This Writing Life

Our next guest on This Writing Life is Rebecca Thornton, whose debut novel The Exclusives was published in paperback earlier this year. We talked in a glass-fronted meeting-room at her London publisher, twenty7. The setting played its part when I asked about Rebecca's decision to write a thriller packed with more menace, paranoia and betrayal than a game of murder in the dark at Trump Towers. 
Part 1 of 3 to follow.

Neil Richards, Matt Costello and This Writing Life bid adieu to Hotel Xanadu in the third part of their podcast about cosy mysteries, the Cherringham crime series and working as a writing team. Our final instalment begins with a brief discussion of one of their many sidelines: writing videogames.

Part two of This Writing Life's chat with ace writing team Neil Richards and Matt Costello opens with a discussion of their first novel, Dead in the Water. Set in their bucolic, fictional Cotswolds village of Cherringham, it stars Jack, a retired New York City cop, and Sarah, a single-mother of two. Having teamed up as crime fighters in previous episodes, the dynamic duo eventually reunites to solve the mysterious death of a local teacher.

This Writing Life has talked to a pair of writers before: David Mitchell and Michel Faber. But Neil Richards and Matt Costello are the first bona fide writing team. We meet, ostensibly, to discuss Dead in the Water, the first full-length novel in their already successful 'Cherringham' e-book crime series: previous episodes have consisted of short stories and novellas.

As a trailer for This Writing Life's next interview - with crime fiction, video game and script-writing team Neil Richards and Matt Costello - our dynamic duo talk about the benefits of a late start, and offer a little advice for budding authors.

The fourth and final part of DBC Pierre's conversation with This Writing Life podcast begins with a discussion of fraud. Pierre writes about this at the start of his excellent writing guide, Release the Bats, and hit headlines following his Man Booker victory for seemingly defrauding a former friend out of his house.

'I don't believe in inspiration.' So says DBC Pierre at the start of his third This Writing Life podcast, brought to you after two small party political broadcasts. Following a little drug chatter, I ask how Pierre disorients his senses these days?

Richard Russo has written 11 books, 8 screenplays, won a Pulitzer Prize (for Empire Falls), and most recently published the excellent Everybody's Fool, the sequel to one of This Writing Life's favourite novels, Nobody's Fool.
When we met in London, we talked about everything from book signings to working with Paul Newman. Russo also discussed Clinton-Trump and the 2016 US Presidential Race. This Writing Life posts it now as a Special Podcast. The exchange begins with some general chatter on confusion and self-made men.
Our lengthy interview with Richard will be posted later in 2016.

With a week to go before polling day in 2016's US Presidential Election, This Writing Life posts the first of two special 'Clinton-Trump' podcasts. The first is part of a longer and forthcoming interview with journalist Gary Younge about his extraordinary book, Another Day in the Death of America.
At the end of our conversation, I asked Younge for his take on Trump vs Clinton. Having spent well over a decade reporting on American politics, society and culture for the Guardian, he had plenty to say.
The rest of the interview will be posted later in November.

In his second This Writing Life podcast, DBC Pierre talks learning to write by remembering what he has read. For dialogue, he looked to Len Deighton.

Part one of DBC Pierre's interview chat with This Writing Life podcast starts in media res. With a fan blowing our hair in attractive fashion (apologies for the whoosh behind the voices), we talked on a lovely summer's day at a London hotel. Pierre was in town to launch his new book, Release the Bats, an exuberant, personal and inspiring writing guide, with hints of memoir. A call-to-pen with hints about his colourful life.

The next guest on This Writing Life is DBC Pierre, Man Booker winning novelist, literary rogue and now writing guide supremo thanks to the excellent, ebullient, Birthday Party-quoting call-to-pens, Release the Bats. In this trailer, I ask whether writing ever helps him feel, think or 'be' better. Cue tall tales of a naked Thomas Wolfe fondling himself by a filing cabinet.

Part four of Rosa Rankin-Gee's This Writing Life podcast interview opens with some bad pronunciation, some Borges, a little light reading and some Vocalzone throat lozenge chatter. Rosa really begins by examining the idea of imagining the worst things possible as a way of forestalling the worst reality possible.

Part three of Rosa Rankin-Gee's conversation with This Writing Life podcast about her debut The Last Kings of Sark begins with love triangles, friendship triangles, family triangles, third wheels and intense feelings.

Part two of Rosa
Rankin-Gee's chat with This Writing Life begins with a discussion of the
coming-of-age-story (in her case, debut novel The Last Kings of Sark).