Writers at Work

Joining me on this episode of Writers at Work is Chris Pavone, author of THE DOORMAN. Described by the New York Times as a state of the city novel, a kaleidoscopic portrait of New York at a singularly strange moment, THE DOORMAN has drawn comparison to Tom Wolfe's THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES.

Rightfully so, I'll add, as Chris displays a keen gift for ascetic satire but serves it without drawing attention to a flashy style. THE DOORMAN is Chris's sixth novel. Its predecessors include THE EXPATS, which won both the Edgar and Anthony Award, and the bestselling TWO NIGHTS IN LONDON. He's a veteran of the publishing and magazine industries, having worked as a copy editor, executive editor, deputy publisher and ghostwriter.

As a journalist, his articles appeared in The Times and Salon, among other publications. Set in New York City, THE DOORMAN finds Chris on familiar terrain and new terrain. Familiar because he was raised here, new because he's known for his international thrillers with characters careening around Europe. As a longtime New Yorker, I found THE DOORMAN vivid and real, even when Chris placed me in situations I've yet to face, and entirely plausible.

I'm happy to meet Chris and talk about his work and how he goes about it.

My guest on this episode of Writers at Work is Julie Gilbert, author of GIANT LOVE: EDNA FERBER, HER BEST-SELLING NOVEL OF TEXAS, AND THE MAKING OF A CLASSIC AMERICAN FILM. Julie brings a special insight into her latest work. She is the great niece of Edna Ferber, author of the novel that was the Source for the 1956 George Stevens film starring James Dean, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor.

She is also the author of the biography of FERBER: EDNA FERBER AND HER CIRCLE published in 1976. That book was nominated for National Book Critics Circle Award and her OPPOSITE ATTRACTION: THE LIVES OF ERICH MARIA REMARQUE AND PAULETTE GODDARD was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times praised GIANT LOVE as a tender and patient homage to a titan of American letters who has fallen most grievously out of fashion.

That's so, but there's more. I found it a delight. Dishy, deeply affectionate, yet instructive, as Julie tells us tales of the film stars and how the picture came to be made. But more so how Ferber came to write a sprawling novel that entertained while it revealed the schisms in Texas society.

Julie quotes Ferber's assessment of Texas as she did her initial research in and out of Texas towns, talking to scores of Texas people, amazed by their viewpoint, their braggadocio, their seeming unawareness of the world outside their own vast commonwealth, beguiled by their easy charm, grateful for their spontaneous hospitality, touched by their lavish giving of time, energy, thought to a tourist stranger. All that majesty of Texas was captured by Ferber in GIANT and by Stevens in his film version. Julie Gilbert tells us how in a beautifully crafted book that's part biography, part memoir and a full pleasure.

My guest on this episode of Writers at Work is Michael Amherst, whose debut novel, THE BOYHOOD OF CAIN is available now. Set in rural England, it's a coming-of-age tale of Daniel, a boy who struggles to understand himself and his place in a small but growing world. Michael's storytelling skills put us inside Daniel's emotional turmoil, a place that isn't always comfortable, but is often all too recognizable.

Michael is well regarded as a journalist, publishing in the Guardian, the Spectator, New Statesman, among others. His essay Go the Way Your Blood Beats won the 2019 Stonewall Nonfiction Prize. He also won the 2020 Hubert Butler Essay Prize and was shortlisted for the Observer Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts.

His short fiction has been similarly acknowledged. As it is for many first-time novelists, Michael's journey to writing and publishing THE BOYHOOD OF CAIN was anything but linear. He joins us from London to discuss that journey, THE BOYHOOD OF CAIN, and whatever else crosses his mind.

Joining me on this episode of Writers at Work is John W. Miller, author of THE LAST MANAGER: HOW EARL WEAVER TRICKED, TORMENTED, AND REINVENTED BASEBALL. John is a contributing writer to America magazine and prior to that was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. During his time at the Journal, John reported from more than two dozen countries and wrote stories on the Tour de France, the World Cup, uranium mines, Belgian beer brewing, monks, old geologists, a chicken that lays giant eggs, and a hippo on Death Row.

In addition to his writing, John is a co-director of the film Moundsville, a documentary about a West Virginia city of the same name. Baseball is a great passion. In addition to his Weaver bio, John served as a scout for the Baltimore Orioles and coached two teams in Brussels, Belgium in the Little League World Series tournament. You can find online many stories about the greatest game written by John for various publications. Invariably, they are a delight.

On this episode of Writers at Work, I speak with Virginia Feito, author of VICTORIAN PSYCHO, a title that is ideal yet only hints at what lies between the book covers. VICTORIAN PSYCHO is Virginia's second novel. Her 2021 debut, MRS. MARCH, straddled the line between psychological thriller and social satire, said Vogue magazine, adding that it's as literary as it is pulpy.

It was snapped up by Hollywood and is under development, with Elisabeth Moss attached as star and producer. I'll have to ask Virginia about its progress to screen. I'll also have to ask her about how she wrote a novel so keenly praised for its precision in depicting the foibles of New York's upwardly mobile despite her having never lived in New York. She was raised in Madrid and Paris and studied in London. She writes in English.

I admit to a particular fascination with her latest, VICTORIAN PSYCHO. On the surface, it's a gruesome tale of a psychopathic governess, Winifred Notty, immune to fear, dismissive of pain, who carries within her a darkness. Capital D, Darkness. Much explicit violence ensues. If this is not your cup of tea, let me say that VICTORIAN PSYCHO contains some of the most perfectly constructed sentences I've ever read, each word carefully chosen to elicit a squeamish reaction. Yet they flow together with ease, the writing as much as the psychological terror oozed its way under my skin.

I can't remember the last time I came across a novel that compelled me to tap my wife on the shoulder and read a few sentences aloud and then do the same thing a few minutes later. And then again.

VICTORIAN PSYCHO has been optioned as well, and I'm told Margaret Qualley will play Miss Notty.

My guest today on Writers at Work is Christine Murphy, author of NOTES ON SURVIVING THE FIRE, a novel that's available now. Christine's debut novel, NOTES ON SURVIVING THE FIRE is well published by Knopf and enjoying enviable reviews. The Los Angeles Times wrote Murphy has certainly written a furious, fast paced, emotionally residential, memorable novel, and the New Yorker said the narrative is equally layered with a thriller's bone, a satire's glare and a comeuppance story's anarchic spirit. My review? How dare a first novel be so engaging, challenging and absorbing.

What do we know about Christine Murphy? She has a PhD in religious studies, spent a year as a resident in a Buddhist nunnery and lived, worked and traveled in more than 100 countries. That's not much to go on and I'm quite eager to learn more about her and how NOTES ON SURVIVING THE FIRE came to be.

Joining me on this episode of Writers at Work is playwright Larissa Fasthorse, whose timely comedy FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT is currently at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Larissa, who is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, was the first Native American woman to have a play produced on Broadway.

That satirical comedy, THE THANKSGIVING PLAY, has been produced more than 300 times. Her revision of PETER PAN is currently on tour throughout the U.S. a member of the Sicangu Nation from South Dakota, she began her public career as a dancer and choreographer. After an injury, she began writing with an interest in Native American drama, both film and theater.

She co-founded Indigenous Direction, a consulting firm that helps people and organizations who want to create accurate work by, for, and with Indigenous peoples. She is currently the vice chairman of the Board of Trustees of Playwrights Horizon, a not-for-profit off-Broadway theater in New York City.

There's much to discuss with Larissa, including the plays she's developing for the Public, Second Stage and Yale Rep, among other theaters, and FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT, a slapstick comedy with a pointed social and political theme.

My guest on this episode of Writers at Work is Sara Gran, author and screenwriter. Sara is the author of the series featuring Claire DeWitt, self-anointed as the world's greatest private investigator. But Sara isn't confined by theme or tradition. Her feel for urban grit is on abundant display in her novel DOPE, as is her ability to convey psychological terror and come closer and the insidious nature of the occult in THE BOOK OF MOST PRECIOUS SUBSTANCE, which she self-published in 2022.

Her latest is LITTLE MYSTERIES, a short story collection cheerfully subtitled Nine Miniature Puzzles to Confuse Enthrall and Delight. Sara also wrote for the terrific TV series Southland. If quality alone were the determining factor, it would still be on air. She also wrote the Audible original audio drama MARIGOLD.

There's much to talk about with Sara, who I've admired from afar, but I wanted to at least begin with an article that ran recently in the New York Times in which Sara recommended eight great noir thrillers. You can find the article via the Times website. It's a wonderful list with a few surprises, the kind that sent me running to the nearest bookstore. So now I'm not only grateful for her books, but also for her recommendations.

Joining me on this episode of Writers at Work is Catriona McPherson, the author of three crime series, two of historical fiction, and standalone novels of psychological suspense. In 2024, she published thrice: THE WITCHING HOUR, the sixteenth book in her Dandy Gilver murder mystery series set in the 1920s and 30s, DEEP BENEATH US, a novel of suspense set in the Scottish Highlands, and SCOTZILLA, her seventh cozy featuring Lexy Campbell, whose wedding does not go according to plan. I’ll add here that Catriona contributed a very clever story with a twist to BRUTAL AND STRANGE, the anthology based on the songs of Elvis Costello that I edited in late 2023.

For her efforts Catriona is the winner of the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty and Macavity Awards, high honors in the mystery and crime field. Born in South Queensferry, Scotland, Catriona earned her MA and PhD at the University of Edinburgh. She committed to writing full-time in 2000. Five years later, she relocated to Northern California. As I was reminded at the recent Left Coast Crime conference in Denver, I find Catriona to be a wonderful writer and a delightful presence. Though we worked together on the Costello anthology and run into each other at various industry events, I’ve never had a chance to talk with her about the writing life.

One guiding principle at “Writers at Work” is that good writing is worth savoring wherever one may find it. My guests have included novelists, journalists, playwrights and screenwriters. And I’ve extending invitations to poets and lyricists. All to discuss the joys, heartaches, challenges and satisfaction of the creative writing process. This episode is dedicated to what I consider a model of effective autobiographical storytelling, “Vulnicura,” an album by Björk.