Writers at Work

Bliss Publications

WRITERS AT WORK is a podcast about the joys, heartaches, challenges and satisfaction of the creative writing process. Hosted by Jim Fusilli, additional information is available at writersatworkpodcast.com.

  1. ١٩ فبراير

    Ron Charles

    I'm pleased to be joined today on Writers at Work by Ron Charles, the book critic best known for his reviews published in the Washington Post, his former employer. If you know Ron's work, it goes without saying that his unceremonious exit from the Post represents another blow to the relevance of books and literature in American mainstream media. On his Substack, Ron discussed his situation with characteristic self-deprecation. "I didn't start off as a journalist," he wrote. "Some might say I didn't end up one either. 30 years ago, I gave up a perfectly respectable job teaching English to write book reviews for the Christian Science Monitor." His aunt's huffy reaction? "'Surely, they're not gonna pay you to do that?' They did." Ron said he had some of the best years of his life at the Monitor, even if he toiled in relative obscurity. After a series of interviews, he was hired as a critic by the Washington Post. In time, he became editor of its Book World section. After two decades and having received a National Book Critics Circle Award and served as a Pulitzer Prize judge, Ron was let go by the Post and Book World was shut down. As the New Yorker's Becca Rothfeld summarized, "No one who has anything to do with books remains employed at the Post." Among US mainstream media, only the New York Times has a section dedicated to book reviews, though my former employer, the Wall Street Journal, regularly publishes book reviews. We can find publications and blogs dedicated to books, but as Becca points out, "They are produced for an audience that already knows or cares about literature. The books section of a newspaper plays an altogether different role. It does not cater to aficionados. It seeks new recruits." It's been reported that at Ernst Lubitsch's funeral in 1947, Billy Wilder said, "No more Lubitsch" and William Wyler replied, "Worse than that, no more Lubitsch films." We can find online book reviews Ron Charles wrote for the Post and his reviews for CBS Sunday Morning on YouTube, but are we at the point of no more new Ron Charles book reviews?

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  2. ١٢ فبراير

    Don Winslow

    My guest on this episode of Writers at Work is Don Winslow. His latest, THE FINAL SCORE, marks his return following his announced retirement in 2022. It's a six-story crime collection Stephen King called, "The best crime fiction I've read in 20 years." Having read them as if I were starving for Don's style of storytelling, I will tell you that the collection will make you very glad he's back. Prior to his retirement to focus on his political activism, Don was at the peak of his popularity in a career that began in 1991 with his Neil Carey PI series. Next came several memorable stand-alones, THE WINTER OF FRANKIE MACHINE, SAVAGES, and if I may, a personal favorite, CALIFORNIA FIRE AND LIFE. THE POWER OF THE DOG, which explored America's war on drugs through the experiences of a range of characters, kicked off his Cartel Trilogy. Its third novel, THE BORDER, now considered a classic of its kind, was cited as the best book of 2019 by the Washington Post, National Public Radio, The Guardian, The Irish Times, Book List, and many others. Beginning in 2022, Don published in succession, CITY ON FIRE, CITY OF DREAMS, and CITY OF RUINS, his Organized Crime Trilogy. Several of his works have been made into feature films, including Crime 101, based on Don's novella of the same name. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Halle Berry. It arrives in theaters on February 13th. Like many readers, I was disheartened when Don announced his retirement, though I was well aware that he was deeply troubled by the actions of the Trump administration. I want to start our conversation with that decision.

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  3. ٢٢ يناير

    Matthew Pearl

    With me on Writers at Work is Matthew Pearl, author of the novel THE AWARD. And I will say upfront that if you are a writer or want to be a writer or are curious at all about writers, this is a book for you. Matthew Pearl is the author of many highly regarded and best-selling novels, including the historical fiction works THE DANTE CLUB and THE POE SHADOW, the latter about the death of Edgar Allan Poe. His THE TECHNOLOGISTS is an alternative history about the early days of MIT. In 2021, he published his first work of non-fiction, THE TAKING OF JEMIMA BOONE: COLONIAL SETTLERS, TRIBAL NATIONS, AND THE KIDNAP THAT SHAPED AMERICA – A TRUE STORY OF RESCUE AND REVENGE IN REVOLUTIONARY 1776. His journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and Slate. Which brings us to THE AWARD. The New Yorker said it "revels in its wickedness," and Tom Perrotta called it "addictive" and "propulsive" in comparing it to a Patricia Highsmith thriller. Without giving too much away, in THE AWARD, struggling novelist David Trent moves into a building in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On the floor below lived Silas Hale, a very famous author who, despite his acclaim, is disdainful to many, David perhaps most of all. But then David wins a major award for his novel. Or does he? And chaos ensues. Who knew writing was such a fraught and deadly occupation. I found THE AWARD to be a lot of fun, its characters all too familiar, yet surprising in their actions.

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WRITERS AT WORK is a podcast about the joys, heartaches, challenges and satisfaction of the creative writing process. Hosted by Jim Fusilli, additional information is available at writersatworkpodcast.com.

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