Authors

Art Spiegelman

Bill Thompson

While there have been thousands of books written about the Holocaust, and Nazi Germany, and the horrors of the concentration camps, few have been as powerful in the telling as Art Spiegelman’s Maus.

Originally a serialized comic strip, Spiegelman published Maus in book form in 1986, with volume 1, and in 1991 with volume two.

And despite its unusual format — it is nonfiction — It is the story of the Holocaust as told to Art Spiegelman by his father, a Polish Jew who survived the a concentration camps.

While it has been labeled history, biography, autobiography, and more, spiegelman himself doesn’t quite know how to categorize it.

I first met Art Spiegelman in 1991, upon publication of the second volume of the Maus story.

So here now, from 1991, Art Spiegelman.

Art Spiegelman celebrated his 74th birthday last month.

You may also like these episodes:

Dick DeBartolo
Stan Lee

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Karen Salmansohn

Bill Thompson

It’s Valentine’s Day. And we could have done the usual mushy, romantic stuff, but instead I wanted to go more tongue in cheek .

Back in 1994 I interviewed the popular self-help author Karen Salmansohn. She had just written a book called how to make your man behave in 21 days or less using the secrets of professional dog trainers.

Really, how much more romantic can you get?

But you know, as much as I hate to admit it, behind every incisive piece of humor. There is a nugget of truth. As I think you’ll find out right now.

So here now, from 1994, Karen Salmansohn/

Karen Salmansohn’s most recent book, Instant Calm, was published in 2019.

You may also like these episodes:

Cesar Millan
Phyllis Diller

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Elmore Leonard

Bill Thompson
Photo: Peabody Awards

He wants famously said that his writing was so crisp and tight because he simply left out the parts that people usually skip over.

During a writing career that spanned more than seven decades, Elmore “Dutch” Leonard produced scores of novels that established his reputation as one of America’s foremost and most popular storytellers of the second half of the 20th century.

I first met Elmore Leonard in 1986, and interviewed him every year or two for the next 20 years.

In 1990 we had a conversation about his newest novel, the interview you’re about to hear. The book we’re talking about: Get Shorty, which later became a hugely popular movie.

So here now, from 1990, Elmore Leonard.

Elmore Leonard suffered a stroke in the summer of 2013 and died a few days later. He was 87.

You may also like these episodes:

James Patterson
Robert B. Parker

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

bell hooks

Bill Thompson
Photo: Alex Lozupone

How and where do race, gender, class, art, and capitalism come together?

That question was at the heart of some 30 books written by author bell hooks.

That was actually the pen name that Gloria Jean Watkins adopted for herself.

But being a black female activist and feminist also often made her a target.

In her 1999 book Remembered Rapture hooks recalled some of her challenges as a writer and activist and that’s when I have the chance to meet her for the first of our several conversations.

So here now from 1999 bell hooks.

bell hooks died last month. She was 69.

You may also like these episodes:

Alice Walker
Maya Angelou

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Michael Crichton

Bill Thompson
Jon Chase photo/Harvard News Office

He earned a medical degree from Harvard, but instead of pursuing a career in medicine, Michael Crichton became a writer.

And as a reader, I’m really glad he did.

I had read some of Michael Crichton’s books, and enjoyed the movie “The Andromeda Strain,” that was based on one of them, but I had never interviewed him, until November 1990 when “Jurassic Park” was published.

“Jurassic Park:” the movie was released in 1993, starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum.

So here now, from 1990, Michael Crichton.

Michael Crichton died in 2008 at age 66.

---------------------------------------------------------------

You may also like these episodes:

William Peter Blatty
James Patterson

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Cleveland Amory

Bill Thompson

It was on a cold Christmas Eve night many years ago in New York that a stray cat found a new, loving home.

His rescuer was I then crusty 60 year old curmudgeon, an author and TV and radio critic named Cleveland Amory.

Well, Amory named his new furry white companion PPolar Bear. And in 1987, when Amory wrote a book called The Cat Who Came For Christmas, Polar Bear became a celebrity.

This was my first interview with Cleveland Amory, but it was not the last. We talked several times over the next few years.

So here now, from 1987, Cleveland

Cleveland Amory died in 1998. He was 81.

Sophy Burnham

Bill Thompson

Do you believe in angels?

Does each of us have a guardian angel? What do angels really look like? Can they perform miracles?

Some thirty years ago a Washington DC-based author and psychic medium named Sophy Burnham wrote a book that became a major bestseller.

It was called A Book of Angels.

And that’s when Sophie and I had the first of our several conversations over the next few years.

And if you don’t believe in angels now, perhaps you will a few minutes from now.

So here now, from 1990, Sophie Burnham.

William Peter Blatty

Bill Thompson
Photo:Terry Ballard

Back in the 1960s, he had a very successful career writing screenplays for comedies. William Peter Blatty’s credits include movies like A Shot In The Dark, the second movie in the Pink Panther series, and The Man From The Diner’s Club, starring Danny Kaye.

The “Exorcist Stairs” in Georgetown, Washington DC

But of course, Blatty’s most famous and popular work, the one for which he is best remembered today, was his 1971 novel that at first, no one wanted to publish.

It was called The Exorcist. And it has become a classic.

In 2013 I had the chance to spend a few minutes with this very warm, funny, and personable author.

So here now, from 2013, William Peter Blatty.

William Peter Blatty died in 2017, five dayus after his 89th birthday.

You may also like these episodes:
Lorraine WarrenNeil Simon

Alice Walker

Bill Thompson

She may be best known by most people for her novel The Color Purple, which won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and which later became a hugely popular movie.

But Alice Walker has also written dozens of other books, both fiction and nonfiction, including many collections of poetry.

I met and interviewed her several times over the years, including in tghe spring of 2003 when she published a book of poetry called Absolute Trust in the Goodness of The Earth.

Our conversation took place just hours before the Us and other nations launched the attacks that initiated the Iraq war. And that was weighing heavily on her mind.

So here now, from 2003, Alice Walker.

Alice Walker is 77. Her most recent book of poetry, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart. was published in 2018

Her last novel, Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart. was published in 2004.

James Patterson

Bill Thompson

There’s a pretty fair chance that even if you only own a few books, one of them is probably a James Patterson novel.

He’s written 28 books in the popular series featuring detective Alex Cross. And that’s just one of the series of books has James Patterson writes.

He writes series novels. He writes stand-alone mystery thrillers. He writes books for young readers. He writes children’s books. And he’s written several non-fiction books.

Patterson has sold over 300 million books worldwide. That’s also made him one of America’s richest authors. Several of his books have been made into movies.

I’ve met and interviewed James Patterson several times, including twice for a couple of his nonfiction books before he became a huge best-selling mystery writer.

This interview is from nearly 20 years ago, when he had just written the 8th Alex Cross book, a mystery called for Blind Mice.

So here now, from 2002, James Patterson.

James Patterson is 74 now. He lives in Florida. To date, there have been 28 books in tghe Alex Cross series, the most recent one published in 2020. This year, however, he’s published several books from other series he writes, standalong mysteries, and books for young readers.

You may also like these episodes:
Robert B. ParkerTom Clancy