Our guest this week, James Markert, is a Renaissance man. He was a tennis pro for over 20 years, a bookstore owner, a screenwriter, and the author of 5 historical fiction novels. His first novel, A White Wind Blew, focused on some local Louisville history with the story of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium, one of the largest facilities in the country for tuberculosis patients during the TB epidemic in the early 1900s. Now Waverly Hills is known internationally for being the home of the haunted but James’ imagines what life was like for doctors and patients inside its walls. With the success of that book, James went on to write novels about Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl, a chapel in the woods of South Carolina during World War 1, a bourbon distillery after the end of Prohibition, and a hotel for Alzheimer’s patients in California after World War 2. His books are known for combining history with magical realism.

Markert has also written multiple screenplays with one being made into a movie and has recently given writing TV shows a try.

James talks to us about the downfalls of doing too much research before writing historical fiction, strange things that happen on the movie set of indie films when you are the screenwriter, what books his high school English teacher introduced him to which turned him into a voracious reader, and what genre he originally wanted to write.

Books Discussed In This Episode:

Midnight at the Tuscany Hotel by James Markert

TV Shows mentioned

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Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.