Alex Aster: espresso martini (2 ounces vodka, 1/2 ounce Kahlua, 1 ounce espresso, garnish with 3 coffee beans, serve up)

Alex discusses the oral tradition of storytelling in her family and her Colombian heritage, her dogged efforts to land a literary agent when she was 12-years old, how she skipped her college graduation day to land an agent and a book deal, how she leverages TikTok and other platform to reach millions of readers, and gives an update on her work with Universal and the movie version of Lightlark.

Alex Aster

Beginning with our guest’s favorite cocktail, Dedicated offers an insider’s look at the lives and work of your favorite authors. New York Times bestselling author Doug Brunt hosts conversations with the world’s greatest writers as they discuss their writing lifestyle, creative process, latest work, and behind-the-scenes revelations. If you want to hear from the brilliant minds creating our best stories, be sure to tune in.

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Books

Lea Carpenter: Heineken

Lea tells what it was like working alongside JFK Jr at George Magazine in the 1990s, her other formative experiences working at Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope and then for The Paris Review, her discovery upon her father’s death that he’d had a career in espionage, how recruiting an asset in espionage is like a marriage proposal, the 4 reasons people work in espionage, what she means by “the crystal meth of purpose.”

Lea Carpenter

Ruth Ware: dry white wine

#1 bestselling author Ruth Ware names the two greatest fictional detectives ever, describes the gratitude a former bookseller feels to be a published author, why she made the switch from writing YA fantasy novels to adult crime fiction, her milestones throughout the year to keep an annual publishing pace, how Agatha Christie inspired her own approach to creating an atmosphere for her novels, what she loves about America.

Ruth Ware

Megyn Kelly: Special Mother’s Day episode (martini: 3 ounces gin, dash dry vermouth, olives)

Megyn recommends three books for Mother’s Day and why she chose each, discusses her love for Dateline and the Real Housewives shows, reveals the identity of the famous actor at a Hollywood Oscars party that Doug mistook for a homeless person, reviews the Barbra Streisand memoir, and offers a piece of Mother’s Day advice.

Megyn Kelly

Erik Larson: Manhattan (2 1/2 ounces Michter’s rye, 1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth, dash bitters, cherry, served up)

Erik names the person he’s written about that he’d most like to be able to meet, talks about what he looks for in a subject for a new book, the stories behind finding the titles to his books so far, the conversations he had with his agent in the 1990s that helped him to find the path to writing his first ever historical narrative nonfiction, the secrets to what he does once inside the archives, the journalistic approach to non-judgment of the people in his books, and gives a clue to the subject for his next book.

Erik Larson

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss: Espresso

Liz Truss discusses her preference for the emergence of independent journalism and death of traditional media in America as opposed to Britain where the BBC is still dominant, names her favorite few states in America, names the two places in Britain that every American should visit, talks about the stress of the weekly ‘Questions to the Prime Minister’, credits JK Rowling for courage under woke fire, recounts her strangest moment in politics.

Alex Aster

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