PatZi Talks

I knew this was a great book from the very first page.I don’t know the ins and outs of the Pulitzer Prize nominations. But if in case they are listening to Joy on Paper, I would nominate Jerome Preisler’s Civil War Commando: William Cushing and the Daring Raid to Sink the Ironclad CSS Albemarle.  I read so many books and sometimes I do get sad that so many of them – books that are really good – just don’t have a shelf life. Sometimes it is because the books will become dated – they’ve depended too much on current events that won’t interest people five years from now, let alone – 50 or 100. They will be hanging out there in the ether – or Amazon’s cloud – for hundreds of years and no one will read them. That’s why when I get a book that will be for the ages, I get thrilled. I feel the thrill that Mr. Smith of Smith and Elders Publishing House felt upon reading Jane Eyre. There are a dozen novels that I have read in the past five years that I think will hold up – they will be read on Mars. Or distant galaxies. Civil War Commando is one of those books. From the very first page of the book, I was caught up with the story of Will Cushing, an American hero, who I admit I had not known. And that comes from someone who reads Civil War History and has walked many battlefields. Written with all the talent he displays in his modern-day thrillers – especially the ones inspired by Tom Clancy – Jerome Preisler writes a rip-roaring yarn that is entertaining and enlightening. Enjoy my interview with him… Civil War Commando is a fascinating story of Will Cushing, the United States Navy's first naval commando -- the man who has been cited by historians at the inspiration for Star Wars' Luke Skywalker character. Cushing's attack on the unsinkable Confederate ironclad Albemarle is one of the "greatest feat of arms in American military history."

I truly believe in string theory. Not the particle physics kind which theorizes that point-like particles are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. That’s too complicated for my brain to handle. I’m talking about those magical strings that connect us to places and events and people. Not just coincidences. Something much more.Whether you call them string or threads, there are surprising concurrences that ripple through the fabric of our lives and create a glorious tapestry. For me, Joy on Paper is a tapestry. How else to explain the strange threads that have connected my childhood passion for books to so many authors.Two of the golden threads are Lee Child and Andrew Child. So it was a great thrill to be able to spend an entire hour with them on Lee’s Birthday to celebrate of the release of the 25th book in the Jack Reacher series – and the first one where Andrew, Lee's baby brother, joins in the fun of keeping Jack Reacher going.Join us as we talk about their school days -- they both went to amazing schools. Lee went to St. Edward's School in Birmingham, founded in 1552. Andrew went to St. Albans, founded in 948 CE. It was fun to remember the days when I lived in England and I would stop in a pub at St. Albans or when I was doing research in the Chetham Library in Manchester -- just down the street from where Lee (then Jim Grant) was working at Grenada Television. We probably passed each other on the way to the pub.This is an interview unlike any other -- we chat about a wide range of subjects -- from talking Brummie (they are from Birmingham) to soccer (they are Aston Villa fans) to James Joyce and Dostoevsky. Enjoy this interview. I know I did!

Wow! Since I started Joy on Paper five years ago I have experienced many wonderful things. I've interviewed over three hundred of New York Times best selling authors, ten Mystery Writer of America Grand Master, celebrities and sport heroes -- and even the US Poet Laureate. But this interview has to be one of my most amazing. I feel like Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips must have felt when back in 1954, he played Elvis for the first time on radio! I played Haley's song, Box Car, on a whim. And I'm happy I did. It was meant to be...I did not expect to have such a big response from my listeners -- they loved it. They asked me to play it again because they didn't quite catch the girls name or all the words, but they wanted to hear it again. So I played it again a few program later. Same reaction! It was my "Dewey" moment as I realized that Haley Woolbright is truly a bright and shiny new star on the horizon.