All posts by Vance

13Mar/20

Brent Hartinger

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March 13, 2020


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Brent Hartinger back as the guest on Episode 259 – On A Journey To A Greater Destination!

Brent Hartinger, playwright, screenwriter and novelist, returns to discuss his latest release, Otto Digmore Decision, his career as a writer, and the decision he and his husband Michael made to become digital nomads.

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Bio:

BRENT HARTINGER is an author and screenwriter. He wrote the YA classic, Geography Club (2003), which was adapted as a 2013 feature film costarring Scott Bakula, and is now being developed as a television series. He’s since published thirteen more novels and had ten of his screenplays optioned by producers. Project Pay Day, based on his novel and screenplay, will be released in 2020. He has won both the Lambda and GLAAD Media Award, and been nominated for the Edgar Award. He has no permanent address, but instead continuously travels the world with his husband, writer Michael Jensen.

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December 9, 2016

It gives us great pleasure to announce Brent Hartinger and Tim O’Leary as the guests on episode 088: Cockshrubbery!  They join us to talk about LGBTQ Film and Television from an insider’s perspective and the increasing need for diversity.

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Bio:

For the last twenty years, Brent Hartinger has made his living writing just about everything that involves words: novels, screenplays, plays, web content, even greeting cards. These days, he writes in lots of genres in many different mediums. His latest project is a dark and edgy gay teen book — part horror, part puzzle box thriller — called Three Truths and a Lie (published by Simon & Schuster).
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Tim O’Leary is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter, ghostwriter, author, and playwright. On his website, timolearyonline.com, you will find news about his latest projects, including his various webseries and the next book in his adults-only Greek myth book series, The Lusty Journey of Perseus.

 

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January 1, 2016

 TheGeographyClub-webTheThingIDidntKnow-webBarefootInTheCityOfBrokenDreams-webTheRoadToAmazing-web It gives us great pleasure to announce Brent Hartinger as the guest on Episodes 037 and 038: Prank Phone Calls, part 1 and 2.
Join us as we talk with Brent about why being a goof with friends is the most cherished memory, his journey from writing YA into Adult novels, and having a book optioned for film.
You can find Brent’s novels here:

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06Mar/20
Julia McBryant author picture

Julia McBryant

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March 6, 2020


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Julia McBryant back as the guest on Episode 258 – I Can Say That On Here Right?

Julia McBryant returns to share her latest works, A Low Country Lovers bundle, a gay-boys-drama titled Masked Boys, and her first lesbian fiction Never Have I Ever. She then drops some wisdom of the ages!

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Bio:

Julia McBryant is, as the saying goes, Southern born, Southern bred, and when she dies, she’ll be Southern dead. Julia likes to play with her German Shepherds and hike, especially in the North Carolina mountains. When she isn’t writing, she’s writing. She is grateful her husband tolerates both her and her affinity for glitter.

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November 15, 2019


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Julia McBryant as the guest on Episode 242 – I Can’t Believe I’m Telling You This!

Julia McBryant joins us for a hysterical and thought provoking conversation about her recent release, Beautiful Boys, and her journey into M/M Romance.

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Books Mentioned in this Episode:

Bio:

Julia McBryant is, as the saying goes, Southern born, Southern bred, and when she dies, she’ll be Southern dead. Julia likes to play with her German Shepherds and hike, especially in the North Carolina mountains. When she isn’t writing, she’s writing. She is grateful her husband tolerates both her and her affinity for glitter.

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28Feb/20

Jan St. Marcus

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February 28, 2020


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Jan St. Marcus as the guest on Episode 257 – It’s Just Easier To Be Homeless!

Jan St. Marcus shares his new novel release, Damaged Hearts. We discuss POV, characters who come from damaging backgrounds and queerdom in literary and media works.

Books mentioned in this episode:

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Bio:

Jan St. Marcus is a professional photographer and novelist currently residing in the Washington D.C. area after a professional career that took him around the world. Damaged Hearts is the first book in a series of novels inspired by the time he spent living on the Boardwalk in Venice Beach, California.

Jan writes every day, and when he’s not writing he runs a photography business from his studio in the suburbs of our Nation’s Capital. He enjoys hearing from readers and answering questions, so if you want to reach out, please visit his website.

Jan’s favorite quote is from Heraclitus, a philosopher in 450 B.C.

“A man’s character is his fate.”

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21Feb/20

Naomi McDougall Jones

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February 21, 2020


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Naomi McDougall Jones as the guests on Episode 256 – When Women’s Foreheads Move!

Naomi McDougall Jones, award-winning actress, writer, producer and women-in-film activist, sparks an important conversation about equity in the film industry with her first book, The Wrong Kind of Women: Inside Our Revolution to Dismantle the Gods of Hollywood, published by Beacon Press.

Books mentioned in this episode:

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Bio:

Naomi McDougall Jones is an award-winning writer, actress, producer, and women-in-film activist based in New York City. Her second feature film, BITE ME, which she wrote and also starred in opposite Christian Coulson, Annie Golden, and Naomi Grossman premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival, followed by a 3 month, 51 screening, 40 city Joyful Vampire Tour of America that took the country by storm. Naomi’s first feature film, which she also wrote, produced, and starred in, was the 12-time award-winning Imagine I’m Beautiful. The film received a theatrical release and is now available on Amazon Prime. She is currently at work on her third feature film, a magical realism piece about a 7-month pregnant woman’s unexpected interaction with the brilliant, eccentric, and deceased inventor John Hays Hammond, Jr., and for which she received the honor of being the first artist in residence at the final home of Ernest Hemingway in Sun Valley, Idaho. Naomi is an advocate and thought leader for bringing gender parity to cinema. She gave a virally sensational TEDTalk, What it’s Like to Be a Woman in Hollywood, which has now been viewed over 1 million times and can be seen on TED.com. Naomi’s first book, The Wrong Kind of Women: Inside Our Revolution to Dismantle the Gods of Hollywood, published by Beacon Press, just released this month.

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07Feb/20

Ran M. Ekman

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February 7, 2020


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Ran M. Ekman as the guests on Episode 254 – Drawings Were My Safe Place!

Ran M. Ekman, Israeli author and illustrator living in Berlin, joins us to discuss the journey he went through to publish his first graphic novel, Over and Over!

Books mentioned in this episode:

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Bio:

Ran has always loved stories. At first stories by other people, and then he started telling stories to himself. It wasn’t until he was a “full grown-up” that he actually thought maybe someone else would enjoy his stories too. He loves writing about people, trying to really understand human behavior and hopefully saying something new. He also has a penchant for twists, even in supposedly simple stories, but only if it serves the story.

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31Jan/20

Megan Hart & Brenda Murphy

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January 31, 2020


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Brenda Murphy and Megan Hart as the guests on Episode 253 – Intimacy With My Imaginary Friends!

Brenda Murphy and Megan Hart join us to discuss their duology release, Soul Burn, and how the team-up happened thanks to a fun road trip!

Books mentioned in this episode:

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Bio:

Megan Hart writes books. Some of them might break your heart a little, but she promises you, it will all be okay.
She loves: glitter, zombies, rainbows, unicorns, breakfast, diners, singing, dancing, reading, movies, hummingbirds, SeaMonkeys, tattoos, bees, octopuses, breakfast, the ocean, whiskey, onion rings, roses and the smell of rain on the summer pavement.
Occasionally, she takes a selfie. Or ten. She also writes under the name Mina Hardy.

Brenda Murphy writes short fiction and novels. She loves tattoos and sideshows and yes, those are her monkeys. When she is not loitering at her local library and writing, she wrangles two kids, one dog, and an unrepentant parrot. She reviews books, blogs about life as a writer with ADHD and publishes photographs on her blog Writing While Distracted.

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03Jan/20

Tim O’Leary – Robert Rice

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January 3, 2020

It gives us great pleasure to welcome husbands Tim O’Leary and Robert Rice as the guests on Episode 249 – This Guy Turns Into A Demon!

Husbands Tim O’Leary and Robert Rice join us to discuss the creation, writing, producing and acting for their audio drama podcast “Uumbaji” AND their upcoming series, “Demonhuntr.” It’s a great, laugh-filled conversation to start off the New Year!

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Series Mentioned in this Episode:

Bios:

Tim O’Leary is a writer/director who began his writing career as a New York playwright, and his works have premiered in the New York International Fringe Festival and Gay Fest NYC. Following a SAG-produced reading of his pilot Wolf Island, Tim relocated to Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the UCLA Professional Program in Television Writing, and with his husband Robert Rice produced a pilot for the series Al Malone, Private Eye, starring Angela Lewis (FX’s Snowfall) and directed by Q Allan Brocka (The Eating Out series, Boy Culture.)

He was one of the co-creators of and appeared in the comedy series Moms Anonymous (Amazon Prime.) He is the creator of the upcoming audio drama podcast Uumbaji, starring J. Mallory McCree (Homeland, Good Trouble), produced by Raul Vega (Rose Drive), and recorded at famed film composer Hans Zimmer’s studio. He founded his production company Freaky Fighty Funny Films in order to create projects inspired by his love of horror, comic books, fantasy, kung fu movies, musicals, LGBT stories, mythology, and basically anything tied to geek culture from a queer perspective. He is the head writer, executive producer, and director of the first series under this banner, Demonhuntr, which is currently wrapping up principle photography.

Robert Rice is an LA-based actor and singer who spent several years performing in musical theater in New York City before moving to Los Angeles. He is a frequent guest artist on the Instagram series Wait What (@waitwhatcomedy) and makes frequent appearances in sketches by Youtube comedian David Spates. He and the rest of his barbershop quartet, The Accidentals, were recently featured in the national GEICO commercial A Barbershop Quartet Plays Basketball.

He has appeared on Pink Collar Crimes on CBS and Riggle’s Picks on Fox, as well as @Midnight and Mini-mocks on Comedy Central. He also recently performed alongside Vanessa Bayer and Jeff Goldblum on the Jenny Lewis On the Line telethon. Robert plays Harold, a gay telepath, in the upcoming series Demonhuntr. Robert is a producer on the board of Freaky Fighty Funny Films, and is dedicated to fostering new inclusive works in genre film.

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27Dec/19

2019 Authors Roundtable

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December 27, 2019

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Kim Fielding, LA (Lori) Gallagher Witt & FE Feeley Jr as the guests on Episode 248 – 2019 Authors Roundtable!

LA (Lori) Witt, Kim Fielding, Frederick Feeley, Jr, and SA “Baz” Collins are herded by Vance Bastian as they reflect on their careers, struggles writers face, and what we look forward to in the future. A great discussion for rounding out the year!

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Bio:

Kim Fielding has migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States and currently lives in California. She’s a university professor who dreams of being able to travel and write full-time. She also dreams of having two perfectly-behaved children, a husband who isn’t obsessed with football, and a house that cleans itself. Some dreams are more easily obtained than others.
Kim donates 100% of the royalties from her self-published stories and audiobooks to Doctors Without Borders.

L.A. Witt and her husband have been exiled from Spain and sent to live in Maine because rhymes are fun. She now divides her time between writing, assuring people she is aware that Maine is cold, wondering where to put her next tattoo, and trying to reason with a surly Maine coon. Rumor has it her arch nemesis, Lauren Gallagher, is also somewhere in the wilds of New England, which is why L.A. is also spending a portion of her time training a team of special ops lobsters. Authors Ann Gallagher and Lori A. Witt have been asked to assist in lobster training, but they “have books to write” and “need to focus on our careers” and “don’t you think this rivalry has gotten a little out of hand?” They’re probably just helping Lauren raise her army of squirrels trained to ride moose into battle.

F.E.Feeley Jr is married to his wonderful husband, John. Freddie is an avid reader of Mysteries, Horror, and Suspense, and biographies. He’s also a gamer. His favorites include Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Star Trek Online, Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed, Fallout, and Civilization Five. He LOVES to cook and dives into trying new recipes. He’s an avid music junkie from POPular music to Opera, to Showtunes, Gospel, Rock, Rap, and Hip Hop.

SA “Baz” Collins hails from the San Francisco Bay Area where he lives with his husband, and a kitten named Taki. A classically trained singer/actor (under a different name), Baz knows a good yarn when he sees it.
Based on years of his work as an actor, Baz specializes in character study pieces. It is more important for him that the reader comes away with a greater understanding of the characters and the reasons they make the decisions they do, rather than the situations they are in. It is this deep dive into their manners, their experiences and how they process the world around them that make up the body of Mr. Collins’ work.

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20Dec/19

Trebor Healey

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December 20, 2019


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Trebor Healey as the guest on Episode 247 – I Took All These Trips and I Didn’t Pay For Any Of It!

Trebor Healey shares his journey through Latin America, discusses his latest release, Falling, a collection of short stories, and touches on political, social, and economic issues and how they relate to queer life.

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Books Mentioned in this Episode:

Bio:

Trebor Healey is the recipient of a Lambda Literary award, two Publishing Triangle awards and a Violet Quill award. He is the author of three novels, A Horse Named Sorrow, Faun, and Through It Came Bright Colors; a book of poetry, Sweet Son of Pan; and two previous collections of stories, A Perfect Scar and Eros & Dust. He co-edited (with Marci Blackman) Beyond Definition: New Writing from Gay and Lesbian San Francisco and co-edited (with Amie M. Evans) Queer & Catholic.

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13Dec/19

Kit Thomas

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December 13, 2019


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Kit Thomas as the guest on Episode 246 – I Had My Own Parade!

Kit Thomas joins us for a deep discussion about growing up Native, finding art, the power of saying yes, creating works that fight for social justice, and a new project she is brainstorming to bridge the gap between Natives and Non-Natives via her art.

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Art Mentioned in this Episode:

Bio:

Kit Thomas is a Los Angeles based two-spirited visual artist, influencer, and drag performer. She has been honing her skills for the last decade. Her main focus is painting, and she also expresses herself through digital art. Marketing herself on social media has paved the way for many opportunities including showcasing with RAW Artists and being featured in a Jubilee Media video. As a two-spirit, Kit’s pronouns are she/her and he/him.

While dabbling with watercolor and acrylic, she has blended symbols from her indigenous roots and elements from her travels across the U.S. Kit is part of the wolf clan within the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe of Akwesasne. As a member of the Haudenosaunee alliance, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy, she grew up on the Akwesasne reservation located in both Canada and the U.S. Kit’s recent evolution from acrylic on canvas to digital art has given her another avenue for bringing awareness to important social issues.

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