Literary Figures: Novelists

Amis is the author of The Information. The book is about rivalry in the literary world, which some have said parallels Amis' own life. Britain's literary world was shocked when Amis demanded a half-million pound advance on The Information, supposedly to pay for his divorce and costly dental work, and then dumped his long-time agent, who was also the wife of his best friend. The New York Times has called The Information "an uncompromising and highly ambitious novel that should also be a big popular hit."

Spencer's new book, Men In Black, was called "charmingly funny-sad" by the New York Times. His previous books include Last Night at the Brain Thieves' Ball, Endless Love, and Waking the Dead.

Allende has published her first work of non-fiction, Paula. It's about her 28 year old daughter, who fell into an irreversible coma. Paula began as a letter to her dying daughter and turned into an autobiographical work about Allende's childhood in Chile, her exile in Venezuela and her move to San Francisco.

The two time Pulitzer Prize winning novelist joins us to talk about his new book Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery. Mailer says we must ask "Who was Oswald?" as a prelude to asking "Who killed JFK?" The book profiles Lee Harvey Oswald's life. It's Mailer's 28th book.

Maxwell has a new collection of short stories All the Days and Nights. He was fiction editor of the New Yorker from 1936-1976. He worked with such authors as J.D. Salinger, Jon Cheever, Jon Updike, Eudora Welty and scores of others. Jon Updike has said Maxwell's voice is "one of the wisest in American fiction. It is, as well, one of the kindest.

Ann Charters, the biographer of Jack Kerouac, has just edited two new collections of his writings: The Portable Jack Kerouac, and Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters. In this interview,she reads from some of Kerouac's letters, and discusses how he translated his life into his work. Charters teaches at the University of Connecticut.

Rock Critic Kent Tucker reviews "Call Me Burroughs," the new collection of readings by William Burroughs.

The Canadian writer has a new novel called "The Cunning Man." It follows the life of a Toronto-based doctor during World War 2 who witnesses the death of a father at the High Altar. The Washington Post has called it "one of [the] author's most entertaining and satisfying novels." Davies, now 81, has had three successive careers -- he began as an actor, then was a journalist and newspaper publisher, and in 1981 retired as professor of the Massy college at the University of Toronto.

Roberts is author of eleven detective books featuring Cleveland private eye Milan Jacovich or L.A. actor/detective Saxon. The most recent novel, "The Lake Effect," is a Milan Jacovich mystery. Roberts also produced episodes of "The Lucy Show," "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," and "The Andy Griffith Show," and was the first producer of "The Hollywood Squares."

It's been almost six years since the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a death sentence against the author. Since then, Rushdie has lived in hiding, continuing to write and making a few semi-public appearances. His book, "Haroun and the Sea of Stories," published in 1990, was a fairy tale written for his son. His new book is collection of stories about the line that divides East and West, called "East, West."