KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

Terry Tempest Williams, whose latest collection is titled “Erosion: Essays of Undoing”, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Terry Tempest Williams is an environmental activist and chronicler of the western landscape. In her several books and essays, she takes us from national parks and monuments to the way our environment affects us, both physically and emotionally.

In this latest collection, she discusses the degradation of our natural resources, an ongoing process that encompasses the past few administrations and rushes headlong in the ongoing one; she talks about her Mormon roots and how they still affect her at the deepest levels, and how her activism led to her removal from her post at the University of Utah, along with the heartbreaking story of her brother’s death from suicide.

In this in-depth interview, she talks specifically about how she and her husband bought oil leases in an attempt to prevent drilling, about the climate crisis, and about how she came to be a writer.

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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 Autarch were 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. Sound quality is variable.

The post From the Archive: Gene Wolfe (1931-2019), recorded 1982 appeared first on KPFA.

Nicholas Meyer, author of “The Seven Percent Solution,” returns to Sherlock Holmes with “The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols.” In this interview with host Richard Wolinsky, he also discusses his work in film and television, and specifically his work in the Star Trek universe.

Nicholas Meyer is a screenwriter and director. Among his directorial works are “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,” “Time After Time” and the lauded TV film “The Day After.” He’s written several screenplays, including “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” and worked on the first season of “Star Trek: Discovery” and the first season of the Netflix series “The Medicis.”

“The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols” takes Sherlock Holmes to Budapest and Odessa as he searches for the forger behind the infamous Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. This adventure, which takes place in 1905, falls into a period during which  the activities of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes are unknown.

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Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Daniel Handler discusses his latest novel, “Bottle Grove,” set in San Francisco, along with his earlier novel, “All The Dirty Parts.” He also talks in depth about the Netflix three-season series of Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” as well as his work in theatre and how his life has changed with success.

“Bottle Grove” deals with the intricacies of marriage, along with how San Francisco has changed in recent years due to the influx of the tech world. “All The Dirty Parts” dissects what life is like for a horny teen-aged boy in a way that few books have attempted. “A Series of Unfortunate Events” is about the terrible things that befall the poor Baudelaire orphans, mostly due to the nefarious schemes of Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris).

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Novelist and essayist Jonathan Safran Foer discusses his book, “We Are The Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast” with host Richard Wolinsky.

The author of three acclaimed novels, Jonathan Safran Foer has also written “Eating Animals,” a treatise on the evils of factory farming. This new book talks about changing one’s diet, cutting one’s carnivore diet, as a personal step in limiting your carbon footprint, i.e. removing meat, fish and dairy products from breakfast and lunch.

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