"Now, Appalachia"

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot profiles publisher Loblolly Press with poet and founder Andrew Mack. Loblolly Press champions underrepresented Appalachian and Southern stories by empower emerging writers. Andrew is also the author of the poetry chapbook BEASTS OF CHASE which is a haunting chapbook that explores the intersection between nature and humanity, survival and violence. He lives with his husband in Asheville, North Carolina.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Kelly Mustian about her new novel THE RIVER KNOWS YOUR NAME. Kelly Mustian is the USA Today bestselling author of The Girls in the Stilt House and The River Knows Your Name. She is the recipient of the Mississippi Library Association's 2023 Author Award for Fiction, and The Girls in the Stilt House was shortlisted for the 2022 Crook's Corner Book Prize for best debut novel set in the American South. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and commercial magazines. Originally from Mississippi, she currently lives in North Carolina.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Michael Cody about his new thriller STREETS OF NASHVILLE. Michael Cody was born in the South Carolina Lowcountry and raised in the North Carolina highlands. He spent his twenties writing songs in Nashville and his thirties in school. He's the author of the novel Gabriel's Songbook (Pisgah Press) and short fiction that has appeared in Yemassee, Tampa Review, Still: The Journal, and elsewhere. His short story collection, A Twilight Reel (Pisgah Press) won the Short Story / Anthology category of the Feathered Quill Book Awards 2022. Cody lives with his wife Leesa in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and teaches in the Department of Literature and Language at East Tennessee State University.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Wes Browne about his new novel THEY ALL FALL THE SAME. Wes has lived and practiced law as a criminal defense attorney, prosecutor, and public defender in Appalachian Kentucky for over twenty-four years. He also helps run his family's pizza shops.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Allison Gunn about her new gothic thriller NOWHERE. Allison Gunn is a professional researcher, writer, and podcaster with a penchant for all things whimsical and strange. An alum of the University of Maryland, she has extensively studied marginalized communities as well as Appalachian folklore and the occult. She currently resides in the wonderfully weird land of West Virginia with her twin daughters, a precocious pup, and one seriously troubled tabby. Nowhere is her first novel.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Karen McElmurray about her new essay collection I COULD NAME GOD IN TWELVE WAYS. is the author of Wanting Radiance: A Novel. Her memoir Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother's Journey is a National Book Critics Circle Notable Book and winner of the AWP Award Series for Creative Nonfiction. She has received numerous awards, including the Annie Dillard Prize, the New Southerner Literary Prize, the Orison Anthology Award, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and multiple notable mentions in Best American Essays. She is a visiting writer and lecturer at various programs and reading series across the United States.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jackie Flaum about her new novel THE PRICE OF A FUTURE.Avid water aerobics swimmer, amateur jewelry-maker, and mystery writer Jackie Ross Flaum began as a reporter for The Hartford Courant in Hartford, Conn.After moving to Memphis and abandoning reality for fiction, she won first place for romantic suspense in the 21st annual Duel on the Delta and second place in the spring 2019 Short Story Land online competition.Thus encouraged, she tested several flavors of writing--chic lit, mystery, suspense, crime—and had short stories published in anthologies of all genres.To her shock, her first novel of the South is considered historical fiction because it is set in the 1960s. “Justice Tomorrow,” introduces investigators Madeline Sterling and Socrates Gray, who are also featured in a short story published in “Now There Was A Story.”

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews historian Nigel Hamilton about his latest book: LINCOLN VS. DAVIS: THE WAR OF THE PRESIDENTS. Historian Nigel Hamilton is a New York Times best-selling biographer of General Bernard “Monty” Montgomery, President John F. Kennedy, President Bill Clinton, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, among other subjects. He has won multiple awards, including the Whitbread Prize and the Templer Medal for Military History. 

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jessica Strawser about her latest thriller CATCH YOU LATER. Jessica Strawser is the USA Today bestselling author of The Last Caretaker, The Next Thing You Know, A Million Reasons Why, Forget You Know Me, Not That I Could Tell (a Book of the Month selection), and Almost Missed You. She was editorial director at Writer's Digest for nearly a decade before becoming a novelist. Jessica is also a Career Authors contributing editor, popular speaker at writing conferences across the US, and freelance editor and writer with bylines in the New York Times Modern Love column, Publishers Weekly, and other venues. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Sharon Short about her latest thriller TROUBLE ISLAND. Sharon Short is the author of sixteen published books. Her newest, Trouble Island, is historical suspense and will be published by Minotaur Books on December 3, 2024. As Jess Montgomery, she writes the historical Kinship Mysteries set in the 1920s and inspired by Ohio's true first female sheriff. Sharon is a contributing editor to Writer's Digest, for which she writes the column, “Level Up Your Writing (Life)” and teaches for Writer's Digest University.  She is also a three-time recipient of the Individual Excellence Award in Literary Arts from Ohio Arts Council and has been a John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House (Columbus, Ohio). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Susan Williams about her new book "Unresolved Lives: Seven Stories of Mayhem Including the Mad Butcher, Sodder Children, and Cabin 13." Susan is a native of Fayette County West Virginia and a former police and courts reporter for The Charleston Gazette. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews authors Wendy Atkins-Sayre and Ashli Quesinberry Stokes about their new book HUNGRY ROOTS: HOW FOOD COMMUNICATES APPALACHIA'S SEARCH FOR RESILIENCE. Ashli Quesinberry Stokes is professor of communication studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Wendy Atkins-Sayre is professor and chair of the Department of Communication & Film at the University of Memphis. The two have collaborated on Consuming Identity: The Role of Food in Redefining the South and coedited City Places, Country Spaces: Rhetorical Explorations of the Urban/Rural Divide. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Laura Leigh Morris about her new novel THE STONE CATCHERS. Laura is the author of Jaws of Life: Stories and has previously been published in the Notre Dame Review, the Louisville Review, Pithead Chapel, Laurel Review, and other literary journals. She teaches creative writing and literature at Furman University and lives in Greenville, South Carolina with her family. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Rick Childers about his debut novel TURKEYFOOT. Rick is a writer from Estill County, Kentucky. He also serves as Berea College's Appalachian Male Advocate and Mentor. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Wes Blake about his new book PINEVILLE TRACE. Wes Blake's novella-in-flash, Pineville Trace, won the Etchings Press Book Prize and will be published in September 2024 by Etchings Press (at the University of Indianapolis). Lee Martin, author of Pulitzer Prize Finalist The Bright Forever, described him as "a writer to watch". His fiction and essays have appeared in Louisiana Literature Journal, Blood & Bourbon, Book of Matches, Jelly Bucket, White Wall Review, and elsewhere. Wes' novel, Antenna, was a semifinalist for the UNO Press Lab Prize. He holds an MFA from the Bluegrass Writers Studio and lives in Kentucky. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Andrew K. Clark about his new novel WHERE DARK THINGS GROW. Andrew K. Clark is a writer from Western North Carolina where his people settled before the Revolutionary War. His poetry collection, Jesus in the Trailer was published by Main Street Rag Press and shortlisted for the Able Muse Book Award. His debut novel, Where Dark Things Grow, was released by Cowboy Jamboree Press in September of 2024. A loose sequel, Where Dark Things Rise will be published by Quill and Crow Publishing House in the fall of 2025. His work has appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, UCLA's Out of Anonymity, Appalachian Review, Rappahannock Review, The Wrath Bearing Tree, and many other journals. He received his MFA from Converse College. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews historian and author Frank Garmon, Jr. about his latest book A WONDERFUL CAREER IN CRIME: CHARLES COWLAM'S MASQUERADES IN THE CIVIL WAR ERA & GILDED AGE. Frank is an assistant professor of American studies at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Nick Gardner about his new collection of linked stories titled DELINQUENTS. Nick Gardner is a writer, teacher, and recovering addict. He earned his bachelor's degree in English from The Ohio State University in 2017 and an MFA in fiction writing from Bowling Green State University in 2021. His poetry and fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Epiphany, Reckon Review, The Atticus Review, Ocean State Review, Fictive Dream, Trampset and other journals. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Heather Day Gilbert about her new psychological mystery QUEEN OF HEARTS. Heather Day Gilbert, an RWA Daphne du Maurier Award winner and 2-time ECPA Christy Award finalist, enjoys writing contemporary mysteries with unpredictable twists, much like the Agatha Christie books she read growing up. She also writes Viking historicals. Her novels feature small towns, family relationships, and women who aren't afraid to protect those they love. Find out more at heatherdaygilbert.com. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author and educator Josh Eyler about his new book FAILING OUR FUTURE: HOW GRADES HARM STUDENTS, AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. Josh is the director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and a clinical assistant professor of teacher education at the University of Mississippi. He is the author of How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Henry Wise about his debut crime noir thriller HOLY CITY. Henry is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Mississippi MFA Program. His work has appeared in Shenandoah, Nixes Mate, Radar Poetry, Clackamas, and elsewhere. He lives in western Virginia. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author and journalist Dan Klefstad about his latest book DIY BOOK PROMO: HOW TO FIND READERS WITHOUT SPENDING MONEY. Dan is a longtime radio host and newscaster. His latest book helps his fellow authors find readers without spending money. It's based on lessons from the campaign for his novel, Fiona's Guardians, plus his broadcasting career. Dan will speak about his unique approach to book marketing this July at the Imaginarium Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, not far from his home. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jake Maynard about his debut novel SLIME LINE. Jake Maynard is a writer from rural Pennsylvania whose stories and essays appear in Guernica, Southern Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Electric Lit, The New Republic, The New York Times, and others. His experiences working in the commercial fishing industry inspired his debut novel, Slime Line. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Bobi Conn about her new novel SOMEPLACE LIKE HOME. Bobi Conn is the author of A Woman in Time and the memoir In the Shadow of the Valley. Born in Morehead, Kentucky, and raised in a nearby holler, Bobi developed a deep connection with the land and her Appalachian roots. She obtained her bachelor's degree at Berea College, the first school in the American South to integrate racially and to teach men and women in the same classrooms. She also attended graduate school, where she earned a master's degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing. In addition to writing, Bobi loves playing pool, telling jokes, cooking, being in the woods, attempting to grow a garden, and spending time with her incredible children. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Russell W. Johnson about his latest novel THE MOUNTAIN MYSTIC. Russell is a fiction writer and North Carolina attorney. His debut story, "Chung Ling Soo's Greatest Trick," was published by ​Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in January 2015 and won the Edgar Award's Robert L. Fish Memorial prize for best short story by a new author. Since then he's been published in a number of outlets and recently won the West Virginia Writers Association's Pearl S. Buck Award, as well as first place for book length fiction. In addition, he has been a nominee or finalist for the Pushcart Prize, Claymore Award and Screencraft's Cinematic Novel competition. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Ellen Burkett Morris about her debut novel BEWARE THE TALL GRASS. Morris is also the author of Abide and Surrender, poetry chapbooks. Her poetry has appeared in The Clackamas Literary Review, Juked, Gastronomica, and Inscape, among other journals and in eight anthologies. Morris won top prize in the 2008 Binnacle Ultra-Short Edition and was a finalist for the 2019 and 2020 Rita Dove Poetry Prize. Her poem “Abide” was featured on NPR's A Way with Words. Her essays have appeared in Newsweek, AARP's The Ethel, Oh Reader magazine, and on National Public Radio. Morris holds an MFA in creative writing from Queens University-Charlotte and lives in Louisville, Kentucky. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author MB Mooney about his latest speculative fiction novel THE SHIELD OF THE KING. MB Mooney believes Great Stories Change the World, and he loves to live and tell great stories. In the 2nd grade, Mooney was bored and getting in trouble, so his teacher said, “Why don't you write me a story?” He's been writing science fiction and fantasy stories ever since. Check out his YouTube channel, Great Stories Change the World, for reviews and tips on writing. MB Mooney lives in the Atlanta, GA area with his amazing wife, three creative kids, and a mischievous dog. You will often find him fueled by coffee and rocking out to heavy metal when he writes. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author John Copenhaver about his latest novel HALL OF MIRRORS. won the 2019 Macavity Award for Best First Mystery for Dodging and Burning and the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Best Mystery for The Savage Kind. He is a co-founder of Queer Crime Writers and an at-large board member of Mystery Writers of America. He cohosts on the House of Mystery Radio Show. He's a faculty mentor in the University of Nebraska's Low-Residency MFA program and teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Karen Spears Zacharias about her new novel NO PERFECT MOTHERS. Karen Spears Zacharias is an American writer whose work focuses on women and justice. She holds an MA in Appalachian Studies from Shepherd University and an MA in Creative Media Practice from the University of West Scotland. She lives at the foot of the Cascade Mountains in Deschutes County, Oregon. Zacharias taught First-Amendment Rights at Central Washington University and continues to teach at writing workshops around the country. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews western author R.G. Yoho about his latest western BITTER WATER. R.G. Yoho is a West Virginia native with a passion for history and tales of the American West. Raised on a cattle farm, he is the prolific author of multiple Western novels, along with works of fiction and nonfiction. Yoho is a former president of the West Virginia Writers. Living with his wife near the banks of the Ohio River, Yoho is also a proud member of the Western Writers of America. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Carter Taylor Seaton about her latest novel GUILT. Carter Taylor Seaton is the author of three novels: Father's Troubles (Mid-Atlantic Highlands Pub, 2022); amo, amas, amat.an unconventional love story (CreateSpace Independent, 2011); and The Other Morgans (Koehler Books, 2020), as well as numerous magazine articles, and several essays and short stories. Her non-fiction works include Hippie Homesteaders (West Virginia University Press, 2014), The Rebel in the Red Jeep (West Virginia University Press, 2017), Me and Mary Ann (2018), and We Were Legends In Our Own Minds (Mountain State Press, Inc., 2020). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Chris McGinley about his new novel ONCE THESE HILLS. Chris lives in Lexington, Kentucky where he writes crime fiction set in the hills of Appalachia and teaches middle school social studies and English. His story "Hellbenders" made the "Other Distinguished Stories of 2018" list in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES of 2019. His work has appeared in Mystery Tribune, Mystery Weekly, Tough, Pulp Modern, Switchblade, and on other sites and outlets. COAL BLACK (Shotgun Honey Books) is his first collection.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Susan Zurenda about her second novel THE GIRL FROM THE RED ROSE MOTEL. Susan taught English for thirty-three years to college and high school students. Her debut novel, BELLS FOR ELI, has received several awards including first place for Best First Book--Fiction in the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Zurenda has also published and won numerous awards for her short fiction. A life-long South Carolinian, she lives in Spartanburg. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, David Joy returns to the program to discuss his latest novel THOSE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW. David is the author of When These Mountains Burn (winner of the 2020 Dashiell Hammett Award), The Line That Held Us (winner of the 2018 SIBA Book Prize), The Weight of This World, and Where All Light Tends to Go (Edgar finalist for Best First Novel). Joy lives in Tuckasegee, North Carolina. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Kelly Ford about her latest thriller THE HUNT. Kelly Ford is the author of Real Bad Things and the award-winning Cottonmouths, a novel of “impressive depths of character and setting” according to the Los Angeles Review, which named it one of its Best Books of 2017. An Arkansas native, Kelly writes crime fiction set in the Ozarks and the Arkansas River Valley. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot welcomes back author Meagan Lucas to talk about her new short story collection HERE IN THE DARK. Meagan Lucas is the author of the award-winning novel, Songbirds and Stray Dogs (2019) and the forthcoming collection, Here in the Dark (Shotgun Honey, July 2023). Meagan's short work can be found in places like Santa Fe Writers' Project, Still: The Journal, Bull Magazine, Change Seven, and Pithead Chapel. Meagan is Pushcart, Best of the Net, Derringer, and Canadian Crime Writers' Award of Excellence nominated, won the 2017 Scythe Prize for Fiction, and Songbirds and Stray Dogs was North Carolina's selection for the Library of Congress Center for the Book's 2022 Route 1 Reads program. She teaches Creative Writing at Robert Morris University and is the Editor-in-Chief of Reckon Review. Born and raised on a small island in Northern Ontario, she now calls the mountains of Western North Carolina home. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author M. Hendrix about her young adult debut novel THE CHAPERONE. M Hendrix is the author of two previous books. She lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with her husband, novelist David Bell. The Chaperone is her YA debut. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jim Minick about his latest non-fiction work: WITHOUT WARNING: THE TORNADO OF UDALL, KANSAS. Jim is the author or editor of seven books, including the award-winning Fire Is Your Water and The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Poets and Writers, Oxford American, Orion, and Shenandoah. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews poet Susan O'Dell Underwood about her latest collection titled SPLINTER. Susan O'Dell Underwood is a native of East Tennessee, where she has lived most of her life. She's the director of creative writing at Carson-Newman University. She has published one earlier collection, The Book of Awe (Iris Press, 2018), a novel, Genesis Road (Madville Publishing, 2022), and two chapbooks. Her poems and fiction have appeared in journals and anthologies such as A Southern Poetry Anthology: Tennessee, Oxford American, Alaska Quarterly Review, Tupelo Quarterly, and Still: The Journal. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Michael Farris Smith about his latest novel SALVAGE THIS WORLD. Michael Farris Smith is an award-winning writer whose novels have appeared on Best of the Year lists with Esquire, NPR, Southern Living, Garden & Gun, Book Riot, and numerous other outlets, and have been named Indie Next, Barnes & Noble Discover, and Amazon Best of the Month selections. He has also written the feature-film adaptations of his novels Desperation Road and The Fighter, titled for the screen as Rumble Through the Dark. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and daughters. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Russell Johnson about his latest crime thriller THE MOONSHINE MESSIAH: A MOUNTAINEER MYSTERY. Russell is a fiction writer and North Carolina attorney. His debut story, "Chung Ling Soo's Greatest Trick," was published by ​Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in January 2015 and won the Edgar Award's Robert L. Fish Memorial prize for best short story by a new author. Since then he's been published in a number of outlets and recently won the West Virginia Writers Association's Pearl S. Buck Award, as well as first place for book length fiction. In addition, he has been a nominee or finalist for the Pushcart Prize, Claymore Award and Screencraft's Cinematic Novel competition. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Ohio crime fiction author Andrew Welsh-Huggins about his latest thriller THE END OF THE ROAD. Andrew is a former reporter for the Associated Press, editor of “Columbus Noir” and author of the Andy Hayes detective series; “An Empty Grave,” the seventh book, was nominated for a Shamus Award in the Best Original Paperback PI Novel category by the Private Eye Writers of America. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Travis Rountree about his new book "Hillsville Remembered: Public Memory, Historical Silence, and Appalachia's Most Notorious Shoot-Out."Travis an assistant professor of English at Western Carolina University. His writings have appeared in North Carolina Folklore Journal, Appalachian Journal, Journal of Southern History, and Storytelling in Queer Appalachia: Imagining and Writing the Unspeakable Other. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews suspense and thriller writer Trace Conger about his new book THE WICKED SIDE. Trace Conger is an award-winning author in the crime, thriller, and suspense genres. He writes the Connor Harding (Thriller) series and the Mr. Finn (PI) series. His Connor Harding series follows freelance “Mirage Man” Connor Harding as he solves problems for the world's most dangerous criminals. The Mr. Finn series follows private investigator Finn Harding as he straddles the fine line between right and wrong. Conger won a Shamus Award for his debut novel, THE SHADOW BROKER. His suspense novella, THE WHITE BOY, won the Fresh Ink Award for Best Novella of 2020.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Affrilachian poet, educator, and children's book author Frank X. Walker about his latest children's book A IS FOR AFFRILACHIA. A native of Danville, Kentucky, Frank X Walker is the first African American writer to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate. Walker has published eleven collections of poetry, including Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, which was awarded the 2014 NAACP Image Award for Poetry and the Black Caucus American Library Association Honor Award for Poetry. He is also the author of Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, winner of the 2004 Lillian Smith Book Award, and Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride, which he adapted for stage, earning him the Paul Green Foundation Playwrights Fellowship Award. His poetry was also dramatized for the 2016 Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, WV and staged by Message Theater for the 2015 Breeders Cup Festival. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with historian Lindsay Chervinsky about the latest book she edited with Dr. Matthew Costello titled MOURNING THE PRESIDENTS: LOSS ANS LEGACY IN AMERICAN CULTURE. Lindsay is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Presidential Studies at Southern Methodist University and she teaches about the presidency at the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. Her columns can be found at Governing and Washington Monthly, and she contributes to the Washington Post, USA Today, Ms. Magazine, the Bulwark, NBC Think!, the Wall Street Journal, TIME, The Hill, and CNN. In her spare time, she loves hiking with her American Foxhound, John Quincy Dog Adams (Quincy for short). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with editor and nonfiction author Wendy Welch about her latest book "Masks, Misinformation, and Making Do: Appalachian Health-Care Workers and the COVID-19 Pandemic." Wendy is the executive director of the Southwest Virginia Graduate Medical Education Consortium and the author, coauthor, or editor of six books, including Fall or Fly: The Strangely Hopeful Story of Foster Care and Adoption in Appalachia (also from Ohio University Press). She advocates for social justice in health care and other critical areas of development across Appalachia. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews fiction author Ramona Reeves about her latest short story collection IT FALLS GENTLY ALL AROUND, winner of the 2022 True Heinz Literature Prize. Ramona grew up in Alabama. She has won the Nancy D. Hargrove Editors' Prize and been an A Room of Her Own fellow and a resident at the Kimmel Nelson Harding Center for the Arts. Her writing has appeared in the Southampton Review, New South, Bayou Magazine, Texas Highways, and others. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Mary Hazen Ynigues about her new book CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE MOUNTAIN STATE. Mary is a is a pun poet who believes in the moxie of the Mountain State! She served on Elkins City Council and earned two degrees in history with a thesis on an Appalachian Mine Wars community. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Marly lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, with her spouse Keola and their cats. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with horror author Andy Davidson about his latest novel THE HOLLOW KIND. Andy is the Bram Stoker Award nominated author of In the Valley of the Sun and The Boatman's Daughter, which was listed among NPR's Best Books of 2020, the New York Public Library's Best Adult Books of the Year, and Library Journal's Best Horror of 2020. Born and raised in Arkansas, he makes his home in Georgia with his wife and a bunch of cats. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews poet Sara Moore Wagner about her latest collection HILLBILLY MADONNA. Sara is the author of Swan Wife (winner of the 2021 Cider Press Review Editor's Prize), a recipient of a 2022 Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, a 2021 National Poetry Series Finalist, and the recipient of a 2019 Sustainable Arts Foundation award. She is the author of the chapbooks Tumbling After (Redbird, 2022) and Hooked Through (Five Oaks Press, 2017). Her poetry has appeared in many journals and anthologies including Sixth Finch, Waxwing, Nimrod, Western Humanities Review, Tar River Poetry, and The Cincinnati Review, among others. She lives in West Chester, OH with her filmmaker husband Jon and their children, Daisy, Vivienne, and Cohen. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/eliot-parker/support