DIY MFA Radio

Today, Lori is interviewing Taylor Hahn. They'll be talking about her debut romance novel, The Lifestyle .  Taylor is a second-grade teacher turned lawyer turned author. After graduating from Loyola Marymount University, she joined Teach for America and taught in Brooklyn for two years before attending Fordham University School of Law. She then worked as a litigation associate at a firm in Manhatt...

Today, Lori is interviewing Rebecca Scherm. They'll be talking about her science fiction-thriller novel, A House Between Earth and the Moon .  Rebecca Scherm is the author of Unbecoming. She lives in California with her family.   In this episode Rebecca Scherm and Lori discuss: The psychic toll writing near future speculative fiction can take on a parent. Why it is so important to safeguard your p...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jennifer McMahon. We'll be talking about her genre-defying novel, The Children on the Hill . Jennifer McMahon has been lauded by Chris Bohjalian ( The Flight Attendant ) as "a worthy literary descendent of Shirley Jackson." She is the author of eleven novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Promise Not to Tell and The Winter People . McMahon is i...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Brett Riley. We'll be talking about his YA fantasy/thriller novel, Freaks .  Brett Riley is the author of The Subtle Dance of Impulse and Light (Ink Brush Press), Comanche (Imbrifex Books), Lord of Order (Imbrifex), Freaks (Imbrifex), and Travelers (2022). His short fiction has appeared in journals such as The Baltimore Review, F(r)iction, Solstice, Folio...

Today, Lori is interviewing Amy Lea. They'll be talking about her debut romance novel, Set on You .  Amy Lea is a Canadian bureaucrat by day and contemporary romance author by night (and weekends). She writes laugh-out-loud romantic comedies featuring strong heroines, witty banter, mid-2000s pop culture references, and happily ever afters.   In this e pisode Amy Lea and Lori dis cuss: Why represen...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jessi Honard and Marie Parks. We'll be talking about their contemporary fantasy debut, Unrelenting.  Jessi and Marie have been co-writing speculative fiction since 2009, and their 2022 contemporary fantasy debut, Unrelenting , was a finalist in the 2020 Book Pipeline Unpublished Manuscript contest.  Marie is a fantasy, sci-fi, and horror author who landed...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jessi Honard and Marie Parks. We'll be talking about their contemporary fantasy debut, Unrelenting.  Jessi and Marie have been co-writing speculative fiction since 2009, and their 2022 contemporary fantasy debut, Unrelenting , was a finalist in the 2020 Book Pipeline Unpublished Manuscript contest.  Marie is a fantasy, sci-fi, and horror author who landed...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Leslie Johansen Nack.  Leslie's newest book, The Blue Butterfly, A Novel of Marion Davies, comes out next week and it's what we are going to be discussing today. Her debut is a memoir titled Fourteen, A Daughter's Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival. It received five indie awards, including the 2016 Finalist in Memoir at the Next Generation Indie B...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing G.G. Kellner Gayle is a poet, essayist, artist, educator, and Author of Hope: A History of the Future, a novel in which she imagines a peaceful, just, sustainable future based on facts, legal precedence, and historical documents. Gayle lives in a home that has been in her family for five generations. She spends most of her time creating with words, paints...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Claire Stanford. Born and raised in Berkeley, Claire holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota and is currently a Ph. D. candidate in English at UCLA, where she studies science fiction/speculative fiction, narrative theory, and novel theory. Claire's work has received fellowships and grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Minnesota...

Today, Lori is interviewing Jody Hadlock.   Jody studied journalism and was a television news reporter and anchor serving her community in South Carolina as well as Texas. In addition to writing, her other passion is advocating for people with special needs. For several years Jody served on the board of directors of North Texas Special Needs Assistance Partners (SNAP), a nonprofit dedicated to ens...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Rob Hart. Rob is the author of The Warehouse , a gripping speculative thriller which sold in more than 20 countries and was optioned for film by Ron Howard. He is also the author of the Ash McKenna series, the short story collection Take-Out , and Scott Free with James Patterson. His latest book is The Paradox Hotel, about a hotel at the crossroads of the...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Brian Leung. Brian is the author of the novels Lost Men , Take Me Home , and Ivy vs Dogg: With a Cast of Thousands! .  His short-story collection, World Famous Love Acts , won the Asian American Literary Award and the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction.  Born and raised in San Diego County, he is a Professor of Creative Writing at Purdue University as w...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Walker: Jeff is one of the world's most successful online entrepreneurs the creator of Product Launch Formula and the #1 NY Times bestselling author of the book Launch . He has spent the last 15 years helping people launch their online courses, memberships, coaching and books. His students and clients have done over a BILLION dollars in launches in h...

Today, I have the esteemed pleasure of interviewing one of my absolute favorite people, Lori Walker. Lori wears a lot of hats at DIY MFA. Her official title is Operations Maven. However, she is also Podcast Producer, Launch Manager, Web Editor, a Book Coach, and our Resident Reader at DIY MFA. Lori is the writer behind the Book Nook column.  In her spare time, she loves yoga, cooking, traveling, s...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Gillian McDunn Gillian is the author of the middle-grade novels Caterpillar Summer and The Queen Bee and Me , These Unlucky Stars published by Bloomsbury Children's Books. Caterpillar Summer was selected for the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, and landed on Kirkus Reviews and Parents magazine Best Books of the Year lists. Her favorite thing is spendin...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing JK Ellem. Jack is the author of the Amazon #1 US & UK Best Selling book, Mill Point Road, A Winter's Kill, and the No Justice Series . He was born in London and spent his formative childhood years reading infamous British comics like Action and 2000 AD . He has no agent, no publicist, and no huge publishing house behind him. Yet in 3 short years since he...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Isaac Fellman. Isaac is the author of Dead Collections , as well as The Breath of the Sun (published under his pre-transition first name), which won the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for queer science fiction, fantasy, and horror. By day he is an archivist at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. Today we're talking about his latest book, Dead Collec...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Ryan Dalton. Ryan is an author, singer, voiceover artist, amateur chef and lover of all things geek. He's also the author of the young adult and middle-grade books including the time travel mystery series, the Time Shift trilogy. Today we'll be discussing his latest novel, This Last Adventure, a middle-grade story about the bond between a teenage boy and...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Alana Quintana Albertson. Alana is a Latina bestselling romance author whose books have hit the top of several different charts. She has written thirty books and landed a three-book deal for the Latinx romantic comedy series, Love and Tacos. The first book in the series, Ramón and Julieta , has just been released and it has been optioned for television. L...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Alana Quintana Albertson. Alana is a Latina bestselling romance author whose books have hit the top of several different charts. She has written thirty books and landed a three-book deal for the Latinx romantic comedy series, Love and Tacos. The first book in the series, Ramón and Julieta , has just been released and it has been optioned for television. L...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Sue Campbell. As founder of Pages & Platforms, Sue is the mindset and book marketing coach writers look to when they are ready to honor their dreams, share their work with the world, and maximize the impact of their words. She has helped hundreds of writers—from newbies to bestsellers—transform their mindset around marketing, and her clients have achieved...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing William Germano Bill is professor of English at Cooper Union, where he served as dean of the faculty of humanities and social sciences for more than a decade. During an earlier career in publishing, he served as editor-in-chief at Columbia University Press and as vice-president and editorial director at Routledge.  His previous books on writing include Ge...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Leslie Vedder. Leslie Vedder is a queer ace author who loves fairytale retellings with girl adventurers and heroes! She grew up on fantasy books, anime, fanfiction, and the Lord of the Rings movies and met her true love in high school choir. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in creative writing and currently lives in Colorado w...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Ashanti Anderson. Ashanti Anderson (she/her) is a Black Queer Disabled poet, screenwriter, and playwright. Her debut short poetry collection, Black Under , is the winner of the Spring 2020 Black River Chapbook Competition at Black Lawrence Press. Her poems have appeared in World Literature Today, POETRY magazine, and elsewhere in print and on the web. In...