Books and Brews Podcast

Ilona Parunakova is an author, diversity and inclusion speaker, and founder and CEO of IP Resilience Global and Identity Guru. She penned the best-selling books Opium of the Almond Tree, Am I Godfident, Unfiltered, Unleashed, Unapologetic, Royal Grand Berries, Success without Apology, and In the Front Line with Royal Warriors. Additionally, she has published the International Project book Godfiden...

Award-winning contemporary romance author Sadira Stone spins steamy, smoochy tales set in small businesses—a quirky bookstore, a neighborhood bar, a vintage boutique… Her stories highlight found family, friendship, and the sizzling chemistry that pulls unlikely partners together. When she emerges from her writing cave in Las Vegas, Nevada (which she seldom does), she can be found in belly dance cl...

Sloane Steele is the pen name for Shannyn Schroeder. As Sloane, her Counterfeit Capers series of heist romances are her love letter to the TV show Leverage. As Shannyn, she writes contemporary romances about big families, both those created by blood and by choice. Her books are set in the city of Chicago because having grown up there and lived near the city her whole life, she writes what she know...

Christine Madline Ellsworth, has just released her first book of poetry, published by Potter’s Wheel Publishing. Here is a collection of poems tracing the arc of transition in a contemporary woman’s life. From childhood fascinations to adult issues such as domestic violence, marriage and divorce, Ellsworth shares many relatable experiences. Ellsworth holds BA and MA degrees in English literature f...

Sandy Hanna is an award-winning author for her memoir “The Ignorance of Bliss: An American Kid in Saigon,” a true coming-of-age story about growing up in Vietnam in the early 60s. She current resides in Lambertville, New Jersey. As a military BRAT (British Regiment Attached Transfer) her story reveals a turbulent time where politics and intrigue resided between plot and counterplot and where, as c...

Christine Husom is a national best-selling author from Minnesota. She pens the suspenseful Winnebago County Mysteries and the cozy, but not too cozy, Snow Globe Shop Mysteries where bad guys demonstrate not everyone is “Minnesota Nice.” She also has stories in many anthologies. Husom served with the Wright County Sheriff, is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime and is active...

Nicole Burnham is the RITA Award-winning author of over twenty romance novels, including the popular Royal Scandals series. As an army brat, Nicole was raised moving around the world. She still travels abroad whenever she can score cheap airfare and loves that it feeds her writing. If Nicole isn't at her keyboard, she is happiest spending time at Fenway Park or trail running.

After teaching language arts and coaching basketball for 30 years, Jeff Laferney decided to write books instead. Now he spends his free time reading, writing, and editing books. His Clay and Tanner Thomas series focuses on a father and son team who use parapsychological abilities to solve mysteries. Jumper is a time-travel science fiction adventure. Lost and Found, is a unique mystery/treasure hun...

Ernie Brill writes fiction and poetry about everyday people. His I Looked Over Jordan and Other Stories explores race and class among hospital workers. The actress Ruby Dee adapted, and performed the story Crazy Hattie Enters Ice Age for the PBS TV series “With Ruby and Ossie.” Brill has published fiction, poetry and essays in the US and Canada. Favorite writers include Virginia Woolf, Richard Wri...

Eugenia Fain is an author of poetry and prose. She is also a songwriter and available on Amazon and Spotify. Eugenia has forty years of experience in writing. She is a preschool teacher and tutor. She is published here and abroad; she is considered an international author. Eugenia is featured in several anthologies. She is published online, in print, ebook, and audiobook form. She has no children...

USA Today bestselling author Melonie Johnson―aka #thewritinglush―enjoys cheap wine, expensive beer, and sipping cocktails that start with the letter m. Declared a “writer to watch” by Kirkus and a “fizzy, engrossing new voice” by Entertainment Weekly, her smart funny contemporary romances include Too Good to Be Real and her award-winning Sometimes in Love debut series: Getting Hot with the Scot, S...

In December 1994 Philip was hit by a car and killed! Thankfully death wasn’t terminal and as the years passed in his new life he was able to write a book, "Flight of a Lifetime". This inspiring, autobiographical story about his life, his death and his resurrection may not change the world, but it may make people's perceptions of the world change. It will make you cry, but also make you laugh - oft...

Cynthia Kraack is an author of fiction, short stories and nonfiction. 40 Thieves on Saipan received Best Book in Military History from the American Book Festival. The High Cost of Flowers won two 2014 Midwest Book Awards. Joseph Tachovsky is the son of Lieutenant Frank Tachovsky, commander of the 40 Thieves. A story told at his father’s funeral of how he “saved every man in our unit” from a Japane...

Dr. Chris Powell is an author, poet, musician, engineering and management consultant and aspiring polymath with his fingers on everything from fretboards and ivories to the pulse of post-modernism, surrealism, and nihilism's impact on the destruction of morality and sanity. In The Path That Shines, Dr. Powell details his late wife Bonnie’s every procedure and symptom, and every failure of modern m...

Lauretta Kehoe is an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, seeking in these stories reflections of her Christian faith. Not finding many, she decided to write what she wanted to read. Michael Kehoe is a professional comedian, actor and screenwriter, who has appeared in several movies, including the latest Jason Bourne film, the upcoming Godzilla sequel. Michael has also appeared as his Geria...