The Bookshop at the End of the Internet

Author Doug Kari discusses his debut true crime novel, The Berman Murders: Unraveling the Mojave Desert's Most Mysterious Unsolved Crime . In this book, Doug chronicles the 1986 disappearance of Barry Berman, heir to the Kahlua fortune, and his wife, Louise, from Saline Valley, CA, located in the Mojave Desert. Their bodies were eventually discovered by the local sheriff's office, but the double h...

Author Jane Buckingham discusses her new young adult psychological thriller, A Lie for a Lie . In this novel, Sabrina Richard's carefully orchestrated future is on the line when she finds herself ensnared in a series of high school revenge pranks that get out of hand. By messaging a revenge account, she and her fellow classmates can exact revenge on their enemies, but at what cost? Sabrina discove...

Author Evette Davis discusses her new novel, The Others . It is the first installment in her urban paranormal fantasy series, The Council Trilogy . The main character, Olivia Shepherd, is a political consultant in San Francisco who stumbles upon a secret society of witches and vampires that is actively meddling in elections around the world. While uncovering this supernatural cabal, Olivia also le...

Author Becky Dean discusses her new young adult contemporary romantic comedy, Hearts Overboard . Set on a cruise ship bound for Alaska, this novel follows Savannah Moore, who is still reeling from a public breakup with her boyfriend and being nicknamed "Moore the Bore." In an effort to heal her heart and her reputation, Savannah vows to do one new thing each day. Stepping out of her comfort zone i...

Author Steven Joseph discusses his new Snoodles series for young readers. Book One ( Snoodles in Space: A Snoodle, The Zoodle Kidoodles, and One Happy Schmoodle ) and Book Two ( Snoodles in Space: The Zoodles Strike Back ) are available now. Though the Snoodles series is for young readers, Steven has also written books for adults that focus on what he describes as the power of crankiness. In his C...

Author Marcia Menter discusses her new book, That Voice: In Search of Ann Drummond-Grant, the Singer Who Shaped My Life. Part biography and part memoir, the book details the life of Scottish contralto, Ann Drummond-Grant (known as Drummie) who died during the prime of her career in 1959. Drummie sang lead roles for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, a famous Gilbert and Sullivan troupe that toured Gr...

Author Ben Gonshor discusses his new novel, The Book of Izzy , in which a man named Izzy finds himself at a dead end in his career, his romance, and his life in general. But Izzy has the opportunity to play the main character in The Dybbuk , a play that is considered Yiddish theater's Romeo and Juliet, and the novel follows Izzy's journey from going off his meds, to experiencing the world of amate...

Author Raymond Paul Johnson discusses his debut novel, Conspiracy Ignited . Ray's main character is a former CIA combat pilot-turned-California litigator named Eric Ridge. As the book opens, an attempt is made on Ridge's life, which sets off a twisty, suspense-filled game of cat and mouse that ultimately leads to his discovery of a powerful cabal vying for control of the US legal system. This fast...

Author Brian J. Morra discusses the first two books in his new series: The Able Archers and The Righteous Arrows . The series is a work of historical fiction based on certain real-life events during the late Cold War period of the 1980's. The protagonist, CIA officer Kevin Cattani, is inspired by Brian's own experiences as a U.S. intelligence officer during that period, and Cattani's Soviet counte...

Author Don Silver discusses his latest coming-of-age thriller, Scorched . In the novel, Jonas Shore had a difficult home life as a teenager in the 1970s. After his father's unexpected death when he was just fifteen, Jonas began selling drugs in order to help support himself and his mother. After he was arrested, he was sent to a boarding school for fatherless boys where he was involved in a violen...

Author Paul Lamb discusses his latest novel, Parent Imperfect . Once again, family takes center stage in this sequel to Paul's debut novel, One-Match Fire . Parent Imperfect is a story about fatherhood—its highs and lows, joys and sorrows. Two fathers, Curt and Kelly, are trying to raise their adopted son, Clarkson. Curt is a reluctant father. Kelly, on the other hand, has always wanted a child bu...

Author Liz Alterman discusses her new domestic suspense novel, The Perfect Neighborhood . In this idyllic suburban town, a little boy goes missing, and the event shakes the very foundation of the town where everyone assumed they were safe. The novel is told from multiple points of view, including the mother of the missing boy, the boy's teenage babysitter, and a former actress who resists assimila...

Author Lane Igoudin discusses his new memoir, A Family, Maybe: Two Dads, Two Babies and the Court Cases that Brought Us Together . In this book, Lane details the challenges—legal, political, and personal—that he and his partner Jonathan faced in the early 2000s while trying to adopt their two foster children through the Los Angeles County child welfare system. The process took three years and was...

Author Ana Stanojevic discusses her new Fire Wave trilogy. Ana has always loved the fantasy and superhero genres and is a big fan of Batman, which she admits was an inspiration for this trilogy. The Fire Wave novels are all about what it means to be a superhero—how to be one and the weight of that responsibility. It is a fun mix of the superhero journey blended with mystery, fantasy and a little s...

Author Allie Slocum discusses her Character Club series for middle grade readers. Each book features a different kid who participates in an after-school club, with each installment focusing on the children's journeys as they learn various life skills—such as compassion and forgiveness, dealing with loneliness, respecting yourself and others, and accepting the consequences of lying. Allie's goal is...

Author Stephen Watts (pen name S.R. Watts) and actor and narrator Preston Geer discuss their audio book collaboration for Stephen's new novel, The Celestial Flame . This is book one in the Divine Saga , a 5-part sweeping epic that combines both fantasy and science fiction and is filled with familial dynasties, political drama and intergalactic war. Stephen wrote this novel hoping it help people fi...

Authors M.M. Downing and S.J. Waugh discuss their new middle grade series, The Adventures of the Flash Gang , about eleven-year-old boy named Lewis Carter who is orphaned and left to fend for himself during the Great Depression in 1930's Pittsburgh. But Lewis has some physical challenges that make it difficult for him to pull off the same stunts as other streeter orphans. So, Lewis resorts to scie...

Author Candace Kade discusses her newest book, Hybrid . It is the second installment in Candace's young adult near-future science fiction trilogy known as The Hybrid Series , which she likens to Ready Player One meets Divergent . In Hybrid, Candace takes on the issues of CRISPR and genetic alteration, adoption and the meaning of family, as well as a bit of fun, including the wonderful celebration...

Author Thomas R. Weaver discusses his debut novel, Artificial Wisdom . In this techno-thriller murder mystery, it is 25 years in the future. The world is polarized by politics and is gripped by war, climate change and technology that has advanced exponentially. Tom began writing by asking: What if the global community were to put its faith in an AI leader in a Brexit-style referendum? But all of t...

Author Dr. Marschall Runge discusses his debut novel, Coded to Kill . In this techno-medical thriller, a state-of-the-art medical records system gets hijacked, giving the hijackers unfettered access to private information and the ability to change the patient records of some very important people—which means that medicine's greatest breakthrough has become the world's most efficient killing machin...

Author Gary Braver discusses his new book, Rumor of Evil . In this mystery novel, Gary weaves together two seemingly unrelated murders—one past and one present. Two police detectives catch a case of a woman's murder that is staged to look like a suicide. As their investigation unfolds, they discover clues leading back to a decades-old murder of a teenage foreign exchange student. Gary believes the...

Author D.P. Behling discusses his new series, Josh & Sen Save the Multiverse . In the first book, The Path of One , two unlikely friends, one human and the other immortal, are thrown together to try to accomplish the impossible—rescue Josh's four-year-old daughter, stop a genocidal soul-harvester, and save the multiverse. Dave's inspirations include video games, sci fi fandoms, mythology, the diff...

Author Emily Shiner discusses her two of her new books: The Wife in the Photo and The Hotel . If you love a good revenge plot, check out The Wife in the Photo . It's a psychological thriller filled with secrets, twists, a mysterious death and edge-of-your seat family drama. Emily's other book, The Hotel , is a locked-room thriller that reveals what can go wrong when you're trapped in a beautiful c...

This is the 200 th episode of The Bookshop at the End of the Internet and a celebration of the podcast's five-year anniversary, since the first episode went live on the various podcast platforms. There have been so many wonderful guest authors who visited the Bookshop to discuss their books and their writing journeys. In this episode, however, host Stacey Horan is doing something a little differen...

Author Becca Wierwille discusses her new middle grade novel, Road Trip Rescue , in which 12-year-old Kimmy loses her dog Bo. But Bo is more than just a pet. He is Kimmy's best friend—because Bo never made fun of her for being born with only one hand. When Kimmy stumbles across a magazine photo of a dog eating an ice cream cone, she knows in her heart that the dog is Bo. With the aid of her Aunt Sk...