Kate Christensen, whose latest novel is titled “Good Company,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Kate Christensen is the author of ten novels, including “The Great Man,” which won the PEN/Faulker Award for fiction, Trouble, and Welcom Home, Stranger. She’s also written two memoirs along with essays published in a wide variety of publications and anthologies. She has also written a mystery under a pseudonym..

A graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, her books focus on contemporary issues such as homophobia, climate change, and specifically in “Good Company,” on misogyny. In thjis interview, she focuses on her writing process, on political issues that find their way into the novel, and on specifics inside the novel. Kate Crhistensen was interviewed on “Bookwaves” in 2009 and this interview picks up where that one left off. This interview was recorded in August, 2026.

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Gene Wolfe (1931-2019), author of several science fiction novels and short stories, including “The Book of the New Sun,” interviewed by Richard Wolinsky, Lawrence Davidson and Richard A. Lupoff at Bay Con, Thanksgiving weekend, 1982.

The noted fantasy and science fiction writer Gene Wolfe died on April 14, 2019, one month shy of his 88th birthday. By the time of his death, he’d achieved a lifetime achievement award from the World Fantasy Convention, he’d been acclaimed a science fiction Grand Master from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, had won several awards from various organizations in the field, and was considered a writer’s writer.

That last designation is important because unlike writers like Ursula K. LeGuin or Isaac Asimov or Stephen King or Terry Pratchett, Wolfe’s fame never spread beyond these genres, despite writing in a literary style, and focusing on philosophical and moral issues in his work.

Wolfe started publishing late in life. His first novel, Operation Ares, was published just before his fortieth birthday, in 1970. But after that, his collection of short stories, The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories, and other Stories, and his multi-volume Book of the New Sun skyrocketed his career inside the science fiction fantasy field.

By 1982, his reputation had sufficiently cemented to be named a Guest of Honor at the first Bay Con convention over Thanksgiving weekend, 1982, and it’s there that Richard A. Lupoff, Lawrence Davidson and Richard Wolinsky had a chance to interview him about his work and career. The first two of the four volume Book of the New Sun – The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator had been published to great critical acclaim, and it seemed he was on the verge of a super-stardom that never moved outside his chosen field.

The next two volumes of Book of the New Sun, The Sword of the Lictor and The Citadel of the Autarchwere published in 1983 and 1984. A fifth book, The Urth of the New Sun, was published in 1987, and a collection of essays about the series, The Castle of the Otter, was published by a small press shortly after this interview was recorded.  He would go on to write several multi-book novels, including The Book of the Long Sun, The Book of the Short Sun and The Wizard Knight, along with other novels, short stories, and essay collections. His last novel, A Borrowed Man, was published in 2015. A film version of The Death of Doctor Island was partially filmed in 2008 but has never been released. There’s also a short called Doctor island from 1999 that may or may not be the same film.

Digitizing, remastering & re-editing by Richard Wolinsky in 2019. This podcast was first posted on November 3, 2019. Updated in 2026.

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Ursula Hegi (1946-2026), who died at the age of eighty on July 27, 2026, best known for her novel “Stones from a River,” about life in a small town in Germany in the days leading up to World War II, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded November 6, 2001 while on tour for her short story collection, “Hotel of the Saints.”

Ursula Hegi was a German born novelist and short story writer whose work focused on life in Germany before, during and after World War II along with German and German-American identity, and the nature of moral complicity. She was best known for her novel, Stones from a River, published in 1994, which formed part of a series of novels and stories which came to be known as the Burgdorf cycle, taking place in the fictional small town of Burgdorf, Germany during the middle of the twentieth century.

This interview was recorded on November 6, 2001. less than two months after the events of 9/11 while she was on tour for her collection, Hotel of the Saints. 

I spoke with Ursula Hegi twice, first in November 6, 2001, less than two months after the events of 9/11. There would be a second interview, recorded January 8, 2004 while she was on tour for her novel Sacred Time. 

At the time of her death from complications from a stroke, there were nine novels, two short story collections, a children’s book, and one non-fiction work from 1998, Tearing the Silence: On Being German in America. Her last novel, The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls, was published in 2020.

This interview, one of the last Bookwaves interviews recorded on analog tape, was digitized, remastered and edited August 14-16, 2026. The interview was originally edited for a half hour broadcast and never heard in its entirety. It has not aired in over twenty years.

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Robert B. Parker (1932-2010), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded June 13, 1992 while on tour for the Spenser novel, “Double Deuce.”

Mystery and suspense author Robert B. Parker died at the age of 77 on January 18, 2010. His career encompassed 38 novels in his popular Spenser detective series during his life, with another three published posthumously, plus nine novels in the Jesse Stone series, four in the Cole and Hitch series, six in the Sonny Randall series, nine other novels, and four books of non-fiction.

There were two Probabilities interviews with Robert B. Parker. The first time, co-hosted with Lawrence Davidson, was recorded in Parker’s hotel room in the spring of 1981. At the time he’d just switched publishers and with Looking for Rachel Wallace and then Early Autumn, he was finally having success as an author.

His success would explode exponentially over the next eleven years, and by the time of this interview. Robert Parker had written an additional ten Spenser novels, the TV series Spencer for Hire starring Robert Urich had run for three seasons, and a spin-off, A Man Called Hawk had had a 13 episode run. In addition, he’d completed an unfinished Philip Marlowe novel by Raymond Chandler, and followed that up with a sequel.

Four Robert Urich Spenser films were produced after the interview was recorded, each based on a different Spenser novel by Parker. Three Spenser TV movies, based on three other novels with Joe Mantagna as Spenser ran from 1999 to 2001. A 2020 Netflix film with Mark Wahlberg, Spencer: Confidential, was based on a Spenser novel written by another author, Ace Atkins, who continued the series.

In the interview, Robert Parker insists he won’t start other series. In fact, of course, he did. The Sonny Randall series, featuring a female former cop turned private eye; the Cole & Hitch series of western detective novels, and the Jesse Stone series, featuring the police chief of a small town in Massachusetts. There have also been nine made for television films starting Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone.

This interview was digitized, remastered and re-edited in January 2024 by Richard Wolinsky and was first posted on January 7, 2024.

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From the Probabilities Archive: Nancy Pickard, author of the Jenny Cain mysteries, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded April 4, 1990 in the KPFA studios while on tour for the novel “Bum Steer.”

Originally a journalist, Nancy Pickard turned to mysteries in 1984 with Generous Death, which would eventually lead to ten Jenny Cain novels. As of 2026, there are also three novels in the Marie Lightfoot series, three non-series novels, plus three in the Eugenia Potter series, four collections and one co-authored non-fiction work. Her most recent novel to date, The Scent of Rain and Lightning, was published in 2010 and was adapted into a film in 2017. As of 2025, she continues to speak at various mystery conferences and conventions.

In the late 1980s, crime and mystery fiction by women skyrocketed. Even so, awards were still being given to mostly male writers, and in 1987, the organization Sisters in Crime was formed. 

In Berkeley, at KPFA, Richard Lupoff and I, the hosts of the Probabilities radio program, having drifted from science fiction into mysteries and later into general fiction and narrative non-fiction, noticed the trend pretty early on, and began interviewing these pioneer writers, one by one, local writers like Marcia Muller and Sue Dunlap, and writers from out of town, such as Sue Grafton, or from overseas, such as P.D. James.

These interviews, the Sisters in Crime interviews, were all conducted in the 1980s and 1990s, and because of the switch from analog tape to digital, were not heard since the new century began, and are now being digitized, one by one. This is the second in the Sisters In Crime series of interviews. This interview was digitized, remastered and edited on August 8, 2026. It was first aired in 1990 and then rebroadcast in 1991.

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Robert Bloch (1917-1994), who died on September 23, 1994 at the age of 77, began his career writing fantasy and horror for the pulp magazines, and graduated after World War II to writing psychological thriller novels, often focusing on serial killers. He is best known today for having written the novel “Psycho,” which was adapted into the classic 1959 film by Alfred Hitchcock. From the 1950s through 1970s, he also wrote for episode television (most notably “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”) and made for television films. In all, there were countless short stories, over thirty published novels, and several non-fiction articles.

On March 4, 1982, the late Probabilities co-host Richard A. Lupoff (1935-2020) ninterviewed Robert Bloch before an audience. There were no major science fiction conventions at the time, so it’s not clear exactly where this interview took place). In the first part of the interview, Bloch discusses his friendship with H.P. Lovecraft, his work with the legendary Fictioneers writing group, and the creation of his Lefty Feep series of short stories. The second part of the interview takes him to his novel-writing days, with a look at the creation of his most famous character, Norman Bates of “Psycho.”

Following a question about which Robert Bloch story is the one he’d leave for posterity, Dick Lupoff turns the interview over to the audience, and asks questions based on their input, including a couple of questions about Bloch’s work in television.

This 65 minute interview has never been posted or aired in its entirety, having only aired using excepts as a half-hour program on Probabilities in the 1980s. Digitized and edited August 1-2, 2026 and introduced by host Richard Wolinsky.

Portions of this interview found their way into “Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods: Interviews with Science Fiction Legends,” edited by Richard Wolinskky and published by Tachyon Books in 2025.

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Susan Sontag (1933-2004) was an essayist, novelist, activist, film-maker, philosopher and teacher. On March 16, 2000, while on tour for what would be her final novel, “In America,” she was interviewed by Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff in San Francisco.

From Wikipedia: “Among her best known works are  On Photography, Against Interpretation, Styles of Radical Will, The Way We Live Now, Illness as Metaphor, Regarding the Pain of Others, The Volcano Lover, and In America.”

From Wikipedia: “Sontag was active in writing and speaking about, or travelling to, areas of conflict, including during the Vietnam War and the Siege of Sarajevo. She wrote extensively about photography, culture and media, AIDS and illness, human rights, and communism and leftist ideology. Although her essays and speeches sometimes drew controversy, she has been described as “one of the most influential critics of her generation.”

In her final four years after this interview, Susan Sontag published a long essay, Regarding the Pain of Others in 2003, concerning the visual representation of war and violence. Following her death, a collection of essays and speeches was published in 2007, and her journals and notebooks were published in two volumes, in 2008 and 2012. She died of leukemia on December 28, 2004 at the age of 71. Her illness and death were chronicled in the book Swimming in a Sea of Death by her son David Rieff. Am award-winning 2014 documentary on her life, Regarding Susan Sontag, is now available on Kanopy, the streaming app available free through your local library.

This interview and was digitized and re-edited in 2006 by Richard Wolinsky and has not been aired in thirteen years. This podcast was originally posted on July 19, 2019.

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Carlos Ruiz Zafon, who died on June 19, 2020 in Los Angeles of colorectal cancer at the age of 55, burst onto the literary scene in 2001 with his novel, The Shadow of the Wind, first of an interrelated group of four novels titled The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, set in Barcelona, Spain, his birthplace. This interview, recorded in May, 2009, focuses on the second novel in the series, The Angel’s Game. The next book in the series, The Prisoner of Heaven, came out in 2012, and the final book, The Labyrinth of Spirits, was published in 2018. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

This podcast was originally posted on July 5, 2020.

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Sara Paretsky, author of the V.I. Warshawski mysteries, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff as part of the “Probabilities” radio series, recorded in the KPFA s studio on March 16, 1991 following the publication of “Burn Marks” and before the publication of “Guardian Angel.”

In the late 1980s, crime and mystery fiction by women skyrocketed. Even so, awards were still being given to mostly male writers, and in 1987, the organization Sisters in Crime was formed.

In Berkeley, at KPFA, Richard Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky, the hosts of the Probabilities radio program, having drifted from science fiction into mysteries and later into general fiction and narrative non-fiction, noticed the trend pretty early on, and began interviewing these pioneer writers, one by one, local writers like Marcia Muller and Sue Dunlap, and writers from out of town, such as Sue Grafton, or from overseas, such as P.D. James.

These interviews, the Sisters in Crime interviews, were all conducted in the 1980s and 1990s, and because of the switch from analog tape to digital, have not been heard since the new century began. Until now.

It is appropriate to begin this series of interviews with the first president of Sisters in Crime, Sara Paretsky, recorded March 16, 1991 while she was in the Bay Area for a mystery conference. At the time, six V.I. Warshawski novels had been published, and a film starring Kathleen Turner would be released a few months later. It would turn out to be the only time V.I. Warshawski stories were adapted for film or television.

As of July, 2026, Sara Paretsky has published 22 novels in the V.I. Warshawski mystery series, and two non-series novels, along with three short story collections and two works of nonfiction. The most recent V.I. novel, Pay Dirt, was published in 2024.

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Lisa See, whose latest novel is “Daughters of the Sun and Moon,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded in Culver City, California on June 28, 2026.

Lisa See’s best-selling books include Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, China Dolls, The Island of Sea Women more recently, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women. Each novel, thus far, focuses on the role and lives of women of East Asian descent in various countries, including Korea, Japan, China and the United States. Some of the novels focus on a mystery, others take place within the context of historical events.

Daughters of the Sun and Moon takes place in 1870, from China to Los Angeles, California, and focuses on the lives of three women, Moon, the wife of a doctor, Dove, the bound-foot daughter of a lesser bureaucrat, and Petal, the daughter of farmers. Moon has come to the United States with her husband, whom she’s known since childhood. Dove was married off to an older man she’s never met, and Petal was sold into sexual slavery and would find herself in a small brothel in the Chinese neighborhood, in what is now downtown L.A.

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