Tag Archives: fiction

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.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):

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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.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):

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

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.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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10May/19
William C Tracy author photo

William C. Tracy

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May 10, 2019

Fruits of the Gods book cover
It gives us great pleasure to welcome William C. Tracy as the guest on Episode 215 – 110 Percent Germination!

William C. Tracy joins us to discuss his latest novel, Fruits of the Gods, as well as cosplay, selling at cons, and the importance of inclusivity.

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Bio:

William C. Tracy writes tales of the Dissolutionverse: a science fantasy series about planets connected by music-based magic instead of spaceflight where you can explore aliens, magic, and steampunk!

He currently has five books out, from a coming of age story, to tales of political intrigue, to a Sherlock Holmes-like mystery, to a Jules Verne style adventure, to the first book of his epic space opera, titled THE SEEDS OF DISSOLUTION. Several books include LGBT-friendly elements as well.

William is a North Carolina native and a lifelong fan of science fiction and fantasy. He has a master’s in mechanical engineering, and has both designed and operated heavy construction machinery. He has also trained in Wado-Ryu karate since 2003, and runs his own dojo in Raleigh NC. He is an avid video and board gamer, a reader, and of course, a writer.

In his spare time, he cosplays with his wife such combinations as Steampunk Agent Carter and Jarvis, Jafar and Maleficent, and Doctor Strange and the Ancient One. They also enjoy putting their pets in cute little costumes and making them cosplay for the annual Christmas card.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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17Oct/16

Review of The Role by Richard Taylor Pearson

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role

We were lucky enough to have Richard Taylor Pearson on the show earlier this year. Listen to his interview and find out more about his work right here! 059: Moments of Otherworldly Treasures

REVIEW

Mason Burroughs is the ambitious actor about to give up on his dream after repeated setbacks, when luck and a chance meeting lands him the role of a lifetime. Soon he is working opposite an old flame who can still make his heart race, and taking instruction from a border-line psychotic director who forces him to get deeper into the role than he is comfortable with. When he begins to enjoy his new-found responsibilities, his relationship with Eric, the love of his life, begins to crumble.

Don’t be fooled by other reviews saying this book is “steamy.” It isn’t particularly, but what you do get is a detailed look at what it takes to be an actor on Broadway, told through the story of Mason Burroughs, a nondescript-looking guy with an okay talent who probably wouldn’t have made it big, if it wasn’t for a lucky break. He meets Kevin, a crush from way back, now successful, devastatingly handsome, and keen to mould Mason into a worthy foil for his brilliance.

Ambition begins to cloud Mason’s judgement as he is moulded into shape by a variety of expertly-drawn characters, some who veer dangerously towards caricature but as this is the stage, dahling, they are probably bang-on accurate. There’s a director who does everything but twirl his cloak and go “mwah ha ha!” The bitchy understudy with his eyes firmly on Mason’s role (shades of All About Eve) and a distinctly strange personal trainer, who shapes Mason’s cuddly bod into that of a Greek god.

Mason’s love interest, Eric, was conveniently out of the way for most of it, being a computer game designer working on a major new project. I was torn between wanting to shout at Mason for abandoning him, and reasoning that he needs to follow his dream. Kevin, the hunk of lurve copping a feel or slipping Mason the tongue at every opportunity during their love scenes, adds to Mason’s torment. Mason loves Eric, but Kevin (Kevin? Really?) is just so H-O-T! I didn’t think he was, to be honest. He came over as a manipulative, entitled brat, who I wanted to slap every time he had page space. I think the author wanted to make him sympathetic at the end, but he didn’t succeed. I did like the way he made Alex (the understudy) a nice person under all the sass, but it came a bit too little, too late for me.

Although I felt the plot could have been tightened up a little, I really enjoyed this book. The author knows his subject and loves it, and has created a keyhole look at a world that people on the outside think is so glamorous, but is in fact full of egos, back-stabbers and sheer hard graft. He didn’t try to dress it up, or make it something it wasn’t. It was a convincing piece of fiction, about people that, sometimes, it was hard to like. I particularly didn’t like the three main characters, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to read about them. That takes skill.