Morgan Matson, New York Times best-selling author of THE UNEXPECTED EVERYTHING, AMY & ROGER'S EPIC DETOUR and SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE, among others, on reading on the bathroom floor, death defying road trips, and being forced to think of book ideas because Twitter is down.

Morgan Matson Show Notes

Vroman’s bookstore

Christopher Pike

Judy Blume

R.L. Stine FEAR STREET

SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS by Ann Brashares

THE PRINCESS DIARIES by Meg Cabot

WRITING DOWN THE BONES by Natalie Goldberg

Stephanie Kuehn (listen to her First Draft interview here)

David Levithan

Jenny Han

Siobhan Vivian

Coe Booth

Melissa C. Walker

David Benioff (show runner Game of Thrones), CITY OF THIEVES

Stephen King DESPERATION

Sarah Dessen THIS LULLABY

Scandal (TV show)

The Good Wife (TV show)

Lightning round questions with some of the fantastic authors I came across at the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, including Susan Dennard, Ransom Riggs, M.A. Larson, Tahereh Mafi, Maggie Hall, Danielle Paige, Victoria Aveyard, Kara Thomas, Maurene Goo, and Julie Buxbaum!

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Roundup Show Notes

Susan Dennard, author of the SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY series and TRUTHWITCH

Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica (TV show)

Mal from Firefly (TV show)

BLOOD RED ROAD by Moira Young

THE CATHEDRAL OF THE WILD by Boyd Varty

Ransom Riggs author of MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

M.A. Larson author of THE PENNYROYAL ACADEMY

Tahereh Mafi SHATTER ME series and FURTHERMORE

RainyMood.com

Maggie Hall author of THE CONSPIRACY OF US and MAP OF FATES

Cassandra Clare

Danielle Paige author of the DOROTHY MUST DIE series and STEALING SNOW

Mary Shelley FRANKENSTEIN

Crimson Peak (film)

Guiding Light (soap opera)

Margaret Stohl

Melissa de la Cruz

Kami Garcia

Anne M. Martin

Victoria Aveyard author of RED QUEEN

Kara Thomas THE DARKEST CORNERS and PREP SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL

Maurene Goo author of  SINCE YOU ASKED and forthcoming K-Drama romcom!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (film)

Last of the Mohicans (movie)

Wonder Woman theme from Batman and Superman (movie)

Julie Buxbaum (SP) author of TELL ME THREE THINGS

Hang out with kittens, wild parrots, and Maurene Goo, author of SINCE YOU ASKED and a forthcoming K-Drama romcom, due out in 2017! We talk about writing fan fiction of her own life, letting teen girls be silly, and not being able to deny being an L.A. girl.

Maurene Goo Show Notes

Elvis Costello

THE GOOD EARTH by Pearl S. Buck

THE BABYSITTER’S CLUB books by Ann M. Martin

Mary Higgins Clark

V. C. Andrews

Charles Dickens

Robin Benway (listen to her First Draft interview here)

Felicity (TV show)

THE PRINCESS DIARIES by Meg Cabot

GOSSIP GIRL by Cecily von Ziegesar

DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth (listen to her First Draft interview here)

John Green 

David Sedaris

How Did This Get Made's “Teen Witch” podcast

Amy Spalding (listen to her First Draft interview here)

STORIES FROM WAYSIDE SCHOOL by Louis Sachar

This episode is the audio equivalent of a spray tan! Join me and Jessi Kirby, author of THINGS WE KNOW BY HEART, GOLDEN, IN HONOR, and MOONGLASS, as we discuss human hearts, the lasting impact of inspiring teachers, and what actual IRL teens are reading.

Jessi Kirby Show Notes

FRECKLE JUICE, TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING by Judy Blume

Herman Hesse SIDDHARTHA, NARCISSUS AND GOLDMUND

NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA by Robert K. Massie

Robin Benway (listen to her First Draft interview here)

 THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin

Kerry Winfrey’s blog Year of Romcoms

Nora Ephron

Compatible immune systems

Gail Godwin HEART

Victoria Schwab (also known as V. E. Schwab), New York Times bestselling author of A GATHERING OF SHADOWS, VICIOUS, THE ARCHIVED, and more!, talks about the slippery nature of memory, book-writing amnesia, why editorial letters should be more like stacked Oreos, and feeding the fanfic trolls. 

Victoria Schwab Show Notes

Kristin Kittscher (hear her First Draft interview here)

Harpeth Hall

Robert Ludlum, THE BOURNE IDENTITY

Kelly Link, GET IN TROUBLE

Victoria’s sticker system

Susanna Clarke JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL

Neil Gaiman NEVERWHERE

Victoria Aveyard (listen to her on First Draft Live here, and her First Draft interview here)

Holly Black

SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller

Talking to Elana K. Arnold (author of FAR FROM FAIR, out now!, as well as INFANDOUS and THE QUESTION OF MIRACLES) about literal and metaphysical skin suits, sex on the page, whether we write FOR teens or ABOUT teens, and middle grade as a happy place.

Elana K. Arnold Show Notes

Cheryl Strayed, “The Love of My Life,” TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS

Sarah MCarry (listen to her First Draft interview here)

Madonna

Cyndi Lauper

ROOM (and the movie)

Mark Childress CRAZY IN ALABAMA

Thelma & Louise (movie)

SPLENDOR by Elana K. Arnold

Squaw Valley Community of Writers

STORY by Robert McKee

TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer

Cheryl Strayed’s letter to a young writer ("Write Like a Motherfucker")

Aimee Bender

Carrie Mesrobian

Stephanie Kuehn (listen to her First Draft interview here)

Andrew Karre (editor with Dutton Books for Young Readers)

Rubin Pfeffer

Neil Gaiman

Paul Auster

The prolific and amazing A.R.Kahler, author of SHADES OF DARKNESS (out now!) among many many other things, sits for what is my favorite interview because I got to say, “Where was the circus?”

Alex Kahler Show Notes

Neil Gaiman

Phillip Pullman

The Aerial Angels

Dollhouse (TV show) by Joss Whedon

47 North

Kirsten Hubbard

You Must Remember This (Charles Manson podcast)

WITCH EYES by Scott Tracy

C. Alexander London’s First Draft podcast

First Draft Live Show Notes

Victoria Aveyard RED QUEEN, GLASS SWORD

Elissa Sussman, STRAY, BURN

Lindsey Klingele, THE MARKED GIRL

Maurene Goo, SINCE YOU ASKED

Kirsten Hubbard, RACE THE NIGHT, WATCH THE SKY, WANDERLOVE, LIKE MANDARIN

Skylight Books

Isaac Asimov

ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine

The Legand of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time

DEALING WITH DRAGONS by Patricia C. Wrede

Alexandra Bracken A NEW HOPE: THE PRINCESS, THE SCOUNDREL, AND THE FARM BOY

Joseph Campbell THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES

Modern Harry Potter

My Book in a Bar

SERAPHINA and SHADOW SCALE by Rachel Hartman

1776 by David McCullough

YOU and HIDDEN BODIES by Caroline Kepnes

THE DEVIL AND THE BLUEBIRD by Jennifer Mason-Black

Isabel Quintero, Morris Award winner for GABI, A GIRL IN PIECES, talks getting in trouble for reading in the dark, the final straw that took her away from teaching high school, and when a life crisis almost made her into a pastry chef.

Isabel Quintero Show Notes

Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish

e e cummings “anyhow lived in a pretty how town”

Michele Serros

William Carlos Williams

Walt Whitman

Pablo Neruda

John Steinbeck

M. Night Shyamalan

FAT KID RULES THE WORLD by K.L. Going

OF THE DUST by Karen Hesse

CRANK by Ellen Hopkins

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID by Jeff Kinney

Ava Dellaira, author of LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD, talks writing a book from a great title, hibernating with poetry in Iowa, and we enjoy a little bit of Greek pop music for spice.

Ava Dellaira

Leigh Bardugo called Ava “deep as a well” in her First Draft interview

Nirvana (band)

Lisa Loeb, “Sandalwood,” “Stay,”

The Counting Crows, “Anna Begins”

U2, “One”

Stephen Chbosky, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

River Phoenix (actor)

Jennifer Egan