Dedicated with Doug Brunt

John Searles: Cosmopolitan ( 2 1/2 ounces citrus vodka, 1 ounce Cointreau, 1 ounce cranberry juice, 3/4 ounce lime juice, lime garnish)

John talks about developing his love of reading in the back of the cab of his father’s truck, his journey from truck driving and waiting tables to becoming the Executive Editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine, the process of writing the screenplay for the film adaptation of his novel STRANGE BUT TRUE, his favorite Cosmopolitan covers of all time, the moment in his NYU creative writing class that gave him fuel for a writing career, how he got better at doing bo...

Chuck Lorrie: coffee

Chuck discusses whether he has any regrets about his memoir after the initial reactions from Tom Arnold, Roseanne, Charlie Sheen, Brett Butler, Amy Palladino and others, describes his experience inside and then leaving the Church of Scientology, the environment in his writers room, the game of thrones that Cybill Shepherd would play when making demands of his scripts, his opportunity to come full circle with Randy Newman, his Top 5 comedies and Top 5 dramas of the last forty years  
 

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Simon Sebag Montefiore: Negroni (1 ounce gin, 1 ounce sweet vermouth, 1 ounce Campari with large ice cube and orange rind)

Simon talks about his work in a South African gold mine, his long friendship with King Charles who brought Simon together with his wife, the cauldron of the Middle East and its history, the mutual dislike of the Shah and JFK despite their similar behaviors with women, the enormity of the 1979 revolution in Iran that has forever changed geopolitics, his favorite Romanov, and gives his frank opinion of the leadership of Trump and Netanyahu. 

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Harry Connick Jr: green tea

Harry plays a game of battle of the bands, ranks his preference for genres of music, tells the story of composing and recording a musical tribute for a victim of the Newtown school shooting that is too painful ever to perform, describes his creative state when writing the music of his mother’s (Babe’s) life, tells the story of setting foot inside Carnegie Hall in 2026  for the first time ever to perform the tribute for Babe, tells the story of calling Carnegie Hall as a ten year old boy when first...

Dolph Lundgren: Hard Cut Vodka (3 ounces shaken over ice, sip neat)

Dolph discusses the physical abuse he suffered from his father and how that drove many of his decisions in his adult life, how he broke the cycle of abuse with his own children, strange moments inside Studio 54 with Grace Jones, his terrible experience with the Swedish healthcare system, whether he might have more children, who wins the fight between Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Lorenzo Lamas, Wesley Snipes and Jason Statham.

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CJ Box: Blanton’s bourbon whiskey  

CJ tells the best first-agent-first-book-deal story I’ve ever heard (by far), shares his daily writing routine in Wyoming, describes the way working in print journalism has helped his fiction career, reveals that people have frequently thought they are a character in one of his novels, gives a raw appraisal of Taylor Sheridan.

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Douglas Brunt: Negroni (1 ounce gin, 1 ounce sweet vermouth, 1 ounce Campari, garnish with orange rind and Luxardo cherry)

Elliot Ackerman (best selling author, former special forces and intelligence officer) guest-hosts Dedicated, including bartending, to interview Doug about THE LOST EMPIRE OF EMANUEL NOBEL. They discuss the world's century-long quest to capture oil, Russia and Ukraine from the time of Nobel and Stalin that mirrors the present day, Rasputin and the Romanovs, the differences between fiction and nonfiction writing (Elliot and Doug have each published both), and how to make a good cocktail. 

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Gregg Hurwitz: gin and tonic

Gregg takes us inside the famous NYC Thrillerfest event, offers advice to aspiring writers on how to develop sales momentum for their books and pitfalls to avoid, names one thing that Artificial Intelligence will *never* be able to do, offers thoughts on how to approach a career path in the face of AI, describes the secret squirrel work he’s currently doing to detect foreign state-sponsored efforts to foment discord in the United States.  

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Jack Carr: whiskey  

Jack talks about what Chris Pratt does to set the tone on the set of TERMINAL LIST, the experience filming the show in Morocco, why he decided to develop a new character and very different feel for his new novel THE FOURTH OPTION, how he draws on his own experiences downrange to inform his fiction, his thoughts on whether the world is a safer place today compared to when he was last on DEDICATED in June 2023. 

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Tim Blake Nelson: green tea

Tim names the best actor of his generation (and the certain things that this actor requires of everyone on set), shares thoughts on AI and the future of film, describes the difference between films that lead with art or with entertainment, reveals how the generosity of Robin Williams touched his family, explains why there can never be another Picasso, and lists the best superhero movies ever made. 

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Joshua Hammer: Negroni (1 ounce gin, 1 ounce sweet vermouth, 1 ounce Compari, garnish with orange rind)

Joshua tells of his harrowing kidnapping in Gaza in 2001 while he was the Jerusalem bureau chief for Newsweek, then of his second kidnapping in Iraq in 2004, recounts overlapping with Jon Meacham at the Reagan Ranch, gives his thoughts on how to structure a magazine piece and a book-length work of narrative history, tells the pros and cons of being an expat in Berlin, and paints a bleak picture for the future of the print magazine.

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Nick Petrie: whiskey on the rocks  

Nick reveals the sage advice CJ Box gave him at the reception for the Edgar Awards that he’s held onto ever since, explains how his work as a building inspector meeting veterans who were buying a first home became a driving force for his debut novel, tells the meaning behind the character name Peter Ash, identifies the key differences between being a full-time or part-time writer, names the two possessions of each writer. 

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Julian Sancton: dry martini (3 ounces gin, 2 drops dry vermouth, lemon twist)

Julian shares the greatest sunken treasure story of all time (and it’s real) that makes the treasure of the Outer Banks tv series look puny, warns of the harm that Bob Iger and Disney’s move into OpenAI could do, discusses the impact that podcasts will have on the media landscape, reveals the pros and cons of growing up with a father and grandfather who are published authors.

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Grant Ginder: Negroni (1 ounce each of gin, sweet vermouth, Campari served with orange rind)

Grant tells the story of taking a fiction writing class with Colson Whitehead, describes his reaction to reading drafts of the screenplay for his novel The People We Hate at the Wedding that starred Kristen Bell and Allison Janney, reveals what you can expect from the writing course he teaches at NYU, talks about the process of writing speeches for John Podesta and others, offers a powerful piece of advice for aspiring writers. 

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Brad Meltzer: Asombroso tequila, neat  

Brad discusses the elusiveness of closure in life and how writing THE VIPER helped him come to terms with his own relationship with his father, reveals certain aspects of the top-secret Dover Air Force Base, shares the mysterious ways that witness protection has changed, gives the behind-the-scenes story of his wildly viral commencement speech at Michigan, and names his favorite podcast. 

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Doug Picks 4 books for 2026 with background noise provided by his dog Thunder who is romping in the snow

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Catherine Grace Katz: Gunner (equal parts ginger beer & ginger ale with fresh lime juice and dash bitters)

Catherine describes how Stalin made an emergency dash to the bathroom during the 1945 Yalta conference which was briefly mistaken for an American kidnapping plot, the treasures she found in personal letters of the Churchill and Harriman archives, the friendships and rivalries and sexual affairs that took place in the insular wartime diplomatic community, the key piece of advice she followed throughout the writing process to make the book a success, and which of the Big 3 had the most significant impact...

Rick Atkinson: Manhattan (2 1/2 ounces Michter’s rye, 1 ounce sweet vermouth, dash bitters served up with Luxardo cherry)  

Rick names the most intelligent of the Founding Fathers, shows the ways King George III has been misrepresented in history, explains his experiences visiting the battlefields he writes about and why the visits are important, talks through the ways to manage personal finances in the career of a writer, and suggests that a knowledge of history can help us to cope with life in the present day. 

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Tony Lyons: whiskey sour (2 1/2 ounces rye, 1/2 ounce lemon juice, sugar in shaker with ice, served up with cherry and dash bitters)

Tony tells the wild story of meeting in Woody Allen’s apartment in person to sign the deal to publish Woody’s ‘banned’ book, what it was like working with Melania Trump on her memoir, how he personally got the audio recording of Alan Dershowitz’s Epstein accuser that exonerated Dershowitz, the extensive fact checking involved with publishing RFK Jr.’s book, his mission for Skyhorse Publishing, and the type of employee at Meta/Facebook whose book he’d pa...

Marc Siegel: coffee

Dr. Marc Siegel talks about religion and faith in medicine, discusses the merits of MAHA, sounds the alarm that our defenses are down against a future pandemic, describes the ways fiction can advance our thinking on issues in the real world, tells about the early days of founding Doctor Radio and his work at Fox News Channel.

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Seth Wickersham: Johnny Walker Blue (pour over 3 ice cubes)

ESNP senior writer Seth Wickersham discusses the extreme difference in the way Belichick handles the media today compared to his days in New England, the different ways elite athletes sometimes struggle in retirement, Tom Brady’s evolving fashion as well as the reason and inspiration for it, recounts America’s first ever sports power couple - long before Swift/Kelce - that resulted in the Rams moving from Cleveland to L.A., and explains why the NFL is the most secretive of all professional sports leagues. 

Hos...

Jake Tapper: bourbon on ice

Jake discusses his stint working for Hooters Restaurant, names the US President with the best sense of humor, names his favorite Eagle football player and why, describes how politics is a day-job that he leaves behind when with friends and family, confesses to the aggressive note he sent to his mother-in-law who is a fan of the Dallas Cowboys, reveals some Frank Sinatra stories, and shares a piece of advice for aspiring writers.

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Michael Connelly: Old Fashioned (2 1/2 ounces rye, bitters and sugar over large ice cube with cherry and orange peel) 

Michael Connelly describes his first meeting with Clint Eastwood who was playing piano throughout their discussion of an upcoming movie project, reveals the biggest difference between working with Netflix and Amazon, remembers the strange and unsolved crime he witnessed when only 16 years-old that that helped inspire him to become a crime novelist, names the novels and movies that most influenced him, offers a terrific piece of advice.

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Michael Lewis: Sazerac (coat a chilled glass with absinthe, mix 2 1/2 ounces rye, sugar, bitters and chill with ice, add to glass with a twist)

Michael reveals an incredible professional connection with Steve Bannon, tells how he’s recently been in touch with Sam Bankman-Fried while SBF has been incarcerated, names the key ingredients he needs to have to make a great book, describes the reaction of his boss at Salomon Brothers when he was first working on Liar’s Poker and writing articles for the Wall Street Journal in the 1980s, determines who has committed the greater crim...

Cheryl Hines (dry vodka martini: 3 ounces vodka, dash dry vermouth, olives) 

Cheryl names which actor should play her husband Bobby in an inverted version of Curb Your Enthusiasm, describes her most embarrassing audition ever (hint: involves a famous horror movie franchise and Michael Jackson), reveals her thoughts on religion and spirituality, offers her prediction whether Ethel Kennedy would have put down the current Kennedy civil war, muses whether this memoir will make anyone come to like her and Bobby more or less, casts the actors to play Trump, Vance, Biden, Harris, Waltz in the docudrama. 

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Laura Dickerman: Last Word (1 1/2 ounces gin, 3/4 ounce green chartreuse, 3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur, 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice, Luxardo cherry)

Laura tells some George Plimpton stories from her days as an intern at the Paris Review that inspired, in part, her debut novel HOT DESK, discusses some of the important differences in the publishing world during the 1980s and present day, reveals that the idea for her novel was a sentence in an email from her editor/publisher brother, identifies her favorite books to teach her high school English classes, and shares 3 pieces of advice for anyone trying to...

Ken Follett (champagne)

Ken names the #1 event in history that he wishes he could witness (hint: it occurred in 16th century London), declares the worst century in history to be alive, describes the secret door to his home library/office and the reason he uses three computer screens concurrently in his writing process, lists his favorite writers, and makes the offer to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce that he and his rock band will play their wedding for free.

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Megan Abbott: gimlet (2 1/2 ounces gin, 1/2 ounce lime juice, dash simple syrup, garnish with lime wheel)

Megan names Detroit’s best quality, shares her love and analysis of the hard boiled crime fiction of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, discusses the differences between writing for film and writing a novel, describes her first encounter with novelist James Ellroy, reveals her fandom of Dateline and Keith Morrison, and hints at some upcoming projects.

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Megan Marshall: Caipirinha (lime, sugar, cachaca)

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography, Megan discusses the distinctions between biography and narrative history, her frustration with historical fiction that is irresponsible and inconsistent with the historical record, her own transition from poetry to biography and the mentors who helped along the way, the evolving notion of feminism, and her favorite book from childhood that she often rereads. 

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Jennifer Egan, Jay McInerney, David Grann: (Crystal)

Jenny, Jay and David create the Best List of the best books, discuss the stylistic and structural reasons why they love these books, and tell insider stories connected to the books on the list and the authors who wrote them.  

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Montel Williams: sparkling water with cranberry juice  

Montel reveals the worst thing about being deployed on a submarine, explains how Tom Clancy angered the US Navy with his book THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, describes some of the riveting naval scenes in his book that involve the aircraft carrier INTREPID as well as the much earlier US Navy ship INTREPID (1798) that fought Barbary pirates, recounts the guest he finds most memorable from the Montel Williams Show. 

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Carl Hiaasen: gin & tonic (Barr Hill gin, tonic, lime wedge)

Carl discusses the talented Vince Vaughn and how he will forever more inhabit the character Yancy, tells how his surroundings in Florida have changed so much since the time of his youth and why that has inspired him to make Florida a recurring ‘character’ in his novels, reveals a time that he was nearly eaten by an alligator while floating on an inner tube, shares incredible personal stories with Jimmy Buffett and Warren Zevon, names the book that expanded for him what can be possible to do in a...

Chris Pavone: Americano (Campari, sweet vermouth, club soda, orange twist)

Chris discusses his early career experiences in publishing meetings with Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis and what her work meant to him and other colleagues, the gifts his wife possesses that made her a great CEO for Penguin Random House and that also guided him to a writing career upon recognizing he did not possess those gifts, how his life as an expat inspired his debut novel THE EXPAT, how the first drafts of his novels might end personal friendships unless his wife makes some edits, the importance of...

J.D. Barker: White Russian (2 ounces vodka, 1 ounce Kahlua, 1 ounce heavy cream)

J.D. talks about how he stalked and then connected with Stephen King, how his partnership with James Patterson has changed his writing method, the way he has turned his Asperger Syndrome into his secret weapon for writing novels, the landmark publishing imprint of his own within Simon & Schuster and how he worked with CEO Jonathan Karp and the private equity firm KKR to establish the business model for it, the pros and cons of independent publishing and traditional publishing, the remote island that is...

David Baldacci: sparkling water

David names the two most underrated thriller writers, describes the way that planning-then-writing a novel can be similar to Tom Brady practicing-then-playing a football game, reveals the mystery books from his childhood that made him love reading, tells of a peak moment of dejection when he doubted he could ever become a writer, shares the story of a bizarre book signing event, talks about the fragile ‘ecosystem of literature’ and offers a terrific piece of advice.

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Marcy Dermansky: House of Balloons (2 ounces vodka, 1 ounce Aperol, 1/2 ounce lemon juice, 1/2 ounce grapefruit juice, simple syrup, top with club soda)

Marcy talks about the struggles of a working writer including waiting in an unemployment line in New York while holding her newborn baby the week of publication of her novel, her isolating move to Germany and her return to New York where she was a more productive writer, how publishing short fiction can in some ways be more difficult than publishing a novel, and the fact that someone she is friends with on Facebook is the...

Gregory Maguire: Ginger Mojito Mocktail (grated ginger, grated cucumber, mint, lime juice, ginger ale, sparkling water)  

Gregory reveals the one book that he later realized had subconsciously guided his reimagining of Oz for his novel WICKED, shares his thoughts on the departures that the adaptations (both stage and film) have taken in reimagining WICKED, names the one children’s book that made him want to be a writer, names 3 books every kid should read by age 10, talks about the blurred line between YA and adult fiction, provides some insider details about Elphaba, discusses how his Catholicism influences the...

Elizabeth Staple: Old Fashioned (water, sugar, bitters with 2 1/2 ounces whiskey, garnish with orange and cherry)

After working in media relations for the NFL's New York Giants and the New England Patriots, Elizabeth delivers her debut crime thriller THE SNAP that takes us behind the scenes of an NFL franchise. She discusses the many points of overlap between her fictional character and her real-life work experiences that include fraught office politics, coaching NFL players to handle the press, rescuing inebriated players from nightclubs, and how friends who are still working in the NFL have reacted to the book.<...

Alissa Wilkinson: Gibson (3 ounces gin, 1/2 ounce dry vermouth, onion)

Film Critic for the New York Times, Alissa gives her take on the Oscars, shares some insider info on Siskel and Ebert, discusses the beginning and end of the Golden Age of TV along with some of her favorites from the era, reflects on Joan Dideon’s admiration for John Wayne and Barry Goldwater along with her surprising takes on their present day closest equivalents, and identifies why 9-11 was a before-and-after moment for American filmmaking.

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David Grann: Mojito (2 ounces white rum, 1 ounce lime juice, sugar, mint, topped with club soda)

David discusses his early years covering politics on Capitol Hill, how his mother paved the way for women executives in publishing as the first woman CEO of a major publisher and how she eventually agreed that writing was a good career choice for David, describes conversations with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese to review details of KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, mentions other authors of narrative history who he admires, identifies his first and most trusted reader of his early drafts, reveals...