Authors – Now I've Heard Everything

No One Has Ever Turned 50 Better Than Dave Barry

November 25, 2024November 23, 2024Bill Thompson

Reaching the age of 50 is one of those life milestones that makes a lot of people uncomfortable and unsettled.

And perhaps no generation was more traumatized by turning 50 than the forever-young Baby Boomers.

One Boomer faced the half-century mark with the same wry humor that made him one of America’s favorite humor columnists.

The forever-young Dave Barry did what he does best” he wrote about the challenges of reaching the 5-0. His 1998 book was called Dave Barry Turns 50.

Now Dave’s a little older than I am, but I’ve learned from years of interviewing him that we share many of the same experiences – and we’ve both found that Memory Lane can be full of potholes.

So here now, from 1998, Dave Barry.

Dave Barry is 77 now. His most recent book was a novel, Swamp Story, published in 2023.

Forrest Gump’s Alter Ego: Author Winston Groom

November 18, 2024November 16, 2024Bill Thompson

Only a handful of novels ever become major motion pictures And of those only a tiny number produce a character who lives on in our imaginations for years to come.

The author of one such book was Winston Groom. He enjoyed modest success as a writer — and then a novel he wrote in 1986 was made into a movie.

Since its release in 1994 “Forrest Gump” has become one of the most popular movies of all time. It has contributed phrases that are now part of our everyday lexicon.

IN 1995 Groom continued Forrest;s story in a book called Gump & Co. Being a big Forrest fan, I jumped at the chance to talk with him about it.

So here now, from 1995, Winston Groom.

Winston Groom died in 2020. He was 77.

Elizabeth Gilbert and How She Learned To Eat, Pray, Love

October 21, 2024October 19, 2024Bill Thompson

A 2006 book about a young woman’s journey of self-discovery landed on the New York Times bestseller list – where it stayed for nearly two years.

The author of that book, Eat, Pray, Love was the then-37-year-old Elizabeth Gilbert, an accomplished writer and storyteller.

It was a profound sense of not knowing who she was that led Gilbert to radically change the direction of her life. First with divorce, then with a year-long “hero;s journey” to Italy, India, and Indonesia.

Get your copy of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book

When the book was made into a movie in 2010, Julia Roberts was cast as Elizabeth Gilbert:.

I met the author when the book was republished in paperback in 2007.

So here now, from 2007, Elizabeth Gilbert.

Elizabeth Gilbert is 55 now. Time magazine has named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Eat, Pray, Love has sold over 12 million copies.

Brad Meltzer Once Imagined a Leaky Supreme Court

October 7, 2024October 6, 2024Bill Thompson

It’s the first Monday in October, the day that traditionally the United States Supreme Court returns to work after its summer recess.

Behind the scenes at the high court are a few dozen law clerks, the young lawyers who do much of the work that ultimately is reflected in Supreme Court rulings.

It was his fascination with the largely unrecognized power of those clerks that inspired thriller writer Brad Meltzer’s first novel, published 27 years ago, a book he called The Tenth Justice.

Building on that simple premise of “what if?” Meltzer imagined what could happen if a Supreme Court clerk inadvertently leaked a decision before its official release.

This was the first of many interviews I’ve had with Brad as his popularity has exploded,

So h3ere now, from 1997, Brad Meltzer.

Brad Meltzer is 54 now. He lives in Florida.

White House Memories From FDR Grandson Curtis Roosevelt

August 30, 2024August 25, 2024Bill Thompson

In 1933, a three-yearold boy, his older sister and their mother moved in with the boy’s grandparents – who had a very large house in an important city.

Curtis Roosevelt was that young boy. His grandparents were Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, who had just recently moved into the White House themselves.

And for much of the next twelve years Curtis – nicknamed Buzzie – was a White House resident.

Get your copy of Curtis Roosevelt’s book

But as he later wrote, it was a double-edged sword living with two such compelling figures as Franklin and Eleanor. Life as a normal child was not an option.

Curtis Roosevelt recalled his early life in the White House in a 2008 book called Too Close to The Sun. I interviewed him twice for this book, once in 2008, again in 2010

So here now, from 2008 and 2010, Curtis Roosevelt.

Curtis Roosevelt died in 2016 at age 86.

How ‘Term Limits’ Launched Vince Flynn’s Thrilling Career

August 5, 2024August 3, 2024Bill Thompson

Fed up with business as usual in Washington, DC?

This election cycle may feel like a new phenomenon, but that voter frustration has been around for decades.

Back in 1997 a young dyslexic sales and marketing executive, temporarily employed as a bartender, turned his own frustration into his first book, a self-published political thriller called Term Limits

It got only lukewarm reviews – some even hated it. But readers ate it up. and Vince Flynn’s professional writing career was launched.

His second book introduced us to a counterterrorism specialist named Mitch Rapp, who was then featured in a bestselling series of Flynn thrillers.

Vince was a popular speaker on book tours, so I had the chance to interview him several times over the years. But today let’s go back to where it all started, our conversation about Term Limits.

So here now, from 1998, Vince Flynn.

Vince Flynn died from cancer in 2013. He was 47.

From Murder Scene to Murde3r Scene: Crime Writer Edna Buchanan

July 17, 2024July 13, 2024Bill Thompson

Edna Buchanan joined the Miami Herald in 1973, working the police beat. And she was good at it. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for her reporting.

By the late 1980s, she had turned to fiction writing, The real life stories she had covered became the raw material for her fiction.

And it turned out she was really good at that, too. Many of her books became best sellers, and a couple were turned into movies.

But she also wrote several nonfiction books, including one in 1992 called Never Let Them See You Cry. That’s when she and I had one of our several conversations over the years.

So here now, from 1992, Edna Buchanan

Edna Buchanan is 85 now, and still lives in Florida.

Rita Mae Brown: Bestselling Author and Pioneering LGBTQ 0Advocate

June 28, 2024June 22, 2024Bill Thompson

Since her college days in the early 1960s Rita Mae Brown has been an advocate for the LGBTQ community. Long before it was known by that shorthand descriptor..

She was also active in the anti-war movement, the feminist cause, and the lesbian liberation effort.

She holds two doctorates, in literature and political science.

But she is also widely known for her fiction, her “cozy” mysteries as well as her standalone novels. Her book Rubyfruit Jungle, published in 1973, has become a literary classic.

I met her in 1993, when we had the first of what would be many conversations in the years that followed. We talked about her novel Venus Envy, the story of a young woman who makes one of those life choices that changes everything – and not always for the better,

So here now, from 1993. Rita Mae Brown.

Rita Mae Brown Is 79. She lives in Virginia.

Unlocking the Heart: Leo Buscaglia, aka Dr. Love

June 14, 2024June 8, 2024Bill Thompson

They used to call him “Dr. Love.:

Author, educator, and motivational speaker Leo Buscaglia was an immensely popular figure in the 1980s, seeding the American psyche with a message of love and humanity. Buscaglia was also widely renowned for his penchant for hugging people, even strangers. But once you met Leo you were no more a stranger to him,.

Lao Buscaglia’s parents were Italian immigrants, and although he often mentioned his mother in his books, he had never written extensively about his father, until his 1989 book Papa, My Father. That’s when I first met him.

In this powerful interview, Leo urges us to connect and reconnect with our fathers – and mothers – before we run out of chances to do so.

So here now, from 1989, Leo Buscaglia.

Leo Buscaglia died in 1998. He was 74.

From Insider to Author: Susan Ford’s White House Thriller

May 22, 2024May 19, 2024Bill Thompson

Susan Ford was 17 when her father, Gerald Ford, became the nation’s 38th president, and she moved into the White House.

The youngest of the Fords’ children, and the only daughter, Susan acclimated to her new surroundings, absorbing details about the history and protocols of the First Family’s home.

And years later, she drew upon that intimate insider’s knowledge to write fiction, a mystery set in the White House, complete with scandal and intrigue. .

In a nod to her real life profession, and that of her book’s main character, Ford called her book Double Exposure.

And alongside all the elements of a good, page-turning mystery Ford gave her readers some delectable tidbits about the White House and its mysteries.

So here now, from 2002, Susan Ford.

Susan Ford will be 67 in July. She lives in Texas.