In Part Two of this file, the hyper-prolific, #1 New York Times bestselling author, Greg Iles, returned to chat with me about the conclusion to his epic trilogy, his unique writing process, and making the move to television.

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Start getting more from your site today!At 16 novels and counting — all but one of which have hit bestsellers lists — Greg has been called the “…William Faulkner for the Breaking Bad generation,” and his books have been adapted for film, translated into over 20 languages, and published in more than 35 countries.

His epic Natchez Burning trilogy clocks in at close to 750,000 words and started out as a single novel that he expanded after a near death experience — a car crash that left him in a coma — which ultimately changed his mind about how he wanted to write it.

His final installment in the series, Mississippi Blood, concludes the story of Southern lawyer Penn Cage, (the protagonist of six of his books including The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, and New York Times #1 bestseller The Devil’s Punchbowl).

Iles’s epic tale of “… love and honor, hatred and revenge … explores how the sins of the past continue to haunt the present,” and Stephen King described the series as “… extraordinarily entertaining and fiendishly suspenseful.”

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If you missed the first half you can find it right here.

In Part Two of this file Greg Iles and I discuss:

The Show Notes

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The hyper-prolific, #1 New York Times bestselling author, Greg Iles, took a few minutes to chat with me this week about the conclusion to his epic trilogy, his unique writing process, and making the move to television.

Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!At 16 novels and counting — all but one of which have hit bestsellers lists — Greg has been called the “…William Faulkner for the Breaking Bad generation,” and his books have been adapted for film, translated into over 20 languages, and published in more than 35 countries.

His epic Natchez Burning trilogy clocks in at close to 750,000 words and started out as a single novel that he expanded after a near death experience — a car crash that left him in a coma — which ultimately changed his mind about how he wanted to write it.

His final installment in the series, Mississippi Blood, concludes the story of Southern lawyer Penn Cage, (the protagonist of six of his books including The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, and New York Times #1 bestseller The Devil’s Punchbowl).

Iles’s epic tale of “… love and honor, hatred and revenge … explores how the sins of the past continue to haunt the present,” and Stephen King described the series as “… extraordinarily entertaining and fiendishly suspenseful.”

If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews.

In Part One of this file Greg Iles and I discuss:

The Show Notes

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The New Yorker staff writer, award-winning journalist, and author of a new memoir The Rules Do Not Apply, Ariel Levy, took a moment out of her hectic schedule to rap with me about the writing life, advice from the impeccable Gay Talese, and turning her personal story into a book.

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Start getting more from your site today!The author was a contributing editor for New York magazine for 12 years before becoming a staff writer at The New Yorker where she has written acclaimed pieces on a wide range of subjects from swimmer Diana Nyad to the hallucinogen ayahuasca.

Ariel’s work has appeared in The Washington Post, Vogue, Slate, Men’s Journal, and many others. She was the editor of The Best American Essays 2015, a collection in which she was also anthologized in 2008.

Her latest, The Rules Do Not Apply, is a book based on her heartbreaking personal story, “Thanksgiving in Mongolia.” After winning the National Magazine Award for Essays and Criticism, she expanded it into a memoir “… about a woman overcoming dramatic loss and finding reinvention.”

Bestselling author David Sedaris said of the book, “Every deep feeling a human is capable of will be shaken loose by this profound book.”

If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews.

In this file Ariel Levy and I discuss:

The Show Notes

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In the second half of this file, The Guardian writer, psychology journalist, and author of the critically acclaimed book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, Oliver Burkeman, dropped by the program to talk to me about the writer’s journey, turning a weekly column into a book, and rethinking positive thinking.

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Start getting more from your site today!Oliver writes about social psychology, self-help culture, productivity, and the science of happiness for his columns in both The Guardian (based in Brooklyn, New York), and Psychologies magazine. He has also interviewed a laundry list of celebrities ranging from Al Gore to Jerry Seinfeld.

In his critically acclaimed book, The Antidote (2012), the author went undercover into the heart of the “happiness industrial complex” to explore why our relentless pursuit of happiness and success often leaves us feeling the opposite.

The author looked to academics, psychologists, Buddhists, business consultants, philosophers, and many others in a unique search for an “… alternative path to happiness and success that involves embracing failure, pessimism, insecurity, and uncertainty – the very things we spend our lives trying to avoid.”

The Los Angeles Times said of the book, “Burkeman’s tour of the ‘negative path’ to happiness makes for a deeply insightful and entertaining book.”

If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews.

If you missed the first half you can find it right here.

In Part Two of this file Oliver Burkeman and I discuss:

The Show Notes

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Guardian writer, psychology journalist, and author of the critically acclaimed book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, Oliver Burkeman, dropped by the program to talk to me about the writer’s journey, turning a weekly column into a book, and rethinking positive thinking.

Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!Oliver writes about social psychology, self-help culture, productivity, and the science of happiness for his columns in both The Guardian (based in Brooklyn, New York), and Psychologies magazine. He has also interviewed a laundry list of celebrities ranging from Al Gore to Jerry Seinfeld.

In his critically acclaimed book, The Antidote (2012), the author went undercover into the heart of the “happiness industrial complex” to explore why our relentless pursuit of happiness and success often leaves us feeling the opposite.

The author looked to academics, psychologists, Buddhists, business consultants, philosophers, and many others in a unique search for an “… alternative path to happiness and success that involves embracing failure, pessimism, insecurity, and uncertainty – the very things we spend our lives trying to avoid.”

The Los Angeles Times said of the book, “Burkeman’s tour of the ‘negative path’ to happiness makes for a deeply insightful and entertaining book.”

If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews.

In Part One of this file Oliver Burkeman and I discuss:

The Show Notes

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