Today’s guest is novelist Laura Taylor Namey. Laura is a Cuban-American Californian who lives in San Diego. She’s here to talk about her debut YA novel The Library of Lost Things . On today’s episode we talk about her former life as a elementary school teacher and how she preferred to teach ‘through literature.' We discuss her writing process and she tells she’s a not a plotter or a pantser but a 'Planster" She shares that she doesn’t outline; however she does write extensive characters bios when developing a book. She recommends the writing guide ‘Story Genius’ by Lisa Cron and she explains the role that "Pitch Wars' played in her writing journey. We also get her to give us some great podcast guest recommendations.

https://www.laurataylornamey.com/

https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=The+library+of+lost+things+

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Today on the podcast I have author Melanie Golding speaking about her debut novel, the thriller ‘Little Darlings’, soon to be a major motion picture. Melanie is a UK based author with a wide range of interests, including music and folklore.

https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=little+darlings

https://www.melaniegolding.com/

Podcast theme music ‘In Retrospect’ by Black Market Karma http://www.blackmarketkarma.com/black-market-karma

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Today on the podcast I have novelist Laura Sims. She’s the author of the psychological thriller ‘Looker.” Sims has also published four books of poetry, including, most recently, Staying Alive; her first poetry collection, Practice, Restraint, was the winner of the 2005 Fence Books Ottoline Prize. In 2014, she edited Fare Forward: Letters from David Markson.  On the episode today we delve into her transition from writing poetry to writing narrative fiction. We discuss her love of the ‘Walking Dead’ and her love of Hitchcock. She introduces me to the work of novelist David Markson. I put her on the spot and ask her to tell me who my next guest should be. And she gives us some wonderful book recommendations.

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781501199127

https://www.laurasims.net/  

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Today on the podcast I have novelist Wendy Walker. Her latest novel is the psychological suspense tale ‘The Night Before’. She is also the author of ‘All is Not Forgotten’ and ‘Emma In The Night’. On today’s episode we talk about her transition to from writing women’s fiction to psychological thrillers. She speculates why so many lawyers or former lawyers are good at writing suspense novels. In addition she tells us a lot of her next book and we talk quite a bit about online dating and how it inspired ‘The Night Before’.

https://www.wendywalkerbooks.com/

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250198679

Today on the podcast I have author, screenwriter and director Shamim Sarif speaking to me from London. She’s here to talk about her new novel ‘The Athena Protocol’ which is an all-female contemporary action thriller. Her debut novel ‘The World Unseen’ was inspired by her family’s South African Indian heritage. The book won a Betty Trask award and the Pendleton May First Novel award. She’s also the author of the novels ‘ I Cant think Straight’ and ‘Despite The Falling Snow.’ Her First 3 novels have all been made into feature films written and directed by Shamim, featuring actors such as Charles Dance, Rebecca Ferguson, Lisa Ray and Sheetal Sheth. Her films have won 47 awards internationally.

https://shamimsarif.com/

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062849601?aff=shamimsarif

headwatersrelief.org

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Today on the podcast I have YA novelist Nancy Richardson Fischer. Her newest YA novel is ‘The Speed of Falling Objects’ was released yesterday. Nancy is a returning guest. She was also my guest last year (Episode 20, Nov. 2018) to promote her debut novel ‘When Elephants Fly’, one of my favorite books of 2018. If you enjoy this episode please go back and listen to episode 20, where we talk about her time working for the Circus, writing for LucasArts and about the numerous athlete autobiographies, such as Julie Krone, Béla Károlyi, and Monica Seles that she worked on. Nancy is one of my favorite writers and she has been truly generous in recommending several fellow writer friends to be on this podcast. Her newest book takes place in the Amazon. It’s the story what happens teenage girl, her remote reality-star father and a young, hot male teen mega movie star get stranded in the forest, with only each other to depend on for survival. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed recording this episode. “The Speed of Falling' Objects’ is also included in our Sponsors UniverseBound ‘Simple Read and Relax’ October BookBox. You have until the end of the month to sign up for this months box. You can sign up by going to time.universebound.space. Enter the code THESPEEDOFFALLINGOBJECTS for $10.00 off the Simple Read and Relax bookbox 1, 3, 6 or 12 month subscription. (The code THESPEEDOFFALLINGOBJECTS is good until October 16th, 2019)

http://nancyrichardsonfischer.com/

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335928245

Music for this episode is "beeKoo mix" by Lasswell 2007 - Licensed under Creative Commons
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Today on the podcast I have Middle Grade author M. G. Hennessey. She’ s here to talk about her newest novel ‘The Echo Park Castaways’ about a group of foster children who come together and create their own small family as they navigate the LA foster care system Her previous novel was ‘The Other Boy’ about a transgender teens journey towards acceptance. In addition to writing books she mentors teens at the Lifeworks program/LA LGBT Center and volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate with L.A. foster kids. She's also the dean of Camp Transcend Family Camp, and an organizer of the Gender Odyssey LA conference. Additionally she’s a supporter of the Transgender Law Center, Gender Spectrum and the Human Rights Campaign.

https://www.mghennessey.com/

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062427694

Music for this episode is "beeKoo mix" by Lasswell 2007 - Licensed under Creative Commons
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Today on the podcast I have George Brewington to talk about his debut middle-grade book ‘The Monster Catchers: A Bailey Buckleby Story’ . George writes fantasy stories for both adults and children. His short stories have been included in several anthologies including DARK MAGIC: WITCHES, HACKERS & ROBOTS and PICK YOUR POISON. The sequel to The Monster Catchers- REVENGE OF THE WHIFFLES - arrives on July 14, 2020.

http://www.georgebrewington.com

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250165787

Music for this episode is "beeKoo mix" by Lasswell 2007 - Licensed under Creative Commons
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Today on the podcast I have author Victoria Lee. Her debut novel is the YA sci-fi thriller ‘The Fever King’ This is the first book in ‘The Feverwake’ series. Book two ‘The Electric Heir’ will be out in March of next year.

http://victorialeewrites.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Fever-King-Feverwake-Book-ebook/dp/B07F2MJNW1/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=victoria+lee&qid=1568175334&s=gateway&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Heir-Feverwake-Book-ebook/dp/B07N2NXKCD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1PEDNB9B6RVOR&keywords=victoria+lee+books&qid=1568083677&s=gateway&sprefix=victoria+lee%2Caps%2C445&sr=8-1

Music for this episode is "beeKoo mix" by Lasswell 2007 - Licensed under Creative Commons
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Today on the podcast I have author Catherine Mckenzie. Her newest novel is ‘l’ll Never Tell’. Catherine’s previous novels SPIN, ARRANGED, FORGOTTEN, HIDDEN, SMOKE, FRACTURED, and THE GOOD LIAR are bestsellers and have been translated into numerous languages, including French, German, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Slovakian and Czech. SMOKE was named one of the Top 100 Books in 2015 by Amazon and one of the Best Books of October 2015 by Goodreads. FRACTURED was named one of the Best Books of October 2016 by Goodreads.

www.catherinemckenzie.com

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781542040358

Music for this episode is "beeKoo mix" by Lasswell 2007 - Licensed under Creative Commons
Attribution (3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Visit our website at https://www.giantpandapod.com

Contact us at [email protected]

Todays Sponsor is https://www.universebound.com/