Tag Archives: Contemporary Fiction

05Aug/22

Ellie Johnson

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August 5, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to present Season 7, Episode 31 – Ellie Johnson + Our Review of The Lake!

Ellie Johnson shares how her experience on a 450 mile canoe trip lead to writing The Barrens with her father, Kurt Johnson. We discuss a bit about coming out, co-writing with a family member, and the importance of storytelling. Then Baz and Vance review The Lake and share who won the week for them!

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Ellie Johnson paddled the 450-mile Thelon River with three other women at the age of seventeen. The novel is based in part on that canoe trip as well as her real-life experiences growing up as a gay woman. Ellie is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota and lives in St. Paul.

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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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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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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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11Mar/22

William Jack Sibley

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March 11, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome William Jack Sibley as the guest on Season 7, Episode 10 – You Can Fake It I Still Like It!

William Jack Sibley joins us to talk about his latest novel, Here We Go Loop De Loop. We ponder and laugh over love triangles, modern day ranching mishaps, and the intricacies of small town Texas.

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A versatile writer, Sibley’s work has spanned from writing dialogue for television’s “Guiding Light” to serving as a contributing editor at Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine, to seeing his work produced Off-Broadway and regionally. Author of a dozen screenplays, two novels, one newspaper column and a freelance journalist – he’s completed his third work of fiction, “Here We Go Loop de Loop.”

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18Feb/22

Gemma Johns

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February 18, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Gemma Johns as the guest on Season 7, Episode 07 – It Kept Me Up All Night!

Gemma Johns brings the three novels she wrote during the pandemic onto our show: A Marriage Sabbatical, Similar Features, and Shaken Worlds, proving she is a multi-genre powerhouse of an author to watch!

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Gemma Johns spent her childhood writing stories, but her sister told her she couldn’t get published until she’d actually lived a little. Many years later, Gemma has lived… a lot! She writes across a variety of genres – from romance to drama and domestic suspense. Gemma lives in Australia with her wife and their children, in a very busy household.

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02Apr/21

Richard LeMay

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April 2, 2021

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Richard LeMay as the guest on Episode 314 – The Best Idea Wins!

Richard LeMay – filmmaker, screenplay writer, and novelist – joins us to discuss his film projects as well as his his foray into authoring his first novel, All The Way to Wrightsville.

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Acclaimed filmmaker Richard LeMay is best known for directing the remake of Francis Ford Coppola’s DEMENTIA 13 for NBC/Universal. Before his foray into the horror genre, LeMay was a prominent voice in LGBTQ cinema. He produced CHILDREN OF GOD, winner of 27 awards internationally and wrote, produced and directed the critically acclaimed NAKED AS WE CAME which the NEW YORK TIMES calls “A lovely surprise of a film.” Though LeMay is an accomplished screenwriter, ALL THE WAY TO WRIGHTSVILLE is his first novel. He resides in New York City with his husband and two dogs.

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23Oct/20

Liz Faraim

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October 23, 2020

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Liz Faraim as the guest on Episode 2919 – It Takes Some Time!

Liz Faraim joins us for her first interview ever! We discuss the first book in her series, Canopy, due Oct 26 from NineStar Press. Come find out what Liz’s debut novel is all about and what the she has planned for the rest of the series.

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Liz Faraim is a recovering workaholic who has mastered multi-tasking, including balancing a day job, solo parenting, writing, and finding some semblance of a social life. In past lives she has been a soldier, a bartender, a shoe salesperson, an assistant museum curator, and even a driving instructor.

Liz writes contemporary fiction that highlights queer characters and often includes complex polyamorous relationships. Her writing has a hefty dose of soul searching and emotional turmoil while also taking the reader on fun adventures. She loves spending time in nature and does her best to share nature with her readers.

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17May/19

Brad Graber

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May 17, 2019


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Brad Graber as the guest on Episode 216 – Tales of the City Meets The Crash!

Brad Graber joins us for a delightful discussion about his amazing and award winning works The Intersect, a love letter to Phoenix, and After the Fall, a tale of two healing journeys.

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Brad Graber writes novels because he grew up in a family where no one ever listened to him—so he made up stories about them. Born and raised in New York City, Brad obtained a B.A. in Biology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an M.H.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. A former healthcare executive, Brad has held a number of management positions and been a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a Certified Medical Executive through the Medical Group Management Association. Though he no longer works in healthcare, he continues to volunteer with local non-profits.

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13Apr/18

Lee James

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April 13, 2018

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It gives us great pleasure to welcome Lee James back as the guest on Episode 159 – I Don’t Need to Draw You a Picture!!

This week Lee James returns to talk with us about his new novel Threads, and about searching for a mainstream publisher after life among the boutique publishers, including children as characters, and world building when your work isn’t romance driven!!

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Lee James was born and reared on his family’s Indiana farm. At the age of twelve, he walked past an outdoor convention of the KKK – all members in full white-sheet drag. (Never mind he’d been told to stay the hell away from that park.) When one of the Klan members eyes met Lee’s, he began to understand bigotry, intolerance and hatred. He attended a Western university, where he majored in the humanities and political science, then studied law.

He’s worked for and in civil rights bills and laws for thirty-five years, in both the public and private sectors – his brush with the Klan left a lifelong impression. He moonlights as a writer of crime noir mystery-thrillers.

Lee enjoys classic rock, blues, jazz, and WW II swing. His hobbies include reading and rose gardening; activities done simultaneously thanks to an iPod and audiobooks. Unless provoked, he avoids discussing politics with anyone driven over the edge by ultraconservative network news.

Lee resides in a Minneapolis burb with his spouse of thirty-eight years, and two huge but mellow Maine Coon cats.

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December 24, 2015

It gives us great pleasure to announce Lee James as the guest on Episodes 035: Errors and Revisions, parts 1 and 2.
Join us as we talk with Lee about his journey crafting Crime Noir novels, how one bad review can change everything, Amazon and audio books, and working with editors and publishers.
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