In this episode, we talk about Spud's time as the travel editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, traveling with sex toys, why SEO is effectively con to get people to read stuff they wouldn't otherwise read, the origin of the word “staycation,” and how humor makes writing more memorable.

Spud Hilton is a travel expert, consultant, featured speaker and editor for the SF Bay Area edition of the WHERE Traveler guide. In 20 years at the San Francisco Chronicle he earned 13 Lowell Thomas Awards for travel journalism. He hosts the Inappropriate Traveler podcast, which was named one of the “Ten Best Travel Podcasts” for 2020 by the London Telegraph. He has been featured on CNN International, “Good Morning America,” and NPR.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Bill Bryson

Shakespeare: The World as Stage

In a Sunburned Country

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

Tim Cahill

Road Fever

Jaguars Ripped My Flesh

A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg

Pecked to Death by Ducks

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In the summer of 1960, a 15-year-old kid, using one of the first commercially available, portable reel-to-reel tape recorders, visited a then 19-year-old Bob Dylan in his Dinkytown (Minneapolis) apartment and recorded 12 songs, which later became reverently known as "The Minneapolis Party Tape." This is believed to be the first (possibly second) recording ever made of Dylan. That kid was my father. 

An edited version of this story appears in the wonderful Minneapolis anthology Under Purple Skies. 

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In this episode we discuss how Mark got into yo-yoing, juggling and spinning tops, how/why he decided to go pro, the day-to-day of being a full-time performer and finally advice for people thinking of breaking into performing themselves. 

Mark Hayward has been a variety arts performer since 1990. He is a World Yo-yo Champion, a member of a World Champion Juggling Team, and a Spin Top Champion. His mom is proud. Mark has traveled the world on the strength of his mad yo-yo skills and has made appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman (twice), The Late Late Show with James Corden, America’s Got Talent, and the NBC Nightly News (and he didn't even have to commit a crime). Someday Mark hopes to perform for both the President and the Queen. Not being a convicted criminal should help with that.

Mark's YouTube channel

The best 12 yo-yo tricks for a beginner, from a world champion (1.1 million views!)

Pam's new, and first, book is being released TODAY: The Same River Twice: A Memoir of Dirtbag Backpackers, Bomb Shelters, and Bad Travel. As such, in this episode, we talk about her journey from artist to travel writer, the unusual circumstances that vaulted her straight from draft to landing a publisher (no literary agent stage), the Herculean task of writing a book without much in the way of encouragement, and the bizarre circumstances of releasing a book during a raging pandemic, on what is probably the most important election day in our lifetimes.

Pam Mandel launched her career as a travel writer with her blog; www.nerdseyeview.com. She's since had her stories published by AFAR, Lonely Planet, AAA, Seattle Met, Sunset, and across the web. She's been to all seven continents and is as surprised by that as anyone. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with a rescue dog named Harley and too many ukuleles.

Jane Friedman: How to write a book proposal

The Same River Twice playlist

Fields and Stations travel magazine

We mentioned our pal Doug Mack a few times, so here are his books:

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In this episode, we talk about how Gary went from award-winning travel blogger and photographer to taking on the relentless pace of a daily podcast. (Short answer: The complete, hopefully temporary, collapse of the travel industry.) 

Gary tells us about his production duties, advice for audience growth, possible revenue streams, the arc from Step 1 to resounding success (an abundance of patience and resilience), and idle, unresolved pondering about why the travel industry hasn't embraced advertising on podcasts. 

Gary Arndt is an awarding winning blogger and travel photographer who has been traveling around the world since 2007.

His travels have taken him to over 130 countries and he has also visited over 400 UNESCO World Heritage sites and all 50 US states.

Among the many acknowledgments and awards for his writing and photography, his blog, Everything Everywhere, was named one of the Top 25 Blogs in the world by Time Magazine.

Since 2009 he has been the co-host of This Week in Travel, an award-winning podcast that covers travel industry news. He's been involved with several other podcasts as well, but he recently launched the pandemic-inspired, bite-sized Everything Everywhere Daily podcast, which has virtually nothing to do with travel.

Links mentioned in the show:

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

Overcast

Audry.io

Dax and I talk about how he got into vampire academia, why so many people want to believe vampires are real, vampires enduring in popular culture and upcoming vampire-related releases. 

Dax Stokes is an academic librarian and music teacher in Texas. He holds degrees from the University of Tennessee and University of North Texas. Since 2010, he has been lecturing on the subject of vampires and the novel Dracula throughout the North Texas area. He is also the host of The Vampire Historian Podcast, the organizer of two academic conferences on vampires and Dracula, and can be found at http://thevampirehistorian.com.

Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula (Icelandic version)

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In this episode, we talk about vampires in popular culture, how/if Prince Vlad Dracula ever stayed in Bran Castle (famously mis-designated as “Dracula's Castle”), Romania's tourism struggles and wondrous offerings, and the time 88,000 people applied to spend the night with Dacre in Bran Castle as part of an Airbnb promotion.

A native of Montreal, Dacre Stoker is the great grand-nephew of Bram Stoker and the international best-selling co-author of Dracula the Un-Dead, the official Stoker family endorsed sequel to Dracula. Dacre is also the co-editor of The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years. Released in 2018, Dracul, a prequel to Dracula, was the UK’s # 1 Bestselling Hardcover Novel in Horror and Supernatural in 2018, and a top 5 finalist by the Horror Writers Association for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel. Before that excitement, Dacre spent more than two decades as a teacher, athlete, specifically the Modern Pentathlon, and coach for the Canadian Olympic Team.

Dacre Stoker's Website

Facebook

Bram Stoker Estate website

Bram Stoker Bobblehead

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In this episode, we talk about Dacre's adventure documentary, "The Search for Bram Stoker's CASTLE DRACULA," which is being released today (Oct 18, 2020), his Dracula sequel and prequel novels, and why it's dangerous to mess with super-popular literary canon. 

A native of Montreal, Dacre Stoker is the great grand-nephew of Bram Stoker and the international best-selling co-author of Dracula the Un-Dead, the official Stoker family endorsed sequel to Dracula. Dacre is also the co-editor of The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years. Released in 2018, Dracul, a prequel to Dracula, was the UK’s # 1 Bestselling Hardcover Novel in Horror and Supernatural in 2018, and a top 5 finalist by the Horror Writers Association for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel. Before that excitement, Dacre spent more than two decades as a teacher, athlete, specifically the Modern Pentathlon, and coach for the Canadian Olympic Team.

Dacre Stoker's Website

Facebook

The Search for Bram Stoker’s CASTLE DRACULA - trailer

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Despite sudden and aggressive nasal congestion, I heroically read my snarky summary of the novel DRACULA from my book, BACKPACKING WITH DRACULA.

You can purchase BACKPACKING WITH DRACULA at Amazon or, if you'd like to support independent bookstores, you can order from Subtext Books or Moon Palace Books.

Please support this podcast by using the affiliate links above.

Despite mysterious nasal congestion every time I sit down in front of the mic, I powered through to read a variety of excerpts that shed some light on the intriguing, paradoxical and, no debating it, vicious person Prince Vlad Dracula was. 

You can purchase BACKPACKING WITH DRACULA at Amazon or, if you'd like to support independent bookstores, you can order from Subtext Books or Moon Palace Books.

Please support this podcast by using the affiliate links above.