Category Archives: Peter James

A Peculiar Contradiction

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Norman B & Peter James with Keith the alpaca making a guest appearance

“Peter, you live in this spectacular environment, a beautiful house set in a gorgeous landscape of lush green rolling hills, with a veritable menagerie of cuddly dogs, inquisitive emus, nosey alpacas, gentle chickens and reclusive ducks. Your home is replete with exquisite artwork, precious collectibles, an exemplary wine cellar, an impressive array of rare whiskeys and a garage full of grand automobiles. Clearly, you live an idyllic life. So, please do tell me, how is it possible for you to conjure up a dastardly villain like Tooth?” This is the beginning of Norman B’s face-to-face interview with the famed crime-thriller author, Peter James. Over the last couple of years, the two men have met a number of times via Skype and telephone, but this was the first time they had met in person. When Norman mentioned to Peter that he would be visiting the UK, his home country, Peter enthusiastically invited Norman to his country home. In the dashing style, appropriate for a best-selling author, James showed up at the local railway station in his gleaming new Aston Martin to whisk the radio host through the beautiful Sussex countryside to his sumptuous estate. After a leisurely stroll around the property, a delicious lunch, including pork pies, (a ubiquitous English delicacy), was served. Then, Norman B’s informal, perhaps unconventional interview with Peter James began. With a sly, sometimes cheeky wit, Peter is an engaging conversationalist and natural story-teller, making it easy to understand why his DS Roy Grace crime novels have sold 18 million copies worldwide. When you listen to Peter James merrily chat about his research in creating gruesome crimes, imagine the spectacular setting Norman B describes above. It’s a peculiar contradiction, a charming erudite writer living the privileged life of an English squire who delves into the darkest depths of man’s most cruel behavior for his work. Is this the allure of Peter James’ writing? Find out in the next edition of Life Elsewhere.

Also in the program, we are delighted to play for you two songs from the new album, Sleep On The Radio by the highly-rated producer and musician, Gordon Raphael. The album is scheduled for release on Zero Hours (UK) September 22nd. Widely known for his work with The Strokes, Gordon’s friendship with Norman B goes back to his early days in Seattle when he formed two original bands, Mental Mannequin and Colour Twigs. In the 1990s during the famous Grunge Revolution, he was keyboardist for the psychedelic band Sky Cries Mary– and starred in an epic dark-wave band called Absinthee. An in-depth interview with Gordon Raphael is being scheduled for an upcoming edition of Life Elsewhere.

Life Elsewhere is available at iTunes

Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network
Fridays at 9.00pm GMT on Cornucopia Radio

If you miss any editions of Life Elsewhere, go here then go to the Listen On Demand panel, choose the date of a show and click play.

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Mondays at 6.00pm & Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on IRN
Cornucopia Radio airs Life Elsewhere Music throughout each week
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud
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Who Chose A Small Herd Of Alpacas?

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alpacas

Azusena
Binoy Kampmark
Mark Haskell Smith
Peter James, author
Steve Brodner by Nik Kowsar
Samana
Bob Ross
Stephen O’Connor

Yes, it’s the Annual Life Elsewhere Holiday Gift Show! With an all-star line-up of some of our favorite guests from the last 12 months with, author, Mark Haskell Smith, singer-songwriter, Nancy Kells, crime thriller writer, Peter James, social and political commentator, Dr. Binoy Kampmark, film & media critic, Bob Ross, singer-songwriter Azusena, caricaturist and social commentator, Steve Brodner, author Stephen O’Connor, and emerging musical artists, Samana. This year, we asked our guests to select two books and one non-book as gifts…just wait until you hear their choices! One guest offered the unpredictable suggestion of a “small herd of alpacas”! Can you guess who? Find out in the Annual Life Elsewhere Holiday Gift Show. Air times and the Podcast link are directly below.

Life Elsewhere airs:
Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on Internet Radio Network.
You can hear all the volumes of Life Elsewhere Music over at Mixcloud

The Dyslexic Spy & A Venomous Killer

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Before Edward Snowden’s infamous data breach, the largest theft of government secrets was committed by an ingenious traitor whose intricate espionage scheme and complex system of coded messages were made even more baffling by his dyslexia. His name is Brian Regan, but he came to be known as The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell. In December of 2000, FBI Special Agent Steven Carr of the bureau’s Washington, D.C., office received a package from FBI New York: a series of coded letters from an anonymous sender to the Libyan consulate, offering to sell classified United States intelligence. The offer and the threat were all too real. A self-proclaimed CIA analyst with top secret clearance had information about U.S. reconnaissance satellites, air defense systems, weapons depots, munitions factories, and underground bunkers throughout the Middle East. Rooting out the traitor would not be easy, but certain clues suggested a government agent with a military background, a family, and a dire need for money. Leading a diligent team of investigators and code breakers, Carr spent years hunting down a dangerous spy and his cache of stolen secrets. Author, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee  joins the next edition of Life Elsewhere to reveal how the FBI unraveled Regan’s strange web of codes to build a case against a man who nearly collapsed America’s military security.

Peter James the bestselling crime fiction writer is back with Love You Dead, the latest in his excellent Roy Grace series. For this outing James’ Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is feeling the pressure from his superiors, his previous case is still giving him sleepless nights, there have been major developments with his missing wife Sandy, and an old adversary is back. But worse than all of this, he now believes a Black Widow is operating in his home city of Brighton. One with a venomous mind . . . and venomous skills. Soon Grace comes to the frightening realization that he may have underestimated just how dangerous this lady is. The always affable Peter James chats with Norman B about his new book and recalls a visit to a UK prison, where a female inmate’s callous reason for murder inspired his latest novel.

Life Elsewhere Show #196 airs:
Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network

America, Nov 9. The Reactions.

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america-nov-9-700

“America Nov 9” by Steve Brodner used by kind permission of the artist

A few days before the Presidential election we asked some of our favorite guests on Life Elsewhere “What would you tell the undecided voter?” The consensus of advice was, no matter what, get out and vote. The election results caught all of us off-guard. Our next show was planned as a well-deserved respite from the atypical election. Guests were booked, including Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, author of The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell and crime-fiction writer, Peter James on his latest Roy Grace novel, Love You Dead. The reality that Mr. Trump was now President-elect immediately changed everything, including the next edition of Life Elsewhere. After serious deliberation, the decision was made to get the reaction from our previous week’s guests, (if they had not already fled to Canada). Calls were made, some of our contributors were too stunned to speak, while others wanted to share their take on the election results, including Dr. Jennifer, Mercieca, professor of communications; Dr. Binoy Kampmark, senior lecturer & researcher in Global Studies; Stephen O’Connor, author; Terry Morgan, entertainment entrepreneur;  Mark Haskell Smith, author and Steve Brodner, caricaturist who could not hold back his rage and very kindly sent us the illustration above, titled “America, Nov 9”. To round out our perspective on the election result, we asked Dr. Dan Peters to help us understand how we should talk to our children. Plus, comedian, actor, raconteur and author, the irrepressible Dave Hill gives us his opinion with unbridled restraint and emotive passion. This is a show you cannot miss, all the broadcast and Podcast details are below.

PS: The edition after this will feature Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, author of The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell and crime-fiction writer, Peter James on his latest Roy Grace novel, Love You Dead.

Life Elsewhere Show #195 airs:
Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network

Interviews With Authors

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Next on Life Elsewhere, a review of some of our favorite books, authors and interviews:

1. Rebecca Scherm is the author of Unbecoming, a remarkable and moving debut novel, “It’s a thriller, a psychological study, a love story and disquietingly disturbing as it is brilliant!” says Norman B. Rebecca reads from her book and explains how her fascination with Grace Kelly molded her femme fatale, noir-like heroine. 2. In On the Road with Janis Joplin, John Byrne Cooke, chronicles his life as her road-manager. He lovingly tells of his three extraordinary years with the legendary singer, right up until her untimely death, 3. Mark Haskell Smith, a frequent guest on the program, became the naked author for his latest book, Naked at Lunch: A Reluctant Nudist’s Adventures in the Clothing-Optional World. His wry observations include, “feeling cheated for not having a foreskin!”  4. Lynsey Addario graphically recalls being tortured and molested in her book, It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War. From the front-line, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur and the Congo, the photo-journalist brings a female perspective to the horrors of war. 5. International best-selling, British crime fiction writer, Peter James, talks about his fascination with criminal minds, and doing research in prisons with psychopathic murderers for Want You Dead, the tenth in the Roy Grace detective-thriller series.

This week’s Hit that Never Was features Headache, a track from the 2009 debut album Album by Girls. Frontman Christopher Owens’ bio could easily qualify as the plot for a harrowing novella.

Life Elsewhere airs:
Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 7.00pm ET at WROM Radio
Mondays 5.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio

 

 

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