BookSpeak Network

Harry Covelskie went by many spellings of his last name, and perhaps played baseball in the shadow of his more famous brother, Stan Coveleski, who is enshrined in Cooperstown. One of five brothers who came out of the coal mining community of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, Harry had an up-and-down career during the "Dead Ball Era." This is chronicled in Harry Deitz, Jr.'s biography, The Giant Killer: the Gritty Coal Miner who Helped Deny the New York Giants the 1908 Pennant.

The left-hander is perhaps best known for a brief but amazing run that year. A late-season call-up for the Philadelphia Phillies, Coveleskie would stun the Giants by pitching three complete-game victories over a span of five days. Those losses contributed to the Giants' finish, which led to the infamous "Merkle's Boner" game with the Chicago Cubs. That led to a makeup contest, which the Giants lost, and gave the Cubs the National League pennant.

Harry Deitz, Jr. is the author of several books on baseball, including biographies of Stan Coveleski and "Gentleman" Jake Daubert. In this episode of The History Stacks, Deitz talks about Harry Coveleskie's life, the highs and lows of his professional baseball career, as well as his research methods and interest in Northeast Pennsylvania and the way the game once was.

A native of Shamokin, Harry Deitz, Jr. worked in the newspaper business for 45 years as a photographer, sportswriter, and editor, and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Reading Eagle for a decade before his retirement in 2019. He has also written Our Father's Journey: a Path Out of Poverty, and Journal of a Caregiver: A Story of Love and Devotion. 

On a planet whose environment is all but destroyed, and with a system update coming, the final survivors of humanity will soon be made redundant. A corporation has redefined personhood, and "people" are now mere units of labor.

All that is left to stop it is a bureaucrat, an AI system that developed feelings, and a humanist fungus. These three must find a way to communicate and cooperate before the world ends again, this time for good. 

Apocalypse Everyday, Everyday Apocalypse is the debut novel from Nöe Ray. The story will remind readers of George Orwell, but also the dark comic nature of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. A stark, isolated, and dying planet is compressed into tiny spaces. The book offers a world by Total Systems, with networks supposedly looking out for the best interests of those who remain. There is little humanity, and even less hope.

"Being alive is the hardest thing any of us is ever going to do, we have to get through this together."

An artist whose work and novel can be found on their Etsy site, Nöe Ray is a graduate of the University of Alabama-Birmingham with a dual degree (BA) in Biology and Sociology.  In this discussion, they offer their inspirations, much from personal life, and the vision of what our world can be like, beyond the printed page.

They live in Alabama.

Hellbender Books is the horror imprint for Sunbury Press and boasts an impressive lineup of independent and original works. The previous shows are available in the BookSpeak Network archive. 

Now hosted by Kayla Kisthardt, Episode 1 of the new Hellbender Books Podcast premieres with author Nancy Williams, who has scored a major motion picture deal with Pig.

Set in Meadville, Pennsylvania, the town is believed to be sharing its space with a race known as the "Pig People." Young women continue to disappear from the town, with some saying the Pig People kidnap them to continue breeding. 

Carrie Owens has heard the story, but this one, of obsession, love, and the consequences of allowing fantasy to become reality, comes together in this bizarre tale.

A graduate of Allegheny College, Nancy Williams has worked for the US Forest Service and also as a brakeman on the Leadville, Colorado and Southern Railroad. She is also the author of the Hawkmoon Trilogy. She lives in Meadville with her husband, David. The video version of this program can be found on Sunbury Press' YouTube Channel.

Guy Graybill is an author, educator, poet, and commentator. In his time with Sunbury Press Books, Guy has helped to preserve and chronicle the history of some of Pennsylvania's most unique characters. Among these, Prince David Farrington, brought to life once more in Prohibition's Prince: The Bizarre Life of America's Millionaire Moonshiner, a work now in its Second Edition. Another figure of the state's history, Henry Wharton Shoemaker, is profiled in Scoundrel of the Susquehanna. 

Graybill speaks of these men and other topics, and offers another of his interests, poetry. Rhymes from the Hinterland, on the Brown Posey Press imprint, is a collection of rhyming works, some serious, some poignant, and others hilarious. Guy also premieres a new piece, about a certain celebrity wedding...

A graduate of Gettysburg College with a degree in History, Guy Graybill taught the subject for more than three decades in the Middleburg and Loganton schools in Pennsylvania, and also in Colorado. His "careers" have included working in the State Capitol mailroom, a brick plant, and Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. He also served a four-year term as chairman of the Snyder County Board of Commissioners. Guy's other pursuits include travel, photography, and amateur archeology. 

Michael Robert Drane takes the reader back to the Gilded Age in Western Pennsylvania with his novel Their Wonted Fires. An old saying has it that "Pittsburgh is Hell with the lid off." This story takes you beneath the age's lavish facade of those days, to struggling rural communities and steel towns, including Braddock, PA.

The Moran family is the face of this tale, as they face the changes of a fast-moving, industrializing society, and they are forced to question whether they have the strength to persevere.

Their Wonted Fires appears on the Catamount Press imprint of Sunbury Press Books. Michael Robert Drane was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania, and fell in love with storytelling at a young age. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography, a B.S.Ed. in History from Shippensburg University, and a Master's in Public Policy from the University of California-Berkeley.  

When he is not writing or reading 130-year-old newspapers, Michael spends his time in the San Francisco Bay Area with his family.

Duncan is four years old and has been told he needs to find a mate. As a crow, however, living in New York City and with his parents dead, he must lead the family and keep it fed. 

Around Duncan, his sister Cloud and three fledglings, however, the crows are dying. "The Blind Death" has already taken their parents, and humans are now taking notice. Not only crows, but flamingos begin to die as well, and then people are showing up at hospital ERs...and the crows are being blamed.

Shade of Wings takes the reader inside the mind and body of Duncan, his family, plus a young bird enthusiast and a scientist, all of whom have their own ideas about what is going on. 

Author Pam McGaffin is a journalist whose work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and literary journals. Shade of Wings is her second novel, on She Writes Press. Her debut, The Leaving Year, was published through Spark Press and took First Place in 2018's Best Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction.

A proud "Bird Nerd," Pam lives in Seattle, Washington.

Four lycanthropes in a van, bound for Las Vegas...what could possibly go wrong?

The third volume in the Satan's Petting Zoo series, Circus of Ugly Angels finds Chad and his fellows going west, with Chad believing he will be the greatest of the species ever. In search of Sage, a guru-like lycanthrope who is said to be able to change into a variety of animals, the group decides to attend a high-profile gaming convention.

Before they even arrive, there's trouble: a run-in with a biker gang, a brawl with another pack of lycanthropes, and questions about motive and loyalty rise. The conflict within Chad also rages, as he cannot change his inner animal. Will this trip be worth it? Will they find Sage, and will Chad's answers lie in the Nevada desert?

Circus of Ugly Angels comes on the Verboten Press imprint, and is the latest in a string of dark, humorous, and fantastical tales told by Brian Koscienski, Chris Pisano, and Jeff Young, collectively known as "The Novel Guys." In this episode of the Sunbury Press Books Show, Koscienski offers insight into the series, plus the others he and his colleagues have produced, such as The Shattered World Saga, and The Vengeful Prince Saga. 

The Novel Guys all live somewhere in Pennsylvania.

A stolen mandolin leads insurance investigator Valerie Sloan on a chase that leads her and others from Nashville to Philadelphia in Flood Risk.

A country music legend's daughter wants the instrument back, while an obsessive collector will do anything to get his hands on it. Caught in the middle is a musician, connected to both the daughter and Valerie, and Mother Nature, who brings about a calamity of its own.

The second volume of the "Risk" series comes from Sandy Nork, who takes the reader into the Nashville music scene, as well as the city itself. The forces behind the characters--what drives Valerie in her side quests to solve crimes also include her search for self. With her erstwhile driver/sidekick Rocky Russo, Valerie navigates her own feelings, the threat of the collector's daughter, and if someone doesn't kill Valerie, the flood might.

A career in the business world, plus 23 years as a public librarian, are among the influences that bring Sandy Nork to the literary world with her debut, Special Risk, and her latest, Flood Risk on Red Haven Press. The third volume, entitled Personal Risk, is anticipated for release later in 2026. She lives in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area with her musician husband, Bill. 

When law student Anna Freeman picks up a videotape on energy policy, she steps into the heart of a conspiracy. Powerful lobbyists, corrupt politicians, and billion-dollar interests will do whatever it takes to keep their secrets secret.

The environmental activist in Anna is ignited, as the system thinks she's one of theirs. Instead, Anna plays a dangerous game as an undercover source for The New York Times. The one thing Anna didn't count on: she and the industry's top lobbyist are falling for one another. That, coupled with decisions Anna has to make, could cost her everything, including her life.

Set in 1988 Washington, DC, Temperature Rising is the latest environmental thriller from Joel Burcat. Stepping off from a real-life experience, Burcat again drives a story with compelling characters, both righteous and ruthless. In this conversation with host Tory Gates, Burcat discusses the efforts to discredit climate change then and now, and what can be done before the planet can no longer be saved.

An environmental attorney with more than four decades' experience, Joel Burcat has turned his talents to novels, with Drink to Every Beast, Amid Rage, Strange Fire, and Reap the Wind. Burcat is also the author of Whiz Kids: A Novel, which covers Philadelphia in 1950 and how the city rallies around the Phillies in their quest for the National League pennant.

Joel has also co-edited two of the pre-eminent volumes on environmental, oil and gas law in Pennsylvania. He has co-edited several editions of Pennsylvania Environmental Law & Practice, as well as two editions of The Law of Oil and Gas in Pennsylvania.

A Philadelphia native, Joel Burcat lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You can find out more at his website.

Justin Strawser is an award-winning reporter for The Daily Item newspaper in North-Central Pennsylvania. He currently covers the news and happenings in Union County and presents the Hidden History Series, a collection of tales that spotlight the lore of the Susquehanna Valley.

He has also self-published his first collection of poetry. Those Who Wait offers more than one hundred pieces from the past two decades. Assembled in a series of chapters, these cover the wide expanse of human existence and emotions.

Speaking with host Tory Gates, Justin talks about his early experiences with creative writing. They also talk about the current state of local journalism and the future of newspapers. 

A graduate of Bloomsburg University with a degree in Mass Communications, Justin lives in Northumberland County with his family.