Back Porch Writer

Paulette loves books, wilderness and making ancient spiritual truths applicable to all ages in daily life, bringing all these together in her Datatraya series. Paulette had an unusual childhood, growing up in Cumbria and in Scotland. Born of rock climbing and mountaineering parents her every spare moment was spent outdoors. Dirty, often barefoot and left to run free, and later on horseback, her activities and formative years of learning were dictated by the seasons, by raw nature and through the animals around her home, both domesticated and wild.

Traya’s Quest reveals 24 teachers in nature who share with our young adventurer Traya, the most ancient life lessons. We gain the answers to the big questions we all face: What is the meaning of life? What is my purpose? 

Free from ego Traya sees the world as it should be experienced: pure, uncluttered, light filled and alive. Join Traya as he learns from the animals, elements and even the celestial beings as they guide him along his dharma or spiritual path. 

Captivating, illuminating, fulfilling, Trayas Quest gives us the keys to our happiness, connection to Source and a life of profound personal power. Never before has a book been more timely and appropriate for all generations. Every page has hidden meanings, secrets, wisdom and childlike clarity. Somehow the author has managed to condense and simplify complex universal truths and deliver them in a beautiful and easily digestible manner. Paulette Agnew's writing style touches the heart and soul of the reader with its joyful and highly imaginative prose and glorious illustrations. 

Prepare to be enthralled, delighted, and transformed. Deep down we all know there is more to life and something better, more nourishing that feeds our inner most self. 

Get your copy at: www.trayasquest.com

Trace Conger is an award-winning author in the crime, thriller and suspense genres. His Mr. Finn series follows disgraced private investigator Finn Harding as he straddles the fine line between investigator and criminal. Conger is known for his tight writing style, dark themes and subtle humor. He lives in Cincinnati with his wonderfully supportive family. Find out more about him and the Mr. Finn series on his official website,www.traceconger.com. 

THE SHADOW BROKER - Winner of the 2015 Shamus Award for Best Indie P.I. Novel

When finding criminals is your business, it's easy to make a killing.

Finn Harding (Mr. Finn to his clients) specializes in finding people who don't want to be found. Stripped of his PI license, Finn begins working for the type of clientele who operate in the shadows, pay in cash, and don't care if he's licensed or not. As Finn becomes ensnared in a plot to take over a black market information brokerage, he finds himself and his family straddling the thin line between life and death. With his own clients gunning for him, Finn must evade a psychopathic killer, special agents from the FBI's cybercrime unit, and a Detroit mob boss. Finn is about to find out that working with criminals has its advantages. Staying alive isn't one of them. In The Shadow Broker, Trace Conger delivers a sharp-edged and gritty tale of crime, murder, and family. It's a fast-paced crime thriller that holds nothing back.

Christina Hoag is the author of Skin of Tattoos, a literary thriller set in L.A.’s gang underworld (Martin Brown Publishers, August 2016) and Girl on the Brink, a romantic thriller for young adults (Fire and Ice YA/Melange Books, August 2016). She is a former reporter for the Associated Press and Miami Herald and worked as a correspondent in Latin America writing for major media outlets including Time, Business Week, Financial Times, the Houston Chronicle and The New York Times. She is the co-author of Peace in the Hood: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence, a groundbreaking book on gang intervention (Turner Publishing, 2014). She lives in Los Angeles. For more information, see www.christinahoag.com.

Dual diagnosed* from an early age, Matthew Peters dropped out of high school at sixteen. He went on to obtain an A.A., a B.A. from Vassar College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University. He has taught various courses in a variety of disciplines throughout North Carolina. He is committed to increasing the awareness and understanding of the dual diagnosed. Conversations Among Ruins (All Things That Matter Press, 2014) is his first novel. His second novel, The Brothers’ Keepers: A Nicholas Branson Novel–Book 1 (Melange Books, 2016), is a political-religious thriller that capitalizes on his love for history and research. Currently, he is working on the next book in the Nicholas Branson series.

*The term dual diagnosed refers to someone suffering from a mood disorder (e.g., depression) and chemical dependency.

Contemporary Jesuit and renowned religious historian Nicholas Branson is about to find out...and the answer will shake the foundations of the Judeo-Christian world. 

It all starts with the murder of a United States Senator in a confessional, and the discovery of a strange religious document among his possessions. At the urging of his FBI friend, Branson joins the investigation. His effort to uncover the truth behind the murder draws him into the search for an eight-hundred-year-old treasure and into a web of ecclesiastical and political intrigue. 

Accompanied by a beautiful, sharp-tongued research librarian, Jessica Jones, Branson follows a trail of clues, from the peaks of the awe inspiring French Pyrenees to the caves of war-torn Afghanistan. Along the way, shadowy powerful forces trail the pair, determined to keep safe a secret buried for centuries.

Frank O'Neal returns to the show to catch us up on his latest success story! If you're a poet trying to make it in the non-fiction writing world, you'll love this.

Frank S. O'Neal is a lifelong learner, writer, musician and world traveler. Through three major career changes and his constant pursuit of understanding, he has gained a unique voice for his writing. While in high school, an alert teacher recognized O'Neal's gift and encouraged him to use it as a tool to search for his passion and follow his dreams. He used the pen to help him stay grounded and connected to himself as he traveled through his careers in the US Coast Guard, then as an industrial paramedic and through taxing days working as an emergency room nursing assistant.

More recently, O'Neal's career path diverted him to all corners of the globe working in the telecommunications and cellular industry. As his teacher suggested, O'Neal has used poetry and writing to reconnect and reemerge continuously, while discovering where his life will lead him next.

Can fantasy and romance come together to create a compelling story? Of course! The list of successes is pages long. How easy is it to do? What elements must be present to draw the reader into the story? Author Jin Okubo is attempting to do exactly that. Has he succeeded? Check out his book and decide. 

About Jin Okubo: Writing is something that I feel a deep passion for. Being a hopeless romantic is also something that I wear on my shirt like a badge. There is just something so wonderful about trying to work out the depth of Love and how we all view it in our own ways. There is something fun about writing romance novels. I think the biggest challenge is actually writing something original as I did in the case of my novel Love. So much of my life and soul went into that novel that most of it can be said to be excerpts from real relationships.

Krista Wagner is a 70's product who lives in Southern California with her supportive and amazing chef of a husband, three entertaining and very bright children, and a suitcase of stories begging to be finished. She received her BA in English from UMBC in 1999, her MA in English Comp. with a Literature Concentration from CSUSB in 2008, and an MFA in Creative Writing from National University in 2013. Since 2008, Krista has been an English adjunct instructor. In 2012, Krista started work on her first novel and completed it during a summer road trip in 2013. SInce then, she's published two additional books.

About Rian Field:

Rian Field is living her dream as a Marine Biologist, but when she is attacked by a shark, it triggers memories from the past and changes her understanding of her present world. After surviving the shark attack, Rian Field continues her work at the Institute, determined to live her routine life. But as she attempts to cope with her growing post-traumatic stress outbreaks, she is plagued both by memories of an earlier trauma and a sudden onslaught of mysterious and ominous events. She soon finds herself immersed in an inescapable danger as she suspects that her former assailant is still threatening her life--and may be someone close to her; more disconcerting, though, is the growing certainty that the trauma is somehow connected to the shark attack, compelling Rian to uncover the truth of her past and discover who is after her.

William Michael Davidson is the author of the children's book, The Dragon Who Pulled Her Scales (Winner of the 2013 OCD Book Festival Award), The Dragon Who Tamed Her Temper, Missing Person, and Living Sacrifice. He lives in Long Beach, California, with his wife and two daughters. He is working on additions to his children's book series as well as his adult fiction novels. 

About Missing Person:

Brett Cole is one of the nearly three thousand Americans who go missing every day; however, in Brett’s case, he disappears willingly. Thirty years old and disillusioned, he packs his bags (including his Smith & Wesson) and vows to reach Mexico. 

Halfway there, Brett stumbles upon a kidnapping and FBI Special Agent Hayden makes it clear that Brett has stumbled upon something far greater: Operation Ethereal (OE), an ultra-secret branch of the FBI in operation since the Hoover Administration, “took” Brett as a young boy because of his ability to pick up timeprints, impressions of the past.  After erasing memories of the first eight years of his life, OE reinserted him into society for observation. Now that he has gone off the map, they want him back in their custody. 

As Brett flees from the FBI, he must come to terms with his newly awakened gift and what it means. Can his past be redeemed and his future rewritten?

Best selling Kindle author L. A. Kelley lives in Florida where the heat and humidity have driven everyone slightly mad. She's the author of five novels, three more due out this year. In her spare time she calls in Bigfoot sightings to the Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife. They are heartily sick of hearing from her.

About Spirit Ridge:

San Francisco in 1885 was a dangerous place for those who crossed Colin Doyle. To Nob Hill elite he was a successful businessman. To the underbelly of San Francisco he was The Mick, a criminal mastermind ruling from the shadows. If a buyer's tastes ran to opium, a whore, or a politician, The Mick could name a price. No one who betrayed him ever escaped the city alive. Until now.

Unfortunately, my guest, Denis Ledoux, wasn't able to join me today. You can learn more about his work at The Memoir Network.

Here are the two articles I referenced: The Key Elements of Writing a Good Memoir and How to Write Your Memoir.

Check out Gerald Schnitzer's book, My Floating Grandmother for a great example of memoir.

For a non-traditional look at memoir, check out Frank S. O'Neal's poetry.

You might have heard a phone ringing in the background. Oops! I forgot to unplug it before the show. And then there was my dog who decided she needed to come back in right during the program. Sorry for the disruption, folks! It rarely happens, so I appreciate your understanding.