Peter Stone, debut author of THE PERFECT CANDIDATE, talks about his time in Washington (before the onset of the 24-hour news cycle), how interns run the world, and how writing a speech for his wife led him to finally try a novel.

Peter Stone Show Notes

The Firm by John Grisham

YALLWEST

YALLFest

Watergate (for more, listen to Slow Burn Season 1)

Monica Lewinsky (for more, listen to Slow Burn Season 2)

Chandra Levy

The My Favorite Murder podcast episode about Chandra Levy’s death

The NPR Politics podcast

The Wilderness (by Crooked Media)

JonBenet Ramsey

Laci Peterson

Newt Gingrich

Old Ebbitt Grill (bar in Washington, D.C.)

The Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here)

The Robert Mueller Investigation

George Papadopoulos

Edward Snowden

Whitewater (for more, listen to Slow Burn Season 2)

Vince Foster (for more, listen to Slow Burn Season 2)

House of Cards (TV show)

Scandal (TV show)

The Pelican Brief (movie)

The Hunt for Red October (movie)

Ben’s Chili Bowl (restaurant in D.C.)

Tortilla Coast (restaurant in D.C.)

Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe

Neil Gaiman’s quote about writing while inspired

Holly Black, Newberry Honoree and New York Times bestselling author of many things, including many series such as the SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, THE CURSE WORKER, MAGISTERIUM, and her most recent series, FOLK OF THE AIR. The latest book in that series, THE WICKED KING, comes out January 8—the tour dates to support that book were just released on Hypable today!

Holly Black Show Notes

Tony DiTerlizzi, her artist for Spiderwick Chronicles

Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee

OwlCrate

FairyLoot

Third Eye Blind

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice

Kevin Lewis (editor, Simon & Schuster)

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Tamora Pierce

Cassandra Clare

Kiersten White (listen to her First Draft interview here)

Dhonielle Clayton (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here)

Office Smart

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Kelly Link

Dante’s Inferno

Volcano

Robin Talley—author of LIES WE TELL OURSELVES, WHAT WE LEFT BEHIND, AS I DESCENDED, OUR OWN PRIVATE UNIVERSE—talks about her newest novel, PULP. Robin shares insight about transitioning into being a full-time writer and stay-at-home mom, writing a Judy Blume book for queer girls, and writing books with her younger self in mind.

Robin Talley Show Notes

Robin’s previous First Draft episode

Simon Versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (listen to her First Draft episode here)

Dahlia Adler

Pacemaker

Scrivener

Forever by Judy Blume

Love, Simon (movie)

Ann Bannon (famous lesbian pulp author)

Spring Fire by Marijane Meeker

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

Carol (movie)

The Lavender Scare

Lambda Literary Foundation

All Out edited by Saundra Mitchell

A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood (listen to her First Draft episode here)

Robin’s short stories

Andy Weir, New York Times best-selling author of THE MARTIAN and his new stand-alone Sci-Fi novel, ARTEMIS. This interview is a live recording of the in-conversation I had with Andy for New York Comic Con. I loved hearing Andy talk about moon economies, managing anxiety, and how science makes his books living documents.

Andy Weir Show Notes

The Martian (movie)

Matt Damon playing Brett Kavanaugh on SNL

Neil Degrasse Tyson

Andy’s Business Insider article on the economy of a moon colony

Bea and Leah Koch, two sisters who co-own The Ripped Bodice, the only brick and mortar bookstore in the U.S. to sell exclusively romance titles, who were named 2017 RWA Steffie Walker Booksellers of the Year by the Romance Writers of America and recently struck an overall deal with Sony Pictures. I loved what Bea and Leah had to say about being activist booksellers, retraining romance readers, and becoming advocates for representation and change in publishing.

Bea and Leah Koch, owners of The Ripped Bodice, Show Notes

Women and Children First (bookstore in Illinois)

The Ripped Bodice Kickstarter

Preeti Chhibber (of Scholastic)

Word bookstore’s Romance Book Club

Greenlight (bookstore in Brooklyn)

Ashley C. Ford (author and editor running the Green Light romance book club)

The Ripped Bodice State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing Report (2016 and 2017) (The New York Times artiicle detailing the report’s findings, “In Love With Romance Novels, But Not Their Lack of Diversity”)

Vivian Stevens (editor of romance novels)

Beverly Jenkins (romance author)

RWA (Romance Writers Association)

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (listen to Associate Director of Event Programming for LATFoB, Maret Orliss, here)