Authors Like Us

In this episode, Lee Edward Fodi and James McCann speak candidly with Sarah Prineas, author of the Magic Thief series. Sarah is witty, smart and a lot of fun to interview. You can find out more about her at her website here: http://www.sarah-prineas.com/ Also, she's available for Skype school visits!

This was our interview with Tom Angleberger, author of Strange Case of Origami Yoda. Many times in the past Lee and I have attempted to pull authors into a Star Wars discussion, but this time our author came willingly. There are teasers for book two, so listen carefully! http://origamiyoda.wordpress.com/

After nearly a six month absence, Authors Like Us is back. This was a podcast we did with Canadian author Helaine Becker, who had helped spearhead a book drive to bring attention to the closures of libraries in California. We chat about the state of Canadian schools, the apathy of our media and government, and what, if anything, we can do to attempt change. Sites of interest: http://www.helainebecker.com/

Before listening to this podcast, make sure you've heard the first part. Barbara is funny and smart, with a fast wit that translates from real life to her books. To learn more about her, and to read her fabulous books, check out her website: http://www.barbarahaworthattard.com/ To see the trailer she mentions that her son worked on (Jason Attard), check out this link: http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/designing-light-side

For an author who claims not to write very often, Barbara Haworth-Attard has written a lot of books. She came to my attention first with her wonderful novel, Theories of Relativity, back in my early author days. This will also be a part one of two. Lee and I had a blast interviewing her. She is intelligent, witty and honest. Oh, wait until you hear just how honest she is! This interview is exactly what Lee and I had hoped for when we started ALU - to feel as if you were sitting down over tea (or quilting) with the author. To learn more about her, and to read her fabulous books, check out her website: http://www.barbarahaworthattard.com/ To see the trailer she mentions that her son worked on (Jason Attard), check out this link: http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/designing-light-side

Anyone who was a teenager in the 80s grew up on the wonderful Canadian drama, Degrassi Junior High. The success of the show can be summed up by its fun cast, real teens, and its great writing. As a teen, I never thought I'd ever be so lucky as to meet one of those writers. Lee and I met up with Susin Neilsen at Oz Coffee on a warm and sunny Vancouver afternoon. We chatted about her picture books, her novels and her career as a TV writer. Her dry wit extends beyond the pages of her books and scripts, right into her in-person conversation. In the first part of the interview, we chat with Susin about her newest book - Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom. While the machines at Oz were a bit loud (actually, my recorder was just more powerful than I realized) we hope the background noise will make you feel as if you were there with us. You can learn more about Susin at: http://www.susinnielsen.com/

This is how far behind we are. We recorded this episode at the end of August, meaning it to be a summer wrap-up. I suppose it still is ... though some of our "future" events are now past. Either way, it's a good snap shot into the lives of Lee Fodi and myself, James McCann, all things techie (and tardy). Guest interviewer kc dyer (www.kcdyer.com) once again takes charge, and offers a funny perspective into the life of the two authors who run Authors Like Us. I should mention, that if you listen past the closing song you will get our out takes from Pirate Camp 2010!

We could call this the "Food Episode," as much of it centres around the many dishes we love to eat. This is perfect for our guest, Kevin Sylvester, whom many of you Canucks may recall from his CBC radio days. Kevin's books, Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo Murders, and the sequel, The Aztec Abduction, are fresh stories for kids who are looking for something a little different. In this episode you'll discover some of the delectable dishes, and a narrow miss with a pulled rat sandwich, that helped inspire this new face to the Canlit scene. You can find out more about Kevin at his blog, http://kevinarts.blogspot.com/

Kari, Lee and I all go back to the early days that we were published. It's been quite exciting to be there for each other as we grew as writers, and though Kari has moved to the other side of the world (Toronto) we are still managing to keep in touch. In this episode of ALU, you get to meet Kari and hear this brilliant academic - not only as an educator, but as a child-like author. Her picture books are well worth reading, as they combine both aspects of her personality. To learn more about Kari, visit www.kariwinters.com/

This is the final podcast that we did while in New York for BEA. Britta Vorbach is an editor from Germany, Annett Stuetze is an author from Germany, Don Maass is an agent and Lisa Rector is a book editor. Of course, you will all know James McCann, Lee Fodi and kc dyer. For more info: http://www.maassagency.com/books.html http://www.thirddraftnyc.com/

Diane Haynes is the author of the Jane Ray Wildlife Rescue series for young adults. The first book in the series deals with saving wildlife after an oil spill - and we had the chance to talk with her about what inspired this story. As with all our podcasts, we wound up talking about far more than just oil spills and current events. Diane is as witty as she is intelligent, and it shines both in her personality and her writing. I should also add that Diane was the first author ever to sing her tag! You can learn more about her on her website, http://www.wildliferescueseries.com/

During our trip to Book Expo America, we had the opportunity to interview the Class of 2k10. What is that, you may ask? This is a unique idea for a group of debut authors to support and promote each other as they launch their new books. In the photo, we have: Shannon Delany, Jeri Smith-Ready, Denise Jaden, Rhonda Hayter, Judith Graves, and Kitty Keswick. Missing are: Swati Avasthi, Michele Corriel, Leah Cypess, Alexandra Diaz, Bonnie J. Doerr, Janet Fox, Jacqueline Houtman, Jennifer Hubbard, Irene Latham, Tom Leveen, Shari Maurer, Kristina McBride, Mara Purnhagen, Laura Quimby, Jame Richards, N.H. Senzai, and Laura L. Sullivan. You can find out more about them here: http://www.classof2k10.com/

Since Lee and I have a habit of getting lost and turned around, we thought it would be fun to gather a few clips to share.

Are you an author, or a representative of an author, and would like to be on our podcast? This is a great introduction to who we are and what our "mandate" is. This isn't a typical "interview"-style podcast with a set of questions. If you would still like to be on our podcast, drop us an email!

Continuing with our "Sounds of BEA" theme, Lee and I met up with Adrienne Kress while in New York. While Book Expo America proved to be a wonderful time for networking with authors and publishers, as heard here it was also a time for creating new friendships. Adrienne was a blast to interview and also to hang out with for the day. While we could have recorded the entire trip to Central Park and the Empire State Building, and all of it would have been interesting, we chose these fifteen minutes to share. You can find out more about Adrienne here: http://www.adriennekress.com/author.html And you can read her experiences at BEA here: http://ididntchoosethis.blogspot.com/2010/05/book-expo-of-america-2010.html

In this episode, I collected various sounds while we visited Book Expo America in New York. Lee and I had a chance to meet with many people from all over the book industry - authors, publishers, editors, librarians, and book bloggers. We also had a running joke that I was going to eat what we dubbed "Street Meat" - which was a hot dog from a street vendor. At first this was simply a passing comment, but then on each of our Facebook pages we began to get requests for it. This then became our running gag - will James eat Street Meat?

When geeks discuss hockey, sports, vegetarianism and Korea. All in one great podcast.

Shelley Hrdlitschka, Kelley Armstrong, Marianne Mancusi, CC Humphreys and Arthur Slade. Just a few of the talented authors we have had the pleasure of interviewing so far!

The hardest part of making a podcast is knowing what to cut. We generally record more than we'll need, just to make sure that we get some great juicy bits. However, what happens when the author is so entertaining that all of it is juicy? Susan Juby is a fantastic author of young adult fiction. Her newest novel is what I would call an Important Piece in young adult literature. This is the kind of book that will transform lives, and I'm willing to bet even save a few. It's the kind of memoir that reminds us that we are not the only ones going through darkness, but that we share a common human experience. Nice Recovery is a book that every parent needs to read, and then give to their preteen or teen to read. You can learn all about Susan at www.susanjuby.com

A few weeks ago, Lee and I met up with Meg Tilly, Don Calame and kc dyer for an authors night out. Along with a fantastic dinner, we wound up having amazing conversation - which is pretty unavoidable when you have five authors all at the same table. Meg and Don are a great couple, and both very supportive of each other as writers. To me, they are what inspiration is. You just can't help but want to go home and write your next novel, knowing that your book will be in the same company as theirs. This will be part one of two, as we captured almost two hours of conversation. Obviously, that's far too much for a single podcast. I have pulled out the best forty minutes - twenty for each session. In session one, we discussed Meg's cameo on Caprica, Don's work as a screenwriter, kc dyer's new book.

I think this marks the first time Lee and I were nervous speaking with our guest. Up until this point, at least one of us (if not both) knew the author we were about to interview, whereas this time we interviewed someone we knew only by reputation. In a "world is small" sort-of way, I "met" Mari Mancusi (http://www.marimancusi.com/) through Myspace in 2007 when my book Pyre was being published. I asked her to read a pre-published copy of it, and if she liked it maybe she would provide me with a quote for the jacket. She graciously read it, enjoyed it and gave me the quote. After that, I have enjoyed following her career with her vampire series, Blood Coven, as well as her new story in the anthology, "Zombie Valentine" and countless other books. You can see her at Dragon Con defending Zombies on the panel "Vampires vs. Zombies" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3oox2K1tC0). When she isn't writing, you can see her on the nationally syndicated TV show Better TV. (http://www.better.tv/)

This was our first run with a Skype interview - and definitely one with a learning curve. Sorry about the background noise, but I had the recorder too close to my hard drive and picked up all the whirrs. Luckily, the sound was semi-salvageable and of course Arthur Slade is too funny not to listen to. We discuss heavy metal music, walking on treadmills, Star Wars and a little about writing. The treadmill link is: http://blip.tv/file/1734273

James McCann and Lee Fodi discuss their holiday disasters, and segue into their second half of the interview with author and actor CC Humphreys. (http://www.cchumphreys.com/) In this episode, Chris talks about hobbies, what doesn't inspire him and working as an author.

With Lee Edward Fodi back in action, we teamed up to interview the astounding author and actor CC Humphreys. (http://www.cchumphreys.com/) This is our first time having had such a fact-filled interview that we decided to split it in half, with the first part in 2009 and the second in early 2010. In this episode, Chris talks about book covers, inspiration from playing great characters as an actor, and why the Fetch was his most personal book.

While Lee Edwad Fodi was away in Philly at a conference, I had the opportunity to interview paranormal author Kelley Armstrong while she was in Maple Ridge on her CCBC tour. In this episode, she discusses her writing style, favourite books, and ... there's even a hint of what's to come in The Reckoning! For more info on Kelley, visit her website at: http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/

In this episode of Authors Like Us, Lee Edward Fodi and James McCann first navigate the confusing roads from Vancouver to North Vancouver so they can meet with Governor General nominee Shelley Hrdlitschka. Shelley discussed not only what it means to be nominated for such an award, but also about her personal connection to her writing.