Episode #22: Dr. Chris Powell

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Dr. Chris Powell is an author, poet, musician, engineering and management consultant and aspiring polymath with his fingers on everything from fretboards and ivories to the pulse of post-modernism, surrealism, and nihilism’s impact on the destruction of morality and sanity.  His work takes him from the Internet of Things to Cyberspace, and from Supercomputers to AI.  More down to earth, he putters in his labs with birdhouses and cameras, servomotors and drones.  At the range he’s comfortable with AR’s and lasers, in a kilt with trombones and guitars, on a kneeler with his Rosary, and in the kitchen making omelets and Long Island Iced Teas for his love. 

Dr. Powell’s book has been described by Kirkus Reviews as having certain similarities to Joan Didion’s 2005 book The Year of Magical Thinking, which investigated the nature of grief, but Dr. Powell’s book investigates the nature of illness itself.  He meticulously details his late wife Bonnie’s every procedure and symptom, and every failure of modern medicine to provide her with relief.  He also applies the same method to his own emotions and spirituality, presenting engaging, admirably honest deductions regarding sacrifice and dedication in this powerful, heartbreaking memoir.
chrisandlaurapowell.com

Chris’s Readings:

  • Caring for Bonnie – 12:09
  • From Love to Shame – 25:07
  • Psalm of Winged Transcendence – 41:51

Michael’s Beer Pairings: 

  • Manhattan Social Club, Boulevard Brewing Company (paired to Caring for Bonnie) – 9:13
  • Belgian Iambic (paired to From Love to Shame) – 22:55
  • Chardonnale, Brewery Ommegong (paired to Psalm of Winged Transcendence) – 38:13

Interview Highlights: 

  • Sacrifice and service–the hard parts of love – 17:10
  • Writing for healing – 20:30
  • Love that destroys – 30:02
  • Narcissism – 32:39
  • A poem as psalm – 45:24
  • Dr. Powell as musician – 46:56
  • The Hurdy-Gurdy – 54:48

COMING NEXT MONTH:  Cynthia Kraak and Joseph Tochovsky, Forty Thieves on Saipan

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

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode 21: Lauretta and Michael Kehoe

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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.
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.

Episode #20: Shawn D Brink

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Shawn D. Brink is currently building a following with four novels to his name, the latest being MY GYPSY WAR DIARY (Gabriel’s Horn Publishing). He has also had numerous shorter works in various publications and anthologies. Shawn is represented by Liverman Literary Agency.
shawnbrinkauthor.wordpress.com
Facebook
Twitter

Shawn’s Readings:

  • Ghosts – 9:05
  • Post-Game Events – 27:45
  • Haunted Memories – 44:55

Michael’s Beer Pairings: 

  • Winter Welcome, Samuel Smith Old Brewery – 6:49
  • Windvane, Bad Weather Brewing Company – 25:02
  • Dead Guy Ale, Rogue Ales – 41:32

Interview Highlights: 

  • Norfolk, Norfolk, and Norfork – 13:21
  • Memories of growing up in Norfolk, Nebraska – 15:32
  • Wearing bolo ties in Clovis, New Mexico – 18:29
  • From end times thriller to a boy in the Midwest in the 70s – 20:03
  • Tornado! The craft of vivid writing – 34:37
  • Why the D. in Shawn D. Brink? – 38:33
  • Using flashbacks – 47:46
  • Jumping back to the 1800s – 51:49

COMING NEXT MONTH: Lauretta and Michael Kehoe, A Dream of Dragons

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

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #19: Sandra Lynne Reed

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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.

Episode #18: Lisa Gurine

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Lisa Gurine has written newsletters and business communications professionally for more than twenty years. She comes from a long line of storytellers and for most of her life has channeled her creative energy into re-telling and embellishing her family’s history. Without Words grew from the seeds of her own ancestors’ lives as South Dakota immigrants.
Lisa Gurine resides in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, with her husband of more than thirty years. Her passion for cross-cultural understanding led her to volunteer with an international high school exchange program. She and her husband have hosted six foreign exchange students at their home and have engaged with many more. Her other favorite pastimes include international travel, volunteering with her church and honing her writing skills with her Night Writers critique partners.
Lisagurinebooks.com
Facebook

Lisa’s Readings:

  • Letter to Emma – 8:56
  • The Boy from the In Between – 27:11
  • Hulda and the White Cake – 44:43

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Guinness Draught, Guinness Ltd. (paired to Letter to Emma) – 5:22
  • Mango Mango Mango, Dugges Bryggeri & Stillwater Artisanal Ales (Paired to The Boy from the In Between) – 23:32
  • Cake’d Up Celebration Cake, Mankato Brewery (Paired to Hulda and the White Cake) – 41:08

Interview Highlights:

  • The story behind Letter to Emma – 13:35
  • Turning fact into fiction – 15:42
  • Developing as a writer; exercises and writers groups – 21:40
  • Hosting exchange students – 34:20
  • Perceptions of the Land of Snow – 35:35
  • What’s the deal with cake! – 50:01
  • The importance of telling our family stories – 52:26

COMING NEXT MONTH:  Sandra Lynn Reed, author of The Drive in ’65

UPCOMING EVENTS:

  • Gabriel’s Horn is accepting submissions for its anthology
  • Lisa Gurine will be one of three authors at a book signing, Maple Grove Lutheran Church, 9251 Elm Creek Blvd N, Maple Grove, MN, Sunday, November 8, 2020, 1 – 5 pm

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #17: Ozgur K. Sahin

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Ozgur K. Sahin is an award-winning historical novelist and life coach. True Colors, the second book in his Brethren of the Spanish Main series, was released in late 2019 as a sequel to The Wrath of Brotherhood. He is currently working as a life coach while hunkered down during the Covid-19 pandemic and working on a non-fiction book on narcissism. He grew up in Minneapolis and his studies range from astrophysics and history to meditation and development studies.
ozgurksahin.com

kk

ggg

Ozgur’s Readings:

  • Pieter at the Prison – 14:21
  • Coya with the Golden Staff – 31:06
  • Captain Roy Toppings at the Hucia – 46:51

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Sidra Asturiana Mayador Natural Cider, Sidra Mayador (paired to Pieter at the Prison) – 9:56
  • Cowbell Cream Ale, Urban Growler Brewing Company (paired to Coya with the Golden Staff) – 26:30
  • Stout/Rum Cocktail with Obsidian Stout, Deschutes Brewery (paired to Captain Roy Toppings at the Hucia) – 44:29

Cocktail Recipe (from CB2):

1.5 oz Rum
1.5 oz Ginger-Jalapeño Syrup
.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
5 oz Stout-Style Beer
Preparation:
Pour the rum, syrup, and lime juice into a shaker and fill it with ice. Shake and strain the liquid into a glass half-filled with fresh ice. Top with the beer and garnish with a lime wedge.

Interview Highlights:

  • Humor in a serious story – 21:38
  • Why 1660? Why pirates? – 22:56
  • Flawed and scarred heroines – 38:28
  • Research–history, fiction, and Ginger Plantation – 52:40
  • Writing vivid descriptions – 53:59
  • Writing on narcissism – 55:59

COMING NEXT MONTH: Lisa Gurine, Author of Without Words, the stories of South Dakota settlers

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

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #16: Mike Faricy

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Dirty Lowdown called Mike Faricy America’s hottest new mystery writer. Robert Carraher referred to him as Minnesota’s Master of the Bizarre. Crime Scene referred to him as the next Carl Hiaasen. Mike Faricy writes four crime fiction series; Dev Haskell mystery series, the Corridor Man series, Jack Dillon Dublin Tales series, and the Hotshot series. Faricy’s novels are filled with the sort of oddballs we’re all curious about, but wisely prefer to keep at a distance. His characters serve not so much as an example as they do a warning to us all. None of them will be saving the world from terrorism, international banking conspiracies, or coups to take over the government. Rather, Faricy’s characters inhabit a world just below the surface of polite society. The circumstances they find themselves in are usually due to their own bad decisions, but then bad decisions make for interesting stories. Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Faricy still spends part of his time in the saintly city as well as in Dublin, Ireland.
mikefaricybooks.com

Mike’s Readings:

  • Bite Me – 11:30
  • Last Shot – 26:39
  • Mr. Swirlee – 43:19

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Mas Agave, Founders Brewing Company (paired to Bite Me) – 8:35
  • Steel Reserve, Steel Brewing Company (paired to Last Shot) – 22:40
  • Dirty Bastard, Founders Brewing Company (paired to Mr. Swirlee) – 41:16

Interview Highlights:

  • Where does a womanizing private investigator like Dev Haskell come from? – 17:36
  • Mike’s history with St Paul, where most of his novels are set. – 20:57
  • Where does Mike find his characters? – 35:15
  • Why Ireland? What happened to Mike in a pub there! – 36:07
  • Why the decision to write under pen names–and why change that now? – 49:48
  • Mike’s amazing marketing–and why he can now write full time – 50:29

COMING NEXT MONTH:  Ozgur K. Sahin, author of Brethren of the Spanish Main series.

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

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #15: Mark Connor

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Mark Connor is from St. Paul, MN. In summer 2019, he was featured in the first Gabriel’s Horn Press anthology, Surprised by Joy. A boxer since age 10, he currently trains competitive and recreational boxers, runs a training business called Fighting Chance/Boxing for Life and writes fiction, poetry, and journalism. He has written and published many articles about Boxing and Irish culture and history, as well as other features.
boxersandwritersmagazine.com

xx

Mark’s Readings:

  • The Perfect Metaphor – 9:26
  • Halfway Around – 29:53
  • Two Pilgrim Souls: Anam Cara – 46:14

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Veltins Pilsener, Brauerei C & A Veltins (paired to The Perfect Metaphor) – 6:03
  • Ommegang Saison Rosé, Brewery Ommegang (paired to Halfway Around) – 27:24
  • Dirt Wolf Double IPA, Victory Brewing Company (paired to Two Pilgrim Souls: Anam Cara) – 42:43

Interview Highlights:

  • Boxing and jazz improvisation – 11:41
  • Boxing and poetry – 14:48
  • Mark’s start in boxing – 17:30
  • Mark’s mentors – 21:06
  • Similarities of boxing to poetry – 24:24
  • Other boxer poets – 25:16
  • Native American medicine wheel – 37:04
  • Spontaneous writing vs re-working a poem – 39:07
  • The epic Irish poet and his muse – 48:06
  • Becoming a monstrance – 53:03

COMING NEXT MONTH: Mike Faricy, mystery author

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

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

Episode #14: John Gaspard and Jim Cunningham

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

John Gaspard is author of the Eli Marks mystery series 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 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.

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

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.

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Episode #13: Judith Granahan

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fiction Author, Judith Granahan of Minnesota writes books about strong, intelligent, inventive women who get in trouble. The question is who will survive, who won’t?
Women have always been described as super human to sniveling child, intelligent to incompetent, collaborator to cut throat; it goes on and on. With such varied attributes in mind, Granahan creates novels full of compelling characters dealing with mystery, danger, thrills, romance, horror, and difficult choices. Someday she may even write science fiction, fantasy or historical novels.
www.judithgranahanbooks.com

a

Judy’s Readings:

  • Rose Teaches her Sons to Hate (See That House) – 10:48
  • Hailey Goes Off the Mountain (See That House) – 23:47
  • Anna Mae Shoots Her Husband’s Grave (Dancers of the Third Age) – 41:25

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Obsidian Stout, Deschutes Brewery (paired to Rose Teaches her Sons to Hate) – 6:54
  • Zombie Dust, 3 Floyd’s Brewing Company (paired to Hailey Goes Off the Mountain) – 21:10
  • BOMB!, Prairie Artisan Ales (paired to Anna Mae Shoots Her Husband’s Grave) – 36:58

Interview Highlights:

  • Starting the Night Writers group – 12:23
  • What kind of research goes into writing about corporate financial shenanigans? – 19:16
  • How do you get inside the head of characters completely unlike yourself? – 25:26
  • Writing people who are despicable in many ways–but not two dimensional bad guys. – 31:37
  • Revenge is not the answer to evil–what is? – 34:02
  • Your characters do a lot of shooting! What’s your background with guns? – 45:46
  • What drew you to writing about an abused woman? – 47:40
  • Why do some people get the strength to leave abusive situations? – 50:54

COMING NEXT MONTH: Film maker and novelist John Gaspard.

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.