The Thoughtful Bro

With Oprah Book Club pick Nathan Hill, discussing his latest novel, Wellness, which NPR called "a masterpiece....beyond remarkable."

We get into the dangers and benefits of the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves; how to hook readers with ecstatic openings; and, toward the end of the show, Nathan offers his best piece of advice on how to be sure your 600-page+ novel gets published.

Pre-order Mark Cecil's upcoming novel Bunyan and Henry.

All episodes of The Thoughtful Bro aired live originally on A Mighty Blaze. The Thoughtful Bro is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

An insightful, wide-ranging and frankly rather zen talk with one of America's most raw, transgressive, and pot-stirring artists, Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk. While discussing his new novel, Not Forever, But For Now, we covered finding vitality and cartharsis in extreme behavior, the fate of the famed Cacophony Society, and the need to love your characters if you want your reader to love them, too.

All episodes of The Thoughtful Bro aired live originally on A Mighty Blaze. The Thoughtful Bro is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

With Silver Linings Playbook author Matthew Quick, discussing his new novel We Are The Light. We talked about how visions and fantasy can be a necessary part of the healing process and how storytelling itself is linked to managing trauma. We also recapped Matthew's origin story, an archetypal tale of how he was willing to "pay the cost" of becoming a writer.

All episodes of The Thoughtful Bro aired live originally on A Mighty Blaze. The Thoughtful Bro is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

With white-hot debut novelist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Xochitl Gonzalez, discussing her wise, funny, politically-charged rom-com, Olga Dies Dreaming. We chatted about inspiring Latinx readership, what she learned at the Iowa Writers Workshop, and the moment she decided to make a mid-career pivot while bargain-hunting at a sales rack in Nieman Marcus.

All episodes of The Thoughtful Bro aired live originally on A Mighty Blaze. The Thoughtful Bro is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

With National Book Award winner Tess Gunty, discussing her sensational debut The Rabbit Hutch. We chatted re writing transcendent sex scenes that have meaning; a rebelliously positive, mystic take on Catholicism; and how to write as your book as if you were talking to your best and smartest friend (advice she took from novelist Jeffrey Eugenides).

All episodes of The Thoughtful Bro aired live originally on A Mighty Blaze. The Thoughtful Bro is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

A bull-by-the-horns convo on the intersection of storytelling/racism with David Mura. His new book, The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself, is a urgent cri-de-coeur and a page-turning lay-of-the-land of where the race convo is at. Necessary and comprehensive for any writer or reader wanting to engage with race narratives, which are…all narratives. Our national story is changing. David Mura lays out how.

All episodes of The Thoughtful Bro aired live originally on A Mighty Blaze. The Thoughtful Bro is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

With New Yorker staff writer and #1 best-seller David Grann (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Lost City of Z, and The Wager). We covered: the worst shipwreck in history; writing as both a real and metaphorical quest; and how the chronicle of real life disaster is merely an excuse to explore Grann's true perennial subject: the human condition. Asked what the human condition actually is, Grann told me: "It's f&cked up."

All episodes of The Thoughtful Bro aired live originally on A Mighty Blaze. The Thoughtful Bro is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

With Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, one of the most lauded young writers in America. His short story collection Friday Black, and his new novel, Chain Gang All Stars, have garnered comparisons to no less than Chekhov, Orwell, and Atwood. We discussed satire, mass incarceration, and what he learned from his mentor George Saunders.

All episodes of The Thoughtful Bro aired live originally on A Mighty Blaze. The Thoughtful Bro is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

Former FBI Director James Comey is one of the most revered, controversial, and consequential figures in American law enforcement history. He's also a great writer.

We had an open, fascinating, and frankly quite entertaining conversation regarding the publication of debut novel Central Park West. Also covered: the Mar-a-Lago indictment, Trump's legal woes, and the one adjective he'd use to describe Dick Cheney.

All episodes of The Thoughtful Bro aired live originally on A Mighty Blaze. The Thoughtful Bro is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

An (actually) uplifting and inspiring talk re racism and South Boston, with the master of Beantown's dark underbelly, Dennis Lehane.

While discussing his new book Small Mercies, we covered (1) where he sees hope in the national race convo (2) why The Wire (which he helped write), was such a hit, and (3) the one quality that makes Stephen King, well, the king.

All episodes of The Thoughtful Bro aired live originally on A Mighty Blaze. The Thoughtful Bro is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.