[The resulting show --] still amazing to me how it all came together, ... who understand each other. The more you know about Bobby, the more you know about Jack. It's two brothers, one dream. This is their story.

Jack & Bobby ... Sometimes the greatest people can be seated right next to you.

[Meltzer's fifth novel is a thriller about two Hill aides who run a betting game about Congress; one of them turns up dead.] Since the book came out I've had staffers contact me and tell me about their own betting scheme in Congress, ... Everyone keeps saying, 'You didn't make up anything -- we've been doing that for years!'

Sloth: Which current congressman uses the term 'Great Americans' as a codeword to ask his staff if the person he's speaking to is a big donor?

Envy: Which senator once had a dimmer switch in their secret hideaway?

From the time I could read, I've been devouring these things. I had a $5 allowance growing up in Brooklyn and I spent the whole thing every week at the Nostrand Avenue Comics shop.