Yes, I really should spell it LITE as in LITE beer. But I didn’t and I’m not changing it now. Since 2019, we’ve been doing our full podcast interviews with authors once a month. But there are lots of authors out there. So we’ve started Books & Brews Light in which Laura interviews authors one on one, with a greater focus on the interview rather than on pairing drinks, and one reading instead of three. This also allows us to do more of the interview segment.
We have now interviewed about 40 authors on our LIGHT version of the program. These interviews go up only at YouTube. Subscribe (it’s free!) to help us out and meet a great variety of interesting authors.
We’ve talked with a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction authors, starting with Alani Bankhead, spy hunter and Ben Stimpson on Folklore. We’ve talked with authors about finance, autism, micro-preemies, succeeding in business, helping kids excel in school, historical fiction, dogs, American history, world travel, sailing, hiking, overcoming life’s trials, raising boys, sci-fi, poetry, fantasy, end times, superheroes, and more.
We’ve talked with authors from the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Stop by our channel and look for Books & Brews Light.
Books & Brews: the place where beer & literature meet
Bill McCormick is an award-winning and critically acclaimed author of several novels, graphic novels, and comic book series, and has appeared in numerous anthologies. He began writing professionally in 1986 for the Chicago Rocker Magazine in conjunction with his radio show on Z-95 (ABC-FM) and went on to write for several other magazines and blogs. He wrote a twisted news & science blog at WorldNewsCenter.org. It provided source material for his weekly radio show on WBIG 1280 AM, FOX!, which aired for 12 years.
We talked about domestic scenes in sci-fi, PTSD, creating chimeras (in fiction and in reality!) and much more. Check out the cocktails Chris created to go with Bill’s readings.
00:00 START 05:32 Drink 1: Blighter Bob 7:41 Reading 1: Opening Up About War 15:05 Creating Chimeras 18:58 Talking about PTSD 22:31 Drink 2: The Lone Tree 25:48 Reading 2: Goptri of the Mists 31:08 Choosing Names in Sci-Fi 37:13 Living with No Regrets 42:32 Drink 3: The Bosom Caresser 45:19 Reading 3: The Writer’s Stuff: Let’s Get the Writer! 50:36 An exception to allow PG-13
Visit our PATREON for our extended AFTER HOURS with Bill McSciFi McCormick
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. 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
Books & Brews: the place where beer and literature meet!
Clay Gilbert has always believed in the power of the imagination to dissolve differences and forge connections between people. Since 2013, he has published thirteen novels, from science-fiction and horror to YA dystopia and urban fantasy.
His works include the science-fiction series Children of Evohe, which began in 2013 with Annah and the Children of Evohe, as well as the horror novel Dark Road to Paradise and the dark fantasy novel Pearl: A Monster Story.
Clay lives and works in Knoxville, Tennessee, where his cat, Rosalind, insists on quality-checking each new book (and helped him with one of his readings on our show!)
We talked about Appalachian legend & lore, making monsters sympathetic & more! Grab your favorite drink and join us!
00:00 START 07:33 Drink 1: Pearl Essence 10:29 Reading 1: Pearl in the Woods 16:55 Addressing Deeper Issues through Sci-fi & Fantasy 23:30 All About the Holler-Bairnies 27:03 Drink 2: Rabbit’s Garden 29:53 Reading 2: Pearl Catches a Rabbit 33:44 Pearl’s Wisdom: Seeing the Good Despite the Bad 35:34 The Monster Voice 37:55 Drink 3: The Appalachian Holler 41:18 Reading 3: Matt Reflects on Mama Leotie’s Story of Holler-Bairnies 47:16 Why are we fascinated by the dark and mysterious? 51:29 Do You Believe….Sasquatch, the Flood
Visit our PATREON for our extended AFTER HOURS with Clay Gilbert
Find Clay at amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00BS1N1W4/about?ccs_id=35e83ccd-6d34-40d1-a6a0-52139f34823 ~ ~
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.
Patreon: patreon.com/BooksandBrewswithLauraVosika
Tip Jar: paypal.me/booksandbrewsMN
Books and Brews products: https://www.zazzle.com/store/books_an… (more to come)
COMING NEXT MONTH: Bill McCormick, author of sci-fi, graphic novels, comic books, blogger & former radio host
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:
Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet! Michael Modzelewski (Mojo-less-key) grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of a famous NFL football player with the Cleveland Browns, Ed “Big Mo” Modzelewski. Michael graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English Literature. He is the author of five books, including INSIDE PASSAGE, about a two year stay on a wilderness island in the Inside Passage to Alaska. After living “date-less” on the wild island, Michael was chosen a “Bachelor of the Month” by Cosmopolitan Magazine. Mr. November received 5,000 letters from women around the world, dated many, and that’s how he met an amazing wife. His resultant book: WILD LIFE: THE MISS—ADVENTURES OF A COSMO BACHELOR twice landed him as a featured guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show. “Mojo’s” latest book, his first novel, A LONG WAY HOME, set in Namibia, southern Africa, is about a famous, lost Hollywood actor who learns the meaning of life from a native African girl.
00:00 START 11:55 Drink 1: Killer Whale 13:33 Reading 1: Encounter with an Orca 18:29 Senses in nature and blackberries with a black bear 25:52 We attract what we are 26:34 Drink 2: Cosmopolitan 30:00 Reading 2: Mr. November 36:40 Oprah and picking Paula out of thousands 39:26 The impact of a very successful father on kids 35:03 Philosophy and Sci-fi 46:24 Drink 3: Savannah Sunset 50:25 Reading 3: A Long Way Home 52:32 Africa and the Baobab tree 55:28 Why Alaska and Africa: using our instincts
Visit our PATREON for our extended AFTER HOURS with Michael Modzewelski Https://www.michaelmodzelewski.com www.lauravosika.com www.gabrielshornpress.com www.booksandbrews.net
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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 MONTH: Clay Gilbert, sci-fi and more 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.
BLURBS In our full podcast, Laura and Chris had a great talk with Michael Modzeweski about the wilds of Alaska and Africa, his life in the wilderness, becoming Mr. November and more.
John Graham shipped out on a freighter when he was 16, hitchhiked through the Algerian Revolution at 19 and was on the team that made the first ascent of Denali’s North Wall at 20, a climb so dangerous it’s never been repeated. He hitchhiked around the world at 22, working as a correspondent in every war he came across. A US Foreign Service Officer for 15 years, he was in the middle of the 1969 revolution in Libya and the war in Vietnam. As a global peace builder, post Foreign Service, he contributed to peace efforts in Israel and Palestine.
For the last 42 years he’s been a leader of the Giraffe Heroes Project, a global movement inspiring people to stick their necks out to solve public problems and giving them tools to succeed (giraffe.org). His speeches, blogs, podcasts and interviews have a global audience.
In our interview, we talked about John’s adventures around the globe, being a thrill seeker, his realization of his need to change, and more.
00:00 START 03:43 Drink 1: The Shipwreck 05:13 Reading 1: Cruise Ship Down! 11:25 The Coast Guard’s most important rescue ever–and John was there! 14:35 From selfish to selfless 19:15 Helping to end apartheid 22:46 Castro’s man and plans on a napkin 33:20 Drink 3: Honey Lemon Spritz 36:19 Reading 3: A Healing Miracle 48:22 “Most significant risks challenge the soul.” 49:52 Seeking meaning in our lives
Visit our PATREON for our extended AFTER HOURS with John Graham
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. Patreon: www.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 MONTH: We have a surprise gest for January 2025
J.P. Reedman lives in Wiltshire near to Stonehenge. Born in Canada, she has had a lifelong interest in ancient and medieval history, and is often found lurking around prehistoric sites, ruined castles and abbeys, and interesting churches with camera in hand. She became a full-time writer in 2018.
Series include: I, Richard Plantagenet, 5 books chronicling Richard’s life from childhood to Bosworth, and Medieval Babes, a set of standalone novels about lesser-known medieval queens and noblewomen. Her most recent release is Princess in the Police Station, the tale of little Anne Mowbray, wife of the younger ‘Prince in the Tower’ whose grave was unexpectedly found in the 1960’s. The next book to be released will be The Melancholy of Winter, which is about Edmund of Rutland, Richard’s tragic elder brother. In our interview, we talked about JP reading Beowulf as a young child, historical foods and records of the menus of great feasts, whether being a noble is over-romanticized, and more.
In our interview, we talked about JP reading Beowulf as a young child, historical foods and records of the menus of great feasts, whether being a noble is over-romanticized, and more.
00:00 START 05:54 Drink 1: Medicine for Melancholy 08:51 Reading 1: The Young Nobles Want to Skate 14:01 Using obscure historical terms 15:37 From fantasy to historical fiction 19:43 Drink 2: Dilly Bean Dirty Martini 22:55 Reading 2: Finding the Bean on Twelfth Night 25:41 The hideous Henry Holland of history 31:15 England and Canada: the story of a war bride 38:39 Drink 3: The Blackberry Raven 42:59 Reading 3: Fighting with Fish 45:53 Boys and mischief! 51:55 Most interesting and important things learned from history
Visit our PATREON for our extended AFTER HOURS with JP Reedman
For many more great authors, see Books and Brews Light at our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/@booksandbrews
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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. 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 MONTH: John Graham, adventurer extraordinaire!
UPCOMING EVENTS: Gabriel’s Horn is accepting submissions for its anthology NEW THEMES: MUSIC; FAITH.
See Laura’s interview at Central Valley Talk: https://youtu.be/ZKdeLPPgdys?si=wqPHZsAxYqgzjKcV
Michael C. Keith is the author of an acclaimed memoir––The Next Better Place–a young adult novel––Life is Falling Sideways––and 20 story collections, including, Of Night and Light, Everything is Epic, Sad Boy, And Through the Trembling Air, Hoag’s Object, The Collector of Tears, If Things Were Made To Last Forever,Caricatures, The Near Enough, Bits, Specks, Crumbs, Flecks, Slow Transit,Perspective Drifts Like a Log on a River, Let Us Now Speak of Extinction, Stories in the Key of Me, Insomnia 11, Pieces of Bones and Rags, Quiet Geography, The Late Epiphany of a Low-Key Oracle, and Bodies in Recline, Euphony, The Loneliness Channel, and Pings.”
He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize several times, a PEN/O’Henry Award, a PEN/Faulkner Award, an IPPY Award and was a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award for short fiction anthology and a finalist for the 2013 International Book Award in the “Fiction Visionary” category.
In our interview, we talked about how Michael came to be on the road with his father from the age of 8, the places he saw, the kindnesses he remembers, how he got from no school on the road to a Ph.D. and much more!
00:00 START
05:59 Drink 1: On the Road Again
08:45 Reading 1: On the Road
20:15 From years without school to a Ph.D.
24:05 Growing up Nomad: How much of the country did you see?
29:34 Drink 2: Tick of the Clock
34:10 Reading 2: Insomnia
36:34 All about insomnia, causes and cures
44:01 Tales of Larry King
44:48 Drink 3: Love and Fear
48:49 Reading 3: 11:11
51:28 Seeing the same number over and over again
54:33 Pings and the reasons for shorter fiction
Visit our PATREON for our extended AFTER HOURS with Michael C. Keith
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.
Patreon: patreon.com/BooksandBrewswithLauraVosika
Tip Jar: paypal.me/booksandbrewsMN * Books and Brews products:
In September, Books & Brews headed to Ireland to meet Steve Downes. Steve is a contemporary Irish poet and novelist, currently living and working in Ireland. Educated in N.U.I. Maynooth, he holds a Degree in Classical History and a Masters in Cultural Anthropology.
Steve has published poetry; science fiction, including Cosmogonic Marbles, Temporal Tome, Gadzooks Armageddon and Botolf Tales (the Botolf Chronicles), Warworld: Shadows & Dominions (part 1), Murder on the Alpha Centauri Express and The Deaths of Guner Zoon; and four children’s Books: The Upstairs Cat Series (3 books) & An Apprenticeship to Doctor Vantastic.
Steve continues to write and publish work in many genres.
In 2017 & 2018 Steve exhibited from his collections of historical photographs, Lost Graveyards of Ireland (2017) and A Landscape For Yourself (2018).
Among other things, we talked about his painting, the IRA, angsty poetry, and…the world’s oldest maternity hospital!
00:00 START
05:26 Drink 1: Irish Coffee
12:28 Reading 1: chase & fight in Dublin
17:53 The Rotunda, world’s oldest maternity hospital
23:55 Why the Irish give Dublin’s statues…interesting…names
25:52 Tales of the IRA
33:01 Drink 2: The Love and Murder
38:21 Reading 2: Murder on the Alpha Centauri Express
42:07 On marketing
43:07 From high school dropout to a masters in classical history to sci-fi!
48:28 Drink 3: The Mission Impossible
51:57 Reading 3: Dr. Vantastic
55:43 Steve’s many genres
Want more Books & Brews?
Visit our PATREON for our extended AFTER HOURS with Stephen Downes
If you enjoy our interviews, 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.
We are branching out with shorter and more frequent videos in addition to our full hour monthly podcast. Alani Bankhead is our first guest on our new format.
As a special agent, Alani hunted terrorists, traffickers and spies. She has arrested pedophiles, run human intelligence operations against Al Qaeda in Iraq, commanded a unit in Kuwait, and was the senior bodyguard responsible for all bodyguard ops to one of the most senior Pentagon officials.
After leaving active duty, Alani worked for the world’s largest anti-slavery organization overseeing their Latin American investigations, operations, and law enforcement training focused on child sexual abuse and the child sex trafficking.
Despite these accomplishments, as a petite, 5’3” female who looked much younger than she was, she also struggled with Imposter Syndrome. Overcoming that, she has gone on to counsel others to overcome the same feelings. Her book The Least of Us: How Your Imposter Syndrome Points to Your Greatest Power came out a year ago and became a best seller.
Join in to see what drink is perfect for talking about Imposter Syndrome and hear Alani’s story.
IF YOU ENJOYED ALANI’S INTERVIEW YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
If you enjoy meeting our guests, please like and share our videos and subscribe to help us grow. A $5 tip helps us pay 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.
Like any good soldier’s son, Frank Warner moved with his family from fort to fort, accepted each change, and was ready to move again. Then, in 1960, Frank’s father was ordered to Fort Huachuca (WahCHOOka), Arizona. This was the fifth Army post of Frank’s childhood, the first place he never wanted to leave. So when his father was ordered to Vietnam in 1963, sending Frank and the rest of the family to Pennsylvania, the uprooting wasn’t easy. Frank’s book, “Tumbleeweed Forts: Adventures of an Army Brat,” describes the joys of living in Fort Huachuca, and the heartache of leaving it behind.
Tune in for a fun conversation and great cocktails, including in red, white, and blue for July!
Frank’s Readings:
00:00 Start
10:02 A Bike Race on Base!
30:57 Atomic Dollars
47:01 Leaving Huachuca
Chris’s Cocktail Pairings:
06:11 Red, White, and Blue
25:40 The Atomic Cocktail
44:09 Goodbye Sunshine
Interview Highlights:
19:10 This plane is on fii–ire!
23:29 Why Huachuaca? Why it was magical
35:02 Silver Dollars and Stories on Atomic Testing
38:34 Private Jones’ Buried Treasure & the Scientist with Alien Technology
Laura will be selling her books, premium rabbit fertilizer, herbs & more at the Morristown Farmer’s Market, 130 W Morris Boulevard, Morristown, TN on July 5, starting at 5 pm.
Laura will be at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN on October 26 and 27
