We celebrate John Hughes and others this week with author Kevin Smokler, who joins Larry to talk about his book Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to ’80s Teen Movies. Join Larry and Kevin as they touch on innovative book-tour strategies, finding your audience, re-reading the classics and respecting pop culture while name-dropping Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Valley Girl and many others.“If you’re sick of your book or your subject by the time it’s time to go talk about it, you’re in big trouble.”8:03: Defining Kevin Smokler as a writer, marketer, speaker, and more.10:12: Thinking outside the norm about promotions and touring.20:28: Why it’s valuable to treat “mundane” art with respect.27:36: Mis-reading Catcher in the Rye and asking how culture ages.39:40: Generating and following ideas for new projects.49:20: Pursuing new projects that may not be books.

Larry and BQ dig deep this week in an episode that checks in on both of their writing projects, probes the fickle fortunes of motivation, explores the ups and downs of networking with other writers and much more. “The process from book deal to book is the opposite of Dante’s Divine Comedy. You start out in parades, and you end up in Hell.”1:40: Larry has an idea for a new podcast.6:48: Are you comfortable telling someone, “this is the best book (movie, TV show, etc.) ever?”11:54: What’s happening with BQ’s new book.20:00: Larry’s latest attempt at a new book.26:44: How do you get motivated?41:42: BQ talks about the perils of networking.53:20: Keeping Larry accountable while he’s in Switzerland.

Yang Huang, author of the Juniper Prize-winning book of short stories, My Old Faithful, joins the GrottoPod this week to discuss a fascinating journey that includes her immigration to the United States as a teen, a career in engineering, an MA and an MFA, raising a family and, along the way, learning English and starting to write fiction. She also delivers, according to guest co-host Lee Kravetz (sitting in for Larry this week), “at least 15 sayings that should be tattoos.” Huang is also the author of a novel, Living Treasures.“I always thought I would write, on my own terms. Not necessarily something perfect or commercial, but something that was raw and honest. I wanted to tell my stories.”

Kristin Kaye didn’t set out to write a YA book, much less an award-winning YA book, but that’s exactly what happened. This week, the writer of Tree Dreams, one of Buzzfeed’s “5 Books to Read to Prep for Earth Day,” joins the GrottoPod to trace her unlikely path from avant-garde theater impresario to environmental activist and author, stopping off along the way to touch on eco-warriors, breaking our addiction to consumption, jobs that offer health benefits and the multi-dimensional world of women’s body-building. “The big question was: how do I write an internal conversation with a tree that sounds like a two-way conversation? How do you give language to a mostly mystical experience?”9:24: How Tree Dreams became a YA book, and then a curriculum.14:28: Where the idea to write Tree Dreams came from.28:18: Kristin’s life before she began writing fiction.43:48: Having an “environmental awakening.”58:48: Dividing your time between activism and writing.

The Tango War author Mary Jo McConahay joins us in the studio one day after the release of this new book, which explores Latin America’s “hidden” role in World War II. The journalist, war correspondent, memoirist, sometime boat-dweller and confirmed world traveler chats about her rich and colorful life, her motivations and the challenges of tackling a book of historic nonfiction.“Of course, danger is part of the job. There are so many people in so much more danger. The people from the countries where the wars are taking place are much bigger targets.”11:21: How she started out in journalism and met the challenges and triumphs of an international career; the dangers of being a war correspondent.27:18: Transforming an idea into The Tango War.36:12: Researching events that happened almost a century ago.41:20: Becoming an “accidental filmmaker.”45:30: Feeling overwhelmed while writing The Tango War

Number One Chinese Restaurant author Lillian Li joins Larry and Lee (subbing again for BQ) in the GrottoPod this week to discuss the many roads that led to her debut novel. She shares her brief-but-intense experience as a waitress, what it’s like writing a beach novel at Panera, and how family, life experience and tradition shaped her writing voice.“In some ways (my book) is and isn’t inspired by working in a restaurant. I was just trying to get through the day without crying in the walk-in refrigerator at least once.”10:02: How a panoply of inspirations led to Number One Chinese Restaurant20:11: Getting into the mind of a male protagonist24:05: Questions of plot; finding your writing process33:55: How Li came to see writing as a career instead of a hobby47:26: Number One Chinese Restaurant’s journey from manuscript to book

For her first novel, author Crystal Hana Kim tackled an epic, multi-narrator love triangle set against the backdrop of the Korean War. She joins Larry and guest host Lee Kravetz in the GrottoPod this week to discuss the challenges of writing If You Leave Me, her love for her characters and how she balances teaching and writing.“I wanted to write about a woman, because war narratives are so often about men in battle. I wanted to write about what happens when a woman is traumatized by war.”12:20: Why she chose to pursue both an MFA and an advanced teaching degree, and how training for both is cross-beneficial.23:40: The origins of If You Leave Me, and how her family — her grandmother, in particular — helped shape the book’s plot and themes.32:30: How she wove “big issues” into a personal story; finding the balance between setting/backdrop and plot; the challenges of writing an epic story as your first novel.44:45: Deciding to make her protagonist(s) “frustrating,” and how much stumbling and questionable decision-making is necessary for realism vs. risking alienating readers.

“Writer’s writer” Fenton Johnson joins the GrottoPod this week for a far-ranging conversation that touches on some of the recurring themes in his work: place, solitude, faith and belonging. Johnson has written six books, including three novels and the memoir Geography of the Heart. “I believe in writing as rhetoric. The challenge is to do the triple backwards somersault flip where whatever you’re writing is teaching you to convey that to the reader in a way where the reader is engaged and is participating in the process.” 8:36: How searching for “place” and finding one’s way became a theme in Johnson’s work, 17:12: Growing up gay in rural Kentucky, and how a unique background helps form a writer, 26:18: The twisting road of faith and how Catholicism (and the local Trappist monks) can inform an artistic worldview, 33:20: Carrying the weight of growing up in the South into the modern world, 40:08: Leaving Kentucky, heading to California and starting out as a writer, 50:02: “Solitaries,” the Harper’s article and the new book.

Dawn Raffel, author of The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies, joins us in the GrottoPod this week to talk about the sometimes-painful process of writing the book. Raffel is also a novelist, short fiction writer and memoirist whose previous books include the best-selling The Secret Life of Objects. “I felt a responsibility to Couney himself, to get it straight. To tell it well. Sometimes I wonder what he’d think of this book.” 7:36: Raffel shares why her path from idea to book was sometimes “torture”, 23:06: Navigating the twists and turns of researching a somewhat shadowy historic figure, 32:08: How the book touches on important themes in American history, 42:30: Gathering the surviving “incubator babies” together for a reunion, 44:20: The responsibilities Raffel felt in telling the story of an overlooked (and perhaps misunderstood) historic American figure.

The Millions editor Lydia Kiesling joins Larry and co-producer Laurie Ann Doyle in the studio this week to chat about Kiesling’s new book, The Golden State — a tale of motherhood, immigration and California, out September 4. “You have things you want to say. Do you have the correct container to put them in? When I wrote book reviews, I could fit them into essay-shaped things. When I became a parent, I had stuff, but I didn’t have the shape to put it in. A novel was the only shape I could fit it.” 9:50: Discussion of of pre-publication essays and Lydia’s work as editor of The Millions, 19:55: “Writing while mothering,” and balancing story with thematic issues, 30:42: Structural choices and narrative distance, 39:40: Drawing dramatic themes from your own life, 45:02: Lydia’s development as a writer.

Beat the dog days of summer by stepping into the GrottoPod, where BQ and Larry await. This week, your hosts sit down for a wide-ranging discussion about the writing life that touches on everything from process to payment, 1,000 words a day, BQ’s looming book deadline and Larry’s now-defunct magazine column. Guest- and filter-free, this GrottoPod episode takes a deep dive into the minds of two working writers who happen to double as podcast hosts.

What’s poet Matthew Zapruder’s favorite book? Find out this week, as the author of Why Poetry and former New York Times poetry editor joins BQ and Larry for a live podcast at the San Francisco Public Library, where he lays out the case for the impact W.S. Merwin’s The Lice has had on his development as a poet and a person. He also talks about the function of poetry, word choice, Merwin’s unconventional use of punctuation, and much more in this lively conversation.

Victoria Piontek’s literary journey has taken her all over the U.S., but when it came time for this author and literary associate to publish her first book, she chose to return to the verdant lushness of her Florida birthplace. This week, Piontek joins the GrottoPod to talk about the Southern Gothic overtones of her haunting middle-grade story The Spirit of Cattail County. She also discusses the challenges of juggling writing, working a day job and raising a family, and helps Larry and BQ define “Y.A.” and “library chic.”

This week, BQ and Larry enter the extended Nick Mamatas universe to learn about horror novels, manga, writing term papers for profit and much more. Join them as the author of the upcoming short story collection The People’s Republic Of Everything shares his unique and compelling tales and talks about how he manages to produce a new book every year. Mamatas also authored the San Francisco zombie novel The Last Weekend, the Lovecraftian murder mystery I Am Providence, and the forthcoming Hexen Sabbath.

Don’t miss this one! For the first time, BQ goes solo as host — and she’s talking with influential author and body-image activist Virgie Tovar, who is dropping the truth bombs. Tovar talks writing honestly and writing to empower, fat discrimination and celebration, and how to leverage social media for good. Tovar started the viral hashtag campaign #LoseHateNotWeight, pens the weekly column Take the Cake, and edited the ground-breaking anthology Hot & Heavy: Fierce Fat Girls on Life, Love and Fashion. Whew. Listen in, then check out her forthcoming book, You Have the Right to Remain Fat, now available for pre-order.

This week, BQ and Larry are joined by high-quality, low-maintenance, independent writer and editor (and GrottoPod producer) Beth Winegarner for a podcast that tracks Beth’s career as a writer, reporter, editor and student. In our conversation, we touch on themes of self-publishing, marketing, sexism and racism in heavy metal, community journalism, and chronicling the lives of underrepresented populations. We also learn why metal singers sometimes look like they are clutching invisible oranges. Check out her new book, Tenacity: Heavy Metal in the Middle East and Africa, and don’t miss her at Writers With Drinks this Saturday, July 14, in San Francisco.

Listen up! This week we’re joined in the ‘Pod by fresh-off-the-plane-from-the-East-Coast author and widely sought speaker Katherine Reynolds Lewis. Her new book about contemporary childhood and its discontents, The Good News About Bad Behavior, is taking the parenting and education worlds by storm. Find out how Lewis went from Harvard physics grad to longtime journo, how her 2015 story for Mother Jones magazine about school discipline went viral — becoming the site’s most-ever viewed piece — and how she went from that magazine story to an influential book.

Things have never been livelier in the GrottoPod. This week, longtime Bay Area book author, editor and journalist Stephanie Rosenbaum Klassen enters the ‘Pod bearing Pisco Punch (plus Meyer lemonade for BQ) and things unfold rather pleasantly from there. We talk writing, love — including how to get your wedding featured in the New York Times — and all things SF food, especially her newest book. A Little Taste of San Francisco is brimming with local recipes (and stories) from cioppino to carnitas, avocado toast to ballpark garlic fries. You’ll be hungry for more. Follow Stephanie on Twitter @LittleTasteOfSF.

This week, acclaimed first-time novelist Aja Gabel takes a break from her hectic book tour to join the GrottoPod. In an hour between bookstore appearances, Gabel settles in to discuss how being a musician inspired her new book, The Ensemble, why she chose to get a PhD. in writing, her writing process (and the best music to listen to while writing) and why a writer “must be porous.” Don’t miss her upcoming readings in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and Healdsburg, California.

For this week’s episode, Vanessa Hua, author of the upcoming novel A River of Stars, takes the stage at the San Francisco Public Library with GrottoPod hosts Larry Rosen and Bridget Quinn to talk about her favorite book. In this case, it’s books, plural — the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Find out what these books meant to the young Hua growing up, what they taught her as a fledgling writer and what they continue to teach her as a mother, woman and author. You can also watch the whole event in this video.

Some writers have day jobs; some teachers write “on the side.” Gordon Jack does both — and neither. On the one hand, he spent more than a decade as a classroom teacher, has taught teachers and is now a high school librarian. On the other, his upcoming second YA novel, Your Own Worst Enemy, is garnering the same kind of rave reviews as his first, 2016’s The Boomerang Effect. This week, Jack joins the GrottoPod to talk about juggling two careers and explores high school, teenagers, controversial subject matter, his writing process (hint: it includes trains) and his home’s proximity to that of a certain GrottoPod host.

Let’s say you’re on a summer hike and a grizzly crosses your path. Would you know what to do? Rachel Levin does. (Which is not to say she wants to encounter a bear!) Her new book, Look Big: And Other Tips for Surviving Animal Encounters, offers helpful advice in a humorous tone, as well as information and anecdotes about wildlife, ranging from mountain lions to moose to mice, all the way down to teeny-tiny mosquitos. This week, the effervescent Levin joins the GrottoPod to discuss her book as well as the ins and outs of reviewing restaurants in San Francisco, how she got a story in The New Yorker, and how to turn a philosophy major into a multi-faceted journalism career.

Crime may not pay, but Paul Drexler has discovered that becoming an expert on crime does. Introduced to true crime when his uncle’s car was used in a New Jersey mob killing, Drexler is now a writer, video game developer, founder of the Crooks Tour of San Francisco and arguably San Francisco’s primary authority on the city’s colorful underworld history. This week, Drexler joins GrottoPod host Larry Rosen to talk about his upcoming book, tentatively titled San Francisco Notorious: True Tales of Passion, Crime and Murder. He also talks about CrimeCon, his lifelong fascination with outlaws, and shares some of his favorite San Francisco crime stories.

What hasn’t Caroline Paul done? A one-time collegiate rower and Olympic-caliber luger, Paul has published non-fiction and historic fiction, books about stalking her cat, a memoir about being one of the first women to join the San Francisco Fire Department, and illustrated books that call for “bravery, perseverance and breaking the tyranny of perfection.” Her latest, You Are Mighty: A Guide to Changing the World, is an inspiring call to action for today’s middle-grade kids. This week, on publication day for You Are Mighty, Paul joins the GrottoPod for a wide-ranging conversation about her adventurous life, overcoming her fears, the power of perseverance, her siblings, experimental airplanes and the world record she once almost held.

Dashka Slater already had a novel, several children’s books and a long career as a journalist in her pocket when, inspired by an incident in her hometown of Oakland, she decided to invent something new: a genre-bending true crime narrative for young adults. This week, Slater joins the GrottoPod to talk about how her career as a “punch-the-clock” working writer led her to examine what, exactly, happened on The 57 Bus one day in 2013. She also talks about her childhood dreams of cats who ride on horses and why she didn’t wear orange to the GrottoPod. The 57 Bus is the San Francisco Public Library’s citywide read for May and June.