This week I’m joined by Caroline Fraser, author of Prairie Fires, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of beloved author Laura Ingalls Wilder. Fraser’s latest book, Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust In The Time Of Serial Killers, is a notable departure from the world of sunbonnets and covered wagons. This time, she explores the proliferation of serial killers—figures like the Green River Killer Gary Ridgeway, I-5 killer Randall Woodfield, and, of course, Ted Bundy—who haunted the Pacific Northwest during the 1970s to 1990s. Why were there so many serial killers during this time and in this region? Fraser points to the “lead-crime hypothesis,” which suggests that a spike in violent crime during this era can be traced back to widespread childhood lead exposure from gasoline, paint, and industrial sources. In the book, Fraser expands on this theory, connecting the ecological and societal dots between environmental toxins and waves of violent crime. She also draws on her own experience growing up in the Seattle area, giving personal context to a much larger story. GUEST BIO Caroline Fraser is the author of Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which won the Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Heartland Prize, and the Plutarch Award for Best Biography of the Year. She is also the author of God's Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church, and her writing has appeared in the New York Review of Books, the New Yorker, The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, and the London Review of Books, among other publications. Want to hear the whole conversation? Upgrade your subscription here. HOUSEKEEPING 📖 Order my new book, The Catastrophe Hour: Selected Essays, on Amazon or directly from the publisher here. 📘 The Catastrophe Hour book club for yearly paying subscribers starts June 11 and will run for 14 consecutive Wednesdays, 3-4 pm ET. We will meet on Zoom. 📹 The Unspeakeasy Live livestream takes place every Thursday at 3:00 p.m. ET. Look for a notification on your Substack app when we’re live. Stuff to read and listen to: New York Times, Jan 31, 2025: The L.A. Fires Taught Me To Accept Help Recent(ish) solo episodes: January 9: The First 24 Hours January 16: The Immaterial World January 27: Housing Wars February 5: Remembrance Of Things Past February 13: What Is A "Catastrophe?" March 2: A Mental Infection March 31: Dignity Is Out Of Style 📺 Visit The Unspeakable on YouTube. ✈️ The Unspeakeasy’s 2025 retreat season is underway. It includes a just-announced COED retreat with more attendees and multiple speakers. October 11-12 in New York City. Programming and ticketing info here. Housekeeping 📺 Visit The Unspeakable on YouTube. ✈️ The Unspeakeasy has new retreats for 2025. We’ll be in Texas, New York, Los Angeles, and more. 🥂 Join The Unspeakeasy, my community for freethinking women.

 This week on The Treatment, Elvis speaks with frequent collaborators Wes Anderson and Bill Murray about their latest joint venture, The Phoenician Scheme. Then, actor and director Tyler James Williams stops by to talk about his work on the Emmy-winning comedy series Abbott Elementary. And on The Treat, comedian and writer Carol Leifer enthuses about the comedy album that was on repeat in her house growing up.

More Books by Joshua Moehling Show Notes and Transcription Summary: Transcript The post MTTA 217: Joshua Moehling appeared first on Meet the Thriller Author.

Erika Henningsen opens up about the real ups and downs of a life in the spotlight, from early rejection to career-defining roles. Known for originating Cady Heron in Mean Girls on Broadway, Erika dives into the emotional rollercoaster of auditioning, the shift from seeking audience approval to prioritizing collaboration, and why working with people she admires—like Jonathan Groff and Alex Timbers in Just In Time—makes all the difference. She also shares what it’s like to voice animated characters in Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, and how she’s currently balancing stage work with her new Netflix series The Four Seasons, where she stars alongside Steve Carell and old friend Tina Fey. With heart, humor, and hard-earned wisdom, Erika brings honesty to the realities of navigating the business—and the joy of finding creative freedom along the way. Erika Henningsen originated the role of Cady Heron in Broadway’s Mean Girls, earning a Drama Desk nomination. Other stage credits include Les Misérables, Joy, and Just In Time, in which she currently stars as Sandra Dee. Her voice work includes Charlie Morningstar in Prime Video’s Hazbin Hotel and Bethany in Helluva Boss. On screen, she appears in Peacock’s Girls5Eva and Netflix’s The Four Seasons. This episode is powered by WelcomeToTimesSquare.com, the billboard where you can be a star for a day. Connect with Erika: IG: @erikahenningsen Connect with The Theatre Podcast: Support us on Patreon and watch video versions of the episodes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/TheTheatrePodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter & Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theatre_podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook.com/OfficialTheatrePodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TheTheatrePodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Alan's personal Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@alanseales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email me at feedback@thetheatrepodcast.com. I want to know what you think. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this final episode of the sixth season of In Writing, I sat down with Jesse Armstrong, creator of Succession, and writer/co-writer of numerous other brilliant shows and movies including Peep Show, Fresh Meat, The Thick of It, In The Loop and Four Lions. At his London office he told me about some of his projects that didn't work out (and why); the importance of tone, and how you know when you've got it right; the Succession rewrites that drove Brian Cox mad; the experiences of working with Armando Iannucci, Sam Bain and Chris Morris, and lots more. Discover more from my conversations with Jesse in my book, In Writing: Conversations on Inspiration, Perspiration and Creative Desperation. Jesse's 2016 novel is called Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals, and you can find that plus the complete scripts of Succession in the In Writing bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing Jesse on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1104036 A couple of episodes featuring other members of the Succession writers' room: Lucy Prebble: https://audioboom.com/posts/7784642-lucy-prebble-playwright-and-screenwriter Georgia Pritchett: https://audioboom.com/posts/7989980-georgia-pritchett-comedy-and-drama-writer This season of In Writing is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative – the renowned writing school run by the literary and talent agency. Use code INWRITING20 for £20 off your first online writing course – eligible courses can be found here. Visit https://curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to find out more.

Journalist and bestselling author Saima Mir, author of THE KHAN.Saima chats about:How she locks her imposter syndrome away in order to writeWhere the inspiration for her bestselling debut came fromWhy she didn’t name the town in which her novel is setHow writing is a group effortThe gift of perspective!Guest Author:  Saima Mir  Twitter: @SaimaMir  IG: @ben_raf_remy Books: The Khan by Saima MirHost: Kate Sawyer Twitter: @katesawyer IG: @mskatesawyer Books: The Stranding by Kate Sawyer & This Family (coming May 2023. Saima’s recommendations:A book for fans of Saima’s work: Gangster by Lorenzo CaracterraA book Saima has always loved: My Sister The Serial Killer Oyinkan BraithwaiteA book that’s been published recently or is coming soon: Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zavin, The Moon Represents by Heart by Pim WangtechawatIf you enjoyed this show please do rate, review and share with anyone you think will enjoy it: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/novel-experience/id1615429783Novel Experience with Kate Sawyer is recorded and produced by Kate Sawyer - GET IN TOUCHTo receive transcripts and news from Kate to your inbox please SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER or visit https://www.mskatesawyer.com/novelexperiencepodcast for more information.Thanks for listening!Kate x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on On Story, writer Edward Neumeier discusses his creative process behind the sci-fi cult classics RoboCop and Starship Troopers. Neumeier explores the particulars of writing for the genre, as well as his knack for disguising deep issues within expansive and captivating stories.  Clips of RoboCop courtesy of Orion Pictures. Clips of Starship Troopers courtesy of TriStar Pictures.

Sean and Varn are back to get to the basics and discuss first principles for communist organizing, What organizational form is adequate to working class power in the present moment? On what basis might class autonomy politics and at the point of production be achieved? How do we relate to our past: our successes and many failures?For the full episode support the show at http://patreon.com/theantifadaSHOW DETAILS with MINION DEATH CULT, POD DAMN AMERICA, and WELL THERE'S YOUR PROBLEM (philly only)!!!!NYC Sept 10: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/minion-death-cult-live-tickets-691958234707Philly SEPT 12: w/WTYP https://www.bowerypresents.com/shows/detail/496996-well-theres-your-problem

In this episode, we talk to Mar Hicks, an Associate Professor of Data Science at the University of Virginia and author of Programmed Inequality: How Britain discarded Women Technologists and Lost its Edge in computing. Hicks talks to us about the lessons that the tech industry can learn from histories of computing, for example: how sexism is an integral feature of technological systems and not just a bug that can be extracted from them; how techno-utopianism can stop us from building better technologies; when looking to the past is useful and when it's not helpful; the dangers of the 'move fast and break things' approach where you just build technology just to see what happens; and whether regulatory sandboxes are sufficient in making sure that tech isn't deployed unsafely on an unsuspecting public.

Welcome to the final episode of Theoryish Season One! We've had a really wonderful time with you all and will be back January 2024. Until then, please continue to listen, share, like, and follow - see you soon!   Contact Us  You can get in touch with us via our email: theoryishpodcast@gmail.com  Socials  We are on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok at theoryish_pod and Facebook at theoryishpod  Music  Outro: Lori Beauty, Coma Studios