Author's Note

Author's Note, episode 12, Bruce Barcott, interview 3 of 3. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rileymorton.substack.com

After the 2012 breakthrough of legalization of cannabis, followed by opening the world’s first legal (not just tolerated) cannabis stores in 2014, Washington and Colorado got down to the brass tacks of managing the newly legal markets. In the 13 years since, 20 other states and a few nations have followed suit. Throughout that time, Barcott has been following these efforts - both the successes and...

Author Bruce Barcott unpacks American drug policy for me throughout the last century or so, with special focus on the unprecedented blend of politics and timing that allowed Washington and Colorado to legalize recreational cannabis in 2012. His book WEED THE PEOPLE is an amazing document of that moment in time. Well researched and immediate, the book is a total pleasure to read, whatever your inte...

On this episode of Author’s Note, Lyanda and I talk about her career since CROW PLANET was published in 2009. She’s published 2 more incredible books: MOZART’S STARLING and ROOTED and is working on another. She’s moved out of the city to a more rural existence, trying to find a way to be even closer to her beloved Planet Earth. We also get a bit more meta on the great questions in life - questions...

The author and modern naturalist sits down with Riley Morton to discuss the release of Crow Planet in 2009: how scary it was to open the New York Times for the full page review… how interesting to learn at the book events that there were far more crow tattoos than Lyanda had ever imagined. In this wide ranging conversation, Lyanda explains why anthropomorphizing animals gets a bad rap in modern sc...

“A completely charming and informative book on the pleasures of keeping one’s eyes open.” —David Sedaris Lyanda has built an incredible career as a modern urban naturalist, writing 6 fascinating books in this category. I’ve known her for years, and was happy to finally convince her to spend 3 sessions talking about the book that was a turning point early in her career: Crow Planet. Here, we talk a...

In this last interview, we get into what the last decade plus of Christopher Ryan’s life has looked like - another book, a successful podcast, and a move away from the cities of the west coast to the mountains of Colorado. ‘Humans are living in a zoo of their own choosing,’ argues Chris, and he’s decided that a small mountain town is the habitat that works best for him. Next week, we’ll feature th...

In this episode, we focus on what happened when Sex at Dawn was published in 2010. He’s fielding calls from production companies, taking meetings with agents, etc — getting all sorts of ‘smoke blown up his ass’ as he describes it. We also get into what it was like to read negative reviews in the press, and even an entire book length refutation of Sex at Dawn. Chris talks about how important his fa...

In this first episode with Chris, we discuss the origins of his book SEX AT DAWN, conceiving of the book, his very brief search for an agent, and the process of working with an editor to get it published. As you might know from his podcast, Tangentially Speaking, Chris is a great storyteller, and has a nimble brain - so our conversation is wide ranging. All the music on Authors Note is by Colin La...

The world has changed in the last few decades. Of the areas i care about deeply, travel and long form journalism might be the areas of biggest change. How lucky am I, then, to get to spend this hour talking with Tim Cahill: a man who has had a front row seat in both categories. We also talk about the recent changes at Outside Magazine. Earlier this year, after the sale of Outside to a company that...

Here is my 2nd of 3 conversations with Tim Cahill about , JAGUARS RIPPED MY FLESH discussing the process of releasing the book, doing press for it, what came next for his career at OUTSIDE and beyond. Tune in next week for the last of our 3 conversations with Tim, and then we’ve got 3 episodes with the always interesting Christopher Ryan, host of the podcast Tangentially Speaking about his first b...

Well, this is a special day. This concept - deep dive conversations with authors of my favorite non fiction books - has been brewing for years. And here we are. I hope you find as much joy in this conversation as i did. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rileymorton.substack.com