Lasers Dragons And Keyboards

Alyssa Hazel is a writer and poet who enjoys exploring the weird, wonky, and wonderful through her work. Though she specializes in Odd Tales and Horror, she dabbles in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Her pieces have found homes in Bluestem, the Red Coyote, and the Dark River Review. Her six books include; The Twitching Light Trilogy, The Third Test, To Those Who Haunt You, and Among the Juniper Trees...

We talk to the always awesome Tosca Lee, discussing her latest book,  The Long March Home , a fictionalized account of the Bataan Death March from WWII.  She discusses the difference in writing process as a solo author, working Ted Dekker, and writing with Marcus Brotherton.  Tosca discusses what's the most difficult thing for her to write, and you'll never guess what that is! Tosca and Liberty ge...

Today, we're talking to Lauren Brandenburg. We talk about Lauren's favorite book as a kid ( The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards), her upcoming 10th book in the Gardener series, being the MC for Realm Makers, her hall of art on her website from her readers, and her guidance she offers to new writers. Lauren H. Brandenburg drinks hot cocoa every single morning and unas...

It's our first solo episode in ... mutters...  Well, we're not exactly sure how long. But still! Aaron, Josh, and Liberty sit down to discuss what we're currently working on, our most recent projects, and among the rabbit trails, we also discuss the things we wish we knew when we first started publishing. Overall, for a free-wheeling show like ours, we managed to keep it on track.  cough, cough uh...

Today, we talk about the upcoming Realm Makers Expo, the outgrowth of the Realm Makers Writer's Conference. It's happening July 18 - 20, 2025 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  To find out more, check out RealmMakers.com . Find the RealmSphere here . Find out more about JJ Johnson's books here.

Today we have returning guest, Lindsay Franklin! Our longtime listeners might remember her from our VERY FIRST episode in 2016! We talk about her upcoming release,  The Unraveling of Emlyn DuLaine . We discuss the starts of the character of Emlyn, which reach back to her first story as an adult writer. Other topics discussed: Coffee/tea/snacks! Writing male characters as a woman who is an INTJ. Th...

Today with our 5th Season Debut, we have 4-time returning guest, H.L. (Heidi) Burke! We talk to her about the upcoming DOSA Files Anthology (Volume 2!) which our very own Aaron DeMott is a part of.  We also talk the RPG writing she's doing and the perils of doing a book launch just before Christmas.  Also : MUTANT CARIBOU!   H. L. Burke has written more books than she can count—because she's writt...

Kerry Nietz is an award-winning science fiction author. He has twelve speculative novels in print, along with two novellas, a handful of short stories, and a non-fiction book, FoxTales.  Kerry's novel A Star Curiously Singing won the Readers Favorite Gold Medal Award for Christian Science Fiction and is notable for its dystopian, cyberpunk vibe in a world under sharia law. It  is often mentioned o...

Back in the day, Gretchen E K Engel enjoyed penning her English teacher's favorite essays as much as earning highest marks in physics. But science won over the arts, and Gretchen pursued a career as a chemical engineer. Her love of the written word was not neglected as she authored hundreds of technical documents including such riveting works as Spill Prevention, Controls and Countermeasure Plans...

Today we interview Heidi Lynn Burke about her latest super hero book, Game On, and the anthology DOSA Files: Tales from the Supervillain Rehabilitation Files.   You can learn more about Heidi's work at: Heidi's Website

Today we interview Janeen Ippolito about her latest book release, Nobody's Hero , and Author Elevate author services. Learn more about Janeen at:   jiauthor.com  

Today we interview Laura VanArendonk Baugh about her Japanese history/fantasy book O nly the Dead Face North , and other works. Learn more about Laura and her books at:  LauraVAB.com

I write with dogs wrapped around my feet. I get to wear sandals or bedroom slippers to work, and old, comfortable clothes. When the weather is fine I get to write on my back porch. I love summer. I write mysteries and fantasies because life is too short to be limited to one genre. I started getting published when I was 12, studied journalism at Northern Illinois University, then went to work as a...

In this episode, we talked with J.J. Johnson, Jason Joyner, and Merrie Destafano about getting your Author Kickstarter going.  Quick points: Kickstarter for Authors FB group $500 is a good, solid number to shoot for Keep holidays in mind when planning when to run your campaign Backer update swaps w/other KS authors. Make sure you have your book  and graphics complete before launching the campaign....

Pam Halter was a home-schooling mom for nine years, has been a children's book author since 1995, a freelance children's book editor since 2006, and was the children's book editor for Fruitbearer Publishing until January 2023 when the publishing house closed. She's the author of Fairyeater, a YA fantasy novel published by Love2ReadLove2Write Publishing, and Willoughby and Friends, a picture book s...

Thomas Doscher is an author and retired Air Force journalist with a degree in history from the University of Maryland University College. During his Air Force career, Thomas wrote news and feature stories for the Air Force and joint military publications across 20 years and three deployments. Thomas retired from the Air Force in 2021 and now spends his time writing and being with his wife and two...

Paul Regnier is a speculative fiction author. He believes one of the closest things to magic on this earth is imagination. His favorite type of story is filled with adventure, humor, and heartfelt moments between characters. He likes to dream up worlds of fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and the supernatural. Sometimes they end up in a book. Paul is the writer of a new fantasy book called Bard Tidings, a...

We had the incomparable John Otte on the show this week!  John W. Otte is a husband, a father, a Lutheran pastor, and a big ol' geek. He graduated from Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, with a theatre major, and then from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. By night, he writes unusual stories of geeky grace. He lives in the Kansas City area with his wife and two boys.   On today'...

For the second time, we had Cindy Koepp on, author of LitRPG novels and graphic novels, among other things! We had a blast learning about the process of turning a novel into a comic book, what it takes to do in-person events at comic-cons, and even a little bit about hooking. (Get your head out of the gutter! It's a legit thing!)  Originally from Michigan, Cindy Koepp combined a love of pedagogy a...

We got to hear quite a bit about how Heidi has jumped from many different genres to focus on Superhero Romance. It's a niche that she greatly enjoys and hasn't been able to find many clean examples of. From there, we moved on to favorite characters, what it's like to put yourself in the mind of who started out as a side character and suddenly needing to write a tale about them specifically, and ho...

Today we had Kara Swanson, author of the Heirs of Neverland books, on the show! This SoCal native enjoys running the Authors Conservatory, the writers school she co-founded, and is hard at work at a new series focusing on the phoenix. www.authorconservatory.com www.theyoungwriter.com   www.instagram.com/karaswansonauthor www.karaswanson.com  

We are absolutely delighted to have back on our show Becky Dean! Becky, also known as B.L. Dean, is the author of her debut space opera novel,  Rogue Pursuit , which released in March. In today's podcast, we discuss writing for two different major publishing houses, the differences between them, as well as how she came up with the ideas for  Rogue Pursuit and its sequels (all coming out by June 20...

Under the guise of testing some borked settings, we reinterviewed our very own Aaron DeMott who just released his third novel, "Etherno 2: Catgirl Overload". We discuss everything from needing to do rants (look forward to updates from Patreon!) to the inspiration of his books to finding time to write while working full-time and raising four kids.  As one third of the LDK group, Aaron is hugely bus...

We have with us Josh's aunt this episode, the amazing Dawn Shipman!  Dawn Shipman is an award-winning author whose fantasy stories bristle with believable characters fighting fierce battles in strange worlds. Teens of all ages will love these tales of soaring wonder, ferocious loyalty, and heart-stopping romance. Kingdom Lost, the first book in the Lost Stones of Argonia series, is her debut novel...

This is a lost episode! The producer has no idea what we discussed, but it's with Josh Chadd. He's awesome. Listen, buy his books, you know the deal.  Joshua C Chadd's Website Find Joshua C. Chadd's books here