GSMC Book Review Podcast

Sarah speaks with Rich Davis about his Cult of Dracula graphic novels: "From the nightmares of Rich Davis comes a unique re-imagining of perhaps the most famous tale of gothic horror ever written. Davis weaves vampire mythologies & occult traditions from around the world into the tragic tapestry of a fallen bloodline. It's Witchy! It's Wyrd! It's Helter Skelter within a hippie cult dedicated t...

Sarah speaks with Faye Snowden about A Killing Rain, the follow-up to A Killing Fire (the first book of a 4 book series): "After former homicide Raven Burns returns to Byrd’s Landing, Louisiana to begin a new life, she soon finds herself trapped by the old one when her nephew is kidnapped by a ruthless serial killer, and her foster brother becomes the main suspect. To make matters worse, she is be...

Sarah speaks with returning author Mary Keliikoa about the first book in her new Mystic Pines mystery series, Hidden Pieces: "Sheriff Jax Turner is staring down the barrel of his broken past. On the brink of ending it all, he feels like a failure following his daughter's tragic passing and his subsequent divorce. But when a schoolgirl vanishes and her backpack is found in a sex offender's backseat...

Sarah speaks with Davida G. Breier about her debut novel, Sinkhole: "Lies from the past and a dangerous present collide when, after fifteen years in exile, Michelle Miller returns to her tiny hometown of Lorida, Florida. With her mother in the hospital, she's forced to reckon with the broken relationships she left behind: with her family, with friends, and with herself. As a teenager, Michelle fel...

Sarah speaks with Annette Libeskind Berkovits about her historical fiction novel, The Corset Maker: "A Parisian Count, a Moroccan arms smuggler, and an orphaned Spanish boy test the convictions and tug at the heart of Rifka Berg, a young Jewish corsetiere from Warsaw. The Corset Maker follows the enthralling life of Rifka Berg leading up to, during, and after WWII. Born into a pious Orthodox famil...

Sarah speaks with Anna J. Stewart about Exposed, the first book in her Circle of the Red Lily series: "Working as a Hollywood photographer means Riley Temple has seen it all. But then she finds herself staring at the chilling image of a dead woman. When her questions about the film lead to violence, she reluctantly turns to the only person who can help. Detective Quinn Burton, the police commissio...

Sarah speaks to returning guest Kelle Z. Riley about the second book in her Riches and Royals series, Royally Scandalized: "After her father's fatal car crash, Jill stopped believing in dreams. Until she became unwittingly embroiled in the politics of the contemporary Kingdom of Melesia and fell in love with a prince. But her commitments to her family and his duty to his country stand in the way o...

Sarah speaks with Connie Berry about the fourth book in her Kate Hamilton mystery series, The Shadow of Memory, "As Kate Hamilton plans her upcoming wedding to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, she is also assisting her colleague Ivor Tweedy with a project at the Netherfield Sanatorium, which is being converted into luxury townhouses. Kate and Ivor must appraise a fifteenth-century paintingand veri...

Sarah speaks with J. Fremont about her historical fiction novel, Magician of Light: "Fascinated by the occult, René feels stifled, apprenticed to a traditional jeweler. Yearning for the creative freedom to explore the mythical world in his art, he leaves Paris to study at the Crystal Palace outside London. There, he meets Lucinda Haliburton and her dysfunctional family. Having returned from an arc...

Sarah speaks with Kristine Ochu about her novel, Campfire Confessions: "Annie, Sondra, and Jo were the best of childhood friends—but they haven’t seen each other in far too long. To the outside world, their lives are perfect. But appearances can be deceiving… Married to a pastor in a small town she’s never left, Annie’s devoted her life to family and the church. Most people consider her a saint—bu...

Sarah speaks with Zachary Hagen about the first two books in his Eternal Chronicles, Eternity's Well and Eternity's Mirror: "When you lose family, friends, and country, how far is too far? Elior watched as his twin brother, the only real family he had left run into a building as it disappeared. Nyx, a cursed merman, watched as his father and best friend were killed in front of him. Opal’s father d...

Sarah speaks with Kevin Moore about his book, The Book of Demons, sequel to The Book of Souls: "When Mr. Philips discovers a powerful, cursed painting whose magic he can use for personal gain, he will stop at nothing to acquire it...including murder. Before he can get his hands on it, the painting goes missing and its artist is found dead. Enraged, Mr. Philips vows to hunt it down. But someone els...

Sarah speaks with Christian Carl about his series of children's books, Land of Lots: "In our very first book, Lovelot, a young girl wandering through space, lands in a strange and magical place called Land of Lots where she meets and gets to know an adorable band of animals called Oomlots. Question is, will she choose to stay or will she go?" If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to th...

Sarah speaks with J. Michael White about the first book in his new Young Adult Urban Fantasy series, Jestin Kase and the Masters of Dragon Metal: "Mankind lost the battle for its soul without knowing. Evil won. And no Chosen Ones are coming to the rescue. Enter Jestin Kase, a foster kid on the run in Chicago. He finds himself drawn into the underbelly of civilization, where the Three Great Schools...

Sarah speaks with Kelley Murray Skoloda about her book, A Way Back to Health: 12 Lessons From A Cancer Survivor: "Kelley Skoloda was the healthiest person she knew—until the day she became a cancer patient. During her first, routine colonoscopy—without having experienced any symptoms—Kelley received a shocking diagnosis: colon cancer. Based on the true story of her subsequent cancer journey, A Way...

Sarah speaks with returning guest Edward Willett about his sci fi novel, The Tangled Stars: "More than a century ago, the network of MASTTs, the space-time tunnels that made interstellar travel possible, violently collapsed, the backlash destroying a lot of the solar system’s space-based infrastructure. Cooper “Coop” Douglas, a thief and conman is in serious debt to outer-system crime-lord Eric Ga...

Sarah speaks with Erica Plouffe Lazure about her collection of short stories, Proof of Me and Other Stories: "All things are delicately interconnected in these stories set in a small town in eastern North Carolina. From the rambunctious antics of an erstwhile Shad Queen to the guilt-throttled grief of a secret affair gone wrong, Proof of Me stitches together the lives and adventures of each of its...

Sarah speaks with Namrata Patel about her novel The Candid Life of Meena Dave: "Meena Dave is a photojournalist and a nomad. She has no family, no permanent address, and no long-term attachments, preferring to observe the world at a distance through the lens of her camera. But Meena’s solitary life is turned upside down when she unexpectedly inherits an apartment in a Victorian brownstone in histo...

Sarah speaks with returning guest Kristina Rienzi about her book 5 Happy Choices: The Simple Way to a Happier Life: "A happier life is only 5 Happy Choices away! In this energizing and thought-provoking self-help book, best-selling author and certified professional coach Kristina Rienzi reveals five simple and proven choices you can make today that lead to a happier life. Kristina's education, exp...

Sarah speaks with Emilya Naymark about her novel, Behind the Lie: "A transplant to the upstate New York hamlet of Sylvan, all Laney wants is a quiet life for herself and her son. But things rarely remain calm in Laney’s life. When one neighbor, a Russian immigrant, is shot, and his Ukrainian wife disappears—along with Laney’s best friend—at her neighborhood summer block party, Laney will need all...

Sarah speaks with returning guest Lorena Hughes about her historical fiction novel, The Spanish Daughter: "As a child in Spain, Puri always knew her passion for chocolate was inherited from her father. But it’s not until his death that she learns of something else she’s inherited—a cocoa estate in Vinces, Ecuador, a town nicknamed “París Chiquito.” Eager to claim her birthright and filled with hop...

Sarah speaks to returning guest Lydia Kang about her historical fiction novel, The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding: Brooklyn, 1942. War rages overseas as brother and sister Will and Maggie Scripps contribute to the war effort stateside. Ambitious Will secretly scouts for the Manhattan Project while grief-stricken Maggie works at the Navy Yard, writing letters to her dead mother between shifts. But the...

Sarah speaks with Patricio X. Maya about his novel, Reggaetón Cruise: "Cringe factor is part of the viral charm. The flashy farmer must be a joke! But maybe he’s the opposite of a joke. He’ll sort that out for himself when he performs his smash hit at the flamboyant Reggaetón Cruise, which, thanks to subversive forces in the mainland, might be a gig to die for, literally. Thrown into the fray are...

Sarah speaks with Maggie Smith about her novel, Truth and Other Lies: "Megan Barnes' life is in free fall. After losing both her job as a reporter and her boyfriend in the same day, she retreats to Chicago and moves in with Helen, her over-protective mother. Before long, the two are clashing over everything from pro-choice to #MeToo, not to mention Helen's run for U.S. Congress, which puts Megan's...

Sarah speaks with Cathy A. Lewis about her historical fiction novel, The Road We Took: Four Days in Germany 1933: "In 1933, before World War II, and the Holocaust, the world was unaware of Hitler’s plans to exterminate millions. Author Cathy A. Lewis discovered a tattered leather suitcase containing her deceased father’s journal documenting his six-week trek through Europe in 1933 while on his way...