Anne Rice (1941-2021), author of the Vampire Chronicles, career retrospective while on tour for Prince Lestat and the Realm of Atlantis, recorded at Books Inc. Opera Plaza, SF, December 2, 2016.
Alice McDermott, author of Absolution. Absolution concerns a young wife of a CIA analyst in Saigon in 1963, recalled by her older self in the present day. Gorgeously written, a brilliant novel that brings together personal hopes and dreams, and those of this country, and ideas about whether it's better to save the world or take care of oneself.
A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) Noted novelist who died on November 18, 2023. Recorded January 27, 2003 while on tour for her novel A Whistling Woman.
Theatre Review: Guys and Dolls at San Francisco Playhouse through January 13, 2024.
Theatre Review: Harry Clarke at Berkeley Rep Roda Theatre through December 23, 2023.
Jan Morris (1926-2020), travel writer and historian.
1999 Interview. Career retrospective, recorded August 8, 1999. Interviewers: Richard Wolinsky/Richard A. Lupoff.
2001 Interview. Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere, recorded November 16, 2001. Her final book-length essay discusses the city of Trieste on the Adriatic Sea, and her views on the world and on nostalgia and sadness. Interviewers: Richard Wolinsky/Richard A. Lupoff.
Theatre Review: 1984, a new adaptation, at Aurora Theatre through December 10, 2023.
Tim O'Brien, author of America Fantastica. Road trips featuring multiple liars forms the bulk of this satire of American life in the final Trump years, ending in the shutdown of the pandemic. Complete 58 minute interview.
Theatre Review: Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Shotgun Players through December 30, 2023.
Kazuo Ishiguro, Nobel Prize winning novelist, recorded October 6, 2000 while on tour for the novel When We Were Orphans. Complete 43-minute Interview
Mick Herron, author of The Secret Hours, part two of a two part interview. Complete interview
Theatre Review: Bulrusher, at Berkeley Rep's Peets Theatre Through December 3, 2023.
Ben Fountain, author of Devil Makes Three. A complex and dense novel about Haiti in 1992, Devil Makes Three begins shortly after the coup that overthrew Aristede, and the country began descending into chaos.
Podcast posted October 29, 2023
Margaret Atwood, recorded June 10, 2003 while on tour for her novel Oryx and Crake.
Mick Herron, author of The Secret Hours and the Slough House spy novel series. The Secret Hours is set in the same world as his Slough House novels, telling the story of events that happened in the 1990s. The Slough House books have been adapted as the Slow Horses TV series. A successor to John LeCarre, Mick Herron is slowly building a reputation as a giant of the genre. Complete 47-minute interview
Vauhini Vara, author of The Immortal King Rao. This first novel by a former writer for Wired, incorporates the story of life in the 1950s in India with a future dystopia in which wealth is determined by popularity on the internet, and groups of outcasts live on islands threatened by global warming. Now out in paperback. Complete 45-minute Interview.
John Scalzi, author of Starter Villain. A comic thriller using archetypes of supervillains, Starter Villain is another in a series of novels using movie tropes as they might exist in real life. John Scalzi is a prolific science fiction and fantasy author, and well known blogger.
Heather Cox Richardson, author of Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America and the daily newsletter, Letters from an American. The noted historian discusses the current moment in American history and what brought us here. She is the author of a popular daily politcal newsletter.
Documentary Filmmakers
Dawn Porter, documentary film-maker, The Lady Bird Diaries, John Lewis Big Trouble and other films.
Errol Morris, documentary film-maker, The Fog of War and other films. Recorded June 4, 2017 at the Bay Area Book Festival, discussing his book, The Ashtray (or the Man Who Denied Reality).
Theatre Review: The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical, at ACT Toni Rembe Theatre through October 8, 2023.
Martin Amis (1949-2023) discussing his novels NIght Train and The Information. Recorded January 27, 1998. Co-interviewers: Richard A. Lupoff/Richard Wolinsky.
Jacqueline Woodson, author of Another Brooklyn, recorded Sept. 20, 2016. Noted young adult novelist with her first adult novel in several years.
Wayne Wang, film director, Career Retrospective: Chan is Missing, The Joy Luck Club, etc. Recorded March 1, 2022.
The Probabilities Archive:
Fritz Leiber (1910-1992, science fiction, fantasy, horror writer, recorded September, 1977. Interviewer: Richard A. Lupoff.
Tony Hillerman (1925-2008), mystery novelist focused on the Navajo reservation, recorded January 14, 1987.
Interviewer: Richard A.. Lupoff.
August 20, 2023.
Christopher Moore, author of Razzmatazz. Christopher Moore is known for his comic science fiction and fantasy. Razzmatazz, a sequel to Noir, is set in San Francisco in 1946, and features lesbian bars, aliens and of course, murder. Complete 49-minute Interview.
Lillian Ross (1918-2017) New Yorker staff writer, one of the founders of the New Journalism. Recorded June 4, 2002.
Lisa See, author of Lady Tan's Circle of Women. The story of a friendship between an upper class young woman who became a doctor and a midwife of the same age in 15th Century China.
Two from Pacific Film Archive.
Stuart Klawans, author of Crooked but Never Common: The Films of Preston Sturges. A detailed look at each of the films of the classic screenwriter/director of the 1940s.
David Grann, author of The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder and Killers of the Flower Moon. The Wager tells the story of a mutiny and shipwreck near the Straits of Magellen in the 1740s, set against the backdrop of an little known war between two colonizing powers.
Yiyun Li, author of The Vagrants, recorded February, 2009.
Archived Bookwaves Shows
Joanna Trollope, interviewed on tour for the novel Brother and Sister, recorded May 12, 2002.
Andrew Sean Greer, interviewed for the novel The Confessions of Max Tivoli, recorded March 4, 2004.
Alan Hollinghurst, two interviews.
Interview recorded October 18, 2005, on tour for the Booker Prize winning The Line of Beauty.
Interview recorded November 5, 2011 for the novel The Stranger's Child.
David Sedaris, author of Happy Go Lucky, just out in trade paperback. A return to form by the noted essayist and diarist, including looks at survival in New York during the Covid shutdown and the death of his father.
Theatre Review: The Wizard of Oz, at ACT Toni Rembe Theatre thru June 25, 2023.
Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007), noted science fiction and cult author, recorded February, 1983 following the release of Cosmic Trigger. Complete 33-minute interview.
Fay Weldon (1931-2023), recorded January 21, 1992 while on tour for Darcy's Utopia and Life Force. Interviewers: Richard Wolinsky/Richard A. Lupoff.
Martin Amis (1949-2023). The great British novelist and essayist died on May 19, 2023 at the age of 73. This interview was recorded November 26, 1991 while on tour for London Fields. Digitized and edited in 2023.
Bill English, Artistic Director, San Francisco Playhouse on the upcoming season.
Theatre Review: Let The Right One In, at Berkeley Rep through June 25, 2023.
Philip K. Dick. Excerpts from various interviews and readings by the late Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), recorded as two memorial Probabilities programs, digitized and edited in 2023. With Richard A. Lupoff, Lawrence Davidson, Richard Wolinsky. Originally aired in 1982.
Don Winslow, author of the novel, City of Dreams, second in the "City" Trilogy. Second in a three-volume series, telling the story of a mob war that began in Rhode Island, based loosely on the events of the Aeneid, the Odyssey and The Iliad.
Gemma Whelan, author of the novel, Painting in the Dark. A young Irish woman comes to San Francisco in the 1980s to start a new life as an artist.
Russell Banks (1940-2023), recorded November 11, 2004 while on tour for the novel, The Darling.
Theatre Review: English at Berkeley Rep thru May 7, 2023; Poor Yella Rednecks at ACT Strand thru May 7, 2023.
Jason Graae, performer and actor, at Feinsteins at the Nikko in San Francsico April 14-15, Faith Prince & Jason Graae.
Donald Spoto (1941-2023), biographer, recorded June 18, 1997 while on tour for Notorious, the Life of Ingrid Bergman.
Justine Bateman, author of Fame, the Hijacking of Reality, recorded October 27, 2018 at Green Apple Books.
Theatre Review: Triumph of Love at Shotgun Players Ashby Stage through April 30, 2023.
Rebecca Makkai, author of the novel I Have Some Questions for You. A woman in her forties confronts events at her boarding school during her teen years, a satire and a mystery.
John Sayles, part two. See below.
Theatre Review: Merrily We Roll Along, at 42nd Street Moon Gateway Theatre through April 9, 2023..
John Sayles, author of Jamie McGillivray, the Renegade's Journey, screenwriter and director. Part One. Set during the period of the French and Indian Wars, the picaresque novel focuses on a Scottish man and woman who find themselves in America via forces beyond their control.
Jesse Green, New York Times theatre critic. Excerpts from an interview recorded in 2022 with the author of Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers.
Theatre Review: Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer at TheatreWorks Palo Alto through April 2, 2023.
Luis Alfaro, playwright, The Travelers, at Magic Theatre through March 5, 2023.
Jane Smiley, author of the novel, A Dangerous Business. A mystery set in Monterey in 1851, focusing on the lives of women in that era. Complete 35-minute interview.
Fay Weldon (1931-2023) noted author of The Life and Loves of a She Devil, recorded March 1990 while on tour for her novel The Cloning of Joanna May. Interviewers: Richard Wolinsky/Richard A. Lupoff. Complete 39-minute interview
Wil Haygood, author of Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World, an in-depth look at how the black community viewed Hollywood and the way Hollywood's view of race evolved, and did not evolve.
Dennis Lim, Part Two, discussing his career as a critic. See below.
Theatre Review: In Every Generation at TheatreWorks Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts through February 12, 2023.
Dennis Lim, author of Tale of Cinema, which focuses on the work of South Korean film director Hong Sang-soo. Dennis Lim is the Artistic Director of the New York Film Festival.
Russell Banks (1940-2023) noted novelist and short story writer, recorded June 7, 2000 while on tour for his collection, The Angel on the Roof. Interviewers: Richard Wolinsky/Richard A. Lupoff.
Jack O'Brien, author of Jack in the Box, or How to Goddam Direct, and theatre director, winner of three Tony Awards and nominated seven times. Starting as a detailed exam of what it's like to be a Broadway director, the book soon turns into a series of anecdotes about some of the great artists O'Brien has worked with.
Suzy McKee Charnas (1939-2023), science fiction and fantasy author of The Vampire Tapestry, Motherlines, and other novels, recorded Halloween Weekend, 1981.
Frank Galati (1943-2023), noted stage director, director of Ionesco's Rhinoceros at ACT in 2019. Tony and Oscar nominated director and screenwriter.
Both artists died January 2, 2023.
Vanessa Veselka, author of The Great Offshore Grounds and Zazen. A singular stylist, Vanessa Veselka's two novels focus on people living on the margins, and in the case of her epic second novel, The Great Offshore Grounds, on road trips and fishing boats, and so much more.
Robert B. Parker (1932-2010), author of the Spenser novels, recorded Spring, 1981 while on tour for Early Autumn. Interviewers: Richard Wolinsky/Lawrence Davidson.
