I had a fantastic and fun interview with Cass and Meredith from The Clopen Effect: A Retail Podcast. They interviewed me by phone to chat about my latest memoir, Spent: My Accidental Career in Retail. We giggled over the ridiculousness that happens in the retail world. We conspired over the tricks we use to get through the day. It was a nice opportunity for me to talk with people who are still in the retail world and who loved my book. It made them feel seen, they said.

Order your copy here.

Listen to The Clopen Effect.

Ask anyone who has ever read a book by Jeff Zentner and they will tell you how the book broke them, or made their lives better, or put them on a different course. It's not just young adults who connect with his novels. Adults (myself included) really respond to his stories as well. In every book, Jeff says he ensures his characters have someone to love and someone who loves them. That is the core of every human being and it's why his books are such compelling reads. Learn more about Jeff on his website.

Learn more about the host, Dana Goldstein.

Jenny L Howe's debut novel is one you'll fall in love with, literally. Her main character, Allison, mirrors some of the challenges Jenny faced in her own life - professionally, but not necessarily romantically. Allison, who is, as Jenny would say, unapologetically fat, finds herself entangled with an on-again, off-again lover. Let the games begin! In this episode, we talk about her agent and publication journey, the HEA (Happily Ever After), and why we need more diverse characters in romantic comedy novels, and many other topics.

Visit Jenny's website.

Learn more about your host, Dana Goldstein.

Real Bad Things will leave with some real bad dreams. At least it did for me. To say I LOVED this book is a gross misrepresentation of just how deep I fell. It was my first 5-star read of 2022 and I knew before I was halfway done that I wanted to interview the author, Kelly J Ford. We cover a lot of topics in this episode: the agent journey, GritLit/Southern Gothic/Southern Noir, LGBTQ+ genre, her process (helo, playlists!) and much more.

Visit Kelly's website. 

Find more GritLit on Goodreads. 

Read this fantastic piece by Kelly about her author journey (and all the relentless self-doubt involved).

Learn more about the host, Dana Goldstein.

Support the podcast on Patreon.

If this was an episode of Who Would Win: Dinosaurs or Cephalopods, the squids would come out on top. While dinosaurs fossils get all the glory, it's the cephalopod fossils who have been doing all the work of telling the story of survival. After already surviving five (5!!!) mass extinctions, the cephalopods are likely the ocean creatures that will survive the next one. They are truly the Monarchs of the Sea, rising to the top from the deepest, darkest places of the sea.

In this episode, I talk to author Danna Staff whose book examines the fossil records of cephalpods - squid, octopus and cuttlefish. We talk about their evolution, their survival skills, the challenges of studying creatures of the sea, and how they have managed to stick around this blue marble for so long.

Visit Danna's website.

Watch the EVNautilus YouTube videos.

Save the Nautilus initiative.

The latest cephalopod (maybe) discovery.

Learn more about the host, Dana Goldstein.

Become a Patron.

This debut novel is a crazy ride. From the very first page, I was hooked, wanting to know why a priest murdered a parishioner with a candlestick. If that feels reminiscent of a game of Clue (Colonel Mustard, in the library, with a knife), you're not wrong. There are enough twists and turns and unexpected, laugh out loud moments in All is Well to give you literary whiplash.

Buy All is Well.

To learn more about the Beringia Land Mass:

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-ancient-horse-dna-reveals-gene.html

https://www.beringia.com/exhibit/ice-age-animals/giant-beaver

My Sister the Serial Killer: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38819868-my-sister-the-serial-killer

Check out my own work at my website.

Brittney Morris performed what most writers would consider an impossible feat: she wrote an entire novel in 12 days. After being inspired by the Black Panther movie, Brittney decided to write a story about a 17-year-old high schooler who developed a game played by the global black community. Brittney wanted to participate in Pitch Wars, a mentoring program where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose one writer each, read their entire manuscript, and offer suggestions on how to make the manuscript shine for an agent showcase.

She had 14 days to produce an entire manuscript. So she did.

In this episode, Brittney shares how she feels the pressure to represent her race, how she overcame more than 200 rejections and what the full-time writing life means to her.

Learn more about Brittney on her website.

Check our her author profile on Amazon.

To learn more about me, my books and for past episodes, visit danagoldstein.ca.

Both of Clare Pooley's novels do a fantastic job of capturing what it is to be authentically human. It's ironic, given that she wrote a blog about her alcoholism anonymously for years. She is a master at multiple character narratives; The Authenticity Project and Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting are heartwarming, with characters you hate and love and back again.

In this episode, Clare shares what led her to start the Mommy was a Secret Drinker blog, her journey to publication, managing multiple characters, and how she waled away from a complete 90,000 word manuscript.

Watch her TedX talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/clare_pooley_making_sober_less_shameful

Read about the abandoned novel: https://lithub.com/clare-pooley-on-writerly-perseverance-and-knowing-when-to-give-up/

Learn more about Clare: https://clarepooley.com/

Learn more about the host: danagoldstein.ca

Support the podcast: www.patreon.com/WWYT

The love Beth Duke holds for her home state of Alabama is abundantly clear in her novels. Through It All Comes Back to You and Tapestry, she brings the south to life through her characters, their dialogue and the way they live. She charmed me through her novels and through this conversation.

She shares her experiences with book clubs, agents and the traditional publishing world and is candid about how she found INCREDIBLE success as an independent author.

Find her books on her website.

Mentions in this episode:

Learn more about the Marshall Space Centre.

Novel Bitches

Canadian sources for book subscription boxes:

https://www.owlcrate.com/

https://sweetreadsbox.com/pages/subscription-options

Support this podcast on Patreon.

Learn more about the host, Dana Goldstein.

Kelly DeVos is the author of 5 young adult novels. She has a remarkable gift for tapping into the fears and insecurities of teenagers, but it's the dark side of her characters that really shines. The young women who are her main characters are determined, saucy and smart- mouthed. It's hard not to see your younger self in the pages of her novels.

In this episode, we talk about strong YA characters, her journey to publication and the not always nice feedback.

Visit Kelly's website.

Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

STICKERS!!!!

Learn more about Trixie Belden.

Visit the host, Dana Goldstein's, website.

Support the podcast on Patreon.