Tag Archives: Vance Bastian

13Apr/18

Lee James

Featured Guest, , , , , , ,

April 13, 2018

IcarusAscending_192x300
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!!

Follow Lee and support his work:

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):
Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayiHeartRadioSpotifyStitcherTuneIn

Or right here:

 IcarusAscending_192x300ErrorsOmmissionDayDreamGeneric

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:

Follow Lee on the web:

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

Or right here:

06Apr/18

Sharita Lira

Featured Guest, , , , , ,

March 23, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Sharita Lira as the guest on Episode 158 – From My Own Crazy Brain!!

This week Sharita Lira, who writes as Michael Mandrake (and a couple others), joins us to discuss her latest books in the Immortals series AND the Protekt series. Additionally, she drops a bomb on Vance when she tells him she’s one of the founders of the Queer in Color resource for authors and readers!!

Follow Sharita and support her work:

Queer in Color resource links:

Bio:

Romance and erotica author Sharita Lira believes that love conquers all. Writing sexy stories of people who might be complete opposites, but somehow make a lasting connection that often leads to a happily ever after.

Happily married and mother of two, Sharita never allows complex plots to deter her from writing the story. Inspired by heavy music, attractive people she’s seen in person and on the internet, Sharita always has a tale on her brain.

In addition to being a computer geek and a metalhead, Sharita loves live music, reading, and spending time with family and friends. She’s also a founding member and contributor to the heavy metal ezine FourteenG.

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

Or right here:

30Mar/18

Jeff McKown

Featured Guest, , , ,

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!!

Follow Jeff and support his work:

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):
Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayiHeartRadioSpotifyStitcherTuneIn

Or right here:

23Mar/18

Debbie McGowan

Featured Guest, , , , , , ,

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!!

Follow Debbie and support her work:

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):
Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayiHeartRadioSpotifyStitcherTuneIn

Or right here:

09Mar/18

J. Scott Coatsworth

Featured Guest, , , , , , , , ,

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)!**

Follow Scott and support his work:

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):
Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayiHeartRadioSpotifyStitcherTuneIn

Or right here:

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.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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):
Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayiHeartRadioSpotifyStitcherTuneIn

Or right here:


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):
Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayiHeartRadioSpotifyStitcherTuneIn

Or right here:
02Mar/18

Kevin Snow

Featured Guest, , , ,

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. **

Follow Kevin and support his work:

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):
Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayiHeartRadioSpotifyStitcherTuneIn

Or right here:

23Feb/18

Trevor Barton

Featured Guest, , , , , , ,

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! **

Follow Trevor and support his work:

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):
Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayiHeartRadioSpotifyStitcherTuneIn

Or right here:

16Feb/18

Tom Baker

Featured Guest, , , , ,

February 16, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Tom Baker as the guest on Episode 151: All The Positive Things In Your Life!!

This week Tom Baker joins us to talk about his latest novel Green, life in the military before Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell, prose poetry, and to share his 2018 recommendations!

Follow Tom and support his work:

Bio:

Tom Baker is a graduate of the College of William & Mary. He enjoyed a successful career in the advertising world, winning many awards for the ads and commercials he produced. He now writes full time. Baker lives in a tree house in Santa Monica Canyon. His longtime companion, Gary, left for a better world in 2011.

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

Or right here:

09Feb/18

Hannah Carmack

Featured Guest, , , , , ,

February 9, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Hannah Carmack as the guest on Episode 150: I Guess What Changed Was Me!!

This week Hannah Carmack joins us to talk about her first novel Seven-Sided Spy, poetry, the visibility of disabilities in fiction, her spotify playlist, and working with youth through STEM Reads!

Follow Hannah and support her work:

Bio:

Hannah Carmack is a recent graduate of Northern Illinois University. She enjoys volunteer work and spends most of her time working for the organization STEM Read, connecting reluctant readers and bookworms alike to the world of literature and science. She has a number of poetry publications, all of which regard living with ulcerative colitis. Although living with an auto-immune disease is difficult, she finds power in using her writing as a way to convey the world that people with disabilities live in to people who may not fully comprehend it. Her debut novel Seven-Sided Spy was released January 2018.

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

Or right here:

02Feb/18

Mel Gough

Featured Guest, , , , ,

February 2, 2018


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Mel Gough as the guest on Episode 149: Serial Numbers Filed Off!!

This week Mel Gough joins us to talk about her first novel A World Apart, her fan fiction roots, and then she shares some give-away goodies!

Give-Away Contest!!:  Sign up for Mel’s email list** before February 9 for a chance to win an e-copy of A World Apart!!  https://tinyletter.com/melgough

** Mel sends out roughly one message a month, so your inbox won’t be inundated!

Follow Mel and support her work:

Bio:

Mel was born in Germany, where she spent the first twenty-six years of her life (with a one-year stint in Los Angeles). She has always been fascinated by cultures and human interaction, and earned her Masters in Social Anthropology. After finishing university, she moved to London, where she has lived for ten years.

If you were to ask her parents what Mel enjoyed the most since the age of six, they would undoubtedly say “Reading!” She would take fifteen books on a three-week beach holiday, and then read all her mom’s books once she’d devoured her own midway through week two.

Back home in her mom’s attic there’s a box full of journals with stories Mel wrote when she was in her early teens. None of the stories are finished, or any good. She has told herself bedtime stories as far back as she can remember.

In her day job, Mel works for an NGO as operations manager. No other city is quite like London, and Mel loves her city. The hustle and bustle still amaze and thrill her even after all these years. When not reading, writing or going to the theater, Mel spends her time with her long-time boyfriend, discussing science or poking fun at each other.

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

Or right here: