George Pelecanos made his first appearance as a guest on the program back in 2003. He had come through Dayton on book tour. Those were the days. I cannot imagine that George will ever pass through here again on a book tour. Different times.
The four stories in this new collection are novella length. According to George, the final story, "Owning Up," is the most autobiographical piece he has ever published. I love talking to George Pelecanos. We are contemporaries, during this interview we discovered that we saw the same Rolling Stones tour just days apart. George caught them in Washington, D.C. on the 4th of July. I saw them just a few days later in Knoxville, Tennessee. Stevie Wonder opened both shows. George got an extra treat, Martha and the Vandellas were also on the bill he saw. Those were wild times. When George caught the Stones it was his first rock concert and the police dealt with the crowd surging by spraying tear gas on them.
If I had to pick my three favorite authors who are also total music heads the list would be George Pelecanos, Ian Rankin, and Adrian McKinty. I could talk music with those guys all night long!
That's the beauty of a good conversation; we can almost always find things that we have in common, music we loved, books we have enjoyed, people we know, and knew. George is so busy writing for television that he doesn't put out books very often these days. This interview and this book are rare treats.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Tipp City Public.
