This one's a little break from the usual — it's me talking to a friend about my new novel, Look, I'm Gone with a particular emphasis on the iconic American author JD Salinger, who has a meaty role as a character in my book, playing himself, kind of a first for Salinger, who passed away in 2010. My friend Ted Cleary is a writer, artist, and musician from New York City. He studied English and history at Columbia University and has taught writing and literature for several decades. He's been a landscape gardener, assistant district attorney, and stroke oar for an American rowing team racing traditional Irish fishing boats in western Ireland. Two energetic novellas, At the End of the World and Song of the Cicada, are available on Amazon, and he has recently launched Substack as tedcleary1.

The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger

Charles Marohn is the founder and president of Strong Towns. With decades of experience as a land use planner and civil engineer, Marohn is on a mission to help cities and towns become stronger and more prosperous through classic, traditional town planning. He's the bestselling author of Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis. Like your host, JHK, Chuck is a member in good standing of the Congress for the New Urbanism, a national movement to repair and reform the fiasco of Suburban sprawl lanes development.

The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger

Piero San Giorgio is one of Switzerland's best selling authors. After 20 years as an executive in the software business, Piero decided to write essays about the future. His first book Survive —The Economic Collapse was in the top-50 best selling books of 2012 in France and has sold over 200,000 copies, with translations into English, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Romanian, Polish, Turkish etc. and has a foreword by JHKunstler. His other books are , CBRN (How to Survive Nuclear, Radiological, Biological,and Chemical events), and Giuseppe: A Survival Story, a biographical novel about his grandfather's ordeals in WW2.

The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger

Jeffrey Tucker is founder and president of Brownstone Institute, Senior Economics Columnist at Epoch Times, and author of 15 books. His newest book, The Spirits of America, is a reflection on American values – cultivated deep in US history dating back to the founding. The book is meant to inspire us to a restoration of our once-sturdy common culture in this period of great political turbulence. Please take the time to visit the Brownstone Institute's excellent website and its stable of fine writers.

The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger

Thomas B. Fowler is the author of five books and over 150 articles and reviews, ranging over philosophy, theology, engineering, physics, and mathematics. He is an expert in analyzing systems and procedures for the U.S government. He says he is "keenly aware of the rapid politicization that has occurred not just in the humanities, but increasingly in the science, technology, and mathematics (STEM) areas, and is devoted to debunking the shoddy reasoning behind many contemporary trends such as the extravagant claims made for Artificial Intelligence." His latest book is Artificial Intelligence: Foundations, Limitations, Benefits and Dangers — and is the subject of this conversation. He is president of the Xavier Zubiri Foundation of North America, and has translated several of the Spanish philosopher's books into English. Currently an independent consultant and Adjunct Professor of Engineering at George Mason University, he has lectured widely in the U.S., South America, and Europe on science and philosophy. His doctorate from George Washington University is in system theory.

Charles Hugh Smith founded his blog Of Two Minds in 2005 after 17 years of free-lance journalism in the San Francisco Bay Area. His 4,600 posts on the economy, society, housing and technology have logged over 150 million page views. He is the author of 9 novels and 20 non-fiction books on socio-economic-political dynamics, including The Mythology of Progress and Ultra-Processed Life. His work can also be found on Substack and Patreon.

The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger

Matt Smith is an American entrepreneur and economic commentator who relocated to Uruguay in 2021, where he operates a regenerative cattle ranch. He co-hosts the podcast Doug Casey's Take with author and economist Doug Casey, offering analysis on global markets, monetary policy, and geopolitical trends. Matt also publishes the financial newsletter Crisis Investing on Substack. He is also co-author, with his 20 year old son Maxim Smith and Mr. Casey, of the superb new book, The Preparation: How to become Competent, Confident, and Dangerous about making boys into effective autonomous men in these uneasy times.

The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger

Jasun Horsley is the author of many books, including Seen & Not Seen, Prisoner of Infinity, 16 Maps of Hell, and Big Mother, which examine how popular culture, politics, occultism, science, and pseudo-spirituality all overlap on a covert, multigenerational social-engineering continuum that includes secret societies, intelligence agencies, and organized crime networks. His own Children of Job podcast can be found on Substack and iTunes. Jasun currently keeps goats and chickens and tends grapes in Galicia, Spain, while reading about Jesus. He describes himself as a lifetime truth-seeker and "hell-mapper" and he does not use AI programs.

The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger

"Eugyppius" is a former academic who blogs about the pandemic aftermath and the pathological politics of modern Germany. He spent much of his life abroad and over a decade in American universities as a grad student and a teacher. He writes in English on Substack. He is very careful about revealing more of his identity given the extreme censorship and cancellation action in his country these days. You can find him at Eugyppius.com.

The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger

John Seaman has corresponded with me over a year proposing a straightforward way to prosecute government officials who, so far, have gotten away with crimes committed in the RussiaGate Hoax and other high-level mischief due to the five-year statute of limitations. John is is a retired Supervisory Federal Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with 30 years of experience. His special area of expertise there was as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in conducting conspiracy investigations for federal prosecutions. He writes the Substack series, The Rule of Law — Corruption and National Security. He's on social media: Twitter handle: @John30113715761 or Truth handle: @johnRuleoflawmatters

The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger