Steven Wong was a gangster who walked the streets of Vancouver’s Chinatown with impunity, and throughout Asia even after he supposedly died in 1992. Bestselling author Terry Gould tells Joseph Planta the fascinating story of how he befriended Wong, and how for the past decade or so he’s tried to find Wong in a hunt that’s stretched from Canada to Macau, to Cambodia, to The Philippines, where Wong staged his death. Gould’s remarkable book is Paper Fan: The Hunt for Triad Gangster Steven Wong (Vintage, 2005).

Author Hugo Bonjean talked with Joseph Planta about his book, In the Eyes of Anahita (Eagle Vision, 2004), a thought-provoking book looking at the condition of the developing world in South America, and how North Americans and others are part of the problems there. The book is fictionalised novel, but it’s a very thoughtful book about the condition of the world today.

Bestselling author and television personality Steve Paikin has written a new book, Public Triumph, Private Tragedy: The Double Life of John P. Robarts (Viking, 2005), a fascinating look at the life and times of the former Ontario premier. He joined Joseph Planta to talk about Robarts’s successful career, as well as his tragic private life.

Does Canada nurture and export terrorism around the world? Stewart Bell, Chief Reporter for the National Post and the author of Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around the World (Wiley, 2005) talked with Joseph Planta about Canadian terrorism past and present. His is often a shocking, but recommended and prescient book.

In his first appearance with a Canadian outlet, Bo Dietl, one of the most decorated detectives in the New York City Police Department’s history, as well as one of the America’s top private investigators, joined Joseph Planta to talk about his new book, Business Lunchatations: How an Everyday Guy Became One of America’s Most Powerful CEO’s . . . and How You Can Too! (Chamberlain Bros., 2005). It’s a motivational book, with tips on how to network and how to be a success just like Bo, so he shared in this interview.

The danger of electing Hillary Clinton president in 2008 is discussed and argued in Hillary: America’s First Dictator (Trafford, 2005). Its author, Chuck Slate talked to Joseph Planta about why Clinton is perhaps ill-suited for higher office, as well as decried the culture of apathy and complacency in the United States.

Nancy Southam, the author of Pierre: Colleagues and Friends Talk about the Trudeau They Knew (McClelland and Stewart, 2005), talked with Joseph Planta about the new memoir she’s edited about the personal and private side of Pierre Trudeau.

Ken Tucker, the film critic from New York magazine, and formerly the television critic from Entertainment Weekly, talked with Joseph Planta about his new book, Kissing Bill O’Reilly, Roasting Miss Piggy: 100 Things to Love and Hate about TV (St. Martin’s Press, 2005).

The authors of Backstage Vancouver: A Century of Entertainment Legends, Greg Potter and Red Robinson talked with Joseph Planta about their new book, and the cultural life and history of Vancouver.

Former MP Deborah Grey talked with Joseph Planta about her politics and her career in it, which is the subject of her new memoir, Never Retreat, Never Explain, Never Apologize: My Life, My Politics (Key Porter, 2004).