later, in the fall of 2007.

We met in a bookstore cafe one afternoon, as around us, fans looked on while I asked him about “Only Revolutions,” “House of Leaves,” and the writing life.

Here now, Mark Z. Danielewski from 2007:

Mark Z. Danielewski’s latest book, “The Little Blue Kite,” was published last fall.

By the way, yesterday, March 5th, was Mark Z. Danielewski’s 54th birthday.

Most authors would be delighted to be on the New York Times bestseller list once or twice.

Clive Cussler made it to the list 20 times.

He was much more than a novelist — he was an adventurer and expert underwater explorer.

Cussler was also founder and chairman of NUMA, the National Underwater and Marine Agency.

Clive Cussler’s recurring hero was a classic American fiction hero named Dirk Pitt. And Pitt never let us down, as Cussler’s books were invariably action-packed wioth plenty of plot twists and thrills-a-minute.

One of my several interviews with Clive Cussler took place in the summer of 2001. We talked abouty his Dirk Pitt thriller “Valhalla Rising.”

Here now, Clive Cussler, from 2001:

Clive Cussler died last week at the age of 88.

It’s been 37 years since that record-breaking series finale of the TV show “MAS*H.”

And William Christopher may be best remembered as the lovable Father Mulcahy, but he had a long and distinguished acting career.

I first met and interviewed him when he was in the Washington, DC area in early 1986 — my birthday, in fact — as he was taking on the lead role in the play “The Seven Year Itch” at a local dinner theater.

But I had so many “MAS*H” questions…

Here now, my 1986 interview with William Christopher:

William Christopher died on the last day of 2016. He was 84.