Today on Plot Twist Radio, Erin interviews Jesse Kavadlo — an author, musician, and professor whose work lives at the intersection of sound and story. Jesse’s upcoming book, Rock of Pages: The Literary Tradition of 1980s Heavy Metal (releasing December 11), explores how the music of the 80s wasn’t just loud… it was meaningful, mythic, and deeply literary.

Jesse shares how he wrote the book with music and music videos playing in the background, using the atmosphere of heavy metal to shape both mood and meaning on the page. He also talks about the unique creative rhythm of switching between writing and guitar practice — and how playing in a popular 80s hard rock tribute band keeps him connected to the pulse of the genre.

Whether you’re a writer looking for new ways to tap into inspiration, a music lover who knows lyrics can be poetry, or someone who’s curious about the cultural legacy of heavy metal, this conversation delivers insight, humor, and a serious love of creative craft.

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Today’s guest is someone whose work asks a deceptively simple question: What happens when you really go back—and look again?

My guest is Amy Weinland Daughters, the award-winning author of Dear Dana and the hilarious, heartfelt novel You Cannot Mess This Up. In this book, Amy sends her protagonist—at 46 years old—back to 1978, where she’s forced to spend 36 hours in her childhood home with her nuclear family… including her ten-year-old self.

What follows is funny, uncomfortable, nostalgic, and quietly profound. It’s a story about memory, family, jealousy, cigarettes, Bonanza Sirloin Pit, and the realization that our life stories may not be universally important—but they are profoundly important to us.

Amy is a writer who blends humor with emotional truth in a way that sneaks up on you, and today we’re talking about time travel, malleable memories, writing personal stories without apology, and what happens when you finally let yourself believe that your story matters.

So settle in—because this conversation might not change the past… but it just might change how you remember it.

You can find Amy at:

Amy Weinland Daughters, Author and Keynote Speaker | Dear Dana bookInstagram

“Sometimes the best stories don’t start in film school… they start in an argument.”

Today’s guest is proof that creativity doesn’t always arrive politely—it shows up in the middle of a late-night debate, challenges everything you think you know, and dares you to prove your point with a story.

After a 22-year career in law, Monte Albers de Leon began screenwriting on a dare—sparked by a heated conversation about artificial intelligence, humanity, and whether we’re fundamentally good or doomed to lose ourselves to technology.

What started as a Notes-app allegory about The Breakfast Club, an AI apocalypse, and Amazon workers in suburban Omaha turned into Good—a screenplay now on draft fifteen, with over 160 international awards, currently in production with Impossible Dreams Productions, and part of a powerful anthology called The Parables.

Monte writes modern fables—stories about morality, choice, and the belief that even at the end of the world, people can still do the right thing.

Today, we’re talking about reinvention, writing from conviction, trusting your voice, and why sometimes the best way to win an argument… is to write a movie.

I’m Erin, and this is Plot Twist Radio. Let’s get into it.

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Welcome to Plot Twist Radio , where we talk about the stories that shape us, challenge us, and sometimes refuse to behave.

Today’s guest is Sue William Silverman — an award-winning author known for her fearless explorations of trauma, identity, desire, spirituality, and mortality. Sue is the author of multiple acclaimed memoirs, including How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences, Love Sick, Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, and The Pat Boone Fan Club, along with two essential craft books on writing true stories.

Her forthcoming collection, Selected Misdemeanors: Essays at the Mercy of the Reader, continues her signature blend of lyricism, insight, and unflinching honesty — work that reminds us that truth doesn’t always arrive neatly, and stories don’t owe us comfort.

In this conversation, we talk about writing the things we’re afraid to name, how memory both betrays and saves us, why flash essays can feel like emotional misdemeanors, and what it really means to write fearlessly — not without fear, but through it.

This episode is for writers, readers, and anyone who believes that telling the truth can still ignite the soul.

Let’s get into it.

Sue William Silverman - WELCOME TO SUE'S VIRTUAL HOME

I’m joined by Heather Snodgrass, the debut, award-winning author of A Love Letter to Reading: a novel that fuses adrenaline-fueled suspense with the healing power of music. Her protagonist, Ariana Rossi, lives a life split straight down the middle: nurse by day, trained assassin by night. But in the darkest corners of that double life, it’s music, not violence, that keeps her grounded, alive, and human.

Heather’s work explores the complexity of the human spirit, the ways we compartmentalize pain, and how art, especially music, can become both refuge and lifeline. This conversation dives into character, craft, creativity, and the surprising ways storytelling can heal what the world tries to break.

So settle in, because this episode is about secrets, survival, and the quiet power of the things we love most.

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In this episode of Plot Twist Radio, host Erin Egnatz sits down with acclaimed Americana singer-songwriter Digney Fignus to explore the deep connection between music and narrative. From his early days in Boston’s rock scene to his evolution as a roots-driven storyteller and former Columbia Records artist, Digney has built a career on songs that feel like short stories set to sound.

We talk about his latest album, Black and Blue: The Brick Hill Sessions, the influence on his lyrics, and why a great bridge in a song functions much like a plot twist in a novel. Digney shares insight into character-driven songwriting, world-building through music, and the quiet emotional turns that make a song linger long after it ends.

This is a conversation for writers who love music, musicians who love stories, and anyone who believes the best narratives don’t always live on the page.

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Today’s guest brings us a story that started exactly the way childhood creativity does — with a simple doodle.

Susan K. Fairchild is a lifelong artist and the debut author of The Turkey Hands, a children’s book that was born not from a sentence or a scene, but from a traced hand that suddenly came alive on the page. From that one sketch grew a joyful, mischievous story about play, imagination, and the power kids have when they’re encouraged to create.

Her journey reminds us that art isn’t just something we look at, it’s something we listen to. It’s the spark that nudges us toward storytelling, whether we’re six years old with crayons or adults rediscovering our creativity.

Hailing from the Texas Panhandle and now living in New York City, Susan has spent her career supporting education through nonprofit work.

Today, we’ll talk about how a spontaneous doodle became a fully illustrated children’s book, the crossover between visual and written storytelling, the freedom and vulnerability of indie publishing, and the childlike joy that fuels her creative work.

Susan K. Fairchild - The Early Morning SessionsSusan K Fairchild (@susankfairchild) • Instagram photos and videosSusan K. Fairchild - author of The Turkey Hands

In a world that loves certainty, what if curiosity is the real act of leadership?

This episode features Bill Hulseman, an educator and leader whose work lives at the crossroads of faith, education, and culture. Together, we unpack how belief systems shape institutions, why pop culture matters more than we think, and how advocacy begins with listening. From Harvard Divinity School to middle school hallways, Bill brings insight, warmth, and humor to a conversation about building spaces where people feel seen, valued, and challenged to think more deeply.

A conversation full of insight, humanity—and a few unexpected plot twists.

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Plot Twist Radio's inaugural episode kicks off with a Hollywood comedy legend: Guest: David Zucker

(Director, Writer, Producer — Airplane!, The Naked Gun, Scary Movie 3–5, BASEketball, and more)

“The Art of the Spoof — Finding Humor in the Unexpected” This episode dives into the creative genius behind the most iconic parody films ever made and how David Zucker continues to shape comedy for new generations through storytelling, mentorship, and the science of laughter.

David Zucker is one of the most influential comedy directors of all time — the creative mind behind Airplane!, The Naked Gun trilogy, BASEketball, and Scary Movie 3–5. He’s now passing on his comedic craft through MasterCrash: A Crash Course in Spoof Comedy, a 9-hour video masterclass where filmmakers, writers, and comedy fans can learn the ZAZ (Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker) method for writing and directing jokes that land. David is also working on Star of Malta (in early pre-production) and a German project, Octoberfest, currently in development for Amazon. He’s the author of two acclaimed books, Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! and Before the Invention of Smiling, which chronicles both his filmmaking journey and the Zucker family’s remarkable history.

 #DavidZucker #ZuckerAbrahamsZucker #AirplaneMovie #ScaryMovie #NakedGun #SpoofMovies #DirectorsCut #HollywoodGreats #LauraOrricoPublicRelations #LOPR