Category: Episodes

A conversation with Lindy Ryan, award-winning author of Another Fine Mess, the sequel to her acclaimed debut horror novel Bless Your Heart.

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About Another Fine Mess

From Lindy Ryan, “one of the most electrifying voices in the horror genre” (Gwendolyn Kiste), Another Fine Mess brings the Evans women back around in this unputdownable, crackling, rollicking mystery of humor, heart, and horror.

Making sure dead things stay buried is the family business…

For over a hundred years, the Evans women have kept the undead in their strange southeast Texas town from rising. But sometimes the dead rise too quick–and that’s what left Lenore Evans, and her granddaughter Luna, burying Luna’s mother, Grace, and Lenore’s mother, Ducey. Now the only two women left in the Evans family, Luna and Lenore are left rudderless in the wake of the most Godawful Mess to date.

But when the full moon finds another victim, it’s clear their trouble is far from over. Now Lenore, Luna, and the new sheriff―their biggest ally―must dig deep down into family lore to uncover what threatens everything they love most. The body count ticks up, the most unexpected dead will rise–forcing Lenore and Luna to face the possibility that the undead aren’t the only monsters preying on their small town.

Praise for Another Fine Mess

“Vampire fans will enjoy this spine-chilling tale.” ― Kirkus

“Sometimes the dead can ruin your life. Lindy Ryan’s Another Fine Mess is a rich and captivating story about family legacy, history, lore, and of course murder. Delightfully alluring and richly suspenseful.” ― Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Vanishing Daughters

“If you ever thought Supernatural should have starred the Golden Girls, have I got the series for you. Smart, at times devastating, and just as funny as it is dark, Another Fine Mess is Lindy Ryan’s unputdownable follow-up to Bless Your Heart. Balancing grief and duty, monsters and men, the Evans women are characters to sink your teeth into.” ― Katrina Monroe, author of Through the Midnight Door

“Another Fine Mess is a fast and witty sequel, and together with its predecessor makes for an entertaining and unique entry in the urban fantasy horror genre. With the second book, considered me sold on the quirky family drama and gallows humor of this series. I would love to see the Evans women return for more stories in this darkly charming Southern setting, and if that happens, I’ll definitely be back.” ― Bibliosanctum 

“The story builds with a creeping sense of horror that lingers long after the final page… With Bless Your Heart and Another Fine Mess, Lindy Ryan delivers an unsettling, deeply human tale of legacy and loss.” ― Booktrib

“Overall, this is a dark, clever, and unsettling novel that was a fast read. Readers looking for a horror novel with shocking and disturbing details plus excellent characterization, secrets, and the supernatural will likely enjoy this novel.” ― Mystery and Suspense Magazine 

“[An] entertaining and utterly charming horror story following a family of women who take care of their town by stopping the undead, no matter the cost.” ― The Library Ladies

About Lindy Ryan

Lindy Ryan is an award-winning author, anthologist, and short-film director whose books and anthologies have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal. She also writes sweet, seasonal romance under the pseudonym Lindy Miller. Several of her projects have been adapted for screen.

​Ryan is the current author-in-residence at Rue Morgue and a columnist at BookTrib. Declared a “champion for women’s voices in horror” by Shelf Awareness, Ryan was named a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree in 2020, and in 2022, was named one of horror’s most masterful anthology curators. ​She previously served on the Board of Directors for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Brothers Grimm Society of North America.

She is an award-winning professor at Rutgers University, and a guest faculty mentor in Western Connecticut State University’s Creative Writing MFA program. Prior to her career in academia, Ryan co-founded Radiant Advisors, a business intelligence research and advisory firm, where she led the company’s research and data enablement practice for clients including 21st Century Fox Films, Warner Bros., and Disney. Ryan founded Black Spot Books, a specialty press focused on amplifying women’s voices in horror, in 2017, which was acquired as an imprint of Vesuvian Media Group in 2019.
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Born and raised in Southeast Texas, Ryan currently resides on the East Coast.​​​ 

A chat with Jenna Greene, award-winning Canadian children’s author, about her newest book for young people, Summer of Rocks.

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jennagreene.ca

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@jennabutrenchukgreene

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@authorjennagreene

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About Summer of Rocks

Three sisters spend an adventure-filled summer in the West Coast wilderness, exploring rock quarries, escaping bear attacks, and fighting over space in the backseat of the family pickup truck.

It’s the summer of 1990, and Amy (age 11), Beth (age 9), and Marion (age 6) are in for the family vacation of a lifetime. No, they’re not going Disneyland, Hawaii, or on a Caribbean cruise. No, they’re not flying to Germany to collect pieces of the Berlin Wall.

They will be looking at rocks, though. Lots of rocks. So many rocks.

You see, when your father is a geologist, that’s what you do on your summer vacation (as the author knows from her own childhood road trips with her geologist father). You drive for days to the British Columbia–Yukon border, strapped in the backseat of the family truck with your sisters, fighting over the Gameboy, listening to your parents tell you “fascinating” facts about the scenery, playing the Little Mermaid soundtrack on a loop, and trying not to get elbowed in the face. Doesn’t that sound like a dream vacation? Well, it’s no luxury trip, but it has its highlights—from camping under the stars to wading in natural hot springs to flying a helicopter! And for Amy, Beth, and Marion, the memories they make along the way will last a lifetime.

At least, that’s what their parents tell them…

Praise for Summer of Rocks

“A family trip that’s packed with entertainment and the making of memories.”—Wanda Taylor, award-winning author of The Grover School Pledge and A Recipe for Rhyme and Rescue

“Humorous and heartfelt, Summer of Rocks perfectly captures the voices of three sisters, each with her own hopes and fears, on a family road trip into the wilderness.”—Jean Mills, award-winning author of After the Wallpaper Music

“A rocky road trip through the wilds of northern Canada drives three sisters closer in this uplifting tale.”—Karen Bass, award-winning author of Blood Donor and The Hill

About Jenna Greene

Jenna Greene has been writing since before she could hold a pencil, building stories with her She-ra: Princess of Power action figures and My Little Pony toys in her basement or on long car rides. Once she could pen a tale, she composed poetry and short stories, finding that she was best at writing novels.

Her first fantasy story (Imagine) came to her when she was in her first year of university, and she drafted it between essays, mid-terms, and reading assignments. Once finished university, with a B.A. in English as well as a B.Ed, she began her career as a teacher and also found time to return to her writing. While teaching middle school, she wrote and published the first books in her Imagine series.

Her Reborn Marks Series took a unique journey. While traveling home from a writers’ conference in Calgary, Jenna was hit by inspiration and formed the character of Lexil – someone who had hidden strength and talents that weren’t easily recognizable. The first half of the book was written while Jenna Greene’s mother was ill with cancer, and the second half was completed after her mother passed away. Winning the 2019 Moonbeam Children’s Book award (gold) provided an opportunity for her to express her gratitude for the inspiration her mother gave her as a storyteller, acknowledging that those we love never truly leave us, as they are in our hearts, phrases, morals, and memories – a major theme for the trilogy.

Having moved to teaching younger students, as well as the addition of a daughter to her family, Jenna has been recently inspired by Children’s Books. In 2021, her first picture book was released: Winston, the Well-Dressed Wombat. Winston is unique and friendly, with a sense of style others might not imitate.

Jenna has more writing projects on the horizon, as ideas continue to arrive in her head. But deep down, she is just a little girl creating imaginative stories with her She-Ra action figures (and possibly a Ninja Turtle or two).

A chat with Art Bell, a writer and former television executive known for developing and launching the Comedy Channel (later Comedy Central) while at HBO, about his first novel, the thriller What She’s Hiding.

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artbellwriter.com

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@artbellauthor

Simon & Schuster Book Page
What She’s Hiding

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About What She’s Hiding

For readers of Harlan Coben and Laura Dave, a gripping modern-day noir thriller featuring a hotshot lawyer unexpectedly drawn into a web of violence and intrigue by the ex-wife he hasn’t spoken to since their bitter divorce, written by the former president of Court TV.

The day Henry Gladstone, a lawyer at a white-shoe Manhattan law firm, met Leslie Dunlop, he knew she was trouble—but he couldn’t say no. Their steamy affair became a marriage filled with secrets and lies that collapsed as spectacularly as it began.

Cut to today: Leslie, who Henry hasn’t heard from since their divorce, bursts into his office and announces that if he doesn’t hand over a quarter-million dollars, they’ll both be killed. Henry dismisses her story as a stupid attempt to steal his money and—despite his still-smoldering desire for her—tells her to get lost. But when he comes home to find his apartment ransacked, he begins to think this time Leslie may be telling the truth. And now that he desperately needs to find her, she’s disappeared again.

In a harrowing journey through the glittering heights and shadowy corners of New York City, where the legal world meets the dark underside of the city, Henry assembles a team that includes his best friend Aiden, a private investigator named Gabriella, and Aiden’s ex-wife Emma, to track down a missing engagement ring, stay one step ahead of the Russian mob, and uncover the secrets of Leslie’s past. As the screws turn tighter and tighter, Henry must learn who he can trust to uncover the truth…before it’s too late.

In What She’s Hiding, Art Bell masterfully weaves a noirish tale of suspense and emotional turbulence as a dangerous woman draws Henry ever further into a high-stakes game that neither one of them may survive.

Praise for What She’s Hiding

“If you love a dark, stylish thriller with a wicked sense of humor, What She’s Hiding by Art Bell is for you. With memorable characters, a noirish New York City setting, and a story that cuts like a knife, this novel will keep you reading until the wee hours. I highly recommend it!” — Douglas Preston, co-author with Lincoln Child of the famed #1 New York Times bestselling Pendergast series

“A rollicking fun thriller, both action-packed and hilarious. A smashing debut that managed to reel me in from the very first page.” — Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Martini Club series 

“Stolen gems, death threats, angry ex’s with axes to grind, Russian mobsters, and private eyes all come together in Art Bell’s terrific What She’s Hiding, a raucous, twisty, dangerous, and often hilarious trip through NYC’s under, and over, world.” — Jon Lindstrom, USA Today bestselling author of Hollywood Hustle

“A darkly funny and twisty thriller that’s at once vividly contemporary and reminiscent of hard-boiled Manhattan crime tales of a bygone era. If you’re looking for suspense and smarts, you won’t regret riding this roller-coaster of a novel.” — Karen Dukess, author of Welcome to Murder Week and The Last Book Party

“Intrigue, deception, and wit sizzle in What She’s Hiding. With self-deprecating humor and a nod to classic noir style, Art Bell has crafted a thriller perfect for fans of Suits and Moonlighting.” — Sara DiVello, author of Broadway Butterfly: A Thriller

“A mysterious ex-wife, a Russian mobster, and a missing ring all add up to a satisfying romp through New York City in Art Bell’s What She’s Hiding. This noir thriller doles out laughs with a hard-boiled edge, and keeps you guessing until the very end.” — Pamela Statz, Author of Thorn City

“What She’s Hiding is an action thriller that will leave any enthusiast panting. This book is for an out-and-out lover of thrillers, especially for those who like it full of twists and turns.” –– Suspense Magazine

About Art Bell

Art Bell is a former television executive. As president of Court TV, he oversaw daily live courtroom coverage and the production of hundreds of hours of original true-crime television series, documentaries, and movies.

His memoir Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humor, was a finalist in the 2020 Best Book Awards in both the memoir and business categories.

Bell has had short stories, nonfiction, and satire published in several journals, including Lowestoft Chronicle, Aethlon: The Journal of Sports Literature, The Ocotillo Review, Fiction Southeast, Castabout Arts and Literature, High Shelf Press, and Writers Read. What She’s Hiding is his first novel.

Art lives with his wife, Carrie, in Park City, Utah.

A chat with award-winning Saskatchewan author Dwayne Brenna about his new collection of short fiction, Theories of Everything.

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dwaynebrenna.com

Shadowpaw Press link
Theories of Everything

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About Theories of Everything

“I remember thinking to myself, as I said goodbye to my friends and walked home through the dimly lit backstreets, that the past comes back to haunt everybody sooner or later.”

In this finely honed collection of short fiction, Dwayne Brenna creates a series of unforgettable characters, from academics and street people to musicians, movie stars, videogame players and their mothers, cooks, actors, boxers, and even a parrot, and, with compassion and affection (and sometimes laugh-out-loud humour) tests their mettle in a variety of fascinating locations, from Saskatoon to Victoria to Libya to Los Angeles to London to Hawaii and beyond, with familiar and homey details and a fidelity to mood and atmosphere.

Along the way, Brenna tackles a wide selection of conflicts and social ills-good versus evil, scruples and the lack of them, doing or not doing the “right thing,” yielding or not yielding to temptations, and the many other struggles of the human heart-all without being didactic or preachy, but simply by addressing the very human circumstances his characters find themselves in, and how they manage to escape, or not escape, the predicaments arising because of who they are, who they’ve been, and who they could be.

Praise for Theories of Everything

“These fifteen stories vary widely in terms of subject matter, theme, setting, and characters, yet they are unified by the strength of the writing and the narrative voice . . . there is an energy in all of these stories that propels and seduces the reader and piques her interest. And what a variety of characters! Academics, street people, ageing hippies, farmers, music producers, videogame players and their mothers, movie stars, boxers, actors, cooks, and even a parrot. The writer clearly has compassion and affection for the characters he’s created and put through their paces, sometimes with laugh-out-loud humour.” – J. Jill Robinson, author of The Land of Not Knowing

About Dwayne Brenna

Dwayne Brenna is the award-winning author of several books of humour, poetry, and fiction. Coteau Books published his popular series of humorous vignettes entitled Eddie Gustafson’s Guide to Christmas in 2000. His two books of poetry, Stealing Home and Give My Love to Rose, were published by Hagios Press in 2012 and 2015 respectively. Stealing Home, a poetic celebration of the game of baseball, was subsequently shortlisted for several Saskatchewan Book Awards, including the University of Regina Book of the Year Award.

His first novel, New Albion, about a laudanum-addicted playwright struggling to survive in London’s East End during the winter of 1850-51, was published by Coteau Books in autumn 2016. New Albion won the 2017 Muslims for Peace and Justice Fiction Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. It was also one of three English-language novels shortlisted for the prestigious MM Bennetts Award for historical fiction. His baseball novel Long Way Home was published by Pocol Press in 2022, and his theatre history text Nights That Shook the Stage (McFarland Books) came out in the spring of 2023.

His short stories and poems have been published in an array of journals, including Grain, Nine, Spitball, The Antigonish Review, Intima, and The Cold Mountain Review.

A chat with award-winning Saskatchewan author David Carpenter about his new collection of short fiction, Hello.

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dccarpenter.com

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Hello

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About Hello

In two novellas and seven shorter stories, award-winning author David Carpenter addresses the theme of human frailties in his distinctively empathetic style.

A disabled widower seeks comfort in memory by getting in touch with his younger self. An old drunk, assisted by his own delusions, lays his ghosts to rest. A young child escapes her oppressive family by ministering to the needs of a monster in distress. A social reject acquires a new look and becomes consumed with the need for revenge against his early tormentors. A former social worker encourages a friendship with a paroled criminal. A cleaning woman in strained circumstances, determined to support herself and her child, feels compelled to make extreme choices.

Some of Carpenter’s characters face the frailties that come with old age, loneliness chief among them. Others become vulnerable to their own compulsions and set in motion moral dilemmas. Many of these loners reach for their phones to send or receive a message that might deliver them from their isolation, but even though they hear “Hello” from the person they reach out to, there is no guarantee of deliverance.

These are tales told by a master of language, an author who uses words with skill, sureness, and grace. While his characters may not find what they’re looking for, readers of these compelling pieces of short fiction surely will.

Praise for Hello

”David Carpenter shows true mastery of the short story and the novella forms. The narratives are graceful and strong, confidently written by someone who the reader can immediately tell has handled language for many years, and the effect is not unlike hearing a pianist who has been playing for decades, whose fingers touch the keys with a skill, sureness, and grace not available to a less-experienced performer.” ― J. Jill Robinson, author of The Land of Not Knowing

About David Carpenter

David Carpenter began his writing vocation as a critic and translator in Winnipeg and Toronto. Inspired by a reading by the Moose Jaw Movement (Gary Hyland, Robert Currie, Lorna Crozier and others) in Saskatoon, he switched to writing his own work, which began to emerge in 1985. He is the author of fifteen books of fiction and nonfiction and one book of poetry. His literary awards and honours include the Saskatchewan Book Awards 2010 Book of the Year for A Hunter’s Confession, the Kloppenburg Prize for Literary Excellence (2015), the Code’s Burt Award (Toronto) for The Education of Augie Merasty (2016), and most recently, the High Plains Creative Nonfiction Award (Billings, Montana) for I Never Met a Rattlesnake I Didn’t Like (2023). As well, as a recognition for his writing, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Saskatchewan (2018). He lives and writes in Saskatoon.

A chat with authorTrevor W. Harrison about his new collection of essays recalling his world travel as a young man in the 1970s and ’80s, Tales This Side of the Elysian Fields.

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The Writers’ Union of Canada bio page

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Tales This Side of the Elysian Fields

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About Tales This Side of the Elysian Fields

“Travel takes you to places in yourself you might not otherwise visit . . .”

In this delightful and intriguing collection of essays, Trevor W. Harrison, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge and a well-known contributor to public media, tells sometimes light-hearted and sometimes poignant tales of his life between his late teens and early thirties, a time when, like many other young people of the era, he travelled the world, beginning with hitchhiking or driving across western Canada and the United States in the early 1970s and travelling to Europe and Asia in the mid-1970s and early 1980s.

From working on the railway in a small town to playing a Hittite soldier in a Biblical movie, from life among the hippies on a famous Greek beach to life in a houseboat on India’s Lake Dal, from bullfights in Barcelona to the towering Himalayas, Harrison invites readers to travel with him, to meet the people, see the places, and experience the events he encountered as a young man.

The stories we tell of our lives, Harrison says, are “the offspring of a pleasurable intercourse between fiction and non-fiction, gestated over time.” There is nothing more innately human than the telling of tales.

Enjoy these while you, too, are still this side of the Elysian Fields.

About Trevor W. Harrison

Trevor W. Harrison is a retired Professor of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge. He is best known for his studies in political sociology, political economy, and public policy. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of eleven books, including a book of poetry, as well as numerous journal articles, chapters, and reports. Dr. Harrison is a frequent contributor to public media, including radio and television.