In this episode, we take a look back with our ears at a hand-picked collection of readings and conversations with the eleven local authors of Season 1.

Season 1 of Charlotte Readers Podcast is where everything got started – the idea for the show, learning how to podcast, and the interviews with and readings by the brave Charlotte authors willing to take a chance on the show.

This episode reveals the variety of voices and genres that appeared on the show in Season 1. We’re grateful for the experience and hope you will enjoy this anthology.

For more information about the eleven authors in Season 1, take a look at the show notes at the podcast’s website: charlottereaderspodcast.com

In this episode, we sit down with Sally Brewster and Shauna Morgan of Park Road Books to explore the ins and outs of running an independent book store, the arc of the Park Road Books story - using the three act model in “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel” as a guide - and their recent book picks.

It’s often said that variety is the spice in life. It’s true in running a book store and with books, too. We get a behind the scenes look at the independent book store business and a variety of book suggestions from the book-minded folks at Park Road Books.

You can listen without taking notes because the full list of book suggestions is in the show notes at the podcast website: www.charlottereaderspodcast.com

You can learn more about Park Road Books at: www.parkroadbooks.com

In this episode, we meet authors Chris Arvidson, Ellyn Ritterskamp and Caroline Kenna, avid baseball fans who bring the game of baseball to life with their story contributions to “The Love of Baseball-Essays by Lifelong Fans.”

You’ve heard of the boys of summer. Today, we meet some of the girls of summer, dressed in their favorite major league baseball gear and itching to read and talk about that great American game without a time clock.

There is something magical about a summer night at a ballpark, with the bright lights, the groomed diamond, the grass cut just so, and the chants of peanuts and Cracker Jack, “strike three, you’re out” and the crack of the bat that knocks in a go-ahead run for the home team.

We start the magic of this episode with three short readings by each author about Spring Training; The Season; and The Post-Season.

You can connect with the show at: charlottereaderspodcast.com

In this episode, we spend time with author Ann Campanella, twice recipient of the Poet Laureate Award from the North Carolina Poet Society.

Ann reads a poem called “How to Grieve,” and then follows this poem with readings from and discussion about her award winning memoir: Motherhood: Lost and Found.

Ann’s memoir reveals the emotional journey she took with a mother who suffered from Alzheimers, while at the same time dealing with the difficulty of having a baby given her predisposition to miscarriage. This truly is a story about Motherhood: Lost and Found.

Ann finishes with a poem about Hurricane Donna, a connection to her distant past.

But first, we hear Ann read “How to Grieve.”

Connect with the podcast at: www.charlottereaderspodcast.com

In this episode, author Cathy Pickens, a mystery writer turned true crime aficionado, reads first from her book about ghostly haunts of Charleston, South Carolina and finishes with stories about sensational crimes committed over the years in Charlotte.

Cathy has won numerous awards for her mystery books, and that experience led her to research and write about the criminals in our backyard.

She reads and discusses stories about murdered bikers, fraudulent evangelists, a serial killer, the infamous Loomis Fargo heist and a woman tried in the 1920s called Razo Girl.

Cathy also discusses crime statistics, the true crime genre and more.

We start with a tale from her book, Charleston Mysteries, true ghostly haunts in the Holy City.

You can connect with the podcast at: www.charlottereaderspodcast.com

In this episode, author Bryn Chancellor takes us into the world of literary fiction. She reads a story called “All This History at Once” from her collection of short stories that won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize.

We then spend most of the show focused on Bryn’s award-winning book, “Sycamore.” She reads various selections from the book and talks about how growing up in the Southwest gave her the sense of the place she writes about in the book. The story is a literary mystery about a young girl who disappears, only to surface years later in the hearts and minds of the residents of her small town.

We start first with: “All This History at Once.”

You can connect with the podcast at: www.charlottereaderspodcast.com

In this episode, author Nora Gaskin reads from her true crime book about a murder in Chapel Hill in the 1960s and then jumps to readings from her novel, The Worst Thing.

With Nora’s help, and the characters from The Worst Thing, we dive headfirst into the realm of suspense, where there is no mystery about who is the deranged perpetrator, just plenty of angst about how things are going to turn out.

Nora is not only an author but an editor, so she understands how to shape a story. She starts first with an excerpt from Time of Death.

You can connect with the show at: www.charlottereaderspodcast.com

In this episode, we meet Bud Schill, co-author of Not Exactly Rocket Scientists and other Stories. The late Pat Conroy said it is a “great book about friendship, growing up in the fifties, and a lost America that will never come again.”

Bud reads several stories about “boys being boys” in the era of his youth. He describes the period in the lead story this way: “As a kid in the 1950s, I always figured the first person on the moon would be Alice Kramden. Her TV husband, Ralph (Jackie Gleason), began threatening to send her there in 1956. Of course, he never did. But 13 years later, on the day my first child was born, July 20, 1969, the United States put a man up there. A lot of stuff happened in between.”

Bud takes us to the in-between times with these stories of growing up, and in the process, it’s easy to laugh, cry and become nostalgic for days gone by. He starts first with Banned for Life, a story about boys getting in trouble at a bowling alley

You can connect with the show at: www.charlottereaderspodcast.com

In today’s episode, we meet author Rosie Molinary, who takes us on a journey of what it means to be a woman growing up Latina in America and we explore her passion of teaching others the idea of self-acceptance, because we are who we are.

She reads from Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image and Growing up Latina, and also from Beautiful You, A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance. There is inspiration in her story and in her advice, which she dispenses humbly, through her writing and our conversation.

We start first with Rosie reading from chapter 1 of Hijas Americanas, entitled: Turning Gringa.

You can connect with the show at: www.charlottereaderspodcast.com

In this episode, we meet author Randell Jones, and explore his writing about the revolutionary war in the South and the adventures of Daniel Boone.

Randell reads from his script, The American Spirit, 1780, which takes us into the battle of Kings Mountain, a turning point in the fight for American’s freedom. He then reads from In The Footsteps of Daniel Boone, taking us to the backcountry along the Kentucky river, where Boone is engaged in a harrowing encounter with a party of armed Shawnees. Randell also reads a story about a prison camp in Salisbury during the Civil War and finishes with a humorous story about youth, called “The Truth at 13.”

We start first with the scene where the arrogant British Major Patrick Ferguson is defending the high ground against an advance by the backcountry patriots.

You can learn more about the show at: www.charlottereaderspodcast.com