Charlie talks with historical romance novelist Joanna Lowell, whose latest book is A Shore Thing, about balancing commercial writing and academic life, queer and trans representation in romance, the evolution of the romance market, the importance of bicycles, and much more.
To launch a new season of IWS, Charlie talks with Peng about her novels The Cartographers and the recently published All This and More. They discuss the line between passion and obsession, the world of old maps, the structural challenges of a "choose your own adventure" novel for grownups, the nature of reality TV, and much more.
Charlie talks with Sarah about her new novel A Better World. They discuss ideal neighborhoods, suburban dystopia, family dynamics, writing about the future, ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, an amazing book cover, and much more.
Charlie talks with Stephen about his latest novel You Only Call When You're in Trouble. They discuss openings, language choice, character driven novels, humor, adaptations to the stage and screen, architecture, and much more.
Charlie talks with debut novelist Nina Simon about her breakout novel Mother Daughter Murder Night. They discuss writing mysteries, the natural world, mother daughter relationships, strong women characters, and how Nina came to write this book in the first place.
Charlie talks with Hunter Harrell, Charlie Putnam, and Tanner Whicker, stars of the world premiere stage adaptation of his 2020 novel Escaping Dreamland about the process of bringing the characters of Magda, Tom, and Gene to life in the production produced by the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem.
Charlie talks with Curtis Chin, author of Everything I Learned I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant about the immigrant experience, coming of age in Detroit in the 1980s, coming out in the 1980s, and food glorious food, Chinese style!
Charlie talks with British mystery writer Janice Hallett about her novel The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. They discuss writing in the documentary form, cold cases, religion, cults, classic mysteries, journalistic ethics, and much more.
Charlie talks with Sunday Times bestselling author Jane Corry about her novel Coming to Find You. They discuss Devon, old houses, Frederic Leighton, prison, tabloid journalism, and much more about the art and craft of writing a mystery.
Charlie talks with Virginia Kantra, author of the forthcoming novel The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale. They discuss classic children's books (from Oz to Narnia), the importance of setting, absent parents, the art of elegant exposition, metafictional irony, and much more.
Charlie talks live with legendary actor Henry Winkler at a Bookmarks event about his new best-selling memoir Being Henry: The Fonz . . . And Beyond. They talk about dyslexia, Yale Drama School, TV and stage acting, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, behind the scenes stories, life lessons, and, of course, Arthur Fonzarelli.
Charlie talks to debut novelist Dominic Lim about his queer romance All the Right Notes. They discuss Dominic's background in music and how music is woven throughout the novel, the incorporation of Filipino culture and particularly food, the state of queer fiction, playing piano at Marie's Crisis and more.
Charlie talks with Julie Soto, fresh off her appearance at the 2023 Bookmarks Festival, about her new novel Forget Me Not. They talk about theatre, romance novels, wedding planning, Jane Austen, humor, donuts, and more.
Ahead of her appearance at the 2023 Bookmarks Festival in Winston-Salem on September 23, Charlie talks to Megan Miranda about her novel, The Only Survivors. They discuss structuring a thriller, setting, writing about a tight group of characters, the impact of trauma, the book industry, and more.
John Connolly joins Charlie all the way from Ireland to talk about The Land of Lost Things, the long awaited follow-up to his The Book of Lost Things. John will be at the 2023 Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors in Winston-Salem. He and Charlie discuss fairy tales and folklore, ritual, the importance of books, paradox, humor, and much more.
Charlie talks to UK mystery writer Alice Bell about her new novel Grave Expectations. They discuss Dickens, Agatha Christie, humor in murder mysteries, ghosts, chapter structure, police procedurals, and much more.
Charlie talks with Dwyer Murphy about his new noir thriller The Stolen Coast. They discuss small town New England, the use of dialogue, basketball, the noir aesthetic, and the imagination that goes into planning a heist.
Charlie talks with novelist Elizabeth Silver about her new book The Majority—inspired by the life of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. They talk about the intersection of law and narrative, choosing the moments to dramatize in a historical novel, the Holocaust, women's rights, and much more.
Charlie talks with bestselling author J. Ryan Stradal about his new novel Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club. They discuss midwestern novels, how to begin a novel, the structure of chapters, creating characters, and of course the culture of the supper club.
Something a little different this episode, Charlie shares his "Thoughts on Scholarship" in the annual Roger Lancelyn Green lecture delivered on the occasion of the publication of his new biography of the author of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll: Formed by Faith. Charlie's groundbreaking religious biography of Carroll provides examples for his advice to researchers, historians, and scholars.
Charlie talks with Laurell K. Hamilton, author of the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series about the latest installment, Smolder. They discuss the challenges of sustaining a series, creating a long-range character arc, the combination of hard boiled detective with paranormal, the importance of therapy, and more.
Charlie talks with internationally best-selling author Steve Berry about his latest Cotton Malone adventure The Lost Kingdom. Steve talks about using history in a contemporary thriller and gives great advice on everything from starting chapters to using setting, researching historical figures, pacing a thriller and more.
Charlie talks with Alice Kate Marshall about her new adult thriller What Lies in the Woods. They discuss writing characters at different ages, setting as a reflection of theme, finding voice and crafting point of view, writing for different audiences, magic, and much more.
Charlie talks with bestselling author of thrillers, tv writer, and historian Brad Meltzer about his new book The Nazi Conspiracy—about a plot to assassinate Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at the height of WWII. They discuss research, structure, storytelling, and the relevance of books like The Nazi Conspiracy to the world we live in today.
Charlie talks with debut novelist Lauren Nossett about her new work of dark academia, The Resemblance. They discuss the genre as well as life on campus, Greek life, investigative techniques, writing prologues, and much more.
Charlie chats with Australian best selling novelist Kate Forsyth about her latest historical novel, The Crimson Thread, set on Crete during the Nazi occupation. They discuss writing historical novels, ancient mythology, finding hidden WW II stories, and mush more.
Charlie talks with 73-time NYT bestseller Sandra Brown about her latest novel, Overkill. They discuss structuring thrillers, pacing, writing villains, the terrible trouble, the North Carolina Mountains, and much more.
Author of middle grade books Frank Morelli takes over the microphone to interview Charlie about his new middle grade novel The Book of the Seven Spells, a fast-paced adventure about four children who discover a magical library.
Ahead of their appearance at the Bookmarks Festival in Winston-Salem, Charlie and Scott discuss Scott's new novel Suspect, touching on everything from what makes a thriller to rapid character development, creating villains, the American legal system, and more.
Anne Bogel (aka Modern Mrs. Darcy) interviews Charlie about his new novel The Enigma Affair. Anne (host of the What Should I Read Next podcast) asks Charlie about surprises, research, writing thrillers, and of course she puts him on the hot seat with the ten questions.
