Episodes

  • China Mieville, “Perdido Street Station,” 2002

    China Mieville, “Perdido Street Station,” 2002
    Jan 26 2025
    China Mieville, author of the Hugo Award winning novel, “The City and the City,” and the classic “Perdido Street Station,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky in this archive interview recorded September 1, 2002. China Mieville is a British author of weird fantasy and science fiction, and a leftist political activist in Britain. Born in 1972, he began his literary career with an urban fantasy novel, King Rat, and followed it up with a novel considered now one of best fantasy works of the 20th Century, Perdido Street Station in 2000. This interview with China Mieville at the 60th World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose on September 1, 2002, shortly after the publication of his follow-up to Perdido Street Station, The Scar. Since then, China Mieville wrote a third novel set in that same Bas Lag universe as Perdido Street Station, Iron Council, published in 2004, and then moved on to other worlds with six stand alone novels, the most recent being a collaboration with Keanu Reaves titled The Book of Elsewhere, set in the BRZRKR comic book universe, published in 2024. A new novel is expected some time in 2025. his novel, The City and the City, which tied for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2010, was adapted for television by the BBC in 2018 and is now available streaming on Amazon Prime. This interview has previously never been heard in its entirety. Remastered and edited in January 2025 by Richard Wolinsky. The post China Mieville, “Perdido Street Station,” 2002 appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr and 22 mins
  • Susanna Clarke, “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”, 2005

    Susanna Clarke, “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”, 2005
    Jan 19 2025
    Susanna Clarke in 2006 Susanna Clarke, author of the classic fantasy novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, interviewed September 12, 2005 in the KPFA studios. ​​​​​Back in the fall of 2004, a new fantasy novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by a newcomer, Susannah Clarke, hit the stands and became an instant classic, finding its way to best-seller lists in England and the United States, and winning the Hugo Award for 2004’s best novel at the World Science Fiction convention in 2005. This interview with Susannah Clarke was recorded while on tour for the paperback edition of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. The interview was originally edited down to fit a half-hour KPFA slot, and no edit of the complete interview was ever made, until now. Both Christopher Hampton and Julian Fellowes took stabs at writing a film adaptation of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but both were unable to translate the very long novel into a screenplay, and then New Line cancelled the project. It was eventually developed into a seven -part miniseries for the BBC, and aired in both the United States and Britain in 2015. It is now streaming on Amazon Prime. After the publication of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and the awards, Susannah Clarke continued to work on the sequel, set in the same universe a few years later, but became bogged down, almost sentence by sentence, as chronic fatigue syndrome took its toll. By 2015, after visiting the set of the BBC production, she decided to go another route, and went back to another manuscript that likely pre-dated her best-seller. That novel, Piranesi, was published to mostly favorable reviews in 2020. She is now working on a third novel. The post Susanna Clarke, “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”, 2005 appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • Vernor Vinge (1944-2024), Science Fiction Master, 1992

    Vernor Vinge (1944-2024), Science Fiction Master, 1992
    Jan 12 2025
    Vernor Vinge (1944-2024), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded in the KPFA studios, May 7, 1992 while on tour for his novel, “Fire Upon the Deep,” which would be a co-winner of the Huge Award for Best Novel at the 1993 World Science Fiction Convention. ​​​​​Vernor Vinge, who died on March 20th, 2024 at the age of 79 was one of the masters of late twentieth century and early 21st century science fiction. He won five Hugo Awards, three for Best Novel and two for best novella, and is credited as the first science fiction writer to offer a fictional cyberspace, a few years before William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. Over all, Vernor Vinge wrote eight novels and had five published collections of his writings. His final novel, The Children of the Sky, was published in 2011. A prequel to Fire Upon the Deep titled A Deepness in the Sky, was published in 1999, and a sequel, The Children of the Sky, his last novel, was published in 2011. To date, none of his stories have been adapted for either television or film. Vernor Vince retired from teaching in 2000 to become a full-time writer. In this interview, he discusses university-level mathematics, and goes into detail about what are now the early days of life on the internet, and ways in which communications are shared using minimal bytes, and discusses his early writing about cyberspace, and about singularities. There are also comments about what the future holds, a future we now are experiencing. This interview has not aired in over thirty years, and was digitized, remastered and edited in January 2025 by Richard Wolinsky. The post Vernor Vinge (1944-2024), Science Fiction Master, 1992 appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr and 31 mins
  • Michael Crichton (1942-2008), “Jurassic Park,” 1990

    Michael Crichton (1942-2008), “Jurassic Park,” 1990
    Jan 5 2025
    Michael Crichton (1942-2008), recorded December 5, 1990, while on tour for his novel “Jurassic Park,” interviewed by Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff in the KPFA studios. In this interview, he talks about his career and about the science behind “Jurassic Park.” Michael Crichton died in 2008 at the age of 66. (Radio Wolinsky page photo: Jon Chase/Harvard University). First posted May 3, 2020. The post Michael Crichton (1942-2008), “Jurassic Park,” 1990 appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Mary Higgins Clark (1927-2020), Queen of Suspense Novels

    Mary Higgins Clark (1927-2020), Queen of Suspense Novels
    Dec 29 2024
    Mary Higgins Clark (1927-2020), who died on January 31st, 2020 at the age of 92, was the best-selling author of 51 books, most of them suspense novels featuring women in jeopardy, with four theatrical films and over thirty other books adapted for television. Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff interviewed Mary Higgins Clark for the Probablitiles radio program on May 24, 1989 while she was on tour for her 13th novel “While My Pretty One Sleeps.” The interview was conducted in her San Francisco hotel room. Digitized, re-mastered, and re-edited by Richard Wolinsky in April, 2020. First posted April 17, 2020. The post Mary Higgins Clark (1927-2020), Queen of Suspense Novels appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • Ian McEwan: “Atonement,” 2002

    Ian McEwan: “Atonement,” 2002
    Dec 22 2024
    Ian McEwan, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, discussing his novel “Atonement” and other works, from the archive, and recorded in New York City on April 3, 2002. Since 1978, Ian McEwan has had seventeen novels published and there have been ten film adaptations of his works, along with an additional three original screenplays. He has been nominated for the Booker Prize six times, winning for Amsterdam in 1998. This interview, recorded in New York while he was on a publicity tour for “Atonement,” has not aired in over two decades. The post Ian McEwan: “Atonement,” 2002 appeared first on KPFA.
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    57 mins
  • Walter Mosley, “A Little Yellow Dog” and “RL’s Dream”, 1996

    Walter Mosley, “A Little Yellow Dog” and “RL’s Dream”, 1996
    Dec 15 2024
    Walter Mosley and Richard Wolinsky, 2009. Walter Mosley in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded June 23, 1996 in the KPFA studios while on tour for the novel, “A Little Yellow Dog.” He also discusses his first mainstream novel, “RL’s Dream” and the film version of “Devil in a Blue Dress.” Today, Walter Mosley is one of America’s leading authors. He is best known for his series of mystery novels featuring the characters of Easy Rawlins and Mouse. To date, there are now twenty non-series novels by Walter Mosley, the most recent titled Touched, published in 2023, Along with three Fearless Jones novels, six Leonid McGill mysteries, three Socrates Fortlow books, three books in the Crosstown to Oblivion series, three books in the King Oliver series, plus two graphic novels, two plays, and six works of non-fiction. Always Outnumbered became a television film in 1998 starring Laurence Fishburne. Devil In A Blue Dress, is to date, the only Easy Rawlins mystery adapted for film. In 2022, Samuel L. Jackson starred in a TV miniseries titled The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray, based on Walter Mosley’s book, and primarily written by Walter Mosley. At present, an adaptation of his novel The Man in My Basement is in post-production. The next Easy Rawlins novel, Farewell Amethystine was published in June 2024. This interview was digitized, remastered and edited in December, 2024 by Richard Wolinsky. It has not been heard in 25 years. This is the second of five interviews, to date, with Walter Mosley. The post Walter Mosley, “A Little Yellow Dog” and “RL’s Dream”, 1996 appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Tony Hillerman (1925-2008), Master of the Southwest Mystery, 1997

    Tony Hillerman (1925-2008), Master of the Southwest Mystery, 1997
    Dec 8 2024
    Tony Hillerman (1925-2008), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded January 30, 1997 while on tour for his Leaphorn/Chee novel, “The Fallen Man,” the twelfth book in the series. Hillerman, who died in 2008 at the age of 83, wass a master of the detective genre and an important writer in detailing life on the Navajo reservation. His several novels featuring Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee have been acclaimed for their accuracy and for their ability to combine Navajo history and thought into strong plot-driven novels. There are four interviews with Tony Hillerman in the Probabilities and Bookwaves archive. This third interview, was recorded on January 30th, 1997 in the KPFA studios while he was on tour for his novel, The Fallen Man, the twelfth in the Leaphorn Chee series. Iin the interview, he also discusses his 1995 stand-alone novel, Finding Moon, This interview was digitized, remastered and edited in November, 2024, and not heard for over a quarter century. The post Tony Hillerman (1925-2008), Master of the Southwest Mystery, 1997 appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr and 27 mins