Tag Archives: SA Collins

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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Bio:

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.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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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.
You can find Lee’s novels here:

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This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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30Mar/18

Jeff McKown

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March 23, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Jeff McKown as the guest on Episode 157 – The Opposite of What I Intended!!

This week Jeff McKown joins us to talk about writing his first novel, Solid Ground, the line between fiction and autobiography, and living the writing life!!

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Bio:

Jeff McKown writes fiction. In his work, he is especially fond of exploring tragic flaws, unfortunate circumstances, and the small moments that matter. In life, he obsesses over tennis, politics, and whiskey, not necessarily in that order. He endeavors to be a better Buddhist — which hasn’t always worked out that well. He lives near Monterey, CA with his partner Paul and their best friend, Kyle. Solid Ground is his first novel.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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23Mar/18

Debbie McGowan

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March 23, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Debbie McGowan as the guest on Episode 156: Connoisseur Sounds Much More Classy Than Fanatic!!

This week Debbie McGowan joins us to talk about her experience as an author on the submission treadmill and how those experiences led to her founding Beaten Track Publishing to provide assisted independent publishing for authors!!

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Bio:

Debbie McGowan is an award-winning author of contemporary fiction that celebrates life, love and relationships in all their diversity. Since the publication in 2004 of her debut novel, Champagne – based on a stage show co-written and co-produced with her husband – she has published a further thirty-five works (twenty novels, fifteen short stories and novellas). She is the author of two ongoing series: Hiding Behind The Couch (a literary ‘soap opera’ centering on the lives of nine long-term friends) and Checking Him Out (LGBTQ romance). Debbie has been a finalist in both the Rainbow Awards and the Bisexual Book Awards, and in 2016, she won the Lambda Literary Award (Lammy) for her novel, When Skies Have Fallen: a British historical romance spanning twenty-three years, from the end of WWII to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967. Through her independent publishing company, Debbie gives voice to other authors whose work would be deemed unprofitable by mainstream publishing houses.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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09Mar/18

J. Scott Coatsworth

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March 9, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome J. Scott Coatsworth back as the guest on Episode 154: And Then This Happened!!

This week J. Scott Coatsworth returns to talk about his latest release Lander, breaking into self-publishing, and announce the Queer SciFi Flash Fiction Contest Theme!

** NOTE: You can read Jayne Lockwood’s reviews of Skythane (here) and Lander (here)!**

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Bio:

Scott lives between the here and now and the what could be. Indoctrinated into fantasy and sci fi by his mother at the tender age of nine, he devoured her library. But as he grew up, he wondered where the people like him were.

He decided it was time to create the kinds of stories he couldn’t find at Waldenbooks. If there weren’t gay characters in his favorite genres, he would remake them to his own ends.

His friends say Scott’s brain works a little differently – he sees relationships between things that others miss, and gets more done in a day than most folks manage in a week. He seeks to transform traditional sci fi, fantasy, and contemporary worlds into something unexpected.

A Rainbow Award winning author, he runs Queer Sci Fi and QueeRomance Ink with his husband Mark, sites that bring queer people together to promote and celebrate fiction reflecting their own reality.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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October 14, 2016

It gives us great pleasure to announce J Scott Coatsworth and Angel Martinez as the guests on episode 079: Flash Fiction Takes Flight!

This week J. Scott Coatsworth (Moderator of Queer SciFi) and Angel Martinez (of Mischief Corner Books) join us to talk about the art that is the Flash Fiction contest, what they looked for as judges, and to announce the release of the contest’s anthology: Flight. As a bonus, SA “Longform” Collins shares what he learned as a competitor!

Check out the Flight anthology and join the Queer SciFi community:

Connect with and support J. Scott Coatsworth:

Connect with and support Angel Martinez:

Bio:

J. Scott Coatsworth has been writing since 4th grade, when he won a University of Arizona writing contest for his first sci fi story (with illustrations!). He finished his first novel in his mid-twenties, but after seeing it rejected by ten publishers, he gave up on writing for a while.

Over the ensuing years, he came back to it periodically, but it never stuck. Then one day, he was complaining to Mark, his husband, about how he had been derailed yet again by the death of a family member. Mark said to him “the only one stopping you from writing is you.”

Since then, Scott has gone back to writing in a big way, finishing more than a dozen short stories – some new, some started years before. After seeing his first sale, he’s embarking on a new trilogy. He also runs the Queer Sci Fi (http://www.queerscifi.com) site, a support group for writers of gay sci fi, fantasy, and supernatural fiction.
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Angel Martinez is the unlikely black sheep of an ivory tower, intellectual family. She has managed to make her way through life reasonably unscathed. Despite a wildly misspent youth, she snagged a degree in English Lit, married once and did it right the first time, (same husband for almost twenty-four years) gave birth to one amazing son, (now in college) and realized at some point that she could get paid for writing.

Published since 2006, Angel’s cynical heart cloaks a desperate romantic. You’ll find drama and humor given equal weight in her writing and don’t expect sad endings. Life is sad enough.

She currently lives in Delaware in a drinking town with a college problem and writes Science Fiction and Fantasy centered around gay heroes.

 

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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TH-Cover_sm		 It gives us great pleasure to announce J. Scott Coatsworth as the guest on episode 007: Describe Yourself In One Word: “Ooooh…”!
Join us as we talk with Scott about writing Science Fiction and building communities.
You can find Scott’s most recent novel here:

Follow Scott on your favorite social site:

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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02Mar/18

Kevin Snow

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March 2, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Kevin Snow as the guest on Episode 153: The Price of Admission!!

This week Kevin Snow joins us to talk about his latest work Fear and Loathing in Mouschwitz, his experiences with sexual harassment in the entertainment industry, and the meaning of gonzo journalism!

** WARNING: This episode contains frank discussions on sensitive topics that might make some listeners extremely uncomfortable. Please listen at your own discretion. And, as with every episode, the views of the guest do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast or its founders. **

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Bio:

Raised in Norway, Denver-born Kevin Snow has been a writing consultant, production consultant, and acting coach in Hollywood and New York since 2005. He has worked on major programs and projects for Zentropa Productions, the Danish Film Society, National Public Radio, Pacific Resident Theatre, the Walt Disney Company, Random House, and Fox. He holds an MA in Math Education from California State University, Los Angeles, and a JD from the University of San Diego School of Law, where he was an editor for the International Law Journal. He is a co-founder of the NORML Business Network and NORML Denmark, and he is an advocate for Free Leonard Pickard.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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23Feb/18

Trevor Barton

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February 23, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Trevor Barton as the guest on Episode 152: Not All Of Them Spark!!

This week Trevor Barton joins us to talk about his Brobots series, futurology, and keeping the writing accessible!

** NOTE: Trevor Barton composed and performed all of the music used for this episode, and has graciously allowed us to use it for his interview! **

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Bio:

Trevor Barton was born on the south coast of England to a biker and a supermarket attendant (whose brother was a trucker). He got sent to Air Training Corps for toughening up. His curious local town was into line dancing and hard-line Baptist theology (making it closer in vibe perhaps to a southern US State than to South East England).

“Myth of the Cyborg: The Perpetuation of a Cultural Fantasy” was the title of his M.A. Dissertation in 1998. Part of this involved studying the philosophy of artificial intelligence with Ray Monk and looking at issues in representation with Deniz Göktürk (now at Berkeley).

There not being many jobs in Cyborgology, Trevor took the editorial helm of a U.K. search engine (because Google U.K. had not been heard of then). His tie-in magazine had distribution throughout the U.K. and the actor who plays Blackadder’s Baldric was the advertising voice.

With later jobs involving a great deal of U.S. business travel he’s published globally recognized websites, bar-crawled around Nashville and taken sidewalks with alligators in Florida. He’s also slept rough (for charity), established a peace center, helped save four lives, been ordained as a Buddhist and cleaned satellite dishes with a mop and bucket.

Trevor has lived experience with mental health. His mother died when he was 16 and his father was disabled. Trevor lives in the U.K. with his husbear.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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26Jan/18

Rebecca Langham

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January 26, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Rebecca Langham as the guest on Episode 148: And That’s By Design!!

This week Rebecca Langham joins us to talk about her first novel Beneath the Surface, playing Broomball, genre-before-romance, being Australian, and then drop the dish on her next book!

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Bio:

Rebecca Langham lives in the Blue Mountains (Australia) with her partner, three children, and menagerie of pets. A Xenite, a Whovian and all-round general nerd, she’s a lover of science fiction, comic books, and caffeine. When she isn’t teaching History to high schoolers or wrangling children, Rebecca enjoys playing broomball and reading.

Her Sci-Fi novel Beneath the Surface will be released by NineStar Press in early 2018. The sequel is currently being drafted.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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19Jan/18

Jeff Jacobson

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January 19, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Jeff Jacobson back as the guest on Episode 147: Gruff & Scrindr!!

This week Jeff Jacobson returns to talk about breaking his first novel into two books, The Boy Who Couldn’t Fly Straight and The Boy Who Couldn’t Fly Home, where his series is heading, and his first big fancy book launch!

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Bio:

Jeff Jacobson was born in Seattle in 1968, and grew up enchanted by the lush landscape, the long summer days, and the short winter nights of the Pacific Northwest.

Once, when he was a wee kindergartner, his grandmother let slip that she was a “modern witch, who flew on a vacuum cleaner over his house at night to protect him.”

Jeff had seen her vacuum cleaner. The cord wasn’t long enough to reach his house.

But in bed that night, left alone with creaky sounds and branches scraping over window frames, he decided that having a witch for a grandmother wasn’t such a bad thing. Even if it weren’t true…

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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May 20, 2016

 TheBoyWhoCouldntFlyStraight

May 20, 2016

It gives us great pleasure to announce Jeff Jacobson as the guest on episode 058: No Longer A Bratty Dilettante!
Join us as we discuss his writing journey, YA Novels – what’s allowed and what’s not, witch tropes, stockholm syndrome and witches – who knew?, and the dangers of teaching pulp culture refs to non-English speakers.

You can buy Jeff’s work here:

Follow Jeff on your favorite social site:

Bio:

Jeff Jacobson was born in Seattle in 1968, and grew up enchanted by the lush landscape, the long summer days, and the short winter nights of the Pacific Northwest.

Once, when he was a wee kindergartner, his grandmother let slip that she was a “modern witch, who flew on a vacuum cleaner over his house at night to protect him.”

Jeff had seen her vacuum cleaner. The cord wasn’t long enough to reach his house.

But in bed that night, left alone with creaky sounds and branches scraping over window frames, he decided that having a witch for a grandmother wasn’t such a bad thing. Even if it weren’t true…

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

12Jan/18

B. A. Brock

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January 12, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Ben Brock as the guest on Episode 146: Admittedly Wide Rule!!

This week Ben Brock joins us to talk about his first novel, King of the Storm, bisexuality, pansexuality, and being trans in the MM community!

Follow Ben and support his work:

Bio:

B. A. Brock has lived most of his life in the Pacific Northwest, with a couple years in Oklahoma. He graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in 2007 at Portland State University–which he mostly uses to contemplate how we can achieve a civilization more closely aligned with Star Trek.

During a round of Dungeons and Dragons, he discovered a desire to write out some scenes from his character’s story. Those scenes became an obsession, that obsession led to writing classes, and an author was born.

When not writing, Brock spends his time reading/reviewing novels, training for marathons, hanging out with his dog, and bemoaning the fact that the world has yet to make a decent gluten free doughnut.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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05Jan/18

A.E. Ross

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January 5, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome A.E. Ross as the guest on Episode 145: Hey I Can Do This!!

This week A.E. Ross joins us to talk about their first novel, Run in the Blood, coming to novel-writing from screen- and animation writing, and writing that represents non-binary identities, mental health, and chronic illness!

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** NOTE: Here’s that cute 5-year old YouTube reviewer mentioned in this episode LINK

Bio:

A.E. Ross grew up in a small town on a medium-sized island on the West Coast of Canada with two older brothers.

They received a Bachelors of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Victoria in 2009, and a Diploma in Screenwriting from Vancouver Film School in 2010.

They currently resides in Vancouver, B.C. where they work as an Associate Producer for Kickstart Entertainment, as well as a freelance writer and story-editor.

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