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As I began the week interviewing Leah Koch from The Ripped Bodice, it fits that today’s episode should be with a romance author.

Melissa Sercia is an award-winning Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance author with a passion for philosophy, mythology, and all things supernatural. She is the author of the Blood and Darkness and Beautiful Dark Beasts series’.

Melissa lives in California with her man and her cat. When she’s not building dark fantasy worlds and slaying demons, you can find her in the kitchen cooking with a glass of wine in her hand.

Melissa Sercia

Melissa Sercia Books

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

Anne Rice Books

Mark Dawson’s SPF Foundation

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In today’s episode, I’m closer to home. Just a 90-mile drive and I'm in Culver City, home of The Ripped Bodice, where I chatted with co-owner Leah Koch.

 Here’s a short blurb about this romance-only indie bookshop!

 The Ripped Bodice, owned by sisters Leah and Bea Koch, is the only exclusively romance bookstore on the West Coast. The store is proudly Woman and Queer Owned and features a vast and diverse selection of romance fiction. In addition to books, The Ripped Bodice carries a wide selection of gift items focusing on supporting independent, woman-owned businesses.

The Ripped Bodice

Mad and Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency, Bea Koch 

Payback’s a Witch, Lana Harper

From Bad to Cursed, Lana Harper 

Nora Roberts

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Imagine your children were stolen from you…by your ex-husband. That’s what happened to Jeanne Baker Guy, my guest on today’s episode of the Bookshop Podcast.

Here’s what Dan Rather had to say about her book, You’ll Never Find Us: A Memoir.

“This is a book about courage. Any parent’s nightmare is to have their children disappear. It is even worse to learn the captor is the other parent. A story told with intensity and love.”
―DAN RATHER, Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist and author of What Unites Us

Jeanne Baker Guy is an author, speaker, and journal-writing coach. Born and raised in Indiana, she received her bachelor’s degree in English literature and drama from Indiana University. After a twenty-five-year career in office management and business development, she found her calling in facilitating personal growth circles. Years of blogs, filled with her irreverent humor, serve as the basis for her classes and her 2015 book Seeing Me: A Guide for Reframing the Way You See Yourself Through Reflective Writing, co-authored with photographer David Rackley. 

Jeanne Baker Guy

You’ll Never Find Us, Jeanne Baker Guy

Christina Baldwin

 The Circle Way: A Leader in Every Chair, Christina Baldwin & Ann Linnea

 The Circle Way: A Leader in Every Chair, Christina Baldwin & Ann Linnea

 The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron

 She Writes Press

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Hi, and welcome to the Monday edition of The Bookshop Podcast. Today I'm switching things up a bit and chatting with filmmaker and author, Mason Engel. But why is Mason on the Monday episode, you may ask? Well, read on!

Mason Engel is a science fiction writer and documentary filmmaker from Columbus, Indiana. His books have been downloaded over 50,000 times across all platforms, and his latest film, The Bookstour, a documentary about his cross-country road trip to 50 independent bookstores in 50 days, has been featured in major media outlets around the country, including Fox News and the Washington Post. Currently based in Los Angeles, Mason is in the process of developing a docuseries about indie bookstores.

The Bookstour Film

 Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships, Marshall B Rosenberg

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Hi, and welcome to episode number 75! Today I'm chatting with criminal defense attorney turned writer T.L.Bequette.

Located in Oakland, California, most of T.L.'s practice involves defending accused murderers. His outlook on the criminal justice system's need for reform, the unbalanced jury selection process, and his fight for those receiving harsher sentences than they deserve, is what fuels his writing. 

Bequette's writing is inspired by his time in the courtroom where he has tried over 20 murder cases. His skill in delivering closing arguments and presenting the stories of his clients to the jury make him a master storyteller. Good Lookin' is his debut novel and weaves his expertise from the courtroom into the page of a thrilling mystery.

He holds degrees from The University of the Pacific and Georgetown Law School and serves annually on faculty of the Stanford Law School Trial Advocacy Clinic. 

T.L.Bequette

Good Lookin': A Joe Turner Mystery, T.L. Bequette

Louise Penny Books

Jill Wolfson Interview—The Bookshop Podcast

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Hi, today I'm chatting with Jessiemarie Duplessis, manager and assistant event coordinator of New Renaissance Bookshop, in Portland, Oregon!

New Renaissance Bookshop nurtures the spiritual awakening of truthseekers of all paths by attuning to the highest needs of their customers and themselves, creating an uplifting environment of unconditional love and acceptance, offering spiritual teachings from East and West, and providing healing products and services. The business serves as an example reflecting the values of balance, good health, and abundance to promote a holistic, spiritual and joyous lifestyle.

New Renaissance Bookshop

 Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D.

 Be Here Now, Ram Dass

 Modern Witchcraft, Deborah Blake

 Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer

 The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel Van Kolk

 Crystals: A Little Introduction to Their Powers, Nikki Van De Car

 Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe, Laura Lynne Jackson

 Beneath the Moon: Fairy Tales, Myths, and Divine Stories from Around the World, Yoshi Yoshitani

 Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake

 The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love, Sonya Renee Taylor

 This Is Your Mind on Plants, Michael Pollan

 A Secret History of Witches, Louis Morgan

 The Wild Unknown Tarot Deck and Guidebook, Kim Krans

 The Little Book of Lights: One Hundred Eleven Ways to Bring Light Into Your Life, Mikaela Katherine Jones

 Ursula K. Le Guin

 Shannon Kaiser

 Chloe Mason

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Hi, and welcome to episode #73!

 Sara Winokur is a geneticist, researcher, and author. She has a master's degree in cytogenetics and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics. Her research helped identify mutations underlying muscular dystrophy, Huntington's disease, dwarfism, and a rare craniofacial syndrome. 

 Sara is a world traveler and has visited many countries, and Iceland is one of her favorite destinations and the setting of her award-winning mystery thriller, Double Blind. From the ancient, real legends that inspired her writing, to the DNA database that raises ethical issues, Iceland is called the land of fire and ice for a reason. 

 She continues to work as a consultant on potential therapies for genetic disease and is an ovarian cancer "thriver" who resides in Southern California.

 The Reinvention of Sara Winokur

Eight years ago, after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Sara took a step back from research to focus on her health. She took the opportunity to reinvent herself by combining her passion for science with her love of reading and writing crime and historical fiction. When asked what her readers can expect from her novel, she revealed that her audience will be met with suspense, a learning experience, and thought-provoking writing.

“I really want my readers to feel like they’re being informed as well as entertained. That’s what I love about historical fiction and I try to bring that same quality to my writing.”

 Sara Winokur

 Double Blind: The Icelandic Manuscript Murders, Sara Winokur

 deCODE genetics, Iceland

 The Sagas of Icelanders

 The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah

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Hi, and welcome to episode #72!

Pearl Street Books is located in historic downtown Ellensburg, on the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountain Range, in Washington State, USA. The bookshop specializes in children’s books, fiction, and non-fiction. Also, it carries distinctive greeting cards, including the work of local photographers and artists, along with a collection of Polish pottery. 

Liz Stone took over as the owner of Pearl Street Books on February 1st, 2021. She is the fifth female owner of the store. Previously she has had several careers including attorney; non-profit director; and university educator. In her spare time, she loves participating in and watching theater and of course reading! Her favorite genres are mystery, biography, and classics.

Pearl Street Book & Gifts

 Pearl Street Books & Gifts, Bookshop.org

 Pearl Street Books & Gifts, Instagram

 Pearl Street Books & Gifts, Facebook

 Iron Goat Works on Instagram

 Filthy Farm Girl on Instagram

 Kayla Mary Jane Art, on Instagram

 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers

 Becoming Duchess Goldblatt, Anonymous

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Hi, and welcome to episode #71!

Today I’m chatting with poet Glenn Shea, who is also a bookseller at Book Barn. Glenn has worked in the library of a cancer clinic and in the French department of a foreign-language bookshop, washed dishes in the Scottish Highlands, gone to pilgrim’s mass in Santiago, and eaten good tex-mex in Chengdu. He has read his poems in local libraries and shops and venues in Dublin, Paris, and Verona. He is the author of two collections of poetry: The Pilgrims of Tombelaine, and Find a Place The Could Pass for Home, published by Salmon Poetry. 

Book Barn is situated in Niantic, Connecticut, and carries over 500,000 gently used books, spread over multiple locations. You can pop into the main barn, spend time with the Book Barn cats, browse row after row of books, or relax in their beautiful gardens. 

 Book Barn

 Pilgrims of Tombelaine, Glenn Shea

 Find a Place That Could Pass for Home, Glenn Shea

 Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell

 Salmon Poetry

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Hi, and welcome to episode #70!

Jon McGregor is the winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Costa Book Award, the Betty Trask Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters E. M. Forster Award, and has been long-listed three times for the Man Booker Prize, most recently for his novel, Reservoir 13. He is a professor of creative writing at the University of Nottingham, England, where he edits The Letters Page, a literary journal in letters.

About Jon’s latest novel Lean Fall Stand

Remember the training: find shelter or make shelter, remain in place, establish contact with other members of the party, keep moving, keep calm.

Robert 'Doc' Wright, a veteran of Antarctic surveying, was there on the ice when the worst happened. He holds within him the complete story of that night—but depleted by the disaster, Wright is no longer able to communicate the truth. Instead, in the wake of the catastrophic expedition, he faces the most daunting adventure of his life: learning a whole new way to be in the world. Meanwhile  Anna, his wife, must suddenly scramble to navigate the sharp and unexpected contours of life as a caregiver.

From the Booker Prize-longlisted, American Academy of Arts & Letters Award-winning author of Reservoir 13, this is a novel every bit as mesmerizing as its setting. Tenderly unraveling different notions of heroism through the rippling effects of one extraordinary expedition on an ordinary family, Lean, Fall, Stand explores the indomitable human impulse to turn our experiences into stories—even when the words may fail us.

 Lean Fall Stand, Jon McGregor (signed copies)

 Jon McGregor Twitter

 Lean Fall Stand UK book launch at Five Leaves Bookshop

 A Ghost in the Throat, Doireann Ní Ghríofa

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