The Artful Periscope – The Nimble Art of Storytelling

How many threads connect us to the movies?  Joining the podcast is Kevin Goetz, author and film researcher/audience tester with his firm Screen Engine/ASI .  Kevin speaks to Larry about his latest work Audience-ology: How Moviegoers Shape the Films We Love ,  and how the audience matters and shapes film.  Kevin de-constructs the subtitle of his book, discusses the difference between writing a book...

How many threads connect us to history and heritage.  Joining the podcast in this installment is Buki Papillon and Charles Lichtman. Buki Papillion , author of her premier novel An Ordinary Wonder , takes Larry on a trip to her childhood growing up in Nigeria, her friendship and mentor Lori Foos , the uniqueness of the Yoruba people and the rate of having twin children, how the Native American con...

How many threads connect us to complicated family secrets?  In this installment, Larry, along with contributor Rory Vecsey chat with author John Copenhaver  about his new book  Savage Kind .  Larry explores how crafting a purposeful prologue can set the table to manipulate the readers perspective to then make it easier for the author to create plot twists.  John discusses 2 characters Phillippa an...

How many threads lead us to survival?  Larry is joined by Erika Hecht, author of the book  Don’t Ask my Name: A Hidden Child’s Tale of Survival  a story of her life surviving German occupation during World War II and in post war Europe as a Jewish person who converted to Catholicism.  Erika discusses mixed traditions and how it saved her and her family’s life. Joining the Podcast...

How Many Brush Strokes or Guitar Strings are the Threads of Creativity?  Larry is joined by two amazing artists in Jonathan Santlofer and Karen Bella. Jonathan Santlofer is the author of the book  The Last Mona Lisa , a story based on the true events surrounding the iconic painting’s theft in 1912.  Jonathan shares his thoughts on the time period the book is set in, along with his life as an...

How many threads are needed to uncover the truth?  Former NBC reporter and author Arthur Kent joins the podcast speaking about his new book  Murder in Room 117: Solving the Cold Case that Led to America’s Longest War .  Arthur tells the story of Spike Dubs , ambassador to Afghanistan in 1979 who was kidnapped and ultimately assassinated by the KGB.  Arthur recounts the tale and his search fo...

How many threads connect unto a series of events.  Joining the podcast is author Amanda Fairbanks , author of the book  The Lost Boys of Montauk .  Amanda speaks to Larry about the process of writing this story and how it was a labor of love, being a resident of the South Fork of Long Island.  We learn about how the Montauk of1984 (a primarily fishing town) transitioned to a playground for the ult...

What is the thread that connects a writer to a reader? Larry was joined by Paul Vidich , author of  The Mercenary .  Paul speaks about growing up during the Cold War with the USSR as the adversary to the United States along with the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of modern day Russia.  Paul also explains how writers have building blocks to engage the reader with detailed descriptions of wea...

What are the threads that connects to a series of events? Joining Larry for a chat is Heather Martin, author of  The Reacher Guy: A Biography of Lee Child .  Heather talks about meeting Lee Child and her inspiration for writing the book.  We learn what roles the Great War and World War II had in forming Lee’s perceptions of the world and what fiction stories say about the locations in which...

What is the thread that connect us to the story behind the story? In this episode, Larry speaks with author Craig Unger  who discusses his latest work  American Kompromat , which touches on Opus Dei,  how it has penetrated American government especially in the Trump presidency and how Russia has manipulated Trump since the 1980’s.  There is also a lively discussion about Wiliam Barr’s...

What is the Thread that Connects Human Behavior to a Range of Pathologies.  Joining Larry on this episode is Authors Abigail Esman and Tom Clavin along with a commentary by Peter Blauner. Abigail Esman is the author  of  Rage: Narcissism, Patriarchy and the Culture of Terrorism .  Abigail kicks off the episode with a short passage from her book and then explains why she needed to pen this work. Sh...

Is there a thread that connects us to our own sense of well-being.  Larry has a jam packed episode with author S. J. Rozan speaking about her new book The Art of Violence , her thought process in creating a character’s point of view, writer’s self doubt, the process of writing which is never smooth and a deep dive into the art and character development of The Art of Violence . S.J.&#82...

Is There a Thread That Connects Us to an Unusual Path?  Joining Larry is Lee Mathew Goldberg , author of Ancestor , and the Editor and co-founder of Fringe a company that publishes works that are “outside the box”.  Lee speaks about his influences and  inspirations, challenging yourself as an author and how to translate that challenge to the reader, writing as a novelist vs writing for...

Is there a thread that connects us to those that matter?  Joining Larry is former Washington DC police officer and Episcopal Reverend Gayle Fisher Stewart, the editor of Preaching Black Lives Matter .  Reverend Fisher-Stewart speaks about her experiences with segregation, the American caste system (and how the Nazi’s studied that system), empathy, Black Lives Matter as a movement vs. an orga...

Should there be a thread that connects fact to fiction?  Novelist, screenwriter, producer  Renaissance Man  Burt Weissbourd , author or many books including his new work Danger in Plain Sight , discusses his times with Willie Nelson, Al Pacino, working in Hollywood and his approach to writing not only  Danger but how his technique is to write as though the work is already a screenplay.  There is a...

How many threads do you need to tell a story?  Librarian Bev Wowak from the Mattituck Laurel Library speaks with Larry about Kent State and the new and interesting book releases for September and October 2020.  Peter Blauner makes a return appearance reflecting on his time working with the great writer and journalist Pete Hamill .  Peter passed in August of 2020 and was a huge influence on Peter B...

Stop the world, I want to get off. Yes Virginia, the emperor has no clothes. Yes Virginia, facts are facts. What happens when one thread in the American tapestry is mutated or changed? Joining Larry on this episode, Peter Blauner , Novelist of such works as Sunrise Highway , Proving Ground, The Intruder , The Last Good Day , Man of the Hour , Slow Motion Riot , Casino Moon and Slipping into Darkne...

Is there a thread that connects the past, the present and the future? Larry welcomes authors Phil Keith and Tom Clavin , authors of  All Blood Runs Red: The Legendary Life of Eugene Bullard―Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy .  The authors discuss the extraordinary life of Eugene Bullard, an African-American who led a dynamic life under extreme and difficult circumstances of war, both in France and at hom...

Is there a thread that gives us a connection to a super power inside us all? Larry discusses the significance of the numbers 13, 41, 42 and 99 and laments the tragedy of Kobe Bryant and his daughter GiGi, Sachem North teacher and volleyball coach Matt DiStefano and “Aunt Ada”.  Larry also ponders the connection between a parent and a child, a father and a daughter. Larry is also joined...

What is the Thread that Connects Who You Were, to Who You Are? Larry is joined by Angelo Fraboni, Artistic Director of the Madison Theater at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, New York.  Angelo talks about his beginnings as a child learning the art of Ballet in Minnesota and his journey that has taken him to the Madison Theater at Molloy College. Also joining Larry is Brian D. Caplan, Esq. autho...

What is the thread that connects a story to a storyteller? Larry is joined by John Theissen.  John is the founder of the John Theissen Children’s Foundation which came to be in 1992.  John tells the story of his diagnosis of brain cancer at 17, his recovery and the inspiration to start his foundation.  John also shares the story of a fellow cancer patient he shared his experience with Tasha...

What is the thread that connects a story to an audience? Larry sits down with Joseph Kanon , New York Times best selling author of the works Defectors , Leaving Berlin , Los Alamos , Istanbul Passage , and his latest work The Accomplice .  Joseph talks about The Accomplice , relationships with families and the perspective of a child and how they deal with the realization of their father is a war c...

What is the thread that connects the intersection between good and evil, right and wrong and those in that orbit? Today Larry speaks with New York Times bestselling author Reed Farrel Coleman.  Reed has been described as a hard boiled poet and noir poet laureate.  Reed chats with Larry about how he develops characters and their voices, organized crime, and being insightful about life.  Reed has wr...

What is the thread that connects a parent to a child and a child to a parent? Today Larry speaks to Alex DeMille, son of Nelson DeMille who co-authored the book  The Deserter .  Alex speaks about when he first became cognizant of his father’s fame, what it was like collaborating on this project along with their process in preparing for and writing the book.  You can find  The Deserter at nel...

Thomas Maier, author and journalist visits the podcast to talk about the inside story of the CIA, gangsters, JFK & Castro.  Wes Houston, singer/songwriter also drops in and plays some music!