Double Indemnity, the book by James Cain and the movie directed by Billy Wilder, defines the genre that we call noir.

Edward Bulwar-Lytton is one of the most reviled writers in English literature -- undeservedly so. Here we make the argument that he needs to be set free from this ignominy.

Isaac Asimov was an extraordinarily prolific writer who covered many genres. This episode will tell you a little more about this extraordinary man.

Arthur Ashe faced many challenges on his way to being a championship tennis player, but one of his toughest challenges came when he took on writing a history of black athletes in America.

Jim Stovall is a retired journalism professor who, for most of the last two decades, has operated the JPROF.com website.

The site was originally one of the most popular sites for journalism teachers and students. Today, it retains much of its original content, but it also serves as Jim's blog where he writes about journalists, writers, the writing process, and just about anything or anyone else that he finds interesting. This podcast is the audio version of some of these stories.

You can subscribe to Jim's weekly newsletter at JPROF.com.

His latest book is Heads and Tales: Stories of the Famous, the Infamous, and the Just Plain Interesting. You can find it on Amazon at the link in the previous sentence.