Podcast: Writers Drinking Coffee

Hello everyone, and welcome to Writers Drinking Coffee. This is a podcast based on writers sitting around, drinking coffee and/or occasionally wine, and talking about anything and everything.

Bean Scene Café – https://www.beanscenecafe.com/
Chaz Brenchley – http://www.chazbrenchley.co.uk/ or @chazbrenchley
Jeannie Warner – https://www.amazon.com/Jeannie-Warner/e/B01B38QICQ @thetsmorgan
John Schmidt – @JohnRSchmidt
Michael Engberg – music intro and exit – www.manyhatsmusic.com
Art by Jakkal Designs – www.facebook.com/Jakkal.Designs

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 228 – Stories from HR

We always say that all storytelling is important, because every story written has someone else needs to hear it. Jeannie’s old high school friend Dari DeSousa runs an HR consulting business, and she got together with other HR leads to tell stories from their own lived experiences. They turned these anecdotes into a book with warnings and advice for leaders in industry. The book, HR After Dark, looks to be the first of a series of stories and the lessons that can be learned from them. Come listen to Dari recounting how she learned about finding a cover artist, editing, and publishing as a group project! … Continue…Episode 228 – Stories from HR

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 227 – LA Gangsters with Lynn Harrod

From an idea pitched to the film industry for a TV series, Lynn Harrod has created a thrilling novel based on a genius Filipino gangster making his way into the power structures of the greater Los Angeles sprawl. The Duke of Temple Street is a great thriller, outlining a neurodivergent man navigating the web of family and heritage against making money and surviving in a very real scenario of multiple gangs and undercover OCC agents. Enjoy!
… Continue…Episode 227 – LA Gangsters with Lynn Harrod

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 226 – Interview with Helen Hynson Vettori

Come meet the author of the Black Swan Trilogy as we talk about book 2, Black Swan Shock. Helen was a Senior Medical Intelligence Analyst before the covid pandemic, specializing in planning and preparing for biological incidents. She brings that vivid, very real knowledge of how Black Swan events start and spread and “should” be contained — so the reactions of her fictional personas are true to life. In Black Swan Shock, our heroine represents as an athlete with Down’s Syndrome, who rescues people after a catastrophic earthquake. … Continue…Episode 226 – Interview with Helen Hynson Vettori

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 225 – Interview with Leokadia George

Leokadia joins us to talk about the series of children’s books she wrote featuring Trumpet, the grey wolf. Her writing grew out of volunteering at a Wolf Conservation Center aiming to introduce kids to wolves in a new way. These children’s books explore Trumpet’s life from being the baby miracle pup through to having pups of her own, and the whole journey is beautifully illustrated by Maddy Moore. Come meet Trumpet, Wolf F1505! … Continue…Episode 225 – Interview with Leokadia George

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 224 – Interview with Jendia Gammon

Jendia Gammon is involved in multiple facets within the industry, from writing that gets nominated for all the best awards to running as a writer to editing anthologies and running her own publishing house. Jendia is CEO of Roaring Spring Productions, LLC, as well as Editor-in-Chief of its publishing imprint, Stars and Sabers. Today we chat about her collection of fairy tales that scatter across the imagination from fantasy to science fiction and tentacles, “To Wonder and Starshine.” … Continue…Episode 224 – Interview with Jendia Gammon

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 223 – Chaz and the Emperor’s Kindness

Our own Chaz Brenchley has a prolific year with 4 (5?) new books published. We gathered to talk about his first in a new series, “Of The Emperor’s Kindness”. It is written within a new genre I had to go delve into learning more about, a Fantasy of Manners with only a touch of violence here and there. It is a delightful sapphic romp into a world of his own devising, of warring nations, diplomacy, and noble scheming. The romance of Ambassador Malance and her staff and Vivi (the Emperor’s… niece?) whirl their way through palace intrigues, murder plots, and politics at the highest level of the land. … Continue…Episode 223 – Chaz and the Emperor’s Kindness

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