The Hidden Gems Podcast (Classic Tales & Original Short Stories)

What happens when Donald, a Herald Angel with an unforgivable hoarse and croaking voice, tries to convince the Angel Gabriel, otherwise known as ‘Mr. G’, to let him sing in the annual Christmas choir down on planet earth?  Join us for today's short story to find out!

Today's featured short story is "Hark! The Herald Angels Still Sing," written by Samuel H. Johnson. Samuel is also the author of the historical novel, "The Cherokee and the Slave," which can be found at: (www.thecherokeeandtheslave.com).

Samuel is also the writer of an online sports magazine "The Sports Column" that features off-beat and sometimes humorous articles about sports figures from the past.

John Bell was our narrator and he is the writer, producer and actor on "Bell's in the Batfry" podcast, which can be found at:
[http://thebatfry.libsyn.com/]

We are always looking forward to discovering out next writer, so if you are interested in contributing, please send us you short story of less than 5,000 words to:
[email protected]

I am Cathy McCarthy, you host, and I write under the name of C. Mack Lewis and my books can be found at:
[https://cmacklewis.com/]

Thank you for listening!

EPISODE CREDITS:

Hosted by C. Mack Lewis.

Narrated, Edited, and Mixed by John Bell. 

LINKS: https://cmacklewis.com/

Be sure to follow and tag The Hidden Gems Podcast on Facebook. 

More information about your host at CMackLewis.com

Craving noir? Dig in and find out what happens when a down-on-his-luck reporter gets caught in the cross-hairs of the one woman he’s never been able to forget. Is it love? Or does she have an ulterior motive that just might get him killed? 

I'm your host, Cathy McCarthy, but I also write fiction under the pseudonym C. Mack Lewis and this is my short story. I was born in South Jersey, the land of Silk City diners, nuclear plants, corn fields and the Jersey Devil. My youth was spent reading voraciously, everything from Trixie Belden's (in the vain hope that Jim would slip Trixie the tongue) to my Aunt Mary Ellen's steamy bodice-ripping novels to anything in the stack of books my dad brought home from the library every Saturday, which got me hooked on the novels of Robert Ludlum and Donald E. Westlake.

After earning a degree in Marketing at Auburn University, I spent the next five years in the business world, which is a polite way of saying that I had eleven jobs in a five year period, including door to door sales, skip tracing people who didn't want to be found, repossessing cars and collecting on defaulted student loans. During this five-year period, I did an in-depth study of abnormal psychology and sociopathic behavior - and then I divorced him.

I didn't have enough money for therapy, so I decided to go to medical school where I earned a degree as a doctor of podiatric medicine. That kept me occupied for the first two years and then I had what I refer to as a 'walking nervous breakdown'. The school psychologist, Terry Murphy (thank you!) helped put me back together and I finished the last two years with weekly therapy and a healthy dose of legal pharmaceuticals.

My two-year surgical residency in Buffalo, New York introduced me to a new world of human behavior, including junkies, addicts, criminals, punks, S&M beauty queens and angry housewives with ice picks.

Upon graduation, I moved to Scottsdale, Arizona where I moved into my parent's guest room (my standard of living sky-rocketed!) and I took a loan to open a private practice so I could (finally!) be my own boss. I've been in practice since 2000 and I've made Phoenix magazine's 'Top Doc' list in 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016. I am passionate about podiatry and helping people who suffer from foot pain. I write the blog 'Podiatry Shoe Review', which is dedicated to helping people find good-looking shoes that are good for your feet and are pathology specific.

With the money from my loan to start the practice, I hired and an old-fashioned matchmaker to find me a decent man with a career. She did find me a lovely man whom I dated for a year and a half - and then I met my husband, whom I adore.

I love being a podiatrist and I am not ready to quit my day gig to become a full-time writer - mostly because I think I would go bat-shit crazy without the grounding (and humbling) force of dealing with the complex, subtle and fascinating world of feet. No, I do not have a foot fetish, but one does become fond of feet when they start paying for your mortgage and vacations.

My screenplay OH BROTHER won the Phoenix Film Festival screen writing competition in 2005 and was optioned by Gold Circle Films in 2008. I'm the author of GUNNING FOR ANGELS and BLACK MARKET ANGELS, which are the first two books in THE FALLEN ANGELS TRILOGY and I am currently working on the third and final edition, THE ANGEL WORE BLACK. I've recently published THE FIX & OTHER SHORT STORIES on Kindle because I decided that an ebook online was a better place to store my short stories than in a box in the basement.

I hope you enjoy my stories! They were born from my passion for storytelling and my demented sense of what constitutes a grand ole time.

For more information on my books, click on https://cmacklewis.com/

EPISODE CREDITS:

Hosted by C. Mack Lewis.

Narrated, Edited, and Mixed by John Bell. 

LINKS: https://cmacklewis.com/

Be sure to follow and tag The Hidden Gems Podcast on Facebook. 

More information about your host at CMackLewis.com

Arizona is known for many things - the Grand Canyon, spectacular sunsets, the Sonoran forests, but very few people realize that it is also home of a 14-foot giant tiki head named Giganticus Headicus. Join us as we hit Route 66 - in search of Giganticus Headicus - and the true meaning of life!

Join Cathy McCarthy as she features one of her favorite short stories, In Giganticus Headicus We Trust (Just Give Me A Sign), written by Bob Wallass who currently resides in Sedona, Arizona with his lovely wife, Linda. Bob is a former morning drive deejay turned RN and camp counselor and he has written a book of creative nonfiction, entitled Flying With Scissors: A Different Perspective on Childhood Cancer, which was the publishing house’s bestseller in 2005 and a finalist in USA Book News’ “Best Books Awards” in 2006. His first novel, Yabo, was a quarter-finalist in Amazon’s Break Through Novel Awards and is available for digital download. Wallass’ current novel, Low-Down, AZ, is complete and looking for a publisher. For more information on Bob's fiction, check out his website at
www.bobwallass.com.

John Bell is the narrator and he is also known for being the Producer/Writer/voice of The Bell's In the Batfry Podcast, which won the Parsec award - which is a juried award for podcasts centered around speculative fiction. http://thebatfry.com/

I'm always looking forward to discovering out next writer, so if you are interested in contributing your short story of fewer than 5,000 words, please send me your work through The Hidden Gems Podcast page on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/TheHiddenGemsPodcast/

For more information on my fiction, please check out my website at https://cmacklewis.com/

Until next time, keep writing, keep listening and keep dreaming!

EPISODE CREDITS:

Hosted by C. Mack Lewis.

Narrated, Edited, and Mixed by John Bell. 

LINKS: https://cmacklewis.com/

Be sure to follow and tag The Hidden Gems Podcast on Facebook. 

More information about your host at CMackLewis.com