Isabelle started as a fashion designer, and her eye for rich detail turned into a love of writing. She started with a short story for an Anthology, discovered world building, and from that writing the Delacourt Shapeshifter Trilogy sprang up. Her latest new book is out - The Witch of Belle Fleur, with a sequel on the way. Isabelle created an Afro-Latina protagonist based on her own Miami upbringing, and you might like her heroine's journey to become lead witch of her small town. … Continue...Episode 110 – Interview with Isabelle Hardesty

Cassandra started as a reporter, then went back to get her MFA in creative writing. Cassandra’s first full-length book is a non-fiction memoir called We Are Bridges, and Jeannie devoured it entirely in a day. We Are Bridges a story that ranges across three generations from Louisiana with the lynching of a great-grandfather to modern life in Los Angeles, exploring romance and race and motherhood and what they all mean together. She shares with us her practiced art of listening, how working with editors and deadlines helped, and her drive to become a writer and a storyteller. … Continue...Episode 109 – Interview with Cassandra Lane

Liz Williams is a British science fantasy writer, historian, and occultist. With a PhD in Epistemology and a fascination for occultism, her work ranges from science, pure fantasy, supernatural, and even into non-fiction historical survey of British paganism. We loved her “pantsing a bucket list” approach! Grab a latte and learn more! … Continue...Episode 108 – Interview with Liz Williams

The Kickstarter is going strong for the Adventures in Oz 5e RPG, and Jeannie and Dave (both contributing writers) sit down with David Speakman and Aaron Cheung from Double Critical to talk about the mechanics of cranking out a major game module set in L. Frank Baum’s Land of Oz. … Continue...Episode 107 – Adventures in Oz!

Cliff Winnig joins Jeannie in the coffee lounge to read a story he wrote for the last Mad Scientist Journal called The Obelisk. … Continue...Episode 106 – Cliff Winnig Reads a Story

Monique started as a journalist, and after covering the news for years developed an interest in writing True Crime novels, especially from the view of the victims and the impact on the affected communities. The disparity of how victims can be treated by the law and wheels of justice as well as in the press inspires her to tell their stories and hope that they can help inspire change. She has written three true crime novels thus far, along with a children's picture book and a published collection of poetry. … Continue...Episode 105 – True Crime with Monique Patterson

In which we explore TV and other Tropes in writing. A Trope can be defined as a cliche, but it can also be a leitmotif (in the musical sense) or standard devices used in serial dramas. We think it works for any writing, playing to the audience’s expectations of the narrative. … Continue...Episode 104 – Tropes and Perspectives

In this interview we celebrate J.L. Torres’ new book, Migrations. We discuss the impact of migration on storytelling, and the Diasporica (Puerto Rican Diaspora) on American literary culture. … Continue...Episode 103 – Diasporica with Professor J.L. Torres

We explore some of our favorite crime novels, the genre at large as part of mystery, and pick apart the differences between detective novels (tending to support law & order) vs caper novels (tending to be anti-establishment or radical) and the exceptions. Crime and caper novels can be historic or modern, and cross every genre. What do you need to think about when writing crime stories? We have some ideas. … Continue...Episode 102 – Crime and Euphemisms

Jordan makes movies. He started acting in commercials and showing up for casting calls, then discovered that he really liked directing. The next step involved him needing scripts, so he started adapting short stories into scripts – then just writing his own. All perfectly logical, right? Making movies is fun! … Continue...Episode 101 – Short movies with Jordan Heron