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The Drive in ’65 wih Sandra Lynne Reed, Episode #19

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Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet

Sandra Lynne Reed, author of the Drive in '65, a memoir of an epic trip around the US and into Mexico.

As a teenager, Sandra worked to earn and save the money to make an epic drive across the US and into Mexico. It resulted in today’s book, The Drive in ’65.

Born and raised in Alaska, Sandra graduated from University of Alaska and became a travel agent. After marriage, she helped run her husband’s real estate appraisal business until their children were grown, while doing freelance writing. She and her family left Alaska in 1988 and has lived in Western Washington since 1991.

A lifelong fascination with the Middle Ages stoked her interest in historical fiction, and she traveled to Italy to research a novel set in the thirteenth century Kingdom of Naples. Her passion for family history keeps the drama of the past alive for her and sometimes inspires story ideas for novels or non-fiction.
sandralynnereed.com

Sandy’s Readings:

  • Earthquake! – 10:44
  • Fireflies in New York – 26:19
  • The Northwoods Axe Murderer – 41:38

Michael’s Beer Pairings: 

  • Earthquake High Gravity Lager, City Brewing Company (paired to Earthquake!) – 8:58
  • Éphémère (Apple), Unibroue (paired to Fireflies in New York) – 24:05
  • Bomb!, Prairie Artisan Ales (paired to The Northwoods Axe Murderer) – 39:46

Interview Highlights: 

  • Deciding to write the book. The origins of the story – 17:01
  • What inspired 3 women to go on a 22,000-mile road trip with five kids in 1965?! – 20:30
  • Overcoming doubt and scoffing – 21:40
  • Showing the route around the country – 31:30
  • People’s perceptions of each other – 35:30
  • Travel and writing – 48:53
  • Why is it important to tell our stories? – 52:15

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Shawn D. Brink, author of My Gypsy War Diary and the Christian apocalyptic trilogy The Space Between

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

Magic and Mystery with John Gaspard and Jim Cunningham, Episode #14

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Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet

John Gaspard writes magic and mystery. His Eli Marks series is always set in the world of magic and illusions.

John Gaspard brings together the worlds of magic and mystery.

Laura first met him at Sunday Night Magic, a monthly event in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of the Eli Marks mystery series, which always involve the world of magicians and illusionists, as well as two other stand-alone novels, The Greyhound of the Baskervilles and The Ripperologists. He also writes the Como Lake Players mystery series, under the pen name Bobbie Raymond.

In real life, John’s not a magician, but he has directed six low-budget features that cost very little and made even less – that’s no small trick. He’s also written multiple books on the subject of low-budget filmmaking. Ironically, they’ve made more than the films.

Those books (“Fast, Cheap and Under Control” and “Fast, Cheap and Written That Way”) are available in eBook, Paperback and audiobook formats. John lives in Minnesota and shares his home with his lovely wife, several dogs, a few cats and a handful of pet allergies.
elimarksmysteries.com

Free Eli Marks Short Story – The Invisible Assistant
Ebook version:  https://BookHip.com/RLJQGX
Audiobook version:  https://BookHip.com/GGHJVS
Free Eli Marks Short Story – The Last Customer
Ebook version:  https://BookHip.com/TXSQS
Audiobook version:  https://BookHip.com/NCPKGD

Jim Cunningham, the narrator of the Eli Marks novels, is an actor, writer, producer, and director. He spent three years in Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop’s Resident Improv Company and has done numerous television commercials—including the Carsoup Guy—and voiceovers for TV and animated series.​ He hosted Mall of America, the Show, Explore Minnesota, Golf Nut for WCCO TV, “Minnesota Fun” for the Twins and Minnesota Wild, and has been the host of the Renaissance Festival’s Feast of Fantasy for almost 30 years.​ Last but not least, Jim spent three years hosting his own radio show on sports and entertainment.

Another fun Books and Brews episode!

John’s Readings:

  • The Ambitious Card (Eli Marks Mysteries) – 10:11
  • Acting Can Be Murder (Como Lake Players) – 21:57
  • Greyhound of the Baskervilles – 38:10

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Schell’s Hefeweizen, August Schell Brewing Company (paired to The Ambitious Card) – 7:15
  • Triumphant Session IPA, Summit Brewing Company (paired to Acting Can Be Murder) – 19:51
  • Ellie’s Brown Ale, Avery Brewing Company, Boulder Colorado (paired to Greyhound of the Baskervilles) – 7:04

Interview Highlights:

  • Writing novels vs. writing screenplays – 15:38
  • Writing novels inspired by magic tricks – 18:08   
  • On planting clues and red herrings – 26:06
  • Murder mystery theater – 28:54
  • Making audio books – 29:56
  • Sunday Night Magic! – 32:10
  • Jim’s years doing voice-overs and narration – 47:39

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Poet and boxer Mark Connor.

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

Protege of Robert Bly: Timothy Young, Episode #11

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Timothy Young, protege of Robert Bly, talks about his poetry

Timothy Young, an acquaintance and protege of Robert Bly, has published four books and three chapbooks of poetry. He has recorded four CDs of poetry with various musicians; produced poetry and cultural videos; organized readings, cultural events, festivals and concerts; and for five years he co-hosted The Northland Literary Review on KFAI radio.

His work has been chosen for The Writers Almanac, The Best American Poetry of 1999, college textbooks, many magazines and has been the inspiration for award-winning musical compositions performed in Jazz at Lincoln Center, the University of Texas-Arlington, St. Olaf College and many other venues. He has been a cattle inspector, a police and fire dispatcher in Alaska, a handy-man at an Indigenous People’s clinic in Mexico, an inner-city newspaper editor, an organizer for Robert Bly’s Men’s Conferences, and has taught storytelling, anger management and moral judgment to at-risk youth at the Red Wing Correctional Facility.
Facebook: Timothy Young
Facebook: To the Palace of Kings
You Tube: Timtwoboots

Tim’s Readings:

  • Gramps and the Skunk – 10:00
  • 1998 Calendar of Pierre-August Renoir’s Paintings – 26:32
  • Joy Soup – 42:59

Michael’s Beer Pairings: 

  • Heineken, Heineken International (paired to Gramps and the Skunk) – 7:10
  • Biere de Garde, Finnegans (paired to 1998 Calendar…) – 24:00
  • Lonely Blond, Fulton Beer (paired to Joy Soup) – 41:05

Interview Highlights:

  • What is the draw we have to the stories of our ancestors? – 12:14
  • Tim’s start in poetry – 15:29
  • Who is Robert Bly? – 21:00
  • Artists inspiring other artists and other art forms – 29:46
  • About poetry and Andrew Wyeth’s paintings – 31:38
  • Meeting Robert Bly – 35:58
  • Robert Bly’s place in poetry and his influence on Tim – 37:11
  • Having poems read at Jazz at Lincoln Center – 49:50

Upcoming Events:

Tim will be performing at the 10th Annual Blues Night as part of his House Concert Series on March 6 & 7. More information can be found on the To the Palace of Kings Facebook page.

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Poet Tony Plocido

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

Fantasy and Dwarves with Douglas VanDyke, Episode #10

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Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet

fantasy and dwarves with Douglas Van Dyke

Douglas van Dyke writes of fantasy and dwarves. He had the chance to live in many different places while growing up, courtesy of the US Army assignments offered his father. Quiet and shy, he dreamed of other worlds and places…and desired to write about them. He got into fantasy role-playing games in his mid-teens. To this day he regularly meets friends in tabletop role-playing games and online adventures. Many of his characters evolved in games, and developed their own personality.

Relying on self-publishing for his novels, Douglas was surprised at the amount of good reviews and publicity they received. The Earthrin Stones trilogy sold more copies than expected. The Widow Brigade started its reception earning eleven straight 5-star reviews, including a recent widow who said it helped with her healing process.

Douglas lives with his wife and two sons in Minnesota. He works in health care, serving people’s needs in medical imaging. Most people see him wearing scrubs.
dhealoral.com  
Facebook: @Dhea-Loral
Twitter: @ThaminDheaLoral

Douglas’s Readings:

  • The Widow Brigade – 12:56
  • Sword and Path – 30:16
  • Boxer Earns his Wings – 44:13

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Stjørdal, Hammerheart Brewing (paired to
    The Widow Brigade) – 9:28
  • Saison Dupont, Brasserie Dupont sprl (paired to
    Sword and Path) – 27:02
  • Budweiser Copper Lager, ABInBev (paired to Boxer
    Earns his Wings) – 41:46

Interview Highlights:

  • Expanding the emotional world of dwarves – 19:57
  • Douglas’s background as a writer – 22:34
  • What sparked Dhea Loral and the dwarf widow
    Duli? – 23:18
  • Male writer creating female characters – 25:54
  • World-building – 39:40
  • The steampunk world of ‘Boxer’ – 50:47
  • How does growing up in the military affect us as
    writers? – 53:53

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Poet Tim Young

Upcoming events:

Douglas will be at Con of the North, Feb 14-16, Crowne Plaza Minneapolis West, 3131 Campus Dr, Plymouth, Mn – A popular gaming convention featuring just about every type of gaming you can imagine.
He will be at Marscon, Feb 28-Mar 2, Hilton Minneapolis/St Paul Airport/Mall of America, 3800 American Blvd E, Bloomington, Mn – A Sci-fi based convention near Mall of America, which also includes some fantasy and steampunk.

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

Why Treaties Matter with Martin Case, Episode #9

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I always wondered why anyone settled the frozen northern parts of Minnesota. Our guest answers that in why treaties matter. This was a fun episode, filmed at a St. Paul bar.

Martin Case, freelance researcher and writer, researches political and economic networks that shaped US relationships with indigenous nations, and drove the expansion of the US across the continent. He was on the design team for Why Treaties Matter, a collaboration of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, the Minnesota Humanities Center, and the Smithsonian Institute. His book — The Relentless Business of Treaties: How Indigenous Land Became US Property – was published in 2018 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.
Treatysigners.org
Treatiesmatter.org

Marty will be reading at the U of MN on February 20th. Follow the link for information.
He will be at Anoka Ramsey Community College on March 2nd.

We would like to extend special thanks to the Yoerg Brewing Company of St. Paul for hosting us on our first on-site recording. The Yoerg Saloon is located at 378 Maria Ave, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55106

Marty’s Readings:

  • Relationships to Land, Kinship vs. Property,
    Marshall’s Doctrine of Discovery – 11:30
  • Making the American Myth: Whose story is it? –
    31:55
  • From the Gospel of the Child Rabbit – 47:16

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Samuel Smith India Ale, Samuel Smith’s Old
    Brewery (paired to From the Intro) – 9:55
  • Yoerg’s Bock, Yoerg Brewing Company (paired to
    On Marshall’s Doctrine of Discovery) – 29:07
  • Alpha State, August Schell Brewing Company
    (paired to From the Gospel of the Child Rabbit) – 43:47

Interview Highlights:

  • The fascinating history of Yoerg’s Brewery–our
    host for episode 9 – 4:42
  • How Marty got involved in the Treaty Signers
    Project – 17:32
  • Treaty signer relationships vs. the American
    myth – 18:51
  • Treatysigners.org online database – 23:16
  • Marshall’s Doctrine of Discovery – 26:10
  • Implications of viewing land as kin vs. property
    – 37:28
  • Treaties as international agreements – 41:05
  • On writing your personal ‘gospel’ – 50:35
  • Under a speeding semi! – 52:16

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Fantasy fiction writer Douglas van Dyke

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

Life in Northern Minnesota with Sarah Stonich, Episode #8

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Books and Brews: where beer and literature meet

Sarah Stonich writes about life in northern Minnesota

Sarah Stonich talks about life in Northern Minnesota. Her first novel, These Granite Islands was awarded a Loft McKnight Award; a Friends of American Writers Award, and was a Barnes & Noble Great New Writers pick, among other awards. That novel was translated into eleven languages. Her second, The Ice Chorus, was also widely translated. Her memoir Shelter: Off The Grid in the Mostly Magnetic North won a Northeast Minnesota Book Award. Her feminist trilogy Fishing With RayAnne (originally written under the pen name Ava Finch) will be re-issued by The University of MN Press, beginning in 2020. She is currently adapting that series for television, as well as writing original screenplays. Laurentian Divide, the second book in her Northern Trilogy, was the winner of the 2019 Minnesota Book Award and the NEMBA award, as well as being a 2019 National Reading Group Month selection by National Women’s Book Association. In March 2020, WPRI, Wisconsin Public Radio International’s longest running program, Chapter A Day, will feature Laurentian Divide, to be read on air by Jim Flemming. She’s currently researching and is at work on the final volume of the Northern trilogy, Watershed. Sarah has been awarded fellowships at several international residency programs, including the Tyrone Guthrie Center in Ireland; Gibraltor Center, Toronto; Hawthornden, Scotland; Art Omi, New York, and Chicago’s Ragdale Foundation, Sarah lives in Minneapolis on the Mississippi River in a renovated flour mill with her husband, musician Jon Ware.

sarahstonich.com

Sarahstonichbookshelf

Sarah’s Readings:

  • Alpo Ponders Life – 16:30
  • Pete Meets Meg – 29:05
  • Sissy and the Sled Dogs – 44:41

Michael’s Beer Pairings: 

  • Grain Belt Premium, August Schell Brewing
    Company (paired to Alpo Ponders Life) – 14:50
  • Summit Great Northern Porter – Summit Brewing
    Company (paired to Pete Meets Meg) – 27:20
  • Tip Up Winter Ale – Beaver Island Brewing
    (paired to Sissy and the Sled Dogs) – 42:12

Interview Highlights:

  • Overview of the Northern Trilogy – 13:00
  • Why do people read? – 24:20
  • What makes a great book? – 25:20
  • How and when did you get started writing? – 39:51
  • 40 raw acres with a city boy – 54:16

COMING NEXT MONTH: N

Memoir with Sarah Stonich on Life in Northern Minnesota

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