All Blog Posts from Author Talk

Jeff Glor talks to Matt Ruff about "The Mirage", a novel that delivers an alternate history of 9/11 and its aftermath.

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Matt Ruff: I wanted to tell a story that would allow me to explore the political and moral issues around the U.S. response to 9/11 from a unique perspective. I also wanted to give a central role to the folks who've borne the brunt of the War on Terror -- the vast majority of Muslims who aren't terrorists, and whose only crime is being the wrong kind of people at the wrong moment in history. And because I'm a big speculative fiction fan, the way I chose to do that was by taking a classic, 9/11-themed thriller and setting it in a world where the U.S. and the Middle East have essentially traded places.

JG: What surprised you most during the writing?

MR: The biggest surprise was that it worked. As I was reminded whenever I told people what I was writing, this was sort of a crazy, scary idea for a novel. It's got a mostly Arab Muslim cast of characters who I want American readers to identify with and care about, at the same time I'm raising these provocative questions about terrorism and religion and American exceptionalism, and also trying to keep the story fast-paced and exciting. Which is a tall order, and there were times, particularly early on, when I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pull it off. And of course it remains to be seen what the public reaction will be, but I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

MR: Living under a bridge, probably. I decided to be a writer when I was very young, and never really had a plan B.

JG: What else are you reading right now?

MR: I'm rereading Lawrence Wright's "The Looming Tower" to refresh my memory about the real-world history of 9/11.

JG: What's next for you?

MR: I haven't decided for sure what I'm going to write next. But the leading contender -- the idea that makes me the most nervous, in a good way -- is a story called "Lovecraft Country." It's a historical horror novel about a black travel writer living in the Jim Crow era.

For more on "The Mirage" visit the Harper Collin's website

Jeff Glor talks to Dan Chaon about his new collection of short stories, "Stay Awake."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Dan Chaon: The book combines two fascinations of mine. First, I love old-fashioned ghost stories, as practiced by writers such as Edith Wharton, Elizabeth Bowen, Shirley Jackson, Daphne DuMaurier, etc. Second, I find myself drawn to contemporary "weird" news, true crime and strange human behavior. I set out to combine these two elements in these stories.

JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?

DC: These stories were written over a period of ten years, in-between times when I was working on my novels. When I sat down to put them together, I was surprised at how strangely interconnected they seemed. A lot of the same obsessions kept popping up. I thought: Wow, I've been circling around these things for a long time without even realizing it.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

DC: I spent some time working as a DJ in Chicago when I got out of school. I was really interested in audio production and remixing, so maybe I'd have pursued that. Who knows?

JG: What else are you reading right now?

DC: "Lint," a graphic novel by Chris Ware 

"The Outlaw Album," short stories by Daniel Woodrell

"Salvage the Bones," a novel by Jessmyn Ward

JG: What's next for you?

DC: I'm finishing the screenplay for my novel "Await Your Reply," and working on a new novel.

MORE VIDEO:

Jeff Glor talks to Dan Chaon about the differences in writing for the screen versus short stories and novels. Dan Chaon talks about how he's wanted to be a writer since he was five years old and how a letter from Ray Bradbury encouraged him in his craft.

For more on "Stay Awake," visit the Random House website.

Jeff Glor talks to Thomas Peele about "Killing the Messenger."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Thomas Peele: I am a newspaper reporter and in 2007 a newspaper reporter, Chauncey Bailey, was killed because of a story he was writing about a Back Muslim cult in Oakland, California called the Beys. Other journalists in the Bay Area were in a unique situation to do something about it, which was finish his work and send a message: killing a journalist is a futile action if the intent is to avoid journalistic scrutiny. Eventually, a group of journalists, students, non-profit administrators and academics formed the Chauncey Bailey Project to push that message and to also make sure that all responsible for Bailey's death were held accountable. While reporting on the murder and the Beys, and the questionable conduct of the police, it became easy to see that the complexities discovered would stand up to a long narrative treatment. There was a story to tell. I was also interested in tracing the history of the Bey's beliefs to their origins and explain them.

JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?

TP: How well all the divergent sourcing I had - police reports, interviews, recorded jail phone calls, grand jury transcripts, books, newspaper and journal articles - allowed me to work toward a seamless narrative that moved from the 1920s through 2011. The book is primarily about people, the Beys, who wish not to be written about - and who killed to stop being written about. It's most sympathetic character, Mr. Bailey, is dead. Yet a wealth of information existed to tell the story of both and put them on paths that eventually violently collided.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

TP: I'd be pitching for my beloved New York Mets, assuming they'd want an out of shape, middle-aged, right-hander who never had much in the first place, let alone now. Then again, I'd probably fit right into their cost cutting budget, considering I'd pitch for free. Seriously, I don't know. I have been a journalist all of my adult life. I enjoy teaching, so probably that.

JG: What else are you reading right now?

TP: I am close to finishing Amanda Foreman's "A World on Fire," her fabulous history of Great Britain's involvement in the American Civil War. While writing "Killing the Messenger," I had to do so much for research reading that my reading queue really backed up, so I am looking forward to a lot of diverse reading this year. Next, I want to jump into a couple of old Cormac McCarthy novels and then Pete Hamill's "Tabloid City."

JG: What's next for you?

TP: I am a working investigative journalist and a university lecturer, so any book project has to be balanced with those duties. In the few months since I finished "Killing the Messenger," I've been kicking around some ideas and keep coming back to one that would involve a re-examination of a major even in American history. I love the book-writing process and certainly want to pursue other projects. "Killing the Messenger" is my first book, not my last.

For more on "Killing the Messenger," visit the Random House website.

Jeff Glor talks to Kristin Hannah about "Home Front."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Kristin Hannah: Usually when I write a book, I can remember the exact moment the idea came to me. "Home Front" is a little different in that way. I can't remember the second the light bulb came on. I think it was a gradual realization that came from watching the nightly news. As the war in Iraq went on, I watched the stories -- night after night -- of soldiers lost in battle, wounded, and the stories of their families left behind, waiting for them to return. As a mother, I was heartbroken for the men and women and their families. So many of the young soldiers on the news were the same age as my own son, and that hit me really hard. As an American, I was grateful, and as a woman, I began to wonder what it must be like to go off to war and leave your children behind. I can't imagine anything that would be more terrifying and difficult. I realized that I had never read that story, and I wanted to. I wanted to explore the idea of a woman torn between love and honor. So I decided to write it.

JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?

KH: The most surprising thing about this book was how much it taught me. I don't come from a military family, nor do I know a lot of military families personally, so I was woefully uninformed about what our families and soldiers go through during a deployment. Prior to Home Front, I would have said that I understood something about their lives and their service, but I was wrong in almost everything. I only understood the thinnest layer. I learned so much in the writing of this novel and in researching it. I went to a deployment ceremony and honestly, I think every American should attend one. Watching our soldiers preparing to go off to war, and their families standing alongside to say goodbye, really brings their sacrifice into sharp focus. It is a powerful reminder that whatever one feels about any particular war, we need to always respect and honor our soldiers and their families. Honestly, I felt a little ashamed that I hadn't attended one before. Although, boy, was it difficult. I was humbled by their pride and strength in the face of such an undertaking. It makes you truly consider what heroism is and reminds you to be grateful.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

KH: Honestly, I've been a writer so long now that I can't imagine doing anything else. I truly, deeply love this job. I love the mix of creativity and analysis that is my process; I love researching and editing. I love taking something as elusive and ephemeral as an idea and wrestling it to the ground, turning it into something concrete. The only other job that really speaks to me is being a Supreme Court Justice, and I think I've lost my chance at that one.

JG: What else are you reading right now?

KH: Right now I'm deep in the process of writing the first draft of a new novel. For me, that's the time when everything is up in the air -- characters, plot point, setting, back stories. I have the book' s theme and the main issues that I want to explore, but that's about it. So I'm reading a lot of research books. It's that time of year when my to be read pile starts filling up with all the novels I can't wait to get to. Up next: Lisa Scottoline's "Come Home" and Murakami's "1Q84."

JG: What's next for you?

KH: As you can tell from my previous answer, I'm not quite sure what I'm working on. It's shaping up to be a story-within-a-story novel, which is one of my favorite fictional structures. I'm experimenting with both tense and point of view at the moment, but I have no idea what will remain in the next draft. I've already thrown away two previous drafts. I wish I could give you a lovely little wrap up sentence that distilled my current idea into a single, compelling story. Boy, do I wish I could. I can only tell you that I'm writing about a cast of really interesting characters doing unexpected things ... that's what I've got for now.

For more on "Home Front" visit her website.

Jeff Glor talks to Robert Harris, author of "Fatherland" and "The Ghost," about his latest book, "The Fear Index."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Robert Harris: It started more than 12 years ago. I wanted to write a "1984" for the 21st century, in which the threat to human freedom wasn't the state any more but a private corporation using new technology. I kept turning the idea over in my mind even as I was writing other books. Then, after the collapse of Lehman in 2008, I realized that the best place to set it would probably be the financial world. And so it's about the collision of greed and computers and the way they are taking over our lives.

JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?

RH: The way the book seemed to be coming true around me. I had just started writing when the flash crash of May 6 2010 occurred, and that could have come straight out of my novel. And since I've finished it the sense of the financial world spinning ever faster out of control has intensified. And things that I thought were complete fantasy -- computers making investment decisions based on an analysis of human behavior as revealed by trends on social media, for example -- I have found are actually being done.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

RH: I really can't imagine being anything else. It's all I've wanted to do since I was a child. It isn't really a job, but a part of my personality, a way of being in the world -- to observe and then to turn it all into a narrative.

JG: What else are you reading right now?

RH: I'm reading the wartime diaries of a British intelligence officer, Hugh Trevor-Roper, who later became a well-known historian. He was very brilliant, but unfortunately most people only remember him as the expert who said he thought the forged diaries of Adolf Hitler were genuine.

JG: What's next for you?

RH: I have written two volumes of a trilogy about the ancient Roman statesman and politician, Cicero ("Imperium" and "Conspirata"). I am working on volume three now, and loving being back in that world of more than 2,000 years ago. Not a hedge fund, an investment banker or a computer in sight ...

For more on "The Fear Index" visit the Random House website.

Jeff Glor talks to Jane Harris about "Gillespie and I," a follow-up to Harris's award-winning novel "The Observations."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Jane Harris: I had known for a long time that I wanted to write something about an artist in Glasgow at the end of the 19th century. Originally, I had thought that the novel might feature a female painter and her struggles to be accepted as a serious artist alongside her male contemporaries. However, very soon after I began researching this idea, I came across an article in a newspaper. The article gave the details of a court case that had just taken place in a seaside town in Britain. This was about six years ago. The piece in the newspaper was very short and gave only the most tantalising details about the case, which concerned a family, their daughter and a neighbour. The crime was so bizarre, and involved such incomprehensible cruelty, that it haunted me. I realised that there was no reason why this crime, (which happened in about 2004), couldn't have taken place over a century earlier. And so I began to work on a different kind of story, one that, ultimately, became more of a psychological mystery than a character study of a female artist.

JG: What surprised you most during the writing process?

JH: Interesting and lovely question. I'm having to think hard about it. *author walks away from computer, strolls to another part of house, potters a bit, returns*

I suppose the most surprising thing about this novel is that I ever managed to finish it. I can't say too much here about the story, because there is a mystery at the heart of this book and I don't want to spoil anything for potential readers, but there are certain elements of the narrative that made it a technically complicated book to write. There was a sort of balancing act or magic trick that had to be accomplished. This was difficult to achieve and, at times, I just didn't feel capable of it. I'm actually still amazed that I finished it and that I seem to have got away with it.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

JH: I'd have been a supermodel or a porn star. Possibly. But (more likely), I'd still be teaching English as a Foreign Language somewhere. Or perhaps I might have ended up as an embittered, passive-aggressive librarian. In fact, yes, that's the most likely option. I'd be sitting behind the issue desk in my cardigan, swiping library cards, and imagining that the swiping action made each customer in front of me explode. Kaboom!

JG: What else are you reading right now?

JH: Mainly, I'm reading books that are related in some way to the novel I'm currently working on. So, right now, I'm reading an old book called "Obi," or the "History of Three-Fingered Jack" by William Earle. It's set in18th century Jamaica and tells the story of a slave who rebels against his masters.

JG: What's next for you?

JH: I'm determined to write a short, straightforward novel. Both "Gillespie and I" and my first novel "The Observations" turned out to be big books with fairly complex narratives. That means they took a while to write. I'm hoping to do something that's still rewarding for the reader, but not quite as long. I'm trying to remember the K.I.S.S. rule - that is: KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID.

For More on "Gillespie and I," visit the Harper Collins website.

Stephen Fry - actor, writer, director - tells how he went from being a thief, liar and addict to being one of Britain's national treasures.

MORE VIDEO:

Writer, actor and director, Stephen Fry talks about one of his favorite books, "Under the Volcano," to Charlie Rose and Jeff Glor.

Stephen Fry talks about his lifelong love of Sherlock Holmes. Fry plays Holmes' brother in the new film, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows."

Watch another Stephen Fry interview on "CBS This Morning."

Jeff Glor talks to Brad Meltzer about his book "Heroes For My Son."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Brad Meltzer: My son. On the night he was first born, that's when I asked myself the question for the very first time: What kind of man did I want my son to be? I have three children now. I've long ago realized I have little say in the matter. But at that moment, I decided that I wanted to write a book over the course of my son's life - and then when I eventually gave it to him, he'd realize what a brilliant father I was.

But the book was just a list of silly platitudes -- until a friend of mine told me this story about the Wright Brothers: Every day Orville and Wilbur Wright went out to fly their plane, they would bring enough materials for multiple crashes. That way, when they crashed, they could rebuild the plane and try again. Think about it a moment: every time they went out - every time - they knew they were going to fail. But that's what they did: Crash and rebuild. Crash and rebuild. And that's why they finally took off.

I loved that story. I still love that story. And that's the kind of story I wanted my son to hear: a story that wouldn't lecture to him, but would show him that if he was determined ... if he wasn't afraid to fail ... if he had persistence (and a side order of stubbornness), the impossible becomes possible.

Since that time, I've been collecting heroes for this book, which has been one of the most rewarding projects of my life.

JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?

BM: How many heroes there are. In fact, that's what I love most: there are so many heroes everywhere. Not just famous ones like Mr. Roger, Abraham Lincoln, and Lucille Ball. But regular people like Frank Shakwitz and Alex Scott. It affirms my belief that ordinary people change the world.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

BM: I don't know what else I'm qualified for. My only real talent is that I can say the alphabet backwards. Faster than anyone.

JG: What else are you reading right now?

BM: "Man's Search For Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. And "Locke & Key" by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez.

JG: What's next for you?

BM: Well, my daughter kept asking me, "Where the heck's my book!?" So on April 10th, I'm coming out with "Heroes For My Daughter." And then onto the sequel to "The Inner Circle."

For more on "Heroes For My Son," visit his website.

Jeff Glor speaks with Susan Cain about "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Susan Cain: I was fuelled by the same mix of passion and indignation that I imagine inspired Betty Friedan to publish "The Feminine Mystique" in 1963. Introverts are to extroverts what women were to men at that time--second-class citizens with gigantic amounts of untapped talent. Our schools, workplaces, and religious institutions are designed for extroverts, and many introverts believe that there is something wrong with them and that they should try to "pass" as extroverts. The bias against introversion leads to a colossal waste of talent, energy, and happiness.

JG: What surprised you the most?

SC: I'm continually amazed by how many people who appear to be extroverts are actually introverts. Whenever I mention to airport seatmates and dinner party guests the subject of my book, the most unlikely people confide that they are secret introverts.

Of course, given the statistics, I shouldn't be surprised. The latest study shows that 50% of Americans are introverts. But in this extroverted culture of ours, most people act much more outgoing than they really are.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

SC: I've wanted to be a writer since I was four years old! But still, that's an easy question: I would be a research psychologist. I'm insatiably curious about human nature. I feel very lucky that as a writer I get to learn so much about it just to do my job right. For "Quiet," I interviewed dozens of psychology researchers and read hundreds of scholarly papers and books. I also talked to scores of "regular people" about the way their personalities shape their lives.

JG: What else are you reading right now?

SC: Like everyone else, I'm reading Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs. I have a special interest in that book, because in "Quiet" I wrote a lot about Jobs' co-founder of Apple Computer, the shy and warm-hearted Steve Wozniak. I'm also re-reading Rebecca Goldstein's brilliant 1983 novel, "The Mind-Body Problem," about life and love in the Princeton University philosophy department. And I can't wait to get to Daniel Kahneman's new book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow," about the mysteries of human reasoning. That's my favorite genre - "idea books" about human nature.

JG: What's next for you?

SC: I have another book up my sleeve. But I also expect to be advancing the ideas in "Quiet" -- though public speaking, my website, and so on -- for the rest of my life. For me this is not just a book; it's a mission. I'm especially interested in working with parents and teachers of introverted kids, and in helping to re-shape workplace culture and design. I'd like to see it less focused on what I call "The New Groupthink" - the idea that creativity and productivity emerge from a necessarily gregarious place - and more conducive to deep thought and solo reflection.

MORE VIDEO:

Jeff Glor talks to author Susan Cain about what, exactly, is an introvert. Cain also discusses how more and more people are craving quiet and how we could be at the start of a "Quiet Revolution." Jeff Glor talks to Susan Cain about how introverts can use their strengths to succeed in an extrovert world. Cain is the author of "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking."

For more on "Quiet" visit the Random House website.

Jeff Glor talks to Alan Lightman about, "Mr g."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Alan Lightman: First of all, I have for a long time loved fabulist, imaginative fiction, such as the writing of Italo Calvino, Jose Saramago, Michael Bulgakov, and Salman Rushdie. I also like the magic realist writers, such as Borges and Marquez, and feel that interesting truths can be learned about our world by exploring highly distorted worlds. So, that is for form. As for content, with a background in science I am extremely interested in the meeting ground of science, theology, and philosophy, especially the ethical questions at the border of science and theology. All of these impulses served as inspiration for my new novel.

JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?

AL: In my novel "Mr g," God is the narrator and tells the story in the first person. After living with the voice of God for the year that I worked on the book, with the power to create time and space, matter and energy, animate matter and consciousness, now and then I had tiny flashes of what it feels like to be all powerful.

I had not expected this feeling, but I always try to inhabit the minds and bodies of the characters I create, and in this case I was attempting to imagine what it would be like to be God -- in a literary sense of course.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

AL: If I were not a writer, I would spend more time doing the things that I am already doing, which include doing research in physics, teaching, and running a nonprofit organization with a mission to empower women in Cambodia.

JG: What else are you reading right now?

AL: Most recently, I read Anita Desai's wonderful new collection of

stories: "The Artist of Disappearance."

I also recently read Jim Gleick's excellent book, "The Information."

JG: What's next for you?

AL: I am now working on a collection of essays about various aspects of the universe: the accidental existence of our universe, the temporary nature of our universe, the kind of religious belief consistent with science, and the disembodied nature of our technology-driven world.

For more on "Mr g" visit the Random House website.