It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 31: Rob Costello!
Rob Costello shares his debut YA novel An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys. We discuss past trauma, facing shame, and why the young adult genre can be dark. We then talk about his anthology We Mostly Come Out at Night, and the queer joy he and the contributors share through monsters.
Bio:
Before Rob Costello discovered writing, he cleaned toilets and flipped burgers for a living. He dealt cards in a casino. He processed trade documents for an international bank. He dispatched police and emergency services, and answered 911 calls. He’s been a receptionist, a secretary, and a chief of staff. He was a social media manager for a while and even a speechwriter.
In 2012, he earned his MFA degree in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. He’s proud of that, but let us know it doesn’t mean he knows how to write any better than anybody else. It just means he tried really hard and did his best.
Rob’s also an alumnus of the Millay Arts, a beautiful and secluded retreat for artists and writers located on the former estate of the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. It’s an amazing place he highly recommends!
In addition to writing short stories and novels, he also teaches.
In June of 2023, Rob launched R(ev)ise and Shine! (with co-founders Lesa Cline-Ransome, Jo Knowles, and Jennifer Richard Jacobson), an online writing community where passionate writers come together to learn, grow, & thrive.
He and his husband live on top of a wide and windy hill in the countryside of upstate New York, where they dutifully take orders from their four-legged overlords who graciously allow them to live there. And feed them. And walk them twice daily. And pick up their poo.
Rob is an active member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and a full member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 30: Benjamin Feliciano!
Benjamin Feliciano joins us to announce the release of his novel Bound: For Greatness. We discuss our joy of endless summer adventures with kids on bikes, growing into a sense of one’s self while facing the supernatural, hunting down the right cover artist, and the future of growing up with the series.
Bio:
Benjamin Wesley Feliciano is an author, lead singer of the band Younger Than Neil, founder of The Ideology Art Collective, painter, and a conceptual performance artist. His work has been exhibited in Memento Mori Gallery, Blue Tile Gallery, and 40 West Gallery.
He hosts a free monthly art club every first Sunday at Memento Mori Gallery & Tattoo.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 29: Abigail de Niverville!
Abigail de Niverville returns with the rerelease of I Knew Him and the companion novel Be True. We discuss bi-erasure, prejudice, friendship, and character growth through discomfort. We then delve into talking about crafting contemporary romances and overcoming a writing slump
Bio:
Abigail de Niverville is a Moncton-born author living in Toronto, Ontario. She graduated from the University of Toronto in 2017 with a Master’s of Composition. While studying music, Abigail would escape the daily stresses of university life by writing stories and novels. Her experiences in theatre performance and production often influence her creative works. She continues to dedicate her free time to writing novels, poetry, and songs.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
October 9, 2020
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Abigail de Niverville back as the guest on Episode 289 – They Went There!
Abigail de Niverville returns to share her latest novel, We Go Together, and we discuss healing from abuse, bi-representation, a trans love interest, and music’s role in a story. A great discussion all the way around.
Abigail de Niverville is a Moncton-born composer and author living in Toronto, Ontario. She graduated from the University of Toronto in 2017 with a Master’s of Composition, having studied with Alexander Rapoport. She has previously studied with Kevin Morse at Mount Allison University. While studying music, Abigail would often escape the daily stresses of university life by writing stories and novels. Her experiences in theatre performance and production often influence her creative works in all mediums. In 2019, her debut novel I Knew Him was released by NineStar Press. She continues to dedicate her time writing novels, poetry, and songs.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
OR Watch On YouTube!
April 26, 2019
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Abigail de Niverville as the guest on Episode 213 – Unnecessarily Mysterious!
Abigail de Niverville joins us to discuss her new novel, I Knew Him, as well as how her musical composition informed her work and her take on YA literature.
Abigail de Niverville is a Moncton-born composer and author living in Toronto, Ontario. She graduated from the University of Toronto in 2017 with a Master’s of Composition, having studied with Alexander Rapoport. She has previously studied with Kevin Morse at Mount Allison University. Her experiences in theatre performance and production often influence her creative works.
Recent musical works include: Letters (for tenor and piano), Let Me In (for Ensemble Atlantica), and October 4th, 1967 (a mini opera).
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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 21: Donna Minkowitz!
Donna Minkowitz returns with the new edition of her memoir, Growing Up Golem. We discuss her journey from feeling “constructed” toward feeling like a person. Donna’s style introduces dark topics and growing pains with intellect and fierce fantasy.
Bio:
Donna Minkowitz is a writer of fantasy, memoir, and journalism lauded by Lilith Magazine for her “fierce imagination and compelling prose.” Science fiction great Terry Bisson called her writing “rich and wild, dark and funny, as fearless as her legendary journalism and as scary as a fairy tale.” And she’s proud that Kirkus has praised the “defiant and playful energy” of her work.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
March 14, 2025
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 10, Episode 9: Donna Minkowitz!
Donna Minkowitz joins us to share her first fiction novel: Donnaville. We discuss backdrops of the mind, growth of the self through the parts of self, character struggles, and yes… there are authoritarians who are trying to bring about a stricter society.
Bio:
Donna Minkowitz is a writer of fantasy, memoir, and journalism lauded by Lilith Magazine for her “fierce imagination and compelling prose.” Science fiction great Terry Bisson called her writing “rich and wild, dark and funny, as fearless as her legendary journalism and as scary as a fairy tale.” And she’s proud that Kirkus has praised the “defiant and playful energy” of her work.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 20: Russ López!
Russ López shares his novel, Provincetown Stories. We discuss him finding a home in Boston/Provincetown, the inspiration for the amazing characters that inspire his work, and then writing a fun collection of short fiction stories as a love-letter to this amazing area.
Bio:
Russ López is the author of Provincetown Stories, a collection set in the Portuguese fishing village/gay tourist mecca on the tip of Cape Cod. He’s written six nonfiction books including The Hub of the Gay Universe: An LGBTQ History of Boston, Provincetown, and Beyond. He is the editor of Latin eLit, an online magazine that publishes fiction by and about Latinx people, and his work has appeared in The Fictional Café, Somos en escrito, Northeast Atlantic, Discretionary Love, Night Picnic, The Gay and Lesbian Review, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and many other places. López has also written numerous academic articles, book reviews, and works in many formats, and has presented at numerous book festivals, podcasts, and special programming on books and literature. Originally from California, Russ has degrees from Stanford, Harvard, and Boston University. He splits his time between Boston and Ptown year-round.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 10: Mike Player!
Mike Player shares his western comedy, Utopia. We discuss humor in literature, white-washed wild-west history, misfit heroes, and the art of writing stories that resonate with people of all types.
Bio:
Mike Player is a comedy writer, actor, and author. He is the creator/executive producer of MTV’s LOGO Network series, “The Outlaugh Festival on Wisecrack.” He is the founder of three comedy groups; “Shock of the Funny” in New York, and “The Gay Mafia” and “Angry Daddies” in Los Angeles. He is the editor and a contributor to “Out on the Edge: America’s Rebel Comics” published by Alyson Books. He is the author of several published science fiction/horror short stories, as well as the comedy/suspense novels, “Viral – The Story of the Milkshake Girl,” and “Hyperloop To Hell.” His most recent novel is a queer comedy western, “Utopia.”
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 5: Patricia Grayhall!
Patricia Grayhall returns as a triple threat with her latest novel Framed. We discuss corporate greed, conspiracies, environmental awareness, immigration issues, unrequited love, and why the best novels have threads of multiple genres.
Bio:
Patricia Grayhall is a retired physician turned acclaimed author whose memoir Making the Rounds: Defying Norms in Love and Medicine earned a starred Kirkus Review and recognition as one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best 100 Indie Books of 2022. The memoir has won multiple prestigious awards, including the 2024 National Indie Excellence Award for LGBTQIA Non-fiction and Memoir and the 2023 Best Indie Book Award for LGBTQ Memoir.
Following the success of her memoir, Patricia co-authored the romance novel Golden Years and Silver Linings with her partner in 2023.
Her literary range expanded with A Place for Us: A Novel, published by She Writes Press in June 2025.
Patricia’s newest medical/legal thriller Framed, blends her medical expertise with compelling storytelling, marking her evolution from memoirist to versatile fiction author. Patricia lives with the love of her life on an island in the Pacific Northwest, where she enjoys other people’s dogs and occasional sightings of orca, eagles, otters, and black bears.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
June 13, 2025
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 10, Episode 22: Patricia Grayhall!
Patricia Grayhall returns to share her new romance: A Place for Us. We dive into connecting with lost loves, building a life together in the face of obstacles, and endings that bring happiness and hope!
Bio:
Patricia Grayhall is a medical doctor and author of the award-winning memoir, Making the Rounds; Defying Norms in Love and Medicine and a romance novel, Golden Years and Silver Linings, with wife and author Linda M. Ford. She has authored articles in Queer Forty, The Gay and Lesbian Review, The Millions, Lesbian Game Changers, The Seattle Lesbian, and Seattle Magazine, and has been interviewed on NPR.
Currently, Patricia is working on her third novel, an environmental crime novel. All of her novels are inspired by real-life experiences, one of the advantages of being an older author. Patricia lives with the love of her life on an island in the Pacific Northwest where she enjoys other people’s dogs and occasional sightings of orca, eagles, otters, and black bears.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Or Listen/Watch Right Here:
January 20, 2023
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 8, Episode 3: Patricia Grayhall + Sense8 review part 3!
Patricia Grayhall, author of the memoir Making the Rounds: Defying Norms in Love and Medicine, joins us to discuss her training to become a doctor before Roe v Wade, and her lifelong lessons about sustaining relationships. Then Albert Nothlit returns for part 3 of our review of Sense8’s first season!
Patricia Grayhall is a retired medical doctor and author of Making the Rounds; Defying Norms in Love and Medicine that garnered a starred review in Kirkus Reviews, as well as positive reviews from Katherine Forrest and Radclyffe. She’s published articles in Queer Forty, The Gay and Lesbian Review, The Millions, Lesbian Game Changers, The Seattle Lesbian, and Seattle Magazine. In addition to a recent NPR interview, her book is among Kirkus Reviews’ Best Indie Books of 2022.
Patricia lives with the love of her life on an island in the Pacific Northwest where she enjoys other people’s dogs, big nature, and her second career as an author.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 01: Neil Laird!
Neil Laird helps us kick off the new year by sharing his series Prime Time Travelers. We discuss how his career as an Emmy-nominated director of historic series for television shaped writing his series. We also discuss uncovering examples of gay life in ancient times while balancing satire, romance, and historical drama in his series
Bio:
Neil Laird is a multiple Emmy-nominated director of historical films for Discovery, BBC, PBS, History Channel, National Geographic, and many other networks. He has produced over 100 programs around the globe that feature crumbling Egyptian tombs, lost Mayan cities, and mysterious shipwrecks at the bottom of the sea.
But to his continued disappointment, he has yet to stumble upon a time machine to see these things when they were shiny and new. His book, the first in a series, aims to remedy that grave injustice.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 10, Episode 50: Madeleine Nakamura!
Madeleine Nakamura shares her novels Cursebreakers and Angel Eye. We discuss the impact of queer speculative fiction, as well as authentic ways to introduce mental illness in main characters.
Bio:
Madeleine Nakamura is an author and editor based in Los Angeles. Her debut adult queer fantasy novel Cursebreakers, published by Red Hen Press, received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Independent Book Review and won bronze in the Foreword INDIES. In her spare time, Madeleine enjoys tabletop RPGs, video games, cooking, and embroidery.
The sequel to Cursebreakers, Angel Eye, is available now and has also received a Kirkus Star.
This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
It gives us great pleasure to present Season 11, Episode 31: Rob Costello!
