Willy Vlautin and Dashiell Hammett

We were excited to have novelist and musician Willy Vlautin join us for a discussion about his career in both fields and his newest novel, The Left and the Lucky, which John Mulaney called “electric.” Willy covered his influences, why it was great to learn that some random lady hates him, and the interplay between his career as a songwriter and writer of fiction.   Then, what’s it like to read everything a single author wrote over just one summer? For us, of course, this means tackling crime fiction master Dashiell Hammett’s entire output. Hammett might not be on the New York Times’ “Best Summer Reads” list, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t curl up on a beach towel with his highly polished stories of violence, irony, and bootleg whiskey.   Works cited this episode:   Don’t Skip Out on Me, Willy Vlautin "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Joyce Carol Oates The Night Always Comes, Willy Vlautin Lean on Pete, Willy Vlautin Northline, Willy Vlautin A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin The Deverry Cycle, Katharine Kerr The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan The Sopranos, created by David Chase The Millennium trilogy, Stieg Larsson The Space Trilogy, C.S. Lewis The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien iCarly, created by Dan Scheider Executive Orders, Tom Clancy Dombey and Sons, Charles Dickens Great Expectations, Charles Dickens Jazz, Toni Morrison Sula, Toni Morrison The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett Spade and Archer, Joe Gores The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum