Eric Bernt

Eric Bernt was born in Marion, Ohio, and raised in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, and Madison, Wisconsin. He attended Northwestern University, where he learned that journalism was not for him—but storytelling was. Upon graduation, he moved to Hollywood, where he wrote seven feature films including Virtuosity (starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe) and Surviving the Game (starring Rutger Hauer, Gary Busey, and F. Murray Abraham). He has also written for television (Z Nation). Bernt lives in Agoura Hills, California, with his wife and three children.

His new novel is The Speed of Sound.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Bernt's reply:

I just finished reading Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker because after reading The Better Angels of Our Nature, I simply had to. Pinker is one of the smartest minds writing today. I find his framing of today's world through an objective and well-researched historical lens to be incredibly insightful. He gives me hope.

I reread Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint in tribute to his passing, as well as to remind myself what genuine, shocking honesty looks like. And his voice. Philip Roth was a master.

For research, I read In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan and Caren Zucker, because I cannot know enough about the subject. There is so much coming out now about the history of the diagnosis that I need to be familiar with. As an author who writes about a character on the spectrum, I consider it one of my responsibilities.

I also read True Fiction by Lee Goldberg because he's a new friend and fellow author at Thomas & Mercer. I needed something lighter in tone after some of the more serious reading I've been doing.

Visit Eric Bernt's website.

--Marshal Zeringue