Episode #42: Robert Bidinotto

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Robert Bidinotto is author of the bestselling Dylan Hunter vigilante thriller series. Robert’s debut novel, HUNTER, soared to the top of the Kindle bestseller list and was a Wall Street Journal “Top 10 Fiction Ebook.” Its sequel, BAD DEEDS, became a #1 Audible thriller. The third installment in the series is the gripping political suspense novel WINNER TAKES ALL. Before turning to fiction, Robert produced decades of award-winning nonfiction journalism. He earned a national reputation as an authority on crime while writing investigative articles for Reader’s Digest. One of those was named a finalist for a National Magazine Award, by the American Society of Magazine Editors. Robert also wrote two acclaimed nonfiction books about criminal justice. As editor of The New Individualist magazine, he won the prestigious Folio gold “Eddie” Award, for editorial excellence. Robert lives on the Chesapeake Bay, where he is writing the further adventures of Dylan Hunter.
www.bidinotto.com

Robert’s Readings:

  • The Funeral – 12:02
  • from Bad Deeds – 29:05
  • from Winner Takes All – 46:08

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

Interview Highlights:

  • Why Robert didn’t narrate! – 16:33
  • Good people, bad deeds, and enablers – 18:48
  • The vigilante character in history – 35:02
  • Dylan Hunter–a different sort of vigilante – 37:30
  • The genesis of Dylan Hunter – 50:09
  • On justice – 54:13

COMING NEXT MONTH:  Connie Kinsey, memoirist and Writers-in-Residence for the Museum of the American Military Family & Learning Center.

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

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #41: Nancie Laird Young

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Nancie Laird Young grew up as an Army BRAT and traveled with her family across the United States, Europe and the Far East. Eventually she grew up, married (twice), had three great daughters, and various careers in human services, academic administration, advocacy for people with disabilities. These led to contributions to books and magazine articles about the Internet, which eventually led to positions in Community/Social Media Management, Content Development, and Strategy at WashingtonPost.com, Edmunds.com, LifetimeTV.com, and AOL/Time Warner among others. After leaving the corporate world she moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, presumably to care for her aging father. The story of how she reconnected with her father and rediscovered herself is the topic of her memoir Tea with Dad, Finding Myself in My Father’s Life (Green Writers Press/Green Place Books, June 2021). Young is principle among others in the formation of a new small, independent press expected to open for submissions in late 2023.
www.nancielairdyoung.com

Nancie’s Readings:

  • Moving Home from the Prologue – 11:54
  • No More Baseball – 27:37
  • About the Heart – 42:01

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

Interview Highlights:

  • Compromising—again – 18:35
  • Thinking about death – 33:05
  • A good life–being satisfied – 47:05
  • Getting to know our parents – 51:08

COMING NEXT MONTH: Robert Bidinotto, Vigilante Author

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #40: Janet Raye Stevens

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Meet award-winning author Janet Raye Stevens – mom, reader, tea-drinker (okay, tea guzzler), and weaver of smart, stealthily romantic tales. A Derringer Award finalist, Janet’s work has been recognized multiple times, including winning the Daphne du Maurier award for the WWII-set paranormal A Moment After Dark and RWA’s Golden Heart® award for the fun and flirty holiday romance Cole for Christmas. Janet writes mystery, time travel, paranormal, and the occasional Christmas romance with humor, heart, and a dash of suspense. She lives in New England with her husband, who’s practically perfect in every way, and their various family members, all geniuses and good-looking to boot.
janetrayestevens.com

Readings:

  • To the Rooming House from Beryl Blue, Time Cop – 14:04
  • At the Nightclub with the Soldiers from Beryl Blue, Time Cop – 27:18
  • A Moment After Dark – 44:18

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Northern Standard, Fulton Beer (paired to To the Rooming House) – 11:41
  • Coors Banquet, Coors Brewing Company (paired to At the Nightclub with the Soldiers) – 24:40
  • Saporro Premium Beer, Sapporo (paired to A Moment After Dark) – 41:30

Interview Highlights:

  • A childhood immersed in WWII – 18:52
  • What was good about the 1940s? – 19:39
  • The Day My Teacher Wore a Miniskirt to School – 32:18
  • Why do some wars get more fictional attention than others? – 38:22
  • Why a mortician with paranormal gifts? – 49:43
  • Getting into the minds of others – 53:35

COMING NEXT MONTH: Nancie Laird Young, Author of Tea with Dad: Finding Myself in My Father’s Life

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #39: Janelle Molony & Jodi Nasch Decker

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Janelle Molony, M.S.L. is a family historian, an award-winning non-fiction author, and news journalist. Jodi Nasch Decker, Ed.D. is a college professor and freelance writer. Together, they provide interpretation and context for the poet Martha Nasch’s alleged seven year fast and 1920’s insane asylum stay.
SevenYearsInsane  

Readings:

  • News Reports on Martha Nasch’s Seven Year Fast – 13:59
  • Force Feeding in the Asylum – 24:56
  • The Asylum, a poem by Martha Nasch – 40:09

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

Interview Highlights:

  • How Jodi and Janelle came to write about poems from an asylum – 15:37
  • How Martha ended up in the Asylum – 18:23
  • Going viral, 1934-style – 21:33
  • Martha not eating – 28:23
  • The husband who committed her: villain or victim? – 33:10
  • Life after an asylum – 41:47
  • Happy times in an asylum – 48:20
  • Crossing war-torn country in a wheelchair with Wyatt Earp’s father – 53:20

COMING NEXT MONTH: Janet Raye Stevens, time travel

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #38: Linda Wisniewski

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Linda C. Wisniewski is a former librarian who shares an empty nest with her retired scientist husband in Doylestown, PA. Linda teaches memoir workshops and produces webinars for the Pearl S. Buck Writing Center.  She was born in Amsterdam, New York and is a graduate of SUNY at Buffalo and the library school at Villanova University. Her work includes fiction, memoir and personal essays and has been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies both print and online. Her credits include publications as diverse as the Philadelphia Inquirer, Massage, The Quilter, the Christian Science Monitor, gravel and Foliate Oak. Linda worked as a reporter and columnist for the Bucks County Women’s Journal and the Bucks County Herald. She has won fiction and essay contests from the Wild River Review, the Pearl S. Buck Writing Center, Mom Writers Literary Magazine, and the Story Circle Network and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Linda’s memoir, Off Kilter: A Woman’s Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother and Her Polish Heritage was published in 2008 by Pearlsong Press. Her novel, Where the Stork Flies, was published in 2021 by Sand Hill Review Press. 
www.lindawis.com.

Linda’s Readings:

  • Meeting Regina – 16:11
  • Seeking a Way Back Through Time – 29:27
  • Kat in Regina’s Time – 42:59

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

Interview Highlights:

  • How Polish ancestry and the family tree led to a book different from expected – 22:15
  • The stork in Polish folklore – 27:21
  • The significance of the Mermaid – 34:04
  • Women then and now: Whose life was harder? – 35:39
  • Putting our lives into fiction–deliberate or not? – 47:48
  • Seeing our lives through an image as metaphor – 53:22

COMING NEXT MONTH: Loretta Livingstone, time travel author

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #37: Allison Mann

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Allison Mann is an author, publisher, and paralegal. After graduating from Winona State University in 2001, Allison began a nearly twenty-year career as a paralegal in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. After co-authoring her first book, The Girls Are Gone, Allison found her way to the publishing world. In 2020, Allison co-founded and is the CEO of Hadleigh House Publishing where she developed the Hadleigh House Unpacked imprint. Allison continues to reside in the Twin Cities with her family, enjoying life as a boy mom and all that comes along with it. When she’s not writing, Allison can be found getting lost in a bookstore or wandering the halls of a courthouse.
Allison Mann

Allison’s Readings:

  • Introduction to Fallen Woman – 11:21
  • Chapter 15, Fallen Woman – 23:37
  • Author’s Note, Fallen Woman – 39:00

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

Interview Highlights:

  • Why did Linda and Emily want to tell about Linda’s life as a madam? – 16:50
  • How Linda hid her brothels from her daughters for years – 33:40
  • How did Linda end up running a brothel? – 34:32
  • Childhood trauma and free will in our choices – 45:37
  • The missing Ruki sisters – 50:10

COMING NEXT MONTH: Linda Wisnieski, fiction, time travel

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

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #36: Marian McCarthy

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Marian McCarthy is a novelist with a long career as a freelancer, corporate communications consultant, technical copywriter, columnist, ghostwriter, editor, and writing teacher. Murder and the Mortician is the first in the Last Responder mystery series, featuring psychic mortician Perrie Spock. When she discovers the body of a young woman on the driveway of her funeral home, Perrie begins to hear stories only the dead can tell. It’s “The Medium” meets “Six Feet Under.”
marionmccarthy.com

Marian’s Readings:

  • Murder and the Mortician: a body in the driveway! – 15:02
  • Murder and the Mortician: Aunt Azalea – 28:48
  • Beneath the Wild Blue – 41:55

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

Interview Highlights:

  • Suspension of disbelief – 19:22
  • Talking with morticians – 23:19
  • Does Perri know she can hear from the dead? – 33:23
  • Short story awards – 35:38
  • From Air Force child to writing the Air Force wife – 48:05
  • The Quintessential Air Force Wife – 50:18

COMING NEXT MONTH: Allison Mann, true crime and publisher.

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

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #35: Ilona Parunakova

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Ilona Parunakova is an author, diversity and inclusion speaker, and founder and CEO of IP Resilience Global and Identity Guru. She penned the best-selling books Opium of the Almond Tree, Am I Godfident, Unfiltered, Unleashed, Unapologetic, Royal Grand Berries, Success without Apology, and In the Front Line with Royal Warriors. Additionally, she has published the International Project book Godfident Voices and the children’s book Bella’s Butterfly. Parunakova is a TEDx international speaker who brings encouragement to audiences whenever she walks on stage.
Parunakova is a direct descendant of survivors of the Armenian Genocide during World War I. She herself survived wartime in the Republic of Georgia after the collapse of the USSR. Parunakova also endured ethnic discrimination, experiencing mocking and rejection by family members, and denied admission to universities.  Through it all, she has succeeded in transforming the obstacles of war, loss, and the struggle to fit in into her superpowers.
Parunakova’s Christian faith has been instrumental to her survival. It allowed her to see things from a positive perspective—that no matter what happens, God will always be in control of her destiny. She introduces herself unapologetically as God’s Masterpiece and puts God as a CEO of her life.
IP Resilience

Ilona’s Readings:

  • Not Naturally Ambitious – 10:50
  • Beauty of the Woman – 29:02
  • Identity and Society – 45:29

Michael’s Beer Pairings: 

Interview Highlights: 

  • Optimism after war, earthquake, cold, hunger, and discrimination – 20:22
  • Beauty pageant won and yet there are obstacles! – 30:41
  • What is inner beauty? – 35:35
  • A mother’s influence – 38:56
  • Identity and Legacy – 47:20
  • Keys to Success/Building a strong identity – 51:04

COMING NEXT MONTH: Marian McCarthy, novelist, memoirist, short story writer.

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

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #34: Sadira Stone

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Award-winning contemporary romance author Sadira Stone spins steamy, smoochy tales set in small businesses—a quirky bookstore, a neighborhood bar, a vintage boutique… Her stories highlight found family, friendship, and the sizzling chemistry that pulls unlikely partners together. When she emerges from her writing cave in Las Vegas, Nevada (which she seldom does), she can be found in belly dance class, or strumming her ukulele, perhaps exploring the West with her charming husband, or cooking up a storm, and always gobbling all the romance books. Sadira’s promise to readers: a guaranteed HEA and no cliffhangers!
www.sadirastone.com  

Sadira’s Readings:

  • Christmas Re-Kindled, Bangers Tavern Romance #1 – 16:03
  • Opposites Ignite, Bangers Tavern Romance #2 – 32:42
  • Delicious Heat, Bangers Tavern Romance #3 – 41:22

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

Interview Highlights:

  • From Cozy Mystery to Romance – 27:45
  • Most romantic date ever? – 29:09
  • On using pseudonyms – 37:44
  • How writers get started – 38:40
  • Do you believe in love at first sight? – 46:16
  • Influences and inspirations – 47:19
  • Best thing about writing/hitting the zone – 50:03
  • Advice to aspiring writers – 51:00

COMING NEXT MONTH: Motivational speaker Ilona Parunakova.

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

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #33: Shannyn Schroeder

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Sloane Steele is the pen name for Shannyn Schroeder. As Sloane, her Counterfeit Capers series of heist romances are her love letter to the TV show Leverage. As Shannyn, she writes contemporary romances about big families, both those created by blood and by choice. Her books are set in the city of Chicago because having grown up there and lived near the city her whole life, she writes what she knows. Shannyn is a part-time English teacher, part-time curriculum editor, and full-time mom, even though her kids are pretty self-sufficient teens. In her down time, she bakes cookies, reads romance, and watches far too much TV.
shannynschroeder.com

Shannyn’s Readings:

  • It Takes a Thief – 13:53
  • Catch Your Breath, O’ Leary Family #4 – 25:37
  • My Forever Plus-One, Daring Divorcees – 42:08

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

Interview Highlights:

  • The good thieves – 18:44
  • The name behind the beer (or What goes on in breweries?) – 23:52
  • Finding time to write with kids – 38:00
  • What is the attraction of reading about big families? – 32:14
  • Conflict in romance–when you’re with your best friend? – 48:24
  • Using two author names – 51:37

COMING NEXT MONTH: Sadira Stone, Romance Author.

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

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.