Category Archives: Show Notes

17Mar/17

Susan Mac Nicol and Nicholas Downs

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March 17, 2017


It gives us great pleasure to announce Susan Mac Nicol and Nicholas Downs as the guests on episode 103: It’s All Part of a Very Big Journey!

This week writing duo Susan Mac Nicol and Nicholas Downs join us to talk about their new novel Sight Unseen, working as a writing team, and converting the idea of a screenplay into a novel.

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Bios:

Susan Mac Nicol is a self-confessed bookaholic, an avid watcher of videos of sexy pole dancing men, geek, nerd and in love with her Smartphone. This little treasure is called ‘the boyfriend’ by her long suffering husband, who says if it vibrated, there’d be no need for him. Susan hasn’t had the heart to tell him there’s an app for that…

She is never happier than when sitting in the confines of her living room/study/on a cold station platform scribbling down words and making two men fall in love. She is a romantic at heart and believes that everything happens (for the most part) for a reason. She likes to think of herself as a ‘half full’ kinda gal, although sometimes that philosophy is sorely tested.

In an ideal world, Susan Mac Nicol would be Queen of England and banish all the bad people to the Never Never Lands of Wherever -Who Cares. As that’s never going to happen, she contents herself with writing her HEA stories and pretending, that just for a little while, good things happen to good people.

Sue is a PAN member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and their Rainbow Romance Writers chapter.

Nicholas Downs is a successful film, television and stage actor, who has also appeared in many national television ads. Originally from a small town in Iowa, Nicholas is one of ten children. He fell in love with acting the moment he first discovered a stage and has been working on his craft ever since.

His feature film roles include both Hollywood blockbusters Pearl Harbor, The Girl Next Door, Constantine, and The Holiday as well as award-winning indie features 16 to Life, The Awakening of Spring and Anderson’s Cross. Nicholas can be seen on hit television shows including NCIS: Los Angeles, Castle, Cold Case, Boston Public, The Young and the Restless, The Guardian, Make it or Break it and the recent Lifetime Movie, Beautiful and Twisted.

This has been a busy few years for Nicholas, who was cast in leading roles in the feature films, Is It Just Me? (winner of numerous festival awards) – and The Apocalypse… According to Doris. He has traveled internationally to promote Is It Just Me? and 16 to Life at several film festivals (Palm Springs International Film Festival, Polar Lights International Film Festival, Asheville Film Festival). In Detroit, Is It Just Me? won Best Feature at the DIFF and in Hawaii it won the prestigious Rainbow Award.

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10Mar/17

Brandon Witt

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March 10, 2017


It gives us great pleasure to announce Brandon Witt returning as the guest on episode 102: Behind Hamburger Mary!

This week Brandon Witt returns to talk about his new series Mary’s Boys, working with Hamburger Mary, singing up on Patreon, and his look forward at writing in the mainstream.

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Bio:

Brandon Witt is many things. Above all, he is living the dream. After years of writing and reaching for the stars, he is a published author through Dreamspinner Press. Thus far, his novels include The Shattered Door, Then the Stars Fall, and three installments of the Men of Myth series. Also, he has short stories published in various anthologies.

For the first eighteen years of life, Brandon lived in a small Ozark town, El Dorado Springs, Missouri before moving with his family to Colorado. There he got degrees in Youth Ministry and Special Education and worked as a counselor and special education teacher for fifteen years.

The tension of his religious upbringing and being a gay man finds its way onto nearly every page in his novels, as does experiences that over a decade of loving children who have faced much abuse and many struggles. Reflecting what he has discovered to be true in life, Brandon’s writing does not shy away from challenges and conflict but also revels in the joy that can only happen when truly embracing and loving all that life has to offer.

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June 5, 2015

ThenTheStarsFall-sm It gives us great pleasure to announce Brandon Witt as the guest on episode 003!
Join us as we ply him with more than twenty questions. He talks about how his roots influence his work and worldbuilding. We then get into it about the reality of being gay vs. the fiction.Then The Stars Fell on Amazon
Submerging Inferno on AmazonFollow Brandon on your favorite social site:

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03Mar/17

Nancy Beranek

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March 3, 2017


It gives us great pleasure to announce Nancy Beranek as the guest on episode 101: Look at the Refrigerator Magnets!

This week Nancy Beranek joins us to talk about her vampire novel Angels Fall, gay fiction vs. m/m fiction, her work editing The Role, her new novel review project, and the frightening backward turn the country is now taking.

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Bio:

Born and raised in Chicago, N.S. Beranek received a B.A. in technical theater and design and was an assistant propmaster in regional theater for twenty years. Previous publications include Saints & Sinners 2013 and 2014: New Fiction from the Festival (Bold Strokes Books) and Best Gay Romance 2014 (Cleis Press).

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17Feb/17

Brad Vance

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February 17, 2017


It gives us great pleasure to announce Brad Vance as the guest on episode 098: No Heads in the Sand!

This week triple-threat author/playwrite/narrator Brad Vance returns to talk about his latest audiobooks, his foray into acting and screenwriting, his new book, and the M/M writer’s obligation to stand up to Trump.

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Bio:

Podcast alumnus Brad Vance writes romance, erotica, and science fiction (the latter as Adam Vance). He offers freelance editorial work, and he narrates his own audiobooks.

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June 24, 2016

altbsticker gtcnewbaskerville It gives us great pleasure to announce Brad Vance returning as the guest on episode 063: Dan Brown, You’re My Bitch!
Join us as we discuss his past year’s journey, his recent trip to EuroPrideCon2016 (where Brad was a featured panelist!), the importance of research when writing about tougher subject matter (mental illness or homophobia, for example), making the shift from MM Romance/Erotica to more mainstream fare, reader expectations and author responsibilities in crafting novels and stories.You can buy Brad’s work here:

Check out Brad’s audiobook samples here:

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Bio:

Brad Vance is the author of, among other books, A Little Too Broken and Given the Circumstances, and he writes Science Fiction under the name Adam Vance. An audiobook version of A Little Too Broken, narrated by the author, is now available at all fine retailers, with more audiobooks coming soon.

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May 26, 2015

It gives us great pleasure to announce Brad Vance as the guest on episode 002!

BradVance_reasonably_smallJoin us as we ply him with more than twenty questions. Using his own career as an example, he shares his thoughts on Traditional vs. Self-Publishing. We then ask him about his current work, and he talks about the inspiration and research that led him to write Would I Lie To You?

Buy your copy on Amazon

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03Feb/17

Arshad Ahsanuddin

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February 3, 2017

It gives us great pleasure to announce Arshad Ahsanuddin as the guest on episode 096: Write to Let the Demons Out

This week Arshad Ahsanuddin joins the show to talk about his two series Pact Arcanum and Interscission, how his background led to his stories, gay romance themes in science-fiction/fantasy, and the joys of managing all the self-publishing tasks.

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Bio:

Arshad is a hematopathologist living in Canada. The irony of a physician who specializes in blood disease creating a series of vampire novels has been remarked upon by roughly every person he has ever met.

He’s always been fascinated by the creative arts, and has dabbled in various media from poetry to prose, film photography to digital design. The idea for the Pact Arcanum Saga has been kicking around in his head for over ten years. Why vampires? Because Joss Whedon made them popular back then, just like Stephanie Meyer has now. The story was a product of its times, and he created it purely for fun, never intending to write it down.

He had always wanted to write a novel, though, and started with the story that he had played around with in his head for so long. Purely for practice, you understand. It wasn’t until the words were on paper that he realized how complex and detailed the story had grown. The people he showed it to pushed him into adapting it for publication, and here we all are. It has been an enjoyable obsession and a labor of love.

 

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27Jan/17

Joe Okonkwo

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January 27, 2017

It gives us great pleasure to announce Joe Okonkwo as the guest on episode 095: The Greatest Love of All

This week Joe Okonkwo joins the show to talk about his book Jazz Moon, how he captured historic Harlem and his writing process.

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Bio:

Joe Okonkwo’s debut novel Jazz Moon, set against the backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance and glittering Jazz Age Paris, was published by Kensington Books in 2016. David Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl and The 19th Wife has called Jazz Moon “A passionate, alive, and original novel about love, race, and jazz in 1920s Harlem and Paris — a moving story of traveling far to find oneself.”

His short stories have appeared in Promethean, Penumbra, Cooper Street, Storychord, LGBTsr.org, Chelsea Station, Shotgun Honey, Best Gay Stories 2015, Best Gay Love Stories 2009, and Keep This Bag Away From Children.

His short story “Cleo” was nominated for a 2015 Pushcart Prize.

Upcoming work will appear in The New Engagement and Gossamer Valentine Stories 2017.

Joe is Prose Editor for Newtown Literary, a journal featuring work by writers from Queens, New York, and Editor of Best Gay Stories 2017 published by Lethe Press.

A cum laude graduate of the University of Houston with a B.A. in theater, Joe made his living in theater for a number of years as an actor, stage manager, director, playwright, and youth theater instructor.

He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from City College of New York.

Joe Okonkwo is represented by the Baldi Literary Agency.

He is a proud resident of the New York City borough of Queens.

 

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20Jan/17

Scott Alexander Hess

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January 20, 2017

It gives us great pleasure to announce Scott Alexander Hess as the guest on episode 094: I Know It’s Not a Tweet… But…

This week Scott Alexander Hess joins the show to talk about his writing, reviews, switching between genres and audience reach.

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Bio:

Scott Alexander Hess earned his MFA in creative writing from The New School. He blogs for The Huffington Post and his writing has appeared in Genre Magazine, The Fix, and elsewhere. Hess co-wrote Tom in America, an award winning short film starring Sally Kirkland and Burt Young. His novel The Butcher’s Sons was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2015. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Hess now lives in Manhattan, New York with his partner.

 

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13Jan/17

Michael Jensen

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January 13, 2017

It gives us great pleasure to announce Michael Jensen as the guest on episode 093: Plans for the Blue Hoodie!

This week Michael Jensen joins the show to talk about his start as a journalist, the evolution of LGBT voices, historical figures in fiction, and self publishing.

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Bio:

Michael Jensen is an author and editor. His books of gay historical fiction include two series, The Drowning World, which is set in 5500 B.C., and The Savage Land, which takes place on the American frontier. Man & Monster, the second book in The Savage Land series, was a Lambda Award Finalist (under the title Firelands).

Michael is also the co-founder of AfterElton.com, which covered pop culture for gay and bisexual men, and eventually became one of the largest and most influential LGBT websites on the internet. In 2006, AfterElton.com was sold to MTV/Viacom in a multimillion dollar deal. As editor, Michael interviewed hundreds of writers, directors, and actors, breaking numerous stories and advancing the issue of LGBT visibility in Hollywood.

Michael lives in Seattle, WA with his husband, writer Brent Hartinger.

 

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06Jan/17

2017 The Year of Personal Inspiration

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For Episode 092 SA Collins and Vance Bastian say goodbye to 2016, discuss the impact that some of the lost celebrities had on them, and then welcome in 2017 with a commitment to be inspired!

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23Dec/16

Jeff Mann – Southern Charm

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December 23, 2016

It gives us great pleasure to announce Jeff Mann as the guest on episode 091: Southern Charm!

This week Jeff Mann joins the show to talk about his journey from poetry through creative non-fiction and balancing gay identity with Southern/Appalachian identity.

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Bio:

Jeff Mann grew up in Covington, Virginia, and Hinton, West Virginia, receiving degrees in English and forestry from West Virginia University. His poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in many publications, including Arts and Letters, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, Willow Springs, The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, Crab Orchard Review, and Appalachian Heritage.

He has published three award-winning poetry chapbooks, Bliss, Mountain Fireflies, and Flint Shards from Sussex; five full-length books of poetry, Bones Washed with Wine, On the Tongue, Ash: Poems from Norse Mythology, A Romantic Mann, and Rebels; two collections of personal essays, Edge: Travels of an Appalachian Leather Bear and Binding the God: Ursine Essays from the Mountain South; three novellas, Devoured, included in Masters of Midnight: Erotic Tales of the Vampire,Camp Allegheny, included in History’s Passion: Stories of Sex Before Stonewall, and The Saga of Einar and Gisli, included in On the Run: Tales of Gay Pursuit and Passion; four novels, Fog: A Novel of Desire and Reprisal, which won the Pauline Réage Novel Award, Purgatory: A Novel of the Civil War, which won a Rainbow Award, Cub, and Salvation: A Novel of the Civil War; a book of poetry and memoir, Loving Mountains, Loving Men; and two volumes of short fiction, Desire and Devour: Stories of Blood and Sweat and A History of Barbed Wire, which won a Lambda Literary Award.

In 2013, he was inducted into the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival Hall of Fame. He teaches creative writing at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

 

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https://soundcloud.com/wrotepodcast/jeff-mann-ep91-southern-charm