Episodes

  • S5 E8 with Author Erika Krouse
    Feb 18 2025

    Erika Krouse is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her upcoming short story collection, Save Me, Stranger, will be published by Flatiron Books in January 2025. Save Me, Stranger has been hailed as “a dozen little masterpieces,” by Adam Johnson, “remarkable” by Ann Beattie, and Louise Erdrich said, “Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor.” In a starred review, Kirkus calls the collection "a smart set of globetrotting, emotionally gripping stories," and Publishers Weekly says, "[Krouse] makes the thrill of new beginnings palpable."

    Find Erika and her books here: Erika Krouse at wwwerikakrousewriter.com


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    40 mins
  • S5 E7 with Author Carol Plum-Ucci
    Feb 11 2025

    Carol Plum-Ucci is best known for her young adult novels that explore themes of psychological suspense, mystery, and the complexities of human nature. Her debut novel, The Body of Christopher Creed, won a Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award along with many other national honors. The novel’s dark, atmospheric tone and exploration of identity and social alienation resonated with young readers, earning Plum-Ucci a spot as a notable voice in contemporary YA literature. Following her debut, Plum-Ucci wrote six successful novels, five of which won national awards. She has twice been a finalist in the Edgar Allan Poe Awards and has received seven citations from the American Library Association.

    She lives near Atlantic City, NJ, with her family.

    Find her and her books at: https://www.carolplum-ucci.com/

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    21 mins
  • S5 E6 with Author Marco Gamboa
    Feb 4 2025

    Marco has a Bachelor's Degree in English and Psychology, as well as a Master of Jurisprudence. He's lived in San Antonio since the age of 3, via Mexico City. He has two daughters, 11 and 13. He enjoys music, whether it's a concert or just listening through headphones, running, and making people laugh.

    The book is sad. It goes from bad to worse, but my readings and podcast appearances heavily leverage the ability to comedy. To laugh at what we cannot control.

    Find Marco and his book here: https://wnlmarco.com/



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    31 mins
  • S5 E5 with Fantasy Author Zachary Hagen
    Jan 28 2025

    Zachary Hagen is a Minnesota based fantasy author and editor. He lives there with his wife, Claudia, and their dog, Flynn. When he isn't busy writing his next book or working with an editing client, you can often find him walking around his neighborhood or hiking.

    From a young age he was enthralled with the world of story. From the stories his parents read to him from his blue bedtime story books (if you know, you know) to the first two series that he read, The Chronicles of Narnia and A Series of Unfortunate Events, Zachary's tastes continued to develop throughout his years of reading.

    The influences for his first series, The Eternal Chronicles, include Christopher Paolini, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and others.

    Find Zachary and his books on his website here: https://zacharyhagenwrites.com/

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    23 mins
  • S5 E4 with Sci-Fi & Fantasy Author Kristina W. Kelly
    Jan 21 2025

    Professional Bio

    She is the coauthor of the epic fantasy and sci-fi fusing series, the Etherea Cycle including Trials of the Innermost. Her scifi and fantasy poetry collection Imaginari includes her photography, and her fantasy adventure Tavern Tale (inspired by RPGs) releases Jan 7, 2025.

    Since childhood, writing stories on her mother’s typewriter or trying to catalog her own books like a library, Kristina has been in love with storytelling. Her undergraduate pursuits focused on Psychology, Music, and Computer Science. With trumpet as her main instrument and a connection to nature, Kristina often works music and visual landscapes into her writings.

    Several of Kristina’s recent short stories received honorable mentions from the Writers of the Future
    contest, including 2023 2nd Quarter Semi-Finalist and 2023 3rd Quarter Silver Honorable Mention. She won second place in the 2024 Poe-it Like Poe Contest.

    Kristina resides in Indiana with her husband and sons. In her spare time, she takes photography, makes various crafts, plays video games (RPGs are her favorite), dabbles in other instruments, and tends to her flower garden. She loves going on new adventures in the great wide somewhere (sometimes just by picking up a new book).

    Find Kristina and her books here: http://kristinaseyes.com/

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    25 mins
  • S5 E3 with Fantasy Author Fern Brady
    Jan 14 2025

    Fern Brady is the founder and CEO of Inklings Publishing. She began her professional life as a foreign correspondent, and taught for 15 years in Alief ISD. She has published numerous short stories, two children's picture books, and a couple of poems. Her debut novel, United Vidden, which is book one in her Thyrein’s Galactic Wall Series, was given a glowing review by Dr. Who Online, the official site of the fandom. Love’s Call, which is book one of The Dragon and His Kitten, released in 2023. She also has a graphic novel collaboration, Mr. Landen’s Library, with the amazingly talented Rosa Maria Garza. She has returned to the leadership of the Houston Writers Guild, with whom she served as CEO for four years previously, and is a full time teacher again for Cy-Fair ISD.

    Find Fern and all her work here: https://www.fernbrady.com/

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    54 mins
  • S5 E2 with Fantasy Author Brian D. Anderson
    Jan 7 2025

    From an early age, in the small town of Spanish Fort, Alabama, Brian delighted in conjuring fantastical worlds and unique characters. Alone in his room, he imagined them in most dire of situations, overcoming impossible odds, and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. It was fun and gave a hyperactive child a way to occupy his mind constructively, rather than wreak havoc and get into trouble.


    By the time Brian reached his teens, he was doing his level best to give his inner voice a real world platform for expression. Though it was not likely that anyone else would take time to read the fruits of his labors, he didn't care. The simple act of creation was where he derived his pleasure.


    As an adult, other interests dominated his life. He continued writing, but without hopes of turning it into a career, instead focused on the dream of being a rock star. As it turned out, he wasn't cut from the right cloth and was never able to realize his ambitions.


    It was in his late thirties, now with a wife and young son, his love of writing circled back into his life. And with the encouragement of those who love him, and with no small amount of inspiration of his boy, he finally found his purpose. It was in front of him the entire time. But he just didn't see it.


    Many worlds, thousands of characters and more than a dozen novels later, he can look back at the events leading him to this point with a sense of humor. The various misadventures and terrible choices had become sources of inspiration, whereas before they had been thorns of regret - memories he would use to malign himself in those dark moments of reflection.


    Find Brian and his books on his website here: https://www.briandanderson.com/


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    56 mins
  • S5 E1 with Author Lance Robinson
    Jan 2 2025

    In his day job, Lance Robinson is an environmental social scientist who often works closely with mobile peoples. He is a sporadic nomad himself, having lived variously in countries such as Ghana, the Gambia, Colombia, and Kenya. He began writing speculative fiction as a child, and by his early twenties his stories began appearing in small press magazines. In the early 1990s, he even entered the Writers of the Future Contest two or three times. Eventually, though, his life filled up with other things and he set creative writing aside.

    Recently, however, when he returned home to Canada, he decided it was also time to come back home to writing. Since then, his stories have often explored how our relationship with the natural world is intertwined with our spiritual journeys—as individuals, as communities, and as a collective humanity. Lance is also an avid astronomy and space-travel nut, and he found the germ of his story “Five Days Until Sunset” at the intersection of pondering the spiritual search that never ends and wondering what life might be like on a tidally locked, “eyeball” planet. The story also asks what it means to live in harmony with a world that is ready to kill you, and what it means to have faith in the face of inconvenient truths. Lance and his two children currently make their home in Robinson-Superior Treaty territory on the traditional land of the Anishnaabeg peoples and Fort William First Nation in the City of Thunder Bay, Ontario.

    Our exodus family awoke on the new world—a paradise inexplicably teeming with Earth life, the Promise fulfilled. But 154 of us are missing. . . .—“Five Days Until Sunset” by Lance Robinson

    Find Lance and his books here: https://lancerobinsonwriter.com/

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    23 mins