September 28 2026

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George Pelecanos

Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know George Pelecanos. George is a New York Times bestseller and the author of 25 books, most of which are in the crime fiction genre, and based in and around the Washington, D.C. area. In this episode, we chat about Some of his early experiences growing up in the U.S. capital, a very meaningful Martin Luther King Jr. event that he stumbled upon, and the ‘Salad Days’ of the D.C. Punk Rock scene. Of course, I dive into what lead him to become a writer in the first place. George didn’t write his first novel until he was in his 30s, so I ask him why it took so long and what he was doing to further that goal in the meantime. Then we get into some of George’s first books and what those early paydays looked like for him. I would like to thank George for his candidness as far as those early numbers & and those first few steps on his path to the undeniable success that he enjoys now. (Thanks George!). Next, we get into His work as a script doctor and how he came to be one of the writers & producers of ‘The Wire’. Not only was George a writer, producer of that show, but he also worked on ‘The Deuce’, ‘We Own the City’, ‘Treme’, ‘The Pacific’, and so many more. We talk about his screenwriting, his experiences working on some of those shows and why David Simon chose to hire him in the first place; as well as his experiences living in some of those filming locations. Finally, we discuss George’s newest novel which is titled “THE BLUE FLAME”. This marks the 6th novel featuring his most popular character Derek Strange. George has written Derek Strange stories from when Derek was 12, all through the years to this current story where Derek is in his 70s. We also do a little bit of a deep dive on why some of the details in his books are so important, and why he thinks it matters to get those details correct, even when writing fiction. George also has his next novel already written! “Tell Chuck Berry the News” is a standalone work of fiction that is slated to be released next year. Make sure you check out A-L-L of George’s novels and story collections, follow him on social media, and tell him you heard him on Fascination Street Podcast!