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Sarah's Bookshelves Live

Ep. 144: John Marrs (Author of The One, The Passengers, and The Marriage Act)

Sarah's Bookshelves Live

Sarah Dickinson

Bookrecommendations, Bookpodcasts, Sarahsbookshelvespodcast, Sarahsbookshelveslivepodcast, Sarahsbookshelveslive, Bookpodcast, Literarypodcast, Whatshouldiread, Arts, Bookreviewpodcast, Reading, Readingpodcast, Books, Sarahsbookshelves

4.9 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2023

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John Marrs, best-selling author of The One, The Passengers, and The Marriage Act, talks about his journey from self-published to bestselling author, his writing process, how he manages writing in multiple genres for two different publishers, and more.  John’s journalism background led him to ask me some thought-provoking questions as well. Our conversation was an absolute delight, and I can’t wait for you to dive into his captivating universe of books. Plus, be sure to check out John’s book recommendations that align nicely with my own reading tastes!

This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).

Highlights

  • John’s transition from working journalist to accomplished author.
  • Spoiler-free summaries of his speculative fiction novels, The One, The Passengers, and The Marriage Act.
  • His unique journey to becoming a bestselling author across multiple genres.
  • John talks about his process of developing gripping plots following his rapid rise to success.
  • Sarah and John’s take on the “Match Your DNA” method from The One for finding soulmates.
  • John’s perspective on seeing his books adapted for the small screen, and his thoughts on the adaptation process.
  • The fascinating inspiration behind The Marriage Act and its thought-provoking themes.
  • Insights into John’s meticulous research process and real-life news that influences his storytelling.
  • John’s and Sarah’s views on trigger warnings.
  • A brief peek into John’s 3 upcoming books!

John’s Book Recommendations [34:32]

Two OLD Books He Loves

Two NEW Books He Loves

NEW RELEASE He’s Excited About

Last 5-Star Book John Read

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm Sarah of Sarah's Bookshelves. Each week I talk with a bookish

0:15.4

guest about two old books they love, two new books they love, one book they do not love,

0:20.7

and one new release

0:22.0

they're excited about. We're going to get real and sometimes a bit snarky about all things,

0:26.8

books. If you like the show, I'd love it if you follow the show in your podcast player,

0:31.7

spread the word to your reader friends, post about it on your social media, or support the

0:37.2

show on Patreon at patreon.com slash

0:41.2

Sarah's bookshelves. Supporting the show on Patreon gets you access to bonus podcast episodes and

0:46.7

lots of other goodies. There's also a link in the show notes and in my Instagram bio. Let's get

0:52.3

rolling. I've been talking about John Mars's speculative fiction

0:56.2

novel The One for a while now, and it's on this year's summer reading guide. It came out in the

1:01.6

U.S. in 2018, but I just read it last year. It's the first speculative fiction novel I've ever loved,

1:08.2

and single-handedly made me reconsider the genre that I have sort of been

1:11.9

afraid of. John followed up the one with additional novels in the same universe, the passengers,

1:17.7

the minders, and most recently the Marriage Act. Today, we're going to talk about the one,

1:22.4

this universe of speculative fiction novels, John's quite fascinating career arc, and a little bit about the

1:28.3

Marriage Act as well. In addition to the one, the passengers and the marriage act, John is the author

1:33.5

of The Good Samaritan, When You Disappeared, Welcome to Wherever You Are and Keep It in the

1:38.0

family. A freelance journalist based in London, England, he has spent the past 20 years

1:42.9

interviewing celebrities from the world

1:44.5

of television, film and music for national newspapers and magazines. He has written for publications

1:50.2

including The Guardian's Guide and Guardian Online, Huffington Post, and more. Welcome, John.

...

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