-Welcome to the show.
Gabrielle, do you -- do you --
When you see your book out, what do you --
Do you go, "Oh, yeah, that's me. That's my book."
-You know what the coolest thing is?
Like, the Book Club seal. Like, that's slick.
-You like that? -Don't you?
[ Cheers and applause ]
-It's not bad. I worked on that.
I wanted to make it classy and look good.
-No, it's so classy. -It is?
-I think it's -- it feels like it's been around forever,
not like we're the first ones. -Right?
-You know, but I am the first one.
-But you are the first one. Exactly, Gabrielle.
-Yeah. -Thank you.
I love this book,
"Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow."
I want to get into it. But I wanted to show something,
because you didn't -- no one starts writing novels.
They start -- everyone has --
-Well, as a baby, I just came out and started writing novels.
-Just started writing books. -That's how that works.
-No, but talk to me about, you were a high school --
was it a concert critic? What were you?
-[ Laughs ] -A music critic?
-I was a music critic for the Fort Lauderdale "Sun Sentinel."
-Yeah. -They had a --
-Whoo! -Wow, okay.
Wave for Fort Lauderdale. -Yeah, one person, yeah.
[ Laughter ] Yeah, yeah.
-Yeah, they had a special teen section.
And I went to a Guns n' Roses concert,
and when I got home that night, there was a really mean review,
insulting to Axl, insulting to the band.
-No. -You know?
And so, I wrote an angry letter to that newspaper.
And I ended up getting hired to review, like, concerts and CDs.
-Like, a teen consultant... -Yes.
-Critic. This is --
I mean, this is -- Cameron Crowe, man.
This is how everyone -- But I love the bottom of this.
It says here's -- It says, "If South Florida
ever sees a concert of this caliber again,
that concert would defy the laws of nature.
After all, lightning never strikes the same place twice."
-[ Laughs ] -Well-written.
-Thank you. [ Cheers and applause ]
-And stick up for Axl and Slash and Duff and everybody.
Guns n' Roses.
Well, "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,"
big hit, by the way.
You've been on "The New York Times"
bestseller list, top-10 list, for now --
since it came out, actually. -Yeah.
-You were actually -- I heard that you're very excited
that it ca-- it opened at number three.
-Well, I just want to say that I would've been fine
with it being number one. [ Laughter ]
But I was -- I was really excited with three, as well,
because there was three "tomorrows" in the title.
-Okay. -That makes sense, right?
-Yeah, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.
-And I was also then excited when it was number five,
because there's two "ands" there,
so you get "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow."
[ Light laughter ] -Okay.
-And when it was number seven, still excited,
because there are actually two commas after each tomorrow.
-All right. Ridiculous. [ Laughter ]
That's -- [ Both laugh ]
That's ridiculous. But how do we describe the book?
-Whenever anybody asks me to synopsize the book,
I basically panic,
because I think the book's pretty complicated.
-Is it, really? -So I've started saying,
"It's just about love, art, video games, and time,"
which I know sounds really vague,
so then I add, "Well, it's about these two kids
who meet as children,
and they spend the next 30 years playing games and making games."
You know? And it's sort of about,
"What if the person who's the most important person
in your life wasn't any of the usual suspects?
What if it wasn't, like, your wife or your kids?
What if it really was your colleague and your friend?
And I think the book reflects my belief that
a great love story can also be a great friendship story.
-Yeah. See? Look at that.
Right now, everyone's like, "Yeah."
[ Cheers and applause ] It is that good.
I love -- So, I'm reading it, and I go,
okay, "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,"
I know is from "Macbeth," but what is the connection
for you between "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow"?
-Well, I have to say, when you did your little video about it,
you had the title exactly right.
So, while it does come from one of the bleakest
speeches in all of Shakespeare...
Yeah. -...you know, it's Macbeth's
act five soliloquy, and nothing good happens
in act five of "Macbeth" to anybody.
But the character who, like, cites it in my novel,
he actually finds great hope in it,
the idea that every day we're alive
is a chance to start again.
And conveniently for me, he also finds a metaphor for video games
with their infinite lives and infinite chances at redemption,
which I think is something you really hit upon
when you were guessing what the title was.
-Yeah. I did -- Great.
So, I did say that, yeah. -You did say that.
[ Laughter ] -Thank you.
Yeah, because I was thinking, I do love games,
and I love all the references to gaming.
We were just talking backstage.
Our parents both worked at IBM growing up.
-Yes. -By the way,
I had a great experience with IBM.
-Yeah, no. -They were really great.
-Like, people have no idea how IBM was, like,
your whole life if your parents worked there.
There were Christmas parties, there was, like, Family Funday.
-Family Day. Yes! -You know?
-Family Day was great! -And so we were thinking
maybe we went to the same ones. -Yeah, maybe.
We could've been there together. -But we aren't --
So, we're basically related through IBM.
-Yes, we are! We're IBM brother/sister, yeah.
-Right. Which you can tell.
-But there's so many references there to "Oregon Trail."
-Yeah. -That's what really got me.
'Cause there's two friends that haven't seen each other
since high school, and they're yelling
across the train station. And he goes, "Sadie, Sadie!"
And she's not turning around.
He goes, "Sadie, you died of dysentery!"
-Right. [ Laughter ]
-And they decide to make a game together.
-Yeah. -And that's really interesting.
'Cause I've never heard of a love story where you're like,
"Oh, that's a new take on" -- I've seen every Hallmark movie.
[ Laughter ] And I go --
But the games are genius, when you think about them.
And then I heard that maybe they might be in development.
-Well, they made "Emilyblaster," as you know,
so you can play that. You know?
-Can you explain "Emilyblaster" to people?
-Yes. So, it's a game that my character, Sadie,
makes in college, and you shoot fragments
of the poetry of Emily Dickinson.
[ Light laughter ] So you can go --
If you've ever wanted to shoot Emily Dickinson's poetry,
which, who among us hasn't? [ Laughter ]
-I mean, this is -- -Right?
-Why has this not been invented? -Why has this not been invented?
-Exactly. -You can play that
at Emilyblaster.com. But, you know --
But the other games, yeah,
like, I would love to see them get made.
I'm thinking right now when we read a book or we watch a movie,
we want to experience it in different ways.
And gaming storytelling is so different
than book storytelling or movie storytelling.
In a way, you get to be a part of it in this really active way.
And so I think it would be awesome if people make games.
-It already got -- the rights got sold.
Someone bought this to make a movie out of this, right?
-Yes. So... -Come on.
[ Cheers and applause ] Come on.
I mean, come on!
Fallon Book Club first. That's how you do it.
Gabrielle Zevin, I wanted to present you with this.
This is our first ever Fallon Book Club pin.
-What? -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
So, that's for you.
It has the date on it. -I'm putting it on.
-Yeah. Can I put it on? -Please do.
-Oh, yeah, I'd love to. Here we go.
I don't want to ruin this jacket here.
-No, you won't.
♪♪
-All right. There we go, right there.
Wow, look at the camera. -Wow, that is sharp.
And I wore black. -Look at that, wow.
[ Cheers and applause ] That's what I'm talking about.
Gabrielle Zevin, congrats on everything!
"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow."
You're awesome. -Thank you.
-Come back for the next one. We love you.
We'll be right back with a performance from Em Beihold.
Stick around, everybody.
"Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow."