S6 E69 with Fantasy Author Debbie Bishop

Chris Gerrib has wanted to be a writer since he was a child riding his bicycle to the library in the small Central Illinois town where he grew up. Since then, he has spent a tour in the US Navy, got an MBA, and now has a day job with a multinational software company as a project manager. For fun, he plays golf, travels, and is a voracious reader. He lives in the Chicago suburbs and is active in his local Rotary Club. He writes both science fiction and mystery and has multiple novels out in print. You can find out more about him at https://privatemarsrocket.net/.

Fangirl minutes! Loved, loved, loved talking with Huda Fahmy about my favorite genre, young adult books! Huda Fahmy was born in Detroit, Michigan and attended the University of Michigan where she majored in English. She taught English to middle and high school students for eight years before she started writing about her experiences as a visibly Muslim woman in America and was encouraged by her older sister to turn these stories into comics. Huda, her husband Gehad, and their two boys reside in Houston, Texas.Visit her store atwww.hudafahmy.threadless.com

A. Marc always meant to write novels, but it took him a long time to get to it. His first novel, THE CONSCRIPTED EXTREMIST, involving conflicts between domestic extremist groups, was a finalist in the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. His second novel, ATTACKING THE DRAGON, involving attacks on China's global expansion, was published in September, 2025 by Headline Books, the 2024 Independent Publisher of the Year. The book was named Runner-Up, General Fiction, in the 2025 Beach Book Festival and received Honorable Mention in the 2025 Paris Book Festival, 2025 San Francisco Book Festival and 2025 Hollywood book Festival. A. Marc is a graduate of Stanford Law School and continues to practice as a corporate lawyer. He resides in Manhattan with his wife.Find Marc and his books here: https://www.amarcross.com/

Frank Spinelli, MD is an American born physician living in New York.He has contributed articles for the Advocate and The Huffington Post. Writing credits include: The Advocate Guide to Gay Men’s Health and Wellness (Alyson Books), Pee-Shy: A Memoir (Kensington Books), which has been optioned to be developed into a limited series and contributing author – Our Naked Lives (Bordighera Press) and Understanding the Sexual Betrayal of Boys and Men (Routledge).He has made appearances on Sirius Radio’s Morning Jolt with Larry Flick and co-hosted Speak Out: Real Talk about AIDS.Documentary credits include, 30 Years from Here (Emmy-nominated), Positive Youth and I’m a Porn Star.Television credits include ABC News, NBC Nightly News, MTV, a national commercial and Sesame Street. In 2015, he hosted a season of Dueling Doctors.Frank Spinelli is an advocate for child sexual abuse survivors and has given frequent interviews about his experience as a victim of child sexual abuse while in the Boy Scouts.Find Frank and his books here: https://www.frankspinelli.com/books

Lucianus is one of the most destructive wizards of all time. For his crimes, he was executed.To his shock he awakens, in a body not his own, summoned by powerful magic with no clue as to why. He's soon discovered by Auran, a knife-wielding traveler suspicious of his strange and sudden presence. Displaced from his own era and at a loss for what to do, Lucianus begs Auran's help in finding his feet. Auran reluctantly agrees, and so together they strike out across the changed lands Lucianus once called home, looking for an explanation.The purpose of Lucianus' summoning soon becomes he's been tasked with murder, as befits his violent reputation as a battlewizard. Yet what should be a straightforward objective turns complicated, for the spell that binds him to life will end once the task is complete. His body is borrowed. His time is short. He must reach the appointed place and complete his task...but that means a return to death, and there's nothing he wants less. He'd rather enjoy this borrowed life for himself. And Auran, though he proves a competent guide, seems to have his own purposes, purposes that may go against what Lucianus' summoner wants.The scars of his past rise against him, a decades-old drama closes in, and still his fate is sealed. Lucianus will die a second time. What happens until then is up to him. Fantasy / Romance / LGBT / gay / BisexualFind on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/253791358

Debbie Bishop spent 30+ years as a CEO, producer, and creative director in the entertainment industry. She's built and run companies, launched home entertainment labels, and led key art campaigns and packaging for Disney, Lionsgate, Warner Bros., Universal, and Paramount — along with retail campaigns for Target, Walmart, and Costco.She's also an award-winning author. Her fantasy duology PILLYWIGGIN AWAKENING earned a BookFest First Place Award for Epic Fantasy and a Literary Titan Gold Award. Her other works include Black Tide (Image Comics), War Eagles, Pillywiggin, The Fairies of Bladderwhack Pond, What Is The Meaning Of Life?You and The Pre-Fab Cookbook with Dish & Flo.​Debbie hosts the By.Storytellers podcast, featuring creators, innovators, and the real stories behind their work.Find Debbie and her books here: https://www.debbiebishop.com/​

Simon Michael, often referred to as “the British John Grisham”, is a barrister (trial attorney) and the author of the best-selling Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers.The books are set primarily in London in the 1960s and 1970s, a period of huge social change, and they explore loyalty and prejudice and what happens when justice collides with a corrupt Establishment. They’re historical and legal crime novels, but they’re also about memory, moral compromise, and the long shadow history casts over the present.At their centre is barrister Charles Holborne, born Charlie Horowitz, a former East End boxer and occasional criminal who is drawn into cases shaped by gangs, organised crime, political interference and institutional corruption.Moving between London’s courtrooms and the criminal underworld, the novels explore the tension between professional ambition and personal integrity, and the fragile line between justice and expediency. The series does not shy away from the class tensions and prejudices embedded within the legal profession of the time, including the racist, antisemitic  and classist attitudes faced by those entering the Bar in the middle of the last century, echoes of which still resonate today.Combining legal authenticity with gritty urban realism, the series uses crime as a lens to examine how power operates within institutions, who the law ultimately serves, and what it costs to pursue truth when the system itself is under pressure.Find Simon and his books on his website here: https://simonmichaelauthor.com/

“To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.” — Robert Louis Stevenson I’ve been a writer since I was knee-high to Mad Magazine, so my early scripts were short and funny. I’ve also been interested in stuff like ESP and psychic phenomena since I was a youngster. I even gave a talk on the paranormal back in the sixth grade. I got an A++ on it!My career began in earnest at the famed Actors Theatre of Louisville where I had a boatload of 10-minute plays produced when I worked there in the Lit Dept. One of those plays was published by Sam French and is still produced to this day because it’s timeless and timely — Attack of the Moral Fuzzies.When I moved to L.A. two big things happened. I started working in sitcoms (and sold scripts to Roseanne and Blossom), and I took a class in trance channeling.After a few years, I wanted to work on meatier shows, so I switched to hour-long dramas. I was on such hits as Desperate Housewives and Ghost Whisperer as a producer’s assistant — and I got to pitch show ideas as well.I then decided I wanted to get my own work out there (see the quote from Robert Lewis Stevenson above) so I co-wrote and co-produced the web series The Calamities of Jane and Shelby’s Vacation, my 40-minute lesbian dramedy. Both have gotten into a bunch of film festivals and won awards to boot..Right now I’m focused on selling my two TV pilots: The Cleaning Crew (about a small hazmat team in L.A.) and The View from Above (mysterious crop circles appear in my home state of Indiana!).My stage play career has continued concurrently with my TV work. I’ve had more than a dozen productions, including at such venues as the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the Rainbow Festival at Asbury Park, and Bloomington’s Blizzard of Short Plays. My favorite recent experience was with Denver’s Athena Project (which fosters women playwrights) where my play Handcrafted Healing had a production.I’ve been a Sierra Club member in Los Angeles for many years and have led over 350 hikes with the Gay and Lesbian Serrians, which has awarded me “Sierran of the Year” four times. I’ve made it all the way to the top Half Dome in Yosemite (seen here) and Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48 states.Find Nancy and her books here: https://www.nancybeverlywriter.com/

Tatiana Vixen Reyes is the pen name of a transgender woman whose work blends sensuality, imagination, and cultural texture into richly layered storytelling. Through this voice, she explores themes of identity, desire, transformation, and connection.After an early retirement from federal civil service, Tatiana embraced her lifelong passion for storytelling, channeling decades of lived experience into bold, unapologetic creative work. Her writing explores themes of identity, desire,transformation, and connection—often centering voices and perspectives that exist at the intersections of gender, sexuality, and culture. She is the creator of the romantic novella series She Came to the Glass Heel, a character-driven exploration of intimacy, longing, and fleeting moments of connection set against the backdrop of a vibrant Chicago nightclub. In addition, she is the architect behind the Érōsikúsō Campaign Setting, an ambitious and immersive world for tabletop roleplaying games that merges fantasy, sensuality, and intricateworldbuilding. Now based in Chicago, Tatiana lives with her ever-“helpful” cat, who frequently supervises her writing process with questionable effectiveness. Her creative influences span a wide spectrum—from comic books and romance novels to fantasyepics, science fiction cinema, and years spent around the gaming table. These influences converge in her work, resulting in stories that are both escapist and deeply personal. At the heart of Tatiana’s writing is a commitment to authenticity: telling stories that celebrate desire without shame, honor transformation as a form of power, and invite readers into worlds where identity is not only accepted, but exalted. Find Tatiana and her books on her website here: https://tatianavixenreyes.com/

Elliot is the executive producer of the Apple TV animated kids’ series The Sisters Grimm, the EP and director of flagship Audible Original series Moriarty, and the author of the forthcoming science fiction novella Into the Great. Some of his past work includes the Emmy-winning animated web series Tomb Raider: ReVisioned, the cocktails and comedy podcast Daydrinking with Gary & Elliot, and the crime comic The Package. He’s also a creative consultant, with past clients including preschool entertainment giant Moonbug Entertainment and video game developer Player Unknown Productions.His new sci fi novel, Into the Great. follows two characters with opposite goals. More about the book:Katalogtext / Kort beskrivning Sparks fly when Lilah, a thief from a struggling freespacer colony outside the borders of the Federated Solar Republic, meets Bax, an FSR security officer stationed at an official colony within those borders, during a time of heightened tensions for humanity as the silent, staring, seemingly invulnerable aliens. A story about choosing the life you want to live. This is book #4 from indie publisher Li'l Factory. 500 numbered copies, limited edition.Find Elliot and Into the Great here: https://elliotblake.com/2026/07/16/into-the-great/