James Frey, NEXT TO HEAVEN: A Novel
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.5 • 643 Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Special re-release! To close out the year, we’re counting down the Top 10 most-listened-to episodes of 2025. Coming in at #10: Zibby’s interview with James Frey. Enjoy!
Totally Booked: LIVE! In this special episode of the podcast (in-person at the Whitby Hotel with a live audience!), Zibby interviews #1 New York Times bestselling author James Frey about his darkly funny and razor-sharp new novel, NEXT TO HEAVEN. James opens up about writing a book that’s bold, dirty, and wildly entertaining—a murder mystery set in an insulated world of obscene wealth, swingers, and secrets. He discusses the real-life inspiration for his book (his town!) and reveals how people's reactions have ranged from admiration to offense, precisely the kind of impact he aims for. He also delves into his singular style (no quotation marks, no apologies), his views on truth versus fact, and his refusal to play by literary rules.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In honor of the holidays, we are releasing the 10 most downloaded Totally Booked episodes of |
| 0:06.5 | 2025. |
| 0:08.2 | Today is number 10. |
| 0:10.7 | We will be working our way up to number one over the next two weeks. |
| 0:14.5 | If you miss them, now's the chance. |
| 0:16.4 | Enjoy. |
| 0:18.2 | Hi, I'm Sivie Owens. |
| 0:19.9 | Welcome to Totally Booked, where I get to talk to my favorite authors and hopefully yours too. |
| 0:26.8 | Today we are so lucky to have James Frye, who is back on the podcast. |
| 0:32.3 | Yay. |
| 0:32.7 | Thank you for having me. |
| 0:33.9 | Yes. |
| 0:34.2 | Amazing. |
| 0:34.5 | I'm going to read a little bit about the author here. |
| 0:41.7 | Okay. |
| 0:42.8 | James was called America's most notorious author by Time magazine and the bad boy of American literature by the New York Times. |
| 0:52.2 | He has written multiple global bestsellers, including a million |
| 0:56.7 | little pieces, bright shiny morning, and the final testament of the Holy Bible. He has sold more |
| 1:03.6 | than 30 million books, and his work is published in 42 languages. He lives in a small town |
| 1:10.6 | in Connecticut, |
| 1:11.7 | and the book is next to heaven, |
| 1:13.9 | which is not the cover. |
... |
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