Interview with Jon Lindstrom

TV Interview!

 

Jon Lindstrom, who plays Kevin on "General Hospital" on ABC (photo from his Instagram).

Interview with Jon Lindstrom of “General Hospital” on ABC by Suzanne 2/15/24

It was great to interview veteran actor Jon Lindstrom, who has his first novel, “Hollywood Hustle” out for only 10 days, and it’s already a best seller on USA Today’s Booklist! He’s most known for playing Kevin Collins, and his evil twin Ryan Chamberlain, on “General Hospital” since 1992 (off and on). He was on the soap “Santa Barbara” before that, and of course he also played Craig on “As The World Turns” (where he met his wife, Cady, who played Rosanna) and reprised his roles of Kevin and Ryan on “Port Charles,” the GH spinoff. He’s also been in quite a few films, and many primetime series, most notably “Bosch” on Prime Video and “True Detective” on HBO.

There are many more questions I could have asked him, but we were already on Zoom for a half an hour – I didn’t want to keep him longer. I felt that he was generous enough to speak to me as long as he did. I would have liked to have heard more about his working with Genie Francis (Laura); about playing Ryan; about working with Alley Mills (Heather); about those pitches he mentioned; about Cady; and more.  Buy his book here!  If you love detective novels, you should enjoy this one.  Of course, you can also watch him on “General Hospital” on ABC and HULU.

THIS TRANSCRIPT STILL NEEDS EDITING!

Suzanne: So, thanks for being here today.

Jon: It’s my pleasure to be here. Thanks for asking.

Suzanne: Are you feeling okay? I saw you had a cold….

Jon: Well, you can kind of hear it in my voice. I’m a little froggy, but I’m feeling better today than I did yesterday.

Suzanne: So, when did you, start writing your book and how long did it take you to finish it?

Jon: Oh boy, that’s kind of a loaded question. all in all, it took about four years, but I, I have to qualify that because I had written for about a year and was making good progress. And then all of a sudden the show I’m on being general hospital decided to bring back a dead twin. And suddenly I was working so hard I didn’t have time to write.

I was up every day at 530 to go to the studio and pull off double duty as Kevin and Ryan on GH. So I had to put it down for about a year. And then COVID hit and I was able to pick it up again for about six months. And then of course, the first shows to go back into production during COVID were soap operas.

Suzanne: Right.

Jon: I guess means we’re just a little bit expendable.

Suzanne: You did have strict COVID protocols and vaccine requirements, so..JOHN LINDSTROM GENERAL HOSPITAL – The Emmy-winning daytime drama “General Hospital” airs Monday-Friday (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. GH18 (ABC/Craig Sjodin)

Jon: We had very strict COVID protocols. Yeah, we, we were a lot of masks. Daily testing, a lot of swabs in the nose. but. We picked up right where we left off. So I had to put the book down again, and that was probably another six months.

And then it took me another year or so through several drafts, working with editors and getting it into shape to actually submit. So all in all, the writing process took about two years, but the entire span was about four.

Suzanne: Okay. And did you have any difficulties getting it published?

Jon: Amazingly, no. I mean, I look at my experience, and my experience really was much easier than I think most people.

Now, of course, I do have a little bit of a platform, in terms of followers and, at Insta and Twitter, and I, I just can’t seem to call it but, excuse me, I, I, I did go to at the behest of an author who I had narrated because I have this little side hustle narrating audio books, which is great for me because I just, I love books. JOHN LINDSTROM GENERAL HOSPITAL – The Emmy-winning daytime drama “General Hospital” airs Monday-Friday (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. GH18 (ABC/Craig Sjodin)

But one of those authors was the great Alex Finlay he’s one of the best thriller writers, I’ve ever read. I wrote to him to thank him for. The inspiration to get me over that hump and start actually writing a book. And he wrote me right back within five minutes and we’ve since become good friends. but he told me flat out, John, if you’re serious about this, you have to go to the book conferences.

And being that you’re a crime writer, which falls under Thriller Mysteries, you need to go to Thriller Fest. Which is in New York every June. And it’s, it’s huge. Takes over the entire hotel, the Sheraton Hotel in New York City. And, so I went. And that’s where I actually pitched agents. About 12 of them.

Cause there’s a thing they’re called pitch fest. And I recommend anybody do this because there’s just something about sitting down in front of someone. And not only do they get a sense of you, you get a sense of who they are. And I met my agent there. I sat down with a woman named Liza Fleissig from the Liza Royce Agency.

And as soon as I sat down, I liked her. And I think she liked me because we sat and we talked for a few minutes before we even got to my pitch. And that’s who I eventually went with. And she was able to get a deal within a few months. And we had a few offers. Settled with Crooked Lane Books because they just Kind of totally got the book.

Suzanne: So it sounds more like what you do to pitch a series or a movie nowadays than the old time where you just sent in your manuscript.

Jon: Yeah, I, that’s where I had a bit of an advantage because I have pitched movies and TV show ideas and things. So I knew, I knew the basics of how to pitch. When they say five minutes, that means get it down to three because you need a couple of minutes for them to ask questions if they’re interested.

Suzanne: Sure.

Jon: I got my pitch down to one minute, 45 , . I, pardon me, I really wanted to be succinct and straightforward and really nail it. And, and fortunately that worked for me. I had, I pitched 12 agents. I had 12 or requests for the manuscript. So what made you wanna write a detective novel? Is that your favorite genre?

Yeah. Yeah. It’s just, one of my favorite writers was, was Elmore Leonard. I used to read his stuff all the time. and I, and I love the, the OGs of the genre, the Raymond Chandler’s, Dashiell Hammett’s, James Cain, those guys just invented something that’s very specific to Los Angeles.

About that darkness that that lurks underneath the sun and the palm trees and it’s a it’s a really to me. It’s just a really layered fascinating kind of. Setting for stories. So I’ve always loved it. So I just kind of, and right. But, I’ve been living most of my adult life here, except for a few years in New York.

I’ve been here in Los Angeles since I was 20.

Suzanne: Yeah.

Jon: And so I, I know it pretty well.

Suzanne: Oh, by the way, congratulations on getting on the USA Today bestseller list.

Jon: Thank you.

Suzanne: And also congratulations for being on General Hospital over 30 years. That’s amazing.

Jon: Going on 32…

Suzanne: Off and on, but still.

Jon: Yeah, Yeah. I, I go and I come back, but you know what, as long as they keep asking Right. , why not?

Suzanne: That’s right. Well, I, I been watching off and on since 84, mostly on, and so I remember when you started on the show, .

Jon: Wow. 84.

Suzanne: Yeah. I was in college.

Jon: So that’s when people get home.

Yeah. Yeah. If you don’t have grandma or mom watching, it’s college that doesn’t, it’s either college or I watched you with my grandma.

Suzanne: So, what are some other, favorite authors or influences on your writing that you haven’t mentioned yet?

Jon: Well, film noir, definitely. my, my favorite Saturday night now is to stay home and watch TCM. because it, You know, Eddie Muller and Noir Alley comes on every Saturday night. and he digs into a very deep library of, of film noir in that canon that, that was really unlike anything else that was ever made before or since.

You know, it was post war malaise. They were lower budget, so they often had to shoot at night when the rest of the studio was asleep. Wow. There was a lot of night shooting and a lot of use of light and shadow and, beautiful, uh Cinematography. So I, I just, I don’t know. There’s something about that genre where your main character is, is faced with a choice of Do it or don’t do it.

If I do it, whether it’s for love or lust or greed or whatever, even altruism. If I do this as a very good chance, it will end me.

Suzanne: Yeah.

Jon: And he does it anyway. So I, there’s something about having to make a choice like that, that I find very interesting.

Suzanne: And, you were in Bosch, one of my favorite shows. what about Michael Connolly? Did you read a lot of him?

Jon: Oh yeah, I was a big fan. I got turned on to Harry Bosch back in the 1980s, when he started writing them. And, so yeah, to get a season of Bosch as one of his bad guys, was, was, was a bit of a dream come true. And he’s a lovely man. He, he was on set all the time.

So sorry for this cold, but, he, he’s a, he’s a big guy, now I’m 6’1 and he’s, I gotta look up at him, he, but he was the crime writer for the L. A. Times for many years, and he, he’s another one who really gets this city, and really understands how to accurately portray crime here.

And how it gets just kind of somebody asked me the other night. We have our launch event at Book Soup up on Sunset Boulevard, and there was a woman there who I didn’t know, but she asked a really good question. She said, what’s the difference between L. A crime and New York crime? And I thought, wow, that’s, I never thought of that.

But when I, once I did, I remember being down in Soho and I lived in New York and I came out of a restaurant or something right across the street was an armored car that was waiting for the guys to come out and deliver the money. And I see him come out and this crowded street and the guy, has his hand on the handle of his sidearm.

And he looks both ways and looks all around and then signals the guy to come out and they quickly got into that car, that armored car and took off. and I thought that’s the difference. It’s like New York, it’s going to be in your face. If you’re going to hit that place, you’re going to hit it right in the middle of Soho on a Tuesday afternoon.

And it’s, it’s like crime in your face. Whereas here. It’s all it’s easier to kind of hide it under so it’s all spread out. It’s so spread out here that it can happen. And it’s like, if, if a crime falls in the forest, it’s anyone here,

Suzanne: I imagine it’s harder for them to find the culprit too, because if they’re staying in the area, because they have so much more land to cover. Whereas in New York, if they’re going to be in that area, it’s a lot easier.

Jon: And everybody knows you in New York.

Suzanne: Yeah, that’s true.

Jon: Here, again, there’s another layer of this kind of hidden world. You know, I mean, fortunately, I know my neighbors. We all look after each other. But, that’s not always been the case in most places I’ve lived in LA.

Suzanne: No, in California, the whole thing is like that. I grew up there. I’m from San Diego. So we almost never knew my neighbors. Yeah, now that we’ve lived strange phenomenon and it’s, it’s, it was funny because to me that’s normal because that’s how I grew up. But we’ve lived in the South. I’m in Arkansas right now.

We, I know, and my husband just thinks it’s weird because California, but it is nice to know, especially during the pandemic when we were out walking the dog and. Everyone was like, oh, hi, because they were so happy to see, to see anybody, anybody, anybody, but their kids and their family. But, yeah, so that’s awesome.

I understand that completely. and we’re actually moving to New York in June. we, we lived there a long time ago, when I got into GH actually, when I was in college.

Jon: So, are you moving to the city?

Suzanne: No, but we’re going to be about half an hour from there.

Jon: I understand.

Suzanne: We don’t actually know what town we’re moving to yet. We have to find a place, but he’s going to work at SUNY Old Westbury. Oh, great. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. I want to be in a city again, in a small town here. I won’t know my neighbors.

I read some of the book. I haven’t had time to finish it, but, to me, the description of when sounds a lot like Steve Burton, at least physically.

Jon: Steve was– no, no, no. Steve was not an inspiration at all. There was a Steve, but it was Steve McQueen.

Suzanne: Oh, okay. Well, then they have a lot in common [physically].

Jon: It’s not Steve Burton. Steve, Steve’s way too muscled for Win, Winston green. Now, my inspirations for Wynn were, were Steve McQueen, Kevin Costner, in terms of physicality. and I, I do describe him in there that a director that Winston had worked with described Winston Green as a landmine that’s been stepped on and you’re just waiting for you to step off before he blows, he’s wired tight.

There’s a, there’s an edge to him. but sadly, the other inspiration was, was really Tom Sizemore and some of the other people in my business who have, who came to town with just brilliant talent. I mean, just, you would take Tom Sizemore, just look at his work and Saving Private Ryan and Heat and, he was working with the very best of the best because they wanted him and, and his demons got him.

And, and it really sidelined his career and, yeah, it was very sad, but it’s, that’s, I’ve known a lot of guys like that, just their lives and careers have taken a hard left due to. Due to substance abuse and some made it and some didn’t. Yeah, well, I’d like to see Winston as somebody who made it and got himself together.

but he’s just hanging on. All he’s doing, he’s just hanging on to just trying to keep some stability. So now I hit, I’ll, I’ll let Steve. No, sorry, Steve.

Suzanne: Well, I think if I recall, it was the blue eyes and the buzz cut and I don’t remember what else, but it just sounded like him.

Jon: So I thought more of Steve McQueen in “Bullit.”

Suzanne: No, I can see that. Now that you say that. Just to touch on, you’re talking about sad things, the GH family set, whatever you want to call it, has had a lot of loss in the last year. has that really changed, how things run there or?

Jon: Well, no, it hasn’t changed how we run anything. It’s just, I think we’re all just really aware of how fragile and, and, How quickly something can end.

it’s too bad that people have to pass away before you’re reminded of these things. But yeah, we’ve taken some real hits this year behind the camera and in front of the camera and. You know, we miss them all. So, we just try to appreciate each other when we’re there, I noticed nobody, nobody raises their voice, nobody’s, popping off out of anger.

I noticed a lot, right?

Suzanne: Yeah. There’s a, the fans are very sad too.

Jon: Yeah. Yeah. There was a, there was a huge outpouring from, from people and, and we really, we all heard it and saw it and felt it, very of that. Yeah, I, I know .Jon Lindstrom has portrayed both Kevin and Ryan on "General Hospital" and "Port Charles" on ABC.

Suzanne: All right. so that wasn’t on my list, but I just had to mention that.

So as a first time author, would you say that you’re still learning?

Jon: Oh, definitely, definitely. Yeah. I’m, I’m struggling with book two.

Suzanne: I just, yeah, if you’re gonna, that was my next question. Are you planning to write more?

Jon: Yeah, I, I, book two and book three, I mean, I pitched this really as. a series, maybe all of which would have the word Hollywood in the title.

They’re all crime novels. But, and I tried to keep everything grounded the way Elmore Leonard did, that’s like, this is a real world, that you find these people walking through. but yeah, I, I’m, I’m hoping to, I, suddenly being a bestseller and seeing four stars from everywhere from Amazon to Barnes and Noble, gives you a nice kick of confidence.

So I’m looking back to, I’m getting ready to get back into it.

Suzanne: I bought two of them. I bought the–

Jon: Oh thank you

Suzanne: Kindle version and the, audio version.

Jon: Oh, alright. Which I recorded in my basement.

Suzanne: I know… Oh, in your basement?

Jon: In my basement. Yeah. I have a little collapsible frame with these acoustic blankets.

Suzanne: Wow.

Jon: It’s not a whisper room, which is like silent, but it is fine. But I still have to, I have to suffer helicopters and dogs and leaf blowers. Yeah. , things like that.

Suzanne: I’m torn between… I’m not a big books on tape, what they call, I don’t know what they call them now, audios, fan, because I read really fast, but I wanted to hear your voice and, and hear it that way while, while I was, doing other things.

Jon: So I, I keep going back and forth, but I really liked the accents that you do and the voices.

Oh, great. Thank you. Thanks.

Suzanne: You have a lot of practice from all the voiceovers.

Jon: Yeah, I had a little bit of a, an easy runway to get on that airfield.

Suzanne: I have a tough question. So you can feel free not to answer it. If you don’t like it. I’ve read many good reviews and a few bad ones. Some criticize you for being overly descriptive. Is that writing style or do you plan to cut back on some of the description in your future novels?

Jon: You know, I would say what’s the matter? You never read Stephen King because, if there’s anybody who knows how to, how to, describe a place and place is very important, listen, you got to take, you got to take the bad with the good and you’re not going to make everybody happy.

  There was one guy who, who took issue with my, my description of. Of firearms.

Suzanne: Oh, I saw that one.

Jon: Yeah. Yeah. and you know what? He’s fair enough. He can have his opinion, but I grew up around guns and his point was technically correct. Right? There are automatic weapons. But those are divided into semi automatic and fully automatic.

But when you discern between an automatic weapon or a revolver as in a single or double action revolver, you don’t need those descriptions. Everybody knows what you’re talking about. So, it’s funny. He knocked me off half a star for that, but you know what, Hey, listen, the guy’s got his opinion and that’s what he’d like to read.<br />
and that’s fine. That’s totally fine. the point is he, he still liked the book and the story, so, I say thank you , are you, you can’t, you can’t get bogged down in this, you know?

Suzanne: Yeah.

Jon: This thing of, I mean, that’s one guy, and, and he’s entitled to that opinion as is anybody who says, he overwrites the description.

Well, it is about la it’s also about Hollywood, so you don’t, you can gloss over.

Suzanne: You’re right.

Jon: Don’t have. You don’t have to get mired in it, it says you have to do that too. Yeah, that’s, it, they’re different writing styles and you can’t say one different styles and different tastes and that’s, that’s fine.

I mean, somebody who really knows LA, I can see why they would go, Oh man, this is really overwritten. You know, but somebody who doesn’t, and I hear this more than I hear the opposite there, they really appreciate the, the description of characters and backstory and setting and, and all that stuff. <br />
So, like I said, you can’t, you can’t please everybody.

Suzanne: And as an actor, as an actor, you’re used to people criticizing you and rejecting you and. Giving you bad reviews, all that stuff. So yeah, it’s over the average writer.

It just, yeah, it just comes with the, it just comes with the territory.

Suzanne: Now, talking about GH for a minute, do you, still enjoy playing Kevin even without Ryan?

JOHN LINDSTROM, GENIE FRANCIS GENERAL HOSPITAL – The Emmy-winning daytime drama “General Hospital” airs Monday-Friday (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. GH18 (ABC/Craig Sjodin)Suzanne: NNow, talking about GH for a minute, do you, still enjoy playing Kevin even without Ryan? Jon: Yeah, well, I like Kevin very much. I think Kevin’s a really good guy. I think that there’s, there’s been kind of a, we, we’ve kind of lost a little bit of Kevin along the way, remember when Kevin was, was first around and we had first gotten rid of. Of Ryan. Kevin was an artist. He was a psychiatrist, but he was an artist who lived in a, in a lighthouse and painted all the time to paint out a demon and, and we’ve kind of, we’ve kind of veered away from that. And, we have some new writers coming in now. So I think that I, I think we’re going to have some, um. I think there’s going to be some changes, in how Kevin, but I mean, that’s a long answer, but to answer your question, I love playing Kevin. I love, I love playing Kevin. I love playing Ryan. I love, I love working with Genie. I love working with Lynn Herring and, and Ken Shriner and everybody that, that goes along in Kevin’s world. You know, he’s, to me, it’s just fun.

Suzanne: There’s so many great, stories that Kevin has had over the years. Although my favorite, I have to say, is on Port Charles. I believe it was the Miracles Happen, book, they called it, when he and Lucy got remarried and the little girl came, showed up. Yeah, but even though later, I think they took the little girl away and he got divorced and all that stuff, but that was my favorite because it was so Christmassy and so happy and, and like, we rarely get enough of those moments.

Jon: Yeah, that’s true. You know, I, I love doing, I love doing Port Charles. It was like, it was like the little half hour that could, and I’m, I know that there was somebody at the network paying attention, but it never felt like that. It always felt like we could. It was like our secret corner of daytime TV where we could do whatever we wanted.

I saw the, the executive producer the other day, Julie Hayden Carruthers, and she, she said the same thing. It goes, I, I know there was somebody at the network, but every time we said we’d like to do this, they just said, okay. You know, that’s great, and we got the vampires and we got the six week books that tell a novella style and really fun things. <br />
Suzanne: Oh, yeah. I’m such a huge fan of that show. but I just, I just occurred to me, didn’t Kevin write a novel, “General Homicide?” And it foretold your future.

Jon: There you go.

Suzanne: Let’s hope nobody gets killed in a way.

Jon: I, I, I wanted to, and it’s, they would never go for it. But, but I had this idea that Kevin could walk into the room and, and Laura is, is reading Hollywood hustle.

I said, Oh, what’s your reading? Oh, it’s Hollywood hustle. I said, Oh, how is it? Oh, it’s good. Oh yeah. Is it better than general homicide? And have her say, better.

Suzanne: That’s funny.

Jon: Kevin will take a double take.

Suzanne: Yeah, I guess the thing that most annoys me about it is that Kevin has a daughter out there that they never mention, Livvie. I mean, she might be dead. Vampire or something.

Jon: She looks just like Kelly Monaco.

Suzanne: II know. She could do a twin role, you know. You’re good.

Jon: Yeah. But it’s just. Yeah, there’s a lot of things that we left on the, on the floor. You know, with the. Yeah. With, General, General Homicide slash Port Charles.

Suzanne: So, how different is it now on GH as opposed to when you started over 30 years ago?

Jon: Well, the main thing that’s changed is the structure of production because, the, budgets everywhere have just been constricted to the point of not being choked. But, and this is true, I mean, virtually on every show that I work on because I do a lot of work outside of General Hospital.

Suzanne: Mm hmm.

Jon: You know, everything is just so damn expensive now that sometimes it can feel like if you cut 10 off the budget, you wouldn’t be able to make the week, but somehow they managed to do it. I think Frank Valentini is a terrific producer. You know, the, the shows themselves, the airtime has been cut down from, I think, 49 minutes and change the rest of being advertising during the hour down to about 36 minutes and change.

So, And yet, ABC keeps pumping money into it. You know, it was right before the pandemic. I think I went up to the editing bay and they were putting in a brand new Abbott system. So the, the network is still investing money into that show. They feel it’s, it’s viable for the future. So. You know, the main thing is, you have to show up with your track shoes on. You don’t get to kind of feel your way through scenes and rehearsals anymore. You need to, you need to show up and do your job quickly and efficiently.

Suzanne: And, so now that you’re a writer, is it, is it harder for you to say other writers lines?

Jon: No.

Suzanne: Oh, you don’t say, Oh, I wish they would have written it this way, or…?

Jon: No, but I mean, we have a lot of permission to just transpose or paraphrase things as long as you get the thought across because the writers in daytime are very good and they know the rule. If it doesn’t move the story forward or expose character, get rid of it.

And they’re pretty good at trimming things down to those two rules. So. There’s really not much you have to change. And if you were to change it, you might be messing up something that’s gonna happen tomorrow, so.

Suzanne: Right, right. And so you posted that you’re playing the president in a new movie. Can you tell us about the new movie?

Jon: Oh, it was a, what is, it’s called a Proof of concept Short.

Suzanne: Oh, okay. So it’s not yet a movie.

Jon: Yeah, I was asked to come down to, to Dallas and play the president for a day while they put together, um. A, essentially a proof of concept real that would show that this movie could work. On a as a film. So I spent the day. It was something. That’s why I have a cold right now because I pushed myself a little too hard over the last week or two. yeah, so I spent the day working with Jesse Metcalf. Who’s a lovely guy. I had worked with him on something before, 8 or 9 years ago. And, and, and then I had to deliver a page and a half monologue as the president and I did it in one take.

Suzanne: Wow, that’s great.

Jon: Well, that’s that. So daytime comes in handy.

Suzanne: Oh, yeah. I was going to mention when we were talking about Bosch…. They have a lot of former daytime stars on there.

Jon: Oh, sure. Yeah, they, that’s what was beautiful about Bosch. They, they didn’t there’s other places that will say, oh, they were on daytime. We don’t want to Bosch doesn’t care. Yeah, you’re either right for the part or you weren’t. And if you were right for it, they didn’t mind what your background was. As long as, as long as you could walk and talk and not trip over the furniture, they were happy. They wanted people who knew what they were doing.

Suzanne: II mean, it’s such a silly, prejudice to have because you guys usually are better actors and better prepared and know everything and can do so much than.

Jon: Yeah. I, listen, I liken it to, to people who knock country music usually don’t even listen to country music. And the same people would go, Oh, well they’re on soap opera.

They don’t, what do they know? They don’t know anything.

Suzanne: Or the people who say, Oh, rap.

Jon: Yeah, I think. Yeah, exactly. You know, the fact is you can dance to rap, may not be able to dance to a death metal, but you can dance to rap.

Suzanne: There’s a lot of people my age who are prejudiced against it because we didn’t grow up with it. And this new thing came along and took over the radio.

Jon: That’s it. Our parents hated the Beatles too.

Suzanne: Exactly. I think my mom loved the Beatles, but that was, I think she’s an outlier. So, is there anything else that you’d like to tell us about your book or GH or any other upcoming work that you have?

Jon: You know, I’m a, I’m a busy guy. I, I try to put everything up online. If you’re curious about what I’m doing, what book signings I’ll be doing, I’ll be doing one, actually. I don’t know when this goes up, but I’ve got one on the 17th of February in Glendale with Michael Easton. who is a terrific, in his own right. Yeah, and Michael’s just such a talented guy, but we’re going to sit down and talk at the Barnes and Noble over there.

Suzanne: Right.

Jon: Two o’clock, Saturday, February 17th. The Americana at Brand. Then I’m going to be flying to New York for the 27th, at the Mysterious Bookshop. I’ll be in Portland. Actually, technically, Beaverton at Powell’s bookstore, because it’s the Beaverton place they do their mystery and thriller events. And, and then we’re looking at, Petaluma, St. Louis, Raleigh, North Carolina, Phoenix.

Suzanne: Wow. You’re not home much.

Jon: I’m not home much. I, I’m a busy guy.

Suzanne: But I know your wife is not home much, either. She’s always flying somewhere.

Jon: she’s always flying somewhere. And I, I have to show the new cover. And the publisher sent that to me there where it says USA Today bestseller.

Suzanne: Oh, great. That’s great.

Jon: Was that backwards to you? Does it look?

Suzanne: No, it looks fine to me.

Jon: Oh, okay. It looks backward on my side, but that’s.

Suzanne: Technical stuff.

Jon: Oh, I’m very excited. I meant to mention that. yeah, I just happened.

Suzanne: I’m behind on about a little less than a month, but I happen to see that Kevin and Laura are going to, adopt ace.

Jon: Yes, yes.

Suzanne: Kevin got put in the hospital by aces by aces mother.

Jon: Yeah. You know, I do wish we had a little more Kevin as may time work out their stuff. But, cause I, and I love working with Avery Pohl. I think she’s just a. but yeah, I, I like that they decided to do that and based on what I’ve seen online, boy, there’s a lot of grandparents out there who are taking on their grandchildren to raise.

Suzanne: Yeah.

Jon: So if we’re going to do it, I hope we do it in a, in a real way. Where it’s, it’s a, it’s a huge undertaking for anybody to be a parent and, I’d like to see it. So, but, like I say, we’ve got new writers coming in. They’ve already started. So we’ll see what, yeah, see what they decide to do. You know, we’re all pretty excited.

Suzanne: II just don’t want the, Laura and Kevin to be stuck in the grandparent mode and not doing anything else.

Jon: No, we’ll try and avoid that.

Suzanne: Yeah, I hope so. All right. Well, thank you so much for talking to me. I really enjoyed it.

Jon Lindstrom taking a fan photo with the author, Suzanne, at the 1998 Port Charles Party.
Jon: My pleasure. Thanks. Thanks so much for having me today.

Suzanne: I’ll send you a

Jon: again, sorry about this froggy voice.

Suzanne: Oh, it doesn’t sound that bad, honestly.

Jon: okay.

Suzanne: II have to send you a picture. I have, that I took, years ago, like 99. I went to GH convention that they have the, fan club events and I have a picture with you, so…

Jon: Oh, great. Send that to me.

Suzanne: I’ll love to. Alright. I’m gonna try to get this out as soon as possible. I’ll let you know.

Jon: Okay. All thanks. Thank you so much.

Jon Lindstrom and Michael Easton event 2/17/24 in L.A.

MORE INFO:

Hollywood Hustle: A Thriller Hardcover – February 6, 2024 by Jon Lindstrom (Author) book cover

Hollywood Hustle: A Thriller Hardcover – February 6, 2024

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

From 4-time Emmy-nominated actor Jon Lindstrom of General Hospital, Bosch, and True Detective fame, comes a gripping debut thriller.

Set in the dark underbelly of the LA film industry, Hollywood Hustle is the perfect read for fans of Alex Finlay and Jeffery Deaver.

Winston Greene, a has-been film star, wakes one morning to find his six-year-old granddaughter at his bedside—traumatized, unattended, and gripping onto a thumb drive. She comes bearing video proof that her mother, Win’s troubled adult daughter, has been kidnapped by a murderous gang demanding all his “movie money” for her safe return. But what they don’t know is…his movie money is long gone.

Unable to go to the police for fear the kidnappers will make good on their promise to kill his daughter, Winston turns to two close friends—a legendary Hollywood stuntman and a disgraced former LAPD detective.

There’s no easy way out for Winston or his daughter—the gang is violent and willing to do anything to get the money they’re after, and Winston begins to realize that to get his daughter back, he’ll have to beat the kidnappers at their own game.

This propulsive and tense thriller will transport readers to the seedier side of LA, depicted in bold prose by a Hollywood insider.

Jon Lindstrom has portrayed both Kevin and Ryan on "General Hospital" and "Port Charles" on ABC.

Jon Robert Lindstrom is an American actor, writer, director, producer, and musician. He is well known for his roles of Kevin Collins and Ryan Chamberlain on the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital and its spin-off Port Charles.

Please visit Jon’s site or social to see his next book signing or other events!

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Fan pages: Joan’s Port Charles Archive Unofficial Jon Lindstrom Page

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Celebrating its 60th anniversary, “General Hospital” continues its tradition of passion, intrigue and adventure that has depicted the ongoing lives of the diverse and evolving citizens of the fictional town of Port Charles set in upstate New York. The glamour and excitement of those who have come to find their destinies in this familiar seaport town intertwine with the lives, loves and fortunes of beloved, well-known faces. As always, love, danger and mind-blowing plot twists abound on “GH” with contemporary storylines and unforgettable characters.

JON LINDSTROM. GENERAL HOSPITAL – “General Hospital: 60 Years of Stars and Storytelling” – ABC’s Emmy® Award-winning daytime drama “General Hospital” will celebrate its milestone 60th anniversary with a primetime special, “General Hospital: 60 Years of Stars and Storytelling,” airing THURSDAY, JAN. 4 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EST), on ABC. (Disney/Christine Bartolucci)

 

Jon Lindstrom, who plays Kevin on "General Hospital" on ABC (photo from his Instagram).

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