{"id":17351,"date":"2025-02-11T14:54:59","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T19:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=17351"},"modified":"2025-02-11T14:55:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T19:55:02","slug":"episode-625-jonathan-ames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-625-jonathan-ames","title":{"rendered":"Episode 625 – Jonathan Ames"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 625:
\nJonathan Ames<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_625_-_Jonathan_Ames.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“My primary reading for a while now has been private detective novels and various Buddhist philosophical tests. So when Happy expounds on these things, in a way it’s that I love reading these sorts of books.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Can LA private detective Happy Doll live up to the Four Noble Truths and escape the cycle of Samsara? Jonathan Ames<\/a> returns to the show to help answer that question and celebrate his new novel, KARMA DOLL<\/a> (Mulholland Books)! We talk about the joy of reading (& writing) page-turners, how his lead character Happy Doll has evolved over three novels (so far!), what it’s like bringing Buddhism into a detective novel, and how his (& Happy’s) LA has changed since he began this series. We get into how he managed to avoid writing about the worst days of the pandemic while keeping Karma Doll<\/em> contemporary, how writing the Doll novels has affected his understanding of Buddhism, and how he’s living up to the lesson he always gave students: write what you love<\/em>. We also discuss TV writing and how it took him away from prose-writing for a decade or so, the need to make art and the transitoriness of bliss, how the LA fires left him driving all over the place like he was in a Lew Archer<\/a> novel, his fave reads & TV shows, how we both played with dolls as kids in the woods of northern NJ, and a lot more. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read KARMA DOLL<\/a><\/strong>! (and A Man Named Doll<\/a><\/strong> and The Wheel of Doll<\/a><\/strong>!)<\/em><\/p>\n

(Oh, and go listen to our 2018<\/a> and 2022<\/a> conversations!)<\/em><\/p>\n

“If I was an actor, Happy Doll would be a character I’m playing. He might sound like me, but he’s his own guy.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n