tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with tc boyle. he has written novels, many of which deal with contemporary issues like workers and environmental degradation. his latest is a collection ."lled "t.c. boyle stories ii then we will go to a conversation with rick najera about the complications he has faced. he has written a book called ."lmost white we are glad you joined us. those conversations coming up now. ♪

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ tavis: tc boyle has written 14 novels, over 100 short stories, almost all of them acclaimed and many dealing with contemporary issues like environmental degradation. he has collected a slew of awards and has consistently been

on the bestseller list. he has second volume his of stories. it is good to have you back on this program. you got them? there you go. he always has his chuck taylor's on. >> as i told you before you never know when you're going to be called upon to dunk. tavis: you did tell me that before. furthermore, it matches the color of the book. pages.this is 918 it is pretty dense. >> i wrote a preface for it, developed it. this is my career. this is what i have done. on the other hand i feel pretty good. i feel like i might have a few more good years left in me, so maybe we will see volume three. >> you say that like you might have questioned whether you have

a few good years in you. >> i have an perfectly healthy all my life. i clean up after my wife and start typing every day. this book is 918 pages because it has three books. and 14 short stories. published my first for collections. they squeezed the pages. they were a little more narrow than. instead ofg book. coming up with the last part of figured it was time to make a grand statement for this type of book. your fans, is there something linear about the short stories, or is it -- >> it's a little different. in the first one i divided them

into love, death, and everything in between. this one is more traditional where it is basically chronological. you come up with these first 14 stories, which i have written since the last time i saw you. it is whatever i feel like writing. for instance, there is one that happens to be in harpers this month. my wife and i moved into a neighborhood in santa barbara, and we would walk to our favorite restaurant. nice houses. one house you couldn't see. it was completely overrun. there was an old american car in the driveway, and i said, probably some old person there, and once they are dead they will clean this up. they came in with old those are zen took this whole persons -- life, car, house -- gone. i wrote a story about that. so go the glories of the world. tavis: that only happens in

santa barbara because property values are so high. >> i make a point of it. the house had a view. they needed that view. write these short stories between novels. -- some people that assess process would completely wrecked them. once they start on the project they stay with it until it's done. in between writing novels you are doing short stories. you don't get conflicted or confused? >> i am pretty hard-core. i stick to exactly what i am doing. willl write a novel, and i stick to stories. i only write one thing at once because i'm afraid i wouldn't finish what i started. up for me.that quote there is an interesting quote i find funny. >> that is reason. all writers are drug addicted

alcoholics. tavis: egomaniacal, manic-depressive, drug addicted alcoholics, and after you do it you want to have that fixed again. >> you guys are straight errors -- straight arrows. unlike politicians. that's a slight exaggeration. be true of may talkshow hosts as well. >> i am just having fun writing books. have got my nose to the grindstone. i don't write some scripts. i don't give speeches. i just love to be an artist and do what i am doing. that is what i am talking about in the preface. tavis: what is it about the process of writing that is so

addictive to you? >> it's going into another world. the same thing to reader gets on the other end. we have all experienced that were you pick up a book and you cannot get into it, and one day you pick up the same book and you are totally absorbed. do same thing i have to everyday, and when you get into that special place of unconsciousness, you listen to great music or seeing a great movie, it just takes you out of yourself, out of this world. there is no feeling quite like it, so when we talk about you have to get that fixed again, it sort of like a drug high. you make something out of nothing. you get to the end of it. you feel great for a little while. then the rush goes away, and you have to do it again. tavis: how much do you enjoy interacting with readers once the book is done? i am no tc boyle. i have not written as many texts as you have. process ofead the

writing because i am not a writer. i'm a verbal guy. i love to talk. it takes everything out of me to get the book out. the part i look forward to is getting on the road to actually talk to people about it. i love that. do you not like that part? >> i do. most writers are introverts. that's why they are writers. it's a little different. i love to give a performance. i go on stage, and i read a story as an actor. it brings people back to the first voice they ever heard. in my case it was my mother who taught me how to read. i love to be sitting here with you and doing interviews and meeting the readers. that's a great thing. but i can shut that off when i have to go write another book. so much time -- i do see you once a year. we know once a year tc boyle is

going to say the next book is out. alreadyy else is chomping at the bit to review it before it even comes out. you are writing so much. do you ever have time to read? what does tc boyle like to read? we know you like to write. >> good question. novel whenreading a i am writing a novel because somebody's voice creeps in. the hardest is to keep the tone over the course of the year. when i am writing short stories, which i will be doing shortly, i do anything i like. right now i am reading nature books. i am reading a book about the urban bc area. what creatures are living amongst us. in my case it is wrapped. that, and there is an animal rights activist in its, and i begin to feel sorry for the rats.

you have to add a new title to my distinguished career. wrapped the liver. r. rat delivere i am taking the rats and letting them go in the woods where may be a coyote will eat them, but at least they are not rolling coke bottles through the walls of my house anymore. that's what they do, by the way. i don't know why. maybe it's a rat game. you will probably have a lot of and they will tell you the secret of why rats are rolling those bottles all might long. tavis: that is to your point about nature. you have always read -- i don't want to say always. of late have been passionate about a variety of environmental and other social issues. >> absolutely. you will see it reflected in the 58 stories.

you can trace the themes all the way through. i tell jokes and have fun, but i tend to worry about everybody and everything throughout the world. this population explosion and the extinction of animals, global warming. i projected2000 and for 2025 2025 global warming. my joke was i should have made it 2013. we are here already. i think readers can trace some of the ideas, but basically, for me a story can be anything you tell me, anything i read in the newspaper. i don't have any restrictions. some writers just write about their own lives. i don't want to do that. i want to have a really boring life, a quiet, boring life no one wants to write a biography about. i am the only writer in history only to have one wife for instance. it makes life easier.

we taped the show, today is your daughter's birth day. >> she is here with her college roommate. tavis: happy birthday. let me close with this. this is your own assessment of your work. you said recently you think your , that youruring writing isn't as whimsical as it used to be. what do you mean by that? i am overlooking my whole career. when i first started out, the first file you, i am still a student in my early 20's. i was more interested in idea and design and telling jokes and asing fun and absurdity, but i began writing novels i began to discover the idea of writing about characters. i think you see a richer sort of story here than in earlier works.

not that i reject them. as i mentioned this, i just got back from a tour of germany and austria. , i willore i left finish -- i finished the novel so i can see you next year. ofis: you are ahead schedule. the sky crank them out, and they always seem to be good. crank does it -- this guy them out. they always seem to be good. it his book is called "t.c. boyle stories ii." 14 brand-new short stories i'm sure you will find enjoyable to read. until next time, good to see you. latinos may be the fastest-growing ethnic group in america, but despite their numbers, many still feel misunderstood. rick najera faces those colleges. he is an award-winning writer, actor, producer, and comedian.

he has written his memoir. it's a new book auld -- called ."lmost white good to have you on the program. there is a lot of funny stuff. i promise i will get to the funny. not that i can stop you from getting to the funny, but there is a serious story that is for me the back story to this book. you had a near-death experience, and when i say near death, i mean near death. might -- f you >> i had a strange experience. i had pneumonia. i had a perfect storm of problems, and i collapsed at home by myself, and i hit my head and nearly bled to death. it was number three in the glass glascov coma scale. >> what does number three mean? >> i was as bad as possible.

they said i may not come back normal. my wife said, that's good. he never was normal, so it's actually a good. i was there for two weeks in icu in and out of coma, as close to death as anyone could go. it was an amazing experience. about when were you clear it? >> i wasn't clear for the longest time. in the book i said, this is how you die. it -- my wife told me i started telling jokes. they weren't great jokes. the nurses were laughing. .he nurse came up to me i motioned for her to come here. she did the tube out of my throat so i could speak.

i said, do you know how to get a man out of a coma? give him viagra. that will get him up. i had such brain damage my jokes weren't sophisticated. later on they got sophisticated. nurses can be a tough crowd. >> it was a tough crowd. there waspread that something weird. i had a lot of people calling up and visiting. people were very concerned. up, and my wife was by my side. she said, you have to change your lifestyle, which is stop working so much. for latinos in hollywood we have to take many jobs. that is why i am a director or actor comedian producer, everything else. tavis: how do you implement your wife's advice to not work so hard that got you into this, in the first face? you are a latino in hollywood.

>> a lot of times you create your own work. blues,goldberg, john the amo and myself. since we couldn't go to the studio, we went to the back door. that really helps. like my father. my father went to vietnam during the war. i said, when did you go to vietnam? he said, during the holiday. i said, what holiday? >> he said the tet. a lot of overtime. mexicans have an extremely hard work ethic, so when a job does come we take it. i am learning to take a few jobs and be very strategic about it. who talks toody

you about this book will ask these questions, and that is your own assessment of how things are changing. i asked that against the background that there are two or -- there ares these networks coming on strong. nouveau tv. >> rodriguez. it's all coming up. you know what is happening is the millennial's -- also the latinos. a lotisers lie to you for of years. they say if you want to reach it in spanish. there are a lot better in both worlds. if you really want to reach them you have to do it in both languages and also understand it's a very hard market to understand. latinos. -- 53 million it's amazing. they are recognizing it. crossover,ino humor or is there no such thing as latino humor -- is either funny or not? >> i started working on on

living company with black humor. does lack humor passover? of course. i was on broadway. they said, latinos on broadway. i was the first show that was ever successful on broadway, and i said, it crosses over. the people who came were new yorkers. i was in a nightclub, and somebody said, you funny man. it was one of the characters -- a russian guy at the nightclub. i saw your show. hilarious. funny man. funny man. it crossed over to new yorkers. that's what made it successful. it's not so much that latino humor is different. latino humor -- funny is funny. if you get specific you reach a bigger audience. one will we be this familiar comedians?

you can do this all day with black comedians. lopez -- >> you know, we are all working very hard in all our worlds. i look at george lopez. i'm working on a project with him, and animate project, and gabriel alicea's -- gabriel. gabriel gave me my first job. he had never flown first class, and they gave me the opportunity to fly first class, and i said let gabriel fly first class. i said his last name is iglesias. butsias's son, he's not so good-looking. treat them good. got off saying, first class

is amazing. they were so good to me. i said, that's first-class. loved -- i always was going to say paul rodriguez. days i know everybody says p rod. a i know he is developing show, and i tell you, he's a good-looking kid. me and paul both have good-looking children. good.ds came out looking tavis: tell me a bit more about your journey in this town. .'m really happy to see you has it been worth it to go

through all this? >> that's a good question. i think about that. i would have called myself rick rivers, would my career have been different? my agents wanted me to call myself that. it's a road less traveled, but i think hearing about your culture, understanding we are part of a huge tribe has made my life far more interesting. i think looking back i chose the right choice. my children, they are half .nglo, half mexican i said men to spanish language school. i call it spanish language waterboarding. they learn spanish that way. i installed in them a love of the culture. if you love your culture you are able to love other cultures. it's about being inclusive and not exclusive. that's the latino i know. -- here isdanger

where i get in trouble sometimes. the danger of being inclusive exclusive debate is i fret sometimes that members of the play with thisy notion of assimilation. you don't want to be so inclusive that you sacrifice -- do you know what i am getting at? >> they call george zimmerman the whitest man. he looks like he was assimilated pretty well. he was protecting the white neighborhood. he outdid everyone. it's amazing. you are always going to have that in every culture. i am sure in the african-american experience it's the same thing. they are calling people uncle tom. i think at one point you have to

look and say we are a culture we are very defined, but also allowed to get other cultures in our world. goldberg i worked earlier in my career. for me african-americans were my allies. them in my world. they included me in their world. you have to keep true to who you are. it's not that i am changing because i am ashamed or in anyway don't respect and love my culture. quiles --ve julie les in the morning, but it's still part of my culture. as long as you are in touch with who you are, you will be fine. tavis: the new book is called "almost white." i couldn't do justice to this book in 13 minutes. the good news is there is a

bunch of funny stuff i didn't get to, so you will want to get it. good to have you on. it is good to see you. that's our show for tonight. thanks for watching. as always, keep the faith. ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. br esajoin me next time for a conversation wijd po writer -- conversation with joseph gordon levitt. that's next time. we will see you then.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.)

(♪ theme music ) matt elmore: (♪) welcome to imagemakers a weekly showcase featuring the best short films from around the world. stay tuned and enjoy the filmmakers of tomorrow today on imagemakers. imagemakers is made possible in part by a grant from: celebrating the vitality and power of the moving image. and by the: miss purdy (teacher): i want you to look for the words reveal, pretend, and love in your readers tonight. i want you to be able to spell them on monday. entire class: ohh....