Épisodes

  • Episode 223 – Chaz and the Emperor’s Kindness
    Dec 10 2025
    Our own Chaz Brenchley has a prolific year with 4 (5?) new books published. We gathered to talk about his first in a new series, “Of The Emperor’s Kindness”. It is written within a new genre I had to go delve into learning more about, a Fantasy of Manners with only a touch of violence here and there. It is a delightful sapphic romp into a world of his own devising, of warring nations, diplomacy, and noble scheming. The romance of Ambassador Malance and her staff and Vivi (the Emperor’s… niece?) whirl their way through palace intrigues, murder plots, and politics at the highest level of the land. … Continue...Episode 223 – Chaz and the Emperor’s Kindness
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    26 min
  • Episode 222 – Interview with Steve Schlam
    Oct 30 2025
    Never say it’s too late in your life to start writing! Steve Shlam joins us to talk about his first published novel, “The Harvesting of Haystacks Kane”. It was nominated for two prizes, and is a fascinating dive into the world of 1950’s-60’s wrestling. Haystacks, a nice Jewish boy, goes on the road with his manager into the world of scripted wrestling and discovers it’s far more dangerous than he was first informed. Told from the perspective of a man in and out of consciousness in a hospital, the hero’s journey breaks the mold from many of the strictures of the genre. … Continue...Episode 222 – Interview with Steve Schlam
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    30 min
  • Episode 221 – A Discussion of Progress
    Sep 18 2025
    Everyone who wants to write has a work in progress. At least one. Jeannie sits down with Andrew Walsh, a prized hockey network friend-writing crossover, to talk about making progress on writing his first novel. We hope the discussion triggers something in any listener to say, “I could try that” or “yeah, thanks for kicking my ass to get me in motion again.” Because everyone has a story - whether their own or something else in their imagination. Write it! Start right now! … Continue...Episode 221 – A Discussion of Progress
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    44 min
  • Episode 220 – Interview with M.N. Lee
    Aug 11 2025
    M.N. Lee shares her first novel, Proof of Origin, which we think belongs on bookshelves right next to Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale for near future speculative literature. It follows three main perspectives from a Vietnamese politician, the caucasian wife of a conservative politician, and a mixed-race couple that faces deportation and a new life back in Vietnam together. The prose is compelling, her character building flawless, and the emotional content poignant as they each thread their way through a world of citizenship evaluation and unintended consequences. … Continue...Episode 220 – Interview with M.N. Lee
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    41 min
  • Episode 219 – Interview with Dr. Robin Bernstein
    Jul 21 2025
    Dr. Bernstein is a cultural historian at Harvard, teaching US Racial Formation since the early 19th century. Her latest book, Freeman's Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit, delves into the history of America’s first prisons in New York built along capitalist ideals, and how one young man violently rebelled against the unfair and abusive treatment therein. One man’s violent resistance response to injustice continues today to shape American perspectives on race, violence, and incarceration. … Continue...Episode 219 – Interview with Dr. Robin Bernstein
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    45 min
  • Episode 218 – Interview with Dheepa Maturi
    Jul 7 2025
    Dheepa started out as a poet, but found herself drawn into novel writing to express bigger ideas, such as the social interconnection necessary for human prosperity and the corresponding good treatment of the earth as part of our social ecosystem. Come listen as she talks about 108: An Ecothriller, which is full of vedic writing and eastern beliefs and how her characters need to overcome their family tragedies, emotions, and a zeitgeist of futility to work together for a common good. … Continue...Episode 218 – Interview with Dheepa Maturi
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    34 min
  • Episode 217 – Writing Autistic Characters
    Jun 12 2025
    There is a lot of stuff floating around the internet about Autism, from ridiculous assertions about causality to silly things about what someone with Autism can do in their life. This is the first in an ongoing series where your WDC team grabs professional therapists and psychiatrists to talk about what different diagnoses mean, what they look like in terms of symptom clusters, and then armchair analyze our favorite literary and fictional characters through these lenses. Our first volunteer is Elizabeth Mueller, a marriage and family therapist and awesome goalie. … Continue...Episode 217 – Writing Autistic Characters
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    33 min
  • Episode 216 – Somewhere in Lisa Czarina Michaud’s Hollywood
    May 21 2025
    Lisa returns with her sequel to the first novel (Slanted and Disenchanted) with a character-driven story called Welcome to Hollywood. It’s a novel of two 20-somethings in 2004 Hollywood, battling with high rents, unsatisfying jobs, and a deep attraction to one another - problem is, they haven’t figured out how to communicate who they are, what they want, and who they are each individually becoming. They’re still a band though, even if they stopped practicing, and music has a way of making connections. … Continue...Episode 216 – Somewhere in Lisa Czarina Michaud’s Hollywood
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    36 min