Episode 31: Cory Doctorow(June 15, 2010) -- Cory Doctorow keeps himself busy with his nonstop writing and publishing of books, his many blog postings, the work he does for Boing Boing, as well as raising a child. He is the author of a number of books including Little Brother and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. His latest books are Makers for adults and For the Win for young adults.In this interview, Cory Doctorow talks about what is was that got him into writing, how he got started with Boing Boing, where he got his idea for Makers from, and the new book he's working on. He also talks about where he thinks technology and the Internet are head in the near future. Featured in the episode are my reviews for Makers, For the Win, Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay, and Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan. [24:59]

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Episode 32: Richard Doetsch(July 15, 2010) -- Richard Doetsch is the author of the heavily researched Thieves series, including The Thieves of Heaven, The Thieves of Faith and the fortcoming Thieves of Darkness (August 24, 2010). His latest book is the thriller, The 13th Hour, telling the compelling story of a man who finds his wife dead and with the aid of a time-traveling pocket watch travels an hour back in time for twelve hours, hoping to discover his wife's killer and stop him or her before the murder is committed. In the interview, he talks about how he went from being a successful business man to becoming a professional writer, his daily method of coming up with a new and original story idea each day, how he wrote The 13th Hour as a personal dare in one month, and what he likes to do for fun. [38:31]

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Episode 33: Justin Cronin (August 2, 2010) -- Justin Cronin is the author of The Summer Guest and Mary and O'Neil, and the first book in a epic trilogy about vampires and a post-apocalyptic world called The Passage. In the interview, Justin talks about how he got started writing, where the ideas and storylines for The Passage came from (totally worth hearing), why he began writing The Passage, who some of his influences are, and how he feels readers should handle dealing with an almost 800 page book. [32:14]

This is the first co-interview for BookBanter, with Kaye Cloutman.

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For the video version of the interview click HERE for Part One, and HERE for Part Two.

Episode 34: A Selection of Book Reviews (September 4, 2010) -- A selection of book reviews including some "From the Vault" and kid's choices. "Coyote" by Allen Steele, "Reckless" by Andrew Gross, "Freedom" by Daniel Suarez, "Deep Fathom" by James Rollins, "Black Hills" by Dan Simmons, "Abarat" by Clive Barker, and "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman. [18:07]

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Episode 35: A Further Selection of Book Reviews (September 15, 2010) -- The episode features the following book reviews: Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik, Flood and Ark by Stephen Baxter, Pariah by Bob Fingerman, Warrior of Rome by Harry Sidebottom, New York by Edward Rutherfurd, Cro-Magnon by Brian Fagan, Test by William Sleator, and Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. [19:55]

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Episode 36: Mitchell James Kaplan (October 1, 2010) -- Mitchell James Kaplan is a historical fiction author of By Fire, by Water, a book about the turbulent period of fifteenth century Spain between the Moors, Christians, and Jews. In the interview he talks about how he became a writer, where By Fire, by Water came from (as well as the origin of the title) and what he's working on next. [22:53]

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Episode 37: Dan Wells(November 1, 2010) -- Dan Wells is the author of I am Not a Serial Killer and the recently released Mr. Monster. He likes to begin his readings with: "I am not a serial killer. My book is an autobiography." His protagonist, John Wayne Cleaver, is a fascinating teenager who has his own issues to deal with, but when there's a serial killer on the loose, John pushes these thoughts aside and does what he does best: gets into the mind of a cold-hearted murderer. In the interview, Wells talks about how he got started writing, where he got the idea for John Wayne Cleaver, how many other books there will be, and a little on what else he's working on. You'll find out the unusual location of his everyday writing office and what hobbies he likes to get up to in his free time. [27:07]

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With the release of Sanderson's own brand spanking new ten-book series, The Stormlight Archive, with The Way of Kings, and the recent release of the second to last Wheel of Time book, Towers of Midnight, I thought it would be fitting to have Sanderson be the first second interview with the same person on BookBanter, on the second anniversary of the podcast. This time, I was only given a fifteen minute window before a huge signing (there was no time for a reading) in a back office. I knew at the time of the original interview with Sanderson, that the next time would be a big affair, but I had no idea how big.

In the short but detailed interview, Sanderson talks about how he was able to get two extremely long books written and published in one year, why he thinks he won't have any books out for a while, and some secrets to his favorite hobby: RPGs! [16:52]

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Episode 39: N. K. Jemisin(December 15th) -- N. K. Jemisin is the author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kings, the first two books in the Inheritance Trilogy. In this interview, Jemisin talks about how she got started writing, where she got the idea for "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms," and what the final book in the trilogy will be about. She also has some advice for writers looking to get published, and goes in to detail about another big project she's working on.

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Salman Rushdie is an author that most people know in one way or another.  He is the winner of the Booker Prize (what has been called the British equivalent of the Pulitzer), he has been appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II, and has had a fatwā issued against him for his book The Satanic Verses.  His latest book is Luka and the Fire of Life, a fantasy tale about a boy whose father is sick and it is necessary for the boy – Luka – to travel into a fantasy world and capture some of this “fire of life” to cure his father; but he is up against unbeatable odds: no one has ever made through this fantasy world and survived; no one has ever managed to capture the fire of life; and no one has ever made it back to the real world with the fire of life.  The book was written for his second son, after he originally wrote Haroun and the Sea of Stories, for his first son; they’d each asked for a story they could read and enjoy.

At a recent signing at the wonderful Kepler's Books and Magazines, Rushdie took a moment to do an interview with BookBanter and Kaye Cloutman of the San Francisco Book Review. Angela from Kepler's Books and Magazines also provided a question during the interview. Rushdie talks about how and why he became an author, the steps he needed to take to write a children's fantasy novel, as well as some advice for writer's living under oppression.

Many thanks to Angela and everyone at Kepler's Books and Magazines for helping to organize the interview, and for being so accommodating. Also thanks to Jared Emerson-Johnson for cleaning up the interview and making it sound awesome.

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