INTERVIEWS

Over the past few years, I’ve taken part in more than a dozen interviews, both as the subject and the interviewer. Here are some highlights.

INTERVIEWS OF ME

INTERVIEWS BY ME

[End of Life]

[Writing and Publishing]

INTERVIEWS OF ME

Exploring End-of-Life Controversies Through Fiction (EOLU Podcast)

Thank you to hospice doctor and End of Life University founder Karen Wyatt for hosting this engaging conversation about addressing end-of-life challenges through fiction. She read my novel,  When I Killed My Father: An Assisted Suicide Family Thriller, enjoyed and appreciated it, and asked me questions no one asked before, like why my protagonist did what he did when he didn’t want to. As well as whether or not I support assisted suicide/euthanasia? 

 

The Inner Typewriter: an Interview with John Byrne Barry about Author Tours, Setting That Works, and Self-Publishing 

Last spring, Marin Community Media Center producer and Dominican College teacher Scott Calhoun interviewed me about author tours, self-publishing, and setting, and then shortly afterwards, moved to Bellingham, Washington. But now he has edited and posted the interview, just in time for an author tour.

 

Setting That Works: an Interview with John Byrne Barry

On June 5, I presented “Setting That Works” in Oakland for the California Writers Club Berkeley. Here is an interview with Cristina Deptula in advance of the workshop, mostly about setting.

How do you know how much setting to include? What does it mean for setting to ‘work?’

There’s no one answer to how much setting to include, but my leaning is to use as little as possible. Only what’s necessary. Even the most elegantly written setting can slow the story down. As for what I mean by “setting that works,” the best and most memorable setting is not just a pretty, or gritty description, it’s also doing other “jobs,” like advancing the story, setting mood, echoing theme, and more. Its primary role, of course, is helping the reader visualize the scene. Smell it and feel it, too. But if that’s all it’s doing, it’s a missed opportunity. At the workshop, we’ll be going over eight of the jobs setting can do. Defining or revealing character is one of the more common, and useful, jobs that setting does.
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The Speak Up Talk Radio Podcast:
John Byrne Barry Speaks Up About His Books

Pat Rullo is an author and national radio talk show host, who produces a radio talk show based on her book — Speak Up and Stay Alive, the patient advocate hospital survival guide. Before the end of its first anniversary, the radio program became a broadcast success through Salem Media Group, stations across the United States, as well as iHeart Radio and over 5,000 stations via XDS Cumulus Satellite.

She interviewed me on September 27, 2016 from her home in Ohio.

 

 

The Open Mic: A Few Words With ‘Wasted’ Author
John Byrne Barry

Rich Ehison is a Sacramento-based journalist and filmmaker who has covered politics, immigration, health care reform, business, sports and the arts. He publishes interviews on his blog with authors, musicians, filmmakers, and more.

JB: I was recently on an author tour at the University of Detroit Mercy where my brother is a teacher. “Since I’m surrounded by English professors,” I said, “the first thing I want to say is, this is not literature. This is entertainment and if it has any literary merit, it’s a fortuitous accident.’ But that’s only partly true because I am aiming for that sweet spot between literary fiction and trashy beach reading where the story has a lot of plot and interesting characters, but it’s not the kind of thing you’re going to study in literature class.
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BAIPA: Shari Weiss Interviews John Byrne Barry

In December 2015, Shari Weiss, board member of Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA), interviewed me in advance of my receiving the BAIPA Best Book 2015 Award.

JB: Writing sex scenes is risky. But I include them because sex unleashes intense emotions and vulnerabilities, and reveals character in ways no other activity does. In the months after Bones was published, I received a lot of heartening feedback. It wasn’t all positive. One friend said some of the sex scenes, “read like a cheap grocery store romance, and take away from the book—which I loved.”

One huge upside of self-publishing is that I can upload a new version when I want to make changes. So I reworked the sex scenes. Didn’t take them out as much as shortened them, left more to the imagination, focused more on feelings and less on body parts.

 

Wasted: A novel set in Berkeley’s recycling world

 Frances Dinkelspiel, editor and co-founder of Berkeleyside, a independently owned local news site, is author of Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California. She squeezed in a Q & A with me while we were both in the midst of our book tours.

Here’s an excerpt:

JB: Maybe it’s just me, but garbage and recycling are fascinating. Consider how much you can learn from what someone throws away, recycles, or composts. It’s a window into how we live. And of course, garbage and recycling are wonderful metaphors for all sorts of things.

In addition, the recycling movement has followed an interesting trajectory — there’s a point in popular movements when purists jump ship, corporate forces glom on to the cause and what was once clear becomes confusing and murky.

 

 

INTERVIEWS BY ME

Interview with CWC-Marin President and sports psychologist Joan Steidinger.

Interview with BAIPA Vice President David Kudler about his young adult novel Risuko.

 

 

Interview with short story writer and essayist Marianne Lonsdale about her writing community.

 

 

Interview with Gael Chandler about her book Chronicles of Old San Francisco.

Interview with novelist Tim Jollymore about his third novel, The Advent of Elizabeth.

 

 

Video interview with Doug Greene, author of From Grief to Grace