KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

Clive Cussler (1931-2020). Clive Cussler, who died at the age of 88 on February 24th, 2020, was an adventure writer in the tradition of the pulp magazines, and an underwater explorer. Most of his novels featured Dirk Pitt, a – to quote Wikipedia – a larger than life hero reminiscent of Doc Savage – and I might add, Indiana Jones, and involved sunken treasure, hidden artifacts, outrageous villains, and convoluted plots.

Over the course of a career that began in 1965 when he switched over from advertising to write, he published 25 Dirk Pitt novels, 17 novels in the NUMA files series, 14 novels in the Oregon Files series, 11 Isaac Bell adventures set in the early 20th Century, 12 Fargo adventures focusing on a treasure-hunting couple, five books of non-fiction, and two children’s books. Two of his books became films, Raise the Titanic and Sahara.

Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky interviewed Clive Cussler on May 24th, 1994 while he was on tour for his most recent book, Inca Gold. Though well into his sixties, he was still in the early part of his writing career, having written only Dirk Pitt novels, of which Inca Gold was the 12th. He would wind up with a library of 86 titles, with one published in early March 2020 and another coming out in May,2020. There are probably more waiting their turn.

While Inca Gold was only his 12th book, all Dirk Pitt novels to that point, he would go on to write another 74 books, most of them novels in various later series. The final Dirk Pitt solo novel, Celtic Empire, was published in 2019, which also saw The Titanic Secret, which featured both Pitt and Isaac Bell, each operating a century apart. Wrath of Poseidon, a Fargo adventure, is scheduled to be published this May, and Journey of the Pharoahs, a NUMA files novel, was published on March 10th of this year.

He did wind up selling another Dirk Pitt novel to Hollywood, Sahara, in 2005, with Matthew McConnaughy as Pitt, also featuring Penelope Cruz and William H. Macy. It turned out to be one of Hollywood’s most expensive flops to date, and Clive Cussler never sold another book to the movies.

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Tope Folarin, author of the novel “A Particular Kind of Black Man” is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky. This first novel, by an up and coming Nigerian American writer, blends memoir and fiction in the tale of the son of Africans who grew up in white Utah and Texas, finding himself ethnically displaced and looking to find his roots. (Photos: Richard Wolinsky)

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Andrew Altschul discusses his latest novel, The Gringa, with host Richard Wolinsky.

The Gringa tells the story of an American activist who goes to Peru in the early 1990s and becomes involved with a radical group who is eventually charged and incarcerated with terrorist crimes, based loosely on the real-life story of Lori Berenson. Paralleling that story is one of Andres, an American writer living in Peru years later, who must cope not only with his own feelings about politics and American influence around the world, but with the notion of American exceptionalism.

Andrew Altschul is the author of two earlier novels, Lady Lazarus and Deus Ex Machina.

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From the Probabilities Archive: Michael Crichton, recorded December 5, 1990, while on tour for his novel “Jurassic Park,” interviewed by Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff in the KPFA studios. Michael Crichton’s first novel, “The Andromeda Strain” obviously has particular resonance today. In this interview, he talks about his career and about the science behind “Jurassic Park.” Michael Crichton died in 2008 at the age of 66. (Radio Wolinsky page photo: Jon Chase/Harvard University). Complete interview.

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E.L. Doctorow (1931-2015). A look at the life and career of E.L. Doctorow, author of Ragtime, The Book of Daniel, The March, Loon Lake and other novels, one of America’s greatest writers, who died on July 21, 2015.

Interview One: Recorded May 12, 2004, while on tour for his collection, Sweet Land Stories.

Interview Two: Recorded Sept/Oct 2009, while on tour for his novel Homer & Langley.

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