Archives: Episode

The number 200 in dark blue with pink and yellow splotches, and the title Writers Drinking Coffee in white, both with a black outline, on a blue background covered with multi-coloured confetti.

Episode 222 – Interview with Steve Schlam

Never say it’s too late in your life to start writing! Steve Shlam joins us to talk about his first published novel, “The Harvesting of Haystacks Kane”. It was nominated for two prizes, and is a fascinating dive into the world of 1950’s-60’s wrestling. Haystacks, a nice Jewish boy, goes on the road with his manager into the world of scripted wrestling and discovers it’s far more dangerous than he was first informed. Told from the perspective of a man in and out of consciousness in a hospital, the hero’s journey breaks the mold from many of the strictures of the genre. … Continue…Episode 222 – Interview with Steve Schlam

The number 200 in dark blue with pink and yellow splotches, and the title Writers Drinking Coffee in white, both with a black outline, on a blue background covered with multi-coloured confetti.

Episode 221 – A Discussion of Progress

Everyone who wants to write has a work in progress. At least one. Jeannie sits down with Andrew Walsh, a prized hockey network friend-writing crossover, to talk about making progress on writing his first novel. We hope the discussion triggers something in any listener to say, “I could try that” or “yeah, thanks for kicking my ass to get me in motion again.” Because everyone has a story – whether their own or something else in their imagination. Write it! Start right now! … Continue…Episode 221 – A Discussion of Progress

The number 200 in dark blue with pink and yellow splotches, and the title Writers Drinking Coffee in white, both with a black outline, on a blue background covered with multi-coloured confetti.

Episode 220 – Interview with M.N. Lee

M.N. Lee shares her first novel, Proof of Origin, which we think belongs on bookshelves right next to Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale for near future speculative literature. It follows three main perspectives from a Vietnamese politician, the caucasian wife of a conservative politician, and a mixed-race couple that faces deportation and a new life back in Vietnam together. The prose is compelling, her character building flawless, and the emotional content poignant as they each thread their way through a world of citizenship evaluation and unintended consequences. … Continue…Episode 220 – Interview with M.N. Lee

The number 200 in dark blue with pink and yellow splotches, and the title Writers Drinking Coffee in white, both with a black outline, on a blue background covered with multi-coloured confetti.

Episode 219 – Interview with Dr. Robin Bernstein

Dr. Bernstein is a cultural historian at Harvard, teaching US Racial Formation since the early 19th century. Her latest book, Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit, delves into the history of America’s first prisons in New York built along capitalist ideals, and how one young man violently rebelled against the unfair and abusive treatment therein. One man’s violent resistance response to injustice continues today to shape American perspectives on race, violence, and incarceration. … Continue…Episode 219 – Interview with Dr. Robin Bernstein

The number 200 in dark blue with pink and yellow splotches, and the title Writers Drinking Coffee in white, both with a black outline, on a blue background covered with multi-coloured confetti.

Episode 218 – Interview with Dheepa Maturi

Dheepa started out as a poet, but found herself drawn into novel writing to express bigger ideas, such as the social interconnection necessary for human prosperity and the corresponding good treatment of the earth as part of our social ecosystem. Come listen as she talks about 108: An Ecothriller, which is full of vedic writing and eastern beliefs and how her characters need to overcome their family tragedies, emotions, and a zeitgeist of futility to work together for a common good. … Continue…Episode 218 – Interview with Dheepa Maturi

The number 200 in dark blue with pink and yellow splotches, and the title Writers Drinking Coffee in white, both with a black outline, on a blue background covered with multi-coloured confetti.

Episode 217 – Writing Autistic Characters

There is a lot of stuff floating around the internet about Autism, from ridiculous assertions about causality to silly things about what someone with Autism can do in their life. This is the first in an ongoing series where your WDC team grabs professional therapists and psychiatrists to talk about what different diagnoses mean, what they look like in terms of symptom clusters, and then armchair analyze our favorite literary and fictional characters through these lenses. Our first volunteer is Elizabeth Mueller, a marriage and family therapist and awesome goalie. … Continue…Episode 217 – Writing Autistic Characters

The number 200 in dark blue with pink and yellow splotches, and the title Writers Drinking Coffee in white, both with a black outline, on a blue background covered with multi-coloured confetti.

Episode 216 – Somewhere in Lisa Czarina Michaud’s Hollywood

Lisa returns with her sequel to the first novel (Slanted and Disenchanted) with a character-driven story called Welcome to Hollywood. It’s a novel of two 20-somethings in 2004 Hollywood, battling with high rents, unsatisfying jobs, and a deep attraction to one another – problem is, they haven’t figured out how to communicate who they are, what they want, and who they are each individually becoming. They’re still a band though, even if they stopped practicing, and music has a way of making connections. … Continue…Episode 216 – Somewhere in Lisa Czarina Michaud’s Hollywood

The number 200 in dark blue with pink and yellow splotches, and the title Writers Drinking Coffee in white, both with a black outline, on a blue background covered with multi-coloured confetti.

Episode 214 – Interview with Jim C. Hines

Jim C. Hines is a Hugo-award winning author of a series of princess fairy tales reimagined. Jim has taken the whole fairy tale Princess trope to a new and darkly glorious confection, combining multiple versions into a new saga where the women band together to solve their problems. Come listen as we delve into folklore retelling and cunning new ideas. Damn the Narrativium, full speed ahead! … Continue…Episode 214 – Interview with Jim C. Hines