Living The Next Chapter: Candid Conversations with Authors and Writers for Readers Searching for a New Read

Episode 495 - Jodie Kennedy - Clumsy Beauty - Hear I love you in every little moment J. K. Kennedy has been serving up bite-size poetry to a rapidly growing audience since October, 2022. An accidental creative writer and incessant (over)thinker, she enjoys her quiet life in the country with her husband and two dogs. Her love of words comes from her beloved grandmother, who introduced her to the in...

Episode 493 - Phyllis Gobbell - PRODIGAL, a Southern novel that echoes an ancient Biblical story Phyllis Gobbell’s writing career spans four decades. Her history of publication includes both fiction and nonfiction, with a total of five novels and over thirty stories and articles in literary journals, anthologies, and magazines. One of her first stories appeared in the anthology, HomeWorks, in 1996...

Episode 492 - AJ Whitney - Sovereign, When Your Number is Up - Orphans Face A Dire Fate AJ Whitney is a young adult author living in the Kansas City metro with her husband of nearly 20 years and two teenagers. She is also a high school counselor, dubbed as “the punk rock school counselor.” Apart from books, which are her oldest love, she also enjoys making and listening to music, befriending every...

Episode 491 - Steven Joseph - Fiction, Nonfiction Author, Possibly Cranky, Lawyer and Run-On Sentences Embracing the Culture, Celebrating Milestones, and Achieving Zen Steven Joseph is a first-generation American, veteran attorney, negotiator, prolific speaker, and a modern humorist. He’s a real New Yorker. A fully cured overweight person, Steven is a five times Boston Marathon runner and 16 times...

EPISODE 490 - Stacia Moffett - Lost and Found in Tennessee, set in rural Radford, Tennessee in the 1950s, Jim Crow “The Missing Girl” and “Jessa Is Back” explore the South’s cultural and racial legacies through compelling stories of friendship, resilience, and identity. Lost and Found in Tennessee, set in rural Radford, Tennessee in the 1950s, follows Jessa, whose days as an orphaned runaway under...

EPISODE 489 - Author Darlene Campos Shares the Amazing Story of Holocaust Survivor Pete Philipps Hello! Hola! I'm Darlene P. Campos, an Ecuadorian-American author who is also a proud Houstonian. I earned my BA in English-Creative Writing with a Medicine and Society Studies minor from the University of Houston (Go Coogs!) and my MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso (...

EPISODE 488 - Mick Heyman - Reduce Your Anxiety, Mellow Your Money, and the Rule of 72 Mick Heyman, CFA and Founder of Heyman Investment Counseling, has a 40-year career in wealth management, helping individuals and institutions of all sizes to build and preserve wealth with his stress-free method for mellowing your money. Mick started his career at a small firm in Cincinnati before moving to Loui...

EPISODE 487 - Kate Kennedy Author of Once Upon a School, building a school to serve children without housing I am a mom, a wife, a sister, and a daughter. I am a visionary and a dreamer of big dreams. I am a writer and a theology nerd. I am passionate about empowering others to share their stories through the sharing of my own. My study and research interests include identifying the places where t...

EPISODE 486 - Steve MacBeth - No Names No Pack Drill - An Oral History of Canadians at War in Afghanistan Steve MacBeth, a three-tour Afghan war veteran, offers a compelling, first-hand account of Canada’s involvement in one of the most protracted and most complex conflicts of the 21st century. Through vivid and unfiltered interviews with 150 frontline soldiers, this collection captures the divers...

EPISODE 485 - Wendy Dale - Memoir Writing for Geniuses, Peru and Grandma's Pies About Wendy Dale "Wendy is the best instructor I've had, bar none. She continually pushes you and never lets you settle for good enough. She is knowledgeable, patient, helpful, and has an excellent sense of humor! I would take a class again with her anytime." -- Sandra Carpenter "Wendy is pheno...

EPISODE 484 - Zeeva Bukai - The Anatomy of Exile, A modern-day Romeo and Juliet story between a Palestinian and a Jew Zeeva Bukai is a fiction writer, born in Israel and raised in New York City. Her stories have appeared in OfTheBook Press, Carve Magazine, Pithead Chapel, The Master’s Review, jewishfiction.net, Mcsweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Image Journal, December Magazine, The Jewish Quarterly a...

Episode 483 - Bob Johnson  - Midwest Author - The Continental Divide explore the undertow of violence and sin along the St. Lawrence Divide in Northern Indiana Bob Johnson holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop. He took a disgraceful, extended break from writing short stories to follow several career paths, the most notable of which were an English professorship at Goshen College in Goshen, I...

EPISODE 482 - Bart Stark - Army Paratrooper, Combat Veteran, Prosecutor, Defense Attorney, Novelist Bart Stark is a U.S. Army paratrooper and a combat veteran, who later entered a life of crime as a prosecutor and defense attorney. Now, Bart is beginning the third act of his life as a novelist. After leading a vagabond life which took them across America and Europe, Bart and his wife settled in th...

Episode 481 - Grinelle Buzz Desjarlais - Saving KC, exploring the human condition through the lens of addiction The new re-released edition of “Saving KC” by Grinell “Buzz” Desjarlais offers readers a unique experience by presenting two alternate endings, allowing them to choose between a hopeful conclusion or a more somber, thought-provoking one. This historical fiction novel, set against the bac...

BONUS - Book Suggestion For January 2025 - Mel Robbins - The Let Them Theory Mel Robbins' latest book, "The Let Them Theory," offers a refreshingly simple yet powerful approach to personal growth and empowerment. At its core, the book revolves around two words: "Let Them," which Robbins presents as a transformative tool for reclaiming control over one's life Key Conce...

Episode 480 - Monica Singh - Pronounced Guilty - Behind bars in the Indian criminal justice system Set against the backdrop of contemporary India, Pronounced Guilty is a thought-provoking tale that delves deep into the complexities of the human psyche, exploring themes of second chances and the pursuit of justice. In a world where moral boundaries blur and the line between right and wrong is often...

Episode 479 - Jo Ann Fawcett - The Prince Was Wrong, Leaving the Narcissist Behind Book: The Prince Was Wrong: Leaving the Narcissist Behind After eighteen years of marriage to her seventh husband – an inmate in a state prison, Jo Ann Fawcett realized that her now-ex was a narcissist. The Prince Was Wrong: Leaving the Narcissist Behind is Jo Ann’s second memoir and shares her journey through this...

Episode 478 - CB Strul - CONNECTIVITY, a new science fiction novel that combines gaming and motherhood C.B. Strul is author of The Ancient Ones and founder of Odom’s Library. He also has in print three novellas: Spinners , Forget the Complex , and What Grows from the Stump of a Tree? His short play Leading the Blind was produced in Los Angeles by the former artist organization ImageneseFree. And h...

Episode 477 - Ben Hawken - Author of Chandelier - A Family, a Crisis, a Signal Ben Hawken is the award-winning creator of several beloved video series and a small handful of children. Previously, he was the author of zero other books and graduated with honors from a community college, as well as a real college.   He lives outside Seattle with his family. Book: Chandelier  A Family, a Crisis, a Sig...

Episode 476 - Bruce Stock - We Throw a Curve Ball with Switch Pitcher and The Canadian Veterans Party Meet Local Author & Veteran Bruce Stock Bruce Stock was in Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry; he was the first PPCLI officer to become a vice-regal aide-de-camp to the Governor-General. He served at Rideau Hall with the Vaniers from 1964 to 1966 and was there with the Governor-Genera...

Episode 475 - Tami Kiekhaefer - How The Movie, A Man Called Otto Speaks to Anxiety, Loneliness and our Ungaurded Minds A Little About Me After over 20 years in the field of psychology and social work, I still feel a passion for the work I provide  to my clients as well as continuing to develop my personal and professional skills. I enjoy working with  adults and adolescents in all capacities. Witn...

Episode 474 - Lily Iona MacKenzie - Dreaming Myself into Old Age, One Woman's Search for Meaning I don’t have hayseed clinging to my trousers, but growing up on a Canadian farm gave me a unique foundation as a writer. I sprouted under cumulous clouds that bloomed everywhere in Alberta’s big sky. They were my first creative writing instructors, scudding across the heavenly blue, constantly cha...

Episode 473 - Joe Herod - In A World of Writers be a Storyteller - Joe’s journey from dusty boxes to literary dreams is nothing short of magical Joe Herod, or as the literary world knows him, JS Herod, channels the spirits of Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, and Patrick Rothfuss in his writing. Born in Dallas, Texas, Joe's early years were spent crisscrossing the country, courtesy of his father...

Episode 472 - Natasha Sharma - Beneath Divided Skies - Based on the ‘Rescue and Restoration Act of 1949’ About the author Natasha Sharma is a freelance software developer who moonlights as a writer. She has been a voracious consumer of the written word since her childhood and is never without a book (or a Kindle) by her side. A true blue feminist, she is passionate about creating awareness on gend...

Episode 471 - Rebecca Hendricks - Hard Dog's Night - Hound Dog Series, historical fiction, coming-of-age, and the power of music Rebecca Hendricks is a writer and author of the new novel Hound Dogged. Rebecca has made a career doing accounting and Judicial Assistant work, but her passion has always been writing and creating colorful and exciting stories. Starting at a young age, Rebecca could...