10Jun/22

Veronica Carrera

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June 10, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Veronica Carrera as the guest on Season 7, Episode 23 – Veronica Carrera + Our Review of Tangerine!

Veronica Carrera joins us to discuss her memoir 140 Miles of Life: A Remarkable Journey to Self Acceptance & Love! We discuss how she framed her themes of immigration, loss, faith, identity, love, and self acceptance within the legs of her Ironman experience. Then Baz and Vance review Tangerine and share who won the week for them!

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Veronica’s story of triumphing over adversity, not only offers hope and inspiration for readers to discover true inner wisdom and acceptance but may save lives!

Hers is a story of love, loss, courage and healing.

Today, she is an avid triathlete and passionate advocate for human rights, a highly sought-after speaker and a successful sales leader at one of the top tech companies in the world. She is also the creator/producer of the LinkedIn Live show 30 Minutes of Wisdom-Rising in Consciousness & Mindfulness.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXcCdS_4lTI[/embedyt]

03Jun/22

Marcus James

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June 3, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Marcus James as the guest on Season 7, Episode 22 – Marcus James + Our Look at Queer Themes in the Star Trek Series!

Marcus James joins us to share his novel about sex, revenge, deceit, and affluenza – Where the Vile Things Are! Then Baz and Vance discuss queerness through the Star Trek series!

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Marcus James has been writing since the age of 5. At 17 he finished his first novel, and at 19 he was signed with his first literary agent. He’s been published in a dozen anthologies, and has published nine of his own novels – all of them varied and wonderful, filled with complex and engrossing people.

Marcus’ experience with conversion therapy at the age of 14 led to a lifelong activism for LGBTQ rights and sharing his story to help end clinical conversion therapy in Washington state.

He’s a horror FANATIC, and loves to cook. Marcus also loves his pets, history, music & live shows, and drinking champagne till he can’t take the bubbles anymore! Through his novels he hopes to always show that everyone can be a hero, everyone can save the world, even a fem gay boy with a swish in his step!

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEaLmv3t-SY[/embedyt]

20May/22

Tyler Boyle

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May 20, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Tyler Boyle as the guest on Season 7, Episode 20 – Tyler Boyle + Our Review of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil!

Tyler Boyle joins us to share his successes as an inspiring and energetic speaker and performer. He and Baz talk about the impact it can have when you share from the heart. Then Baz & I share our review of the older film “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”

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Spirit Artist – a term once used to describe Tyler’s niche in the visual world, now used to describe his uplifting and inspiring energy and performances.

Tyler is an entertainer, host/emcee, hype-guy and speaker. Since 2012, he has been working in the festivals and events industry as a dancer and hype-guy. In 2017, he was invited to perform at TEDx Collingwood then invited back the following year as host. He has also hosted various Pride events and his local chapter of the popular show Dragon’s Den. In 2019, Tyler participated in Speaker Slam, Canada’s #1 Inspirational Speaking Competition. His talk entitled, Sabotaging my Dating Life went viral after it was posted online.

Tyler is also a painter and sculptor specializing in Spirit Art where he explores the theme of masculinity and the gay male experience.

As an elementary school teacher, Tyler is a recipient of the 2020 Prime Minister’s Award of Teaching Excellence and the 2020 Elementary Teacher’s Federation of Ontario’s Award for Local Humanitarian. Additionally, Tyler is an EDGEucator and resource consultant for a progressive education company called Moving EDGEucation.

Currently, Tyler is working on expanding the Dreamwalkers Meditations project. Dreamwalkers is a mental health resource of guided meditations for youth in schools.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NONyKex2lRo[/embedyt]

13May/22

Greg Howard

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May 13, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Greg Howard as the guest on Season 7, Episode 19 – Greg Howard + Our Review of Latter Days!

Greg Howard joins us to share his recent novels, Middle School’s A Drag, You Better Werk! and The Visitors. We talk about writing for early adolescent readers in a way that opens conversations about life topics like self-discovery, racism, homophobia, bias, and forgiveness. Then Baz & I share our review of the older film “Latter Days.”

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Greg Howard was born and raised in the South Carolina Lowcountry where his love of stories blossomed at a young age. Following his songwriting dream to Nashville, Greg spent years producing the music of others before returning to his childhood passion for writing stories. His critically acclaimed, debut middle-grade novel, The Whispers was nominated for an Edgar Award and is currently being adapted for film. His second middle-grade novel, Middle School’s a Drag, You Better Werk! is being adapted for television by Harry Potter producer David Heyman, Heyday Television, and NBC/Universal.

Greg writes for and about LGBTQ youth, creating the kind of books he wishes he’d had access to as a young reader. When he’s not writing books, Greg enjoys traveling, reading, hiking, and spending time with friends. He lives in Nashville with his two rescued fur-babies—Molly and Riley.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOhqQS2i0O0[/embedyt]

06May/22

Laury A. Egan

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May 6, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Laury A. Egan as the guest on Season 7, Episode 14 – I Got to Write the Lyrics!

Laury A. Egan joins us to share her recent novels, Wave in D Minor and Doublecrossed. We talk about artistic solitude, sexual ambivalence, psychological suspense, and revenge!

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Laury A. Egan is a prolific author. She’s written young adult and adult fiction in multiple genres, including comedy, mystery, psychological suspense, and poetry… and many of her works seem to include the messy realism of romance. Living on the northern coast of New Jersey, she is also a fine arts photographer and former book designer.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nib8dkzZYQo[/embedyt]

29Apr/22

Todd Shewchuk

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April 29, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Todd Shewchuk as the guest on Season 7, Episode 17 – A Conversation Sparker!

Todd Shewchuk joins us to share his upcoming novel, A Family Divided. Baz and Vance also give their reviews of Our Flag Means Death, and then share what they’re reading, watching, and listening to!

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Todd Shewchuk was raised in a very Catholic household in Waukegan, Illinois, which was the inspiration for his novel, as he and his father have butted heads over the years about his homosexuality. The novel started off as a play in 2012. After meeting his now fiance Lee Pulaski, he was inspired to take the story deeper and turn it into a novel. Still in the editing process, Todd hopes to have the book out by this fall. Todd also has a small craft business called Creations By TS, you can also find him on Facebook, promoting health and wellness after a very dramatic 130 pound weight loss.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmVfmfhwu8k[/embedyt]

22Apr/22

Jeffrey Ricker

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April 22, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Jeffrey Ricker, J. Marshall Freeman, and ‘Nathan Burgoine as the guests on Season 7, Episode 16 – Oooh, Nerd Hot!

Jeffrey Ricker, J. Marshall Freeman, ‘Nathan Burgoine tag-team the show to introduce their latest work, Three Left Turns to Nowhere. Each has written a novella about a young man on his way to a sci-fi convention when Fate intervenes and strands them in Hopewell where they find that thing they didn’t know they needed. These three authors are so much fun, and it’s easy to see how well they worked together!

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Jeffrey Ricker is the author of Detours (2011) and the YA fantasy The Unwanted (2014). His stories and essays have appeared in Foglifter, Phoebe, Little Fiction, The Citron Review, The Saturday Evening Post, and others. A 2014 Lambda Literary Fellow and recipient of a 2015 Vermont Studio Center residency, he has an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and teaches creative writing at Webster University.

J. Marshall Freeman is a writer of novels, short stories, and poetry. He is the author of the young adult fantasy novel The Dubious Gift of Dragon Blood (2020) and the upcoming YA adventure Barnabas Bopwright Saves the City (May 2022). He is a two-time winner of the Saints+Sinners Fiction Contest (2017 and 2019), and lives in Toronto, Canada, with his husband and dog.

’Nathan Burgoine grew up a reader and studied literature in university while making a living as a bookseller. His first novel, Light, was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. Triad Blood and Triad Soul are also available from Bold Strokes Books, as is his YA novel Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks and his first collection, Of Echoes Born. For novella lovers, In Memoriam, Handmade Holidays, Faux Ho Ho, Village Fool, and A Little Village Blend are shorter queer romances (often with a dash of speculative fiction). A cat lover, ’Nathan managed to fall in love and marry Daniel, who is a confirmed dog person. They live in Ottawa, Canada—with their rescued husky, in case you were wondering how the cat-dog thing turned out.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0eWRLS54is[/embedyt]

15Apr/22

James Moran

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April 15, 2022


It gives us great pleasure to welcome James K. Moran back as the guest on Season 7, Episode 15: Dramatic Shenanigans!

James K. Moran returns to share his latest work, the anthology of retold fairy tales Burly Tales, and tease his upcoming Fear Itself. Along the way we talk about love, loss, joy, horror, fairy tales, and the life of a writer and editor.

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Ottawa author James K. Moran’s speculative fiction and poetry have appeared in Canadian, American and British publications including Icarus, On Spec and Glitterwolf. His poetry recently appeared in Another Dysfunctional Cancer Poem Anthology (Mansfield Press) and Bywords. Moran’s articles have appeared via CBC Radio, Daily Xtra and Rue Morgue. 

As an editor, he proofread Burly Tales: Fairy Tales for the Hirsute and Hefty Gay Man (Lethe Press, August 2021). His upbeat post-pandemic story, “Three, to the Swizz’!” is original to the anthology.

Lethe Press published his horror novel, Town & Train. Moran’s first short-story collection, Fear Itself, is due out from Lethe Press in 2022.

In 2012, he founded the Little Workshop of Horrors, an Ottawa-based writers’ group that carves speculative and literary work into the shape it is meant to be. Moran also runs Queer Speculations, a writers’ group that workshops queer-themed stories from far and wide. He blogs at jameskmoran.blogspot.ca.

Moran lives on the unceded Territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation, now called Ottawa, a word derived from the Algonquin adawe, meaning “to trade”.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdZE5cEd3Gs[/embedyt]

July 28, 2017


It gives us great pleasure to announce James Moran as the guest on Episode 122: Horror was My First Love!

This week James K. Moran joins us to discuss his novel, Town & Train, blogging and short fiction, why speculative fiction characters need to mirror real people, and starting his own writer’s group.

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Bio:

Ottawa author James K. Moran’s fiction and poetry have appeared in various Canadian, American and British publications, including Glitterwolf, Icarus, On Spec and The Rolling Darkness Revue. A longtime contributor to what is now Daily Xtra, Moran’s articles have also appeared via CBC Radio, the Ottawa Citizen and Rue Morgue. In 2012, he founded the Little Workshop of Horrors, an Ottawa-based writers’ group. The workshop carves speculative and literary work into the shape it is meant to be. He blogs at jameskmoran.blogspot.ca. Town & Train (published by Lethe Press in November 2014) is his debut horror novel.

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08Apr/22

Bud Gundy

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April 8, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Bud Gundy as the guest on Season 7, Episode 14 – Geez Louise!

Bud Gundy teases the release of his upcoming generation-spanning mystery, Inherit the Lightning. We talk about the treasures to be uncovered while writing, as well as the universality of stories depicting the diversity between generations.

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Bud Gundy is Lambda Literary Award finalist and an Executive Producer and on-air host at KQED, the PBS and NPR affiliate for Northern California. In 2003, he received an Emmy Award for producing the documentary Lonely Island: Hidden Alcatraz. He won his second Emmy Award in 2016 for directing the KQED News special, State of Surveillance. He’s been nominated for two other works.

Bud grew up in North Olmsted, Ohio, a western suburb of Cleveland. He attended St. Edward High School, graduating in 1982, followed by five years at Cleveland State University where he earned a degree in Political Science.

He began his television career in 1983 as the Program Director at the Nationality Broadcasting Network in Lakewood, Ohio, a job which has given him a lifetime of funny stories to share. Following that, he worked as a Desk Assistant, Associate Producer and Producer for the various newscasts at WKYC, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio. The stories from Channel 3 aren’t as funny, but perhaps more illuminating. After stints as a business reporter and a marketing executive in Northern California, he joined San Francisco’s KQED in 1994, and loves the environment and dedication to the audience at PBS and NPR. You can see and hear him on-the-air, asking for support during those annoying pledge drives.

His latest novel, Inherit the Lightning, will be published by Bold Strokes Books on May 1, 2022. It features a mystery at the heart of a family saga spanning 140 years.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8y-ag3GVo8[/embedyt]

01Apr/22

Candas Jane Dorsey

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April 1, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Candas Jane Dorsey as the guest on Season 7, Episode 13 – If You Read This Your Head Will Explode!

Candas Jane Dorsey shares her wise-cracking, grammar-obsessed, pansexual amateur sleuth from her The Adventures of Isabel and What’s the Matter with Mary Jane? crime novels AND her intersex teen from her The Story of My Life Ongoing, by CS Cobb young adult novel. She also can’t help teasing a masterclass in harnessing her passion for advocacy and using it to guide her writing.

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Candas Jane Dorsey is an internationally-known author of sci-fi, Y/A, and contemporary novels, poetry, short stories, reviews, and critical essays. She has received a variety of awards and honours for her books and short fiction.
Dorsey is a partner in Wooden Door & Associates, a professional communications consulting company in Edmonton since 1992, providing writing, editing, and consulting for private, public and non-profit clients. At WDA, Dorsey was the co-author of several significant reports including The Report of the Review Panel on the Alberta Human Rights Commission, Cultural Diversity in the Workplace, and Children’s Interactive Television in Canada. She has written screenplays and educational television scripts. She was editor/publisher for ten years of the arts newspaper The Edmonton Bullet and for fourteen years of literary press The Books Collective, including River Books and Tesseract Books.
She teaches writing to adults and youth, has been teaching at universities and continuing education since 1983, and at MacEwan University since before it was a university, where she now teaches in the Bachelor of Communications programme. She also speaks widely on writing, speculative fiction, and other topics.
She was founding president of SFCanada, and has been president of the Writers Guild of Alberta. Her awards include the Province of Alberta Centennial Gold Medal for her artistic achievement and community work, and the WGA Golden Pen Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Literary Arts, the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, YWCA Woman of the Year Arts and Culture, and an Edmonton Arts Achievement Award. And in 2019 she was inducted into the City of Edmonton Arts and Cultural Hall of Fame.
Candas is also a community activist, advocate and leader who has won two human rights awards and served on many community boards and committees working for neighbourhoods, heritage, social planning, equality of policing, and human rights advocacy. And she also makes time to be a visual artist.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAtUhZuq1Pg[/embedyt]