WEBVTT

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a very pleased to be here today talking

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with Jonathan Tropper about his new

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novel one last thing before I go

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Jonathan thank you for coming to talk to

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us thank you for having me I'm glad to

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be here so tell me a little bit about

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this novel this is your sixth novel yes

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and I've you know I've heard some of

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your earlier books I think this one is

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very was different for me it had a

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gravity to it that that was that's

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different from some of your earlier

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books so how did you arrive at the

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subject here and this particular

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character the gravity kind of took me by

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surprise I generally set out you know to

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write novels that are you know that do

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deal with pretty heavy issues generally

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death and relationships family dynamics

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and I but I do try to do it in a

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light-hearted way and that that was my

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intention when I started writing this

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book but gradually as I got into the

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head of this character who really had

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had so much regret in his life and so

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many things he couldn't so many mistakes

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that he could not correct I had never

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really written about someone who so past

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the point of redemption most of my

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characters things go terribly wrong but

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the book is about them correcting that

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and and this guy we were meeting him at

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a later point in his life where those

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mistakes had been made years ago and he

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couldn't correct them and I guess once I

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got into his head I started feeling that

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kind of regret and so it became a deeper

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and more textured study of this kind of

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character so you know while there's

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still a lot of comedy in the book his

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journey is definitely a darker journey

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and and I think that's what I used the

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book with a little more gravity than the

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others and it's very interesting

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portrait of a man sort of at that

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midlife point who's very you know he's

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very honest with himself and honest

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about what he how he's feeling and where

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he's at and I think it makes him very

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real and in spite of the fact that you

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know the sort of the burden of his of

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his past and his choices so weighs so

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heavily upon him I think that

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he he stands up to it in a way that I I

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think makes the novel very interesting

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you're one of the things that I found

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appealing about writing this character

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of silver is that he's reached a point

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where he doesn't even have pretensions

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anymore it's so clear if you just look

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at him and you know there's this crappy

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apartment he lives in this the the fact

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that he was lunch uh you know something

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of a rock star now he plays in a

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third-rate wedding band the fact that

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he's estranged from his daughter he's

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estranged from his ex-wife he's he's

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lost touch with his family even it's he

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really has nothing and when you reach

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that point there's no longer any denial

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there's no longer any posing and trying

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to seem like you have more than you have

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he he's just he's one of the lonely

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people and that's who he is and that's

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how he identifies himself so there's no

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there's no there's no delusions and you

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know how do you know when we meet him at

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that point where he's you know he's just

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sort of it at the baseline he has in

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fact a life-or-death decision yeah

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before him and he he he goes against the

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grain did you see that happening with

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him I mean is that that was always the

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plan of the book was you know it's

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always just assumed you know that you're

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going to fight for your life whatever

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whether it's cancer whether it's a heart

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defect whether it's a bullet you know

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whatever it is that no matter what's

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going on in your life you're going to

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just fight to keep living which to me is

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is a very human train and it's both an

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instinct and it has to do I think with

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hope that you know we all no matter

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what's going on in our lives we all

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believe our lives are worth living and I

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wanted to deal with a guy who actually

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may not believe that and none of his

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family and none of his friends can

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believe that he really doesn't believe

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that but here's a guy who really isn't

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sure he wants to save his own life and

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the idea that he makes this decision not

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to have the life-saving operation and

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nobody else can understand it but but

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we're in his head and we do understand

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that he might be ready to check out now

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rather than

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continue living this empty life and what

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do you think about that I mean is he is

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it brave to you or is it is it I don't

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thank for it well I don't think it's

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brave because the brave thing is to you

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know to keep going and to try to fix

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your life and try to do better to me I

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think what it is is he's giving himself

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a deadline he's saying these are the

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things I've done wrong these are the

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things i need to be better at and if I

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die before I get them done and I don't

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deserve to live and if I get them done

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then maybe I'll consider the operation

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but he's basically saying you know this

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is my wake-up call and I'm going to look

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death in the eye while I try to fix

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these things how do you kind of process

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how that decision impacts the people

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around him the people that you that he

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feels sort of a drift from that he's

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that he's people he failed in his life

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his wife and his daughter like that

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decision kind of lights a fire under

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them and it in a unique way yeah I mean

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and that that's the whole thing is no

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matter how a strange you are from

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somebody we all kind of throw all of our

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our personal issues aside when it gets

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to life and death I mean there's very

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few family members who won't show up for

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you in a time of crisis regardless of of

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what you've been through so they do show

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up for him because they feel connected

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to him but they're also deeply

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frustrated by his behavior over the last

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seven years and now his refusal to to

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sort of save his own life and so it's

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this weird tension that exists in this

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family where they've all come together

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to try to help him but he's not

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interested in being helped and they're

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not really interested in being there

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it's just it's it's just weird dynamic

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where they were all sort of thrown

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together by this you know this sort of

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radical decision he's made to to not

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save his life and to me I mean at

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certain points and I think some of the

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humor of the story helps drive this home

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for me

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he is on this he's done this weird sort

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of George Bailey trip like he thought

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George Bailey but he's in that crisis of

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you know what if I you're the second

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person who said George going to be an

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end I'd never occurred to me I mean he's

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not that's why I mean it's sort of a

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slant connection right because he's not

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he's not that guy but in certain moments

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and certainly in the desperation of that

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he's staring down the barrel of it but

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the way that you treat his journey is

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really clever and I think that it raises

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the him up from where we first meet him

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and you know when I started reading a

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psycho my goodness like how are we gonna

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come out of this and he really he really

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does have an interesting path well

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there's an honesty to him that I enjoyed

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writing that you know he's like like I

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said before he's reached this point

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where you know we all lie to ourselves

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we all tell ourselves if I can just do

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this things will get better if I could

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just do that things will go better and

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he's just past the point of lying to

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himself and he's just he knows this is

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what his life is and then as he starts

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having these mini strokes because of his

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heart situation that forces him to be

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not just honest with himself but honest

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with other people and and it creates

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this dynamic where this is what happens

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when we actually tell the truth to each

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other which we don't generally do so I

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was interested in that what do you think

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he was like you know at 24 like where

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did he go wrong like well I think where

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he went wrong in this particular case

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was you know he was a drummer he was a

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rock star and he he tasted Fame I mean

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his band had this one hit that made them

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superstars and then the whole thing fell

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apart really quickly and once you've

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been there nothing else seems good

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enough again and and he just always

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believed he was going to get back there

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but of course he never did and so his

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whole regular life where he had so many

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things to appreciate he just stopped

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appreciating them because he had once

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been a rocket and and he never recovered

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from that it's like the thing that he

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can't let go up yeah and it's it's just

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like yeah he just he lost the ability to

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appreciate things like a wife and a

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daughter and

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and a family and it was all about being

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a superstar and he was a superstar so

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briefly was just like one second but

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that one second colored everything

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afterwards how do you think that male

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readers will react to true and the way

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that he I think they'll appreciate the

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reins I think they'll appreciate some of

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the stuff he says I mean he's really

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sort of I was uncomfortable writing some

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of the stuff he says I mean he says this

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stuff many men sometimes think without

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saying and you know the way he assesses

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those college girls who hang out at the

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swimming pool the way he assesses his

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own sexuality the way he assesses his uh

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his place on the flick on the dating

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food chain and you know he's he's

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brutally honest with himself but he's

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also brutally honest about the women and

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about the people around him and and

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there's something really fun about being

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with somebody who has no filter and I

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has absolutely no filter so you've done

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I just wanted to switch topic just

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quickly you've done some writing for for

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TV and film and you're just developing a

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news a new series yeah we're shooting it

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actually it's it's developed its

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developed so tell me tell me a little

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bit more about that our television show

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is for HBO cinemax it's called banshee

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and it's very different from my books

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and say it's a one-hour drama very much

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in the spirit of david cronenberg er the

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Coen brothers uh Bob's you know a lot of

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a lot of violence a lot of sexuality

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gangsters that kind of thing set in

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modern-day Pennsylvania and that's

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something we're shooting 10 episodes now

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for Cinemax produced by HBO and just

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using a different muscle there's a lot

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of fun and I recently finished adapting

00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:10.970
my last book this is where I leave you

00:10:09.199 --> 00:10:12.230
for Warner Brothers and that's actually

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scheduled to start shooting this

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September in New York and I'm very

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excited about that how was that

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experience writing for screen versus oh

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it's just a different like I said it's a

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way to diversify your mind creatively

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it's a very different kind of writing

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this book one last thing before I go is

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just an option by paramount and I'll be

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writing the screenplay for that as well

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and

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it's a way to kind of take the story

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you've written as a novel and tell a new

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story on film it's a it's different and

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it's just it's if you just sit and write

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prose all day at least I I'll just I'll

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burn out from that it's fun to be able

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to put that aside and then open up final

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draft and start writing scenes yeah do

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you get to write more female characters

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like it when you're working in this new

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shower yeah we have it we have a really

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strong female lead and yeah i mean my

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books do tend to generally have a male

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protagonist only because that that's

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what comes naturally but but i do try to

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spend a lot of time on the female

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characters in the book and make sure

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that they're that they're real humans

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and not just there to be the female

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character and right you know I've been

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told sometimes I've been really

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successful I didn't i've been told

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sometimes I haven't been and you know

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you just keep trying right in 601 some

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people yeah get it some people tell you

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how you just keep going well thank you

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for being here today I'm sorry good cock

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thank you for having me