Category Archives: Fiction

SURVIVE! on an Alien Planet with Charles P. Graham, Episode #85

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Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet!

Charles P Graham author of the Survive! series


Dr. Charles P. Graham: sci-fi author author of the Survive! series, semi-retired chiropractor, Navy nuclear submarine veteran, survivalist, squadron leader, search and rescue pilot and more! 

After serving aboard the USS Plunger during the Cold War, Charles built a chiropractic practice in St. Johns, Michigan, and became a leader in Civil Air Patrol and search and rescue work. 

He Survive! series — Marooned on Planet Tau Ceti g, First Alien Contact, and the soon to be released Galactic War — draws on his extensive experience in survival training and search and rescue. When he’s not writing or treating patients, he develops puzzle games on Steam and Google Play under Simple Software Solutions. 

We talked about Charles’ experience in search and rescue—can you really eat that?—how his books stand out in the sci-fi field, the writing craft, his scariest airplane experiences and more. Oh, and of course—are Bigfoot and Dogmen out there?

This was an especially fun interview as Charles and his wife happened to be traveling very close to our home so we got to do an in-person interview. He was going to read to the sheep but it was a very muddy day so we didn’t do that!

What drinks would you pair to readings about a strange new alien creature, an attack by a bear-like animal, and a man alone on a damaged spaceship?

00:00 START
03:16 Drink 1: High Canopy Sour
04:44 Reading 1: Jay Meets the Pidogg
14:52 Writing ourselves into corners
17:01 Life in Search and Rescue 
21:46 Drink 2: Growing Friendship Cucumber Cooler
23:12 Reading 2: Risking Wild Alien Animals for Water
30:17 A futuristic take on women and flawed heroes
34:47 Balancing the amount of science presented in fiction
40:27 Drink 3: Heroes Risk-Taker Dacquiri
41:50 Reading 3: Lezah Faces the End
51:30 Faith in sci-fi 
55:03 Civil Air Patrol and airplane disasters
 
Visit our PATREON for our extended AFTER HOURS with authors
Www.booksandbrews.net
www.lauravosika.com
www.gabrielshornpress.com
www.glenmirrilfarms.wordpress.com
Www.charlespgraham.com
 ~ ~
If you enjoy our interviews or have benefited from them, we invite you to help us continue our work. It takes a great deal of time and money to produce Books and Brews. We’ve been doing interviews since January 2017 as a free service to authors. We continue to promote those authors on our social media for years after their interviews.

  • Subscribing, following, liking, commenting and sharing all help us to keep doing what we do.
  • A $5 tip helps us pay for our many expenses: Libsyn hosting, web hosting, Google meets, providing the drinks for the interview and the many hours of preparation and editing that go into each episode.
  • Patreon: patreon.com/BooksandBrewswithLauraVosika
  • Tip Jar: paypal.me/booksandbrewsMN * Books and Brews products:
    https://www.zazzle.com/store/books_an… (more to come)
  • Sponsor an episode to promote your product or service: contact us booksandbrewslive@gmail.com

COMING NEXT: 
Barry Black — former FBI master bomb technician
Randy Lerch — former MLB player

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Gabriel’s Horn is accepting submissions for its anthology NEW THEMES: CHILDREN and AMERICA
See Laura’s interview at Central Valley Talk
Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to get notifications of all our new videos. We have now interviewed more than 115 authors around the world! Would you like to be featured? Leave a comment.

If you liked this episode, you might also like these Books and Brews episodes:

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to get notifications of all our new videos. We have now interviewed more than 115 authors! Would you like to be featured? Leave a comment.

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Episode #71: Time Travel, Sci-fi and Woodstock with Beth Duke

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Bestselling author Beth Duke’s Anywhen is the ultimate outsider story—a young woman yearning to belong across time itself. With universal themes of love, jealousy, sacrifice, friendship, joy, loss, and forgiveness, this genre-defying novel is a story like no other…one that will stay with you long after the final page. 


Beth read from her latest book, Anywhen, that combines sci-fi, time travel, and historical fiction. We talked about Woodstock, the central event of Anywhen, about southern fiction, stereotypes, the good and bad of AI, and Utopias. Is Baezy’s world a Utopia? Did living in peace result in naivety or bring her great disillusionment?

00:00 START
04:59 Drink 1: Algorithmic Amaretto Sour
07:28 Reading 1: Letter to a Many-Greats Grandmother
11:38 Southern fiction and stereotypes
19:48 Did Baezy’s time achieve Utopia?
22:30 AI: good or bad?
25:38 Drink 2: The Peace Love and Music Cocktail
30:25 Reading 2: Baisy Meets Her Many-Greats Grandmother
34:06 There’s something about Woodstock…why was it so unique?
41:24 The power of art and music?
43:58 Drink 3: Pina Colada Pi
37:42 Reading 3: Trying to Tell the Truth
52:33 A blurb from Alabama’s lead singer!
54:31 Keys to success as an author

 
Visit our PATREON for AFTER HOURS with many of our guests!

LINKS

https://www.bethduke.com

www.lauravosika.com

www.gabrielshornpress.com

SEE OUR YT CHANNEL FOR BOOKS & BREWS LIGHT

www.youtube.com/@booksandbrews 

Help Us Showcase More Great Authors!

If you enjoy our interviews or have benefitted from them, we invite you to help us continue our work. It takes a great deal of time and money to produce Books and Brews. We’ve been doing interviews since January 2017 as a free service to authors. We continue to promote those authors on our social media for years after their interviews.

Subscribing, following, liking, commenting and sharing all help us to keep doing what we do.

A $5 tip helps us pay for our many expenses: Libsyn hosting, web hosting, Google meets, providing the drinks for the interview and the many hours of preparation and editing that go into each episode:

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Michael Modzelewski, outdoorsman, author of fiction and non-fiction and Mr. November!

UPCOMING EVENTS:


Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

If you liked this episode, you might also like these Books and Brews episodes:

Books & Brews #70: Sherlock Holmes with Richard T. Ryan

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A lifelong Sherlockian, Richard T. Ryan is the author of nine Sherlock Holmes novels and currently working on his tenth. He’s also written a well-received murder mystery “Deadly Relations which has been produced twice off-Broadway. He pursued graduate studies at Notre Dame where he majored in medieval literature.

Our talk ranged from Knights Templar finding Minnesota in the 1300s to the reasons Arthur Conan Doyle killed Sherlock Holmes to the inefficient bombers of the 1880s and the Scarlet Pimpernel and Mark Wahlberg.

00:00 START
06:20 Drink 1: Watson’s Delight
07:20 Reading 1: The Traitorous Templar
11:20 From medieval literature and old English to Sherlock Holmes
16:13 Pastiches, purity, and creative license
18:54 Drink 2: The Baker Street Bramble
20:07 Reading 2: Three May Keep a Secret
21:45 Masters of disguise
25:52 What makes Sherlock Holmes so enduring
30:21 Arthur Conan Doyle’s feelings about Sherlock Holmes
35:55 Drink 3: The Moriarty Martini
37:42 Reading 3: The Devil’s Disciples
39:24 The importance of getting the details right
43:20 News and fiction

Visit our PATREON for AFTER HOURS with Richard T. Ryan

LINKS

https://www.clippings.me/users/michaelcolon
www.lauravosika.com
www.gabrielshornpress.com
www.booksandbrews.net

SEE OUR YT CHANNEL FOR BOOKS & BREWS LIGHT

www.youtube.com/@booksandbrews 

Help Us Showcase More Great Authors!

If you enjoy our interviews or have benefitted from them, we invite you to help us continue our work. It takes a great deal of time and money to produce Books and Brews. We’ve been doing interviews since January 2017 as a free service to authors. We continue to promote those authors on our social media for years after their interviews.

Subscribing, following, liking, commenting and sharing all help us to keep doing what we do.

A $5 tip helps us pay for our many expenses: Libsyn hosting, web hosting, Google meets, providing the drinks for the interview and the many hours of preparation and editing that go into each episode:

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Beth Duke, amazon bestselling author of southern fiction and time travel

UPCOMING EVENTS:


Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Version 1.0.0

If you liked this episode you might also like these Books and Brews episodes:

Books & Brews #69: Sci-Fi and AI with Michael Colon

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BOOKS AND BREWS: THE PLACE WHERE BEER AND LITERATURE MEET

Michael Colon is a novelist and freelance writer, born and raised in New York City. His author’s story is about hard work, perseverance, and believing in the power of imagination. Michael’s inspiration comes from various societal abnormalities, the beauty in cultural differences, and his own life experiences.

His debut novel, The Gift from Aelius, is about an artificial intelligence’s growing awareness of purpose and life. There is not a science fiction tale as poetic and thought-provoking. In the not-too distant future, A191, a Codex with artificial intelligence, feels like a misfit in Paradise, a walled city in the middle of an endless desert where humans imprisoned his race long ago. He’s not like the others of his kind; he longs to meet humans and make peace with them so man and Codexes can be reunited in the world. These thoughts and feelings are not allowed in Paradise; he risks banishment to the desert by the Overseer A. I. who rules by fear and force. The journey reveals the truth about his existence, the Overseer’s lies, and the consequences of mankind’s untethered technology.

00:00 START
05:31 Drink 1: The Singularity
08:13 Reading 1: Codex
12:53 Will AI begin to think for itself?
15:30 Did AI already try to destroy humanity?
21:21 Drink 2: Paradise
23:28 Reading 2: Starry Desert Night
29:02 Free will and choices
31:10 Numbers, names, and fear of losing our humanity
35:03 Philosophy and Sci-fi
45:12 Drink 3: Bingo
47:06 Reading 3: At the Haven
48:04 Political divide
48:59 Finding your purpose

Visit our PATREON for our extended AFTER HOURS with Michael Colon

LINKS

https://www.clippings.me/users/michaelcolon
www.lauravosika.com
www.gabrielshornpress.com
www.booksandbrews.net
~ ~

SEE OUR YT CHANNEL FOR BOOKS & BREWS LIGHT

www.youtube.com/@booksandbrews 

HELP US KEEP BRINGING YOU GREAT AUTHORS

If you enjoy our interviews or have benefitted from them, we invite you to help us continue our work. It takes a great deal of time and money to produce Books and Brews. We’ve been doing interviews since January 2017 as a free service to authors. We continue to promote those authors on our social media for years after their interviews.

Subscribing, following, liking, commenting and sharing all help us to keep doing what we do.

A $5 tip helps us pay for our many expenses: Libsyn hosting, web hosting, Google meets, providing the drinks for the interview and the many hours of preparation and editing that go into each episode:

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Richard T. Ryan, Sherlockian tales!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Gabriel’s Horn is accepting submissions for its anthology NEW THEMES: CHILDREN
See Laura’s interview at Central Valley Talk
See Laura’s interview with Rob & Joan Carter at INDIE NOVEL SOURCE

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

If you liked this episode you might also like these Books and Brews episodes:

Episode #58: Vampires & Haunts with Filmmaker Peter Andrew Sacco

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Books & Brews meets Peter Andrew Sacco. Peter is the author of 30 books, fiction and non-fiction and published on 4 continents. He is a resident expert and regular of Top 50 USA radio and TV markets including Fox, CBS, ABC, ESPN, Coast to Coast, iHeart and over 100 major radio and TV networks.

Peter is a multi-award-winning, director, cinematographer, actor and producer on 7 continents.
In addition to filmmaking & production, Peter has written more than 800 articles (self-help and fiction) appearing in major news media world- wide.

He has also been a university professor for 28 years, as well as being a psychologist, specializing in criminal psychology, sports psychology and addiction studies.

www.peterandrewsacco.com

Peter’s Readings:

·       Gummer, the World’s Last Toothless Vampire – 8:20

·       Meeting a Vampire Actor – 27:43

·       A Haunted Air BnB – 42:33

Chris’s Cocktail Pairings: 

·       Bloody Maru (paired to Gummer) – 5:57

·       Love Bite (paired to Meeting a Vampire Actor) – 26:00

·       The Haunted Mansion (paired to A Haunted Air BnB) – 39:45


Interview Highlights: 

·       Jack the Ripper/criminal profiling – 15:40

·       Music or criminal psychology? – 22:09

·       Adventuring in Antarctica!? – 31:53

·       Why are we drawn to vampires & zombies? – 34:03

·       From author to TV show host – 47:17

·       Scariest things seen–and why Peter quit the TV show – 48:29

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Join Books & Brews next month when we talk to Theresa Halvorsen, author of The Dad’s Playbook to Labor and Delivery and Warehouse Dreams and countless articles on pregnancy, birth and parenting. But her true love is speculative fiction.


In addition to writing, Theresa enjoys interacting with other writers and helps to produce a writing Podcast called the Semi Sages of the Pages She co-runs a writer’s group in Temecula that meets once a month, and belongs to various critique groups. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

·        Gabriel’s Horn is accepting submissions for its anthology NEW THEME: MUSIC

·       Laura will be selling her books, premium rabbit fertilizer & knit goods at Overhome Trading Post in ThornHill Tennessee, February 10, 2024

·       See Laura’s interview at Central Valley Talk

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

If you liked this interview, you might also like:

Episode #56: The Real John Quincy with M.B. Zucker

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Books and Brews talks with M.B. Zucker.

M. B. Zucker has been interested in storytelling for as long as he can remember. He devoted himself to historical fiction at fifteen and earned his B.A. at Occidental College and his J.D. at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He lives in Virginia with his family. He is the author of four novels: The Eisenhower Chronicles, A Great Soldier in the Last Great War, Theodore Roosevelt and the Hunt for the Liopleurodon, and The Middle Generation: A Novel of John Quincy Adams and the Monroe Doctrine. Among his honors is the Best Fictional Biography Award at the 2023 BookFest.

M. B. (Michael) Zucker has been interested in storytelling for as long as he can remember. He devoted himself to historical fiction at fifteen and earned his B.A. at Occidental College and his J.D. at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He lives in Virginia with his family. He is the author of four novels: The Eisenhower Chronicles, A Great Soldier in the Last Great War, Theodore Roosevelt and the Hunt for the Liopleurodon, and The Middle Generation: A Novel of John Quincy Adams and the Monroe Doctrine. Among his honors is the Best Fictional Biography Award at the 2023 BookFest.

www.mbzucker.com

Michael’s Readings:

  • Meeting the Elder Adams – 8:53
  • The Holy Alliance – 27:53
  • JQA Helps an Enslaved Woman – 42:46

Chris’s Cocktail Pairings:

  • Old Gimlet Eye (paired to Meeting the Elder Adams)– 6:03
  • Hot Ale Flip (paired to The Holy Alliance) – 23:56
  • Mint Julep – 38:29

Interview Highlights:

  • Parents and pressure to be president – 17:17
  • Can our country unite? – 21:50
  • Writing and publishing from age 14 – 20:05
  • Summing up the Monroe Doctrine – 33:03
  • Founding Fathers’ intentions regarding slavery – 47:21
  • How JQA spent a night in the snow to find his brilliant idea – 52:06

COMING NEXT MONTH: Theresa Halvorsen, paranormal and pregnancy!

UPCOMING EVENTS: Gabriel’s Horn is accepting submissions for its anthology NEW THEME: MUSIC

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

If you liked this interview, you might also like:

Time Travel, Mystery and Sci-Fi with Jeff LaFerney, Episode #28

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Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet

Jeff LaFerney is a prolific writer who covers it all! Time travel, history, mystery, paranormal, sci-fi, father and son...and even basketball!

Jeff LaFerney is a prolific writer who covers it all! Time travel, history, mystery, paranormal, sci-fi, father and son…and even basketball!

His Clay and Tanner Thomas series focuses on a father and son team who use parapsychological abilities to solve mysteries. Jumper is a time-travel science fiction adventure. Lost and Found, is a unique mystery/treasure hunt with ties to World War II history. His latest, Planer, is the sequel to Jumper, his best-selling novel.

Jeff was a full-time language arts teacher in Davison, Michigan, for 30 years. After coaching basketball for most of his career, he decided to write books instead and took on his new hobby. Now he spends his free time reading, writing, and editing books. He and his beautiful wife have two adult children.

He has a blog called The Red Pen where he usually infuses humor to share about himself or to give inspiration or writing tips.
jefflaferney.blogspot.com

Jeff’s Readings:

  • Loving the Rain – 13:28
  • Lost and Found – 30:22
  • Jumper – 43:35

Michael’s Beer Pairings: 

Interview Highlights: 

  • What led to the very strong disclaimer that your work is fiction! – 22:15
  • Mixing secular and faith – 23:52
  • What’s historical, what’s not – 38:19
  • Research on time travel – 49:11
  • Dropping crumbs that readers want to follow – 51:54
  • How to hook the reader – 54:30

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Nicole Burnham, romance author

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Gabriel’s Horn is accepting submissions for its anthology

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

If you liked this episode, you might also like these Books and Brews episodes:

HELP US GROW

If you enjoy our interviews or have benefited from them, we invite you to help us continue our work. It takes a great deal of time and money to produce Books and Brews. We’ve been doing interviews since January 2017 as a free service to authors. We continue to promote those authors on our social media for years after their interviews.

  • Subscribing, following, liking, commenting and sharing all help us to keep doing what we do.
  • A $5 tip helps us pay for our many expenses: Libsyn hosting, web hosting, Google meets, providing the drinks for the interview and the many hours of preparation and editing that go into each episode.
  • Patreon: patreon.com/BooksandBrewswithLauraVosika
  • Tip Jar: paypal.me/booksandbrewsMN
  • Books and Brews products:
    https://www.zazzle.com/store/books_an… (more to come)
  • Sponsor an episode to promote your product or service: contact us booksandbrewslive@gmail.com

A Dream of Dragons with Lauretta and Michael Kehoe, Episode 21

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Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet

A Dream of Dragons by Lauretta and Michael Kehoe. The dreams of golden dragons turn dark...but they're just dreams. Aren't they?

Lauretta and Michael Kehoe talk with us about their debut novel, A Dream of Dragons. Henry, who lives alone with his multiple broken animals in need of his love and healing, stumbles on a young woman on the beach. He takes her in, trying to help her. Her dreams of golden dragons quickly turn dark. But they’re just dreams…aren’t they?

Lauretta Kehoe is an avid reader of all types of books, but mostly science fiction and fantasy, seeking in these stories reflections of her Christian faith. Not finding many, she decided to write what she wanted to read. Michael Kehoe is a professional comedian, actor and screenwriter, who has appeared in several movies, including the latest Jason Bourne film, the upcoming Godzilla sequel, two television shows and two commercials.  Michael has also appeared as his Geriatric Elvis persona at five casinos in the Las Vegas area.

A Dream of Dragons is their debut urban fantasy novel, first published by Tate Enterprises in 2016.  They have also published stories in several anthologies, including Creative Writing Institute’s 2017 anthology Lost, Enchanted Anthologies: Once Upon a Cursed Time, Christmas Nightmares and Fractured Fairytales Volume II, and Black, Blue and Purple Pain.  In addition to writing their own books, they work with other authors to publish theirs, such as turning movie scripts into novellas for producer, director and actor, Ron Becks. They are members of the Jerry Jenkins Writer’s Guild.

It was a fun talk and Laura did not like all the beers Michael chose!
laurettakehoe.com
mikekentertainment.com

Laurie’s Readings:

  • I am flying! – 13:02
  • Shopping with Anne – 26:10
  • Henry with the Bad Guys – 43:15

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Dragon’s milk, New Holland Brewing – 10:37
  • Gray Duck Spirited Seltzer, Gray Duck Spirits – 23:01
  • Chaos Monger, Warpigs Brewing USA – 38:18

Interview Highlights:

  • Dreams in story-telling – 16:10
  • Mixing light and dark story elements – 19:22
  • Elvis impressions – 20:33
  • Pollyanna vs likable characters – 32:14
  • Saving Anne vs Saving Henry – 35:45
  • Fiction: Faith, Secular or 3-dimensional? – 53:48

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Dr. Chris R. Powell, readings on love for February

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Gabriel’s Horn is accepting submissions for its anthology

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

If you liked this episode, you might also like these Books and Brews episodes:

HELP US GROW

If you enjoy our interviews or have benefited from them, we invite you to help us continue our work. It takes a great deal of time and money to produce Books and Brews. We’ve been doing interviews since January 2017 as a free service to authors. We continue to promote those authors on our social media for years after their interviews.

  • Subscribing, following, liking, commenting and sharing all help us to keep doing what we do.
  • A $5 tip helps us pay for our many expenses: Libsyn hosting, web hosting, Google meets, providing the drinks for the interview and the many hours of preparation and editing that go into each episode.
  • Patreon: patreon.com/BooksandBrewswithLauraVosika
  • Tip Jar: paypal.me/booksandbrewsMN
  • Books and Brews products:
    https://www.zazzle.com/store/books_an… (more to come)
  • Sponsor an episode to promote your product or service: contact us booksandbrewslive@gmail.com