Authors

Dave Cullen, Author of 'Columbine'

Dennis — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:26:46 -0400

One of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time, is Dave Cullen's Columbine. Released last year, the book went on to become a New York Times bestseller. But what it also did was clear up a lot of the gray smoke still shrouding the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High. For years, the media had gotten the story drastically wrong and has depicted Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold's motives incorrectly. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on the scene that day, but what set him apart was that he was not associated with any media 'pack' (CNN, Fox, etc). Instead, he was freelancing at the time for Salon.com. This important detail, and the fact that he spent close to ten years researching and then writing the book, make Columbine the most definitive exploration into the Columbine tragedy that exists.

For our interview, Kasey Carpenter, longtime Workshop member turned journalist, flew out to Denver, CO to visit with Dave at his writing studio. Dave, being a burgeoning enthusiast for video, set up his handy HD flip and over the course of four 10-14 min segments talked about everything from the media, to the killers, to even the publishers that released the book.

Below are the four segments of the entire interview. We had to set up a brand new Vimeo account to house all these, as YouTube won't let you go past 10 mins clips unless you're the Whitehouse. Enjoy!

Interview W/ "Columbine" Author Dave Cullen, Part 1 (4) - "Why Columbine?"

Bret Easton Ellis

Joshua Chaplinsky — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:53:44 -0400

After six novels and one book of short stories, the career of Bret Easton Ellis, author, has come to an end. It is survived by a continued involvement in screenwriting and the film industry.

At least that was the rumor. I wasn't sure how trustworthy my source was, and I certainly hoped it wasn't true, but there were signs. The full circle nature of Imperial Bedrooms, for one, not to mention those pesky little dates at the end. It got me thinking- if this information was legit, I had quite the scoop on my hands. I had to know for sure, but didn't want to wait out the years in hopes of getting an answer. This desire was the motivating factor behind my interview.

Tao Lin

Dennis — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:53:06 -0400

I was at Urban Outfitters shopping for overpriced t-shirts when I first encountered Tao, existentially speaking. Staring up at me with its minimalist cover design was a little novella called, Shoplifting From American Apparel. The title grabbed me, so I did what I do with any book: read the synopsis, the author bio, a random page in the middle. Later that night, I’ve got the novella sitting next to my Mac as I’m looking this guy up on Wikipedia.

Tao Lin: 26 years old, lives in New York. Has published five books.

After my initial Keanu Reeves “whoa” moment, I dig deeper.

Tao Lin: sells six shares of his to-be-released novel, Richard Yates, for $2,000 a piece. Also: arrested twice for shoplifting. Writes book based on it.

And as I keep poking around, it becomes obvious that Tao is doing something differently. Whether it’s getting banned from a publication for excessive zeal or posting emails from an unhappy editor on his website, Tao may not be the “bad boy of literature,” but he’s making a name for himself as a guy to keep an eye on. When an author can treat their novel like the stock market, it’s a sign of things to come.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Tao over the course of a couple weeks about his take on writing, as well as a few other topics ranging from Lindsay Lohan to the menu at Wendy’s.

Chris Cleave

Dennis — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:33:54 -0400

I recently caught Chris Cleave in Dallas as he wrapped up a 35 day tour across the US promoting his second novel, Little Bee, now being released in paperback. Little Bee is a New York Times Bestseller, shortlisted for the 2008 Costa Novel Award, nominated for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, long-listed for IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.

We scheduled an hour, and wound up chatting for about four. We talked about Little Bee, the fear of screen adaptations (of his first book, Incendiary and the upcoming adaptation of Little Bee), rewriting Star Wars, what literature needs to learn from the music industry, and why being asked if you want the keys to the minibar at check-in is such a loaded question. These are the highlights, culled from the audio:

Pablo D'Stair

mirka — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 11:47:22 -0400

Pablo D’Stair is a very busy man. He’s the founder of Brown Paper Publishing and author of the novels Kaspar Traulhaine, approximate (December 2009) i poisoned you (March 2010) and the forthcoming bleed the ghost empty, bleed the ghost dead (June 2010) and witness nothing (September 2010). Pablo’s stories blow the doors off of transgressive fiction’s redundant set pieces, they stick with you.

His novels are distributed in print absolutely-free-of-charge, and he’d like a word with you…

Richard Thomas

mirka — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:47:31 -0400

I don’t know how the hell Richard Thomas sleeps at night.

A husband and father of two in pursuit of his MFA, he’s an art director, accomplished short story writer (3:AM, Dogmatika, Colored Chalk), and a moderator in the Chuck Palahniuk Writer’s Workshop, reading well over 100 pieces per month for the anthology project (just so you don’t go thinking all he does is diffuse flame wars). As if that wasn’t enough, Richard’s also been working on his neo-noir debut called Transubstantiate, an ambitious first effort that fans of the genre and Lost will be sure to enjoy.

Like I said, I don’t know how he sleeps, but with this first book under his belt, it looks like the late nights are about to pay off…and no one deserves it more.

William Lashner

mirka — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:27:08 -0500

So, funny story: Tyler Knox is not actually a real person.

After reading his fantastic "debut" novel Kockroach, I consulted Tyler's Web site and shot off an e-mail to his agent, asking if I could set up an interview. She gave me contact info for William Lashner. I figured he was a publicist.

Actually, Lashner is the New York Times Bestselling author of the Victor Carl series - Killer's Kiss, Marked Man, Falls the Shadow, Past Due, Fatal Flaw, Bitter Truth and Hostile Witness, as well as Blood and Bone, a standalone thriller.

He's also Tyler Knox.

Chuck Klosterman

Dennis — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:21:44 -0500

Pop culture needs more people like Chuck Klosterman.

Klosterman seems to have that rarefied ability to make astute, observational stances for any number of subjects. From football plays to deconstructing the time he spent with Val Kilmer, he is possessed with an uncanny knack for indulging a wide variety of subjects and making them relevant, most of the time insightful, to a reader who may never have thought to ask the question that seems to drive Chuck: How can I say something original about this? He may not ask himself that but I would dare any reader of his new book, Eating the Dinosaur, to try and work through why he would spend as much time in the opening salvo in this new collection of short essays to talk about the nature of interviews when he himself is an interviewer and one who is interviewed. It’s all very meta but Klosterman makes the subject fascinating to delve into and it’s like this throughout the rest of the book. He’s possessed like an animator who flips between sketches to see how to slightly change the art that came before it; it’s a continuation of what he’s always done before but it does show forward movement in the way he strives to keep evolving as an artist.

Jim Munroe

Dennis — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:03:36 -0500

Here’s a bit of hyperbole my friends tell me I’m famous for: “primarily” sci-fi novelist Jim Munroe is the Tyler Durden of modern, “gutter” culture.

Don’t buy it? Check the facts. This is the man who got picked up from the slush pile of Rupert Murdoch’s corporate publishing giant, HarperCollins. His first novel, the hilarious Flyboy Action Figure Comes with Gasmask, a kind-of Generation X Monkeywrench Gang with superheroes, was published by HC, and considered successful enough by the moneyed bigwigs to warrant a contract for a second book.

Josh Bazell

Dennis — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:11:18 -0500

How good is Josh Bazell's debut novel, Beat the Reaper?

Last year I took my girlfriend to see Equus. During intermission, I pulled the book out of my bag to see how much I could read before the show started again. That's the measure of a great book - one where you spend your day looking for moments to get in a few more pages.

Beat the Reaper is the story of Peter Brown, a.k.a. Pietro Brwna, a reformed Mafia hitman looking for a little redemption through a medical residency in a Manhattan hospital. When a dying mobster threatens to out him, Brown finds the old adage true: just when you think you’re out, they pull you back in.