G. Wayne Miller

Kid Number One, Miller's latest book, follows the bestselling Toy Wars by taking us on a tour de force deep inside Hasbro and the world of toys, entertainment, Hollywood and philanthropy.

About G. Wayne Miller

Wayne Miller is a Providence Journal staff writer, filmmaker, screenwriter, podcaster, visiting fellow at Salve Regina University’s Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, and co-host and co-producer of the Telly Award-winning weekly national PBS TV and SiriusXM Satellite Radio show Story in the Public Square. He is also the author of 10 books of non-fiction, four novels and three short-story collections. His most recent book, published in 2019, is Kid Number One: A story of heart, soul and business, featuring Alan Hassenfeld and Hasbro, the sequel (and prequel) to his best-selling Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie and the Companies That Make Them.

Read BookTrib’s review of Wayne’s book, Kid Number One.

 

 

BOOKS:

Kid Number One (2019)

Toy Wars (1999, 2019)

Car Crazy (2015)

Drowned (2015)

The Beach That Summer (2014)

Top Brain, Bottom Brain (2013)

Asylum (2013)

Summer Place (2013)

Vapors (2012)

Since the Sky Blew Off (2012)

Thunder Rise (1989, 2012)

The Work of Human Hands (1993, 2012)

An Uncommon Man (2011)

The Xeno Chronicles (2005)

Men and Speed (2002, 2003)

King of Hearts (2000, 2002)

Coming of Age (1995)

Your biggest literary influencers:

Herman Melville, Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, Don Katz, Tracy Kidder, Jonathan Harr.

Last book read:

Little Voices by Vanessa Lillie

Currently working on:

A new non-fiction book, a novel and a screenplay.

Words to live by:

Speak, write and live truth.

Advice for aspiring authors:

Listen, meaning several things: First, in non-fiction, let the subject speak, putting yourself on the sidelines until absolutely necessary (I still struggle with this). Second, whether non-fiction or fiction, listen to a good editor or someone else you respect who will read drafts and give an honest critique. Third, listen to your characters, real-life or fictional; they will guide you as you write and rewrite.

Also, feel for others, be truthful, get up early, write every day, fail, and never stop.

Testimonials

” "It's hard to imagine Wayne Miller matching the excitement of Men and Speed. With Car Crazy, he has done just that. This is a story rich with corporate war, courtroom drama, world-record racing, and larger-than-life characters - in particular Henry Ford, who was not just a mechanical and business genius but one of America’s original speed demons."
- '- Jack Roush of Roush Fenway Racing
” "Gripping... few recent business books can rival the extraordinarily intimate portrait Toy Wars paints of Hasbro CEO Alan G. Hassenfeld and his family... a book that, with its rich character depictions, often reads more like a novel than a business tome."
- - Business Week
” "Kid Number One is a compulsively readable and beautifully researched tour through one family’s impact on a world that has impacted us all: the toy industry. This is a unique and fascinating book.”
- - Daniela Lamas, author of the best-selling You Can Stop Humming Now: A doctor’s stories of life, death and in between.