Writers Drinking Coffee

Poetry and Parallel worlds science fiction, writing podcasts and designing web games, Kestral can do it all. We read their poetry book Tubelines and the first novel of their new series Reality Quakes, The Boy from Elsewhere; and now can’t wait until the second book comes out next year! Kestral combines beautiful, thoughtful prose with interesting plots and twists for their young heroes and heroines to figure out and solve. … Continue...Episode 232 – Interview with Kestral Gaian

Jonathan Edward Durham did something so awesome we had to reach out and bring him in to talk about it. He self-published Winterset Hollow, and was so very successful with it that he got a big publisher re-release! We sit down with Jonathan to shriek with delight over his bloodthirsty but adorable anthropomorphized animal characters, and the deep roots of fairy tales and complicated individual reactions to grief and loss as represented by the sinister activity of Barley Day. … Continue...Episode 231 – Jonathan Edward Durham

Come meet P.A. Cornell, a Chilean-Canadian speculative fiction author with a delightful collection of short stories that’s coming up in publication this fall. She keeps getting nominated for Nebulas, which ought to tell you that we, her fellow writers, think she’s fantastic. Once you hear about The Astronaut Among the Flowers, you’ll rush right out and pre-order it! … Continue...Episode 230 – Interview with P.A. Cornell

Kristie De Garis is a writer, photographer, and artist. Her premier novel, Drystone: A Life Rebuilt, is a beautiful gut-punch of a memoir that offers an unflinching view of a childhood being different and alien, dysfunctional family ties, and alcohol abuse that acts as undiagnosed neurodivergent coping skills. Everyone has a story to tell, and Kristie is here to talk about how she got it wrong but still persisted, and how her eventual fascination with stones and their visual impact helped her do course corrections to success. Kristie says write your story! Start today! … Continue...Episode 229 – Interview with Kristie De Garis

We always say that all storytelling is important, because every story written has someone else needs to hear it. Jeannie’s old high school friend Dari DeSousa runs an HR consulting business, and she got together with other HR leads to tell stories from their own lived experiences. They turned these anecdotes into a book with warnings and advice for leaders in industry. The book, HR After Dark, looks to be the first of a series of stories and the lessons that can be learned from them. Come listen to Dari recounting how she learned about finding a cover artist, editing, and publishing as a group project! … Continue...Episode 228 – Stories from HR

From an idea pitched to the film industry for a TV series, Lynn Harrod has created a thrilling novel based on a genius Filipino gangster making his way into the power structures of the greater Los Angeles sprawl. The Duke of Temple Street is a great thriller, outlining a neurodivergent man navigating the web of family and heritage against making money and surviving in a very real scenario of multiple gangs and undercover OCC agents. Enjoy! … Continue...Episode 227 – LA Gangsters with Lynn Harrod

Come meet the author of the Black Swan Trilogy as we talk about book 2, Black Swan Shock. Helen was a Senior Medical Intelligence Analyst before the covid pandemic, specializing in planning and preparing for biological incidents. She brings that vivid, very real knowledge of how Black Swan events start and spread and “should” be contained — so the reactions of her fictional personas are true to life. In Black Swan Shock, our heroine represents as an athlete with Down’s Syndrome, who rescues people after a catastrophic earthquake. … Continue...Episode 226 – Interview with Helen Hynson Vettori

Leokadia joins us to talk about the series of children’s books she wrote featuring Trumpet, the grey wolf. Her writing grew out of volunteering at a Wolf Conservation Center aiming to introduce kids to wolves in a new way. These children’s books explore Trumpet’s life from being the baby miracle pup through to having pups of her own, and the whole journey is beautifully illustrated by Maddy Moore. Come meet Trumpet, Wolf F1505! … Continue...Episode 225 – Interview with Leokadia George

Jendia Gammon is involved in multiple facets within the industry, from writing that gets nominated for all the best awards to running as a writer to editing anthologies and running her own publishing house. Jendia is CEO of Roaring Spring Productions, LLC, as well as Editor-in-Chief of its publishing imprint, Stars and Sabers. Today we chat about her collection of fairy tales that scatter across the imagination from fantasy to science fiction and tentacles, “To Wonder and Starshine.” … Continue...Episode 224 – Interview with Jendia Gammon

Our own Chaz Brenchley has a prolific year with 4 (5?) new books published. We gathered to talk about his first in a new series, “Of The Emperor’s Kindness”. It is written within a new genre I had to go delve into learning more about, a Fantasy of Manners with only a touch of violence here and there. It is a delightful sapphic romp into a world of his own devising, of warring nations, diplomacy, and noble scheming. The romance of Ambassador Malance and her staff and Vivi (the Emperor’s… niece?) whirl their way through palace intrigues, murder plots, and politics at the highest level of the land. … Continue...Episode 223 – Chaz and the Emperor’s Kindness