Episodes
Wednesday Jul 28, 2021
Season 5 Ep. 98 Ask the Agent with guest Alice Speilburg
Wednesday Jul 28, 2021
Wednesday Jul 28, 2021
Today our episode feels a little bit like show and tell or career day at school. We are finding out all about what a literary agent does. Our guest this week is Alice Speilburg, the founder of and one of the literary agents at Speilburg Literary Agency in Louisville, Kentucky.
She learned her trade working with both publishers and a literary agency in New York City and then Hurricane Sandy happened. Her home in New Jersey was destroyed and she decided it was time to come home to Kentucky. She founded her agency in 2013, and she represents authors like Angela Jackson-Browne and James Markert.
Alice gives us a 101 crash course in how it all works and what a writer should know before sending their work to an agent. And she gives us a sneak peak into what book trends we may see in the next few years.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
1- The Enemies of Versailles by Sally Christie
2- Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
3- Little House on the Prairie books
4- American Girl books
5- Alanna the Knight series by Tamora Pierce
6- His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
7- Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
8- Heresy by Melissa Lenhardt
9- The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan
10- The Vine that Ate the South by J.D. Wilkes
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
Season 5 Ep. 97 A Bookstore for Kids Galore with guest Caroline Stine
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
Today on the show we feature The Blue Marble bookstore which is in Ft. Thomas KY, just a skip across the river from Cincinnati, OH. It is a bookstore that serves children from birth to young adult. I first heard about The Blue Marble in an article about their Great Green Room.
If you have had children or grandchildren in the last 70 years, you have most likely read the bedtime classic, "Goodnight Moon" written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. At The Blue Marble, there is a recreated Great Green Room that includes everything from the comb and the brush and the bowl of mush to the quiet old lady who was whispering hush.
We delved a little deeper and learned that The Blue Marble was one of the first children’s bookstores in the country and that its founder, Tina Moore, was a pioneer in the field. Tina passed away in 2016, but our guest, Caroline Stine, has taken on the role of general manager and continues Tina’s mission for the store.
She’s giving the store a bit of a facelift, broadening their foreign language section, and has created an inviting area just for teens. She explains why The Blue Marble has been such a special place for young booklovers for over 30 years.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
1- Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
2- A Light In the Attic by Shel Silverstein
3- The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson
4- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien
5- Matilda by Roald Dahl
6- The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood
7- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
8- Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethaway
9- House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
10- Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo
11- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
12- Memento Monstrum by Jochen Til
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
Season 5 Ep. 96 Mastering the Meet Cute with guest Melonie Johnson 7-14-21
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
Today we chat with author Melonie Johnson. She is the author of the “Sometimes in Love” romance series but her newest release which hit bookstores last week is a little bit of a departure; it is a romantic comedy called Too Good To Be Real. Melonie said she strived to write something light and fluffy that would take her and other people’s minds off the hard year that was 2020 and the pandemic. She wanted to make readers laugh. And as you will see as you listen, we laugh a lot in this interview.
Before becoming a full-time writer, Melonie was a high school English teacher, a stay at home mom, and the founder of a children's theater company. But then she tried her hand at writing during NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month with a mom’s group in her area and enjoyed the process. Now she takes her love of romance novels that she has had since age 10 and funnels it into her novels and her romance facebook group, The Reading Lushes.
Books mentioned--
1- Too Good to Be Real by Melonie Johnson
Movies mentioned--
1- AustenlandPodcasts mentioned--
Whoa!-mance
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
Season 5 Ep. 95 The Suspense is Killing Us with guest David Bell 7-7-21
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
We are excited to open up Season 5 with suspense writer David Bell. He is the USA Today bestselling author of 11 books and his most recent offering hit the bookshelves yesterday.
His newest Kill All Your Darlings is the interconnection of all kinds of hot topics; showing the dark side of academia and what happens when plagiarism makes you the prime suspect of a murder. Plus add some professor ickiness that would make the #Metoo movement cringe and you have a page turner that book websites like SheReads and Frolic call a most anticipated summer reads for 2021.
David is a professor of English at Western Kentucky University and heads up their MFA creative writing program.
Books mentioned in this episode:
1- Kill All Your Darlings by David Bell
2- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
3- King Arthur & His Knights by Mabel Louise Robinson
4- I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
5- Somebody I Used to Know by David Bell
6- OCDaniel by Wesley King, narrated by Ramon de Ocampo
7- Hello Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly, narrated by Ramon de Ocampo
8- Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar
9- Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
10- Cemetery Girl by David Bell
Movies mentioned--
Together, Together directed by Nikole Beckwith
Tenet, directed by Christopher Nolan
TV shows mentioned
I'll Be Gone in the Dark - Limited series on HBO