SAM Magazine

E127 - Patti Lee brings women's fiction stories to life, tapping into the hopes and sometimes fears of readers. Her debut novel, Between February and November placed in the top 10 in Notebook Publishing’s #IndieApril contest and took first place in the 2022 Firebird Book Awards fiction category. An award-winning essay writer, her creative non-fiction has been included in Crone Rising by Jazz House Publications. Her short story, The Ward House, was included in the autumn anthology Of Cottages and Cauldrons, also by Jazz House Publications.

We talked about motivation. I re-told the Randy Bachman pizza story and quoted David Bowie. We also discussed challenging ourselves, feeling like a writer and Patti's four cats and my two dogs. A great Season 5 opening podcast. Thank you Patti.

https://www.pattileewriter.com/

https://twitter.com/PattiAuthor

https://www.facebook.com/PattiLeeAuthorPage

https://www.instagram.com/authorpattilee/

Get full access to Joanna Vander Vlugt at joannavandervlugt.substack.com/subscribe

E126 - Christine Milkovic Krauss is a children’s author of picture books, which highlight educational points about pet care, support, inclusivity and celebrate being different together. When Christine is not writing picture books, she works as an essential service worker. Her children’s book Teddy Loses His Ear is based on her family’s experience during the pandemic. Teddy Loves Spaghetti, the second book in this adorable series, is also available now. Thank you Christine.

https://cmkauthor.wixsite.com/christinemilkovic

Get full access to Joanna Vander Vlugt at joannavandervlugt.substack.com/subscribe

E125 - W.L. (Wendy) Hawkin writes mysteries and romantic adventures, often charged with “myth, magic, and mayhem” from her home near Vancouver, Canada. Her Hollystone Mysteries features a coven of West Coast witches who solve murders using ritual magic and a little help from the gods. Those books are To Charm a Killer, To Sleep with Stones, To Render a Raven, and To Kill a King. Her latest, Lure, of the Lure River Romances, is a small-town romantic suspense series. When Wendy's not writing, she writes book reviews for Opal Magazine. On today's podcast we talk about her novel Lure, Muskoka, Ontario, cottages, cabins and we unpackage her characters.

http://bluehavenpress.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@wlhawkin/videos

https://linktr.ee/wlhawkin

Get full access to Joanna Vander Vlugt at joannavandervlugt.substack.com/subscribe

E124 - Diane Bator is a prolific Canadian mystery writer and the mom of three kids, two cats and a step-dog as well as the author of Wild Blue Mysteries, Gilda Wright Mysteries, Glitter Bay Mysteries, and the Audra Clemmings Mysteries from Books We Love Ltd. with many more books and plays to come! Diane was on the show on August 6, 2022 when we talked about her novel Dead Without Honor, a Gilda Wright mystery. Today, we talked about her latest Audra Clemmings' Mystery, Dead Man's Doll, book 2 in her Sugarwood Mysteries as well as the theatre.

https://dianebator.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/dianebatorauthor/

https://www.facebook.com/dianebatorauthor/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-bator-35b63418/

Get full access to Joanna Vander Vlugt at joannavandervlugt.substack.com/subscribe

E123 - Freddy Cruz is the founder of Freddy Cruz Creative Works, a boutique media company in the Greater Houston area. Freddy’s work spans twenty-six years, three with the iconic KDWB/Minneapolis-Saint Paul and twenty-one with the legendary, two-time Marconi Award winning KRBE/Houston. The Greater Houston area has heard Freddy’s voice for more than seventeen thousand hours via weekday shows, community affairs shows and podcasts. And he has elevated world class brands by means of over fifty-eight thousand hours worth of production elements and traditional ads. When he's not in the lab creating auditory satisfaction, you can find him nose deep in a book, snuggling with his dog Sparrow, or jogging on the trail (trying hard to not sound like a horror movie villain). 

Today we talk about his thriller novel, Allow Me To Ruin Your Christmas, which is his third novel. Humor, sarcasm, writing, we talk about it all, and being the author unique to your personality instead of trying to be someone else. Thank you. 

https://www.freddycruzcreativeworks.com/books

https://linktr.ee/thefreddycruz

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwWaCiNZQmBU4uFFnY-7yg

https://www.facebook.com/freddycruz

https://www.instagram.com/thefreddycruz/

Get full access to Joanna Vander Vlugt at joannavandervlugt.substack.com/subscribe

E122 - Jule Selbo had just returned from Sweden where she was a speaker at a film conference when she joined me in the studio to talk about her latest novel, 9 Days, A Dee Rommel Mystery. Jule switched gears in her prolific career as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, (her work includes Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, animated Disney movies (Hunchback of Notre Dame Part Deux, Ariel’s Beginning), Melrose Place, Hercules, HBO’s Women Behind Bars, to name a few), and now lives in Portland Maine where she is focusing on eating, drinking and writing novels. Four novels have been published so far. Her most recent: 10 DAYS: A Dee Rommel Mystery was a Silver Falchion 2021 Award winner, as well as on the 2021 top-five list of Kirkus’ best crime/mysteries and nominated for a Foreword Review Best Award. The second novel in her series: 9 DAYS, A Dee Rommel Mystery, is out now. We talked about everything from Columbo to the 1934 Production Code which prohibited profanity, nudity, drug use and much more, including women producing and directing their films.

https://www.juleselbo.com/

https://www.facebook.com/jule.selbo

https://twitter.com/juleselbo?lang=en

Get full access to Joanna Vander Vlugt at joannavandervlugt.substack.com/subscribe

E121 - Tanis Rideout’s internationally acclaimed first novel, Above All Things, was a national bestseller, named to numerous best books of the year lists, and published in several languages around the world. It was awarded the Premio ITAS del Libro di Montagna and was longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her new novel is The Sea Between Two Shores. She is also the author of the poetry collection Arguments with the Lake, and, in 2006, she was named the “Poet Laureate for Lake Ontario” by the environmental advocacy group Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. Born in Belgium, she grew up in Bermuda and in Kingston, Ontario, and now lives in Los Angeles.

We talked about her latest novel out now, The Sea Between Two Shores, which begins in the early 1800s when a Nova Scotian couple arrive on an island in the Oceanic archipelago, now known as Vanuatu, to convert the local Indigenous peoples. Two hundred years later a Toronto family are mourning the loss of their son. The lives of both families connect by their desire for healing and the desire to heal the actions of their ancestors. 

We talked about Canada's past, the digital country, disappearing due to climate change, and hopepunk!

 https://www.tanisrideout.com/

https://www.instagram.com/tanisrideout/?next=%2F

https://twitter.com/tanisrideout

Get full access to Joanna Vander Vlugt at joannavandervlugt.substack.com/subscribe

E120 - Ann Charles is a USA Today Best-selling author, and she joined me in the studio. Ann enjoys writing spicy mysteries, and has written numerous series, including the Junction Mystery Series, the Dig Site Mystery Series, the Deadwood Undertaker Series (with her husband, Sam Lucky), and the AC Silly Circus Mystery Series. Her Deadwood Mystery Series has won multiple national awards, including the Daphne du Maurier for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. Ann has a B.A. in English with an emphasis on creative writing from the University of Washington. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Western Writers of America. As well, her Deadwood series has been a question on Jeopardy. We had a great conversation about her western supernatural series. Thank you, Ann.

https://anncharles.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AnnCharlesAuthorPage/

https://www.instagram.com/ann_charles/

https://twitter.com/AnnWCharles

Get full access to Joanna Vander Vlugt at joannavandervlugt.substack.com/subscribe

E119 - Susan Jane Wright has just come off the book launch of her second Evie Valentine series, that being The Glass Lake. Susan Jane Wright is a Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence Finalist. Her debut novel Box of Secrets was in Amazon’s top 100 and held the number 3 spot, then moved to the number 2 spot in its second week of release. Susan was a lawyer and an executive in the energy sector before she became a writer. Her legal career took her from the board rooms in Calgary to the streets of Beijing. She’s received the PIA Public Interest Award for Southern Alberta and the Canadian Law Blog Award for her legal blog Susan on the Soapbox. We talk about writing books that are different, pipelines, and timelines and so much more.
https://susanjanewright.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/SusanJJWright
https://www.instagram.com/susanjjwright/?next=%2F

Get full access to Joanna Vander Vlugt at joannavandervlugt.substack.com/subscribe

E118 - Meredith Hambrock is a Canadian fiction and television writer who grew up in Toronto and now lives in Vancouver. Her short fiction has appeared in several magazines, including Maisonneuve and Descant. She’s been a finalist for the CBC Short Story Prize and most recently wrote for the sitcom Corner Gas Animated. Today we’ll be talking about her debut novel, Other People’s Secrets, as well as 5 beat story structure, that vomit first draft, messy heroines and the events that occur in small towns. Thank you Meredith for joining me.

https://www.meredithhambrock.com/

https://twitter.com/meredithambrock

https://www.instagram.com/meredithhambrockbooks/?next=%2Fmeredithhambrockbooks%2F

Get full access to Joanna Vander Vlugt at joannavandervlugt.substack.com/subscribe