Episode 403 THE GREAT AMERICAN AUTHORS Episode 1: F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Welcome to the first episode of our special Holiday Season, "The Great American Authors", Bob Dole's series will return in January 2026. 

In this episode we welcome you to our series, an introduce you to our host, Randal Wallace's,  English teacher Mother, Gloria Bulmer. She was also a writer and as part of a writing class, had some of her writing published in only one book by Coastal Carolina University, as part of a writing class in 1983, also one of her short stories won an award. Our host has that award hanging at his home. This series is dedicated to his mothers memory. 

Her influence led to the selection of the very first author to be profiled in our series, F. Scott Fitzgerald, my mother's favorite author. 

Fitzgerald wrote essays, short stories, and several novels:

 "This Side of Paradise", "The Beautiful and Damned,"" The Diamond as Big as The Ritz" ,"  Tender is the Night', "The Last Tycoon", and his biggest one of all "The Great Gatsby" which ironically flopped when it first came out in 1925.  The Great Gatsby was one of many books given to soldiers during Word War 2, to help keep them occupied, that led to a resurgence of Fitzgerald's writings. All that success coming, long after he had died. 

Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul , Minnesota, and we will take you there to hear about his early life story, then we will meet Zelda Sayre, whom he met while serving in his Army days in Alabama. They had one of those renown love affairs and it was her denial of his marriage proposal that spurred his first literary success. He had a surge of success before his writing stopped being popular, the money dried up, and he headed to Hollywood to be a screenwriter. His wife became ill and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and he battled alcoholism. It was a tough life but a glamorous one. 

We will cover it all and listen in on the descriptions of the Jazz Age which formed the foundation of much of his writings, especially "The Great Gatsby." 

Throughout the series we will also give you lists of writing tips for each of the authors covered, so if you have any aspiring authors in your family, this series, which will have 16 episodes, may be something you want to let them know to tune in for over the holidays. 

Questions or comments at , [e-mail] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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