It gives us great pleasure to welcome Marcus Tallberg as the guest on Season 6, Episode 44 – So That’s Fika!
Marcus Tallberg joins us to share his novels My Queer Teen Life and Being Alice, and we cover a range of topics including international publishing, telling own-voices stories, and writing authentic stories about characters who identify differently than the author!
The young, Swedish entrepreneur Marcus Tallberg is a multifaceted man. He’s a writer, a publisher, a lecturer and an inspirer. Marcus is specifically dedicated to issues related to mental illness, minorities, sexuality and gender identity.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Roger from the National LGBT Help Center as the guest on Season 6, Episode 42 – It’s Okay to Have Questions
Roger from the National LGBT Help Center and Hotline joins us to share the scrappy DIY history of the Help Center, inform us of the services they offer, and point out they are a great first step if you have any questions related to orientation, identity, safer-sex practices, bullying, family concerns, relationships, and so much more!
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Bio:
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) National Help Center, founded in 1996, is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization that provides vital peer-support, community connections and resource information to people with questions regarding sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Utilizing a diverse group of LGBT volunteers, we operate three national hotlines, the LGBT National Hotline, the LGBT National Youth Talkline, and the LGBT National Senior Hotline as well as private, volunteer one-to-one online chat, that helps both youth and adults with coming-out issues, safer-sex information, school bullying, family concerns, relationship problems and a lot more.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Rue Sparks as the guest on Season 6, Episode 40 – A Bit of a Weird Genre!
Rue Sparks joins us to share their upcoming novel, The Fable of Wren. We also talk about loss, grief, genre, and the normalcy of non-binary and genderqueer characters.
A widow, disabled, and a member of the queer community, Rue Sparks traverses the equally harsh and cathartic landscape where trauma and healing align to create stories that burrow into the hearts and minds of their readers. In addition to The Stars Will Guide Us Back, Sparks has authored the novella Daylight Chasers, writes the web serial The Dragon Warden, and will be releasing the contemporary mystery novel The Fable of Wren later in 2021. They live in Noblesville, Indiana in the USA with their sweet senior support dog and still draw and paint when they’re physically able.
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It gives us great pleasure to welcome The Taste Curators – Lish Steiling and Abbey Cook as the guests on Season 6, Episode 39 – Out To Inspire!
Lish Steiling and Abbey Cook share how they merge food, fashion and design to build emotional experiences through their new brand – The Taste Curators!
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For over 24 years, Lish Steiling has worked in the culinary arts. For the past seven years she held the position of VP of Culinary Operations and Production for the celebrity chef, Giada De Laurentiis. While working in this role, Lish won an ‘Outstanding Culinary Program’ Emmy for being the culinary producer for Giada Entertains.
Lish’s career started in restaurants before she expanded to food styling and recipe development for places such as Food Network, New York Times, Gourmet magazine and the Today Show.
She competed on the TV show, Chopped, and walked away with the win. Lish has also been featured in the book Chef’s Ink and Elle Sweden magazine for her unique food tattoos and recipes. She was recently a guest judge on Food Network’s Vegas Chef Prizefight. Lish is currently a culinary consultant, food stylist, culinary instructor and contributor to Giadzy. Lish has also been a repeated guest on the Epicurious YouTube series called “Pro Chef vs. Home Cook” and will have a new episode coming out soon.
Abbey Cook has been a trend forecaster for over 15 years and has traveled to 50+ countries in order to seek out and create lifestyle and fashion trends. She sees the big picture and connects emerging ideas in culture that are created into understandable stories for the future.
Abbey has predicted some of the most influential trends and social movements of the past decade including the hipster effect and the rise of skinny jeans. She was also a key player in creating the cult color that defined a generation, Millennial Pink. She has presented her research and forecasts to Fortune 500 companies around the world. As a keynote speaker she has been featured at international trade shows in Paris, Shanghai and Medellin.
Abbey developed her career in Paris designing fabrics for Chanel and Jean Paul Gaultier at the textile atelier, Malhia Kent. She has worked at Martha Stewart Living, Kohler, The Color Association of the U.S. and Cotton Incorporated. She is currently a consultant, creating custom fashion and design forecasts for trend, experiential marketing and branding agencies. She has also recently been a repeated guest lecturer on trend forecasting at The School of New York Times.
Together they are working on building our new brand The Taste Curators, where we are merging food, fashion and design.
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It gives us great pleasure to welcome Blake Allwood back as the guest on Season 6, Episode 38 – Playing In The Weeds!
Blake Allwood returns to share the final in his Romantic Renovations series, the announcement of his Coming Home series, and invite you to his F.U. Covid virtual party!
Blake Allwood was born in west TN, then moved to Kansas City MO after attending college in Iowa. He met his husband in 1995 and they officially married in 2015, once the United States legalized gay marriage.
In 2017, he and his husband sold their home, purchased an RV and began traveling the country with their two dogs. Their travels provide the inspiration and settings for many of his novels.
Typically, Blake can be found writing in the RV or by the fire with his laptop and their Jack Russell Terrier, Buddy, curled up between his legs or demanding his attention. Denver, their Siberian Husky mix is often asleep at his feet or playing tug of war with Blake’s husband.
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May 28, 2021
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Blake Allwood as the guest on Season 6, Episode 21 – From An Authentic Place
Blake Allwood drops in to share his latest book Love’s Legacy. We dive into M/M Romance written by gay men and discuss selling everything to live the RV life.
Blake Allwood was born in west TN, then moved to Kansas City MO after attending college in Iowa. He met his husband in 1995 and they officially married in 2015, once the United States legalized gay marriage.
In 2017, he and his husband sold their home, purchased an RV and began traveling the country with their two dogs. Their travels provide the inspiration and settings for many of his novels.
Typically, Blake can be found writing in the RV or by the fire with his laptop and their Jack Russell Terrier, Buddy, curled up between his legs or demanding his attention. Denver, their Siberian Husky mix is often asleep at his feet or playing tug of war with Blake’s husband.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Anthony Hand as the guest on Season 6, Episode 36 – She’s Dyna Bolical!
Anthony Hand shares the kickoff of his Maxxie La Wow – Drag Super-Shero project with us. He talks about the inspiration for a drag hero and shares the kickstarter where you can be a part of it all happening!
Anthony Hand is a product designer and former entrepreneur in Silicon Valley where he puts his storytelling skills to use on a daily basis. Anthony has seen every season of RuPaul’s Drag Race since Season 1, frequents local and national cabaret and theater, and is a recovering comic book geek. Drag legend Dina Martina is his spirit totem. Anthony is the president of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.
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It gives us great pleasure to welcome Alex Woolfson as the guest on Season 6, Episode 35 – An Unlimited Special Effects Budget!
Alex Woolfson joins us to talk comics for people like us. He introduces us to his Artifice and The Young Protectors projects, and then gives a masterclass on working with artists!
Alex writes and publishes gay male action-romance comics for cool people. As a gay kid growing up, he never got to see what he wanted to see – science-fiction and action stories with heroes, real heroes, who just happened to like other guys. So, after a successful career as a filmmaker, he started making these comics. In particular, he wants to make comics that are just as good as what the straight boys get, but for us. Now, with the support of readers on Patreon, it’s his full-time job! He also loves to talk about sci-fi, productivity apps and other geeky stuff.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Luke Miller as the guest on Season 6, Episode 33 – Unabashed World-Builders Disease!
Luke Miller from Greycastle Press brings his project Journey to us. It’s a tool for helping writers, gamers, and world-builders of all types envision their worlds.
Luke Miller is a writer, game designer, and software developer who lives in sunny California with his fiancé Roman and their two corgis, Luna and Sol. He has had a lifelong passion for fantasy and science fiction, and has recently discovered a love for tabletop roleplaying games.
After exploring the world of TTRPG’s as a player and game master, Luke was struck by the game design bug and quickly jumped into the creation of his first game: Journey. Through this process, he learned many lessons on what to do… and, more importantly, what not to do.
In addition to designing his next games, Luke is writing content on the Graycastle Press Journal where he talks about running tabletop roleplaying games, concepts in game design, writing fiction, and more.
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It gives us great pleasure to welcome David R. Slayton back as the guest on Season 6, Episode 32 – A Sort of Gritty Pride!
David R. Slayton returns to share the sequel to his novel White Trash Warlock. Preorders for Trailer Park Trickster are up now. We go over character points of view, and the importance of writing stories that have personal meaning for the author.
David R. Slayton grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where finding fantasy novels was pretty challenging and finding fantasy novels with diverse characters was downright impossible. Now he lives in Denver, Colorado and writes the books he always wanted to read.
In addition to writing, David is a regular presenter and speaker on writing. He has appeared on panels at Denver Pop Culture Con and taught workshops the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, the League of Utah Writers Quills Conference, and the Seymour Agency Winter Retreat. He also regularly speaks to library and high school audiences.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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January 10, 2020
It gives us great pleasure to welcome David R. Slayton as the guest on Episode 250 – A Bloody Little Windup Toy!
David R. Slayton joins us for a great conversation about his upcoming work, White Trash Warlock. It’s a laugh-laden exploration of his philosophy about queer writing, own voices, allies and publishing in general. PLUS! We have the longest blooper/outtake in WROTE’s history! Well worth the listen.
David Slayton grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where finding fantasy novels was pretty challenging and finding fantasy novels with diverse characters was downright impossible. Now he lives in Denver, Colorado and writes the books he always wanted to read.
In addition to writing, he has taught workshops and appeared on panels at Denver Comic Con, the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, the League of Utah Writers Quills Conference, and the Seymour Agency Winter Retreat.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Steve Beeferman as the guest on Season 6, Episode 30 – A Little Porn Cheap Fun Thing!
Steve Beeferman came to us with this question: “After 3 published books and one self-published, if no one reads your stuff, can you still call yourself an author?” We explore the other side of writing, finding peace when your work doesn’t hit your goals.
Steve Beeferman came to us with a question: “After 3 published books and one self-published, a question remains: if no one reads your stuff, can you still call yourself an author?”
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Marcus Tallberg as the guest on Season 6, Episode 44 – So That’s Fika!
