Dedicated with Doug Brunt

Jo Nesbo: whiskey sour (2 1/2 ounces Bulleit bourbon, 1/2 ounce simple syrup, 1/2 ounce lemon juice, orange wheel, cherry)

#1 bestselling author Jo Nesbo talks about the unpublished Harry Hole novel, the difference between political views and political agendas in literature, how he designs his intricate twists and plot reveals, the point at which anyone can consider oneself a writer, the best songwriter and best lead singer of all time, the reasons you should visit Oslo, Norway.

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Douglas Murray: rye Manhattan (2 1/2 ounces Bulleit rye, 1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth, 2 dashes bitters, Luxardo cherry)

Douglas lists the several people he'd most like to debate in a contest of ideas, reveals the one novel that transformed him into an adult reader, discusses the concept of the Genius Exception as it applies to Pablo Picasso, Woody Allen and others, describes the value of studying history and stoicism, assesses the position of the world's cultural pendulum, confesses the horrific spelling of the word 'maths', identifies the best and worst things of America and Britain, and tells what kind of conversation makes for a good dinner party.

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Emily St. John Mandel: Earl Grey tea with milk

Emily talks about the unstructured education of her childhood homeschooling and how that upbringing opened doors to literature, her growing confidence as an author, how she plunges into a new novel without an outline, the life-changing attention after STATION ELEVEN, the differences between writing for TV and writing a novel, and she reveals her beliefs about whether we're all living in a simulation.

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Jay Fielden: Rob Roy (2 1/2 ounces Dewar's 12 year scotch, 3/4 ounce sweet vermouth, bitters, Luxardo cherry)

The former editor-in-chief of Men's Vogue, Town & Country, Esquire Magazine tells what it was like working alongside Anna Wintour at Vogue and whether Devil Wears Prada was close to the truth, his view of Tom Brady's fashion sense, his thoughts on the changing media landscape and how print can compete with the dynamism of social media, observations of the disappearance of newsstands and shoeshine stalls in Grand Central Station and elsewhere, and gives an editor's view of the Kardashians, the one book that most made him want to be a writer and editor, and tells of an impromptu Shakespearian riff with David Harbour.

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Scott Brick: Old Fashioned (2 1/2 ounces bourbon, sugar, bitters, water, Luxardo cherry)

The world's top audiobook narrator, nicknamed "The Golden Voice", joins us fresh from a late night at the Audie Awards to tell us his Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall story, his analysis of the strange voice of Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, the best voices in Hollywood of all time, his process to find the voice and get into character for his book narration projects, the importance of identifying the protagonist for narration, his thoughts on AI in voice work, what you can expect to learn in a Scott Brick workshop for audiobook narration.

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Diana Gabaldon: Bailey's Irish Cream over ice

The author of the OUTLANDER series discusses how she and George R.R. Martin feel about having a successful TV series running in parallel to their book series, the difference between her character Claire Randall in the book versus the show, how she has always known that she was meant to be a novelist, the ways she supports her fandom, and how to write strong female characters, and discusses the Chinese MudSkipper Fish.

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Jenny Jackson: tequila soda (2 1/2 ounces Casamigos blanco, club soda, lime)

The highly regarded executive editor and now debut author of the stunning novel PINEAPPLE STREET discusses her thoughts on the changing generational views of wealth and inheritance, her technique in switching POVs in her novel, what it was like returning to the office at Penguin Random after maternity leave, her top literary influences, how she won the bid for CRAZY RICH ASIANS, what it's like editing top authors like Emily St. John Mandel, Chris Bohjalian and Kevin Kwan, and hangover strategies.

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Rick Springfield: coffee or Kola Spiced Beach Bar rum

Rick and I tell the story of sharing the same editor at Simon & Schuster, Rick describes what life was like as both his music and acting careers simultaneously went big in 1981, how a great song gets written in two phases, reveals who is Jessie and who is his girl, reacts to the news that Kellyanne Conway listed in her high school yearbook that her life's ambition is to kiss Rick Springfield, talks about how he has managed to make his struggles with depression a part of his strength and drive.

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Amor Towles: Negroni (1 ounce Barr Hill gin, 1 ounce Campari, 1 ounce sweet vermouth with an orange peel)

Amor discusses his notebook of story ideas, the piece of hotel stationery that contains the original sketch for A Gentleman in Moscow, the original titles of each of this three books, how he uses the technique of outlining to drive his creative process and the physiological reason it works for him, an editing trick to elevate his work to the best it can be, what he means by 'an Impressionist version of history' and 'timely v timeless', reveals his thoughts on Ewan McGregor starring in A Gentleman in Moscow, talks about his literary influences and favorite books of all time, gives a hint about his next novel, reveals the tradition of Towles Cinema family movie night, and answers some listener questions.

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James Patterson: red wine 

#1 bestselling author of all time discusses his early struggles as a writer when his first manuscript was rejected by 31 publishers, his eventual career transition from advertising executive to full-time writer, the frustrating lack of media attention for his new book about cops, Walk the Blue Line, which was co-authored with Matt Eversmann (retired Army Ranger, winner of the Bronze Star, group leader of the Black Hawk Down, Mogadishu raid), how Amazon is changing the character of Alex Cross for the new streaming series (and why Amazon is doing it), and his worst-ever book event.

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