It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 23: Chris Holcombe!
Chris Holcombe shares his latest Hidden Gothem novels: The Naughty List (standalone short) and The Big Timer (book 4). We discuss the evolution of his novels, more queer Harlem history, the Rainbow Readers Cruise, and Chris’s park walks.
Bio:
Chris Holcombe is the author of the Hidden Gotham series, LGBTQ+ noir that readers call “Honest-to-goodness pulp fiction at its gayest and most glamorous!”
Set in the Queer clubs of 1920s NYC, Hidden Gotham exposes and explores that fabulous yet gritty life during The Decade That Roared.
Chris’s work features engaging characters, whip-smart dialogue, and page-turning plots. He also infuses real Queer history and at least one “seriously, WTF?!” Prohibition factoid into every book. All written in an immersive, atmospheric writing style.
He is currently hard at work on his next book, and he asks that you send gin and chocolate for encouragement.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
June 14, 2024
It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 23 Interview – Chris Holcombe
Chris Holcombe returns to share his Hidden Gotham series. He then teases the upcoming book 4, and shares his Pride Month Short Story!
Chris Holcombe is the author of LGBTQ+ historical crime fiction called The Hidden Gotham Series, which showcases New York’s lively but criminally under-represented queer world of the 1920s. His first novel The Double Vice was released in 2021 to great acclaim, with Queer Writers of Crime calling it “one of the best I’ve read all year! I can’t recommend it highly enough!” His second novel The Blind Tiger was released in 2022, and it continues the story of gay speakeasy owner Dash Parker and his Queer friends in Greenwich Village and in Harlem. Readers heralded it as “honest-to-goodness pulp fiction at its gayest and most glamorous!” The third novel in the series The Devil Card was released in 2023, with readers saying it was Holcombe’s best one yet. He is currently hard at work plotting and planning the next Hidden Gotham novel. He asks that you send gin and chocolate for encouragement.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
June 16, 2023
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 8, Episode 25: Chris Holcombe + Our Review of ABC’s “Soul of a Nation: The Freedom to Exist!”
Chris Holcombe brings his fun energy as we talk about The Devil Card, the third in his Hidden Gotham series. We discuss his diverse cast and the real-world WTF facts from queer and prohibition history that shaped his setting. Then Baz and Vance rate and review ABC’s important “Soul of a Nation: The Freedom to Exist” and close by sharing who won their weeks!
Bio:
Chris Holcombe is the author of LGBTQ+ historical crime fiction called The Hidden Gotham Series, which showcases New York’s lively but criminally under-represented queer world of the 1920s.
He asks that you send gin and chocolate for encouragement.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 12: Lee Pulaski!
Lee Pulaski returns with his latest novel Murder of a Midnight Marriage. We discuss being in the public light, the masks of personality, and the chaos of weddings!
Bio:
Living in the real world was never a long-term plan for Lee Pulaski. He spent many a day imagining bold adventures and playing them out in the quiet countryside of Chino Valley, Arizona. Lee was first published in high school for writing about the news and telling compelling feature stories about people. And while Lee’s still a working journalist today, his excitement for writing mystery, romance, and fantasy inspired him to write his first novel in 2006 after a particularly breathtaking autumn…
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
August 1, 2025
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 10, Episode 29: Lee Pulaski!
Lee Pulaski shares his latest novel We Ride at Brunch. We discuss found family and whether friends can become lovers. Then we peek into the state of LGBTQ book events.
Bio:
Living in the real world was never a long-term plan for Lee Pulaski. He spent many a day imagining bold adventures and playing them out in the quiet countryside of Chino Valley, Arizona. Lee was first published in high school for writing about the news and telling compelling feature stories about people. And while Lee’s still a working journalist today, his excitement for writing mystery, romance, and fantasy inspired him to write his first novel in 2006 after a particularly breathtaking autumn…
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
December 20, 2024
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 9, Episode 49: Lee Pulaski!
Lee Pulaski returns to share the latest novel in his Chino Valley series: Miss Phoenix Goes Deliciously Mad. We then discuss writing current hot-topics into romance novels, like drag queen story hour and mentoring youth through their coming out. He also shares the release of his anthology: Fables From the Other Side of The Rainbow, wherein you’ll find stories like finding grandpa’s love letters to another man, and a DJ who returns a missing cat only to be happily rewarded.
Bio:
Stories are like potato chips. Lee Pulaski cannot write just one.
Lee’s journey of writing books started in 2006, but his love of writing and reading was born much earlier. He learned to read at age 3½, a fact his proud mother will tell anyone anytime and anywhere. That love of reading soon turned into a desire to write, ranging from short stories for school to three-act plays that include one that was produced when Lee was in high school.
Lee’s motivation to write was born by not seeing characters that were like him in the books he absorbed. Since he couldn’t find stories about two men finding their happily ever after, he chose to provide that himself. At the time, Lee was sadly single, so the books helped to provide form to his dreams of finding a suitable gentleman. Even after finding his sweetheart, Todd, the love stories haven’t stopped.
Even with his relocation to Wisconsin in 2011, part of him remembers his hometown fondly, prompting him to “go home again” and write love stories based in Chino Valley, Arizona. In those stories, Lee seeks to push boundaries with those books, tackling topics like gay fatherhood and coping with family members in the fierce grip of alcoholism, as well as writing about runaway drag queens and furries.
When he finds himself in a rare moment of not writing, he likes to travel around Wisconsin with Todd, checking out street art and out-of-the-way restaurants, among other things, as well as spending some quality time with the latest litter of Australian Shepherd puppies his mother raises.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
February 2, 2024
It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 5 Interview – Lee Pulaski
Lee Pulaski returns to share his recent books, Heartsong of the Lonesome Road, and The Tragic Tale of Tabby and Henny. After diving into those, we discuss his upcoming works, which include a mystery, a fantasy, an anthology and a drag queen.
Living in the real world was never a long-term plan for Lee Pulaski. He spent many a day imagining bold adventures and playing them out in the quiet countryside of Chino Valley, Arizona. Lee was first published in high school for writing about the news and telling compelling feature stories about people. And while Lee’s still a working journalist today, his excitement for writing mystery, romance, and fantasy inspired him to write his first novel in 2006 after a particularly breathtaking autumn…
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 8, Episode 23: Lee Pulaski + our “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” review!
Lee Pulaski returns with his audiobook White Christmas in the Desert, which he proudly gets to label “narrated by the author!” Then Baz and Vance rate and review The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and close by sharing who won their weeks!
Bio:
Living in the real world was never a long-term plan for Lee Pulaski. He spent many a day imagining bold adventures and playing them out in the quiet countryside of Chino Valley, Arizona. Lee was first published in high school for writing about the news and telling compelling feature stories about people. And while Lee’s still a working journalist today, his excitement for writing mystery, romance, and fantasy inspired him to write his first novel in 2006 after a particularly breathtaking autumn…
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 7, Episode 34: Lee Pulaski + Our Review of Uncoupled!
Lee Pulaski returns to share his latest novel, The Night of the Hodag. We discuss writing supernatural investigations, the importance of writing non-traditional relationships (three men in this case), incorporating local lore into writing, and the importance of local writing groups. Then Baz and Vance review Uncoupled and share who won the week for them!
Bio:
Living in the real world was never a long-term plan for Lee Pulaski. He spent many a day imagining bold adventures and playing them out in the quiet countryside of Chino Valley, Arizona. Lee was first published in high school for writing about the news and telling compelling feature stories about people. And while Lee’s still a working journalist today, his excitement for writing mystery, romance, and fantasy inspired him to write his first novel in 2006 after a particularly breathtaking autumn…
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Lee Pulaski as the guest on Season 6, Episode 43 – All Of A Sudden An Idea Was Forming!
Lee Pulaski joins us to share his recent release, White Christmas in the Desert, how the fall colors inspired his first novel, writing stories about non-standard families, tender romances, mysteries, and so much more!
Living in the real world was never a long-term plan for Lee. He spent many a day imagining bold adventures and playing them out in the quiet countryside of Chino Valley, Arizona. Still, he never could have imagined at the time that the dreams and worlds created in his mind would someday be in print form.
Lee first published in high school, where he wrote about the news and told compelling feature stories about people. His talent for photography helped to bring those stories to life. Lee’s still a working journalist today.
Despite seeing his byline several times a week, Lee still yearned to see his name on the cover of a book. He was inspired to write his first novel in 2006 after spending a vacation camping with family during a particularly breathtaking autumn, where the reds, oranges and yellows were on full display. The experience helped bring about a romantic story called The Colors of Love and Autumn, which he published through Torquere Press in 2008 as an e-book. Now twenty books in, Lee is still writing—and still in the pursuit of new worlds and new dreams.
He joined the Shawano Area Writers in 2011, giving him a chance to test out his WIPs, and providing an opportunity to work with other writers striving to see their work in print.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 10, Episode 51: Gordon Blitz!
Gordon Blitz returns to share his novel Converso Jews: A Hidden Family Story. We discuss his recent plays and monologues, as well as the book’s dual story line and how it explores families in the past hiding their Judaism from the Catholics in control and how it has affected a modern family who doesn’t know where some of their rituals came from as they learn to embrace an interfaith, gay love relationship.
Bio:
After forty years as an accountant, Gordon Blitz retired in 2017 and became a passionate writing machine. As a senior LGBTQ+ man, he has a unique perspective on the many facets of being LGBTQ+ for the last fifty years. He is a multi-media creative artist, novelist, playwright and performer.
A Homeless Thanksgiving had a reading in 2025 as part of the Talking It Out Festival at the Spit & Vigor Blackbox Theatre in New York City.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
May 10, 2024
It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 18 Interview – Gordon Blitz
Gordon Blitz joins us to share his multi-genre strengths by writing about dementia, aging, and late-life same-sex love in Harmonic Dissonance. We then discuss his crime novel Murder Times Three-A Waverly Place Mystery where he highlights bisexual and asexual aspects of being queer while a cat uncovers clues that lead the amateur sleuth through the case.
From a young child, Gordon was called a sissy, girlie, fag, queer, and homo. Getting towel whipped, stomach punched and spit on were part of his world. Being bullied like this made him go into a nice, staid, and stable career in accounting. Gordon didn’t find his writer’s voice until 2017 when he retired from forty years of debits and credits. Since then he’s become a passionate writing machine. Gordon has published work in Whoa Nelly Press, Wingless Dreamer, Two Hawks Quarterly, the Santa Monica College Journals Chronicles and On Going Moments, and Gay Wicked Ways.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 33 Interview – Nicholas George!
Nicholas George join us to share the release of his novel A Deadly Walk in Devon! We discuss the origin of his Walk Through England Mystery series, writing a cozy mystery with a gay detective, and being a Californian Anglophile writing about England.
Nicholas George is the author of the “A Walk Through England” mystery series, featuring retired police detective Rick “Chase” Chasen. Although a native Californian, Nicholas is an avid Anglophile (perhaps from listening to hours and hours of Beatles records as a teenager) and visits England regularly, usually to indulge in his other passion, country walking. Before taking up mystery writing, Nicholas oversaw communication programs for large corporate clients including Lockheed, Merck and Nissan. He lives in Pasadena, California, with his husband.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 32 Interview – H.N. Hirsch
H.N. Hirsch returns to share the release of the third novel in his Bob and Marcus series: Rain! We get to talk about the evolution of crime series, using location and real-world political climate, and the growth of character careers and relationships.
Titles for writers interested in learning to write crime fiction: Immediate Fiction by Jerry Cleaver, Don’t Murder Your Mystery by Chris Roerdan, Writing Mysteries edited by Sue Grafton, Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot by Jane K. Cleland
Bio:
Born in Chicago and educated at the University of Michigan and Princeton, Hirsch has taught at Harvard, the University of California-San Diego, Macalester College, and Oberlin, where he served as Dean of the Faculty and is now the Erwin N. Griswold Professor of Politics Emeritus. He is the author of The Enigma of Felix Frankfurter (“brilliant and sure to be controversial,” The New York Times), A Theory of Liberty, and the memoir Office Hours (“well-crafted and wistful,” Kirkus), as well as numerous articles on law, politics, and constitutional questions.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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December 29, 2023
It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 54 Interview – H.N. Hirsch
HN Hirsch shares his Bob and Marcus Mystery series with us: Shade, Fault Line, and Rain coming next year. We discuss how the series follows the growth of the men and their relationship over the decades as they contend with murders set in the political climates of each book’s era.
Born in Chicago and educated at the University of Michigan and Princeton, Hirsch has taught at Harvard, the University of California-San Diego, Macalester College, and Oberlin, where he served as Dean of the Faculty and is now the Erwin N. Griswold Professor of Politics Emeritus. He is the author of The Enigma of Felix Frankfurter (“brilliant and sure to be controversial,” The New York Times), A Theory of Liberty, and the memoir Office Hours (“well-crafted and wistful,” Kirkus), as well as numerous articles on law, politics, and constitutional questions.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 23: Chris Holcombe!
It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 23 Interview – Chris Holcombe
