Author Conversations

This week Jenni and Jonny talk about June Hersh's new title, Food, Hope & Resilience.  This book features a collection of stories from Holocaust survivors and recipes that helped those survivors remember their life before World War II during their postwar lives.  You can find the book online  at arcadiapublishing.com. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the book will benefit organisations...

If you thought part one was crazy wait until you listen to part 2. Undercover newsmen, angry prostitutes, armed cowboys, angry sheriffs, a sketchy media personality and hypocritical politicians make up this week's episode.    Again this episode is rated "E" for explicit. 

If you get offended easily or get the "vapors" this one is not for you. If you're wearing pearls you may clutch them while listening. It's our first explicit podcast and a two parter!    Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch gives a detailed history of the world famous brothel. Jenni and Jonny talk about the book and author. We also tell some of the history of the ranch's rise and fall. 

Jenni and Jonny discuss the events surrounding America's first reported poltergeist, The Wizard Clip.    Wizard Clip had a need, a compulsion to cut clothes in a crescent shape, cut trousers, give a flock of ducks a brutal ending, and demand prayers. Was this a real phenomenon or something else? How was this story used to keep old world beliefs alive during the age of the enlightenment? Find out o...

Step-siblings getting married. A lonely wife on the farm. A love triangle or quadrangle and of course murder! We have a lot to unpack in this one. 

Author Conversations is back and Jonny has a cohost, Jenni!

Alabama governor George Wallace ran for president four times between 1964 and 1976. In the Badger State, his campaigns fueled a debate over constitutional principles and values. Wallace weaponized states’ rights, arguing that the federal government should stay out of school segregation, promote law and order, restrict forced busing and reduce burdensome taxation. White working-class Wisconsinites...

In 2000, the newly created Montpelier Foundation took over management of the historic home of James Madison with a seemingly insurmountable task before it. The house was no longer recognizable as the home of the Madisons, and most other structures were in poor condition. Within ten years, the foundation overcame numerous hurdles to restore the house and turn Montpelier into a monument to the Fathe...

Union general John Reynolds was one of the most beloved and respected military leaders of the Civil War, yet beyond the battlefield, the captivating true story of his secret romance with Catherine “Kate” Mary Hewitt remains etched into his legacy. Clandestinely engaged before John marched off to war, the couple’s love remained a secret. Kate made a poignant “last promise,” a commitment to enter in...

Rosalind and Maggie Bunn have recently written a great children’s book which explores the Peach State entitled, All aboard Georgia. In the book A young child rides the train through Georgia's beautiful, historic, and interesting landscapes. https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781455626144  

The abolitionist John Brown still roams the West Virginia panhandle—and beyond. In Lexington, a statue sheds real tears, mourning Virginians killed in battle. Decades of abuse at a sanatorium unleashed malevolent entities in Staunton. Spirits of Native Americans, Civil War soldiers and children frequent natural springs in Frederick County and caves near Strasburg. Ghosts stay free of charge at the...

Nestled between Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point, what was once a sleepy little village, just a stop on the Great Wagon Road, became a thriving community in the nineteenth century. Residents have spent lifetimes looking after one another—and sometimes they continue to do so even in death. Does a young soldier haunt the Kernersville Museum, flirting with the women who work there? Learn the...

On February 2, 1963, a tanker with thirty-nine men aboard departed Beaumont and never returned. In the mid-spring of 1882, Billy the Kid’s friend, foe and equal escaped Huntsville Penitentiary and vanished. On December 9, 1961, a young boy in Wichita Falls disappeared without a trace. On November 18, 1936, a father and son were swallowed by a “Walled Kingdom.” On December 23, 1974, three girls wen...

One of the surest ways to connect with the past is to sample what was on its plate. That’s the goal with this gustatory journey through Alabama history. Sweetmeats with the governor’s lonely, oft-depressed wife in 1832 Greensboro. Shrimp and crabmeat casserole at a long-departed preacher’s house at the Gaines Ridge Dinner Club in Camden. Pimento cheese and tea with notes of cinnamon and citrus at...

These artists were also adventurers!   Florida’s amazing landscapes and fascinating wildlife were sources of inspiration for early naturalists seeking new horizons. Among them was John James Audubon. Elegant herons, acrobatic terns, endearing pelicans and colorful roseate spoonbills all feature among his beloved artwork. But Audubon was not the first nature artist inspired by Florida. Mark Catesby...

George Pullman’s legacy lies in the town that bears his name. As one of the first thoroughly planned model industrial communities, it was designed to give the comforts of a permanent home to the employees who built America’s most elegant form of overnight railroad travel. But the town was more than just a residential wing of sleeper car manufacturing; its 1894 railroad strike led to the national L...

The epic saga of Big Basin began in the late 1800s, when the surrounding communities saw their once “inexhaustible” redwood forests vanishing. Expanding railways demanded timber as they crisscrossed the nation, but the more redwoods that fell to the woodman’s axe, the greater the effects on the local climate. California’s groundbreaking environmental movement attracted individuals from every walk...

Ebenezer Allen was born during political instability and hardships in an unknown frontier. He matured during the tipping point of the American Revolution as an invincible leader who personified patriotism. Unlike his better-known cousins, Ebenezer was a skilled commando and combat veteran in Warner’s Regiment and Herrick’s Rangers. Following the capture of a British rear-guard force in 1777, Capta...

On this special edition of Author Conversations I speak with 16 year old Jack Drake who has authored his first book with us entitled Preston Hollow. 

From a man who rivals Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr in treachery to a State Treasurer who absconded with $7 Million in today's money. This book has it all! Does a Civil War General deserve the moniker "The Butcher of Kentucky"? What does a mysterious blood stain in the U.S. Capitol Building have to do with the Bluegrass State?  Listen to this week's episode of Author Conversations to find out!  C...

From ghostly tales to joke books with big facts, Arcadia Kids has it all. Nancy Ellwood joins me again to talk about new books from Arcadia Kids and exciting new series that are on the horizon.   https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Search?searchtext=ghostly%20tales&searchmode=anyword&searchoption=allbooks  

In 1778, two years after the British forced the Continental Army out of New York City, George Washington and his subordinates organized a secret spy network to gather intelligence in Manhattan and Long Island. Known today as the “Culper Spy Ring,” Patriots like Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend risked their lives to report on British military operations in the region. Vital reports clandestinel...

On a sultry August morning in 1970, the battered body of a young woman was hoisted from a dry well just outside Hogansville, Georgia. Author and investigator Clay Bryant was there, witnessing the macabre scene. Then fifteen, Bryant was tagging along with his father, Buddy Bryant, Hogansville chief of police. The victim, Gwendolyn Moore, had been in a violent marriage. That was no secret. But her h...

In the summer of 1967, nineteen-year-old Brenda Joyce Holland disappeared. She was a mountain girl who had come to Manteo to work in the outdoor drama The Lost Colony. Her body was found five days later, floating in the sound. This riveting narrative, built on unique access to the state investigative file and multiple interviews with insiders, searches for the truth of her unsolved murder. This is...

The dark woods of Maine have been the setting for many eerie and unexplained events, none more captivating than sightings of a giant hominid known as Bigfoot. But what makes this corner of New England such a perfect place for this cryptid to live? Learn about the ecology and geography that support the legend and meet the people forever changed by close encounters with it. From previously unpublish...