protrack boys can be.... yee... ha! yesss! >> this week on talk to al jazeera james patterson one of the worlds best selling authors. >> first book thomas berryman number was rejected by 31 publishers and i still keep a list of all the editors who rejected it. >> patterson's books have sold more than 300 million copies. the prolific and popular author

responds to critics who say he relies too much on ghost writers... >> i do work with co-writers and sometimes people -well how can that be? well you know... simon and garfunkel... lennon and mccartney... gilbert and sullivan... all of the cathedrals... most of the cathedrals in europe... the internet all of those...they're the result of collaborators. >> many of his titles have been turned into movies including the summer 2015 release of the television series zoo, based on a patterson thriller. >> it's a fable...and it's a fable about really what man is doing to the environment. and in this case animals start to respond. they're threatened. >> but now patterson is expanding into children's publishing. >> a regular kid becomes a super hero! >> and to promote youth literacy he's partnering with some big names. >> if i go to a school it's like...yea! if i go in with lebron or dwayne or whatever...it's like yea!!! you know... so the kids are paying more attention. >> he says he's loves his

fans...but there is one he is still waiting to hear back from... >> i sent flowers to the studio for marge, and this day i've never heard back. >> patterson talks about love and loss his son jack and independent book stores. also find out what prompted him to say this... >> ...finding you very thrilling...as a stimulus... >> we recently sat down with james patterson at the book expo in new york city. >> is it true that your path to reading and books began when you were working in a psychiatric hospital? >> yes. >> how's that for an answer? >> in boston mclean? >> yeah, mclean. it's actually in belmont mass. and it was the place where i worked my way through college. and i worked a lotta night shifts. and there mostly wasn't anything to do during the night most nights. some nights it got a little hairy, but >> so, it wasn't the inspiration for (?) many of the people who were being treated there, per se. it's just time >> no. i just start reading like crazy. and it was all serious stuff. i was a literary snob at that point. so, it was serious books. and i just loved it. and then i started scribbling short stories.

and i loved that even more. and people will say, you know "you work so much. are you ever gonna stop." and i don't work for a living. you know i play. it's play for me. so-- >> some of the play now involves-- children's books. you have a children's imprint that's coming up. tell me about that. >> yeah, we're just announcing a children's imprint called jimmy. and the mission it's a very simple and, i think, an elegant mission which is that when kids finish a jimmy book they will say, "please give me another book." and that sounds a little simple minded but i think it's the way to get kids reading. that's the way we - whether it's food or movies or whatever - we eat a certain kinda food, like the first time we have pizza or you know whatever broccoli whatever your favorite food is-- and you go, "oooh, i really like that. give me another piece of pizza or, "give me another carrot, or whatever or movies. so, same with books.

if kids don't - if their experiences aren't good-- they say, "i-- i don't really want books... >> a lot of authors, though, have tried that and have said, "well, i'm, you know, into children's books because it's a way a pathway for kids to read." what's different about this that makes you think that it can be this sort of noble goal? >> well, i already know that my books work tremendously well with kids. it's right in my sweet spot, allows me to be funny, which i can't be in the adult books - with the adult books. and kids gobble up my books. and i think the cool thing about the books that i write is they're funny and they're engaging but there's also something for kids to think about. the middle school books are about a kid who doesn't really fit into the education system here. he's a bright kid, though. but they're really because his talent is more on the arts side and illustrating and drawing, there's nowhere for that to get out in the school system. and he's not as interested in things that they're interested

in. he doesn't particularly care about algebra and so it's about recognizing those kids and not calling them stupid and not making fun of them and engaging with them. so there's a serious side even though it was a funny book >> several of your books have gone from literally-- literary world to movies or tv. the latest that's coming out premiering this summer on cbs zoo what has you so particularly excited about this hollywood adaptation? >> what i like about the zoo-- project--one i always felt it had the potential to be a terrific movie or-- or tv series 'cause it's so visual. it's a fable. and it's a fable about really what man is doing to the environment. and in this case animals start to respond-- they-- they're threatened. and when animals are threatened things happen. it tsunami's coming, and all of a sudden the animals take off for the hills and the humans don't kinda get it. in this case the animals start to react against human beings. and in some cases there are animal attacks. and they're just threatened by

what humans are doing. and it's very exciting. i mean we have lions on the middle of these big fields chasing our heroes in africa. and it reminds me a little of jaws because you can't quite see them coming. we have bats in rio de janeiro just storming all over the city. we have horses acting strangely in boston. so, it's very visual. >> and is that the kinda sorta visual drama that, at least in this instance, works better in a visual medium than it does people reading it? >> no, the book was great. (laugh) >> (laugh) but you've said that the series will be even better. >> the joke or the old saw in hollywood or around the world is "a book is always better than the movie." and then the screenwriters will go, "well, we only had two hours in the movie, and the book was much longer." in this case in terms of it-- of a tv series, they have 13 hours. so, there's no excuse >> for all of your accomplishments, all the records that you've broken in terms of publishing and bestseller lists

you've described yourself as an entertainer. how come? >> i think that's what i do. i mean i-- early on as a writer realized that-- you know having read ulysses a couple a times that i could not be james joyce, i could not be gabriel garcía márquez. i didn't quite have that talent level. but i did think and i started out as a little literary snob but i read a couple of bestsellers back then. one was day of the jackal and one was the exorcist. and i went, "well, these are kinda cool too. and i think-- at my talent level-- i think i can write books like this. i think i can write books that will keep people turning the pages." >> vanity fair described you as "the henry ford of books." did you take that as a compliment--or an insult? >> it's a funny quote-- >> (laugh) some headline writer just said "he's, you know, "the henry ford of you know, "books." and all of a sudden i mean people will bring that up, "oh, y--" you know? it's just some headline writer. but-- but, you know there is some truth to it in the sense that i do a lotta books. i do work with co-writers.

and sometimes people-- "well how can that be?" well, you know simon and garfunkel, lennon and mccartney gilbert and sullivan all the cathedral - most of the cathedrals in europe the internet-- all of those they're the result of collaborators. so, it's not really that weird. >> you were in the advertising business for many, many years. yeah but i've been clean for over 20 years. >> your first book the thomas berryman number a nashville newspaper man who's on a murder trail-- it was rejected by 31 publishers? >> first book, thomas berryman number was rejected by 31 publishers. it then won an edgar as the best first mystery of the year here in america. and i still keep a list of all the editors who rejected it. and sometimes they ask me for blurbs for their writers, which i give them. >> did you think that book was very good? >> yes i did. >> and what was goin' through your mind when you were facing rejection after rejection? >> one, in those days, it happened quicker. they would send it out to--

or the agents would send it out to a bunch of publishers at the same time. and a lot of the rejections were quite nice. "send us your next book, "we almost bought this one, you know. so, the rej-- most of the rejections were kind as opposed to form letters and we got with little brown very quickly. so we-- we were-- we were safe within a couple a weeks. >> another one of your early books, season of the machete, you have now >> that season of the machete is terrible. >> --did you know it was terrible at the time? >> no. no. that's a book where-- you know it-- i guess it's a sophomore jinx. and i wanted to sort of follow up on what i thought was a good book. and i just messed it up, badly. so, don't read that. áanyone who's watching-- if it (?) happens to show up, even like a used-- in a book-- in a beach house with the cov-- do not read it if it says season of the machete or if they change the title. somewhere they'll have to put season of the machete. don't read it. >> but that confidence early on of thinkin' "wow (?) my stuff's pretty good and i'm

gonna get there, is that what carries people through who are especially successful? >> i think confidence is huge. i mean you know, we've done a couple a movies with morgan freeman. and when you work with morgan, you just feel it. morgan knows he's gonna knock every scene dead. and he does. he's so confident about his ability as an actor. >> did that confidence hurt you at all early on in your career? >> did the confidence hurt me? i don't think so. i think the confidence was always, there's always something in the background going like "you're not that good, or, "you need to work on this, or - and look i wasn't an overnight success. my first hit was in, i think, '93. and that was-- you know, when t-- thomas berryman was published in 1976. so, it w-- di-- it wasn't like you know "wow boy, this guy is great,

and-- off we go. >> still ahead on the program, james patteron talks about losing his first great love to a brain tumor. stay with us...

>> you're watching talk to al jazeera i'm david schuster speaking week with best selling author james patterson >> and your first-- early love jane blanchard-- you knew her for six years. she had a brain tumor. she died three years later. >> well i think it was my first great love. i think it taught me that-- that men and women can have wonderful relationships because it was a wonderful relationship. and i think that's a great lesson. i think a lot of men and women young w-- men and women, don't believe that. i think they get very cynical about it. but it is possible. and i'm very lucky now. i have-- married to sue. and we've been together for,

you know over 17 years, gonna be 18 years. and it's a wonderful relationship. it's a love affair. it still is. but i think that first relationship taught me that it is possible for men and women-- or w-- whatever-- partners-- to have-- you know, great loving relationships. >> but for everybody who loses somebody at an early point in their adulthood grappling with life and death at a younger age can have a searing impact on-- >> yeah, i've never been big on that grappling with life and death. i mean it's just a given. i-- i don't think about it much. >> you reacted to her death by pouring yourself into work at the advertising agency. >> tragically, i did. (laugh) yes. yeah. no, i di-- i just didn't-- i didn't wanna go on vacation. i didn't wanna do anything but be busy. and i went from writer to creative director to chairman in a few years. so, i did throw myself into advertising for a few years. and it was helpful. >> and in all the while you were writing. you would come home from work and you would type out on the typewriter

and keep goin'. >> yeah. no, and i would write on the side. and that was a part of whatever, keeping me moderately sane or whatever it is that i am. >> was it cathartic in the mix of the-- midst of the advertising world? was it cathartic in the mix of what you were doing to be typing each night . was it a release? was it just someting you were interested in? >> somebody said you're lucky if you find things in life that you love anything. and then it's a miracle if somebody will pay you to do it. and that was my thing with writing. i mean i was getting paid to write in the advertising agency. i was getting paid to write with books. and i loved (?) that. i didn't love the advertising thing too much. you know-- primarily because it was just too many chefs in the kitchen or too many people telling you what you could or couldn't do or what the rules were-- whereas in-- in the-- on the book side i got to do pretty much what i wanted to do. >> was there an "ah hah" moment in the midst of your advertising career when you said, "okay, enough with advertising. i

wanna write full time"? >> yeah i don't think it was an ah hah that had anything to do with advertising or books. i was wri-- at-- at that point i was very successful with the books. the ah hah was that it dawned on me-- i h-- the best thing that ever happened to me was to be in love for that six or seven years. and i was doing nothing to try to make that happen again. so, at that point i said "i'm gonna i'm out of advertising, which was just incredibly time-consuming. "i have enough money writing books, and i was successful enough at it, and, "i'm gonna try to find somebody to be in love with again." and i was very lucky because i found-- sue, who i'd actually known for quite a long time. and-- you know we got married soon after that and had a boy, who's another joy in both of our lives. >> do you think that woulda been possible had you not left advertising? >> i think that-- there's just

so much pressure and that advertising does take up so much time-- i think it woulda been difficult. i think it puts-- it's a kind of job-- and there're a lotta jobs like this-- it put a lotta stress on relationships. and i was in a position where i could really make the focuses of my life a relationship and writing books. >> when was the moment that you realized-- i mean, was it your first bestseller when you thought "okay, i can-- i can be successful at this"? >> i remember when i won the edgar-- award, i remember standing up and not having much to say but saying and feeling-- and i was 26 at the time "i guess i'm a writer now." and, you know, if you're writing-- and-- but you haven't been published and people say "w-- what do you do?" you go "i'm a writer." and they'll immediately say, "well, what have you published?" and if you say "i haven't published they'll look at you like you're a mad person-- like, "what-- how can call yourself a writer if you haven't published,

which is kinda crazy because i think you can be a writer if that's what you do and you do a lot of it. "i write. i write. i don't publish. "i--" or "i publish on the internet or, "i publish on my blog, or-- but i think for me having the book published and then winning the edgar-- i did feel "okay, i'm not just kidding myself now. i'm a real writer. this is a real thing." >> have you ever been surprised by the financial success? >> i don't really think about it. i mean if i-- if i-- if i do stop to think about it i'll go, "there was a lotta luck involved here a lotta good bounces. and i was smart enough when a good bounce happened to-- to really go with it." >> do you like meeting your fans meeting people around the world-- >> yeah who wouldn't? absolutely. no, it's great. i mean, you find people that like what you do-- it's exhilarating. i mean and also i mean i didn't go through li-- i wasn't like a child star at eight. that might get old after a while,

you know. "i'm ron howard and i've been--" you know it's funny i've-- i've actually spent time with ron howard. and every time i've been with him people will come up. and every time they'll say "i loved you as opie (laugh) on the andy griffith show when he was a little kid. and he's so gracious. and he never goes, "well, you know, i have won an academy award, (laugh) and, you know, bah bah bah bah. so, i don't know what that would be like to deal with it for your entire life. but to-- to have it happen in your early 40s, i'm not bored of it. it's okay. >> i talked to a lotta your fans in getting ready for this interview. and every one of them wanted to know, how are you able to be so prolific so many different storylines so many different projects? >> well i think part of it is i mean my strengths are ideas. i have so many ideas for books. i have-- in-- in my office- a folder this thick with ideas for different books-- i mean literally hundreds and hundreds of ideas for books. so, that's a big strength. and i'm constantly-- you know and i can tell a story about anything.

i could tell a story about this. i could turn this-- i could go from here and turn this into a novel-- >> all right let's suppose that your novel-- >> not gonna do it-- >> --started with an interview. what-- what-- how would the storyline develop? >> well, i'm sure it's gonna be a thriller this particular one-- >> i'm sure-- >> --because y-- i'm finding you very thrilling as a stimulus. (laugh) i-- i don't know where i would go with it. but that's-- it's-- >> but you have that ability in your mind to take any situation-- >> but those are the strengths. >> --with (?) it. >> those are the strengths. the weakness is, i don't have the patience to polish as much as i should which is one of the nice things about co-writers. because if i do a co-written book i'll tend to do it with somebody who is more of a stylist so that the combination is good. >> one superior talent, at least in the basketball world, lebron james you've--partnered with him a while back. what was that like? >> i-- yeah i did a couple of webcasts with basketball stars dwayne wade lebron james-- stephen curry

dirk nowitzki. and they're all interested in getting kids reading as well-- dwyane wade, in particular. he's got three kids, and he's really just on them about reading all the time. >> and lebron. lebron is a pretty big reader himself. and in doing a webcast with them, when these went into schools-- and we got 'em into thousands and thousands of schools encouraging kids to read-- if i go to a school it's like, "yay!" if i go in with lebron or dwayne or whatever, it's like, "yay!!!" you know? so-- so the kids are paying more attention. also-- in america, for a lotta kids-- and this is you know unfortunate but it is what it is-- a lotta kids don't think reading books is cool. and it is cool. it's cool on a lotta levels. >> patterson says on of the greatist accomplishments involved "the simpsons" and that story just after the break.

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i'm david shuster this week on talk to al jazeera literary giant james patterson >> your support of independent bookstores is particularly interesting given that your traditional books are probably the least likely to help those independent bookstores. >> i don't know about that sentence in the sense that- i think my books sell well in bookstores. i mean they're not-- i-- like any other book i mean it's not gonna make or break a bookstore, what they sell of me or david baldacci etcetera. but it's helpful. but my thing is really to try to shine a light on problems. and one of the problems in this country is less and less and

less bookstores. and that's a real problem. i mean it may all happen on the internet 50 years from now. we need great books in this country. the country needs a literature. we need bookstores. we need places where people can go in and talk about books-- with other people who are interested in books when i-- when i-- put out the million dollars to help independents-- you know the-- the response was unbelievable. the unfortunate thing is a lotta these people that are very emotional about the town bookstore do not go to the town bookstore. it's kinda, "oh, yeah i was there, like three years ago." well, no. "gee, i mean if you really wanna support them and you want me to support them, go there and occasionally buy a book." >> and the same with public libraries-- so if you support your public library, you should go and send your kids there and get them to check out-- >> yeah. i-- i mean, this year we're doing a big thing, a couple million dollars with school libraries. and-- once again just-- i wanna shine a light on the fact that a lotta schools-- the school i-- the-- the libraries have almost no books in them and no librarians.

and the funds for school libraries keep getting cut back. and there used to be that saying "it's the economy, stupid." i think a good saying right now that i wish politicians would get in their heads, and i'd love to see when the presidential debates that in every debate the notion of-- "education is the future of the economy, stupid." so what are we doing? what are we doing for education? because that is the future. and these people that-- you know that they're living for, like the next week-- no. i mean, the reason that we have so many problems-- or a lotta the-- one of the big reasons is, we haven't done a good job educating the populace here. >> your son jack is 17. he's soon gonna sort of leave home you've been through the experience of trying to get your own child to read. for somebody like me-- i've got a two-year-old at home-- what's the and for other parents-- >> get her going. beat her up. use the taser on her. >> we do a lot of goodnight moon and-- but what's the-- what's the-- >> that's great. >> what's the trick for kids as they're getting older to get them-- is it parent reading to

them? >> i just think it's parent involvement. whatever it is, some kids, they're just gonna take-- you know that's really really useful, a lot of people don't have any books in the house. try to-- you know, get books that the kids are responding to. don't force them stuff. it's-- for whatever reason it's not-- you know, "but i love baseball." but, yeah, but your kid doesn't. (laugh) or whatever. you know so let them tell you what they like for a while. and at a certain point oh when kids get to be seven or eight that's a point where if it's not working, you can force the issue. and what we did with jack-- and jack's a bright ki-- he wasn't a big reader when he was eight. and that summer-- and summer's a great time to do this. this whole thing of, "go vegetate for the summer"? no. no, no no no no. we're not gonna do that. yes, you can relax. yes, there's no school. but with jack, we said, "you're gonna read every day." and, you know his response initially was "do i have to?" and we said, "yeah unless you wanna live in the garage." you know "we read in our house. that's the deal.

and-- but we're gonna go out and get a bunch a books that you're gonna like." so we went out and got a "percy jackson", and "warriors", and "wrinkle in time" and a dozen or so books... by the end of the summer jack's reading skills had improved dramatically. and that can happen in most households. you just keep doing it. if you have to... if it has to come to it, no screens untill you read. i mean, no television, no internet, none of that stuff until you read... no screens until you read >> and you also dangled some carrots. you said "no mowing the-- the yard this-- >> well yes. we-- yes we did. in the s-- in the summer we said, "you don't have to mow the lawn, but you do have to read." and try not to make it feel like a punishment. you know, try to make it feel-- and it is a joyful thing. and that's where that-- making sure you get books that they're gonna like is-- initially. >> you've said that one of your greatest accomplishments was an appearance on the simpsons. >> yes. i was a cartoon. and i still am a cartoon. yeah. (laugh) no it was great fun. i-- in-- in this particular segment, marge is on the beach and she's reading one of my novels. and she's, "oh, i just love james patterson."

and then in the background i ride by on this white horse on the beach. and then they cut and she's on the back of the horse and we're sort of whispering sweet nothings. then-- then she says "do you wanna write nursery rhyme titles for some of your books?" i used to have-- some of the alex cross books had nursery rhyme titles. and i said, "marge there's more interesting things we could do than that." and then this alarm clocks rings and my eyes go back and forth. and then it-- the film cuts, and homer comes into the bedroom. and homer says "that was great last night marge. but why did you keep calling me james?" (laugh) yeah so that was fun. it was great fun. i then-- after the episode ran, i sent-- i sent flowers to the studio for marge. and to this day i've never heard back. >> they haven't responded? >> marge has not responded. >> oh, but it was the epitome of pop culture essentially. >> it was cool. it was-- it was a lotta fun. it was fun to do. >> james patterson thanks for being on talk to al jazeera >> thank you. are we done already? >> we're done that's it... >> daaaamn... >> thank you >> thank you

>> comedy great, richard lewis >> i really am in love with the craft... >> turning an angst ridden and neurotic outlook... >> i have to un-ravel myself on stage as fearlessly as possible >> into an award winning career... from hell? >> it's thrilling when it's working.... >> every tuesday night. >> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's movers and shakers. >> we will be able to see change. >> gripping. inspiring. entertaining. talk to al jazeera. only on al jazeera america. >> i had an american sitting here and he said to me are you actually running a holiday camp for criminals?